In the heart of the Gold Coast is Surfers Paradise. The whole coast is like a big, tacky, neon lighted smack of tourist development full of shopping malls and artificial attractions, and surfers is the capital!!! Most say that you should see the place but never see it for more than a couple of nights - which is exactly how long I spent there. The club seen in surfers Paradise is positively electric and so on the night that I arrived, I was quickly signed up to a party bus - which combines 7 hostels worth of people (a few hundred) and you are wisked around the town to 4 of the major night spots and are provided with free drinks, pizza and entry to all the clubs (plus a hat and glow stick). The party ends when you can no longer stand. It was a good way to meet people (I met many) and an even better way to quickly forget all their names.
I was staying just outside Surfers in a spot called Southport which was nicely away from the chaos of town, but I did venture in during the day to have a look around. Two days was certainly ample here - so I headed off to Byron Bay where I would hopefully have a second reunion with my old friend Matt..........
Sunday 20 July 2008
Surfers Paradise
Brisbane
I arrived in Brisbane and headed straight to the Bunk backpacker hostel in the Fortitude Valley region, up in the north of the city. It was known to be the best hostel in town and it didn't disappoint. Actually the reason I headed there was because I was meeting an old friend from home. I had planned to meet Matt (Jones), a friend I have known since primary school, in Bangkok but we seemed to miss each other by around 24 hours. Not this time though. I met him straight away in the bar for a drink and a catch up!!! It was weird seeing him there - us both drinking like we did at home, but this time we were not at home, but instead on the complete opposite side of the world!!! It was definately a good weird though.
over the three days I spent in Brisbane, Matt took me around the town. We headed to the South Bank (via the City CAT catamaran - basically a boat taxi) which (in the middle of the city) has an artifical beach - they love a beach, even if it isn't by the coast!!! We went to the main shopping centre in the heart of the Central Business District and I even went to the cinema. I only mention it because I have not been to the pictures since I have been travelling (5 and a half months). We saw The Dark Knight (new Bat-Man film) and it was very good I must say.
I also walked to the Botanic Gardens and covered the main sights. Many people had said not to bother with Brisbane but I found it a pleasant place. It has a relaxed feel and I like the fact that it is based upon the water (the Brisbane River). Although saying that most cities in Australia are centred on water. I think the thing that local's here love about Brisbane is that it isn't involved with much else. Sydney and Melbourne are constantly fighting it out to be the best city in the country and Brisbane just sits back and enjoys not being apart of that. You really feel that off the locals.
Because Matt has been in this part of the world for a month or so, he has accumulated a fair number of friends - which quickly became my friends!!! A group of around 8 of us went out every night I was there and on my last night we ventured to the biggest club in Queensland - 'Family' which is a maze, especially if you have had a few drinks.
It was a great few days here and certainly a messy few nights but I eventually carried on south. I was heading to Surfers Paradise for a few days. While I was in Brisbane, Matt had decided to leave his life there and join me down the coast for a while. He had already been to Surfers Paradise and needed to sort himself out before leaving, so he stayed and was planning on meeting me after Surfers in a place called Byron Bay. So off I went..........
Meeting The Family - Maroochydore And Caloundra
I left Noosa for a very short ride down to Maroochydore, right in the heart of the Sunshine Coast. Here I was meeting some relatives, Susie and Ken. I only spent one night with them but it was a great chance to catch up and see the beautiful place that they live in.
Between Maroochydore and Caloundra (two small, quiet towns) lies the suburban region where Susie and Ken have made their home. It's a great stretch of land and only a few minutes drive to some stunning beaches of which we visited a few. Unfortunately the Sunshine Coast lacked the sunshine that day but it didn't really matter - the beach wasn't the reason I was there.
I had a lovely time talking about the family, the travelling and a string of other topics, and I would like to thank them for their perfect hospitality and a great time all round. After a day and a night I made my way south to Australia's third largest city.............
Noosa
5 hours south of Hervey Bay you reach a small town surrounded by tropical vegetation, crystalline beaches and towering gum trees. The place is called Noosa and today is a wealthy region of million dollar houses by the beach, large boats to accompany them and bronzed figures to accompany both of them!!! Unfortunately for a backpacker, it means that Noosa isn't the cheapest place to spend your days but I thought it was definately worth a bit of time here without it hurting my bank balance any more than this beautiful country has already - in fact my money situation has been mortally wounded since arriving in Australia - which I am sure will have some consequence later on in my travels but which i'm not quite sure what that consequence is at the present time - so it's best not to worry about it now.
The town is divided into Noosaville, Noosa Junction and the area closest to the beach and where I was staying - Noosa Heads. On the few days that I spent here I achieved two main goals. I took a long walk around the Noosa National Park - where I spotted a Turtle in one of the watery coastline bays that I passed and I also spotted - to my utter delight (because I had not seen one before, let alone in the wild) two Koala's. They are perhaps the laziest animals that have ever evolved. They basically sit in the trees and eat eucalyptus leaves which is the most inefficient plant you can eat and thus they literally have no energy for anything. The two that I observed didn't move at all except one wiggled an arm for a second which you could have easily have missed if you had blinked at the wrong moment.
The second goal was definately a more rewarding one. You have to do it if you come to the East coast of Australia and I had not yet. So off I went for my first surfing lesson. The prinipal is relatively easy. After a quick safety talk about 'rips' (you don't want to panic if you get caught in one of them) then we soon learnt the 3 steps to getting up on the board. In practice it isn't quite as easy as the 3 steps make out. Actually getting on the board is not the hard part at all, but instead it's the timing of the wave - when to start your 3 steps. The waves here were perfect and I managed to ride about 5 of them which was so rewarding when you actually do it. Don't be fooled, I wasn't coasting down a 20ft wave as it crashed over my head - it wasn't like that at all - but it was good enough for a start. Paul, who also came along didn't quite manage to get up on the board as he couldn't really get past step 1 - I watched him as he froze to the surfboard like a rabbit in the headlights and sailed all the way back to shore on his belly.
Along with the surfing lessons came the injuries. Within a 2 hour lesson I had badly bruised my finger, cut my foot and achieved a bleeding nose after smacking the board into my face. It's all the rolling about in the water when you miss time the wave - you feel like your in a washing machine. Despite all that and the fact that I didn't quite manage to 'hang 10', I still had a lot of fun attempting to.
After a couple of days in the sun - I left Paul in Noosa and travelled onwards to meet family. I had been travelling with Paul for a lot of the East Coast and it had been good fun. But, like always when you travel, you pick people up and eventually have to say goodbye - so thats what I did, and then I moved on.........
Hervey Bay And Fraser Island
It's a long way from Airlie Beach To Hervey Bay. To ease the 12 hour pain we decided to take the journey overnight. A wise move. When we arrived, we realised that Hervey Bay is not actually a particularly interesting place. It's described as a town but is more like one giant retail outlet, which stretches for miles before reaching a pleasant coastline of beach and piers where many try to spot whales making their annual journey from Antarctica. There is one main road along the coast which is generally filled with cafe's serving cheap breakfast but nothing else of interest, or in fact anything that might keep a young backpacker occupied. During the day I spent there I went down to the beach to look out for whales as it was coming up to the right time of year but unfortunately, they were not coming out to play that day!!!
Actually, the reason we were at Hervey Bay was because it is a major hub for people wanting to explore Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world!!! You can visit the island via a guided tour or a self drive (go and explore it yourself) adventure. I decided to go for the latter. Paul and I were booked onto a 4x4 Jeep, which holds 10 people. The company we used has about 5 Jeep's going out at one time - and thus everyone is put essentially into a big hat and are teamed off into 10 or 11 man jeep team's. The night before we were heading to Fraser - you meet the rest of your team, which in my group included; Paul and I, 4 young English girls (Hannah, Anna, Claire and Elle), and a group of 4 Dutch (Yuri, Tom, Marloes and her brother)!!! We also had a briefing about how to set up our tent (we were camping on the island), how to drive a 4x4 jeep across rugged terrain and especially on sand - which is not that easy - we heard countless stories of past group's getting stuck and then the vehicle being washed away by incoming tides, or trucks being completely tipped on their heads. We then watched a video of all the dangers on Fraser Island. It's of course the usual - don't swim in the sea because of Tiger Sharks, watch out for Dingoes which can tear you to pieces if your unlucky etc.etc.
The next day we headed out on our 3 day, 2 night journey. We had all nominated Paul to do all of the driving because most were too young and I don't trust myself to carry 9 other passengers on a jeep which I am guaranteed to get stuck somewhere. We stocked up on all our food provisions and followed the other 4 jeeps to the barge. The boat takes about 45 minutes and then your on the Island and free to roam. We had been given an itinerary of places to visit each day and places not to go - although essentially we could go where we wanted at our own itinerary and in some places at our own risk!!! The main rule though was we only had two campsites that we could use on the island.
Day 1: There are no real roads on Fraser, thats why you use a jeep. I think people in our vehicle slightly underestimated what that all meant. Each bump, we were thrown around all over the place along with everyones bags. Our packing of equipment was perhaps less efficient too - which meant at one point a saucepan flew out and hit Yuri on the head - making the most comical cartoon boing soundeffect!!! We soon got the hang of the jeep and it's precarious movement. The first place we drove to was one of many of Fraser Island's stunning freshwater lakes - Lake McKenzie. To get there you have to travel through some colourful forest's which fill the centre of the island. The McKenzie was probably the most picturesque of all the lakes on Fraser. You can swim in it too but it was far too cold for me. We then headed to two more lakes as we travelled down south. This included Lake Birabeen and the tea-coloured Lake Boomanjin. Along the way we also stopped at a place called Central Station - a point for a series of forest walks.
Our camp-site was right by the last lake location so we (suprisingly easily) pitched up our tents, got our gas stoves out and with the other 4 jeep groups, got a big BBQ going. Obviously the beer and goone soon followed and it ended up as one big party. We really got to know our group that night!!!
Unfortunately as soon as the sun went down, it became really cold. In fact, we later found out that that night on Fraser (our first night) was the coldest on the island for 40 years - it even made the news, so it wasn't really the best night to be out camping in a tent. Memories of the outback flooded back to me and once again the cold kept me up all night. Luckily the nights events had given me an alcohol blanket which did help a fraction.
Day 2: I was up at 5am and was glad of it. We packed up our gear and headed off. We traveled across the island to the eastern coast where we finally reached the beach. Cruising on the sand is really fun as you can get your speed up a bit - you just have to watch out for wash-out's which have caught many a 4x4 jeep driver unaware and have sank the vehicle deep in the sand!!! We were fine on our trip though as most of the wash-out's were small and shallow.
We first headed to the Maheno Shipwreck - a boat stranded on the coast, which they have just left there to rust. Actually it does look quite cool - the ship just washed up on shore. It aparently was blown in there by a cyclone in 1935 and has been left as an attraction for visitors. We then travelled to Eli Creek before hitting our second campsite. We set up and had the afternoon to relax. Marloes and I took a walk to the nearby Lake Wabby (the deepest lake on the island). The journey getting there was perhaps more interesting than the destination though. To reach the lake you have to pass forest paths and then a sandy desert. The large dunes and hot sun made it feel like we were suddenly in the Sahara.
Our campsite on the second night was barely a campsite - it was simply an extension of the beach which had a few shrubs partially blocking the wind. There was no toilets or fence like we had the first night. Later - as the sun went down and the drinks came out - we noticed Dingoes and many of them. If you don't know a Dingo is, it's essentially a wild dog!!! We spotted quite a few that night.
I didn't see this although I would have loved to - but Elle and Hannah were taking plates to wash them in the sea whan a Dingo came up and started circling them for 10 minutes - they eventually scared it away. That night Marloes and I slept in the jeep to escape the cold of the tent - and it worked a treat!!!
Day 3: The next morning we found food and boxes all over the place because stupidly, the group sleeping next to us had left all their stuff out and the Dingoes had had a field day. We set off up the beach to a spot called the Pinnacles - which is a cliff-side of coloured sand - no-one was really interested in it except me!!! Before we set off back to the ferry point, we stopped along the coast and climbed some rocks to try and spot Whales - because we heard they were about. It didn't take long to spot them. Every so often a tail would pop up in the distance followed by a large splash as it went back down. They are amazing creatures and it is a real disgrace that the Japanese are hunting them for food. I say save the Whales and eat the Japanese instead (not seriously)!!!
After some Whale spotting we took the jeep back (via a final stop back at Lake Mckenzie - it really is an amazing lake) and met everyone for the ride back to the mainland. That night at the hostel we had a final night with the team before saying our goodbye's. I also bumped into Chris from the Whitsunday trip which was a nice suprise. The Fraser Island self drive trip was by far one of the best things I have done in Australia, a real fun adventure and highly recommended. The island is stunning, filled with forests, lakes and gorges, creeks and of course a lot of sand that you will likely find in places that you don't really want to find sand, for some time after!!!
I continued my journey south down the East Coast. It was time for more sun, sand and surf and where better to get it than Noosa..........
Friday 18 July 2008
Airlie Beach And The Whitsunday Island's
It was another bus ride for countless hours down to Airlie Beach from Magnetic Island. Luckily, the buses in Australia are comfortable and they are generally uneventful compared to those I remember from the chaos of Asia.
Airlie Beach is a stunning spot. Despite it's name though - it has very little beach - only a small stretch of sand, and thus an artificial lagoon has been erected to keep the local's and tourist's happy!!! The views out over the ocean though is where the magic is. It's just a short walk to the marina where you can view an abundance of sailing boats, catamarans and other exotic varieties of ship that could easily hold their own out on the ocean waves. For the reason that most (especially backpackers) come to Airlie Beach is to get out on one of these boats and sail around the surrounding Whitsunday Islands. Paul and I were booked onto a racing, sailing boat named 'The Samurai' but beforehand we had a few days to relax in Airlie.
The backpacker scene in Airlie Beach is thriving and along with it - so is the drinking scene. We soaked up the sun in the days and soaked up the alcohol in the evenings - meeting a lot of fun people including two insane Canadian girls. After a few days though - our boat trip was ready to depart.
The Samurai holds about 25 people. There were about 20 of us plus 4 crew. I made a lot of friends on our 3 day adventure. Namely a group of 6 Irish guys and gals who were a lot of fun, Chris from Leeds and Mira, Freddy and his sister from Germany.
I had never been on a sailing boat and wasn't quite prepared for it's mode of travel. A normal moving water vessel travels at an angle described as flat. Not sailing vessels though. When the sails go up (which we had to help get out) then the whole thing turns at an angle of 45 degrees and you end up holding on for dear life or risk rolling right across the deck and over-board. We soon all got the hang of it and it quickly became as comfortable as it was going to get. We sailed out for a couple of hours and spent the night on the boat. Below deck - the cabin beds were cosily small - but it was fine - I've slept in worse places during my travels.
The next day we sailed to the largest of the islands - Whitsunday Island. We couldn't get off into the ocean here and swim to the island as many on our boat would have liked because the oceans where teeming with Tiger Sharks - perhaps the most dangerous of all sharks, not because of their size but because they are extremely agressive and will eat just about anything - including a boat if it could open it's jaws wide enough. Instead we transferred across to the island via a small speed boat.
Once on the island it was a small walk to the famous lookout - and there it is before you......the incredible Whitehaven Beach. It is by far the most amazing beach I have ever gazed upon. If you type in on your google / yahoo search engine - 'top 10 beaches in the world' then Whitehaven will always make an appearance. If you wait long enough from the viewpoint you can watch the sandbars change formation as the tides come in and alter their direction - so each picture you take looks slightly different.
We then headed down to the beach. The sand is nothing like any sand I have seen on a beach before. It is 99% pure silica which means it is extremely fine and ultra white. You won't find whiter sand anywhere else. Of course the waters are crystal clear to add to the dramatic effect - and these waters you can swim in!!! We spent a few hours here before returning to the boat.
We then sailed to Luncheon Point on Hook Island. Here we snorkelled and got a scuba experience dive where we could see all sorts of coral and fish, although it wasn't quite as stunning as that seen up in Cairns. What I should have done at this point was to hire a quality digital underwater camera as was possible on my day out, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef a few days earlier, returning with world class fishy snaps!!! Instead, I buy a cheap disposable underwater camera and hope for the best. The pictures eventually returned as near on useless - I will put up the least laughable ones but don't hold your breath - they are very disappointing and not representable as what I was viewing at the time, so you will just have to use your imagination on those ones!!!
We eventually headed back on board for the evening. I can't remember where the idea came from but someone had it, to have a toga party - so thats what we did. We used the sheets off our beds and headed up on deck. The stars came out in abundance as did the alcohol and of course the drinking games. The party continued till the early hours up on the deck, in the middle of the ocean - a perfect location really. Most drank beer - but if you have never heard of it before - a cheap alcoholic beverage is goone. It's basically very cheap wine in a box. The name goone, we think, comes from the Aboriginal word for pillow because if you take it out the box the wine / poison is incased in a silver, pillow like bag. If your a backpacker in Australia - you will at some point drink goone - and probably a lot of it.
The next day we got up and headed to another island with a large spit. From there we snorkelled again. we also saw a solitary dolphin happily swimming along which was cool and we saw many turtles popping up to the surface for air - you sometimes have to stop and realise what amazing things you see each day!!! We later headed back on the boat and sailed back to Airlie Beach as our sailing adventure came to an end.
For the next 24 hours (off the boat) it felt like I was drunk as I was so used to the swaying of the boat and it really did take some time to adjust to solid ground. I continued my journey south. It was a 12 hour overnight bus ride but finally I had made it to the gateway of Fraser Island......Hervey Bay!!!!
Magnetic Island
Traveling down the East Coast is easy for backpackers. There is a few options, but the cheapest and the method I chose - is a hop-on - hop-off bus where you can jump on and off any where down the coast, as long as you continue in the direction your going - south in my case. Once you arrive at the place there is usually an army of buses sent from the different backpacker hostels there to pick you up. You just choose which one and jump on. Easy!!!
I got my Greyhound bus to a large town called Townsville - it's meant to be a place not particularly noted for it's charm and I didn't really stay there long enough to find out. For the reason people roll up there is because it has a ferry point to the nearby Magnetic Island. The boat ride is quick and you can be sunbathing on a deserted beach in no time.
Magnetic Island was so named by captain Cook (he did a lot of naming) because his compass stopped working on the volcanic terrain which encompasses the island. It is a small-ish island and is relatively sparse of people. In the day, you can easily find a beach to yourself without much searching and at night, if you want it - you can party at a hostel nightclub till the early morning - I did both.
I had met a guy - Paul from Ireland, on the bus down from Cairns and we spent a few days chilling and drinking. I did manage to fit in a few hours sea kyaking too, before the exhaustion set in.
After a couple of days it was time to move on. Paul followed me down the coast, as we both headed to Airlie Beach - a place bizarrely with very little beach but certainly with a lot of boats!!!
Cairns, Cape Tribulation And The Great Barrier Reef
The term - 'it's a small world' is a popular statement generally made when you meet someone in an unexpected or far-away location. So when, on the day I left Perth and headed to the Outback, I got chatting to a guy which just happened to live around the corner form me, and then turns out that I know his brother - you could say that it is a perfect example of 'it's a small world. If I had left the day earlier or had not sat down at the table to eat my cornflakes at just that moment, in just that hostel, in that particular city, in a country on the other side of the world - then I may never have bumped into Josh Droy's brother at all and we would believe that actually the world is a little bit larger than we think. My point is, despite what that popular but infuriating Disney-Land theme park ride says - it is NOT a small world - you only have to look at a map of Australia and work out how far it is from one place to another (as I did of the East Coast when I first arrived) to realise that!!! No, I can tell you all now, you bump into those people where you didn't expect to because the world just happens to be full of uncomprehensible coincidence and thats all there is to it, but rest assured - it is certainly not a small world - after all - la la la la la la la!!!
Finally I had made it to the infamous East Coast of Australia - where you generally hear from most - is where all the action happens. It's the most populated side of the country and as you travel it, you soon understand why. It's beach paradise (full of surf, sun and bbq's) all the way down and the only thing that interupts all the playing in the sand is a good party at night. Sounds like my sort of place.
I arrived in Cairns, a booming town full of large roads, lots of surf shops and a lively atmosphere. It's a fun place to hang around - and many backpackers do just that. You meet people here who have not left for months and at first you wonder why. For in the town of Cairns - there is actually not a lot there. There's the lagoon, where people hang around to obtain a tan and there are some great parties - the club scene is definately well developed as I found out most nights (a few to many in the Woolshed!!!), but apart from that there isn't a great deal in the city. But what you soon find out, is that it's not about Cairns itself that people flock here - it's because cairns is a gateway to some great places and none greater than the Barrier Reef.
Before I took a trip out on the waves though I first did a tour, north of Cairns, up to a place called Cape Tribulation. Along the way we stopped at a fair few places. We took a walk through a forest, up to Mossman Gorge - a scenic place where you only have to watch out for the stinging plant which if touched will give you immense pain for 4-6 months - only in Australia could a plant be so nasty!!!!
We then took a quick trip further north to Port Douglas - a really beautiful small town which appears to attract the celebrity scene. We didn't see any though, despite some individuals looking out with a very keen eye. Further north we passed banana and sugar plantations up to the Daintree region. We stopped at a wildlife park to observe wildlife and particularly the cassowary - a very large, funny looking bird of sorts and a relative of the Emu. They flourish in this region so we now knew what to look out for along our journey - actually we ended up not seeing a single wild version!!! After a briefing about how not to go near the Daintree River or along it's banks by foot for getting one or another limb removed by a saltwater Crocodile - we crossed the river by boat to get into the Daintree Rainforest. The region is, according to the Australian's - the oldest rainforest in the world - which confused me somewhat as I thought I had already ventured into the oldest rainforest in the world (Malaysia's Taman Negara). Well, whoever takes the title, I can now say that I have been to the oldest and second oldest rainforest's in the world which is a statement sure to impress someone!!!
The diversity of life in the forest is incredible - if a little shy. For they have some of the most stunning species of all things creepy crawly and many - never seen anywhere else in the world. As an example, they have a spider the size of a diner-plate - no joke, the largest butterfly in the world and all other insects which seem to be overly large. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, we didn't see any of them.
We continued north and eventually made it to Cape Tribulation (named by Captain Cook after his ship ran aground on Endeavour Reef). The area has a great beach. It's described as where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef - as the vegetation comes right up to shore. We spent some time here - resting, chilling and avoiding giant Lace Monitor Lizzards (which are very dangerous), before heading back down to Cairns. On the way, we took a boat trip down the Daintree River, which was great fun as you can spot some seriously dangerous creatures. The river is teeming with the saltwater Crocs - perhaps the most dangerous Crocodile around - and we saw loads of them. Most were on the banks but a few were taking an afternoon swim. We also saw snakes and a great variety of less so interesting birds. A great trip all round.
Of course the other thing that I had to do while in Cairns - was a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef is the largest living thing on the Earth and the only living thing visible from space. It's larger than the Great Wall of China and stretches some 2000km. The best place to see it is the Outer Reef - which takes about one hour and forty five minutes to reach, by an unsettling boat ride (especially if your hung-over)!!!
The Reef though, is incredible. Once off the boat you don't have to go far - and there it is. Believe the hype - it's by far the best reef I have seen and I have visited a fair few now. I didn't see any amazing Reef Sharks or Turtles but it didn't matter - the coral was why I was there. It's like an underwater garden full of all different shapes and colours (I like the brain looking coral) and it attracts abundant varieties of fish. It is like a totally different world down there - an awesome experience and highly recommended. It's not one of the natural wonders of the world for no reason and the reason is - it's unbelievable!!!
After a few days I left Cairns. I had made many good friends here including an American guy called Mike and a German girl, Lea - who have asked if I want to go to Fiji with them in a month or so. Fiji wasn't on the plan book but then I don't have a plan book so i'm thinking about it seriously. I will wait and see on that one - it's tempting. Before then though, I had a date with an island....
