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Published: October 17th 2007
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I absolutely loved the town of 1770! I had planned to stay 2 nights and ended up staying 4! The hostel, COOL BANANAS, was so great - it was clean, cozy, and the ppl there (staff and fellow travelers) were so fantastic. There were so many great activities at my disposal in addition to beautiful beaches and lots of time for R&R. There were lots of walking trails close by the hostel... I did one to a beautiful lookout, it was spectacular. Along that same path through the woods one day I came across a huge lizard... he was hissing at us, kinda creepy! I did the "Scooter-roos" adventure wherein a huge group of us all got to drive our own chopper motorcycle through 1770 - these bikes were soooo nice, I want one! My chopper was painted up like the Aussie flag, I loved it. They go pretty fast - I had mine up to 80km. We followed our guide (he was quite the character!) in a straight line down the road, the whole lot of us, passing beautiful scenery, heaps of wild kangaroos (and some wallabies too) - it was fabulous!!! This was actually my first time seeing kangaroos
in the wild, they are such beautiful creatures and my can they hop off quickly! The tour ended with us grabbing weggies and a drink and watching the sunset on the rocks along the ocean - awesome end to a great excursion!! We even rode back in the dark, good times! That's the thing here, sun sets around 6pm, it's crazy.
The next day I had booked to partake in a kayaking excursion, however, much to my dissapointment, it was cancelled last minute. My friends Beccy and Melissa and I decided (very last minute) to try to rent a 4WD and hit up the National Park close by that we had heard such great things about. Luckily we were able to get our hands on a vehicle and for a ridiculously low price - $30 between the 3 of us for 3 hours. Driving through the park was a blast!!!! It was a wild ride to say the least... a 4WD vehicle was absolutely crucial... even still we almost got stuck in the deep sand. We all took turns driving, it was so much fun. There were 3 stopping points throughout the park, all beautiful beaches... we had such
a wonderful time - great adventure with the girls!
The adventure didn't stop there... the next day Beccy and I had booked to go for a flight in a small plane. It cost $75 each for a 1.5hr flight which is a super low price vs. in other cities along the coast. The beauty of 1770 is that it is not commercialized and as a result, prices for activities are relatively low in an attempt to attract tourists - works for me! So anyways the plane was super tiny - fit the pilot, one in the front, and two in the back. One of the draws of this flight was that we would have the opportunity to drive the plane, however, unfortunately only 2 of us could drive (+ the pilot of course lol) and Beccy and the German guy won - I drew the short straw, booo. I was really bummed but got over it and still very much enjoyed the flight. The scenery was absolutely stunning, I can't put it into words. The colours of the sea... the water was so clear... it was just unbelieveable. We even saw dolphins in the sea below us - that's
how clear the water was. The pilot landed us on a deserted beach to take some photos and to go find fresh oysters off the rocks, yummy. The pilot liked to spin the plane and have fun with us (i.e. floating us in the air at zero gravity - I have the DVD to prove it!!) and by the end I was super dizzy. It was a great adventure though - something I'll remember forever.
I'm now in Hervey Bay - the gateway to Fraser Island. Getting here wasn't as relaxed as normal as our Greyhound bus decided to break down 45mins from our destination, great. I think we were lucky in that we arrived only 2hrs later than expected to Hervey Bay - it certainly could have been worse but thankfully they sent a replacement bus ASAP. The beach is beautiful here (like everywhere) but there isn't a whole to see/do in this joint with the exception of whale watching tours. Apparently this is one of the best spots to see humpback whales (they're migrating south now as they do every year past Hervey Bay). So for Fraser Island, I've booked a self-drive 4WD safari of the island
(2 nights, 3 days). They randomly put us into groups, get us sorted with camping gear and food and off we go to fend for ourselves and see the island. I'm PRAYING that I get a good group but my hopes are slowing fading... I've already found out that there's 9 of us going out tomorrow in 1 vehicle (sometimes they put up to 11 in one 4WD - that sure would be crammed) and a couple of the guys barely speak English - they're in my room and are from South Korea. There's a Sweedish girl who seems nice enough who's also going but as for the rest of the group, no clue. Hopefully we all get along and have the same priorities - to see as much of Fraser as possible!! (well that's my priority anyways). If I get a group who only wants to party and sleep in I'd be real bummed but I guess that's the chance I've taken by booking this type of a tour. Unfortunately I just heard the weather forecast and it's not supposed to be particularly nice here over the next few days, major bummer!!!! I hope the weather network is wrong
because I want beautiful sunny weather, obviously. I'll just have to hope for the best. Anyways, I best be off... we have our briefing session tomorrow am at 6:30 and at that time we'll get our formal group assignment.
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