| Met the guys at brekkie and after some tough negotiations we decided to hire a mini moke - they are little topless minis. So we got 3 of them for 10 of us. We drove to horseshow bay for some swimming and volloyball and then stopped at the Forts walk. Carlos didn't have any shoes on, so he literally ran the 2k to the forts. These are old WW2 gun emplacements and command centres over looking the sea, whcih gave us some great views. The cars where ace, we had food fights whilst driving and generally caused a racous in them round the island (yes, we mooned as well!) Grabbed some food and beers for later then dropped the cars off. Headed to the bar where I continued my assault on the cocktail menu then we headed down to the beach. Manageed to rustle up about 15 folks and we played killer on the beach - great game. Unfortunately the police helicopter telling us not to drink and then the rain put a dampner on proceedings. Headed to bed! Weds - Loose on a jetski! Headed down to Horseshow bay for my safety briefing on a jetski. Cos I was on my todd, I grabbed my own ski and I was racing around at around 60-70ks. Jumped 2-3 feet out of the sea. We drove to Townsville and back (about 20ks) and then continued round the Island. Chilled by the pool later, read, swam and sun bathed. Life is tough :) Chatted to some folks on the breach, watching a storm in Townsville. Spent a day chilling in Townsville - not a great deal to report about that, although the Museam of Tropical Queensland was ace. There is a special section about HMS Pandora (the boat the UK sent to capture the mutineers from the bounty which sank off the coast here on a reef) A lot of our phrases came from that boat, Pandora's box, down the hatch and chewing the fat! Had an ealry night after watching Shrek on TV, what a good movie! Friday 7th - Hung around till my bus was due to leave at 2ish. The bus broke down so we waited at the ferry terminal till 4ish for our pick up. This meant that we were all cranky and hot and deparate for a beer later that evening. So we arrived into Airlie beach, grabbed some showers then headed straight out to Morroco's. The wet shirt comp was pretty good in there and I was really drunk. Chatted with the folks from the bus for ages, then I met some guys from Cape Trib and they dragged me to the juice factory club for more partying until 3ish. Fell into bed with clothes on... 8th - Whitsundays begins...and its raining! There was only another 6 folks and the co-owner on our 20 sleeper boat, so it was pretty comfortable. We all had double beds and loads of space on deck to relax. Our boat was a racing tri-maran called Avatar. We snorkled off an island, and it was fantastic. So much better than Cairns. Loads of fish, coral and the sea was warm, like a bath! After lunch we headed to Blue Pearl bay and jumped in adn was surrounded by millions of fish. They swam up to your mask and looked at you...amazing, so many different types, colours and sizes. If you stretch your arm out, you will touch about 10 of them. Wunderbal! We crusied down to Hook Island for out nite mooring and across a large sandbar in the middle of the ocean. We sat and had dips and beers. Back to the ship for some wine and a hard session. Sunday - Set sail Today we put the sails up and we roared down the coast to out first stop of the day at the top of Whitsunday island for another snorkle then motored down to Whitehaven beach for lunch. The sun had come out for a change ( we were catching the tail end of a cyclone, so loads of rain was being dumped here and in Mackay!) Met the Irish guys on the beach there. Climbed the lookout and there before me was the most beautiful beach you will ever see. Amazing colours - the blues of the sea, sky and the pure white sand combine to make this fantastic. We headed down to the beach for a swim and it was even nicer down there, loads of cheeky fish in the hot sea. Back to the boat for a big roast dinner (Mmm!) and then oodles of wine. Monday 10th - Umbrella's anyone?? It chucked it down all morning. So we got dropped off at Hook Island resort - what a dump that place is. It must have been ncie in the 80's, the 1880's. There was no running water, so I washed my hands in the rain... Headed back to Airlie beach. The Whitsundays were ace, its a shame we didn't have some more folk on the boat as it wasn't exactly a party every min. Checked back into Koala's and had a great long shower. The the others from the boat at Magnums and played some crazy drinking games (fetch and chain - if unsure what they are, drop me a tinkle) and then went to Morroccos where I met some folks I was partying with last Friday nite (couldn't remember their names) Ended up getting dragged to the foam party at Magnum's - it was crazy. The foam came up over my face and I was totally drenched...fun times in the foam...never again though as my trainers stunk for 3 days! Tuesday 11th Back on the bus to Dingo (a cattle station in the middle of the Qld outback) WEnt for a sleep for a few hours as it was so hot and then headed to the bar at 6ish. Dinner was a lovley roast beef (what else?) with all the trimmings Grabbed some beers and chatted to some folks. There was a North bound bus in as well, so there was about 70 people there. We played a tug of war against them, but lost, but we did win the boat race! ( I was in the team!) I partied hard past 12am and celebrated in style! Weds 12th - Its my Birthday! After leaving Dingo and swapping stories etc, we drove south and spent the morning at Rockhampton zoo. Drove down to Bargara (beach resort nr Bundaberg) and chilled there until the buffet dinner was ready. Had a lot of wine for dinner and felt worse for wear...some of the girls from the bus bought me a birthday cake, so we had some yummy dessert. Had some more drinks outside in the mozzie and cane toad infested grounds and then went to bed around 12ish. 13th Hopped on the bus and we drove to Hervey Bay to get ready for our Fraser Island adventure. Met Keith on the bus, he was from Whitecraigs (1m from where I grew up) and we travelled together and arranged to go on to the island together. Chilled out for most of day - going for a swim, sleep etc. Went to the bar later to gloat over the England shock result. Back to hostel bar (escape) to shoot some pool and have a couple of drinks. Went to bed early though! 14th - Valentine's day Thanks for your cards...Mum! Did my washing and went for a swim in the calmest sea I have ever seen... Keith met his 2 mates and we are all went along to our Fraser Island meeting. It was so comical - the stories of you crazy backpackers, both funny and sad were great to hear and made the 2 hrs pass quick. Came out unsure as to what I had learned...our group was really nice and friendly and discussed the shopping for a bit then arranged to meet later in the bar. Sat by the pool in the hostel across the rd then headed back for 8pm for some drinkies and a getting to know you session. Back to the other hostel bar for drinks until 12ish. Feb 15th - Safety Briefings Had a hour long breifing warning us about driving on certain patches of sand/rivers and about some of the campsites. Old scary guy who walked around with a cane hitting stuff to reinforce his point. Caught the cool ferry ride across, adn then drove straight to basin lake for a swim. Beautiful and very refreshing as it was a 45min walk there. Off to lake McKenzie for some lunch, beautiful lake with different tones of blue in the water. It was so quiet in the car pk and then the beach was jammed with people playing vollyball/sunbathing and running around - bizzare! After some group mooning we drove to our campsite just south of Lake Wabby. We chilled out and enjoyed some beers then out of nowhere 6 trucks all pulled up beside up and took up all the prime real estate - so we hurried back to sort our camp out. Tooks us ages to cook, we were rather drunk and not in any rush. PLayed some drinking games as the whole campsite gathered round our monster fire. Some dingo's popped round later for a chat, cool dogs, esp their green eyes! 16th - Rather a hot nite in the tents, cooked up some brekkie then headed to Lake Wabby. This is the nicest lake that u can visit, beautiful green water with a huge white sand dune on one side. We did rolly-pollys/races down the dune into the water. If you climbed the dune to the top, there was a scene like the sahara at the top, more dunes and rainforest, all untouched - until now! Drove up the coast via the Maheno wreck and parked up at Indian head campsite. Drank and played 'killer', (a game I learnt on Maggie island). 17th - Up early (4.30am) to see the sun rise at Indian head. Too much cloud but still pretty amazing, could see turtles in the water and the brumbies got up to see the sunrise as well. Back to the camp for 6ish then stole firewood from all the other sleeping camps and started a huge fire to cook brekkie! Chatted until the others rose later and told us stories of dingo's licking their feet at 4am! Walked up to Champagne pools and sat there for a while. walked back to the truck and drove over 60k to Lake Mckenzie - at this stage we had lost our other truck we were travelling behind as we told then to go in another direction, they missed the ferry, ha ha! Caught the ferry back and unpacked our gear. Headed to the bar for a big sess as we started drinking tequila stuntmen...loonies! 18th - Up earlyish and caught the Ozbus at 10.30 and drove to Noosa where we hopped off the bus. Keith went to bed and I headed to the pool for a swim/bathe and snooze. Went to the bar to play the quiz, but left early as were both knackered. 19th - Paul (from Fraser) arrived so we went for a walk round Noosa national pk and then sat on the beach for a couple of hrs. Went window shopping in all the designer shops and cafes then stopped for a beer. Headed to the bar to see the live band, fairly big nite although the others left early :( 20th - Mooloolaba - Went for a walk round town and a pk and then headed to the pie shop for lunch. Caught the bus south and sat chatting in the reception area with some folks I knew from earlier buses. Hung around till 9ish then headed to the bowls club for some beers (cheap there, honest!) then on to Fridays niteclub...interesting place, not many backpackers there! |