Over the Rainbow and Far Away

I always seem to start these blogs with a huge bus journey - believe me being on the damn things is a lot worse than reading about it so bare with me - but it was also true of our trip from Brisbane to Rainbow Beach. Even though we only got on at 11am, we had to get out of the suburbs and didn't reach Rainbow until the evening. As usual we grabbed a quick meal (and less usually - up to this point at least) treated ourselves to a pint in the bar before bed. We had to get up for 6am to watch this video about Fraser Island, basically designed to scare the shit out of you about the potential attacks you might face from Dingoe attacks, fines for leaving your food/rubbish out and the possibility that the self-drive cars would topple over and kill all inside. We escaped all three, and to be honest i'm rather sceptical about how likely they were in the first place - but best not to tempt fate.

As it happened we were in the lead car anyway with one of the guides driving and towing everyone's food and camping gear, so there was no 'self-drive' element as such. We were in a truck with 8 girls who we got to know really quickly spending the best part of 72 hours together and who were so much fun. The first day, we left Rainbow mid-morning (I'm not convinced the 6am wake up was needed) and drove the trucks over to the ferry to get off the mainland and onto Fraser. We stopped off briefly for some lunch (a big reason I was looking forward to Fraser and why it was so good was the fact that the all-inclusive trip was going to involve some good food, thick corn beef and cheese sandwiches were a good start!) and then took a dip in Lake Mackenzie. After swimming in seawater for the past few weeks the task of staying afloat in fresh water was quite difficult but well enjoyed given the humid temperatures of Queensland. Back on the truck to our camp site saw us get stuck in some sand (the video had warned us about this so maybe I shouldn't have been so flippant) and meant that everyone had to get involved pushing the truck and the trailer out of the boggy sand. It was actually quite funny and we got there after about 4 or 5 goes. Ater setting up camp we cracked on with dinner (steak and potato salad - absolutely amazing after weeks surviving on pasta and rice with or without cheap meat. The olny critcism I do have is that mayonnaise is crap in Australia it just doesn't taste the same and is like a mucusy salad cream =S but still - steak!) This was all washed down with a tin mug full of 'goon' - a foul cheap boxed wine, bought in 4 litre quantites and guaranteed to get you wasted - and followed by drinking games including guys swapping tops with girls and what would be the first of many rounds of 'I have never' in which we told complete strangers about or intimate lives... luckily each evening I was too drunk to remember exactly what I had divulged the the night before. We drank into the early hours and I even fell asleep outside my tent at one point, but fortunately was not attacked by any dingoes.

The morning came all too quickly but we were offred a reprieve in the form of a swim in a freshwater stream, 'Eli Creek' (also known as 'hangover creek'), just about the most beatiful water (aside from the beaches in Ibiza) that I have ever swam in and an excellent temporary solution to the sunburn that one of the guys we met had acquired before Fraser. We then set about exploring the rest of Fraser Island, including the famous shipwreck and climbing up to 'Indian Head' which was just about the biggest cliff I'd ever seen! That night we returned to camp to cook stir-fry and partook of the 'goon' once more. I downed the first mug in a successful attempt to break the wall from the night before and got invovled with a game of 'GUno' - introduced to us by the girls - which was essentially 'ring of fire' with uno cards. The pack was inevitably destroyed and I don't rember much of the night but someone mentioned the 'single ladies' dance being performed at one point. I have no details.

Our final day on Fraser Island saw us take on a bush walk to Lake Wabi where we swam off our hangovers and looked for tiny fish whilst avoidong the poisonous catfish. We travelled back to Eli Creek fir one last time before returning to Rainbow Beach for the night and a well-needed shower! (On Fraser there are shower and toilet facilites but not where the camp site is, if you need to go you have a chouce of digging a deep hole or going in the sea. I chose the latter whilst at camp and otherwise made use of the toilets at our stop offs...) It seemed a shame to waste that goon which we had left and as it had become communal property we set about another night of drinking games, that continued into the bar afterwards. The weather on Fraser had just about held out for us and it was one of the highlights of my trip so far. it had some amazing scenery and beatiful coastline and we met some great friends.

Practically pickled from the last three days we got on the coach in the morning and headed to 1770 - the only town in the world named after a date apparently, the date being when Captain Cook discovered it. It seems like not much had changed since then as the town was pretty quiet - even for an Australian town at the weekend. We got to the hostel about midday and did some washing before being convinced to drink once more by a couple of guys and a girl who we had met on Fraser who had also jumped on the OZ Experience bus in the morning. The girls on our trip who were getting the Geyhound met us a bit later and we had a bit of a reunion - which yet again invovled a game of 'I have never' and some cross-dressing.

Jumping on the bus the next day we made a little detour on our north-bound journey to Kroombit Cattle Station in an attempt to get a flavour of the outback. We took a bushwalk and got bitten to death by giant ants (everything in Australia is larger and more anti-social than at home) before heading up to do some goat-rustling. I was predictably rubbish at lassoo-ing anything and had to resort to grabbing the goat by its horns. Needless to say I did not win the fastest 'rustler'. We headed back to the station for some dinner afterwhich we were taught how to crack a whip (which I only half suceeded at) and attempted to ride a mechanical bull (at which I held my own IMHO). There was a bit of drama as one of the women from the Adventure Tours Australia fell off the bull at a weird angleand hurt her neck requiring ambulance assistance. The rest of us OZ lot were ok though, and managed to escape unscathed! That night we drank once again and partook of drinking games with some of the staff including yet another game of 'I Have Never' - the novelty of which was severly wearing off at this point not to mention the fact that one of the guys who joined us talked more bullshit in 15 minutes than I've heard anyone speak in a lifetime. Claiming to have beded 20-odd different nationalities in about a year and a half. The next day saw us wake up early (5:30am!!!) to breakfast and a horrendously long bus ride to Airlie Beach. Though not without its own drama. As we drove down the road our driver realised that the trailer containing all our bags had fallen off the bus! Luckily she hadn't driven too far down the road without it and we could see it from where we were. It had fallen on its side and was impossible to throw over. Luckily enough the door was at the top so one of the guys had to jump in as we pulled all the bags out! We stuffed them in the bus with us and made our way to Rockhampton and then Airlie Beach.

We decided to eat in Beaches bar where our driver had sorted out a table and some free beers for us which is one of the benefits of travelling with a company like OZ Experience if you're not feeling too old and cranky to get involved! We also met a couple of girls who were going to be on our boat for our Whitsundays trip through a friend of ours from Fraser - so small is the world apparently.

The next day we enjoyed a lie-in of sorts and checked out at 10am and bummed around Airlie Beach until the afternoon when we could board our boat. Our first half-day on the Whitsundays tour, aboard a ship named 'Broomstick' saw us take in some snorkling action on the reef in some ridiculously-tight stingersuits that brought the 'Power Rangers' to mind. It was amazing to see so many different types of fish in one place, everytime you turned around there were new colours and shapes, though you also had to be careful to avoid the coral which is incredibly sharp and any jellyfish which make swimming in this part of the east coast impossible without the afore mentioned stingersuits. We were actually quite close to the coral as we swam and it was a little intimiadating at first but you eventually get the hang of it and enjoy the amazing sights. That night we enjoyed a brilliant meal -cooked by the yacht-crew- and had a few glasses of goon and a good chat. The next morning we got up to breakfast and headed out early to Whitehaven beach, a beautiful white-sand beach with stunning views of the Whitsunday islands. We had a bit of a dip in the water and took advantage of the exfoliarting properties of the incredibly fine sand, which pretty much got everywhere! We headed back on board around midday to lunch and then back out to the reef for some more snorkling, and some respite on a beach made up of tiny fragments of washed up coral before heading back on board for dinner. Much like the Fraser trip a highlight of the trip was the fact that the food was going to be amazing and I tucked into my second steak in as many weeks - now a convert to slabs of rare beef! That night we set about drinking once more, with the aid of a game of ring of fire even invovling the Danish girls who looked confused for the most part, and as the bad influences we were encouraged one of the guys to get involved in the goon despite never having tried it before. He proceeded to get very drunk, almost started a fight and fell off the back of the boat a couple of times. I don't think the crew were too impressed but they said they had seen worse and all in all it was a good night of high spirits and loud music, in which a certian someone got a bit over excited when Lady GaGa came on... I blame the goon and the fact that I'm such an oldie nowadays who can't take his drink.

The next morning we headed out for some more snorkling and even saw a sea turtle (as far as I was aware all turtles live in the sea...) before heading back to Airlie Beach for a shower and a nap before the evening's revellry of free beer at Beaches bar and cheap drinks at Pheonix bar. The model travellers we are (and partially lead by our decreasing budget) we headed home around midninght, much to the dismay of one of the girls we had met on Fraser who chased us down the road demanding we come to the club. She was Scottish though bless her!

We got up the next day to get back on the bus again, with a number of bleary-eyed friends from Fraser and Whitsundays. We had planned a night in Townsville to break up the trip to Cairns, the plan being that we would arrive there midday-ish, have time to relax and chill and not have to get back on the bus the next day til 1pm. As it turned out 40 minutes down the road the bus brokedown at the world's most expensive petrol station. It took another five hours for a replacement bus to come and meet us, much to the consternation of one of the Dutch girls, who bitching and moaning thouroughly amused Ben. The bus was replaced by a huge coach instead which was good but somewhat defeated the object of our stop over in Townsville as we didn't get there until past 5pm. As the supermarket closed at 5:30pm we had to get Subway for tea, but as I was knackered i was secretly glad of the excuse not to cook! Such hardcore travellers we are, we warcehd Mrs. Doubtfire before heading to bed at about 10pm. I think somehwere appraoching 10 nights on the sauce had caught up with us!

The next morning I got up and got ready to check out, and we had a quick look around Townsville. I got the feeling that it used to be quite a bustling place as it seemed quite built up. However, there was a lot of scaffolding about and many of the shops were closed, so I think it was a bit of a victim of the floods and then the cyclone.

We got on the bus at 1pm, after getting absolutely drenched by a torrential downpour and made our way to Cairns, where I'm wrting to you now. To be honest we've got most of the way through our Aus budget and then some so are sitting off until our flight out. However, as we know a fair few people coming into the city in the next few days I imagine some celebration will be on the cards... Looking forward to Asia now and meeting up with the girls, it's going to be such a culture shock - especially having it easy in the English-speaking world so far - but something we're looking forward to!

and... relax!

So we finally got to Byron Bay after perhaps the longest journey ever in the history of mankind (it was about 12 hours but still) and it was so good to be out of the city and take a little break! Byron was pretty small and likes it that way - having resisted numerous attempts by big companies to develop the area, preferring to keep the laid-back surfer feel a welcome relief to two weary travellers after the bright lights of Melbourne and Sydney. The first night was pretty chilled out (I feel a pattern developing here), we just grabbed some dinner and then went to bed. The next day we went to the beach and, having learnt my lesson from Bondi, I sat out the midday sun in the shade and pursued The Da Vinci Code, a truly terribly written book but it's all I have now and I'm invested to some extent in the story! That night we decided to check out the bar opposite our hostel called Cheeky Monkey's, at $5AUS for a pint it was probably the best value we've found in Australia so far. A proper backpacker place it transformed at about 9pm from a bar/restaurant to a bar/club - after deriding dancing on the tables as 'so cliche' I found myself a few beers later joining those who I couldn't beat! I was a good night as we caught up with some people we had met on the OZ Experience bus.

The next day we took a trip to Nimbin, a tiny little village a couple hours drive from Byron, taken over by hippies in the 60s who have yet to leave and dedicated to marijuana - including little old ladies selling hash cookies 5 for $15AUS! Our trip included a 'BBQ' which turned out to be sausage sandwiches in a bowls club but was good all the same and for some reason I couldn't stop laughing at the bizzare-ness of the situation... That night we hung out of the hostel with some of the guys we met on the Nimbin trip over a glass of goon!

The following morning we jumped back on the OZ Experience bus to catch up with a couple of Ben's mates in Brisbane. After killing some time in the city we got picked up by Michelle, Ben's friend from Camp America, who drove us back to her house in Albany Creek and a proper Aussie barbie with her husband Max. The night in a proper double bed all to myself with A/C to boot was well needed and happily received! After a pathetic attempt to catch the bus into the city the following afternoon we veged-out in front of the television all-day! God I've missed it haha - Australia's The Biggest Loser was all the better than the British version as they made fat people crawl through mud - hilarious! The second day we finally made it into the city and got very wet but sought shelter at the Anglican Cathedral (where a very helpful old lady told me about the notable parts of the building) as well as the Queensland Museum and the Art Gallery. Our last day at Max and Michelle's saw us go for picnic on Mt Coot-Tha lookout with great views of the city. That evening we relocated to Clayfield to stay with Ben's university mate Rob and his girlfriend Penny. They indulged us with another BBQ (and beer - Australians and ex-pats are generous with booze!) and we chilled out at their place for a couple of days, once again enjoying the novelty of TV and 24 access to the internet! We made ourselves useful one night making tea for the two and today went into the city to check out the City Cat journey across the river and I checked out the Gallery of Modern Art where I found a wall of wishes written on ribbons and a video of people singing along to Michael Jackson songs - minus the music! It was so good just to chill out for a week in Brisbane and I can't thank our hosts enough for their hospitality and kindness in taking in a couple of wanderlust-weary backpackers!

Off to Rainbow Beach tomorrow and Fraser Island!