brisbane, noosa, sand and goats

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11th to 16th feb

Weather hasn't been amazing this week (I know, not as bad as yours... stop moaning u lot!!I love snow!!). It means we're actually restricted on what to do. Had a mooch around Brisbane thursday and went to the museum, acting like kids and touching all the buttons!! Headed to Australia Zoo, where Steve Irwin used to work on Friday. It rained the whole time but it was still fun. Saw a Croc show and all the Oz animals. Steve has had a massive impact in Australia, saving lots of animals and doing great conservation work and is highly regarded since his death at the zoo.
Caught the 6.30am bus to Noosa, raining again. Our bus driver, who liked to be called forest Gump, was hilarious and had a great journey. We stopped in a pub for a drink and at the beach to check out the surf before arriving in Noosa at lunchtime. Had a little look aroung Noosa, seems a little more upmarket but a nice place.
Whoop whoop sun came back out!!! Took a coastal walk round the national park and then spent the rest of the day at the beach.
Decided to get up early, rent a board and get surfing monday morning. There was little surf but as a mere amateur, I was still pants. Caught a few waves but only managed to crouch, not stand. The better you get, the smaller the boards (surface area, balance, physics and all that) and clearly the lady who hired it out overestimated my skills!! Felt a bit of a plank in front of the locals...
On to Rainbow beach with Charlotte, only a few hours away. Chilled at the hostel bar as said goodbye to Charlotte who went to Hervey Bay as her trip to Fraiser Island left from there and mine from Rainbow.

17th to 22nd feb

Rained most of tuesday!! Little worried about the Fraiser trip... Had a meeting in the afternoon with Merv who hired out the trucks. He went through safety, do's and don'ts etc and then they chose our groups. There was 11 of us 4 mexican guys, a japanese couple, 3 dutch and 1 german girl. Everyone seemed pretty cool. Our food was provided so we just decided on the alcohol order and got to know eachother.
Up early weds for pancakes, loading the vehicle, and instruction on how to use 4 wheel drive, tide times and beach driving. Merv said it was forecast to be rainy and overcast but it seemed ok. Took a short barge trip over to Fraiser Island. Its the largest sand island in the world by the way!! Its a world heritage sight so rules are strict. Tide was high so we had to go on the inland track for the first part of the day. We drove to Lake MacKenzie and had lunch. The sun came out and it stayed out until we got back to Rainbow beach!!! The lake was beautiful freshwater, white sand, and very blue. We stayed until 4ish when we knew we'd be able to drive on the beach. We set up camp at a designated area to protect the dunes with 2 other trucks. No water, no toilets, no showers... proper camping!! Cooked dinner by torchlight (mmm... steak) and started on the beer and goon. Had to wash up in the sea using sand as a scrubber!! Good times, everyone got on so well. Only problem was the million biting flies and mozzies...
Felt like a sauna in the tent so we were all up at 6am!! Had brekkie and got going up the beach. First stop was a shipwreck that stood proud on the beach, and if i was on my own I could have stayed there happily taking photos from hours. Then we went to Indian Head which looked over the island with fantastic views. We hoped to see some sharks and rays but no luck. You cant swim in the sea around the island because of this and the strong current but there's lots of water inland. We went to the Champagne Pools next - so called as the tide gushes over the edge and makes the water bubbly. That was cool. Next went to another lake and had lunch and a swim before setting up camp and making dinner again. My turn to drive on the last day!! Really cool!! It was pretty easy on the beach if you stuck to the hard sand near the waters edge and drove carefully over the washout (tiny streams leading to the sea). Much harder on the inland tracks - so bumpy. Most difficult thing was having 10 people disagreeing on where to go in the back!! Went to Lake Wabby for a quick refresh before heading back to the barge and mainland. Very good but exhausting couple of days. So good to be clean again!!!
Our group met in the evening and everyone but me checked out the next day. So I was able to catch up on some sleep. Met up with Charlotte again on the bus to 1770 for an overnight stop before heading to the cattle station.

ps. im covered in bites like a dot to dot!!

23rd - kroombit cattle station

Kroombit was amazing, I had so much fun! We rocked up at lunch time and went goat mustering on horseback - hearding to you and me. Shouting "hey up up up" to get them moving. Really enjoyed it. Then we learnt lassooing - which I couldnt do! Put it to practice on the goats. In our group, Sarah lasooed the goat, we dragged it to the fence and I had to turn it over by picking up its legs (!!) and then We pretended to brand it. Our team won cos we were quick and only got one penalty - my fault, I practically threw the goat on the floor. Some people did clay pigeon shooting but I opted out. Andrew who taught us all this had a 30yr old truck which we chose to drive around in rather than the proper bus. Very bumpy! Funny detour as we got stuck in a puddle and had to be towed out... After a lovely dinner we learned how to crack a whip - I kicked ass!! I opted out of the bucking broncko and just watched everyone fly off and then we played drinking games before bed. Excellent day

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Photos

the invasion
little nippers swim club, Noosa

the invasion
little nippers swim club, Noosa

The mexicans
pablo, carlos, pablo and fernandez