As chance and luck should yet again have it, the morning of my departure from Para Surferdise I got a facebook message from an old school buddy Anthony McDonnell, telling me that he and another lad, Brian Kennedy, were in Brisbane living and working, and that I could stay with them for a couple of days. The apartment was not quite up to Sufers Paradise standards, but pretty good all the same, and only about 10mins from the city centre. Friday during the day I ventured out around Brisbane. The city is very livable and practical, fairly pretty situated on the river, but thats about it. It is in no way stunning or sheek, just another city. A quick visit to the Modern Art Gallery was worth a look, until I was asked to leave for standing on a piece of art! How was I supposed to know that the border of a piece of sand art was sand and not wood?!!

That night the lads were off to an Elvis fancy dress night. They of course had the benefit of having a few weeks notice about this and were dressed accordingly. I however had to chance it in a pink Ralph Lauren shirt, jeans, and for the first time in about 6 weeks, my ridiculous mop of hair came in handy in creating an Elvis hairstyle enviable by any wig-wearer all night. You might think it would be strange being with lads you havnt seen for ages on the other side of the world, but it was perfect, just like being back in year 10 talking about the same people and the same teachers- something you cant really discuss with the abundant number of German backpackers on the east coast. I dont really think they would see the funny side of tales of Cassiobury park and Alan McEvoy falling in the green gunge!

After an equally hectic night the next night, it was time for me to get my backside in gear, and start heading up the coast. I took a bus up to Noosa where I was to spend 2 nights, the first wasted really by my late arrival, but still managed to catch a bit of the football at Mad Murphys Irish bar, and make some pals who I would go the next day with to Australia zoo, home of the late, great, Steve Irwin. The zoo itself was a great day out. Obviously its not everyday that you see a fella within striking distance of the cluthes of a 4 metre long crocodile handfeeding him a chicken leg! We saw cool snakes and spiders, cheetas on dog leads, baby tiger cubs aligators, and of course Huge crocs. The whole trip though was tainted with a bit of sadness that Steve Irwin wasnt around. He was clearly the life and soul of the place- and theres cards and letters from all over the world offering condolences and best wishes to his still very young family. Such a shame.

The next day it was time to begin my Fraser Island Adventure. Fraser Island trips are usually 3 days 2 nights in a 4x4 with 9 others, loaded up with all your supplies and camping gear, and you are self guided, ie- they give you a map and tell you to crack on. Its also usually a major highlight of one's trip. It did not disappoint. Now with any trip like this, so much depends on your group, and I struck gold!! 3 absolutely belting lads from Manchester and I were pretty much the life and soul. Everyone obviously was a bit cautious and nervous at first, even me, but after a few hours we all started to gel nicely.

We took a ferry across to Fraser from the mainland- and were lucky enough to even see a couple of dolphins on the way (with a bit of help from the Bi-Noc-u-Laaars). The 4x4s were easy enough to drive along the lengthy stretches of flat and often deserted beachfront. Our first port of call however was lake McKensie, unique in that it was fresh water. I would go as far as to say its one of the most stunning places Ive been. The water was crystal clear and drinkable, the beach white and soft, and its set in a hollow so theres not a puff of wind. A paradise. We played football and rugby on the beach, made lunch and then made tracks, a good 60km up the beach across to the east coast of the island and up to Indian Head. The slight drawback with Fraser is that you cannot swim in the Ocean, the reason being that the surrounding waters are the worlds largest breeding ground for Tiger Sharks. Hardly worth the risk. Indian Head presented us with a driving challenge, as most vans park up about a quarter of a mile away and walk to it. We went for option B- whack it in to double 4x4 mode, drop it in to 2nd gear, and hit the metal!! Giggsy, one of the Manc lads did a mint job of navigating through the knee deep powdery sand- much to the amazement of the walkers!!

Oce at the top you get the most stunning views both sides of the outcrop. We stayed for about 45 minutes as there is always a good chance of seeing sharks whales and dolphins. One of the girls saw a turtle, but all we saw was either stingray or a mantaray- and it was bloody huge! After that we headed to the "Champaign pools" one of the only safe places to swim on the island. Basically the waves are broken by a series of rocks causing them to foam up leading into the majestic small pools also guarded by rocks, protecting us from sharks and other creatures. The funniest part was when we were leaving, I convinced one canadian girl and one english girl that the champaign pools were actually full of real drinkable champaign, and that we were now all too drunk to drive the 4x4 back to the ferry and so decided to stay another night!! Silly silly girls. It gets dark pretty fast in Oz at this time of year so we headed off to set up camp around 3pm. Once settled and sorted, and after a quick game of beach footy, it was time for food, which this night was a feast of BBQ burgers and sausages. After undertaking the task of cooking- I ended up burgerless after cremating one which I thought I'd turned at the back of the grill! silly silly boy.

That night did however produce one of the funniest scenes I've ever witnessed. After a considerable consumption rate of good old Goon- (boxed wine) and after a late night beach walk, we set down for bed. One of the lads in our group, a little bit tipsy, tripped over a tent rope, and went crashing into one of our tents- collapsing it in the process with one of the Manchester lads, (Giggsy) inside. Not knowing who had collapsed the tent- Giggsy came steaming out blaming the whole thing on Tom, his mate. Not having the strongest of Mancunian accents normally made the insuing dialogue even funnier, when for no reason Giggsy decided that he was Shaun Rider, Liam Gallagher and Ian Brown all rolled in to one, and said "I'm gonna break your fuuuuuuucking jaaaaawww", followed unforgettably by Tom asking "'what are you gonna do Giggsy?", to which Giggsy replied with equal venom, "You know, EXACTLY, what'll 'appen". At this point I was in bits on the floor in laughter at how such a pleasant lad could turn into an animal in the space of 5 seconds! It was all resolved fairly quick and the lads soon made up, but such an unforgettable quote.

The next morning we cruised north again taking in the sights of the island before returning down for a splash around in Ely creek in the afternoon before finding a suitable camping ground for the second night, this time nearer a lot of other vans and campers. I'm not going to lie, we bossed the camp ground. We ate food quickly then set up a huge fire where the majority of the 60 or so campers congregated for a mass session of tiple, marshmallow roasting, silly songs and yarns, skinny dipping (not me, the mancs as usual) and dancing. we had a belter of a night, and became infamous around the site for one song about scuba-diving a bit too rude for common press! When we awoke the next morning, the campsite was deserted, like some sort of mass exodus. We also discovered that 2 out of our 3 packs of bacon, and 2 tubs of margarine had gone missing from our Ice-box. Now, I know dingoes are prone to a bit of theft here and there, and they are plentiful on Fraser island, but when Mike (a lad in our group) adamantly put this forward- I had to step in...firstly, there is absolutely no way that a dingo would have the common decency to take 2 packs for himself and leave us 1- secondly- if the dingos took the butter but not the bread- he's presuming that the dingoes already had bread and didnt need ours- and so had the deceny to leave it there for us!!! Mike my friend- absolutely no chance!! We were robbed, plain and simple- probably a revenge mission because everyone else at the site was jealous of our superior banter!! hahaha

The third and final day involved a trip to lake Wabi, a stunning emrald green lake just inland and near lake McKensie, banked on one side by one enormous sanddune, perfect for sprinting down from and belting into the water at pace. After an hour or so though, we decided on one last trip to Lake McKensie before our departure from the island. The finale to our trip involved a lunch of bread and jam described as "something you'd get in a 1920's prison" by AJ. I had to remind however him that there was no chance you'd get jam in a 1920's prison, so count your lucky stars and get on with it!! The ferry ride back involved a good old singalong called an Aloetta, much enjoyed by all.

The best 3 days of my trip so far- an absolute blinder, I urge every man woman and child on this planet to get over here fast!!!

I am now in 1770 and plan on a bit of surfing and a bit of chopper riding, but certainly no drinking. I deserve a de-tox

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