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Published: April 23rd 2007
Circular Quay - Sydney
Whilst we were all still standing! I don't think either myself or Paul ever expected to find ourselves travelling in Australia again, but when so many friends leave Nottingham and move over there you find yourself left with little choice! This trip was literally a flying visit, spending just 12 days in Australia before heading over to Fiji.
Our first stop was Sydney to visit Helen and Rob, two close friends from Nottingham, for the weekend. Sydney is as amazing as I remembered and still top of my city list. Walking back down George Street and seeing Circular Quay again made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
We had a fun packed Saturday, which began with a well intentioned walk from Tamarama Beach to Bondi Beach but somehow turned into a drinking session starting at the Opera Bar, before moving onto the Rocks for a Bar Crawl. We decided to call it a night after Paul and Rob turned into pool demons and managed to win five games of pool without paying for a single game in a very dodgy pub! Definitely a case of quit whilst you're ahead (and still have the use of all your limbs)!
Sunday was a lazy
Powerplay
Our luxury catamaran made for midgets day spent on Tamarama beach battling with the waves and current in the ocean - it was such a refreshing change from the lily ponds we'd seen in Thailand.
Whilst poor Helen returned to work, Rob, Paul and I headed up the coast for a three day Whitsunday trip. When we arrived at the harbour and caught our first glimpse of the boat we all wondered how they could possibly cram 16 passengers into it. The brochure certainly made the 'luxury catamaran' out to be a million times more glamourous than it was, but when it promises a hot-tub on deck and DVDs in the private rooms what else would you expect? You certainly wouldn't expect to find yourself sleeping on a window sill like Rob did!
Despite the over-packed boat we had a great trip, the staff were fantastic and the food was lovely. Rob scuba dived for the first time and loved it, so we all managed to cram three dives into our two night trip, which did unfortunately mean getting up at 5.30am in the morning! On one of our dives Paul and I saw a massive turtle, about 1.5 meters long and the rather
weird looking 'Baler Shell', even our dive master didn't have a clue what it was!!
Once back on dry land we had the customery night out with people from our boat and we all got fairly drunk playing drinking games. Rob and Paul exceeded themselves on jugs of beer and had a very hazy recollection of the night´s events!
The next day we had a mammouth journey via bus, ferry, plane and car from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay for our Fraser Island trip which was made all the more painful by the hangovers! Waiting for us in Hervey Bay when we finally arrived at 7.30pm(!!) were Helen, Vicky and Edwin with the great news that our Fraser trip started at 6.30am the next morning - Rob almost cried at the prospect of another early morning! We hired a Jeep for three days along with camping equipment and did a self drive trip. Paul and I had both done the same trip independently before and loved it so it seemed like a good place to finish our time in Oz. We spent three days driving around the island, taking in all the major sites including:
Lake Wabby
Whitehaven Beach
Considered one of the top three most beautiful beaches in the world and a highlight of any Whitsunday trip. - the walk to the lake from the beach was so long we thought we'd taken a wrong turn and were going to end up back at the lookout point we'd just driven from!
The Shipwreak - our first camp spot was just down the beach from the Shipwreak so we all took an errie 'midnight' stroll there
India Heads / Champagne Pools - we very sensibly dumped the car and walked along the beach to the Champagne Pools, where Paul and Rob got bombarded with waves. We then walked back to India Heads for Shark and Turtle spotting. When we finally arrived back at the car for our well deserved lunch we were greeted with an overly friendly dingo
Eli Creek - Having no campsite facilities this was the perfect spot for a refreshing early morning bath and workout / frisbee session
Lake Allom - was the drive really worth it? Possibly the worst track we encountered, but the cute tiny turtles waiting for us (almost?) made up for the stress
Lake Birrabean - the warm up for Lake McKenzie
Lake Mckenzie - as always the highlight of the trip. Stunning lake with white sand and clear turquioise water.
Gimmie Beer!
The writing was on the wall!! Both nights we found a spot on the beach and camped out, with nobody around us. The first night we thought we'd found the best spot, but on the second night Paul pulled out all the stops and found an ellevated spot with a magnificent view of the ocean. It all seemed too good to be true, and it was, because what followed was a series of disasters to threaten our dinner! Firstly the lighter broke and the matches were wet so we had no way of lighting the gas stove. Then, just as Paul and Rob were about to break all the rules and drive the car at night Edwin managed to get the lighter working only to find out that the hose to the stove wasn't connecting properly! It all worked out fine in the end and 'Preparation H' was able to cook us a splendid (sand filled) feast!
Australia was just as amazing as we'd remembered and it was really tough leaving, but with Fiji ahead of us the tears didn't last too long!
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