Hi all, its us again, another update for you.
Surfers Paradise
Surfer’s is an over-commercialised, over built, touristy, skyscrapers on the sea front town on the Gold Coast but we really really liked it! We stayed in out first en-suite dorm room with 5 beds. On the first night we shared with a couple who worked at the hostel. We met up with Sarah and Hannah and had our first and still only meal in a restaurant over here! All of us nursing a hangover so we were unable to eat much, luckily the waitress bagged it up and we ate it for dinner later that night!
That evening we paid $5 for an all you can drink punch evening at the hostel but a combination of the punch being undrinkable and all of us feeling like death meant we had one glass each before retiring to be up at 9pm like the grannies we are!
Surfer's Paradise
The next day was spent by the hostel pool and on the beach. We also discovered our two new roomates were ‘two smelly boys’ as Gemma so aptly put it. One a swede called Robin, one a kiwi, Pete (ironically we later found out the kiwi was an air force pilot although New Zealand have apparently sold all their jets and so he has moved to Oz).
It was our last night with Hannah and Sarah before they headed down south to do some berry picking. So we wanted a big night to remember. we signed up for a club crawl, which for $20 (8pounds) we got entry to three clubs, four free drinks, a group photo and a key ring. We had a really good night and finally crawled into bed at 5am before having to get up at 8am for a 10am check out.We said goodbye to Hannah and Sarah and were on our way to Brisbane.
Brisbane
A very quick stopover of just one night. We spent the day sleeping in the hostel room but the evening wandering round the city. We came to the conclusion that it is very much a lesser version of Sydney(this is of course an opinion based on only a few hours spent there). We were up for a 7am bus, dragging ourselves out of bed at 5am(kate quite literally).
Brisbane
Rainbow Beach
This was the first part of our peter pan package, we had a free night in a hostel called Dingoes, either side of our Fraser Island tour. Another good hostel with ensuite bathrooms, a pool but an appallingly dirty kitchen, we ate beans and toast for two days scared of getting food poisoning from using their appliances. Rainbow Beach itself is a tiny hick townwith a population of 900 and only one street.
Fraser Island
We were up very early but not so brightly on saturday morning for free pancakes which were late mostly because the guy cooking the pancakes was staying in our room and Sarah stole his shower time! The previous day we had been split into groups of 10 and signed a lease agreement for the 4WD we were being given for the weekend to explore the island as we wished, after some intial moments of doubts we came to really like our group. They were Ann and Karen, a couple of Irish girls whose accents alone made them very entertaining to us. Phillippe and Jorick, the two dutch boys who did most of the driving being that they were over 21. Stefan and Caroline, a swedish couple and finally Nick the entertainer of the group a very funny swedish guy with lines such as ‘we don’t have internet in sweden’ and introduced us to the most ridiculous drinking game ‘boxhead’ which meant we had to carry around an empty beer box for two days treating it with more respect than the rest of the group! But importantly he was the only boy prepared to sit in the back with the girls.
We spent the morning packing up the van with all the camping gear which we had to check through first. We were slightly concerned when the boys left us to check the tents whilst they counted cutlery! Once ready we set off towards the barge, on the way we discovered that the speedometer didn’t work and the brakes were pretty useless. Tamara the woman in charge told us not to worry about that as to make up for it we had a great stereo, (because that completely compensates for the lack of working brakes!!!)
Fraser Island
Once on the island two of the four jeeps soared off leaving us behind trying without any luck to get the 4WD into hi2 the gear needed for hard packed sand driving and lower fuel consumption. After 1/2 hour of the boys trying to no avail an ozzie guy stopped to help in about 2 seconds he had accomplished what we had been trying to do in 1/2 an hour- putting the car into the correct gear. So we sped off down the beach probably breaking every speed limit on the island. We weren’t allowed to drive on the beach two hours either side of high tide. Which on the first day was 2pm. So we spent up until then driving the length of the island and set up camp in the Dundaburra campsite (no peeing in holes for us!). However, it did involve a 5 minute spider and bug check before Kate would even consider using the campsite toilets.
At the tip of the island is a pennisula called Indian Head, which is fantastic for watching the sunset and the marine life out in the ocean. Unfortunately we left it a bit late and after racing up the side of a cliff we managed to miss sunset, although, the sunset was really beautiful. We spent some time and the edge of Indian Head, just watching the waves crashing and watching the astounding ocean view. However, in that time, sun had set and as part of our lease contract for the cars, we weren’t allowed to drive in the dark. So we bombed in back down and drove back to the campsite at over 120km/hr.
Despite the darkness and our limited cooking facilites we made a gourmet meal of steak, potato salad and freshly chopped salad. We collapsed into bed ( Gemma wasn’t not impressed by the comfort the sleeping mats provided) amd were lulled to sleep by the ungodly noise of Karen snoring. Sunday morning, we were the last team up and out but the boys had cooked us breakfast. It was edible but somehow they had used 24 eggs and every saucepan available. We went that morning to the champagne pools which are bubbling baths created by the waves breaking over the rocks.
Champagne Pools
We enjoyed the bubbles there for over and hour before moving back down the beach to Eli creek. A freshwater creek which you can walk up and then let the currents carry you back down to the beach. For lunch we stopped on the beach, where we cooked hotdogd out the back of the van, where the smell of meat and spilt ketchup aroused the attention of an island regular, a wild dingo.
Next stop was to set up camp at central station before the tide came in, this however was our first experience of inland track driving, and was, to put it mildly, a bit bumpy. At one point, Sarah ended up with Gemma’s foot in her face. After setting up our camp, we headed to Lake Mackenzie, unfortunately the boys ( and we will continue to blame it solely on the boys) took a wrong turn and we ended up going south instead of north. Luckily we came across Lake Birrabeen which is just as idyllic. The water was clear and the sand as white as snow. The water was perfect temperature for swimming and the fact that it was fresh rain water meant that it was more useful than a campsite shower. That evening we watched chef Nick and the boys cook dinner, an intersting site due to the amount of chilli sauce used on the stir fry which left our mouths burning for at least an hour afterwards.
Campsite Fraser Island
Earlier that day, the park ranger came by and told us about a spot a short walk from the campsite we could go after the noise curfew a 9pm. After dinner, we headed outside the campsitr grounds and into Dingo territory, with four torches between us and Phillippe and Stefan lugging a cool box full of alchohol behind them. We don’t quite know how to describe how scary it was walking in pitch black in the middle of the rainforest, knowing that we could be attacked by spiders as big as your hand and wild dingoes at any moment.( A torch light just isn’t adequate) And it’s not like we had big strong boys to protect us, they were more scared than the girls. We returned unsuccessful but realised we’d actually gone the wrong way, so Gemma, Sarah, Ann, Phillippe and Stefan went back out again, whilst Kate guarded the alchohol. We eventually found the spot but it was just too far to carry all the alchohol so we returned to camp. On the way back Ann piped up very calmly ” By the way, there’s a dingo behind us” Everyone laughed, thinking she was joking until she shined her torch light directly on it!
Luckily no-one was eaten, having been told at the beginning of the weekend that if confronted with a dingo, stand very still and pray it goes away and if it doesn’t, be prepared to fight aggressively – don’t think hairpulling and finger nails would have worked too well on a savage dog. In that time, a huntsman spider as big as a hand had landed on Jorick’s back, causing complete chaos back at the camp, luckily there were no rangers about to implement the $50 per person noise fine.
The next morning, in a complete turn around, we were the first group up and out although, half our clothes were soaked due to the rain storm that night, and Kate ended up with a wet head, as she had been sleeping near the mosquito net of the tent. After waking thinking she was dribbling she was very relieved to find it was just rainwater.
Lake McKenzie
The agenda for monday was Lake McKenzie in the morning and be on the barge, back to the hostel at 1pm. We got to Lake McKenzie where the boys ran straight in splashing and magically transforming into 6year olds before our eyes. It was a beautiful lake but the time pressure meant we had to leave and start back to the barge landing. After some back breakingly bumpy roads we got back to the smoothness of the beach. We stopped to eat our cheese sandwiches and helped a guy get his van unstuck from the sand, before getting on an early barge back to Rainbow Beach. Gemma and Sarah managed to get themselves invited up to the captains room where they had a gorgeous 360 degree view of the crossing.We almost got stuck for the first time just driving from the barge to the road but narrowly avoided that embarrassment. Finally we were back on tarmac again! So despite the mosquitoes, the ants, the beetles, march flys, sandflys, jumping huntsmen spiders, deadly dingoes, tiger sharks and jellyfish we really enjoyed our time on Fraser Island.Now monday was a really great day we spent the entire morning painting our didgeridoos we had gotten free with our Peterpan package. It was actually really relaxing concentrating on it for so many hours and even if we do say so ourselves thay do look really good. It cost $35 to paint them with the help of an aboriginal artist which we thought was really worth it considering the didge’s were worth $100 and we had got them for free.
Painting Didgeridoos in Rainbow Beach
After arranging for them to be packed up and sent home (sorry Sarah’s) mum for the 3 didgeridoo’s that will be showing up on your doorstep in about 8 to 10 weeks!)
Next stop was 2 nights in Hervey Bay. For 8pounds a night we got a three person room in an annexe with sitting room , bathroom and kitchen. We had it all to ourselves as nobody else was booked into that part of the hostel. The hostel also has a swimming pool and jacuzzi which is where we have spent the last 2 days working on our tans and generally doing nothing.
Yesterday we caught a 13hour bus overnight (to avoid paying for hostel accomodation) to Airlie Beach where we are now. Tomorrow we leave for our Whitsunday island sailing weekend.
Loads of love
Gem, Kate and Sarah
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