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Noosa is described as an upmarket Byron Bay. To an extent they are right; the shops certainly had higher price tags on their items than Byron but the atmosphere was no where near similar. The whole town was very quiet but to be fair I didn't spend all that long in the town as a whole. I arrived off the bus in the middle of the day and settled into my room at Koalas beach resort (which was no where near the beach). I did some shopping for supplies for the next few days out in the bush and then went about cooking dinner. Again, over the cooktop I got talking to a few guys from England my age who were all travelling together. They didn't half make me laugh, they were the most disorganised bunch I have ever met, and I thought I was bad. Over the next three days I was booked in to do a canoe trip along the Noosa River and as it turned out, so were the 4 lads except they had no idea what they were doing, what they needed or even where they were going. After dinner we all went and had swim in the pool before heading over to the bar for a night of karaoke. I can imagine everyone wincing already. What's more - the lads and I got up together to sing Spice Girls - lol, possibly one memory I would quickly like to forget. Then somehow the evening ended up in a a massive water fight with me being the one who got soaked from head to toe!
The next day I packed up all my belongings and was picked up and taken to Gagaju bush camp. We were to stay there for the night before heading out on the water early the next day. The bush camp was really well set up - we were sleeping in dorms that consisted of a tent with 3 bunks (6 beds) and each bed was a mattress placed on a hammock - the best nights sleep imaginable - I did not want to get out the next morning. There was a full working kitchen, oven and all and even a TV tent. It was an amazing set up considering they were based in the middle of nowhere! There were ten of us all together on the canoe trip and the next morning, after a quick breakfast we all headed off to the waters edge. Between us we had four Canadian canoes and a sea kayak. After loading all the luggage that we were taking with us into the canoes we headed off - we had no guide, just 10 travellers and a total of 40Km of paddling to complete over the next 3 days.
Our first leg of the journey was to paddle of a huge lake and in the middle it didn't half get a little choppy! I was in the most top heavy boat out of all the boats so we were rocking back and forth all over the place. We eventually got to the other side of the lake without capsizing - well that was until as Luke and Claire attempted to moor and Claire ended up neck deep in the lake! After a short walk and some lunch we all jumped back in the boats and headed off up the narrower stretches of the Noosa everglades. These parts were far calmer and it would be fair to say they were almost mirror like. The weather was perfect; we had clear blue skies and still water - the scenery was beautiful and the whole atmosphere of the area was so tranquil. Paddeling was good fun although I swear I ended up with the modern day Hitler in my boat. She was a german girl aged 29 who wanted to be a mother to everybody and was questioning everyone on all their actions and to be honest non of us really cared, if we got lost... we got lost, it was all part of the adventure. We eventually reached our camping ground mid-afternoon, dragged all our boats out of the river and set up our tents amongst wild animals that included bush turkeys and the largest goanna I have ever seen! We all cooked dinner that evening on our two little gas stoves and had a good laugh. Then, in the pitch black of the night, whilst huddled around various candles there was a crash and a wallop as two boats were heaved up the steps and the four lads I had met in Noosa came across to join the rest of their group who were camping next to us. I could only imagine what they had been up to - it turned out that they had managed to get lost and upon finding their way back to their boats from a hike they saw that the rest of their group had gone and moured them on the opposite side of the river which ment they had to swim accross to get them. We had a good laugh and I was introduced to two Dutch lads they had met on the trip - Dennis and Erwin. Between us we had a tooth brushing competition - don't ask. The next morning, as we headed off further upstream they were heading back home and God knows what they were going to get themselves into on the way.
We canoed another 6Km upstream before mouring and completing a 12Km round treck up to a huge sandpatch. It was like arriving on a beach except there was no sea and it was ontop of a hill surrounded by a whole forest. Bizarre. The hill was one of the most ancient set on sand-dunes in the world so I surpose that does kind of explain it! I had a good laugh rolling down the dunes and smiled at the thought that what I was looking at now, nobody would ever see again because the the dunes are ever changing with the wind and the sand is never still. We canoed another 6Km back to camp and jumped into the river for a refreshing swim. Because of the national park regualtions we wern't alowed to take any detergent products with us and there were no showers anyway which meant our wash was a dip in the water. It was cold but refreshing. Like lake Ainsworth in Lennox Head the whole river is like dilute tea tree oil and as a result the whole river looked as black as oil and I couldn't see my body underneath the surface - I just hoped the bull sharks couldn't either!
The nights went dark so quickly and the starlit sky was so vibrant. It would often feel much later than it actually was and we found ourselves in bed a lot earlier than usual. This was probably due to the fact that we were also knackered beyond beleif! The last morning we had to be up and on the water paddling back to our starting point at 5.30am. Packing up in the dark was a little interesting to say the least but we all managed it and got back accross the lake in plenty of time, although Claire and I managed to aim for or hit every single branch that was sticking out of the water on the way. After the three days I could feel muscles ache in the back of my shoulders that I never knew I had. Even if the three days had been physically exhausting, they had been fun.
When I arrived back in Noosa and back to my accomodation I was suprised to recieve a text from Sarah, one of the girls I had made friends with in Byron Bay. Both her and Charlotte were in Noosa and in the same hostel! So we went and spent the day on the beach, it was so nice to just lie down and relax after being so energetic over the previous three days! The next day would be all go go go again as I caught a bus up to Harvey Bay to start by Fraser Island adventure.
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