Queensland

I have had a few people ask me recently why I havent been writing my blog.  The answer is simply because I dont have anything to write about.  Unless people are interested in hearing about all the stupid things I do while drunk, my day to day life is not particularly interesting. However, as I was in Queensland last week, I figured I would get back on the blog.

My friend Jackie (who I played soccer with growing up, and then lived with in Uni) arrived 2 weeks ago. She spent a few days with me in Sydney before we took off for 8 days in Queensland. 

Day 1 - Sydney to Hervey Bay to Fraser Island.

We had to get up fairly early Sunday morning to get our flight up to Hervey Bay. Thankfully the saturday night hangover was not too bad and the trip was uneventful. From Hervey Bay, it was a 50 minute ferry trip to Fraser Island.

We decided to do a tour while on Fraser - 2 days, 3 nights. We thought about renting a 4x4 and camping, but that seemed a bit ambitious given that I'm not really a "roughing it" type of person. The thought of sleeping on the ground is not my thing. Also, although I can deal with the odd cockroach, I am a complete wuss with spiders and snakes. Additionally I had heard that driving on Fraser can be a bit stressful, so having someone drive for us seemed like the better option.

Fraser island is the worlds largest sand island. It is famous for its lakes, scenery and dingos (which really do eat babies and kids - a 9 year old was killed by a dingo on Fraser island about 10 years ago).   With our tour, we had the option of arriving the night before or arriving the day of. We decided to do the night before, however most people in the group (with the exception of 3 oddballs) didnt arrive until the morning.  We tried to chat with the 3 guys a bit but I found them quite obnoxious. It was two dorky 19 year olds and a tag along 33 year old.  Not my cup of tea.  We bought some extremely overpriced goon at the general store and had an early night.  For the non-Australians, "goon" is cask wine - wine in a bag in a box.  Its extremely cheap ($11 for 4.5L) and tastes like hell at first.  Once you get used to it though, it fucks you up.

Day 2 - Fraser Island

Day 2 started with goon mimosas for breakfast. We then went down to meet the rest of our group at the dock. It's a small group; just 11 of us. In addition to the 5 of us from the previous day, we added 3 Germans, a Brit, a Scot and a Swiss. Everyone is nice enough.  Our guide, Kristy, is great. Really enthusiastic and really knows her stuff,

We started with a visit to Basin lake which is a green lake formed entirely from rain water. We didnt swim there - just looked around. After that we hiked a couple of kilometers to get to an old logging camp called central station. We saw a snake on the walk and I was very uncomfortable. Kirsty was all "lets stop and look at it".... I wanted to get out of the area quickly.  The highlight of the walk was when I found Tarzan like vines and went for a swing. 

We had a picnic at the logging camp and got to see our first dingo. They look just like dogs. It's hard to believe they are wild; I can see why people try to feed them. Apparently they had to cull a bunch of them about 15 years back because they had lost their fear of humans from people feeding them. It was resulting in lots of attacks on children.

After that, it was another hike through Pile Valley to see some 'huge' trees. I suppose they are big, but I think there are bigger ones at the fish hatchery in North Van. Jackie and I weren't overly impressed. The one good thing that happened was my math skills won me a free pitcher of cocktails at the bar later. Kirsty gave us a counting challenge on the hike, which I won. The mention of free alcohol triggers some sort of superpower in me.  We also saw more dingos.  By the third one however, they were old news.

Lake Mackenzie

After that, we headed over to lake Mackenzie, which is a spectacular white silica beach surrounding a turquoise lake. It was amazing. Unfortunately, it was quite windy so it was pretty cold when we got out of the water. The weather on Fraser was not great. We got lucky in the sense that we had clear blue skies and lots of sun, however the temperatures were not that high and the wind off the water made it pretty cold at times. We were freezing at night. 

The group is pretty quiet - no crazy parties or anything. I guess I'm glad it wasn't nuts, because it's nice to enjoy the island not hungover, but I would have liked people to be a bit more lively. Fair enough, the days were long and busy, but everyone was in bed early. Snore.

Day 3 - Fraser Island

Big day on day 3. Started out with a long-ish drive out to 75 mile beach (which is actually only 63 miles - old Captain Cook messed it up). Along the beach there is a sand highway for cars; it has a speed limit and everything. It was a pretty cool drive. The sand roads in the bush were super bumpy (there is a section nicknamed the 'roller coaster') but on the beach it was nice and smooth.

Along the way we got the story of how Fraser Island got its name. Captain Fraser and his wife shipwrecked off Fraser in the 1800s. They came onshore and lived with the aboriginals. One day captain Fraser went out to get fire wood and disappeared; never seen again. Eventually his wife was found by the English and taken home. A search party was sent out for the Captain, but no dice. They did discover good timber though, so the island became a logging island known as "captain Fraser's island." He has never been found - still out there decomposing in the sand somewhere I suppose.

Part way along the beach we had the option of a scenic flight. As it wasn't very expensive, Jackie and I decided to do it and it turned out to be the highlight of the day for me. It was really spectacular to see the island from up high; it's huge. 3 years ago flying really stressed me out - you couldn't have paid me to get on that plane. Now I think it's really fun. I figured that the flight would have been a huge money making business, but Kristy said the Company is really struggling. 

After that we stopped at a few sights up the beach - a shipwreck of an old luxury cruise liner and the 'coloured sands' (which should be pretty self explanatory). The next major stop was the champagne pools, which are little pools in the rocks filled by the waves crashing over (which makes it bubbly). The water was not as warm as I was hoping for, and once again it was super windy so it was pretty chilly. 

We walked down the most stunning beach in the world, before having lunch.  After that we hiked up Indian head for a look out, which was also quite spectacular. The last stop of the day was Eli Creek, which is a fast moving river that you float down. Good fun, but too short. 

Once again it was a quiet night. Some Norwegian guys on a tour the day after us were around, so I drank goon with them. They were also complaining about how quiet it was. I guess it is low season, but still. 

Day 4 - Fraser Island to Hervey Bay to Brisbane to Cairns.

We couldn't be bothered with the 24 hour bus ride option, so we bussed to Brisvegas and flew. 

Got to cairns in the evening and had an awesome cheap Mexican meal. Walked around cairns after to check it out, and found that its a bit of a dive (that was a pun!). There is a main street which all the hostels and backpacker bars are on. There is also an extremely crap market (full of junk) and the most disgusting looking Chinese food buffet I've ever seen. The nicest part of town is the esplanade. There is a nice man made lagoon (since there is no swim-able beach in Cairns) and a sea wall, which has volleyball courts, a skate park, children's play area, exercise area, etc.  We had a few drinks before turning it in.

Days 5 and 6 - Great Barrier Reef sailing.

When we arrived in Cairns the night before, we managed to book a 2 day/1 night trip for the next day. Since it was last minute and they were trying to fill the boat, we got on for $150 off and the trip included a free dive.

The boat was a sail boat - capacity for 12 plus 3 crew. Turned out there was only 9 and 3 crew.  It was a pretty different trip than my time in the whitsundays. While that was a party boat (22 people to 2 crew) this was more an 'adventure trip'. The boat trips in Cairns are significantly more expensive than in Airlie Beach, so I think most backpackers only do day trips (they cant afford a 3 day trip).

The boat we were on (Coral Sea) has more moorings at the reef than any other boat. So that creates the opportunity for numerous stops. Also, with it being an over night trip, we were able to go out farther to less busy areas.

Coral Sea

It was a 3 hour trip out to the reef. The skipper asked if we were worried about getting sea sick - no one said they were. I can't even read a map in the car without feeling ill, but for some reason ive got an cast iron stomach on boats.  And good thing, because it was ROUGH. The wind was pretty killer. By the time we got to the reef 2 people had thrown up off the side of the boat. By the end of the 2 day trip 3 or 4 people had vomited and just about everyone but myself and one Dutch girl had felt queasy at times.  

It was a bit of a strange group. Other than Jackie and myself, there was a Brazilian couple, two Dutch women, a father and daughter and a guy from Uruguay. 

The Brazilians were nice, but I can't for the life of me understand why they booked the trip. He went diving, but also got extremely sea sick. He said he gets sick on the manly ferry (like the seabus in Vancouver). The girl had barely ever swam before - Im not sure if she even knew how.  Why on earth would you spend hundreds of dollars on a boating and swimming trip, if you cant handle a boat and you cant swim??

The Father daughter were also unusual. The daughter was 11 and was a really nice kid. The dad though was a bit of a know it all, he really thought he was just the greatest thing. I have a hard time articulating what bugged me about him - he was just off. Pegged himself as a real adventurer I reckon, but was really a nerd.  He and his wife and daughter are traveling the world and have been for a year and a half now. The daughter is home schooled.  Rough life.

The trip was amazing and we were pretty happy we did it. Over the two days, we stopped at 6 different spots on the reef. We saw turtles, dolphins, and a reef shark (which freaked the hell out of me, even though he is harmless and was minding his own business). It was pretty incredible underwater; the coral was spectacular. I couldn't believe all the colours - so much neon. The fish were pretty crazy too; some were neon yellow and purple striped. Others were flourcent blue and pink. It was almost like being on some weird planet in outer space. I loved it.

I also got to scuba dive at one of the spots. Scuba is not something I've ever been that keen on, but now I am. It was pretty amazing.  Took a little while to get comfortable under the water, but once I did it was awesome. The highlight was seeing a clown fish coming out of its anenamie. 

When we got back to Cairns on Friday night we went out. The bar we were at encouraged dancing on the tables and even had ledges on the ceiling to put your drinks. Good fun.

Day 7 - Cairns/Port Douglas

Since there wasn't much to do in Cairns, we hired a car and drove up the coast. It was a nice warm day, but rainy unfortunately so we couldn't really go lie on the beach as planned. 

Port Douglas is about an hour drive north of Cairns. We stopped at palm cove on the way up for a walk. It was nice, but grey.  Port Douglas was a nice little town - much nicer than Cairns as it was more boutique-y. We had a pub lunch and walked around.

On the way back, we went to the Mossman gorge, which had been recommended to us by a few people. It was nice, but once again, a lot like the North Van fish hatchery area. The town of Mossman was weird - I can't imagine the population is more that 2,000, but there appeared to be about 10 churches. I guess there isnt much else to do up there.

We also stopped at a fruit winery for a few tastings. It was nice enough wine (there was a lechee one which was really good) but as we carried on, we couldn't get it home. 

Back in Cairns we had mexican again, I did my best to finish off the goon (unsuccessfully, we had way too much) and we went out for a few drinks.

Day 8 - Home

That's it. Im back to work and Jackie is back in Canada.