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Published: March 10th 2010
Some girls joined our dorm at Nomad's late last night so we chatted to them when we woke up this morning. They were French and Italian and had met during their travels of Australia. They'd spent the last few days on Fraser Island but had had a terrible time because of the weather. It wasn't just raining... it was torrential and we'd witnessed it from Hervey Bay last night. Me and Ellie had hoped to book a ferry over to Fraser Island today but the day trips were about $150 and we didn't want to waste our money if the island was going to be flooded and miserable.
We decided to have a cheap day instead - stick to cereal for a few meals then cook something for dinner that night. We're drastically running out of money here in Oz so need to cut back our spending to afford the good things, like trips and tours especially around the Whitsunday Islands!
The weather didn't perk up so I spent over 5 hours in an internet cafe catching up on the blog - I was about 10 days behind but managed to get a lot posted that afternoon. At 2pm, El pulled
me out of the internet cafe and we went to have another bowl of cereal in the hostels kitchen... but it'd had been stolen! We were gutted. So much for a cheap day! Went back to the shop and bought items for a fruit salad instead.
Spoke to Mam who's just back from The Gambia in Africa. She's had a brilliant time and it was interesting to hear how she got on. I could relate to some of the poverty she witnessed from my time spent in Asia. We both plan to visit cultural places rather than standard beach resorts from now on.
Had horrible Super Noodles for dinner... I'd be so crap being a student! The staff here at Nomad's Hostel are so unfriendly and rude. I wouldn't advise my worst enemy to stay here! When we asked about a day trip to Fraser Island tomorrow they were sarcastic and unhelpful. Again the weather was going to be really bad so we decided we'd move on instead, get out of this hellhole. There's nothing to do, no decent restaurants, nightlife or shops. I'm sure the wildlife is worth a look and apparently Fraser Island is fantastic, but when the
weather is like it is, it's just not possible to go out and see the wildlife. Rather than waste more time here, we decided we'd be better moving up the coast to the Whitsunday Islands where the weather is said to be more settled at the minute and there's more to do.
We went in search of a Internet cafe open later than 8pm - Nomads shut theirs at 8pm becuase they're rubbish! We came accross a backpackers hostel called Next and the staff were much nicer. I wish we'd stayed there! On the internet, we found a journey with Premier coaches (that was slightly cheaper than the more well known coach company called Greyhound) and they had an over night journey leaving the following evening, so we booked that.
The following day (I'm writting these two days as one blog as they were so uneventful) we checked out and the Dragon on reception was as miserable as ever. We got the bus to Centro, basically a glorified industrial estate with nothing of interest other than a cinema. Alice in Wonderland 3D had just come out, so we were excited to see that. The film was good - Jonny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter had brilliant costumes, they looked fantastic! I thought "Alice" was miss-cast. They'd gone for a Plain Jane but I thought someone with striking features (just like Jonny and Helena) would have suited the role better - someone like Mary Kate Olsson. I'm more in to thrillers and rom-com's than Fantasy films, but anyone that likes the special effects in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings would love this film.
Got back to Nomads and sat and read with a bowl of soup. It's so boring here. There's no activities or games room. It's a pathetic attempt for a backpackers. So... more catchin up on the blog for me.
Had a last minute panic when we realised Premier hadn't emailed up the coach confirmation. Pleeeease dont tell me I've got to stay here another night! Fortunately they had it on the system and the helpful staff at Next backpackers printed it out for us. Got on the local bus back to the Coach Station. We were sat with some old ladies and a young Australian moron who thought he was a gangster. The conversation between our random group quickly went from the price of Tea in Australia to Heroin and Cocaine. Mr Wanna-be Gangster tried to make fun of the Old women but they obviously weren't as innocent as they seemed and they gave him as good as they got.
We felt drained after a crap few days! We were so giddy when we arrived here two days ago. Hervey Bay had been a big disappointment so we cheered ourselves up with a KFC, which may I add, we had managed to avoid during our entire trip since December. There were so many fat people in there and they all looked inbred. You'd think we were in some Hillbilly town in America!
Whilst eating our KFC, we listed the similarieties between me and Ellie. There's so many - like how we opt for light options of everything as we don't notice the difference - from Diet Coke, to Skimmed Milk, to Silk Cut Silvers. We both have a dislikeing for certain celebrities but can't give a reason why - people like Amanda Holden, Winona Ryder, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Can't bare them, but don't know why! Even our love of organisation and writting lists.. hence the reason we were sat in KFC listing our similarities.
After an exhilarating 10 minutes doing this, it was necessary to top up our energy levels ;-) KFC didn't serve coffee so we walked over the road and got a coffee and ice cream from the next fast food joint, McDonalds. We got seated on our Premier coach at 9pm and they were planning a random mix but great selection of tunes. A gigantic moth came flying at us, ironically while Meatloaf's "Bat out of Hell" was playing.
Premier Coaches were great so we'd use them again.
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Tim
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Help me check out this beautiful place!!
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