Rocking and swag rolling

Tuesday - Thursday

Tour was due to begin at 6am Tuesday morning.  When we woke up to get ready and have brek it was still dark outside and felt unreasonably early.  Again we'd forgotten to change the clocks and had got up too soon, however luckily this time the time change was only 30 mins so we just did some early morning emailing and tried not to think about the fact that we'd got up at 4.30am.

Everyone was rounded up from their different hostels and we were then on the road by about 7am.  There was 20 of us in total from UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ireland and Japan.  Our first stop was Kings Canyon which is 500km south west of Alice Springs so we had quite a bit of a drive to do first.


We arrived there about midday, had a quick roll and then were given a briefing about the hike we were about to do.  The walk was 6.5 km which would have been fine except that it was 43 degrees celcius that day and the route started with a steep up hill climb named "heart attack hill" in memory of those who had died on the way up!!  We were briefed on the signs of heat exhaustion we had to look out for and what to do if we started to feel unwell.  We were all instructed to take 3 litres of water each and consume it all whilst on the walk.

So with this in mind (and fear in our hearts) we started the first hike of the tour.  The hill luckily didn't kill any of us on the way up but I'll admit my heart was pounding when I reached the top and I did feel a bit dizzy.  A couple of people had to stop half way up for a while, one person turned back and our tour guide Sasha was almost sick and we had to wait to let her rest at the top before moving on.  So that goes to show it was pretty hot as she does the walk twice every week.

The route we were taking was around the rim of the canyon and it was a great walk.  Once we were up there and had regained ourselves we made our way around stopping occasionally to hear about the plants and wildlife and geology.  It was an impressive and foreboding place with barely any shade and very tough inhabitants including rock wallabies, the ghost gum tree (that kills off its own branches when there's no water) and a little lizard who climbed my leg when we stopped for a story at one point!

Once all the way round we started our descent which proved to be worse than the heart attack hill at the start.  But before long we were back on the bus with the air con on munching on snacks and pulling ourselves together again. Plus we all got to snooze again as we then had another 3 hours drive to our bush camp at Curtin Springs.

When we were nearly there we pulled over to collect wood for the camp fire which meant everyone wandering into the bush to look for big logs and fallen trees which we dragged onto the roof of the trailer. One of the trees contains an oil which burns very well but if you impale yourself with it it gives you gangrene. I did manage to cut my leg on it but escaped gangrene and consequential amputation.

Our camp for the night was really in the middle of nowhere which was pretty exciting, it genuinely was a bush camp.  It was action stations on arrival, the fire was started within five minutes, all the swags were out and arranged around the fire and food prep got underway.  The plan was to cook on the fire and what this meant was that we removed coals from the fire that already burnt down and made little piles that we rested the pans on, it was really clever.  We had chilli and rice but also made bread for the rest day which was cooked slowly in a closed pan over coals.

Then it was beer time and we all finally got a chance to relax and get to know one another.  I have to admit I had a killer head ache from earlier which I didn't manage to kick so was happy helping with food rather than chatting but Rob was good and sociable and got people talking.  However it wasn't long after dinner was eaten and cleared up before talk of bed began as by this point it was 10pm.  So everyone crawled into their swags under the stars around the fire and tried not to think of our the snakes and spiders we were sharing our camp with.

Sasha got us up promptly at 5am the next morning so that we got on the move as this morning's walk was supposed to be much hotter than yesterdays so we needed to start it early.  We had an impressive brek for camping of fruit salad (tinned), cereal, toast and porridge and tea and coffee.  Then once we'd cleared up and all rolled our swags (this had to be done neatly or they were sent back) and got ourselves dressed we were on the road again.  We cheated slightly and went for a toilet stop on the way at the campsite at Yulara where we would stay later but showers were forbidden.

This mornings walk was at Kata Tjuta (meaning "many heads"). We caught sight of them as we were approaching and they were phenomenal (you're not really allowed to say it but from a distance they were even more impressive than Uluru).  The scale of them was immense (24k around the base) and they looked so interesting all leaned up against each other.  I was really excited about exploring them.

And we were really lucky with the weather, not often am I glad about a cloudy sky and wind but this morning it was such a relief as normally the temp really rises amongst the rocks but this morning it stayed down at about 37 degrees with a bit of breeze.  All in all the walk that morning was a much more enjoyable experience as I loved the place and we didn't spend the whole time checking we weren't about to collapse.  We even got a chance to have proper chats with people en route.  I felt invigorated by the 7.1km loop trail through the Valley of the Winds.

Kata Tjuta is an interesting place.  It is a conglomerate of 36 sandstone domes.  It is also a highly sacred place for the Anangu (the local aboriginal people's term meaning "we people") and unlike Uluru the government have no remaining hold on the land.  It is a male sacred place and where Aboriginal men take their sons to teach them about women as the shape of some of the rock formations bring certain things to mind (but I'm not allowed to talk about this as a women).  Also once inside the rocks  you're not allowed to take photos that could be used commercially as no photo of the sacred interior has ever been published.  That's why the only picture is the one above.

Today was altogether a less hardcore day.  After our fun (albeit pretty tiring and sweaty) walk we headed back to campsite to eat our lunch of salami and salad wraps, leftover chilli and fire baked bread and then we went swimming in the campsite's pool!!  For the first time our body temperature lowered to a comfortable level and we got to wash two days worth of red sand off our arms and legs.  We had a good giggle in the pool too.

We were altogether a more respectable bunch which was good as we now went to visit the aboriginal cultural centre based within the Kata Tjuta and Uluru national park.  This centre has been sent up with the Anangu for people to learn about the history of this sacred places and to understand about the stories and ceremonies that surround them and the skills needed to be able to survive in their harsh terrain.  It was interesting hearing some of the children's stories (as uninitiated adults cannot hear the adult stories) and learning about the bush tucker that the Anangu survived on for so long.

Afterwards we we finally got to visit Uluru for the first time.  We did a short walk along part of the base with Sasha who pointed out some of the bush tucker we'd just learned about and so of the cave paintings.  She sat us down in the shade of the van and taught us some of the symbols and so showed us how you can use this to interpret the paintings' meaning.  We also learnt that the reason it looks so dramatic is it is a monolith, a single piece of rock.  It's reddy orange colour is the result of oxidation (rusting) which is then enhanced by the rising and setting sun.  Also, it is like a tip of an iceberg!  It continues 6k underground.  The Mala walk was very interesting however this would have been an altogether more relaxing and happy experience if it weren't for the plague of flies that seemed to descend that afternoon, Rob swatted at them like a madman.  But it was still a beautiful experience as the sun was back out and made the colour beam from the rock and twinkle through the trees.

Up close you have to keep reminding yourself that this enormous presence is a huge rock, its hard to get you head around.

We were then informed that rather than heading back to camp for dinner we were going to have it while watching Uluru at sunset and that Sasha would cook it for us while we had some beers and took in the atmosphere.  I love sunset beers at the best of times and because I hadn't drunk the night before I even had extra for this evening.  Everyone's spirits were high as we took endless photographs of Uluru (including lots of silly ones - Rob thinks he is resting his beer on Uluru in the above photo), took in the view and toasted another energetic, but really really fun day.  Some of us carried on having beers back at the campsite and stayed up to a "rocking" 10.30pm!

Not only did we get to have dinner at sunset the next morning we got up and headed back to have brek watching the sunrise behind Uluru.  This did mean a 4am start but it was worth it.  It was freezing that morning which was a suprise, however it heated up quickly once the sun was up.  The final walk was the longest at 10km but also the flattest, we were to walk the entire base of Uluru.  Everyone was pretty energetic considering the lack of sleep and we completed the walk in a couple of hours.  It was great getting to see all angles and visit the Mutijulu waterhole and see some more paintings.  We didn't climb it as it is against the wishes of the Anangu but the Government leave this option open for tourism which is a bit bad really.  Also, we saw the walk, and it has one rickety hand rail.  People die ever year falling off the rock.

As we were up so early we were able to start the walk at 7am and so were ready to leave Uluru and start the journey back by 9am.  It felt sad to be going already but since we'd already spent 5 hours there by this time we were satisfied we had thoroughly explored Uluru and the area.  Plus we did have some stops on the journey home to sight Mount Connor (also known as "Fooluru" because people mistake it for Uluru).  This mountain looks similar to Uluru but is a mountain not a rock and is considered to be cursed therefore is not such a favourite with people!  We also saw the nearby salt lakes which reminded me of Utah.  Then one hour from Alice we had a final stop at a camel farm where a few of us (only the girls for reasons of comfort)had a short and bumpy ride.

Before we knew it we were back and everyone was getting dropped back off at their hostels.  In all we had driven over 1500km and walked 23km seen loads and learned even more.   It was a great trip and the company had again been wonderful, we were quite a mixed bag and it was fun chatting to people.  Therefore we all agreed to meet up for dinner with Sasha (conveniently the tour company owns a bar/restaurant where we are invited to meet up and spend our money!)

So after a couple of hours peace we got cleaned up and headed back to town.  There were six of us staying at our hostel so we shared a cab in  as it was unexpectedly pouring with rain!  We all had dinner at the bar and it was the first time in ages that we've been vaguely dressed up and out drinking and so that was fun and we got a bit pissed and stayed out until 12! Plus the other group that had been on tour at the same time had a guitar rigged up in the bar so Rob took a slot on stage and entertained the bar with a song of his own and then a couple of crowd pleasing covers which everyone sang along with.  He even got a $7 free pint out of it so effectively he can now say he has done a paid gig in the Australian outback...  Altogether an unexpectedly raucous evening considering we'd all been up since 4am.

Alice, Alice, where the **** is Alice?

Monday.  It was an easy flight over from Cairns in the morning.  Very good food on the plane.  I like Qantas.  They've been really good so far (touch wood).  After we got off the plane at Alice Springs, we were hit by a wall of heat.  It was 40 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  However, as it's in the desert (well semi arid apparently - it's all desert to me) you don't sweat like you do on the coast.  Just roast.  Our hostel was quite nice.  It's little caravans.  We felt like country hillbillies!  All we achieved that day was checking into our Rock Tour, a little shopping, dinner and a early night for the 5am start the next day for our adventure into the red centre...

Great Barrier Sick

Today we got up early and got down the Marina for our snorkling trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  It was a smallish boat with about 20 people and about 5  crew on.  Unfortunately, the conditions today, although sunny, were choppy to say the least.  After our 2 hour boat ride out to the outer reef, me and ame felt sick as dogs.  We thought, oh well, let's get in the water and have a poodle about and we'll feel fine.  Actually it was worse in a way.  The waves kept on going over head and down the snorkle and I swallowed half the sea...  And it was quite hard work swimming in it.  Having said that, we saw some really big fishes and even an Angel Fish (only one on it's own - I swear I could hear it say "Nemo!  Have you seen Nemo?!"...  We tried to get some good snaps with our underwater camera but who knows how they will turn out.

Back on the boat, I felt so rough, I threw up in a lovely biodegradable brown bag and lobbed my waste into the sea.  Ame bravely went out again, even though she felt really really rough, and she saw a reef shark which was nice.  I stayed on board and slept for 3 hours until we were home.  Ame slept for 2 hours 45 minutes (not a massive second snorkle you see)!!

We have no regrets doing it.  Can't win them all.  It was nice to be back on dry land and we got back to the hostel and cooked a super healthy scrummy dinner. 

This tree appeared in our hostel during the day.  So apparently Christmas is coming in Oz.  It's funny seeing the sun and Xmas trees out. 

We're flying off to Alice Springs tomorrow.  This is the East Coast done.  It's been very good to us and this first month has flown by.  We've got some great memories and luckily, as we begin to forget them as we all do, we can look back at this wonderful, professional, hilarious blog...  ;-)

Water. Fall. Slide

On Saturday, we got away from On the Wallaby nice and early (well 9am!) and headed for our first stop of the day, Nandroya Falls. We decided to take the long way back to Cairns to fit in some more beauty sites. We had heard that this particular falls was hard to find. It weren't wrong. After an our and a bit driving we pull up around hen creek and tried to follow the signs to the waterfall. Unsurprisingly, it was all a bit misleading and a pain in the ass. So, given that we'd kicked ass on all the following days, we thought, sod it, let's move on.

So on we went and pulled up at the Canopy walkway in the rainforest. We thought it would be a little to get in so we went to have a look: $20 per person... Bugger that. Not after our free, rainforest boardwalk, cassowary lovin' treks! So we were beginning to think that perhaps the short way home might of been a better idea. After a brilliant full on adventure we were feeling tired and maybe even beginning to take the beautiful sites around in the forest for granted. However, we persevered towards Josephine Falls.

Wow. That was a wake up call. It was excellent. Probably one of the best we've been in and swam in. The falls even came with handed natural water fall "slide" (see the videos below).


It was a great atmosphere, with everyone taking turns on the "slide" and enjoying the serene surroundings. I had my prescription goggles on as usual so I could see under water there were loads of timid catfish around. Funny how everything just seems to get along and share, still I wouldn't fancy stepping on one of those boys...

Then it was full steam ahead to Babinda Boulders. Naively, we thought that this would just be a rock or something. To our unthoughtout surprise it was another river but this time with epic, massive boulders in. Very impressive and felt quite special. The local aboriginals have a sinister story about the river about it being haunted by girl who threw herself in after being forbidden to see a boy from another tribe. The legend says she threw herself in the river so hard she created the boulders. Spooooky.

It was around 14:00 and the heat was beginning to make us quite sleepy (which we all know ain't great for driving!) So, further down the road we pulled over in a little hick village called Fishery Falls and had a coffee with all the mad looking locals, who were drinking beer and gambling on the pokies (slot machines). Quite funny really. Ame was probably the first woman in there in 50 years...

Around 16:00 we were back in Cairns and checked into our lovely Tropic Days accommodation. It's the big brother to the Traveller's Oasis we stayed in the other day. Tonight we're going into Cairns to look at the night market, the lagoon and use our free dinner vouchers for the Woolshed that we get from Tropic Days at! This is the cool party place in town which in the week has wet t shirt and jock competitions, however since they're not on tonight (wink) I feel an early night coming on as we're visiting a little thing called the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow!

"She's a waterfall"

Friday.  I think we used up all our share of animal spotting luck yesterday and so today we decided to stick to searching for waterfalls.  We had planned a driving route that allowed us to visit five and save another three for the next day.  It is funny because when you drive around the area it is mostly agricultural but it still has spots of forest which is where the waterfalls take cover.  (Strangely "Waterfall" by the Stone Roses came on the radio in the hostel that morning...)

The first one we visited was Dinner Falls and was probably our favourite.  It was created as part of a volcanic crater and was lovely and we had a perfect swimming pool.  Best of all no-one was there.  Today was less sunny but it came out at the right moments to warm us up enough to brave the chilly waters.  It was really serene and not something I expected to be doing in Aus for some reason, I had clearly underestimated the variety of environments in this vast country.

After that we visited another three that were located in close proximity to each other; Millaa Millaa Falls, Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls (photos in order). Ellinjaa Falls took over as our favourite as it was even more spectacular and again we got a private swim and a shower under the falling water.

The trouble with all of this serenity and relaxation is that I become so sleepy and so next we went on our (now becoming daily) hunt for an afternoon coffee to make it through til evening without a sleep.  We headed to the Mungalli dairy farm where we had planned to some cheese tasting to see if they could help, and they did not disappoint.  We also thought it would be impolite not to sample their other creations and so shared some cheese cake with our coffee and got some yogurt to have with the rest of our chickpea curry for dinner (oh the luxury of dairy products in our now fridgeless life).

After our little pick me up we saw one more waterfall on the way to Lake Eacham.  At the lake we had a proper swim and a little read before heading back.  As we came back into Yungaburra through I expressed an interest in visiting the local winery and distillery and Rob caved in (although slightly doubtful as it was housed in what seemed to be a metal shed).  It turned out to be quite an experience and it is lucky we only had to cross the road home afterwards as he fed us 5 fruit wines, two fortified wines and four liquors.  They were made from locally grown fruits and were very good enough not quite yummy enough to invest in a bottle despite really wanting to since he'd been so kind.

Back at the hostel we wobbled along with others to view some more platypus spotting before eating up the rest of yesterday's dinner (plus yummy bio-dynamic homemade yogurt) and settling down to a peaceful evening we are knackered after the last few days excitement.  The last three days have been some of our favourite in Australia.  It has been brilliant to get out an explore by ourselves, to see the beautiful countryside and nature and to see sights that we knew nothing about before we came.

Be wary of the cassowaries

We started the second day of our northern adventure with a dip in the pool and a free eggs and bacon brek and then left our rainforest cabin to hit the road again. This morning was our chance to have more of an explore of the rainforest as we had run out of time the day before. Conveniently there are a number of boardwalked tours through the forest, just as well considering much of the forest floor is swamp and mangrove, not to mention the stinger plants we had been warned about the day before.  Also, these spikey things that disguise themselves as palm tree leaves!  They'll cut you apart!

The first walk we did wasn't far from our cabin and then the second one was a little further south; it was here where the magic happened! Firstly it was a beautiful walk, much of it was over clear water with huge stunning tree canopy above.

The trees were amazing with huge bases that almost looked like metal structures and hanging roots that criss crossed about. But the best bit was near the end of the walk, we were walking very quietly taking in the views and suddenly Rob stopped short and pointed into a watery clearing where stood a full grown Cassowary!!!!!!!!

I had been trying to spot a Cassowary the whole time since entering the forest the day before as everywhere you are warned you could come across one but noone ever seems to. They are a breed of Emu and the same size but black with a blue head and other colourful feathers (like a "Kevin" if anyone has seen the film Up). It crossed the stream quite quickly and then headed into the forest out of sight again but we saw it clearly before it did so. When we started walking again we found a huge cassowary "dropping" on the boardwalk and so it is very lucky we hadn't come sooner and met it face to face as they can be very aggressive. However, we caught it on video!

After that we decided that the rainforest had got as good as it could get and decided to head down South out of the forest only stopping to buy locally grown tea, visit a fruit farm and sample their ice cream and visit "Coffee world" where they grow and grind and have a yummy cafe. We were heading to Yungaburra, South West of Cairns where we were booked for the next two nights.

Despite all the scenic stops we made good time and so decided to have one last visit of the day to the Curtain Fig Tree. It is hard to explain what it is like except that it is a huge beautiful tree that has been surrounded by another fig tree whose roots have made a giant curtain and the effect is phenomenal. You can see why it is considered so sacred by its indiginous "owners".

Our two night home in Yungaburra was "On the Wallaby" a hostel that feels like a homely mountain cabin (although not on a mountain). It is the most homely and relaxed of the hostels/guest houses we've stayed in and probably the cheapest. Everyone made us feel really welcome too. We were good and cooked chickpea curry despite being tempted by the BBQ and then got ready to go out with them on their night canoe trip to do some more wildlife spotting I (a last minute decision and a very wise one).

The evening canoe was amazing. I could go on forever but I'll try and restrain. We were in two man canoes and we headed out in the dark onto a big lake. Luckily it was a full moon so we could just about see where we were going without the torches but we had those anyway for spotlighting. It was eerie but unbelievable peaceful out on the silent still water. We paddled along quietly, trying to avoid the branches that grow out of the water and holding the torches up to search the trees as we went, looking for the reflection of their eyes that gives them away.

Throughout the evening we managed to spot a number of common ring tailed possoms in the trees, water dragons balancing on the branches emerging from the water, pady melons (small Kangeroos) bouncing on the banks and a number of birds, platypus, then finally a bandicoot on the bank as we were leaving. An unforgettable night.

No trials but tribulations

We got the car around 08:00; a little light green Hyandu. It might have been small but it was really modern and super easy to drive. We got on the road around 09:15 and headed on the Cook Highway towards Cape Tribulation. For those who don't know, Cape Tribulation is a spot north of Cairns where Tropical rain forest meets the sea. The Daintree National Parks up there have many natural beauty spots and it's all a world heritage site.


I wanted to drive. I've never driven abroad and as Oz drives on the left, it was the perfect opportunity. I LOVED IT. There was wasn't many other people about and the route was simple as it follows the coast north; it was simple and peaceful and beautiful. Although not always flat, straight and smooth so it was a good chance to try out some more challenging driving too.

The plan for the day was to make our way up to Cape Trib visiting sights along the way. We first stopped at a look out over looking one of Cairns beautiful beaches: Ellis beach. The view was such a postcard for perfection. I was amazing driving alongside this stuff.

We next stopped at Port Douglas for a brief snack. Lots of people told us that this place is excellent and we nearly stayed here instead of Cairns. Kind of glad we didn't though because although it was pretty and sedate like we prefer, it seemed a little too quiet. Also, along whole of north Queensland is stinger season, meaning it is not safe to swim in the sea AT ALL. Port Douglas has a section on sea with a stinger net that people can swim in but it looked quite small and a bit restrictive...

Then it was on to Mossman Gorge; a rocky point in the river suitable for swimming. Loved this. Had a really good cool off in the water. Me and Ame even went up to about halfway on the stream and then neively thought we've "float back down. However the river was much faster than we'd thought and we more crashed down than floated. I have bruised knees! Still worth it though, very fun.


After a spot of lunch on the riverside it was on to the Daintree River and we got ourselves a Croc Cruise for an hour. We buzzed about the Daintree River on a little boat. We approached a river bank, and there was Mr Croc. A small male: 2 metres! Apparently, they can get up to 7 metres nose to tail. Unfortunately it's near impossible to get a good photo of this (and the other crocs we saw) because they are just so blooming camoflaged. However, we also saw these brilliant tree frogs. It took me a while to spot them again cos they blend in so much. But when I did there were 3 of the little beauties sitting there minding their own business. It was interesting to hear about the rainforest too. Because it is the oldest in the world a lot of plants have evolved to protect themselves. So a lot of them can do you a LOT of damage.

We had to cross the river to continue our journey so we headed over to the small Daintree river ferry which takes about 2 minutes for $20 return (rip off but no choice). We were now heading towards the Cape. After some winding roads, another scenic lookout of where the river hits the ocean, a few food stops to buy fresh food for dinner, we arrived at Cape Trib Beach House. This place was a little pricey but the alternative were hostels with a pretty bad rep. This place was wicked though. Right on the Cape beach, swimming pool, bar, guest kitchen, and a pool table! So after cooking Pesto Pasta a la local sausage, we settled down to a few games of pool before passing out around 22:00.

Tomorrow we're gonna explore the rainforest and then leave for the Atherton Tablelands (about a 3 - 4 hour drive south) ready to do the "waterfall circuit" and see more natural beauty...

Oasis

When we got off our last overnight bus on the east coast, we got a cheap taxi to Traveller's Oasis. Now the reviews of this hostel were all 5 star so we were expecting it to be good. And it bloody well was. Exactly what we needed. I was MELTING when we got to Cairns. It's so hot. So a nice, relaxed place with super friendly staff was just what the doctor ordered. We spent the morning Skypin' the family, late morning organising our 4 day car rental and Cape Tribulation stay, early afternoon shopping for the trip, late afternoon passed out, had a little swim and in the evening we had a good hearty 'roo burger in Green Ant. The next day we'd be off early in the mean machine up to Cape Trib...

Ay ay Captain

(Posted by Amy actually!)

On Friday night we spent a lovely evening catching up with V (who we met on our Fraser Island trip) and watching fireworks that were put on for the "schoolies".  Then after a thoroughly air conditioned nights sleep we were up preparing to board Eureka II, our home for the next three days.  Eureka II is an ex-racing yacht and despite looking small from the outside was surprisingly spacious and really nicely decorated inside and out.  There were 15 of us on the trip and two crew looking after us.  Mark the Skipper was a 40 year old Californian "dude" who seemed to have spent most of his in and around water in some manner and Martin was his glamorous young dutch male assistant who was the skivvy really (i.e. chef, cleaner, boat hand etc).

We immediately hit it off with everyone on the boat; a different crowd to the Fraser island lot but in a way that suited sailing and relaxing around the Whitsundays.  But then we had chosen a chilled out, relaxed boat so it makes sense that it would attract some like minded people.  There was a Irish couple, a couple from London, us, an older Dutch couple, three young Germans, a Californian and a barrister from Derby. 

The fifteenth member of the group was quite a surprise.  As we got down to Abel Point Marina Rob thought he saw someone he recognised from the past and sure enough it was Leanne, Adam's old best mate from school!  So this was someone Rob also saw a lot of when he was younger, though apparently normally in a rather comatose state after she and Adam had had a heavy night out.  So, it's a small world really and was great to get to hear what she has been up to and her plans for the future.

Once we were all boarded and introduced there was no mucking about and we got straight on our way and sailed over to Langford Island which was nearby the exclusive Hayman island (where a night can run you AUS$16,000) Langford Island is basically a sand dune and so it got smaller and smaller as the tide came in but they picked us up in the dingy just in time.  We saw lots of amazing fishes and I had a snooze on the beach (which resulted in one pink ear).  As a precaution, we had to wear these "stinger" suits to protect us from Jelly fish (of which some in Oz have a deadly sting).  They were also quite handy to protect you from burning (except for ears).  At first we were all really paranoid as we thought we were seeing loads of jelly fish all over the place but these turned out to be fish eggs and we all looked a bit stupid!





Back on the boat we had lunch and then headed off again over to a pass of Hook Island where we were to spend the night.  The sail that afternoon was particularly relaxing as everyone had now settled in, was snoozy after lunch and I think we were all stunned by the views.  When we were moored off Hook Island we were each allowed a 1 minute shower and the beers and snacks were brought out as the sun was setting.  I felt bad for poor old Martin as we all sat on our arses and chatted and got drunk and he had to cook for 15 of us, but despite my offers he wouldn't let me help.  He cooked chicken curry for us all and then we stayed up on deck until about 11pm getting to know each other before we all passed out, nothing like a day of sun, snorkling and fresh air to make you sleepy (and a bit of wine probably helps too).  Rob stayed up on deck under the stars which meant I got our double bunk to myself.

As always with camping or sailing everyone was up nice and early and after a quick brek we motored down to near Whitehaven beach.  This beach has the finest sand in the world which was used to make the lense for the hubble telescope!  It was still really early at this point and it was amazing to climb to the look out and look down on the beach just as the day was waking up.  We spent a good few hours down there which was brilliant.  I spent a luxurious hour reading in the shallows and then put on my sexy stinger suit to go looking for wildlife and successfully sighted a stingray and a baby reef shark which I was very pleased about. Back on board we were fed again and then raced another boat over to Makeral bay for today's snorkling.  Here we were even luckier and saw a huge turtle that had come up for air.

The sailing today was much more exciting as it was much windier than on Saturday.  We had to tack to get to Makeral Bay and the boat was so tipped that all of us had to line up on the high side with our legs over and then clamber over really quickly each time was tacked.  It was loads of fun despite resulting in a number of bruises and sun burn (not me though, I've learnt my lesson from surfing in Byron and kept covered).  Our  final stop on Sunday and base for the night was ... which was another stunning location.  We were fed Nachos with our beers and then spag bol and garlic bread and then drank too much wine in the breeze up on deck.  It was another perfect day.

Monday was the windiest yet.   We started the day by heading up to another look out where you can look down on the boat and also learn about the history of the Islands and their original inhabitants.  This was great except for the fact that we were sieged by March flies (horse flies) that ate us alive.  So once back on board we sped off to leave them behind and headed to Raven's Cove (a nice piratey name). We jumped off the boat and swam over to the snorkling this time although as there wasn't loads to see I had a swim about instead. 

We stayed moored here for a bit until everyone was done snorkling, to wait for the two people who had gone diving and to give Martin time to get sorted.  The only prob with this was that it was windy and we span around lots on our mooring and Rob got greener and greener.  He thinks it was after a rocky night sleeping on deck, and I think perhaps him helping me finish the (box of) wine the night before might have also been a contributer.  But he wasn't actually sick and eventually we had lunch and headed off for our final sail.  This time we seemed to be racing back against another boat which raced for Australia in America!  We went really fast on the way back and the waves were huge and we crashed through them.  It was brilliant and beautiful and totally exhilarating and one of those moments when you don't want to be anywhere else.  I stored the feeling and the memory to return to in my mind when back at work to make me feel happy and smug. 

 

Back on dry land we took a cheesy group photo and then some of us went to the lagoon to cool down (and finish the last of the wine) before having showers and sorting out our packing.  Lots of us were getting the bus out of Airlie that eve so we agreed to meet for dinner at the Mexican near the bus stop.   It was a great end to a brilliant three days and happy hour priced mojitos sealed the deal.  Drunk and full we boarded the bus to head North, so from boat to bus in just a few hours and preparing to awake the next day in another new location....

Schoolies and Toolies

We got off the bus this morning after yet another overnight bus... It was the first time it has been late for us. Still, only a 40 minutes late. We slept fairly well despite the bus picking up a driver on the way home who shouted his arse off speaking to the other driver even though the whole bus was trying to sleep.

So we're in Airlie. It's another functional kind of town. Pretty much a hub for Whitsunday sailing trips. There are also loads of "schoolies" about. These are 16 year olds who have just done their exams and looking to go wild. However, they have to where identity tags to say who they are, who they are with and there age! So no booze for them. I'm sure they find a way round it. Accompanying the schoolies are "toolies" who are 21+ men looking to take advantage of drunk young girls... So tonight might be interesting (especially for the police!). No different in UK I suppose...

We got to the YHA which is quite nice actually. Basic hostel with all you need, no frills other than a little pool! So we and ame took a dip and then went to check in for tomorrow's trip. So looking forward to being waited on for 3 days. We won't check emails or post until Tuesday probably so to Anoymous who posted about us being eaten by sharks (re: Surfin' Byron Bay), don't worry if we don't post, we're still alive! (As an aside, if you do post anomymously then put you're name at the end of it so it's easy for us to know who it is. Then we can know where the love is coming from).

Tonight we're having a couple of beers with V (one of the Canadians from our Fraser trip) in the hostel. Then we might go out and see what these Schoolies are up to. We set sail at 09:30 tomorrow: Captain Rob and Captain Coad.

4x4

We are back from our epic Fraser Island self drive 4x4 trip.  It was amazing.  We signed up to the trip for 3 days and 2 nights with 9 total strangers.  We were soooo lucky with our group.  We had 4 Canadians, 2 Swiss, 2 Germans, 1 Irish and us 2 English.  Quite a diverse little group.  We got on brilliantly and everyone helped out. 

We all met at 3pm on the day before we left (Sunday) for a quick meeting to introduce ourselves, buy food, order booze and watch some information videos.  We then all had a BBQ together and relaxed with some beers before going back to our hostel for a good nights sleep.  We had to be at the garage by 06:30 the next morning (Monday) so we got into bed  and set our alarm for 05:30; or so we thought... When the alarm went off we got up, got a bit late, rushed down stairs in our hostel to find the place shut.  It was in fact 05:00 not 06:00 as we had forgotten to change our clock from New South Wales time to Queensland time...oops.  But we managed to talk to my mum and dad on Skype by pure chance for 20 minutes so every cloud etc...  And it turned out to be good practice for a whole three days of very early starts.

So we headed over with plenty of time to find the others and go over for our 2 hours worth of early morning lectures from Koala (our trip organisers).  It was a little over the top with the threats; "if you get salt water on the car, you'll get fined", "if you're late back, you'll get fined", "if you have any fun, you'll get fined"...  But we took the practical advice and left the lectures to one side.  Luckily everyone was older than 20, most over 22 so we didn't have any annoying kids with us  ;-)

We left at 09:30 to get the ferry to Fraser Island.  The ferry arrives on the West coast which is pretty inaccessible and so our task for the day was to get across the island to the east coast where the beach is the road up and down the island and where we were going to camp for the night.  This was only about 20k and so we were pretty relaxed and thought we would end up arriving at the camping spot pretty early, however this is because we totally underestimated the driving conditions.

As soon as we were off the ramp, the car was flicked into 4 wheel drive and away we went.  Two of the Canadians, (Justin and Chris) were very handy at the wheel each with good experience of driving in snow and harsh conditions.  Just as well as the sand roads were SHIT.  Slipping around, getting stuck, digging ourselves out and pushing the big van up sandy hills.  It was all really good fun and good for team building. 

The first stop that day was Lake McKenzie which is right in the middle of the island and we got there by lunch time.  This lake was absolute perfection!  Like a postcard.  It was such a treat after quite an overwhelming, tiring, hot and sandy introduction to driving on the Island.  We had a gorgeous swim and had lunch in the special dingo proof lunch area!  Then it was back on the road to try and get down the beach to find our campsite; which luckily we did get to before dark despite at one point going in a big circle around the lake (not many road signs on the island!)

But it was all cool was we found a perfect camping spot on the each and it was stunning.  No-one in sight, huge sandy beach and tents set up in no time.  The 75 mile beach on the island is a bit of a tease because it looked so tempting when we arrived but all we could do is wash in the shallows as it's full of SHARKS!  We had a BBQ for dinner and dingo proofed our camp.  Then we got on with having some beers and getting to know each other - we even had music as we took our little speaker and the evening was brilliant.  There were quite a few naughty dingos about which was amazing to see but we chased them off because if they are fed and become tame, then they get aggressive.

The next day we'd been told we should get up and leave camp by 6am to head up the beach to the north of the island - Indian Head (as the beach road is unusable two hours either side of high tide).  Alas although we woke up pretty early by the time everyone was up and sorted and we'd taken the rubbish to the dump and had a group trip to the toilets and water shop it was 8.30 and when we got on the beach most of the compressed sand was covered up by the sea.  Amy was driver this morning and it was quite hard work avoiding the waves, avoiding the wash outs (mini rivers/craters in the sand where fresh water wasr running into the ocean) and avoiding deeps soft areas of sand.

To cut a long story short, we didn't make it up to Indian Head.  We stopped about half way up and agreed that we'd missed the boat (so to speak; a boat would have been handy).  It was a really good decision because instead we visited all the sights on the south end of the shore such as the Pinnacles (huge rock structures), the Maheno Shipwreck (washed up in 1935), and Eli Creek.  Eli Creek was the best.  It was a cute little river running out of the hills down to the beach and  just as the day before by the time we got there we were all tired, hungry, hot and sandier than we'd ever been in our life so a chilly peaceful stream to walk up and float down was perfectly timed.

Once everyone had floated to their hearts content we headed to the next stop (Happy Valley) to eat our lunch.  This was also as far as we could go as the tide was high by now and there were some rocks that we'd just been able to get round on the way up that we couldn't get back round until the sea withdrew.  It turned out Happy Valley had a resort and so we stayed there for an hour or so after lunch (and a some of the group worked on getting nice and drunk).

The final stop of the day was the best - Lake Wabby.  This was back down near our camp but a 40 minute walk inland each way to get to.  We were pretty sweaty by the time we got there...  Just when we thought we were there, we turned a corner a saw the biggest sand dune I've ever seen.  It was like a desert.  Just at the bottom of it was the lake.  Irish (as Michael the Irish man became known as) decided that a hill this big leading into the lake was fit for one purpose only:  forward rolling.  See below... :-)

It was back to camp and a slightly more sedate evening as we were all KNACKERED.  Next day we woke up, packed up in the rain (the bloody rain ladies and gentleman - it ain't meant to rain here is it???), and we were at Lake McKenzie by about 09:00...  Our ferry was at 15:00, but we got there way too early at the ferry port and played charades and 2 truths, 1 lie for 2 hours.  We were super duper hungry but the time the ferry was set to go as we'd run out of food!   Everyone bought snacks on the ferry and ate like animals!  When we were finally back a Koala's, we washed up, cleaned up, showered (hurrah!), checked into our room, and got down the local Irish pub for a final farewell dinner to 4 of our group.  It was a trip of a lifetime; we're so lucky we had so much fun and had such a good group.

Today, (Thursday), is what me and Ame are now referring to as an "admin day":  washing, internet, planning and resting.  We're on the 20:50 overnight bus to Airlie Beach tonight arriving at 09:00 ready for our 3 day 2 night sailing trip which sets sail on Saturday.  Four of the others headed up last night but are also sailing Saturday and so we're going to try and meet up with them Friday night.