Thursday 28th November, 9:45am
We're finally in Brisbane! We are currently sitting in a tiny hipster coffee shop trying to de-clench our butts after a slightly terrifying drive into the City. Barbara continues to be awful at navigation, despite being aided by satnav this time. I think I will like this city, as I have already seen 3 men with beards, and I suspect at least one of them had wax in his moustache to make it pointy at the ends.
The last few days have been super chilled - the bush camp at Noosa was really nice - we did sleep in our van instead of the tents, but it was nice to chill out on the sofas and watch films after our canoeing adventures. My birthday was also quite relaxed, Baba got me an awesome hat, and we had cake. And she also made dinner which was super nice.
We stayed at the camp for three nights before moving driving south again - we spent a day at the Glass House Mountains which had awesome veiws. They used to be volcanoes or something? After a brief argument over which way was the southbound carrigeway on the Bruce Highway (there were no signs, and I was right) we headed towards Brisbane, staying the night in a carpark at Redcliffe.
So here we are!
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Monday, 25 November 2013
Fraiser Island!
Sunday 10th Nov. Or Sunday. Someday.
From Agnes Water we headed down to Bundaburg, home of the Bundaburg Rum distillery,australia's most popular beverage! We went on a tour and learned all about how to make rum, then we drank some rum, it was delicious.
After that i ended up driving us (I was sober, by the way mum, dont worry) through a tropical storm - the van coped very well except for the fact my feet somehow got wet... after driving along a desserted track to a creepy isolated clearing in the woods we made it to our chosen camp spot alive, which was a relief. We also woke the next morning having not been murdered in the night, which was also a relief, and a bit of a surprise.
The next day we headed to Hervey Bay, one of the two towns where the ferry to Fraiser Island leaves from. We stayed at a Hostel for a couple of nights before the trip, where we ended up sharing a room with our new friend Kirstin who is from Felixstowe and who I have definitely played hockey against! Small world!
The tour we took was a 4WD tag along - so there was one tour guide, 4 cars and people took turns driving. We made a group of 8 people and went shopping for supplies the day before which mostly consisted of 150 cans of beer, about 60 sandwiches, and enough sausages to feed a small army. What more could you need? (A significant number of those beers remain undrunk and stashed in our van)
We left at 7am the next morning. When we got to the island we had one last breifing on how to drive a 4WD and then we just went for it.
Fraiser Island is the worlds largest sand island, which means the roads are all just dry, sandy, hilly and sometimes quite difficult to get through. Fun to drive though! On the first day we stopped at a couple of lakes - one of which had a huge sand dune right next to it and a really nice walk to get to it. All the lakes on Fraiser are freshwater and really clean - the water is filtered through all the sand which makes it super pure. The rainforest are about 700,000 years old (according to Jarrod, our wise owl-like tour guide) which is what made it a world heritage listed area.
We also stopped at the wreck of the Mareno - a cruise ship made in 1905(?) (Maybe?) that was also used as a hostpital ship during WW1 and then after it was decommissioned, sold to Japan for scrap but on the way there it broke from the towing rope and ended up drifting to shore on Fraiser. It was then used as target practice by the Australian Navy who managed to hit it twice with torpedos (2 direct hits out of like 200 attempts. I can see why they need some target practice). It's essentially just a big broken rusty boat on a beach.
We bush camped. There were no toilets, but we did have shovels and Dingo sticks. The Dingoes on the island have learned to get pretty good at scavenging food, so the sticks were a necessity in case we were forced to "defend ourselves aggressively" as instructed by the 20 minute safety briefing which many people slept through on the first morning.
The next day our group all got a chance to drive - at this point we were on the east side of the island (Seventy Five Mile Beach) so it was mostly flat, hard sand with the occasional large ditch. Easy. When it was my turn we went inland which involved a run up and then plough through super soft sand; i was going great until someone stopped in front of me then i got stuck but managed to get out by myself with my pride mostly intact. I do like driving, and this sort of driving is really fun, but it does start to get a bit stressful when you have to do it with 7 people shouting at you. On the second day we went to another lake, a cliff lookout (we saw a turtle! And a Manteray? Mantaray? Big flat fish!) And we sat in the Champagne Pools next to the sea. Also stopped off at a creek on the way back to rinse the seawater off. No showers for us - we spent the last couple of days stinking, and unable to remove the fine layer of sand from everything we wore or touched (the first shower we had back on the mainland was like a glorious rebirth; definitely in my top ten shower experiences). We spent another night at the bushcamp (sausages and pasta with salad for dinner,yum) and the next day stopped at one more lake before etting the ferry back to Hervey Bay.
Then we all went out drinking together. Hooray!
We are now down the road in Maryborough - we had a cuppa with our new awesome friend Sam who we first met at Airlie Beach (hello, you!) and now we are planning our next bush camp adventure in the Noosa Everglades.
LATER THAT SAME DAY.....
We were going to crash at new friend Sam's house last night while she played a gig at a private party somewhere, but plans change and we ended up getting invited along instead... the party was a housewarming in this super swanky house owned by two lovely drunk Aussies who fed us and gave us beer. The house was ridiculous. It was a huge open plan thing with a jacuzzi inside big enough to fit 20 people (it also has a pole fitted to the side), as well as having a snooker table, a huge entertainment system and a pool just outside the back door. It looked like a film set for a porno. Or at least the local swingers headquarters. We left early just in case.
From Agnes Water we headed down to Bundaburg, home of the Bundaburg Rum distillery,australia's most popular beverage! We went on a tour and learned all about how to make rum, then we drank some rum, it was delicious.
After that i ended up driving us (I was sober, by the way mum, dont worry) through a tropical storm - the van coped very well except for the fact my feet somehow got wet... after driving along a desserted track to a creepy isolated clearing in the woods we made it to our chosen camp spot alive, which was a relief. We also woke the next morning having not been murdered in the night, which was also a relief, and a bit of a surprise.
The next day we headed to Hervey Bay, one of the two towns where the ferry to Fraiser Island leaves from. We stayed at a Hostel for a couple of nights before the trip, where we ended up sharing a room with our new friend Kirstin who is from Felixstowe and who I have definitely played hockey against! Small world!
The tour we took was a 4WD tag along - so there was one tour guide, 4 cars and people took turns driving. We made a group of 8 people and went shopping for supplies the day before which mostly consisted of 150 cans of beer, about 60 sandwiches, and enough sausages to feed a small army. What more could you need? (A significant number of those beers remain undrunk and stashed in our van)
We left at 7am the next morning. When we got to the island we had one last breifing on how to drive a 4WD and then we just went for it.
Fraiser Island is the worlds largest sand island, which means the roads are all just dry, sandy, hilly and sometimes quite difficult to get through. Fun to drive though! On the first day we stopped at a couple of lakes - one of which had a huge sand dune right next to it and a really nice walk to get to it. All the lakes on Fraiser are freshwater and really clean - the water is filtered through all the sand which makes it super pure. The rainforest are about 700,000 years old (according to Jarrod, our wise owl-like tour guide) which is what made it a world heritage listed area.
We also stopped at the wreck of the Mareno - a cruise ship made in 1905(?) (Maybe?) that was also used as a hostpital ship during WW1 and then after it was decommissioned, sold to Japan for scrap but on the way there it broke from the towing rope and ended up drifting to shore on Fraiser. It was then used as target practice by the Australian Navy who managed to hit it twice with torpedos (2 direct hits out of like 200 attempts. I can see why they need some target practice). It's essentially just a big broken rusty boat on a beach.
We bush camped. There were no toilets, but we did have shovels and Dingo sticks. The Dingoes on the island have learned to get pretty good at scavenging food, so the sticks were a necessity in case we were forced to "defend ourselves aggressively" as instructed by the 20 minute safety briefing which many people slept through on the first morning.
The next day our group all got a chance to drive - at this point we were on the east side of the island (Seventy Five Mile Beach) so it was mostly flat, hard sand with the occasional large ditch. Easy. When it was my turn we went inland which involved a run up and then plough through super soft sand; i was going great until someone stopped in front of me then i got stuck but managed to get out by myself with my pride mostly intact. I do like driving, and this sort of driving is really fun, but it does start to get a bit stressful when you have to do it with 7 people shouting at you. On the second day we went to another lake, a cliff lookout (we saw a turtle! And a Manteray? Mantaray? Big flat fish!) And we sat in the Champagne Pools next to the sea. Also stopped off at a creek on the way back to rinse the seawater off. No showers for us - we spent the last couple of days stinking, and unable to remove the fine layer of sand from everything we wore or touched (the first shower we had back on the mainland was like a glorious rebirth; definitely in my top ten shower experiences). We spent another night at the bushcamp (sausages and pasta with salad for dinner,yum) and the next day stopped at one more lake before etting the ferry back to Hervey Bay.
Then we all went out drinking together. Hooray!
We are now down the road in Maryborough - we had a cuppa with our new awesome friend Sam who we first met at Airlie Beach (hello, you!) and now we are planning our next bush camp adventure in the Noosa Everglades.
LATER THAT SAME DAY.....
We were going to crash at new friend Sam's house last night while she played a gig at a private party somewhere, but plans change and we ended up getting invited along instead... the party was a housewarming in this super swanky house owned by two lovely drunk Aussies who fed us and gave us beer. The house was ridiculous. It was a huge open plan thing with a jacuzzi inside big enough to fit 20 people (it also has a pole fitted to the side), as well as having a snooker table, a huge entertainment system and a pool just outside the back door. It looked like a film set for a porno. Or at least the local swingers headquarters. We left early just in case.
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Buckle up for a long boring blogpost
Sat 9th Nov
Day trip to Airlie Beach! Its only a 40 minute drive here anyway, so even though we don't need to be here till Tuesday, we thought we would have a look anyway... And what an excellent decision it was. Airlie Beach is in the middle of a 3 day music festival featuring about 75 bands, most of which are playing at different bars and pubs all day where you can seethem for free! We caught The Hillbilly Goats playing again (I say that like it was by accident. Not so. I hunted them down and got to the bar early to get a good seat right in front of them), and their set was awesome! My excitable flailing was obviously memorable as after their set one of them saw us as she walked past and:
Hillbilly Goat: "oh hey, wern't you girls at Wallaby Creek?"
Me: "Er... yes. Im not stalking you. Honest."
After that we left for the next bar, where we watched an unmemorable band play some unmemorable songs, and as we were leaving that bar a group of 4 drunk middle aged ladies jumped into the back of the van demanding a lift home, and then they took us backto their hotel and offered us beer and drugs. I just had a cup of tea and then we moved on.
After spending the night back in our campsite in Bowen, next day we went back to Airlie Beach to see some more bands, and who do we bump into? The group of cougars we met the day before, this time mercifully less drunk. But just as rowdy. We also saw a really good band called Wanita and the Honky Tonk Bar Dwellers and a lady called Nadine something who we got chatting to for ages; she gave us two Vip passes so wecould get into the main tent later on (free food and booze in the VIP area, yay!). So at this bar, after the bands had left some dude (who we saw playing at the bar at Wallaby Creek festival) somehow summoned a pa system and two guitars into existence and invited anyone to come up and play. By this time we had already consumed a couple of jugs of cider, which made me think that getting up and singing was a great idea; anyone who saw my atrocious falling-off-the-stage incident during my tenure as VP at UCS Union would be able to tell you that this was a mistake, but there was fortunately no raised platform for me to fall off of this time.
The best thing to come out of this experience was of course the excellent new friends we made (Trent and Sam, holllaaa) who we hung out with the rest of the evening; not only in the vip tent but we also had some drinks at another bar where an awesonme band were playing and they had a guitarist who LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE MY FRIEND JAMES JENINNGS except a bit less ginger. And then The Hillbilly Goats were suddenly there dancing with us and now they probably think I'm stalking them.
Monday 11th
Barbara is hungover. Don't even bother. My body failed to siphon the alcohol from my bloodstream, so I spend this time in a haze of being still drunk but completely sober.
Tuesday 12th
BOAT DAY! WHITSUNDAYS! We started our 2 day and 2 night boat trip in glorious sunshine, with Barbara still horrifically hungover. We were on a (Trimaran? Trimeran? Trymaran?) big boat with a big floaty bit on each side, with 23 other people and a crew of three. It was pretty sweet. On the first day we snorkelled in two different places, saw a ton of nice coral and loads of fishes, also one very large friendly fish called Elvis who was like the big daddy of the bay. Barbara couldnt bring herself to sumersault off the boat like I did, so the skipper ended up pushing her in. She screamed loud enough for other people to think she had seen a shark or something.
The next day we cruised around somewhere else to look for turtles, but couldnt find any. We then went to Whitehaven Beach, officially the second most beautiful beach in the world, and there we played around in the super soft super white silica sand, saw a hoard of tiny crabs, a few stingraysand a lot of tourists. We took a ton of stupid pictures (we have to ruin it for everyone, always) and then went back to the boat, where we finally saw some turtles! They were apparently coming up for air as the bay we were stoppedin is a popular mating ground for them. On the way to the next stop we also saw a few Ospreys - one of the crew had a load of meat and he chucked it up for them to catch which looked pretty awesome. Spent the night in a sheltered bay where everyone drank copiously, played drinking games and got to know each other a bit too well. We sailed back to the harbour early the next morning, it was nice and cloudy so we could give our skin a little break after two days of hardcore sunburn.
We are now in the Town of 1770/Agnes Water, cooking lunch and contemplating our next movements. Its pretty here. The menu is... fried vegetable wraps. Again. Nom.
Day trip to Airlie Beach! Its only a 40 minute drive here anyway, so even though we don't need to be here till Tuesday, we thought we would have a look anyway... And what an excellent decision it was. Airlie Beach is in the middle of a 3 day music festival featuring about 75 bands, most of which are playing at different bars and pubs all day where you can seethem for free! We caught The Hillbilly Goats playing again (I say that like it was by accident. Not so. I hunted them down and got to the bar early to get a good seat right in front of them), and their set was awesome! My excitable flailing was obviously memorable as after their set one of them saw us as she walked past and:
Hillbilly Goat: "oh hey, wern't you girls at Wallaby Creek?"
Me: "Er... yes. Im not stalking you. Honest."
After that we left for the next bar, where we watched an unmemorable band play some unmemorable songs, and as we were leaving that bar a group of 4 drunk middle aged ladies jumped into the back of the van demanding a lift home, and then they took us backto their hotel and offered us beer and drugs. I just had a cup of tea and then we moved on.
After spending the night back in our campsite in Bowen, next day we went back to Airlie Beach to see some more bands, and who do we bump into? The group of cougars we met the day before, this time mercifully less drunk. But just as rowdy. We also saw a really good band called Wanita and the Honky Tonk Bar Dwellers and a lady called Nadine something who we got chatting to for ages; she gave us two Vip passes so wecould get into the main tent later on (free food and booze in the VIP area, yay!). So at this bar, after the bands had left some dude (who we saw playing at the bar at Wallaby Creek festival) somehow summoned a pa system and two guitars into existence and invited anyone to come up and play. By this time we had already consumed a couple of jugs of cider, which made me think that getting up and singing was a great idea; anyone who saw my atrocious falling-off-the-stage incident during my tenure as VP at UCS Union would be able to tell you that this was a mistake, but there was fortunately no raised platform for me to fall off of this time.
The best thing to come out of this experience was of course the excellent new friends we made (Trent and Sam, holllaaa) who we hung out with the rest of the evening; not only in the vip tent but we also had some drinks at another bar where an awesonme band were playing and they had a guitarist who LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE MY FRIEND JAMES JENINNGS except a bit less ginger. And then The Hillbilly Goats were suddenly there dancing with us and now they probably think I'm stalking them.
Monday 11th
Barbara is hungover. Don't even bother. My body failed to siphon the alcohol from my bloodstream, so I spend this time in a haze of being still drunk but completely sober.
Tuesday 12th
BOAT DAY! WHITSUNDAYS! We started our 2 day and 2 night boat trip in glorious sunshine, with Barbara still horrifically hungover. We were on a (Trimaran? Trimeran? Trymaran?) big boat with a big floaty bit on each side, with 23 other people and a crew of three. It was pretty sweet. On the first day we snorkelled in two different places, saw a ton of nice coral and loads of fishes, also one very large friendly fish called Elvis who was like the big daddy of the bay. Barbara couldnt bring herself to sumersault off the boat like I did, so the skipper ended up pushing her in. She screamed loud enough for other people to think she had seen a shark or something.
The next day we cruised around somewhere else to look for turtles, but couldnt find any. We then went to Whitehaven Beach, officially the second most beautiful beach in the world, and there we played around in the super soft super white silica sand, saw a hoard of tiny crabs, a few stingraysand a lot of tourists. We took a ton of stupid pictures (we have to ruin it for everyone, always) and then went back to the boat, where we finally saw some turtles! They were apparently coming up for air as the bay we were stoppedin is a popular mating ground for them. On the way to the next stop we also saw a few Ospreys - one of the crew had a load of meat and he chucked it up for them to catch which looked pretty awesome. Spent the night in a sheltered bay where everyone drank copiously, played drinking games and got to know each other a bit too well. We sailed back to the harbour early the next morning, it was nice and cloudy so we could give our skin a little break after two days of hardcore sunburn.
We are now in the Town of 1770/Agnes Water, cooking lunch and contemplating our next movements. Its pretty here. The menu is... fried vegetable wraps. Again. Nom.
Saturday, 2 November 2013
stuck in Townsville
The most difficult thing we have had to do on this trip has definitely been the planning we have done recently. It is so much easier to just get in the van with a vague idea of what want to do and see, but now we have a deadline. Its a deadline for an awesome reason (one of my very bestest friends will be flying into Brisbane at the end of the month!!!YAY!!), but as anyone who has ever worked or studied with me knows - I dont cope all that well with deadlines. Having Babas OCD personality looking over my shoulder has been both a great help and enourmous annoyance. But we got it done... we planned our movements to the day for the next month, figured out when we wanted to book our trips to the Whitsundays and Frasier Island, and visits to all the weird little towns and awesome beaches on the way. So OF COURSE the schedule got all buggered up due to REASONS and now we have to wait around till November 12th before we go to the Whitsundays and then squish everything else in between there and Brisbane. It will be fine, but no more faffing. The age of Faffage is OVER.
So we have been hanging around Townsville for the last week or so. There has been a lot of sitting by the actually quite lovely lagoon that also boasts free public showers and BBQs so it has become our second home. Also we spent a few more days hanging around Crystal Creek and Balgal Beach, which was lovely and relaxing. Baba even finished her book(!).
Yesterday, our van started making some rather harrowing noises. Im usually ok with very basic car care, as before I was even old enough to drive a car, my Dad showed me how to change a car tyre, check the oil, check the coolant, refill the water, clean and wax a car to a glorious shine. Unfortunately, he failed to show me how to replace a clutch on a Toyota Hiace, and so I am about to spend uneccessary money on garage labour. Thanks a lot, Dad.
It also turns out that heavy rain + open doors = EVERYTHING wet, and a possible confrontation with the local security company who have recieved complaints of two english backpackers putting up laundry lines wherever the hell they feel like it.
So we have been hanging around Townsville for the last week or so. There has been a lot of sitting by the actually quite lovely lagoon that also boasts free public showers and BBQs so it has become our second home. Also we spent a few more days hanging around Crystal Creek and Balgal Beach, which was lovely and relaxing. Baba even finished her book(!).
Yesterday, our van started making some rather harrowing noises. Im usually ok with very basic car care, as before I was even old enough to drive a car, my Dad showed me how to change a car tyre, check the oil, check the coolant, refill the water, clean and wax a car to a glorious shine. Unfortunately, he failed to show me how to replace a clutch on a Toyota Hiace, and so I am about to spend uneccessary money on garage labour. Thanks a lot, Dad.
It also turns out that heavy rain + open doors = EVERYTHING wet, and a possible confrontation with the local security company who have recieved complaints of two english backpackers putting up laundry lines wherever the hell they feel like it.
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