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Wednesday 23 September
The next part of our East Coast trip was a stop off at Hervey Bay and a visit to Fraser Island. This had been recommended to us by so many people who we'd met on our travels that it was a must visit. For our second day in Hervey Bay we booked a whale watching trip which was brilliant. We saw a few whales, 2 mothers with their calves, and they were breaching out of the water and being very active which was good for that time of year. We were told when the water is choppy they aren't usually so active so we were lucky. For that part anyway, not so lucky in other ways though as the choppy water made us feel a bit ill, me especially. I had to sit down staring at the horizon for most of the trip up until we saw the whales. Then I could manage standing up for a few minutes watching, before I got too queasy and had to sit down again! It didnt help when there were a load of people puking up all around us. Everybody on the boat was getting sick and it really started to turn our stomachs. But we got a few good photos of the whales. Unfortunately we missed out on what would have been an amazing picture when one of the baby whales swam really close to the boat and then breached up right in front of us. We heard everyone gasp and we all started fumbling for our cameras, but then he was gone again. So it was a great trip but I did end up feeling a lighter shade of green for the rest of the day and had to recover resting in the back of the very hot and stuffy campervan afterwards.
The next day we had booked a 2 day trip to Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world, and we were picked up from the campsite at 7.20 am and taken to the barge ferry crossing over to the Island. It was a very windy day and when the barge only had half the people and cars on the skipper shouted over the loud speaker for people to stop boarding as he had to go. Everyone was wondering what was going on and then the barge quickly pulled away from the shore leaving a load of people standing there with their mouths open looking shocked. Luckily we were already on watching all the stranded passengers and we thought they would have to wait another hour for the next barge. But we quickly found out that it was only due to the strong winds that the skipper couldnt hold the barge at the shore very easily and a few minutes later he went back in for another shot and all of the remaining passengers got on.
After half an hour or so we arrived on Fraser Island and were introduced to our driver and guide for the next 2 days, Steve. Steve then showed us to our vehicle which was a huge 4 wheel drive truck from the outside, but inside it was a comfy 40 seater coach. We travelled down some very bumpy sand tracks to the Eurong Resort where we were to be staying that night. We were told by Steve that the only tarmac roads on the island are around the resorts, the rest of the island has bumpy sand tracks and of course the 'sand highway' along 75 Mile Beach.
Our first stop was at Lake Wabby which was a short drive down 75 Mile Beach at 80 kph. We had a 45 minute hike in very soft, dirty sand which was mostly uphill and it was a very warm day. So it was exhausting and our feet and calves were so dirty by the time we got to the top of the sanddune they looked disgusting! It was worth the hike up though for a beautiful view of the Hammerstone Sandblow, which is a huge sanddune surrounding Lake Wabby. We walked across the sandblow and down to the lake which was also very beautiful, and it was nice and cool and good to wash off all the dirty sand we had picked up from the hike. A few people went swimming in the lake; one guy was trying to catch a couple of ducks by quietly swimming after them and he got quite close but they weren't fooled and everyone laughed when they gave up on the game and flew away. It was another 45 minute walk back down to the beach which again was tiring in the heat and I lagged behind again as I did on the way up! I got chatting to a girl from Manchester, Hayley, at the bottom of the track when we both looked at each other with a look and a sigh of relief that the walk was over!
We stopped at Eurong Resort (Eurong is an Aboriginal name which means 'many campsites') for a lovely buffet lunch before our next stop to Lake McKenzie. We were amazed at how beautiful Lake McKenzie was when we arrived there. The water was so clear and bright turquoise blue in colour and it was surrounded by white silica sand which was really soft. We had a bit of a swim and sunbathe with Hayley and another 2 travellers, Sam and Alex. Our final stop for the day was in a part of the rainforest where we did a short walk before returning to the resort for dinner. We checked into our amazing room which was actually for 5 people but we had it as a twin. It was huge - there was a kitchen area, ensuite, tea and coffee, a tv, soap and towels - it was like a posh apartment and fab for a break from the crampervan! We had a great buffet dinner again and a few beers with our new friends in the pub afterwards.
For our final day on Fraser Island we were up early for yet another buffet breakfast - we had so much food we weren't used to eating that much! But why waste it when it was all included in the trip. Then we set off on an hour's drive down 75 Mile Beach to visit the Champagne Pools and Indian Head. There were so many humate rocks on the beach highway that all the cars and trucks were finding it hard trying to avoid them and drive around them. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles are allowed on the Island because of the tough tracks. Indian Head is a huge rock formation on the edge of the beach and we hiked up to the top of it for some great views of the Island. We sat up on top of the rock for around an hour and during that time we saw whales, dolphins, turtles, mantarays and loads of fish in the waters below. All in the space of an hour. It was amazing. We walked back down to the beach and drove down to take pictures of the coloured sands, 'The Pinacles', and the Maheno Shipwreck which was an old war ship that had become stranded on the Island after becoming separated from a tow ship when its engines had failed.
Our final stop for the day was at Eli Creek, a gorgeous fresh water creek which flows to 75 Mile Beach at the rate of 4.2 million litres an hour! That's a lot of water! It was only thigh deep so we rolled our trousers up and waded through the water for a hundred metres or so. We saw some Aussie guys who had set up camp nearby and they had 7 deck chairs set out in the water complete with beer can holders! One of them was passed out under their 4 wheel drive from too much vodka and they got us to take photos of him with the empty vodka bottle which they thought was hillarious!
The end of the day came too quickly and we said our goodbyes to Sam and Alex, promising to meet up in Noosa in a few days time, and headed back along the bumpy sand tracks for our barge crossing back to Hervey Bay. We then said goodbye to Hayley and again promised to meet up with her and the others in a few days time.
The next day we drove to Noosa. The morning before we left for Fraser Island I had been attacked by a magpie at the campsite and the morning before we left for Noosa it attacked me again! Id been speaking to Mam on MSN and I ran back to the van to get my phone and as I did I heard this loud screeching sound and then I got a whack on the head. I saw something fly right by me and noticed it was the magpie and I watched as it landed in the tree near to the van. I was keeping my eye on it when I opened the door, knowing that it was the same bird that had attacked me before, and it was just sitting in the tree staring at me. When I got back out of the van and locked the door it had gone from the tree but then I saw it sitting on top of the van. Every time I turned my back to walk away it would screech and come closer until it was on the grass just a few feet away from me. I ended up walking backwards so I could keep an eye on it! When I thought I was far enough away I turned again to walk up the path and then heard the loud screeching noise again and felt another whack on my head! The little b*****, what was it's problem?! When I told Rob about it I'm sure he didnt believe the full story. But it got me again later that morning when I came of the bathroom so I waited for Rob to come out of the mens so he could see what I was on about and sure enough it was still there staring at me from up in the tree. Didnt like to attack men though did it, the coward! Funily enough when we met up with Hayley again a couple of days later, I was telling her the story and she said she too was attacked by a magpie in Hervey Bay and it turns out it was on the same road as our campsite so must have been the same bird. Freaky!!
There may follow another blog and there may not, who knows. We've had an absolutely amazing year, seen and done so many amazing things. I'm typing this blog in Beijing, on the very last night of our trip, and we are looking forward to going home tomorrow to see friends and family but we will also miss travelling so much and would do it all again in a second (if we won the lottery!) It's all been fantastic.....we love you World! :-)
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