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Was sad to leave Byron Bay as had a great time there with great people but headed north to the gold coast. Surfers Paradise was a bit perplexing, dunno why its called that as its not paradise and hardly saw any surfers bar the novices having lessons!? The best thing was the cheap Coronas & Buds in bars in town which made it refreshing to drink something other than flaming goon (all gooned out!!). The skyline in Surfers was weird.. kinda reminded me of the Truman Show if anyone has seen that film. Weather wasn't so clever there so pleased to be moving onto Brisbane.
Had a real good time in Brisbane even though only there for a couple of days and it was a decent city which enjoyed walking around. Met some lovely people in the hostel and re-united with a high school friend which was wicked catching up and also another friend used to work with back home so Sunday was spent mostly in the pub!
Went to Noosa in the Sunshine coast after that which was really nice but shame the weather wasn't up to scratch as was a good place to learn to surf. Went for a walk in the National Park which really enjoyed except for not spotting any koalas in the wild! Not had much luck with seeing Kangas either, infact the only time seen a Kangaroo is on the tail of Qantas jets and a big 13metre robotic one at a service station ffs!!
Fraser Island was a great day out, thoroughly enjoyed it, saw most of the famous sights there including the stunning Lake Mackenzie and fair few dingoes (not dingles lol) and was great fun driving down 75 mile beach trying to beat the incoming tide to catch the barge back to the mainland.
Had a loong bus journey to Hervey Bay the day after, stopped at services in the middle of the night and saw what looked like a mohican of stars cutting the sky up into two halves. Was bit frustrated when approaching the town as we were going through a fair bit of fog, thought just what you need fer the day ahead however once we cleared it the sky was blue & the sun shining, perfecto. Was tired & weary when arrived at Airlie Bay and an hour after headed straight to the jetty to board the boat for Whitsundays. Soon woke up though and had a fantastico day there, Whitehaven Beach is apparently the 6th best beach in the world.. what the chuff are the other 5?!? The guide was a real cool Mauri geeza and hung around with him and saw stingrays, eagle rays, eagles, held some soldier crabs & saw fair few turtles but no sharks! Skipper on the boat was sound as a pound also and said could tuck into the tucker even though he knew hadn't paid for it as was too expensive, had some fresh as New Zealand mussels and king prawns which were divine!! Whilst snorkelling saw some massif fish that initially thought were sharks but turned out to be giant tuna & bat fish, biggest fish seen thus far but didn't see Elvis! The lagoon was real nice here also and had probably the most scenic walk will ever do to a supermarket.. a 3km each way trip along the boardwalks of Bicentennial walk to Coles taking in the coast, marinas, harbours & plenty of bootiful beaches, simply stunning.
Got a daytime bus to Cairns and it was nice travelling through the day and seeing small towns in Australia. What I've loved about over here is all the English named towns that they have.. Newcastle, Ipswich, Richmond and they even have a Roma!! Saw a sign on Bruce highway saying Kangaroos for next 3km but as much as kept a keen eye out still didn't spot one (shouldn't have eaten that Kanga steak hehe but was real good!).
Cairns was chilled for a city but immediately could tell it had a good vibe to it. Bumped into my friend & his girlfriend randomly on the first night, saw the lagoon at night which was quality. The other thing I liked about Cairns is bumping into so many other people met along the East coast and catching up with them. Stayed at Gilligans the night before Anzac day but although the club there closed at 12am the parties carried on long into the night! Spent Anzac day by the lagoon which was ace seeing the locals all together, friends & families having barbies etc but it did make me miss my friends & family. Was bloody hard work though with all the smells of cooked bacon & bbq food throughout the day! The trip to the Great Barrier Reef was decent but far preferred Fraser/Whitsundays to it, was wicked to snorkel around and see so many fishes and found Nemo too! Last night in Cairns met up with Graham for one last time and we were chatting to a local couple which was nice to get an insight into the ways of life in Oz/Queensland.
I've had a great time in Australia.. deffo underestimated its vastness though (flight from Cairns to Sydney same distance as Manchester to Rome!!) as thought could cover a lot more ground in just over 4 weeks. Don't like rushing too much from one place to another though as you don't really get a feel for a place, for instance staying in Byron for a week got a real good feel for the place, loved it. Was gutted didn't go to see Uluru/Northern territory as something really wanted to do but the combination of flights there and tour around came to nearly $1000aud which couldn't really justify as still got lots of other places/other countries to visit. Bumped into plenty of people that said the west coast is far far better and bit less travelled but more expensive than the east coast!
Back down in Sydney now for one night only, Kings Cross seems even seedier than last time was here.. The flight down was ace chatting to a Fijian, real friendly and always smiling inspite of nearly being killed in a recent operation.. always look on the bright side of life! Off to Fiji tomorrow which cannot wait for, partying in paradise will I'm sure be a birthday to remember. Tomorrow is a very special day for another more important reason however.. It marks the 1 year anniversary since I've being going out with my gorgeous girlfriend whom I love dearly.
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