Day 36: Noosa to Rainbow Beach
After an absolute panic that I'd lost my purse (was left in my trousers when I packed then) I spent the morning relaxing by the pool in the beautiful sunshine. It got too warm so I had to move into the shade! :o
Sun!!!
Got the bus up to Rainbow Beach at lunchtime. Stopped at Matilda services where there was a giant robotic kangaroo that turned its head and ears and blinked. So random! One of the many strange sights you see on the road in Australia!
Giant kangaroo
Frasers on Rainbow (my hostel) was literally across the road from the bus stop so was a pretty easy walk. They offer a bush walk and sand boarding so since it was sunny decided to go on it. Went sand boarding down the Carlos sand blow which was amazing. Got some good speed going down.
Sand boarding
We went to go and see the different colours of the sand (mainly yellow!) and to learn how to throw a bomarang but it was so windy we nearly lost them off the cliff. When we turned around through the sky was black. And then the hail and the rain and the thunder started. It was so heavy. I was soaked by the time we got under the cover of the trees! Haven't been that wet since the jungle trek in Chiang Mai (which feels like a life time ago).
Soaked from the rain!
Got to see a double rainbow in rainbow beach though which is pretty cool.
Rainbow
Woke up super early so rather than just lying in bed doing nothing I got up, went for a walk into town to buy myself some new briht pink shorts (the ones I own are so dirty!) and then headed to the beach for the morning. Did a bit of body boarding in the sea and just relaxed in the sunshine. I took my clothes down to the beach with me to keep me company! Or maybe i took them down to actually dry as the room was too cold to dry things in with the amazing air con :)
It was getting pretty hot on the beach and my cheese sandwich was sweating in its bag so I headed back to a cafe for fish and chips for lunch. Met one of the guys from last night there so we went for a walk along the beach being really nerdy and discussing physics! He is starting in Manchester next year and was so keen to learn what I'd been doing. Met the two German guys from noosa on the way back so threw around an American football for a bit with them. It was so hard to throw! Couldn't get my head around it!
Decided (as there were very few clouds) to brave a second bush walk to sand dunes and it payed off. After a bit more sand boarding (in which I flew straight off at a bump in the sand dune and tumbled most of the way down!) and actually throwing a bomarang we saw the most beautiful sunset!
Had a lovely bowl of noodles for dinner and played a little bit of pool then headed to bed early to get some sleep before Fraser Island.
Day 38: Fraser Island
After getting very confused and queuing with the people waiting for the greyhound to Brisbane I made it on to the bus for Fraser Island. It was a short drive onto the barge to go across From inskip point to Fraser Island (named after captain James Fraser who did here).
The roads were made of sand and were so bumpy in the 4x4 coaches (didn't get used to the bumpiness for the entire trip) we used to get across the Island. As we droe we wen past an area where a tornado had ripped through the forest just under a week before we arrived. There were all these huge trees that had been snapped in two! so gla we missed that!
Stopped for morning tea and one of the girls on the tour lives in Hampton, was in the year below me at esher, also had alyssa for maths and is doing accounting staring in September. So strange how much you can have in common. Another if the girls lives in Southbourne! Such a small world.
We pulled out onto a beach which was amazing to drive on along to Lake Mackenzie.
We had a while a lake Mackenzie to swim there and enjoy with the people on the tour (after swapping buses from the day trip onto the cool dingo bus). The day trippers were only there 20 minutes and the hour we were there wasn't enough! We used the sand there to clean our teeth as its so pure. Left them squeaky clean. I wen for the little bit of sand on the finger approach. One of the guys went for the eat a handful approach!!!
We had to wait for the mechanics before we could leave lake Mackenzie as the cover of the door fell off and they had to screw it back into place before we could go anywhere!
We drove to central station for lunch and we saw a Dingo there. They look just like medium sized orange dogs but are far more dangerous. We went for a rainforest walk after lunch and were told to hug the big tree near the end of the path as it was massive and you could fit 6 people linked arms around it! We all hugged completely the wrong tree! Once we got to the big tree we knew that was the one we were meant to be looking for.
We then drove for about an hour acros the island to the kingfisher bay resort. We were meant to be staying in eco lodges but half of us (including me) got upgraded to the hotel as they were over full! I was not conplaining about that... A king size bed and a single bed just for me!!!
Hotel
We went down to the beach for another sunset and then got the shuttle bus to the Dingo bar for dinner. The only problem about staying in the hotel was that 'heart attack' hill stood between us and food! So glad they ran a shuttle bus!
We had a few drinks at the bar and then headed back to the hotel. Had such a long shower under the rain head shower in my room. It was amazing after using the showers in hostels for so long.
Day 39: Fraser Island
After and early start (and with a few hungover people) we went out for a long drive across Fraser Island. The island isn't very wide (15km) but on sand tracks it takes about an hour to get across. We stopped at a look out point where we could see the scribbly gum tree and a sand dune.
We then drove along the beach and were offered a flight in a small aircraft (only seated 8 including the pilot). Wasn't exactly going to turn down that opportunity was I to see the island from the air!
Plane!!!
We flew across the island for about 15 minutes and so were able to see the whole Island from the sky and some lakes that you are only able to see from the air to appreciate them such as butterfly lake.
Butterfly lake
We took off from a beach and then landed on another part of the beach. That was such am experience in itself! We landed next to the Maheno ship wreck. It was really cool as it was high tide so the waves were lapping around it.
Maheno ship wreck
I had a jelly fish (not a stinger type) thrown at me and it slide down my top which meant I had jelly fish goo on my arm which was horrible! Got to love meeting a group of people where you don't have to be nice and make the usual backpacker conversation and can skip straight to mucking around with them like you've known them for more than 24hours!
We went to Eli Creak next. Basically its a fresh water river that is formed from water leeching out of the island as the island is basically a giant sponge. Sostrange knowing that all the fresh water on the island is rain water! The stuff in the creak is about 100 years old but super pure as its filtered by the island. We walked up the river a bit and then we able to float down the creak back to the sea. I have a lovely large bruise on my leg from not noticing a branch in the water until I was on top of it.
Eli creak
We played a bit of frisbee in the estuary before our morning tea and cookies (such tasty cookies). Can't believe how much stuff we did before elevensies!
We then drove down 75mile beach to Indian head (named because captain cook saw Aborigie people standing there when he sailed past and no one has change the name since). Had some lunch (i threw most of mine in the sand because it obviously tastes better with added crunch!) and then It was an easy walk up and from the look out at the top we could see a manta ray and 2 turtles in the water below us.
We then drove further down the beach to the champagne pools. It was so busy there! Bumped into the German guys from noosa and sat in the pool as the waves crashed in. There were these sponges the cling onto te side of the rocks which squirt water when you squeeze them. Made our own fountain show!
We drove back across to the other side of Indian head and had to wait whilst the tires were pumped up so we played frisbee and then built a massive people pyramid. Took so many attempts as our first try was a little bit too ambitious!
As we drove off down the beach the bus got stuck on a dune and so we had to push it back and forth until Katie (our drive an guide) could get enough grip to get over the soft sand. I helped a lot by being the official photographer! Far easier than pushing...
Once we got back we had a quick dinner in the dingo bar and then sat in the jacuzzi from 8 until 10 when they kicked u out with a few ciders. I was so wrinkly when we left but it was such a treat to sit in the hot tub under the stars!
Day 40: Fraser Island
Had another warly start to drive to one of the lakes were we went SUP boarding (stand up Paddle boarding). I surprisingly had pretty good balance and so was able to go out into the lake alright! Think the surf lessons helped! We were playing frisbee in the lake as well (so nice having people to grow around with) and my attemped layout through the air jumping off the SUP board to catch it completely failed and ende up with me belly flipping onto the water.
We had lunch at the Eurong beach resort and then drove to Lake Wabby and sand blow. It took about 45 minutes to walk through the sandy forest track to get to the sand blow but it was then a pretty quick run down hill to dive into the lake. The bottom of the lake was like stroking a monsters back! It was all furry from the grass! The lake used to be a creak like Eli but the wid had caused the sand blow to come in and block the path so there we fish swimming in the lake with us. They seemed to like nibbling at my feet. It was like being at one of those fish spas, only free! Tickled so much.
Had an ice cream on the way back to catch the ferry across to Hervey Bay. I got to sit in the front as we went across the island which was really cool being able to see the path ahead as we bumped along.
Once we were back in Hervey Bay we were all dropped at our hostel and the girls at the bus station and we were going to meet on the main parade for dinner. The bus station was about a 10 minute taxi drive away from our hostels rather than the 10 minute walk that we thought so we caught a taxi to have a final 'meal' (MacDonalds and then the floor of the bus station) with the people getting night bus that evening. So sad saying bye but hopefully I'll be seeing one of the girls in queenstown in NZ :)
I was walked back to my hostel and had to say good bye to the guys. Such a sad fact of travelling, meeting all these lovely people and then having to leave them.
I just can't believe how much stuff I did on the island in 3 days and there was still when I left so much more I wanted to see!
Day 41: Hervey Bay
My jaws impression.
Final Fraser crew!
Was up early again (even when i have nothing to get up for I'm awake at 7!) so after breakfast and a quick chat to Will I was very domestic and washed nearly all (I mean all bar the dress I was wearing and the shorts I forgot were loose in my bag) my clothes and tumble dried them. Everything smells like clean laundry power rather than travel wash and then hung up over the end of a bunk bed to dry.
2 of the boys from the tour drove over to pick me up from the hostel after I'd checked out and then we went to the Hislop Vic Shark Show. It was crazy in there. It was a tiny little room but all the walls were covered in newspaper reports from shark attacks, photos of sharks and photos of shark attack victims. And there was a freezer at -20C containing two sharks that were about 20 years old! They were huge and pretty terrifying even dead!
We went for coffee and finally found somewhere with wifi so I could upload a few of the pictures from my camera to fb using Alex's laptop so I have them saved somewhere and then had to say goodbye to the final 2 from the group! They should be getting to Cairns around the same time as me so I'll see them there.
Spent the rest of the day on the beach. It took me 3 hours to catch up all the blog and diary that I hadn't written for 4 days! So much stuff had happened that I hast had time to get down onto paper (or onto this blog!). Went for a little walk along the beach and had a nice long chat with grandad before heading back to the hostel. Need to have dinner and then it's time for a 12 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach!
Hervey Bay
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