Cairns Continued

Day 4 (Saturday)

Today I woke up to terrential downpours and true tropical storm weather. Cyclone Olga was making its way back to the mainland.  This was the day I was originally supposed to do my Great Barrier Reef Snorkel Trip.  I was smiling all day while walking thru the storm, knowing I made the best decision of my trip just a day earlier.  Anyhow, today was a day dedicated to just relaxing and touring central Cairns.  It rained almost all afternoon so it was a good time to plan more of my Zealand trip and prepare my back for my flight to Melbourne.

When the nighttime came around it was time to finally test out the great pumping nightlife in Cairns.  My dormmate Ray and I headed for Gilligans, the nearby backpackers resort and bar.  It was massive and was a good party for the entire night.  Heaps of backpackers and a jumping dance floor.

Cairns Lagoon at Night

Day 5 (Sunday)

Waking up from a previous pretty big night out, I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and energized.  Not having anything to do again today, I decided to head up to the nearby mountain town Kuranda.  Woo, what a day trip, this stop is a hidden gem off the beatin tourist track.  Instead of taking the expensive scenic railway or gondola up to the town, I opted for Johns Kuranda Bus trasport, only an 8 dollar return ticket, contrary to the 60 dollar train/gondola ticket.  The small shuttle bus left at 930am and took about 30 mins to make it up to Kuranda.

When I arrived in the lively and vibrant small town, I headed for the Barron River where there was some walking tracks.  The track that I started on was the starting point of the path that led to Barron Falls, my final hike destination.  Anyhow, the walk started off great until I encountered some major flooding of the river bank.  With the intense downpours the past few days this was no suprise but did not even think about it when I started the trip.  Not knowing another way to access the falls, I took off my shoes and braved thru the water.  Got up to knee deep at some points and to be honest I was a bit scared not knowing what was in the surrounding waters.  Having seen crocs in rivers just 3 days earlier, I was definitely tripping a bit walking for about 5 minutes thru this flooded river bank.  Anyhow I made it, was feelin quite the adventure man after explorin thru to higher ground.

Unknown Waters trekked

After this wet river walk, I entered into the jungle section of the trail.  The walking path took me thru the middle of a jungle, and about halfway thru experiences my second obstacle of the day, about 3 fallen trees.  Being in dense jungle areas, I really couldn't go around them so I had to go through it.  As soon as I started trying to crawl thru I got absolutely marred by the sharp blades of whatever specie of tree it was.  Passing thru was looking pretty grim.  It was then when my survival instincts came out, I quickly reached for my pocket knife and started cutting down these sharp vines, clearing way for myself.  I had successfully done it and was feeling great.

Jungle Walk

After the jungle territory, the next sector of the walk was the creek trail, which was closed but had no barricade blocking its access so I decided to go for it.  The path had some fallen trees that I easily trekked over and also had to cross the abnormally high creek and had to once again take off my shoes and make the pass thru the water.

I had then made it to my final path which led to Barron Falls.  This was the longest sector of my trip, about 3 kilometers one way.  I failed to mention that the weather on this day was clear, hot, muggy and humid.  Probably around 85-90 degrees.  After 3 hours of already walking, I was sweatin all over, and wearing already 2-3 day old clothes, it was safe to say I was emitting a pretty good amount of BO.

Anyhow I finally made it to Barron Falls, and what I saw was quite a suprise, I was not expecting falls of such great magnitude, it was a sight that was really quite special.  The largest falls I have witnessed in person and I was there at the perfect time of year, right when the falls are in their pure natural beauty after a tropical storm.

I took in the beautiful sight for quite awhile and enjoyed my delicious salami, lettuce and tomato sandwhich that I had prepared earlier in the morning.  From there, I went the extra mile or 2 on a road that lead to a lookout of Cairns.  Pretty good view.

After all that, I pretty much explored every sight and sound the surrounding national park had to offer and was feeling quite good about my recent achievements.  I'de say I walked a good 10-12 kilometers today, and with the hot humid weather I was absolutely knackered.  I headed back into the town and enjoyed a nice and well deserved iced coffee and ice cream bar. From there I explored the famous Kuranda Markets, these markets are the main reason Kuranda attracts tourists.

Croc Made of Tires

 There were some pretty good stalls and shops. My favorite being a photo gallery by Peter Jarver, a famous and well known Australian photographer. I really enjoyed his work.  Feel free to see some of his great work at http://www.peterjarver.com/

At 330 it was time to take the shuttle bus back into Cairns and it was good to finally relax after a hard days work.

Back at Cairns the weather was still sweltering, I quickly jumped in the pool back at the hostel.  At 5 the hostel put on a free bbq so I took advantage of that.

From there I headed to the Woolshed, a local pub/bar and watched the entire Australia Open Final.  Wasn't the greatest of matches but a great last 3rd set.  Federer is such a legend, so so good.

Off to Melbourne tomorrow, got an early flight in the morning. Cairns has been great...really enjoyed my stay here

Great Barrier Reef Trip

WOOOO, Sweet As.  Great day out on the reef!  Talk about a complete turn around from the Whitsunday day cruise.  Changing the date for my reef trip at the last second may have been the best call of the trip. The weather today was perfect, calm glassy waters, just a little rain, and best yet no wind. The sail out to the reef was flawless.  The tour company I did my trip with was called Ocean Free.  As we boarded the ship at around 730am, the crew was three mid 20s guys, very mellow yet they knew their stuff. Their names were Rob, Gordo and Matt. The sailing ship had only 14 tourists, which made the trip all the better.  Who wants to go to the reef with like 60 other people like many other tour companies do.  The crew said you probably picked the best ship in all reef tours, and after today, nothing led me to doubt that.

Since there was no wind, we could not really sail but we made it to our snorkel destination in about 2 hours, a place just offshore Green Island at Pinnacle Reef, just one of the many parts of the monstrosity that is The Great Barrier Reef.

Glassy Waters and Green Island

The 2 hour sail over to the island was paired with songs by Xavier Rudd and John Butler Trio which the crew had an entire playlists of, some of my favorite artists, set the tone for CRUISIN mode.  After we anchored at our destination, it was time to hit the waters and just before we jumped in the skipper spotted a reef shark just starboard, crikey. The shark continued onwards and we put on our gear (stinger suits, flippers, snorkel gear) and jumped in.

The second I was in the water I already was surrounded my heaps of fish.  I kept my eye out for that shark but never found it. Was hoping I would tho in all honesty.  It was time to explore with some serious snorkeling.  I spotted a giant jellyfish about 10 meters out, it was HUGE. Knowing I had a stinger suit on for a reason, I decided to keep my distance as some can be deadly.  Anyhow, I continued my swim over the reef and was loving it. Hiring that underwater digital camera was well worth the 45 dollars.  I was having a blast with it and now won't only have mental images of this great day. The photos turned out pretty good and also recorded some good videos.  Enjoy. As always click pictures to enlarge

The coral reef was colorful and vibrant as I expected and was very entertained on the amount of fish swimming near it and around me.  Visibility was not too ideal as it was still high tide but still doable.

Almost swam into this little guy

As I was making my way back to the boat, there were some giant fish around the boat since the crew had beed throwing out some fish food. One of the fish was the giant Darth Vader fish, this thing was like half my size. It is something I have always seen in acquarium fish tanks, but being out ride next to it in the same tank was pretty unreal.

(Bigger in real life than in picture)

Darth Vader

Anyhow, I jumped back on board and started feeling a bit sick.  We were then served our lunch which included Chicken legs, sandwhich meats, potato and macaroni salad and a vegetable salad. I ate most of it but still was not feeling to great.

From there we jumped in the small boat and headed to Green Island, where we had time to explore. There is a 5 star resort there and some restaruants. I decided to use my time on the island to walk around it. It was really nice.  Not a sound in the air except wildlife and the ocean, it was pure bliss. I think this was also the first island I have ever circumnavigated on foot. Another milestone in my life.

Green Island

After walking around the island, I made my way inland to get a feel for the resort and restaurants. It was then where I decided they misnamed green island. It should have been named Asian Island.  Heaps and heaps of asians everywhere, in the pool, walking, snorkelling. For some reason, Green Island attracts them, this was not just a 1 day tour that brought a lot of them, it is reoccuring. After about 10 minutes I had to get out of there and headed back out to the beach were I ended up walking around half the island again, away from the tourists and with nature.  Green Island also housed the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity, and maybe the largest in the world.  The crocs name was Cassius and was around 18 feet long and weighed over 1.3 tons. I did not see him in person as I did not want to fork over money to see him, but saw some pictures, thing really was monstrous.

Anyhow, I was feeling back to normal again by the time I got back to the ship. From there it was snorkelling part 2.  I strapped up in my stinger suit and snorkel gear, turned on my underwater camera and I was good to go. This time around, the conditions had improved. I was closer to the reef and explored new areas.

Still no sharks but stumpled across some mysterious object deep in the coral, may had been an octopus. I backed away pretty quickly.  I wasn't about the threaten his territory. I then saw some extremely colorful fish and found some Giant Clams.  The shells on these things were huge.

It was a great session and was eager for more but sooner or later I had to head back to the boat for the sail home. Before we took off, the crew had put some food that was leftover from lunch in the water.  Only took about 5 minutes till some sharks appeared at the surface, sickner. The big fish, including Darth Vader was also there gettin the food scraps. Entertaining.

Anyhow, I was stoked on the recent snorkel sesh, was feeling great.  Not a hint of sea sickness on the sail back and was the end to a great and beautiful day on the reef.  Couldn't have asked for better weather during this time of year. Even the crew was suprised how calm the waters were. Yea it rained a bit but no big deal.  Tomorrow wind is supposed to be 25-30 knots, more than double of what we had today, cheers to me for being on top of the weather forecast and changing the trip day.

Great day on the reef, Ill put up this picture even tho I look super haggard, still think its a pretty classic photo tho, plus a great background of the boat.

Cairns

Day 1

I left Magnetic Island early in the am to catch the ferry back to the mainland. The ferry ride was nice and calm this time, making it for a much more pleasant morning, especially following a long and non sober yet epic Australia Day(night) party. My backpack was filled with drenched clothes from the previous days bushwalk in the rain and dance party, smelled pretty bad.

Anyhow I then boarded my final greyhound bus that took me 6 hours north to Cairns, the so called adventure capital of Australia. Cairns marks the end of my east coast trip.  It has truly been a great one and all has gone very smoothly.  Greyhound was a great means of transport, mostly always on time and suprisingly comfortable, including both my 12 and 15 hour rides.

Anyhow I got into Cairns aroudn 6pm and experienced the humidity of north tropical queensland the second I got off the coach.  2 cyclones had just hit Cairns a few days earlier, the rain was off and on but one this for sure..it was very warm and humid.  Anyhow I checked in my hostel, The Northern Greenhouse. The hostel has been the cleanest hostel I have ever stayed in, and they offer free brekky and internet...highly recommended by me.

I then took a trip to the local supermarket, woolworths to stock up for the week.  I headed back to my hostel and prepared my meal.  Turns out movie night was going on, the featured film, BLOW.  I don't usually like the feeling of staying in and watching a movie while travelling, but since I had to get up early the next day for a tour I let it slide. The movie ended up being great.  I have heard about it before and have several mates recommend it to me. Johnny Depp is in it, worth a rental for sure.

Anyway, I was knackered from the day of traveling so headed to bed quite early around 11.

Day 2

Today I did a day tour to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest, about 2 hours north of Cairns. I did the trip thru a tour company and had a great time.  Was in a small shuttle bus with about 20 other people, old and young and had an extremely informative tour guide, Debbie.  The benefits of these tours is you learn more about the culture/history. Anyhow we headed up along the coast till we hit the Daintree River where we went on a Crocodile Cruise on the river.  It is not too common to see crocs on the river at this time of the year but we spotted 2, 1 baby on the shore, and 1 swimming alongside the boat, around 2 meters long.  Pretty great seeing some wild saltwater crocs.

Croc, middle left of picture

After the Croc cruise we headed into the Daintree Rainforest where we went on a walk thru it.  It was very tropical, and having it rain during the walk really gave you a better feeling of a true "rain"forest.  The Daintree is the oldest rainforest in the world. It is hundreds of millions years old.

After our walk thru the forest we got back in the van and headed towards Cape Tribulation where we raomed the beach for a bit and then had a nice sit down lunch at PK's, a restaurant in town.  I had the fish n chips, not too shabby.  I had made good friends with an Australian couple from Melbourne, Troy and Catherine, they were in their late 20s and we exchanged cultural differences. They were shocked about how cheap beer is in the US, it truly is shocking compared to what you pay here.

Cape Tribulation was as far north as the trip went.  On our return we stopped at a lookout point, which included a overlook of bat reef, the area where Steve Irwin was stung and killed by a sting ray.

We also stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream Company. I tried the 5 dollar sampler cup.  The flavors were Rasperry, Mango, Coconut and Wattleseed, whatever the hell that is, but it was great.

We then continued onto Mossman Gorge for a quick bushwalk and a trip out to the gushing river

The final spot on the trip was Port Douglas, the wealthiest city per capita in Australia.  Not really my sort of town but was worth the 20 minute quick stop just to give it a gander.

The bus dropped me off back at my hostel in Cairns around 6.  After doing a quick weather search, I decided to move my Great Barrier Reef trip up 1 day to hopefully avoid some increasing off shore winds.  I headed out to go hire an underwater digital camera.  A pricey 45 dollar rental I think it will be worth it as this is one of the most beautiful natural wonders of the world.

For dinner I took advantage of a backpacker deal I had, Free wings at the local Blue Sky Brewery with a purchase of a drink. The coupon said only 5 wings, well it was my lucky day. After sippin on my great blue sky locally brewed beer, I was brought out my dish of wings, and I got 10!  These wings were super tasty, I got the hot ones.  The ten were so much better than the 5. They rivalled Hooters wings, I was lovin them.  It was a great meal, all for the price of a beer.

- Reef tour tomorrow, looking forward to it, hoping for the best conditions and minimal motion sickness

- Anxiously awaiting to try out the Cairns nightlife, supposedly may be the best party stop on the entire east coast.

- Routing for Federer to win Aussie Open

- Less than 2 weeks in Oz

Australia Day

This can be a continuation of my Maggy Island Day 2 post.  At the time I wrote it, I was not expecting such a legendary night.

Anyhow I got back from my intense Bush walk and Australian Day festivities at the hostel were in full effect.  I don't know the meaning of Australia Day but it like all Aussie Holidays, it is just another excuse to drink, throw a shrimp on the barbi and have a party.  Anyhow, the island bar at the hostel was pumping.  People had been drinking all day long and just hanging out.  I took advantage of the Aussie BBQ special, a bbq and a free schooner of Tooheys New Beer.

A little thing about the aussie bird Cookaburras, I hate them. As I was delving into my great Aussie BBQ a cookaburra came out of nowhere and ran into my beer and plate, knocking over my full schooner of beer.  Little did I know this was all his little plan. In disbelief of what just happened I gave the cookaburra a death stare as he was perched on the fence next to me.  I then continued eating, beerless.  Well less than 30 seconds later after I was looking the other way, the little bastard came and took my entire sausage and flew off with it.  It was not mistake he knocked into my beer in the first place.  That really irked me.  I just accepted that my beer just got knocked over, but the fact I just lost my whole hot dog really made me hate that damn bird.  I had the people all around me laughing at what just happened.  Yea it was a bit funny but if you were the one that just lost your beer and suasage it would not be as funny.

Anyhow, it was around 8 oclock and the rain was back in full swing.  Happy hour had started so it was time for a few drinks and celebrate Aussie Day, whatever it might be. Anyhow, the party was in full swing, literally every girl in the bar was up on the tables dancing, it was great.  Being only 8 oclock I knew the night was going to be a good one.

About an hour later, still pouring rain some people got the idea of starting to dance in the rain, well not more than 20 minutes later, the entire crowd from inside the bar migrated outside and had a huge dance party in the rain.  Oh man was it great.  It was not drizzling, sprinking, raining.....it was POURING.  I was in my boardies and my tank so not really an issue.  The dance party continued in the rain until the bar closed around 12.  The 3 hour rain dance was epic. During it, my new aussie mate Travis from my room had a bottle of jager stashed back in the room, I had about 20 dollars worth of his jager, saved heaps on my bar tab.  I had only bought 2 beers on the night..it was great. Also at one part of the night I saw 2 chicks at the bar go at it, throwing aggresive slaps at each other..turns out they were good friends from home.classic. Also at one point in the night, I took one of the biggest spills of my life down the stairs.  Not due to too many drinks but because of the extreme slippery conditions and the lack of traction on my thongs.  I fell down 3 stairs on my butt and lower back. In some pretty bad pain and reckon Ill have a pretty bad bruise on the lower back.

Anyhow words do not give the party in the rain justice, it was a had to be there moment.  I'de immagine it was almost a woodstock sort of scene without the mud and drugs.

Anyhow, the fun didnt end after the bar closed.  Nearby there was a slip n slide tarp from the days festivities.  It was some great fun, had not been on one for years.  There was about a line of 20 people that you slid in between.  About 15 minutes into the fun, the hostel staff came and took away the tarp, ruining the party but understandable as it posed a pretty big safety concern.

Great night that will never be forgotten

AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!

Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island, or Maggie Island as the locals call it, is just 8km of the coast of Townsville.  Townsville is about 6 hours south of Cairns.  Maggie is a great getaway for locals and is a common backpacker destination along the coast.  I read that it has great weather for 340 days of the year on Maggie.  Well, I am in one of those 25 days with bad weather, just my luck but something to be expected since it is right in the middle of monsoon season. The bus driver told me today it is the first time it has rained since March.

Day 1

I departed Airlie Beach at 7am and arrived in Townsville around 1030.  I then took a quick 20 minute ferry ride to Magnetic Island.  It may have been quick but it was not pleasant.  This ferry ride put what I experiences just a day earlier on the whitsundays to shame.  It is a speed ferry and it sure didn't slow down with these massive waves coming towards us. It was a roller coaster with some huge drops, some that may rival the big dipper drops towards the end of the ride. It was quite fun actually, it was like an amusement ride and had the customers cheering.  I did not get too sick thankfully, but definitely felt it a bit.

Anyhow it was raining all day long and did not do much. My hostel was Base Backpackers, right on the beach.  Met some people from my dorm and had a chat with them.  I then took a bit of a nap as I still was not fully recovered from the sailing trip the day before and the recent bumpy ferry ride.

Later in the day I did a bit more trip planning for NZ before a simple self cooked dinner of soup and salad.  In the night I had a drink at the island bar and called it a night.  The rain seems to make everyone pretty lazy and its tough to do much when it is constantly pouring.

Day 2

This day had originally been planned way back when as the day I would rent a scooter(vespa) and traverse the island on it.  Maggie is ideal for scooters as it just has 9km of roads and plenty of bays and walking tracks along the way to stop off at.

Anyhow I woke up to some hard hitting rain in the morning, the scooter rental was unfortunately out of the picture.  I took advantage of my free breakfast at the cafe in the hostel, it was great.  Ham, bacon, 2 eggs, toast and baked beans, a traditional aussie brekky.

Anyhow with the heaps of great walking tracks along the island I did not want to completely waste the 2 days I had on Maggie.  Having a scooter and doing every walking track and visiting every part of the island would have been ideal, but I made the most of it.

I headed out in the rain to supposedly the best bushwalk on the island, The Forts Walk.  Maggie is home to the highest population of wild koalas, around 200.  The walk was supposed to be a great place to spot one.  Also, as the name suggests, showcases old world war forts, that were used to protect Townsville on the mainland, a big military base back then.

The walk started out nice and quiet, and then all of a sudden the rain hit, pouring non stop for around 30 minutes.  It was a true bush walk, I was have a gay old time going thru the wilderness.

Had some pretty stellar views on the hike up, I'de immagine better in clear skys but Ill take what I can get.

Found this little guy on the walk up

Gun emplacement

Drenched

At the top, embracing the rain

Anyhow is was a great walk, glad I did it and wished I had time to do the 3 or 4 other bushwalks around the island.

Anyhow, here is a sneak peak of the filming of my adventure video of my trip. This clip is from the Maggie Island Forts Walk pictured above, enjoy cuz there's heaps more of footage

Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays

Day 1

I took the overnight bus to Airlie Beach from Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island. The trip was a whopping 15 hrs, with a 3 hr layover in Hervey Bay.  The swedish couple from Fraser Island were on the same bus so was able to pass the time with them.  The long greyhound bus rides really are not that bad, I actually look forward to them. Sit back, relax, throw on the tunes and cruise.  The Mummy movie series were on the TV screen but not too much of a fan of those.  Got into Airlie Beach the next morning at 7am and was welcomed by a rainstorm.  It was not unexpected. At a certain point up the coast you hit the wet season, where most of the northern territory is marred by frequent cyclones and monsoons.  The weather is still warm and very humid but it rains almost every day.

Anyhow, not having much to do during the rain I decided to make my way to my #1 adventure travel agent, PeterPans where I stayed for about 3 hours and booked the rest of my Australia trip and adventures and took a good chunk of my New Zealand itinerary.  In addition to that, I extended my flight home, I now return on March 7, giving me ample time to do all that I want to do in New Zealand. It was a very productive couple of hours.

In the afternoon I met up with Kristian and Camella (swedish couple from Fraser) and we headed to the man made Airlie Beach lagoon for an afternoon swim. With the rain off and on it was still relaxing.

After that we headed back to our hostel, Airlie Waterfront Backpackers, cleaned up and headed out to find a place to eat.  We ended up at Beaches, a backpacker hostel with cheap food and an outstanding outside bar. I had the steak sandwhich, it was solid. After dinner it was time for a few jugs of beer.  The three of us had a great time talking and reminiscing about our Fraser Island trip. Then some live music started up. A man by the name of Patches played and he killed it.  All cover songs, with standouts being songs from Johnny Cash, Jack Johnson, Bob Marley, Tom Petty and Pearl Jam. Just him and his acoustic guitar, he got the bar jumping. It didnt take very long till the three of us were out on the dance floor. The night ended up being a great one, got a lot more out of just a quick dinner spot.

Day 2

Today was the day I went sailing through the Whitsundays, a group of 74 islands just off the coast of Airlie Beach.  Without setting an alarm the night before I miraculousy got up at 705, just 20 minutes before a shuttle was going to pick me up. I was very lucky or else I would have missed my entire trip.  Well anyway the weather was shit that morning, and not being too much of a sea man I was a bit worried about my full day tour out on the sea.  I was aboard the sailing ship "camira" with about 70 other people.

All started well but once we hit open water I started feeling the sea sickness.  The water was rough and we were plowing through some huge waves. Mom, I know you are reading this, this boat ride would have been enough to knock you out for about 2 weeks, it was brutal.  Anyhow, it was a great day for sailing as the crew kept saying, but not too great of a day for sightseeing and doing a tour of the islands.  About an hour or 2 into the trip we stopped for a snorkel dive of the reef.  We all put on stinger suits and got our fins and snorkel gear on.  I was hoping being out in the water would make me feel better but it didnt do much.  The conditions were terrible.  Very choppy waters and since the wind was up the visibility of the reef and fish was weak. I did see heaps of fish in the time I was out in the water but the whole thing was not very enjoyable since I was feeling under the weather.  Back on the boat I found comfort lying down on one of the trampoline areas they have near the front of the vessel.  It rained down pretty hard for a good portion of the trip, but as the day went on some sun came out.  Being out of it laying down and not wanting to move, the sun just torched me since I had not re applied sunscreen since the snorkel dive. I knew it was happening but moving to go get sunscreen was not my bodys number one priority. Well I ended up getting the worse sunburnt of the trip but dont know if I would change that.  I never vomited the entire trip and was defintely not the only one on the boat who was sick but it was just a shame.  Anyhow, our next destination was Whitehaven Beach, a beautiful place.  I spent the entire time on the beach trying to recoup.

After we boarded the ship after the beach, we were served a huge bbq, that once again I couldnt really enjoy.  Too make things worse there was all you can drink beverages on the entire trip, cokes, lemonade, and beer.  Seeing everyone around me drinking beer after beer was pretty annoying but that was the last thing I felt like drinking.  Anyhow we had about a 3 hour sail back to the mainland after the bbq so I quickly returned to my favorite position laying down at the front of the ship.

Reading this, it seems like it was a pretty bad time, well yes it was but it is something I do not regret doing.  The Whitsundays is one of the must sees on the coast, and I knew getting sea sick was a very likely possibility going into it. Yes I wish the weather was better, the sail was smoother, and I could enjoy the meal and beverages that were included in the ticket cost.  It had potential to be a great day, the Camira was an impressive vessel, with some massive sails.  Anyhow it is over now, and you can bet your ass that going into my Great Barrier Reef day trip that I will have every single sea sickness pill, medicine band, that exists on the market.

As we returned to Airlie Beach I needed to get my barrings straight again. I went into the lagoon for a quick dip and headed back to shower and apply a generous amount of aloe vera on my heavily burnt skin.

In the night I met up with Kristian and Camella again and went back to Beaches where the guy that played the night before was playing again. Well when we got their he was playing.  It sounded just as good as the night before BUT, this guy played the SAME songs and played in the EXACT SAME order as the night before.  It was so annoying and I lost all the respect I had for the guy.  The night before I thought he was the greatest musician ever, but now he showed his true colors, no musical talent or diversity.  I could understand some of the big hits being replayed, but not every single song and the same setlist. After a few beers and with deep frustration we left and headed to the bar down the road, Magnums. There we shared a jug (pitcher) and I said farewell to my new Swedish friends as our paths probably won't meet up again.

Fraser Island

Rainbow Beach - departure point to Fraser Island

The bus got into Rainbow Beach at 1230 where I checked into the hostel, Dingos Backpackers Adventure Resort, yet another great accomodation stop along the coast.  At 130 I had a briefing for the camping safari that was coming the next day.  During this orientation we were told all about safety and things to know while exploring the largest sand island in the world in our 4 wheel drive jeeps. We were put into our groups. There were 6 groups in total, of around 10 people a group. In mine, 1 couple from Holland, 1 couple from Sweden, 1 girl from Taiwan, 4 girls from Germany.  With the heaps of single girls in the jeep you may be thinking o joe what a lucky guy...well the girls were not too much of lookers, unfortunately for me.  There were pros and cons of my group. More on this later.  After we acquainted ourselves we went thru our alcohol order form where we decided how much alcohol we wanted to bring on the trip.  Turned out being the right amount. 60 beers and 3 bags of goon.

After about a 2 hour orientation, I met at the hostel reception to catch a free shuttle to the nearby local attraction Carlo Sandblow.

Not ever hearing of a sandblow I didnt really know what to expect, when I finally reached it after a short hike, I was truly amazed.  Yes it was basically heaps of sand but the whole concept behind it amazed me.  This sandblow over hundreds of year has basically covered everything in its path, including hundreds of trees and forest floors.  It was interesting to see the "end" of it and see the trees beneath it, waiting to be smothered in the sandblows path over the next several years.

Epic Sky here at the Sandblow

Day 1

The start of the Fraser Island 4 wheel drive adventure began bright and early at 730. The hostel served us a complimentary pancake breakfast, great way to start the day.  We were all in our groups when we headed out back to go see our vehicles.  We then went thru another lengthy briefing.  This time mostly about the jeeps and driving safely in the sand.  This took about an hr or 2. Note: I was originally planning to drive, but forgot to consider it would be a manual vehicle, not knowing stick shift, driving the vehicle was now out of the picture, it was a bit of a bummer. From there we inspected our vehicles, obtained all our food for the next three days and loaded up the top of the jeep with all our gear.

My Group

Finally around 10 in the morning we were on our way to the ferry to head onto the island. The ferry took around 10 minutes.  Everyone was stoked to begin the trip.

A bit worried about getting carsick sitting in a jam packed jeep with 9 other people on unknown sand roads, I surprisingly never got sick on the entire trip. Having never driven on sand before I didn't know what to expect, it was pretty good. It reminded me alot of the Indiana Jones ride at disneyland. A lot of ups and downs, swaying left and right.  There was a lot to know when driving, for example knowing when to be in 4wd or 2wd, avoiding the bumps, getting out of the soft sand, and being careful when there were streams leading into the ocean.

Enjoyin the ride with driver Yori from Holland

After making our way up the beach, we made it to the inland road that led us to the highlight spot of the 3 days, Lake Mackenzie. Wow what a beautiful lake, the most beautiful lake I have ever seen in my entire life, probably second to Lake Louise in Banff.  The whitest sand beach I have seen and the most blue and cleanest lake I have seen.

After the long drive, it was time to enjoy the water.  The girl (Emma) from Taiwan, had an underwater camera. It was pretty cool. We had some good fun with it.

Me and Kristian & Camella from Sweden

Nike represent

Our lake time was cut a bit short because it is impossible to drive the beach on hight tide so we had to leave early in order to successfully make it to our campsite on the beach for the night.

We made it tour our Maheno camp suceesfully, and the nightime fun commenced.  All 6 jeeps were camped here so we made it one big party.  We made a semicircle with our cars and set up our tents in the circle, greating a great atmosphere.  From there it was time for dinner.  Emma turned out to be an unbelievable cook, I reckon the best on the entire island. Every other group was jealous of our groups food on each night. The first night was a delicious chicken stir fry. So good.

Dingoes, a sort of dog/wolf are the aniamls of the island. They roam it during the day and night.  They can bite so it is best to keep your distance. There were heaps around our campsite and was always a bit timid while going to take a piss out in nature after a few vbs.  The dingoes on Fraser Island our the purest breed of Dingo in the world.  Here is a picture I snapped on the last day.

The night was one big party.  My group, especially the 4 german girls were a bunch of limpers, they went to bed early, around 10 oclock. Being with the other 5 groups I was thankful because my group was not too much of a party.  Everyone got together and played some drinking games and had a good time.  After a good amount of VBs with Yori and Kristian from my group we decided to go on a beach walk adventure in the night.  Let me first of start by saying that the stars on this night were the best I have seen in my entire life. I guess I would attribute it being on an almost deserted island, but I have never seen so many stars in the sky. It is to bad no picture would have captured what I saw.  It made the night that more enjoyable.

So this beach walk consisted on a lengthy walk to the nearby Maheno shipwreck, a place that we would visit the next morning.  After a few beers, being under the lit up star sky and on constant lookout for wild dingos, it really was a great adventure.  The beach was pitch black and we were headed to an abandoned shopwreck, about a mile or so down the beach.  Along the walk we came across tons of sandcrabs, some close jellyfish encounters and 1 frog.  I was really caught off guard seeing a large frog/toad on the beach. We had some fun with it.

When we finally approached the shipwreck it was pretty trippy, especially being so dark and having the waves crashing up against it.  It was a fun time with my new two friends.

We then headed back to camp after hiding from the park ranger for a bit. From there I met a french gril and a swiss girl where we stargazed and shared drinks and stories.  After that I headed to my tent, who I shared with 2 Germans, 1 a bit large who cramped my tent space.  By that time of the night tho I managed to get to bed fairly easily.

Day 2

Day 2 on the largest sand island in the world started bright and early around 6am.  The sun was hot on the tent and we had to depart early to escape high tide.  I woke up surprisingly feeling refreshed and started the day with a quick saltwater rinse.  No showers, toilets or anything, this was a pure campout.

Our first stop was the Maheno shipwreck, which I already experienced the night before. It definitely was not as cool in the day time, but was still worth a couple of pictures.

From there we had about an hour drive up the beach to the north part of the island, a place called Indian Head. Here was the pristine lookout point for the island, where it is common to see all types of marinelife in the ocean from the view above.

Well about 10 minutes in we spotted our first sea turtle.  After that a pair of stingrays, and from there a small shark.  Good stuff.

From there we walked further north, since our jeeps were not allowed to go this far north on the island, to the Champagne pools, saltwater tide pools on the ocean front.

As Yori, his girlfriend Iris and I were approaching the pathway to the Champagne pools, a lad came running towards us screaming in pain. He had just been stung by a jelly fish. I recognized him from one of our 6 groups.  This guy(Brendan) was in immense pain and we just sat there clueless of what to do. No cell phone reception, no transport, no lifeguard on the entire island.  He had gotten stung on the ankle. He told us his leg had started to tingle all over and he was starting to feel sick in his stomach.  Some jellyfish here are capable of killing you, if not atleast putting you in the hospital for a couple of days.  This guy started fearing the worse.  The proper ingerdients to relieve a sting is vinegar and ice water, and we definitely did not have any of this.  After seeking some advice from an older couple there was one possible remedy, urine.  With this guys friends not in sight yet, I stepped up to the plate and offered my fresh warm piss.  This guy was in so much pain he was willing to try anything. As I sit and write here before you today, yes, I ended up urininating on this guys leg!  Thankfully there was a nearby bathroom.  The whole situation was a bit awkard naturally, I first thought I would have trouble doing it, but I think seeing this guys pain it was more of me really wanting to help him out, I had no trouble going.

I have always heard rumors of this, and felt a bit like Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild.  To this day I am not sure if this helped, I have read in some articles that urine does nothing to relieve the pain. Plus I dont think the night before with beer and goon in my urine tract helped out to much.

This guy continued to stay real sick, felt sick to his stomach, and could hardly stand.  We were able to get some ointment from a family and some ice water.  Soon there was a large crowd gathered around us and finally his friends had found him. When the piss story was announce, I was viewed as a man of courage, some sort of hero.  The guy that got stung said it really didnt feel any better after the piss, he just got a warm foot out of the awkward situation.  We eventually were able to get him a ride back to his vehicle near Indian Head.

After the ordeal was over, and seeing this guys pain it was safe to say I was not going to chance it swimming in the Champagne pools. The stinger he described was a blue bottle jellyfish, said to make you sick for around 2-3 days.  After checking out the pools I headed back to Indian Head, where I saw the sting victim and he seemed to be doing better, he decided to not go to a doctor.

The entire day I kept on reminiscing on what had just occcured, I just pissed on someone else...it was all pretty funny and great at the same time. I think the recipient would have a different outlook. Anyway, it was definitely the talk of the groups.

After a quick lunch we all hopped back in our jeeps and headed for Eli Creek.  Here was just a creek a bit inland, were we were able to rinse off/a sort of shower.  It felt great.

Yori, Kristian and I

From there we headed into Happy Valley, a small town with 1 shop, a campground and 1 hostel.  There we stocked up on ice to refill our coolers that were filled with food and beer supply.  We then headed for our night 2 campsite at Gambala.

The Group

Dinner was once again top notch cooked by Chef Emma. Tonight, Steak, an unbelievable potato salad, and a vegetable salad.  Pretty great for camping food!

Had another great night, yet another limper performance my my group but was able to take advantage of our excess beer supply.  The stars were out in full force again and played drinking games with heaps of people deep into the morning. It was also great to rekindle the piss story and enjoy a nice cold one with the guy I pissed on hours earlier in the day, (yea he was feeling much better that night, almost 100%)

I ended the night being practically rolled on by the big German in my tent, pretty uncomfortable, i gave her a big elbow and that was settled.

Day 3

The last and final day on our trip.  Just a quick trip away from our campsite was Lake Wabby.  We headed out of our campsite at around 7am.

Lake Wabby was real nice but came no where close in comparison to beautiful Lake Mackenzie.  The one plus of Wabby were the catfish.  There were heaps of them.  Also they enjoyed nibbling your dead skin on your body if you stood still enough. I guess this is an expensive spa treatment in some places, and we had it for free...felt great.

Enjoyin Wabby and Catfish

The Men of the Group

After a 4 or 5 straight hours in the lake it was time to head off to catch our 3 oclock ferry back to the mainland.  We took one final group photo before we took off

Recap

It was a great 3 days. We were blessed we great weather, hot however all three days.  I became great friends with some people in my group, especially the Swedish and Dutch couple.  Thankful our behicle passed inspection and we were not charged any excess damage fees.  This reminded me alot of Davis Houseboats but does not come close.  Camping on the beach was great and enjoyed the stars.  Dingos are pretty cool animals, harmless as far as I am concerned, had some close encounters but they scurried away.

Fraser wuill proabably be the hightlight of the east coast trip.  Being the largest sand island you can immagine there was sand everywhere.   it was great to get back and take a fresh shower.

The night we got back, my new Swedish and Dutch friends finished off our excess beers over at Carlo Sandblow.  Will miss them but plan to see them again in the future.

OUT