Noosa - 27th Jan - 1st Feb

Travelled up in the rain, (more rain!) to Noosa Heads, a couple of hours from Brisbane. A much smaller place situation by the beach and the river surrounded by National Parklands. A very rich area too which beauitful big houses, flash cars and lots of big boats. I'm staying a little way out of Noosa Heads itself at a lovely little hostel, each room with its own little kitchen and bathroom which makes a nice change not to have to flight through everyone to cook something to eat.

I've just returned from a 3day/2night self guided canoe safari along the Everglades National Park. We were picked up from the hostel and taken to their depot where we loaded our life for the next 3 days into very small water tight barrels to take on the canoes with us. Ferried across the river and given a small debrief, which covered, go this way on this day, this on the next oh and try not to get eaten by the sharks in the river!..... so we're waved goodbye and off we set, all 16 of us. Sharing a canoe with Katie, we paddled up the river and around the islands and lakes at the mouth of the river. Stunning hills surround the river itself and made a lovely backdrop before we entered the main river itself. Paddling was pretty tough and i was soon aching. However the weather, for once was glorious and the sun was shining as we paddled along surrounded by beautiful trees and listening to the birds sing. The river was so peaceful and quiet, not a soul in sight apart from the other canoes on the trip. Day one lead us to out base camp, a small areas off a very steep jetty which we had to pull the very heavy canoes up. Luckily there were strong boys on the trip so not too bad :) Here we set up tents which just a thin sleeping mat and sleeping bag, a little rougher than i've been used to. Cooking on gas stoves a feast of pasta a source we were all in bed by 8pm!

Day 2 of the trip and we set of early in the moring to paddle the 6km to out hiking spot. Here we hiked the 12km round trip to what is known as the sandpatch. A huge sand dune stretching across the top of a hill, surrounded by the traditional trees and rivers of the everglades national park. The sandpatch overed breathtaking views across the park which really did just make you speachless. The land just stretched for miles, never endeding and on such a beautiful day you could see for miles. Definitely the highlight of the trip and well worth the trek up the hill to get there. After wondering around the giant sand dune we slowly headed back down to the return 6km journey back to camp. Here we enjoyed another meal of pasta....and sauce before having another sleepless night on the hard floor! We had the luxury of longdrop toilets but the national park is heavily protected by restrictions and laws so no soaps or shampoos etc were alowed in the park. Needless to say, 3 days of suncream, bug spray and canoeing didn't leave me looking my best by the end of the trip.....a shower has never felt so good. A bath would have felt much better mind. Despite the insect repellent i've still been nibbled away at and definitely not looking forward to the increase of mossies and sandflies waiting for me on fraser island!