Day 88

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Noosa
April 9th 2010

Published: April 9th 2010

So on Easter Monday I left Brisbane and headed to Noosa. I got there, waited in the boiling sun for an hour and a half for a backpacker bus to take us (I had met three guys on the bus - who I had known before between Sydney and Byron Bay - who were doing the same thing as me) to the bush camp. We stopped off on the way for a supermarket shop. I did a silly thing (in retrospect) and asked to share food with the boys for three days. We had pasta with the simplest of sauces for dinner every day, apart from the first where we just had meat. The breakfasts were baked beans on toast and for lunch they ate muffins - I did buy some cans of tuna though, for sandwiches. Baked beans on toast are awesome for about one breakfast. Then you start wishing that you weren’t eating with boys and you could look some fresh fruit or vegetables in the eye.

On the first day of canoeing, I found out that my grandfather had passed away. He was always very proud and supportive of my recent travels, and he read this blog religiously (despite the fact that I thought he was allergic to the internet). When I phoned him while I was briefly back home all that time ago, he had tons of positive feedback for the blog, and was excited to hear more. I was lucky enough (thank God for modern technology) to talk to him on Skype about a week before he died, and that was only when it really sunk in that he was ill. It was awful finding out while surrounded by strangers, because as I reacted to the news all they could do was stand awkwardly. As I’m sure you can imagine, the rest of the day seemed totally irrelevant so I’m just going to skip through the details I remember. I took loads of photos that I’ve already uploaded to Facebook.

The first day involved canoeing 7km up Noosa river, then taking a 2km detour down a creek known as something like “Black Mirror Creek”. The tannin (a plant substance) from the tea trees leaks into the water making it a murky brown most of the way up the river and through the lakes, but because the water in the creek moves very slowly, it goes black. It was lovely going for a swim in it because you’re essentially swimming in a bath filled with tea tree oil, which is very good for your skin and hair. Makes you feel moisturised. We then paddled through the lake (can’t remember the name, sorry) which was pretty big. Walked to a pub (Australian word for hotel) for lunch, then paddled 7km back to the camp.

The camp was pretty basic. The first night was spent in a cross between a dorm bed and a hammock (there’s a photo of it in the new album) and although it was comfy, I couldn’t sleep a wink because there were all kinds of creepy crawlies that I was terrified of. I’m a city girl. I like nature, but not when it crawls and bites. I’m absolutely coated in mosquito bites as I type, and that’s despite being coated in mosquito repellent the whole time there. The second and third nights were spent in a tent. Hard to sleep in because it’s a tent, and you’re on the floor but at least it kept the mosquitoes out better. And the snakes, toads, lizards… You name it, Australia has it. The camp was right next to a sort of trailer park filled with Australian hillbillies which was… interesting, and definitely not what I had been expecting.

The following day involved a shorter 3km canoe downriver to a different, smaller lake. The lake was very shallow, and we had to get out and walk across some of it. I would normally welcome a bit of cool water around my ankles, but this lake was filled with baby stingrays. If you step on a stingray you get a Steve Irwin’d ankle. Cue lots of city girls/English girls in hysterics and boys being stupid. Fortunately they left us alone. We pulled up on the side of the lake and had a 2km walk to the beach across the mainland. The beach was pretty deserted, but had seriously strong rip currents so not the best swim I’ve ever had. A friendly Dutch guy kept on telling me he saw sharks swimming through the waves as well, which was very helpful (yes, that’s sarcasm). We walked, and paddled all the way back.

I left the camp feeling filthy (I couldn’t spend much time in the showers because that was where the mosquitoes held their parties) and just grossed out by the whole experience (particularly the long drop toilet). I’m not sure I’ll be doing that again, although I would probably have found it more entertaining had I been slightly less miserable about life. I ended up heading to the same hostel as some lovely girls I’ve met, and hanging out with them all afternoon (I lie, I napped most of the afternoon and hung out with them from dinner onwards).

Today a friend of mine (who has a car) and I went all around a little bit more inland. It started with a sweaty walk up a mountain called Mount Coolum (unimpressive compared to Kiwi volcanoes, but good exercisey fun). We then did a long loop walk through a rainforest passing amazing waterfalls. We drove through this really old colonial town, which was amazing. What was even better was that they had an Irish/Scottish shop, which sold Polos and Lovehearts. I’m in confectionary heaven. There was an amazing shop that was FILLED with cuckoo clocks. We took a (slightly long) detour via a beach which has a shipwreck on it (my first one!!) and then headed home. An absolutely amazing day, definitely one of the best (if not the best) I’ve had so far in Australia. Tomorrow I head off for a night in a place called Rainbow Beach, where there are coloured sands (hence the name rainbow). Then on Sunday I head to a place called Hervey Bay, ever so slightly further north and on Monday I hit Fraser Island. Please could you google it, now if it means nothing to you. Then just sit and be jealous for a while. The next blog update won’t be until I’m off the island, on Thursday. There are tons of sharks, dingoes, mosquitoes and dangerous driving though so I may never return. JUST KIDDING!! I can hear my mother getting worried tee hee.

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