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thursday 28th australia zoo. Had a free bus to australia zoo. Took about an hour and a bit to get there. It was an australia zoo bus so the whole way there they showed some crocidile hunter videos. Got there around 9:30 and the bus was leaving at 4. it cost $57 entry, but with vip card got 10% off. Saw a number of shows including tortoises live, morning elephants live (where you get to feed them for free and get a photo taken), australia zoo wildlife warriors show (displays including elephants, snakes, birds and crocs. Koalas live, birds of prey live, a tiger show and a q&a on a cheetah. The shows were really informative and educational and I came away knowing a lot more about the animals they showed. Other animals at the zoo that I encountered were iguanas, komodo dragon, lizards,alligators, crocs, aldabran tortoises, tasmanian devils, dingoes, cassowaries, wombats, kangaroos and echidnas. Theres a lot of things on the walls about steve irwin from newsclipppings, his shirts signed by famous people, photos etc etc. only saw one member of the irwin family and that was terri, steves wife.
fri 29 Today I decided to hike the Noosa Heads national park trails. Theres around 5 trails, each taking between 2-4hrs to complete. I did the coastal walk. Great views arcross the ocean. Spent some time watching the surfers, saw some dolphins and a couple of whales. Stumbled onto another nudist beach (dont know it keeps happening to me, first the gay bars in china and now this) and then walked back through the forsest to Noosa heads. Really good surf today so sat on the beach and watched the surfers. Then went back to the hostel and chilled out.
sat 30 In the morning I walked to Noosa Junction, had to use the internet and had a wonder around as this was the main shopping area of Noosa. Met amy at 1. went and grabbed some food (huge burgers) and as the surf wasnt that great we decided to go kayaking on the river. Kayaking was really cool. We went to a couple of sand banks (deserted islands lol) and chilled there and then kayaked over to where the beachfront houses and hotels were. We were out for about 3hrs. In the evening we drunk some goon, played some drinking games and then went out to Noosa Heads to check out the nightlife-there was none. Couldnt find anywhere to eat cheaply, everything was around $20. in the end we had some tapas for $12, but when the food arrived it was roughly the same size as the contents of a small tin of tuna. There was nowhere that lively so decided to head on back to hostel, we were pretty hammered anyway. It was a 1/2hr walk back. Sky looked amazing but when we eventually got to the hostel, the sky was cloudy so we didnt bother going to the beach to check out the night sky.
sunday 1 not feeling hungover today but my legs are aching from that walk home last night. Amy was leaving at 3 so in the morning we had to check out and sort stuff out and then took the surfboards and went for a surf. The waves were not great but ideal to teach amy. After a couple of goes of just 'feeling' the board in the surf she then managed to stand up on her 2nd attempt.then I left it to her and grabbed my board. Unfortunately I only managed to catch 3 waves but there was one where we both caught the wave and surfed it in together, which was rad. In the evening just chilled out with robbie and a couple of girls he was with.
mon 2 in the morning walked to noosa junction to pick up tribal ticket for tonight.Today I fancied going for another surf as I didnt do too well yesterday. So got down there and the sea was pretty much flat. But I had the board so still decided to go in and at least practice on my balance, paddling, turning etc. I had 4 attempts at 4 waves and only caught one. I was in the water for around an hour. The rest of the time I sat on the beach and read. Went back to hostel in afternoon and managed to get a couple of free 1hr internet surfing so after that I then walked to noosa junction for the tribal bbq night at irish murphy's. Was pretty dead at the start so had my bbq on my own and watched an aussie rugby league game with this oldish guy who was telling me about his backpacking days in the 70's. Placed filled up by about 9 and was jam packed by 11. bumped into my roommate and his friend and stayed chatting to them all night. Never been in a place with so many random (as in strange) people. Was funny to watch them though. Left about 12 and had another joyous 50min walk back to the hostel.
tues 3 in the morning caught the greyhound to rainbow beach. Journey was about 3hrs with a 40min stopover. Carl and ceri were at the hostel so spoke to them for a while. Met my room mate who was going to fraser with me. Carl, ceri and I then went down to the beach and walked along to see the rainbow sands (not much to see, just the cliff face with about 5 different colours of sand). Grabbed some food -a huge burger and in the evening the hostel had a little free walk up to the carlo sandblow where we watched the sunset and threw the boomerang. In the night just chilled out in the dvd room.
Rainbow beach is absolutely tiny. Theres a big field with a basketball court. On one side theres the 3 only hostels at rb and on the other a couple of houses. Theres 2 petrol stations, a supermarket, bowling green and tennis courts. The main street is a 2min walk and about 10 shops long, there is one pub. The beach is a 4min walk and the sand dune is a good steep 20min+ walk. The rest of the place is houses and rental holiday apartments. But its a beautiful quaint place and it will be a pleasure to chill out here. The water is a wonderful tropical blue.
wed 4 today just chilled down the beach. Was in the water for a while, the waves were huge and battered me quite a bit, and body surfing them in a couple of times I got thrown into sumersaults and wiped out. But it was great. I then had a fraser island briefing at 2. just a dvd on mainly driving on the island and dangers to watch out for e.g. dingoes.met my other roomies (both going to fraser) and the rest of my fraser island group. There are 7 of us in the one car. Andy and christine (my roommates), simon, larissa, steff and sabrina. After the meeting we went and bought our food and drink for the trip. In the evening the hostel had a bbq so I bought some sauages and cooked them. It was good as we got to know each other and the other 14 or so people on the tour.
Thurs 5th headed off to fraser island a taround 10am. Today we drove the majority of 75mile beach. Stopping now and again to watch whales and dolphins in the sea. Driving on the sand here is easy as its hard and only slightly soft in places. Had my ipod on in the car as I had the best choice of music (obviously). The first stop was at lake wabbi. About a 40min walk. You walk along this sand dune that falls directly into the lake. I was one of the last people to get there and was surprised to see that no one was in there swimming. So I get down there and jumped straight in. it was cold but a really refreshing cold. Pretty soon a few other people jumped in. but only like 5. rest of the group, 15 or so stayed out. There were also some catfish in the lake. Just as we got back to the car it started pissing down. But luckily it stopped before we reached our next destination, the aboriginal camp we would spend our next 2 nights at. It looked like a big campsite, split up into areas for each tour party. We slept 3 to a tent and we had a covered sitting area where the group could sit and make their food. After we made food we drunk our goon, played drinking games and got wasted. Weather was still cloudy so didnt get to see the night sky.
Fraser island is the worlds largest sand island. You cant swim in the ocean as its full of all different species of sharks. It also contains over half of the worlds lakes that were formed from leaves depositing in the basin ands then sand forming on top making a watertight seal. Theres a specific name for this formation, but I have no idea what it is!
fri 6 fraser island. Had to be up at 6:30 today and move off at 7:30. surprisingly it was pretty easy, even with the amount of lager and goon I drunk last night. Its was light by 5, plus I need the toilet and the sound the birds were making I was wide awake at 6. I didnt drive this morning as I was still drunk and definitely over the limit. The first stop was indian head. We parked on the beach and then walked up the cliff and to the look out point. This was probably my favourite part of the trip as we spent an hour up there looking down into the crystal blue waters watching whales, dolphins, manta rays, stingrays, turtles and sharks. The next stop was champagne pools. These were just rock pools that the waves filled up and u could bath in. there were a wide range of fish in these small pools, mainly clown fish.a few of us then walked to the next beach where we searched for pippies and then weent worm hunting. These worms were like over a metre long and looked similar to the normal garden worms. Apart from brad the tour guide who caught about 20. only one guy managed to catch a worm. We then went for a long drive to lake allom, which was full of turtles. We didnt go swimming here. We then headed back to camp. In the evening we played another game of ultimate frisbee and kicked the football around. In the night a couple of us started playing drinking games but it ended pretty quickly, no one was really up for heavy drinking. A lot of people went to the beach to stargaze, unfortunately I missed them and u cant go on your own for possibility of being attacked by dingoes. But I managed to find a really dark spot just outside the camp and stargazed for 1/2hr. Definitely the best night sky ive ever seen. We also watched an aboriginal dance done by some aboriginies and also participated in a song.
sat 7 fraser island. Another early start as we had to pack up and clean everything. We headed out and the first stop was at the maheno shipwreck. We stayed here briefly just for photos as there was another group and we wanted to get to lake mckenzie before they did. It was then a long drive through the rainforest to lake mckenzie. Lake mckenzie was absolutely stunning. White white sands and tropical turquiose blue water. We stayed here for a n hour or so and then it was time to head back to rainbow beach. Another long, but beautiful drive along 75 mile beach and we got back to rainbow about 4ish. I then had to take the jeep to the mechanics about 20mins away and wait for it to be serviced, around 20mins, so an hour in total. I think he chose me as he told me off for speeding, then going to slow and also getting stuck in the sand.
Pretty much everyone left that evening or wasnt staying at pippies. So when andy and christine left there was only 3 of us. Simon was with his girlfriend the whole time so it was only lucy and I. In the night watched a dvd but I fell asleep at 9:30.
sun 8 spent morning and early afternoon with lucy, we went up the carlo sandblow and then to the beach. She caught the 12:30 bus and on leaving she gave me a present, some cadbury fruit n nut chocolate and a lovely message on a postcard which said about me being the best person and kindest she had met on her trip and that I helped her out a lot with her language barrier etc and that she would be happy to show me around korea when I go. Which really meant a lot seeing that I was just being myself. In the afternoon I went bodyboarding. Evening booked my 1770 accom and scooteroo.
mon 9 up really early for dolphin feeding at tin can bay. Caught a boat over and managed to feed the dolphin. Only 2 fish and you wasnt allowed to pet it. Got some nice photos of them though. It was a nice story of how the indo-pacific dolphins came to the feeding point and how their decendants still do it. On the way back in the boat the driver stopped and fed a whistling kite. chilled out down the beach today. Took bodyboard but waves wont good enough. Went in but wasnt that fun. Met some people in hostel who came back from fraser and room mates. Spent evening with them and in night went to the tribal night at rainbow beach hotel, which was a rather posh place, so felt a bit weird there lol. And it was pretty empty. Got in about 1ish I think.
tues 10 woken up by terrential downpours couldnt go anywhere today. Chilled at hostel and went and booked skydiving. Bus was at 12:30. hervey bay is a normal town and nothing speacial at all with nothing to do. The beach, compared to rainbow, is s***. The only interesting thing here is the 800m long pier. Took an hour to walk to. On the way back it pissed down. So spent rest of evening updating diary and writing notes for lianne.
Wed . Woken up again by torrential rain throughout the night. Continued to rain all morning so couldnt venture out. Turns out its the wettest day theyve had in the area since 1880. Caught bus to 1770. got there at 6:30. just had enough time to check in and change before heading to the tribal night. Where they had a free bbq. Got involved in a few games to try and win some prizes, didnt win any though. Went there with the french guys and the 2 canadians.
Thurs. had a surf lesson this morning. Only cost $14 for 3hrs. Managed to ride a couple of waves and tried a smaller board. its like starting again though, extremely difficult. In the afternoon I did the scooteroo. Scooteroo is basically where you ride an automatic chopper along with about 30 other people around the town of 1770. in the evening we stopped to see the sunset and got some wedges and then drove back. Really good day and the scooteroo was well worth doing. A lot of stopping and starting, waiting for people but was a couple of times could open up the throttle and hit 80kmh.
fri 13th.larc day trip. Carolyn and myself went on a larc. A vehicle that you can drive on land and across the water. We went along the coast line up to munstard or something lighthouse. Stayed there for a while, great views back over the beach. We then had some really nice lunch and then went sandboarding. Which was cool as at the bottom you skim across the river. Got back at around 4. in night was pretty knackered so chilled out.
sat. just chilled on the beach all day. Unfortunately no surf, tried boogie boarding but still not big enough. Night bus to airlie, which was full so had to sit to carolyn. Had a really bad night sleep.
sun. got to airlie beach at 6:30 but couldnt checkin till 12:30 so spent morning at the lagoon and walked along the front to the harbour. After checkin I met mark and went to the lagoon. In the night me and mark went out for a few beers, a few too many.
Mon. checked in for the boat trip. Then spent rest of day with eliane on the beach. Then went to the enid at 4. the evening was just getting friendly with everyone and having a few beers. It was a beautiful night and me and phillip slept on the deck. The stars were amazing.
tues. after breakfast went snorkelling at hook island. Loads of fish and beautiful coloured coral. Water was quite cold though. In the afternoon we went to a lookout over whithaven beach and then sailled around to the beach. On the way saw a little shark. Had a few hours on the beach so had a game of volleyball and everyone had a game of beach football was was really good. On the way back to the boat we saw a mantaray feeding in the bay, which is really really rare. Saw a couple of turtles as well, but too far out. And jason the crew member fed a white chested sea eagle. Was completely knackered and went to bed, as did most people at 10pm.
Wed 18th. cloudy day today but doesnt look like rain. Went snorkelling at dumbo? Bay. Wasnt as good as the previous place plus there were lots of jellyfish, but still pretty damn good. then rest of time on boat, got back at 2. chilled out in afternon, had a little snoze. In the evening met everyone (except belgiums) at pheonix bar and had a few good drinks. Then went to beaches. A lot of people dissappeared then but sean phil and me went to shananagins. Then they went but I stayed, got in at 5, back to room at 6. met a guy from greenwood rd, baglan.
thursday french guys from rainbow caught the same bus as me up to mission beach but they went on to cairns. Got to mission at around 6. in the evening just chilled in the hostel. Bobby the girl who works there was trying to encourage me to get talking to people. Met a couple of people.
friday went to ring the skydiving place to reconfirm my jump for tomorrow and noticed that it said I needed to be in cairns. The lady at the counter at the hostel said she'll try and sort it for me with tribal travel. She did a great job and managed to get me to jump with a better company and stay here at mission and still go tomorrow. In the afternoon I went on a free trip to the rainforest to learn about it and to also see some cassowry & kangeroos. I like an ants arse. Their sting on their tail tastes like a slightly bitter lime. In the evening the majority of us went to bali hai for a $10 all u can eat bbq. Met a lot more people from the hostel tonight. Played pool and got to the final but lost, but managed to get a free skydive t sshirt. Got on well with arita, claire, nick, sammy, ed and gail. After bali hai went to the resort which was very weird in all aspects. No dj. Flatscreen tv wall. Pool tables right next to dancefloor and full of ozzy townies. Walked back with arita about 1:30.
saturday 21 woke up today to cloudy skies! The skydive was delayed by a couple of hours. They picked me up and went to the airfield. We signed in and then waited another hour, for people from cairns to arrive who were jumping with us. Then we had the safety briefing which involved a 2 minute talk on how to bend your legs back and push out your hips and that was it! We went up in the plane, at quite a steep incline. There were 3 people jumping before me at 9000ft. It was really good to see them go and watching them jump out of the plane and spin in the air and then just dissappear. Even at this point I couldnt wait, just had this huge smile and was dying to jump out. The best thing about going first at 14000ft was that we had to open the door and sit on the edge waiting to get to the height and the green jump light. It was cloudy looking down so you couldnt see directly below, but there was a patch of blue sky and through that you could see a couple of islands on the barrier reef. Jump time: I thought as we were falling at that speed youd get the whole stomach being left behind feeling, but you dont get anything like that. In all honesty, there is no jittery feeling, nothing to make you feel your falling, unless you look face down and then you get the whole cheeks are going to flap over and cover the rest of your face. You feel like your just suspended, floating. The only bad thing is being struggle to breath, it is quite difficult and at one point I completely lost my breath and really struggled to suck in the air. The freefall lasted for 60seconds and we fell into the clouds where the shoot opened and then we parachuted down through blue skies down onto the beach. I had a go at 'guiding' the parachute and just made us spin a lot. We came in to land pretty fast and then at the last second he did something and we slowed right down, apparently we were decending with an open parachute for 5 mins. But I feel that the whole thing was over in like 3mins. So, I bought the video. The price was extortionate, but hey, its a bloody good dvd!! in the afternoon I just chilled out on the beach with arita. In the evening the hostel had an hawaiian night but it died on its arse pretty quickly. But had a good time and just drank with the people I met last night at the bbq.
sunday 22 bus to cairns. Bus was delayed by an hour due to road works and an accident. Got into cairns around 4. there were no shuttle buses due to the unexpected arrival, so had to walk to find a hostel. I went to gilligans, but was too expensive, then corona opposite but was closed, then remembered where the french boys were stayin and went there, bohemia (bha) hostel. Checked in and turns out I was in the room opposite. Grabbed some food and then went down the lagoon and soaked up some sun with them. As I was there I met marco from mission beach and also phil and sean from whitsundays. In the evening I went to the woolshed and had afew drinks with phil, sean and beth.
monday 23 road trip with phil and sean up to daintree. It was an 2hr drive up to the daintree river valley area. We stopped at a river cruise place and had an hour tour on the river where we saw some wild crocodiles, a kingfisher and some other wildlife. On the way back we had a quick stop in port douglas. Nice little town with one main street, a beach and thats about it. On the way home we ran out of petrol, so sean had to hitch a ride back to the petrol station which was about 10miles up the road. In the evening I met them again and some girls from yorkshire and had a bqq at the lagoon. And went for a couple of drinks at gilligans.
Tuesday the morning is a blur, it flew by. Coming down with a cold. Im only writing this two days later and I cant remember. In the afternoon did some shopping, hair cut and met ross phillips. Spent evening with him and then a couple of beers with him and 2 scottish guys. In the night drank with the french and italian guys. But left there as it was 11. went to gilligans and met ross and scottish guys. Watched some jelly wrestling but was rubbish. Later in the night met beth, phil, sean, andrea, alejandro, arno, manu, baptiste and guill and people from mission beach. Big night, got back about 4.
wednesday feeling full of cold today, worse than yesterday.didnt do much in morning, had a lie in. met leanne very briefly. Spent afternoon booking flight and with frenchies. Frenchies left in the afternoon. Watched ice age 3 at the big screen down on the waterfront. Beth turned up near the end and then met phil for a last drink as they were leaving in the morning. Sean didnt make it out of bed, he was that knackered.
Thursday: feeling pretty aweful today. Went into town and used internet. Said bye to sacha and carolynn. Went down to the lagoon and met ross and some girls from yorkshire that beth and phil knew. It started to piss down so that ended the afternon. Went out in night with ross and scottish boys, tim and mitchell, but then went home early. Me and ross did a bit of a pub crawl. Saw bea from the enid and her friend. Turned out being a late one and got absolutely steaming.
friday 27th: woke up at 10 feeling like absolute crap. Lucky I didnt get a hangover. Pretty heavy night. Cant remember much after getting in the woolshed. Pulled a girl but have no idea what she looked like. Felt rough and didnt get out of bed till 12. watched a dvd and did some washing. Went into town at 4 and met ross. Met the boys at the casino in the night, for a quiet couple of drinks. Ended up getting wasted. Got in at 4:30
saturday 28th: woke up at 8 for breaky, then back to bed. Woke up at 11. went into town to meet a girl from last night but got stood up. Stayed there for a while then back to hostel for a siesta. Weather rubbish again today. Spent the day reading and watching the resident psycho mope around. Ultimate party tonight, with the boys. Starting at 6:30, goes to 5 pubs via the party bus and you get to screw lots of women. Wasnt as great as I thought it would be but ended up a pretty good night and had a good laugh with the boys.
sunday bit of a lie in, had a great breakfast that included porched egg on toast. Its pissing down again today. Went for a subway and met the boys. Went back to gilligans and played cards. I then left them to met carl and ceri. Had a drink with them for an hour or so, then went to grab food and get ready to go out. Met sunny and spent the evening with her. The boys ended up having a goon party in their room and going out to a couple of places, sounds like they were hammered again.
Monday went and said bye to ross in the morning and give him some of my food and vouchers I hadnt used. Caught shuttle bus to airport. Flight was delayed until further notice.then after 4 hrs the plane turned up. Announcement saying they were going to clean plane and then we wuld go. An hour later the say the flight is cancelled. Spent another 2hrs sorting out baggage and another flight. They've put me up in the mercure, top floor, 5 star room, king size bed and a free evening and breakfast buffet meals.after all the hassle I went into town and met the boys in gilligans. They had karaoke there and the 3 guys that got up were amazing. One guy did an acoustic of forgot about dre which was cool. Sunny then came and met us,had a couple of drinks and then we left as she had work the next morning.
Tuesday: had a lovely breakfast, was nice change from the cereal or the bread. Checked out at 11, but didnt have to be at airport till 4:30. so had to kill some time and walked around town. I then went back to the hotel and managed to sleep for 2 1/2hrs. Got a free shuttle bus to the airport. Everything went well and flight was on time, 7pm. Got to darwin at 9:30 (1/2hr time difference) checked into chillis -$30p/n and seems pretty quiet. Cavannahs seems to be the best one. Had an early night as still pretty knackered.
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