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Published: April 30th 2007
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Danger!
Deadly jellyfish!!! Yep, we're talking about Queensland...
The fun, or perhaps the trouble, all started when we reached Fraser Island. Due to time restrictions we did a day tour, although we could easily have spent loads longer there - it's a really different and beautiful place. It's a sand island so all vehicles have to be four wheel drive to tackle the so called "roads". We did our tour on a massive 52 seater four wheel drive coach that looked like something that would also be suited to driving on the moon! The main "highway" on Fraser is the beach which we rocketed along at 80kmph while the beautiful blue-green sea lapped up on the sand next to us.
Now this brings us on to our first encounter with this deadly state... no body swims in the sea at Fraser Island. This is due to 1) hammerhead sharks, 2) bull sharks, 3) tiger sharks ("the ones that'll eat you no sweat!"), and 4) stingers. So a pretty hospitable place!
Although we didn't get to go in the sea we did go in the fresh water creeks and lakes. We even drank the water. It was just like chilled water
Eli Creek, Fraser Island
Ursula stands in the drinkable creek from a fountain - and this was from a creek with a bed of sand! The island is also covered in thick temperate forest and rain forest which all grow out of the sand. An altogether idyllic place. .
Fraser Island is also famed for its dingoes. These lovely mutts are technically classified as "deadly" by "Australia's Deadliest Animals" (Alex's new favorite book!) - a boy was mauled to death by one a few years ago on the island. But unfortunately we didn't meet one there which we were very disappointed about.
The next day, however, as we raced our way up the highway we saw a dingo in the middle of the road. It just walked up and watched us go past! We also saw this as a sign that the countryside around us was changing. Each gas-station/general-store/motel/only-sign-of-civilization (!!) seemed to get further and further apart.
Then we reached the lively oasis of Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is the access point to the Whitsunday Islands and the start of the Great Barrier Reef. It
was from here that we set off on a three day cruise. When we arrived at the marina where we got on the boat it became apparent that this was clearly a party boat and we were among the only people born before 'Back to the Future' (i.e. 1985 by the way!!!).
In amongst the 'goon' (classy white wine in a box), we also did some awesome snorkeling over the reef. This time, to protect ourselves from the killer box jellyfish and irukanji jellies we wore 'stinger suits' (fetching thin wetsuits).
Once in the water it was really surprising to see how much life was concealed just below the surface. There were corals in all kinds of bright colours - neon green, pink, blue and red. Many of them kind of moved and throbbed. The only slightly unnerving thing was trying not to touch the coral. Not only would this lead to hefty fines from the authorities, but it also gives you nasty scratches. It was particularly difficult to avoid it as the tide started going out - you even had to suck your tummy in as you floated on the surface of the water. Unfortunately at this
The Party Boat
AKA the Atlantic Clipper point our underwater camera decided it was no longer waterproof so we have no photos of this :-( .
The nights on the boat were great fun. The crazy crew of the ship organized some particularly entertaining games, our fave being 'boat footy'. The game had two players. Each player wears a belt with a water-filled rubber glove attached by a long string; it hangs between their legs like a pendulum. Players then have to use their hips to swing this rubber-glove pendulum to hit an orange from one end of the boat to the other. The long slow thrusts were most successful! It was one of the most hilarious things we have ever seen. The night then turned into a toga party where we dressed up in our bed sheets and danced to dodgy techno!
After three days on the boat we arrived back at Airlie. Just as our land sickness subsided (a very weird sensation indeed), we were off on our next deadly pursuit - wild croc spotting. Off we went down the Prosperpine River in a tin boat and within a few minutes we spotted our first 'salty'. Saltwater crocs, or 'estuarine crocs' as they
Enjoying sunset
Alex and Urs on the boat are now known, can grow up to seven meters long and eat pretty much anything they can get hold of (UK tourists apparently are a favorite). Unfortunately, or may be fortunately for us (!), the ones that we saw were only three meter long females. But they were none the less pretty impressive - their thick scales were like something from the age of the dinosaurs.
A few days up the coast and we stopped at Mission Beach for our only real close up encounter with a deadly(ish) animal all on our own (no tour guides to protect us). While taking a quick walk through the tropical rainforest Alex nearly stood on a 3 meter long python coiled up by the edge of the path we were on. Although its only way of really harming us would have been to trip us up and cause us to bump our heads on a nasty stone, it was still pretty scary to see a big snake so close! And if our pants weren’t stained enough by that point, just around the corner we then saw the biggest spider we have ever seen. However, it was far too big to be a
Our friend Pat
Alex cuddles up to one of the volunteer crew during our Whitsunday cruise - he was their answer to Bez from the Happy Mondays deadly one. The main killer critters are the ‘funnel webs’ and the ‘red backs’ which are actually pretty small and unobtrusive looking.
Our final night in our Deluxe Peter Tosh camper was spent at the beautiful, and slightly weird, Paronella Park. As soon as we arrived in the car park we were welcomed/leapt-upon by the extremely enthusiastic owner. In fact, it turned out he was right to be enthusiastic and his slightly manic gestures and bulging eyes added to the fun. The park is the site of a Spanish-style castle built in 1920-1930s that has fallen into disrepair. It was out of use for quite a while and became overgrown with tropical rainforest. Now it looks like a Spanish/Inca ruin covered in moss and greenery.
While we were at Paronella Park we also got to meet and find out about a local Aboriginal group called Doolgubudda (Rainforest People). We saw some traditional dancing, including a creation dance, a honey bee dance and a wallaby hunting dance. We also found out about Aboriginal bush tucker from a really nice girl called Trish. She told us all about ways of getting goanna eggs from termite nests, the best leaves to
Ready to enter the sea...
Alex is fully snorkelled and stinger suited up ready for some great barrier reef action! cook your brush turkey in, and good remedies for constipation and diarrhea! Alex even had a go at making fire by rubbing and twisting a stick on a block of wood with some fibrous tree husk. We didn’t actually manage to get it to light (it had been raining) but we made some smoke and got our sticks pretty hot!
The next day our road trip ended in the following way:
1) arrived in Cairns
2) bought a didgeridoo
3) got a parking ticket
4) handed our campervan back 4 ½ hrs late (but the Wicked folk were too chilled out to mind!)
5) spent a night a nice clean room in a Cairns backpackers resort
So our seven week Aussie road trip ended a bit unceremoniously but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t ABSOLUTELY WICKED!
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Kate
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Getting more jealous with each blog!
Hi ho you two! Glad to see that you are STILL having a great time! Life in NL is trogging along as normal. Weather has been crappy but at least the climate means I don't need to worry about big bugs! We won't be able to meet up with you in Vancouver 'cos Louis' school holidays don't start until the 20th July.... but we are booked to go to Vancouver on the 9th August... can't wait! Louis entered his first competitive football tournament on Saturday AND got put in the 1st team... they won every game with ease and took home the cup. So he is now convinced he is going to be the next Beckham! Have fun in NZ - step on a Hobbit for me... Kate