Blog 24 - Brisbane - Fraser Island - Whitsundays
When I got out of the plane in Brisbane I didn't really know where to go. I did find a hostel on the internet that had free luggage storage, so that was the plan then… I took the train to town and met a nice guy in the train that was staying in that hostel. He offered me to carry my board bag and that was just what I needed ;)
The backpackers was actually a flash packers, what means that it is more expensive, but nicer as well. That evening I went to bed early (after some food shopping, a nice dinner and a hot shower) and thanks to the German girl and Norwegian guy in the bunk bed above me I didn't have a really good night L The next day I moved to another (cheaper) room and after my yoga (at 7 am) and breakfast and a long hot shower I went to book Fraser Island and the Whitsundays. That took me approximately 4 hours!
There was a free yoga class in the open air at 5.30 pm, which was awesome, and after that I prepared myself for my trip up north. The next morning yoga again, check out… the Greyhound bus left at 14.00 pm and luckily I had 2 seats for myself, so the 6 hrs in the bus weren't too bad.
I arrived in Harvey Bay early in the evening, but I was quite tired, so went to bed early again. I shared my dorm with 3 English guys: Fraser, Greg and … They were also going to go to Fraser Island the next day. That Thursday morning we had to be ready at 7 am! There were 33 people and they divided us in three groups. There was a first driver (me) and 2 people that went food shopping. At the car rental place, we had to see some movies about Fraser Island and the 4WD, well, it was more about all the fines you could get there…
We drove to the ferry and after that there was another couple of hours of driving to do! Because a part of the beach war closed 'thanks' to the cyclone that had been there the week before, we had hypes of detours to do on very narrow, bumpy roads…
That day we visited Eli's creek, the shipwreck and base camp: the place we were going to stay the next couple of days. So we put our tents up, dinner was made (barbie) and there was some guitar, singing and drinking games going on afterwards. Since it had to be quiet at 9 pm, we went to the beach to be able to chill out a bit longer.
On Friday, we headed for Indian Head, where we had a beautiful view of the ocean. Sometimes you're able to see sharks or turtles here, but not today L We took our lunch with us and chilled there for a bit. Afterwards we went to Champagne Pools: a salt water pool. As the waves come in, it looks like champagne has been poured over the rocks (see pic's). We were back around four and we didn't do very much the rest of the day. We did see some Dingo's (wild dogs) today (we were already wondering if they really existed ;-). Pasta for dinner and an early sleep, because the next day we had to leave the camp at 5.30 am because of the tide.
That morning we went to see lake Wabby and lake Mckenzie: both really pretty. The last one really felt like paradise!
We took the ferry back at 2.30 pm and that was the end of Fraser Island. It was really good, also because I've met some beautiful people…
That night, I stayed in the hostel in Harvey Bay. The next day I went for a walk into town, where there was a cultural festival going on (they were selling Dutch Pancakes - poffertjes!!)
My Greyhound bus left at 1 pm and I had to spend 13 hrs in the bus, all the way to Airlie Beach. The good thing about the bus was the fact that there were not a lot of people in it, so I had 2 seats. We arrived at Airlie Beach at 2.30 am and I went straight to bed.
I spend the next day with Nicola, a girl I met on Fraser Island. We had a cuppa at the Yacht club, chilled out at the lagoon and we took a didgeridoo class in the afternoon (free). I couldn't resist buying one (surprisingly): it's the perfect souvenir for me J
Then something bad happened… My camera didn't work anymore.. probably sand in it… So I bought a single use one and hoped that I could get some pictures from the other people I was going to be on the boat with.
After dinner with Nicola (on the deck… some crackers…) I reorganized and played some guitar. The hostel I was in, was next to a bar and the (very loud) music didn't stop until midnight…
On Thursday I had to be at the boat the British Defender at 1.30 pm. The crew: Glen, Greg, Gemma and Tom (Dutch volunteer) welcomed us. That day we did a bit of sailing and we went for a swim around sunset. After dinner everybody chilled out for a bit. It was kind of a party boat, but not too much. I got along very well with Michaela (Swiss girl), so that was really nice. That evening I fell asleep on the deck, looking at the stars: the sky was so pretty!
The next day and the day after… no wind L
The skipper dropped us on the island and we had a swim and I did my yoga. Later on we went to a really nice look out point, where we had our group picture taken. After that we did some snorkeling and saw some beautiful fish. We also saw some turtles from the boat!!
After hypes of swimming and jumping and diving of the boat we had some dinner and another chill evening.
Saturday morning we headed back to shore after a little swim/ snorkel.
All together it was a beautiful trip even though there was no wind. In the afternoon I uploaded some pics from Michaela and Sophie and the whole group had a swim at the lagoon.
At 4 pm I took the coach to the airport and I flew back to Brisbane…