The End Of The East

Oh dear, it's been a very long time since I wrote one of these and now, as I sit on the plane to Melbourne, I realise that this 3 hour plane journey might not be long enough to write it all down. This plane ride marks the end of my East Coast trip, a fact which is pretty hard to swallow, especially as the things I have done since my last post have been the most incredible yet. 

On my first full day in Rainbow Beach, way back on the 14th of February, I soent the morning relaxing at the hostel which had a whole section dedicated to hammocks. Ali arrived in the afternoon and we decided to go for a walk along the beach and up to a sand dune that Marc and Andrea had told me about. The beach was beautiful (as always) but slightly ruined by tyre tracks from the local 4X4s which are allowed to drive straight down onto the sand. The walk to the sand dune was much longer than we anticipated, theough a residential area and a woodland path but when we arrived there it was all worth it. The sand dune was absolutely huge and offered a view of the ocean at one end and the vast expanse of Australian outback the other end. We met up with Marc, Andrea, Josh, Zoey and Aaron (who I had met in Noosa) and watched as the sunset over the outback, which has to be the most impressive sunset I have ever seen, and also the most romantic thing I have ever done on valentines day, even if it was with a load of smelly backpackers. 

The next day Ali and I spent a few hours on the beach, using body boards supplied by our hostel to catch a few of the impressive waves. I made the mistake of lying in the sun too long and missing one small patch when I was putting my sun cream on, resulting in an embarassing red line, the sun here is seriously strong! We went back to the hostel and had a quick dip in the pool there before I had to go to my Fraser Island briefing which basically included three boring videos about safety and a guy from New Zealand scaring us all silly with his talk about all the ways we could die on the island. Everything from dingo attacks, spider bites, car crashes, sharks, jellyfish, and snakes. On the plus side I got to meet my group which I would be sharing a car with for the three days on the island. There were two irish sisters Clare and Roisin, a irish married couple Stephen and Fiona, two swedish girls, Angelica and Felicia, and a welsh girl called Laura. That evening I packed a small bag for my trip and got an early night in preparation. 

After an early alarm, some free pancakes and another briefing we met our lead driver/guide Bretto who was a colourful aussie individual, and absolutely hilarious. We packed our cars with our belongings, food and water and set off to the island. Our group were lucky enough to be in the lead car with Bretto driving which instantly made me feel ultra safe, which was a good thing because when we got off the ferry and onto the island it was clear that the driving here was not for the faint hearted. The 75 mile beach was pretty much like a highway where the sand was wet and hard, with a speed limit of 80km/h and so we zoomed along taking in the gorgeous views of crashing waves on one side and rainforest on the other. As we drove off the beach and into the rainforest the driving got much more challenging with deep soft sand and huge trees either side of the tracks but everyone in our convoy handled it really well and we were soon at our first stop, Lake Mackensie. It is hard to describe just how beautiful this lake was but try to picture walking through some rainforest then coming to a white sand beach which gradually lead into crystal clear turquoise water stretching out for ages and surrounded by emerald green trees on its banks. That description still isn't enough so here's a couple of photos...

We stayed there, wallowing in the water for about an hour until our rumbling stomachs got the better of us and we had to leave this paradise to make and eat our lunch on the beach. Afterwards we drove through an even more dangerous rainforest track. At one point Bretto put his ipod on (which had the best selection of music) and told us to get our cameras ready. He put on the song 'Jump Around' and sped very very very fast down a sandy hill, turning corners at the last second and making all of us in the back of the car bounce around like crazy. The video I have of this experience contains mostly screaming and giggling and a very jumpy image and as terrifying as it sounds it was actually a LOT of fun. At a slower part of the drive we spotted a dingo at the side of the track which look just like pet dogs but can do a lot of damage if you get on their bad side. We returned to camp and made stir fry as a group then drank some goon, which is essentially just really really cheap boxed wine (a favourite amongst backpackers). When it was really dark a group of us, including Andrea, Marc and James who also happened to be on the island, headed down to the beach to look at the stars. I have never seen the thick line of stars that form the milky way so clearly and it was truely breathtaking. After staying on the beach for a while and then sitting by the fire I went to my extremely uncomfortable bed in a tent and slept until we were woken up by a vocal alarm named Bretto.

My group made scrambled eggs for breakfast and then packed the cars again for a full day of exploring. The first stop was a headland called Indian Head which you could climb and get amazing views of the land and ocean and, apparently, sometimes spot sharks, whales and dolphins, although we saw none. 

The island is known for being the largest sand island in the world and Indian head is one of three rock headlands that make up the only rock on the entire island. After that we swapped cars so another group could ride with Bretto and people in my group could have a go at driving. Stephen drove first as we travelled to a spot called Champagne Pools, named that way because it is a group of salt water pools on the beach surrounded by rock and when the waves come in they wash down the rock in bubbles which looks like a champagne fountain. Unlike the rest of the sea, these pools are save to paddle in as they are protected from sharks and crocodiles, so we spent some time enjoying the cool water.

I bumped into Ali here, who was on another tour around the island in a coach instead of in 4X4s. Then Bretto took as through the forest and back onto the beach to a "secret location" that he "wasn't supposed to show us" but he would make an exception because he really liked our group. I am sure most groups get to go there though but it was nice to think that we were seeing something special. To be honest, even without the "secret location" spiel, this place was pretty special. It was a huge sand dune with beautiful shallow lagoons and although the dune was really steep and quite a challenge to climb, the views at the top were pretty spectacular. 

 

We headed back to camp to have a quick lunch then were straight back out to visit a place called Elli Creek, or commonly Hangover Creek. The water at this creek is believed to be the purest natural water in the world, caused by hundreds of years of filtration through the sand that makes up the island. Bretto advised that we head to the top of the area where people are allowed to swim and fill our water containers, which I am glad we did because the water was so fresh. We could then travel back down the creek to the beach. You could tell that the water was pure because it was absolutely freezing. The journey down the creek was magical, being surrounded by beautiful plants and clear water and having laugh with the Swedish girls from my group. 

Just before sunset we visited the ship wreck on the beach, but I have completely forgotton the story behind it. We took a lot of group photos and then headed back to camp for dinner. 

Dinner took ages to make because the kitchen was sooo busy and the electricity had gone down leaving us all cooking with torches. We were the last group to eat dinner and by the time it was done we were starving and finished the meal in record time. We played a few card games and drank more goon until we were all singing bohemian rhapsody on the tables in the dark. We ended the night by sitting around the fire and at about 2am I decided that it was time for sleep.  

On the 18th everyone was feeling a little bit fragile and we had a bit more of a lie-in due to the rain in the morning. When we finally did set off Fiona drove us through the forest to another lake which was a gruelling 45 minute walk through very humid, sweaty rainforest and down a massive sand dune. There were lots of fish in the lake, some huge catfish-like ones and some little fish who would nibble at your feet if you stood really still. 

Once we'd had enough of this lake we sweated all the way back to the cars on the beach and made lunch, which was particularly difficult with the huge gsuts of wind that had begun to come off of the sea. Bretto warned us that an angry looking cloud in the distance was moving towards us and bringing with it some rain so we managed to pack up just in time and start our drive along the beach back to the ferry. We made it back to the mainland and cleaned out the cars ready for the next group. My group decided that it would be nice to go for dinner together that evening before I had to catch my 15 hour coach. I was very lucky with my group, who were a friendly, fun and interesting group of people and Fraser Island is definitely the highlight of my Australia trip. Here is a photo of my group, bretto and our car... 

To top off the amazing days I had just had Catherine and Georgie hopped off the coach I was about to board! We had a few precious moment of conversation before I had to find a seat, which would be my home for the next 15 hours to Airlie Beach. It was great to see them again, and they sounded like they were having a brilliant time. The coach journey wasn't as bad as I was expecting and I actually slept through most of it. Andrea, Marc and a frech guy called Theo were also on the coach (can't stop bumping into them). As we got closer to Airlie becah the weather began getting worse and worse, due to the cyclone that was hitting the east coast further south. I was extremely lucky to have my fraser island trip when I did because some trips were being cancelled due to the weather. However, I was not so lucky in Airlie. I had booked onto a trip around the Whitsundays Islands on a huge sailing boat for three days and two nights but as I got into the town it became clear I would not be getting on a boat. I rang the company to confirm that the trip had been cancelled and waited for a full hour for a taxi to take me to the town centre to find a hostel I could stay in. Luckily Ali was able to get me a bed in the hostel she was in, Magnums, and it turned out to be a pretty good one too. The weather improved during the day which was quite frustrating and I began to mourn the loss of my boat trip however there seemed to be a lot of people that I knew in Airlie including, Ali, Andrea, Marc, Theo, James and briefly Joe, James and Scott from Noosa, who were leaving that evening for Cairns. The rest of us got together, along with some new people I hadn't already met and had a few drinks at the hostel bar before getting a $5 (£2.50) dominoes pizza (!!) and then headed to a couple of the clubs in town. The music in the clubs was awful but I had a really fun night which helped me to forget the whitsundays trip.

The 20th started with a great lie-in and then was spent relaxing by the lagoon with James and some people he knew, that evening we had some drinks at the hostel bars and wne to bed pretty early, although I was kept up by a girl in the room snoring all night!!! (One of the main cons of travelling and staying in hostel dorms). The next morning was an early start to go on a turtle safari day trip that I decided to book so I could see the whitsundays. The boat I travelled on was really small and there were no other backpackers on the tour with me but the trip was good anyway. We went to one snorkelling sight and although the visability wasn't great due to the bad weather a couple of days before I managed to swim with a turtle for a little while. The next stop we went to was a private resort on one of the islands, which was absolutely beautiful and so calm. We had lunch here and then got into some kayaks to try and find some more turtles nearby. Unfortunately we didnt see any, but the surroundings where stunning so I didn't mind too much. 

We jumped back in the boat and returned back to the mainland and I went back to my dorm to pack my things, ready to leave the next day. Everyone else had already left or were on their whitsundays trips (the day my trip was meant to be on being the ONLY day that was cancelled, typical) so I spoke with the other people in my dorm for a while then had an early night. 

The following morning I got my 6 hour Premier coach to Townsville, attempting to sleep during the journey and failing miserably. When I arrived I jumped straight onto a ferry which took me to Magnetic Island and got talking to a German girl called Eva who was also due to be staying at the same hostel. Once on the island we caught the bus to the hostel and I was stunned to find that the hostel was just like paradise. Tall palm trees looking over the still blue sea which was right on the doorstep of the individual huts that made up the dorms. A large swimming pool and outside bar area playing good music for once (most hostels have an absolutely awful playlist made up of David Guetta, Avicii and Chris Brown, ergh) and super comfortable bean bags occupied by relaxed, dozing backpackers. 

I found Ali in the pool, which due to the seriously strong sun was unfortunately warm, and we spent the afternoon chilling out before grabbing our comimetary drink and dinner and meeting two British boys James (who I will call James F to avoid confusion) and Jake. We decided to gte an early night for our BIG day the next morning.

The BIG day consisted of renting a, what are fondly nicknamed, Barbie Car, with Ali, James.F and Eva and taking a day to explore the many things the island had to offer. The car was like a toy car and whenever we turned a corner it felt like it might not quite make it but we loved it anyway. 

We started off by visiting a cove called Arthurs Bay, where we had been told there was good snorkelling. After walking down from the car park and putting on our very flattering stinger suits (to protect us from the seasonal jellyfish) we snorkelled and saw a few fish and coral, but nothing incredible. 

It was nice to just be in the water to cool down as Magnetic Island was surely the hottest most humid place so far. Next we drove to Horseshoe bay to have some lunch and a quick dip in the sea before our 2 hour tour of the nature santurary. The tour was very hands on and I got to hold a baby croc, lizards, snakes, turtles, a koala and even get a kiss off a very friendly cockatoo.

One of the most interesting parts though was seeing a wombat or the first time, which turned out to be like a crossed between a bulldog, a bear and a pig. I dont know what I expected a wombat to look like but that certainly wasn't it!

After the close encounters with some of Australias native wildlife we decided to continue the theme and go and feed the rock wallabies that lived nearby. We picked up some carrots on the way and when we arrived found that the wallabies were being spoilt for choice by all the free food. 

We drove to Picnic bay that evening as the sun was setting on the other side of the island and it was absolutely beautiful. The sea was so calm it looked like a mirror and there were two seperate storms forming in the distance providing a seriously impressive view of magestic clouds and occasional flashes of lightning. The colours in the sky were unreal with pinks, purples and oranges and even a cloud which appeared to be rainbow coloured, which I have never seen before. As we sat on the pier and enjoyed the view we noticed a movement in the water and then another one. A group of 'things' were swimming along just a few metres in front of us. When one of them surfaced again I saw a nose rise above the water and realised that it must be a small group of manatees! The man who took me on the turtle tour in Airlie had mentioned that manatees lived in this area and as we walked back to the car I noticed that there was a lot of sea grass growing there, a popular food source for the dugong. It was a pretty magical moment of the trip, which I won't forget easily. Unfortunately my camera had run out of battery by this point and so I have no photos as evidence, so you'll just have to believe me :) When we got back to the hostel the bar was putting on a game of boozey bingo and so naturally we joined in along with Marc, Andrea and Theo. none of us one any of the prices but it was still really good fun.

The next morning I woke up early to skype home and even at 8am I was sweating. Ali checked out of the hostel to go to Mission Beach for her skydive and I met with the boys (Marc, Andrea, Theo and James F) and set off to do the fort walk which consisted of walking in ridiculous heat up and up and up, passing ww2 military points and ending on the top of the hill in a military fort. The fort had only fired the giant gun at a ship once and it had actually been an American ship who had forgotten to declare their arrival, so I don't imagine it was the most active of bases. The views from the top were amazing, which just about made the sweaty walk worth it. 

We walked back to the hostel, jumped in the pool and James F and I shared a jug of pretty good cider to cool off. Other James then arrived and checked in and we all sat in the giant bean bags under a huge fan trying to keep cool until it was time to shower and return to the bar for dinner and karaoke. At the start of the evening none of us said we wanted to do karaoke but a couple of hours later we were all on the tables singing Backstreet Boys and Oasis. One of the proudest moments of my life was successfully rapping Coolios Gansters Paradise the whole way through even after the screen stopped showing the lyrics. Pretty cool. We met James Fs friend from home Callum, who was hilarious and had some of the best dance moves I have ever seen. When the bar closed we briefly went to the beach and after a noisey night slept in the extremely hot, non airconditioned dorm.

The 25th was my check out date from the magnetic island hostel and after saying goodbye to everyone I caught the ferry back to Townsville and then the coach to Cairns, my final stop on the east coast. When I arrived I met with Ali, who was in the same hostel and had dinner and a couple of drinks with people she had met in Fraser Island, Rebecca, Kieran, (another) James and Jade. 

The beautifully air conditioned room meant that the following morning included an amazing lie-in. We then spent the rest of the day lazing by the lagoon rounding the day off with a few drinks atthe irish bar PJ O'Briens, where we briefly saw Marc, Andrea and James, before bed, a seriously relaxed day. 

At 7am on the 26th it was finally time to visit the Great Barrier Reef. I took a boat for 2 hours to get to our snorkelling sight out on the reef and when we got there once again the sea was completely flat and, according to the staff on the boat, 30 degrees! I donned my stinger suit and snorkel equipment and headed out. It was unbelieveable! The reef went on forever, boasting brightly coloured, huge coral and many different tyoes of fish including Parrot Fish, Clown Fish, Sting Ray and I even saw a Barracuda when I decided to free dive down to look under some coral. I considered dpstaying to take some photos but took one look into its scary dark eyes and decided it was time to move on, but my Go Pro really came in handy for getting some shits underwater.

 We had lunch on the boat and another quick snorkel then headed back to Cairns where I met with Ali and Eva who had been on a seperate Barrier trip. We returned to the hostel and rested to prepare ourselves for the bar crawl we had signed up for the day before. It began with a free BBQ where we met with Jade, James, Rebecca, Kieran, Marc, Andrea, James, Tom, Rob and Sam and then made our way through some other bars until we reached the end point, a bar/hostel called Gilligans which had a really cool outside area, was absolutely massive and has a bit of a reputation with travellers as being a great party hostel. The reputation was proved to be true and we danced a lot and had a really fun time.

Although it was slightly more difficult to get out of bed the next morning Ali and I had booked onto a tour of the Tablelands, just outside of Cairns. We left the hostel at 7:30 in a mini bus with our tour guispde Josh and went to pick up fellow backpackers from various hostels around town. We then drove 2 hours through the rainforest and eventually through countryside that looked a lot like the countryside in New Zealand. We visited waterfalls and lakes and got to know the other people on the tour pretty well. One of the waterfalls you could swim (if you swam really hard) underneath and come out into a little cave behind it. 

Another one the water had formed a soft natural slide which we all had a few goes on.

There was also I really tall waterfall which you could climb behind and the water there was REALLY cold. The only way you could get in was just to go for it and run and dive, although that is a lot easier said than done. 

We visited a local dairy, where we absolutely demolished the free samples and at the end of the trip drove back to Cairns. Our group decided to meet at PJ O'Briens that evening as we had $7 dinner and a drink vouchers. We all met up and had our meals then visited another bar before tiredness got the better of me.

The following day was my last day in Cairns and after a lie-in and packing my bags I headed to the pool at Gilligans to soend the day with Marc, Andrea and James (along with some friends James knew from earlier in his trip). We spent the day in the pool, and I got bullied a lot by the boys by getting dunked and thrown around (but to be fair I attempted to give as good as I got). There is just something about a pool that turns me into a kid again! 

That night, surprise surprise, we went to PJs for our final $7 meal and drink and then a few more drinks before finishing the night in Gilligans. I said goodbye to Marc and Andrea, which was very emotional because I have known them since Noosa and have great memories with them, if they are reading this, I wish them the best of luck in whatever they end up doing in Australia and beyond and hope that our paths cross again some day. 

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to James but once again I have a lot of fun memories with him and hope he enjoys the rest of his time abroad before he has to come back to the grey old UK after three years away (lucky bastard). 

Me and Ali then grabbed a slice of pizza and headed to bed, trying to forget that I had to leave the east coast for good early the next day. In the morning I had a brief (way too brief) goodbye with Ali, who is going on to travel South America. I ave been with Ali for a lot of my trip, beginning in Sydney, where we first compared itineraries, to Australia zoo, rainbow beach, airlie bach, magnetic island and Cairns. I hope she has a wicked time ipfor the rest of her amazing trip and look forward to meeting up again back in the UK for some more Jager bombs!

So that is that! My last post about the east coast of Australia. So much has happened in this crazy place, from Opera in Sydney, living the high life with Catherine and Georgie in Lennox Head, staying in the bush in Noosa, having a ball on Fraser Island, driving a barbie car around magnetic island and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns! I have had an incredible time not just because of all these things but mainly due to the people I have met. What a soppy thing to say, but it's true. Thank you to every single one of you and good luck! If you are ever in Brighton, let me know :) 

Wow, what a long post, sorry for the rant but I needed to document it all. Next to Melbourne until the 8th of March (ITS MARCH ALREADY!?) when I fly to Chiang Mai in Thailand and officially start the next chapter of my adventure!

Thanks for taking the time to read x