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Hello!
Loads has happened since my last blog so im going to update now before i forget everything again. As you know we flew up to humid Cairns and spent a few nights there looking all sweaty and English. We did a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef which was pretty stunning! If you have ever watched Finding Nemo then you pretty much know what to expect - it didnt dissapoint! The coral was amazing - really bright and colourful - there were literally thousands of fish everywhere - all really cool ones - some small - some MASSIVE! So yeah that was an ace start to the East Coast trip. For this we hired an underwater camera and it was definately worth it! Its mad to think that in our lifetime most of the barrier reef will probably be gone!
From here we travelled by bus down to Magnetic Island for a couple of nights - this was a very relaxing island just a ferry ride away from Townsville. We stayed in a pretty horrible hostel - the room stank like dead bodies, they didnt provide pillows etc.. but it was super cheap so cant complain. The island itself though is lovely - we went down to Alma Bay and went swimming there and had a relaxing 2 days. We also had a BBQ on one of the beach BBQ's one night - this turned out to be quite stressful in the end due to all the flies attacking us - but once it was cooked we sat and watched the sun go down over the sea munching on burgers and all of a sudden small kangaroos or wallabies (not sure which) hopped right past us! Was pretty cool!
From here we got the bus down to Airlie Beach which is a typical kind of seaside town. We didnt do a lot here as it was just a gateway to the Whitsunday Islands so we had a couple of days pottering around going in the big outdoor lagoon etc as well as making some Xmas cards for the family and sending them home! We also went to watch carol singers by the beach 1 night which was pretty cool - very odd to be sitting eating hotdogs by the sea listening to all the xmas classics!
The next few days we did the Whitsunday sailing trip which was fantastic! For some reason me and Liz had joined up to the party boat (later thinking that we might be stuck with a load of 18 year olds getting hammered all night) but luckily we got put in a room with some nice people and we have made some new friends from the trip. The first main place we went to was Whitehaven beach - which was rated second best beach in the world apparently beaten only by 1 in mexico which later got destroyed somehow so by default this should now be the nicest! It was pretty cool - i have never seen sand so white! It was pretty much like being in paradise. We went snorkelling on this day also which was cool but not half as good as the barriier reef furth up north nearer to Cairns. The next day we set off again early to a narrow strip of sand which sticks out into the sea. Here we got to snorkel again as this was amazing as we got to see massive turtles swimming around us. I even dived down and stroked 1 which made my day. I followed 1 for a bout 5 minutes and it was probably the most peaceful 5 minutes ever! They have a nice life! I would like to be a turtle.
Next we went down to Hervey Bay in preperation for Fraser Island. According to Wikipedia Fraser Island was inscribed as a woerld heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km⊃2;. It was ace.
First day we were up at 5.30am to load our 4x4s up and set off. There were 3 cars going each with 11 people in each, We had a good group with a mix of English, American, Swedish, and Dutch. We got the ferry over and then the fun began! The roads got so bumpy - at certain points i really did think we were going to tip. We had super Brian driving though and he was quite in Control. Good old Bri. First stop was a walk through the rainforest, follwed by Lake Birrabeen - crystal clear water which we all swam in (me in my boxer shorts as my swimming shorts were packed away!) then next was Lake Boomanji - otherwise known as the tea coloured lake (orange/red colour - due to minerals coming from the reeds i think!) - this was cool and not like anything i've seen before - felt weird swimming in it though! From here we drove to our camping spot - just by the beach. No luxuries like toilets or showers - just Dingo's (like dogs but NOT PETS all the signs say - they are wild animals and have killed children in the past!) We made a spag bol by the beach and watched the full moon while drinking glasses of Goon and getting quite merry. The next day it was my turn to drive and it was actually so much fun driving down the beaches at speed - a bit dodgy in areas though when the sand got deep. We went all the way up to Indian head which is north of the Island and we walked up a hill which overlooked the sea where we could see turtles swimming down below. From here we went to the Maheno Ship wreck which is a ship which was stranded in 1935 in a gale - this was interesting and we got all the tourist shots of us outside it. Next we went to Eli creek which was so refreshing - a freshwater creek where you could just float along and really relax. So much so that i did it 4 times - it was that nice. Our final stop this day was Lake Wabby - a 40 minute trek from our tent over sanddunes (felt like we were in the Sahara!) - it was worth it though. We rolled down the hill into the lake and swam with all the catfish. The lake will be gone in 2 years apparently which is a shame as its really nice. That night there was a storm which was ace to watch as we tried a number of times to light the BBQ but then wasnt quite so fun when it rained hard and we all retired to bed. Next day we were up again at 5am (all these early starts are killing me!) and we drove to Lake Mckenzie - the most famous lake here. As we were here so early we were the first there and it was ace to see the lake so calm and quiet. We stayed here all day and by the afternoon it was packed with tourists so we left and drove back to the ferry.
That pretty much sums up the last 2 weeks - its been busy and we have been roughing it a lot - makes you appreciate showers and toilets when you do get them. Although there is something quite satisfying about taking a number 2 in the sand and using a shovel to bury it!
Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! x x
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