Adventures in Rainbow Beach!!!

---

21st January 2009 - ARRIVAL IN RAINBOW AND FREE BBQ
We were up early again. I got out of bed at about 7am absolutely starving as I had not had any tea the night before. The bloody fridge didn't open until 7.30am though and so I had to sit around watching the American news what with Obama being sworn in. It was pretty cool though and quite a few people had gathered to see it. 7.30 came though and I no longer cared about anything but museli!!! It tasted good!!! Once eaten, packed up and sorted we caught the 9am shuttle into town before catching the 9.30am Greyhound bus to Rainbow Beach!!

The Greyhound journey was ok. It lasted for around 3 hours including a services break where I bought a brew. I spent the rest of my time on the bus reading, listening to some tunes and sleeping. We arrived in Rainbow Beach at around 12.30pm. The town was so small and the bus stop was almost right outside the hostel...sweet!!! The hostel was called Pippies and was the most laid back hostel I had ever been to. The staff seemed nice though a couple of them could be described as bungalows.......nothing upstairs!!! We were put in a 4 bed dorm with one of Hatty's friends who she used to go to uni with....felt like our own room!! Ace!!!

We spent the afternoon exploring. Hat did some washing whilst Nat and I spent a couple of hours on the beach. I wouldn't be jumping in the sea here though as during the time we were there 2 people ran out screaming from jellyfish stings!! I didn't offer to urinate on them though I hear it does take the sting away!!! Once done at the beach we headed back to the hostel, sorted some paragliding out for the following morning and then had a wander to the supermarket to get a few bits!!

That evening at 7 the hostel put on a free barby of snags (saussages) and salad and potatoes. We enjoyed the barby (everything tastes better when it's free) and then sat outside with a few beers and some cards. So laid back it's almost horizontal at this hostel....I was looking forward to spending a couple of days here!!

22nd January 2009 - PARAGLIDING, A MONSTER TRUCK AND ANOTHER CAMERA NIGHTMARE!!!
I woke up at 6.30am again this morning...it's becoming a little too regular now!! I stayed in bed until 7 and then tucked into the free breakfast of cornflakes....not kelloggs mind!!! From there I meandered around the hostel sorting my stuff, showering and getting my stuff together for paragliding.

Jean Luc (Paragliding instructor) arrived shortly after 9am, we had a quick chat about what would happen and then he said he would be back to pick us up in a half hour or so. Once he had returned he took us in his beast of a 4 by 4 up to the carpark near the sandpatch!! The journey there was a blur he drove that fast and I saw Nat gripping the seat in the front!! Once parked up we walked to the sand patch where we would take off from. It was called Carlo Sandblow!! It was a little like the sand dunes from the Noosa canoe trip only not quite as big or remote. The view was awesome though!! He checked that the wind was ok, I signed my life away and then he explained how to take off before we got strapped in and put it into practice!! He usually did the tandems with 15 stone men and so he had to put a lot of sand in his backpack to weigh us down a little!! Otherwise I may have ended in a different Oz with Dorothy and the Tin Man!! We then ran backwards until we had lift and then forwards until in the air. Once in the air...I sat back and relaxed!!

The take off was fun and the view from the air were awesome!! It was really relaxing being up there and Jean Luc practically told me his life story whilst up in the air as well as pointing out what things were and explaining the wind movements and speed we were travelling at. He also did a couple of spirals with me which is where the shoot spins towards the ground. It took my head a little but was good fun!!! Once we had been up for 40 minutes or so we came into land. I managed to stay on my feet which is tough for beginners according to Jean Luc so I was pleased.

Next up it was Nats turn. I stayed around at the take of point to get some photos of her and got more than I bargained for. Jean Luc advised that the wind was getting up and so it would be easier to land on the beach. So that he didn't have to trek all the way back up with all the gear he asked me to drive his car down and proceeded to throw me a multi-tool on which the flathead screwdriver was the key!! I thought he was joking but as they took off he shouted to advise that it was not power steering and it was an automatic!!! Sweet Lincoln's Mullet!!!

I explained the task to Hatty to which she replied "You have got to be shitting with me?". We stayed around to take a few photos of Nat in the air before making our way back to the car!! On my word......the insides appeared to be stripped - no window winders, no key ignition but a wire with a hole making clear that the screwdriver wasn't a joke, the doors didn't lock, some doors didn't open. It was laughable!!

Getting it out was tough...no power steering and trees in our way!! Thankfully I used Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary (my muscles) to avoid all trees and other objects. Anyone watching would have blatantly thought we were stealing the car....doors left open, strating it with a screwdriver and struggling to drive it!! I hoped there were no police around!! I drove it very slowly down to the beach carpark. The journey only lasted 10 minutes but by the time we got there with no aircon and no way to open the windows every part of my body was covered in sweat droplets. I had never in all my years sweated so much.......not even at spinning!!! My clothes and hair were stuck to me and Hatty told me not to look at her...it was that disgusting!!! Funny though!! Parking was tough but I surpassed all expectations and got it in a space first time and dead central!! Driving that beast was far scarier than paragliding or even skydiving for that matter!!

Once parked off and back in the open air we headed down to the beack to watch Nat come in to land. Jean Luc congratulated me on driving his car and told how it had been stuck in a river about 6 months back...it exlained a lot!!! We thanked him, paid our money and then headed back to the hostel....by foot!!!

Following lunch we all went our separate ways. I had a stroll about town, used the net for a while and had a dip in the hostel pool. I had a really nice afternoon - very chilled!! As evening came closer we all met back up and went shopping for tea. At the supermarket we decided cooking was out and chinese was in!! We went to the shop and I ordered chicken and garlic with noodles. Keep the vampires away!! It took around 50 minutes to come...i'm sure he must have had to go and catch the chicken himself!! It didn't help that we were all starving either!!

When the food finally came it looked and smelt good!! I set up a timer shot however when I tried to look at the photo is said 'Card Read Error'. Not good!!! I ate quickly and then pegged it back to the hostel to work out if it was my camera or the card. Turned out my camera wasn't broken and I luckily had a new blank memory card so I could carry on taking photos. Already backed up most of my photos on CD too so not all bad!! I'm hoping that a camera shop will be able to retrieve them for me and then re-format the card!! Worst case scenario is I lost my photos from Rainbow Beach totally and only have blog copies of my photos since Byron Bay!! Bloody photos.....caused me so much trouble!!! Got to look on the bright side though......I haven't lost everything and have spare memory cards plus Nat took some photos of me paragliding at Rainbow so all is not lost!!!

Nothing I could do at that moment so I had a brew...makes everything better (such English mentality)!!! I then lay in bed listening to music before falling asleep. New day tomorrow and moving on!!!

23rd January 2008 - RAINY NIGHT AND GOODBYE RAINBOW BEACH!!!
The rain in the night was shocking!!! So so loud it was unreal!! I was pleased that we weren't going on our next camping trip for another day or so!! It was still raining the next morning when I woke up at 6.30...again!!! Our bus was due at 12.30 and so we spent the morning packing up, on the net and chilling around the hostel....too rainy to do much else!!!

I had enjoyed my time in Rainbow Beach. Not big enough to want to live there but still nice for a couple of days!! Time to move on though...next stop....Hervey Bay!!!

MORE PHOTOS TO FOLLOW HOPEFULLY IF I CAN GET MY MEMORY CARD FIXED!!!!!

---

Photos

George...My Anchor!!!
70 year old guy...still paraglides offered to help keep me down till the time was right to fly!! Bless him!!!