Advertisement
Published: March 11th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Main Beach
You can see 34km to the end of the beach. 16.02.06
We were up nice and early to go to the supermarket to buy supplies for our holiday to Stradbroke Island as we had heard that there were only small shops on the island which meant they could be expensive.
We also rung the woof lady (Sue) and we got booked in on her farm as of Monday, so we were very excited about that.
In true Mel and Andy style our trip was not with a tour company so we got the train from Brisbane to Cleveland then a bus, ferry, taxi followed by another bus.We got to our hostel at point lookout(a small resort just around from where a few weeks ago a young girl was killed by a shark whilst swimming out at sea). We booked in to find we had got the entire hostel to ourselves, Cool!
After booking in we went for a wander round this unspoilt island, we headed of to south gorge which is a really pretty walk along the headland. On the way we saw several massive scary looking spiders. On our walk along the headland WE SAW A SHARK! at least 5 feet long on Main beach only about 500m from surfers!
That evening we had our tea outside whilst fighting the mozzies and being scared by a large (about 50cm) blue tongued lizard! We first thought it was a snake.
After dinner, in the pitch black, we went for a walk to Deadmans Beach (called that because they found a dead man there). It was quite scarey walking through the woods with a tiny torch. After our walk to and on the beach (when we eventually found our way back) we had some garlic bread to keep away the mozzies!
17.02.06
Another lovely day (beats the tropical rainy weather in Brisbane). Got up and had a lazy breakfast and headed off to Cylinder beach. There was only a dozen or so people on the whole beach, it was great. We stayed there for most of the day swimming, played frisbee and read. We went back to the hostel and chilled some more, had tea and then went to the North Gorge to try and see some dolphins and turtles, as this place is supposed to be 'a haven for marine life'. Andy thinks he saw a dolphin, but other than that it wasn't very successful. As the sun came
down we went to Frenchmans beach, which is supposed to be the place to see the turtles coming on the shore to nest at this time of year.
Well we sat in the pitch black on the beach for a couple of hours waiting for some turtles to walk past. Of course they didn't.
We saw lots of crabs, amazing stars (when the clouds parted) and we saw the moon rise! This was really cool. We saw a yellow object appear on the horizon, we thought it was a boat at first and it started to look as if it was getting bigger and closer, we actually got a little worried! When we realised it was the moon it was very cool to watch it rise and it was a full moon, bright yellow/orange.
18.02.06
Oh my goodness I (Mel) have bed bug bites! Disgusting! Not happy.
Today we headed to Cylinder beach again but as we were almost there a couple told us not to go there because there were loads of blue bottles and already there had been 23 different stings. So back we went to go to Main beach via the North Gorge, just incase there
was a chance we might see something. When we got to the North Gorge there were a few people stood around looking out to the sea, this looked promosing! And yes there were a couple of pods of dolphins!!!! And there were proper surfing the waves, just like you see on the postcards and at seawolrd but only better because it was in the wild! They were playing and flipping. Everybody watching was cheering and clapping, it was great! There were hundreds of dolphins. People came and went, but Andy and I sat there for a couple of hours or so. North Stradbroke Island has the largest number of dolphins/pods in the smallest area in the world. On the other side of the cliff we saw turtles! Oh my goodeness what a result! and we only came by here today by chance! We didn't know which way to look! The turtles were quite small ones, but you could see there little faces as they came up quickly to catch a breath and they would then dive back down, so cute.
Amongst the dolphins and turtles we also saw some mantarays! some big ones. We also saw a couple of them
jump out of the sea.
Once I could eventually tear Andy away we went to Main beach and had a go at body boarding (we borrowed them from the hostel). The waves were big (just like all the beaches we've been to in Australia) I had a brief go in the smaller waves after they had broken, but with such a strong current pulling me where I didn't want to go I soon gave up. Andy went out for a while, but decided the waves were just too big.
After a good day we went back to the hostel, showered and then went back to see if we could see any more dolphins. We just saw 3. On the way back we went to buy some bread from a bakery, I asked how much and she said take it! What a result, free food! (we love free food and free food shelves!) Went back had tea, then there was a power cut so we read for a while with our torches.
19.02.06
Having got bed bug bites, last night I swapped sides with Andy. This morning I have more and he has none! How unfair is that?
Anyway we
were up at 4.45am to go to a lookout near Deadmans beach to see the sunrise. We got bitten to death by mozzies, even with repellent on. The sunrise was nice, but a little too cloudy to be really good. But we are still trying for the amazing sunrise.
We went back to bed then got a bus at 10.20am to ferry at 11am, back to Cleveland at 11.25am to run for the train back to Brisbane. When we got back to Brisbane we got our photos put onto CD so that we would have lots of photos for the farm tomorrow. We traeted ourselves to a subway sandwich which was on offer.
Then we headed back to Aussie Way Backpackers. When we got there they had booked us into 2 seperate dorms! How stupid! So after checking the prices of another hostel close by we decieded to get a double at Aussie way. Met up with Kerry and Andy again which was cool, and unfortunately the idiot Finnish guy was still there. We relaxed around the pool, had tea went for a walk to get a couple of beers to have whilst watching movies.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.049s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 14; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0219s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dad and Anna
non-member comment
Bug bites
Hi you two, I just couldn't resist asking if the bed bugs have recovered from biting Melissa, great to talk to you two this weekend, and I'll call again tomorrow before you move off to Fraser Island.Love to you both Dad and Anna