Blogs from Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 15

Hi everyone, sorry about the delay in doing our blog... we've not had chance! We hopped on the overnight bus from Airlie Beach down to Hervey Bay, and it seems like it was just in time! I think our greyhound was the last one to get out of Airlie before the roads were cut off due to flooding! And this country is suffering from major drought??? The rain is keeping the farmers and government happy anyway! Makes things a little tricky for us tourists sometimes though! Anyway, it wasn't a bad journey actually - we had 4 seats each so spread out a little - we slept stretched out over the aisle! V's grandparents put us in touch with their friends John and Janice who very kindly let us stay at very short notice! They were ... read more

Thursday 10th January From Nimbin we drove through Mount Warning National Park and along the valley round the central plug of the extinct volcano, with the rim high above us. Wooded thickly with eucalypts and bush, with few houses dotted around - we passed only one car. Two fords were just passable now, as we have had no heavy rain for three days, and the bridges only just cleared the water. As we swished across one wooden bridge a turtle scuttled in front of us on his way downstream. Further on, a small red kangaroo went across the road and down the slope at the side. It was the first one Kev had seen and he was beginning to think that kangaroos didn't actually exist. We drove through Tweed Heads, on the border of New South ... read more

Happy New 2008! Hope you had fantastic new years celebration. I travelled from Noosa to Hervey Bay via Rainbow beach. Rainbow beach was an amazing on the sandblast. Hervey Bay is not a very happening place but it's the gateway to Fraser island. That's were I spent the New Year. Fraser island is the largest sand island. It was a blast! There was a cyclone heading towards Fraser Island for new years so instead of going camping on the Island I went for a guided tour. I'll remember Fraser island for two things - Rain and the New Year. It was great fun. We were in the Dingo bar for new years party. This NYE was definitely different considering I have spend all of them in big cities before. Fraser Island is beautiful and diverse. There ... read more

We board the boat and take our bags downstairs to our 'double' bunk, though later someone accurately describes it as 'a single king size bunk'. I have a sense of dread about the trip and wonder how we'll manage 2 days on this boat. There's literally nowhere to run! Yet, we start our journey and our first port of call is a place near Hook Island where we all disembark and go for a snorkel. Jumping off a boat into lovely blue water seems to bring the trip up about 200 degrees in terms of enjoyment. The corals are once again, intricate and fascinating. We are surrounded by fish and Joe even had a few marine fans who followed him around! The only downfall about being out in the sea is Marsh Flies (I'm not sure ... read more

We got to Hervey Bay in the evening of December 8th, and had a pizza fest ready for 3 days of hunger on Fraser Island. The next morning, we got put into our group (it was the usual 8 of us) and were given our camping equipment, 4x4 (Toyota Landcruiser) and then we got to go shopping. We bought a ton of food and then were on our way. The ferry ride over there was ok, but everyone was getting grumpy and tired. We drove around lots, laid on the beach and did some offroad driving (well, Ollie did, I decided I only wanted to drive on the beach, which in itself was v cool!). The first night, we set up camp - the boys put up the tents and Heather and Simone cooked a BBQ ... read more