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Published: January 25th 2009
5th January- 26th January 2009
We have decided that we have now been in the land of down under long enough to confidently try out their language...so watch out for the lingo...
So onto to Brisbane. We checked into the hostel and all was looking pretty good until we opened the door to our dorm...a bomb, consisting of empty shampoo bottles, underwear, old food plates, nutella/peanut butter jars, dust, clothes and shoes, had exploded, crikey, all over our 10 person dorm...two of the occupants had been living there for 4 months, we really don't know how!
Whilst in Brisbane we explored the old clock tower, cathedral, parks, the beach lagoon and found some of it's modern art, we also got persuaded (thanks Anthony!) into taking part in a hula hooping competition which resulted in us losing but celebrating the night away with tea, peanut butter sarnies and fake tattoos-it was a really good night!
After Brisbane we headed up the coast to Caloundra where we chilled for a few days and visited Australia Zoo 'Home of the Crocodile Hunter (aka Steve Irwin)'. It really was fair dinkum the best zoo that either of us have ever visited
and we had an awesome day.
We had a short stop in Noosa, where we arrived at 4.30pm and decided on an early evening swim. The waves were large but we braved them, this resulted in both of us nearly losing not only our bikini tops but bottoms as well, what a ripper for the life guards but not for us! Rach also nearly drowned due to laughing at Luce's screams (of varying tone and volume) every time a wave came near let alone engulfed her! It was also very exciting to see that Noosa had a cinema, Luce emitted excited noises at this too, and in the evening we went to oggle at the new Brad Pitt film.
And then there was Hervey Bay, our gateway to Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world)... To save money and risk it for a biscuit we decided to do the self drive Fraser Island tour and met our group the night before for a 'briefing'. After being instructed on how to dig our 4X4 out of the largest sandpit in the world, not swim in the sea because of the sharks, stinger jellyfish and 'fire' coral. Not
Losers!
We all celebrated by eating peanut butter sandwiches. To think that we met Anthony over a cucumber!to mention how many beers you could drink in the day and still be legal to off road, we met with our group to finalise the shopping list. We soon established that we were all going to get on really well and it was going to be a good few days...
Day 1- 7.30am. Checked over the bright pink 4X4 for any previous damage. Understood that when any sirens went off we HAD to stop and put in either oil or water. Location of the shovel.
9am- Shopped for food and loo roll, it was a bit like supermarket sweep.
10am- Onto the ferry and looked out for crocs and sharks in the water.
The rest of the day consisted of hiking to Lake Wabby, being amazed by the massive sand dunes, swimming in the clear water and spotting lots of cat fish. It was then time to head out along the beach again to find our sand dune camping spot for the night, it was a race against the tides since you can only drive on the beach at certain times of the day and we kind of misjudged it, we made it in the nick of
time, during this drive we also had to invent code for the 'co-pilots' to shout at the people in the back so they knew what was coming...this involved 'BUMP!''BRACE!'"WASH OUT!' and 'ARRGH!', Rach (being the slighty nervous passenger that she is) started to utter these on a regular basis, especially 'ARRGH!' ENGINE DECOMPRESSION was often shouted by Dave to remind us not to use the breaks when on the sand...this was all of the time!
After setting up camp we cooked our dinner, a BBQ of course, found the ideal toilet spot and started to drink the goon (aka cheap boxed wine). The evening entailed frisbee (in the dark), Rach practising putting people into the recovery position, a sit up competition between Rach and John (Rach won), Euan singing in his scottish tones a beautiful rendition of 'I would walk 500 miles' accompanied by Luce on the frying pan and spoon (she even did a dance). The evening ended with us all on the beach (perhaps a little bit of sand dune fighting) looking at the stars and savouring the goon...
Day 2 started with cups of tea and endless rounds of toast and jam and a long
walk up the beach to the wreck of the S.S Maheno (a Japanese war ship). On the way Luce found a dead sea horse which attracted the attention of two handsome rangers, Luce wishes there were dead sea horses to be found in England, who told us that we were not allowed to take the rotting carcass home...so we all gave him a buriel, John even made a cross for the grave and we named him Percy.
During the afternoon we drove to India Head, where it started to rain...heavily, in the hope of seeing sharks, rays and dolphins, unfortunately the sea was too rough. On the journey to our next camping pitch Rach shared the driving with John. With the help of her co-pilots, Euan and Dave, she managed to not get Wabby stuck once and we all arrived safely, thanks boys. Once we were all pitched at our sand dune resort the John Thornbur 'Hair Salon' opened its, umm, doors. Luce was the first customer, when back in Hervey Bay, after hearing that John was a hair dresser when back in she threw him a sob story about not having had her hair cut for 6 months,
he decided that it needed to be done, and she sat down gleefully on the esky (a coolbox) to have her hair beautified. What an improvement it was!
The evening= ummm...goon, many laughs, goon and banana sweets..oh and goon, some more sand dune fighting, running races on the beach, moon gazing and eventually the dingos eating the remaining contents of our food esky (but not the mushrooms or lettuce, bloody critters).
Day 3 was an early start and at 7.30am we were all packed and off to Lake McKenzie where we swam, sunbathed, drank goon and swam and drank goon and sunbathed. The lake was fresh water, beautiful and very clear. All too soon it was time to head off to catch the ferry back to the mainland. We extended our time with our new found friends back at the hostel with a Mexican, beer and all of us condensed in a dorm together, awesome dude!
Fraser Island was a huge amount of fun, we met some really good friends and had LOADS of laughs!
So off up the coast we headed (again!) on a 9 hour bus journey to Airlie Beach. We arrived at 3am
and after finally getting to bed we got up early to go and print off our trip ticket for the Whitsundays, needless to say the guy we booked through was a bit of a drongo and we spent a few fretful hours trying to find our tickets. At one point we were ready to tell him to rack off and go on our merry way, luckily it resolved itself, Luce wiped her eyes, Rach took off her cross face and we set sail...on our 'luxury' 20 year old slightly fousty smelling, sweaty sail boat.
The next few days were filled with snorkelling, photograph taking, landform spotting and walking along beaches which were 95% silica (we gave our jewellery a good polish and Luce has packed some away for new implants...). It was a relaxing, sober few days, which were really needed after our Fraser Island trip!! We were not allowed to take away any shells or coral from the Whitsundays but Luce managed to gain some souvenier bed bug bites...130 just from her knees down...crikey this croc was angry (and itchy!).
Soon after arriving in Cairns (another 12 jour bus journey...we didn't ever give Oz any credit for
it's size) we picked up VANessa our camper van and set off for a few days exploring Cape Tribulation. This is an area north of Cairns where the rainforest extends right down to the sea. Whilst on our road trip we bumped into Nicola and Simon, we just couldn't shake them, a few giant spiders, some tree frogs, Scarface (4.5m, 600kg, about 80 years old croc) and a few buddies, far too many nasty mozzies, flying foxes and lots of insects and birds. We loved tootling about in our camper and were only a little bit disappointed that we couldn't swim in the sea because of the crocodiles and stinging jellyfish! On the way home we visited an Aboriginal centre and learnt how to throw a boomarang and spear...
All too soon it was the day before we had to get on the plane for NZ but there was one last thing still to do...The Great Barrier Reef, which may not be around in another 20 years. Altogether we spent 6 hours out on the reef, snorkelling, learning about the fish, drinking the free goon and snorkelling and snorkelling and umm, snorkelling! We held sponges and a vareity
of sea cucumbers, found Nemo and his slightly bluer cousin, saw a stingray and much to Luce's distress and Rach's excitement a shark (not Jaws though!).
There we are then...we are sat waiting for a last swim in the Cairns lagoon with Nic and Si, yep they are still following us, then we head off for a night of ?sleep? in the airport before we fly out to Auckland early tomorrow morning. Australia has been the longest birthday party that Luce has ever had and every single moment has been totally amazing, we have loved it all and will be coming back!
Hope youse are all well.
Skippy and Sheila signing off, eh?!
xx
P.S Does anyone know where the dunny is in this internet place?
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Carol Bowerman
non-member comment
hello
AH reading about your latest travels has brought back so many memories of my trip to Fraser Island many many years ago! Sounds like you're having the best time! Take care.x