Ocean at South Stradbroke island

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tide

bistro

The idea for joining the bush-walkers again so soon after my last adventure with them arose very quickly, after i have checked and compared my uni-semester-timetable and their further itineraries. Shortly after I have made my inquiry, Paul called me and offered me to pick me up at the uni-drive; as I was pretty sure that the weather will be fine during this weekend, I decided to leave the tent, that Andrew lent me, at home (--> a big mistake, as I had to learn the following day!!!); after some 2h drive on Friday morning 7:00am, we arrived at marine-bay harbour near Gold Coast; the other bush-walkers dropped in by-and-by, and we still had some time to take some coffee; afterwards a water-taxi drove us in a 1/2 ride to Tipplers resort (.. somehow this name always reminded me of "Stiffler's mom"..); well arrived at the camping ground, we built up our tents, and I prepared my mat, sleeping bag and some coverage for the rain; then we were introduced by the rangers to the BBQ facilities and how to code-unlock the toilets and shower-facilities (..looool... women's code was twice as long as men's code... why? hmmm...) after that we prepared for a 1km walk to the east side of the island .. the ocean side; this was pretty amazing, as this only was my 3rd time at the ocean (once in Amsterdam, and once in Seattle), and not only in front of it, but really swimming in it, as it was pretty warm this day. back home at our tents, we encountered some tame wallabies near our camping ground, hopping around very interested. then we prepared our dinner, and ate with our head-lamps, enjoying this fabulous evening; afterwards I decided to take a short walk at the west side beach of the island with my headlight; there I encountered a possum (some kind of squirrel, very swift!) and a toad (dunno whether it was a nasty-toxic one); back home, all the people were already in their tents, and merely henry was enjoying his port wine; he invited my for some cups, and we had some interesting chat; as i wanted to go to sleep, i recognized 3 wallabies around my sleeping bag; they have eaten my remaining 2 sandwiches!!! out of my bag!!! pretty clever guys! but that was not the problem! the smell of it still attracted them to my sleeping place, and i decided to move 15 m away under some other coverage; nevertheless I could not sleep very much that night, as every now and then some possum or wallaby was hopping around the ground --> lesson learned: take some tent! the next morning some further club members arrived, and we started for our half-island round-trip;

....day2: after some porridge breakfast, we started our tour for today: making it around the the whole Stradbroke island: on the west-side through some mangroves, and back on the east (ocean-) side;
lessen-learned for this day: never underestimate hot sun! ( i went half of the distance barefoot in the sand --> big sunburn blisters on the feet!); the mangroves were very fascinating for me! great impressions of fauna and flora! on the ocean side we encountered some nasty jelly fishes and stingrays, but fortunately already dead; after some 1h nap in the shadow of 1 single tree in the dunes, we went for approximately another 2 h, and then... jippie! into the ocean again! the surf was even bigger than the day before; then, 2 further (younger) bush-walker mates joined us (James + Nick); back at the camp, the just arrived Loretta had some medicine for my sunburn and a tent for me this night! in the evening I made my way with the others to the beach club restaurant; the dish was nice there; but after all this sunburn, i just wanted to go to bed. just when we came back to the camp ground, the rain set in, and I was very happy, that I got Loretta's tent;

....day3: the next morning, most of the group started for a smaller tour southwards, but some fellas stayed at the camping ground; we had some great breakfast (chocolate-cake + coffee) at the beach bar, and afterwards I bought some small souvenirs from the adjacent shop; back at the camp we just relaxed until the other group came back from their trip, and I was introduced to typical Australian traits, slang and food (Vegemite); in no hurry we packed our stuff together and left the island with the water taxi, back to the harbour; after some fabulous ride back to Toowoomba, i happily sank into my bed ;-)

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