Noosa/Brisbane

After our Fraser Island weekend and our last night at Rainbow Beach, we made our way to Noosa, a couple hours away from Rainbow.

Once we arrived at Noosa I knew it would be a place we could hang our hats for more then a couple days. We were looking for a place to relax for a while before we were scheduled to hit Brisbane. Our first day there was a shopping day as there were lots of cute little shops. We hit up a movie later, Body of Lies which was pretty cool. And let's face it, I was dying to see Leo on the big screen!!! The next day we decided that we were all in desperate need of some physical activity so we went for a walk through Noosa National Park. The walk was about 3 hours. The park was beautiful. In that 3 hours we saw 2 snakes, 1 gigantic lizard/baby alligator type creature (not entirely sure), pod of dolphins swimming in the ocean and a Koala asleep (as they do) very high in a tree. It's a gorgeous park, to say the least. On our way out of the park it started to pour, although I didn't have my rain jacket I was able to cover myself up with my sweater. Of course, as soon as we exited the park the rain stopped so we decided to go to the beach. Noosa is a very, very expensive place to visit and even more expensive to live. It's quite beautiful - the beach is picturesque and the water is warm and colorful. There are amazing homes and the shops are local and unique. The cost of food and accommodation averages about 30% higher than most places on the east coast. What I'm trying to say is the amount of shopping I could do here was very limited. Just as well I guess. Day 3 in Noosa was a full-on rain day. It was also the day that I had to arrange to ship home a package for my Grandfathers 80th birthday. I do enjoy rain, but it's not the same when you're lugging around packages and taking transit.  Day 4 in Noosa was, you guessed it, a beach and shopping day...again!! I know, it's a hard life. We enjoyed our last day here, knowing that we would be arriving in Brisbane next which we suspected would be quite different. I really did enjoy Noosa - a beautiful place to visit, expensive, but great!

Now off to Brisbane. I was excited to visit a bigger city in Australia. We took off from Noosa early that morning and about 3 hours later we were in Brisbane. Luckily our hostel was right across the street from the bus stop. Our hostel, in comparison to the one in Noosa, was beautiful. It felt more like a hotel, minus the fact that we were sharing a room with 7 people. Brisbane has lots to offer. The last time I was in a big city would've been Bangkokm, which was some time ago. We took the afternoon to do some Christmas shopping, which is hard to get in the mood for at this time and in this weather. The three of us have been making an effort to talk about cooking at night, although tonight wasn't that night and instead we went out for not just a regular dinner, but a very expensive dinner. It was worth it. Our next few days in Brisbane involved a lot of walking, visiting art markets, reading in the park by the river, really just enjoying all the people and relishing in the sounds and smells of a big city. After Brisbane, we made a plan that Carmen and Lauren would go up North to do some more diving and work their way back down to where I would be which is on the Gold Coast staying with the most lovely lady, Pam, whom I met in China.

So that's where I am right now, on the Gold Coast. Staying with Pam and her son Grant, in a home with my own room, has been a breath of fresh air. Pam lives right off the water and about a 10 minute ride from Surfers Paradise. It's a great location. I was planning to look for some work, but have realized that working for a few weeks will be rather difficult to find. So I've decided not to worry and enjoy the fact that I am on my own, and with my sudo family!

I'll keep you posted on my Gold Coast stay. Happy Birthday to my Grandpa, best man in the whole world!!!
Write soon!

Photos - Fraser Island

1770/Bundaberg/Hervey Bay/Fraser Island

First of all, our Karl from England picked us up in Airlie to take us on the road with him to 1770. The car wasn't the biggest, but we managed to fit all of our bags and selves and took off first thing in the morning. I'm in love with road trips, one of my favorite things to do, so I was pretty stoked for this adventure. I was especially excited since the greyhound takes its toll after some time. The weather was great and the company was fantastic. We shared a lot of laughs over a lot of km's. We arrived in 1770 around dinner time, and realized that it didn't have much to offer. Because we were having a great time, we decided to keep going with Karl to Bundaberg. When we arrived at Bundaberg we decided to splurge and stay at the Quality Comfort Inn!! I must emphasize how big this is to 3 tired, and perhaps dirty, backpacking girls. Words can't describe how happy we were when we walked in our room. It sure beats a 7 room dorm with a shared bathroom. It didn't smell of dirty backpackers, we had our own kitchen, massive sitting area, a TV and 4 comfortable beds. This place was the kind of heaven we were in desperate need of. We kicked up our heels, ok flip flops, and celebrated with wine, pizza and a movie. We couldn't have asked for more. Thanks to our Karl!!!!

The next morning we decided that us girls would head out to Hervey Bay for a few days before we were scheduled to start our Fraser Island trip. Saying goodbye to the car, and more importantly to Karl, wasn't easy. He had a huge impact on our trip during those few days and I will never forget him for that!!!

Hervey Bay is a pretty cool, chilled out town with not much to do but, of course, we made the most of it. We arranged for a morning whale watching excursion. I was really excited about this. But at first, all we could see were fins in the distant and I thought for sure I would be disappointed. But, slowly, the whales starting gaining distance and before we knew it they were right by the boat. It was one of the most amazing things I have witnessed in my entire life. We had a pod basically right beside our boat. They were active - waving, slapping fins and jumping - and are massive, smart creatures. Never did I actually think I would get as close as I did. I took a million photos and will attach a couple of the better ones. This was a highlight of my trip to say the very least. Completely surreal!

We are now off to visit Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and most of the backpackers traveling through Australia arrange to go to the Island, in 4x4s of course, to  camp. We arrived in Rainbow beach, one of the Fraser Island hubs, on Thursday. We had a couple days there before we left for Fraser. Rainbow beach is pretty small, not much to do but again we managed to keep ourselves busy mostly at the bar due to a rainy day, actually let's pin it all on the rain : ) Saturday morning we were scheduled to be up and checked out by 7:45 am, and that we were...tired but excited. Our self-drive group was pretty awesome. Are group was a good mix, so I knew that wouldn't be an issue. We arrived on Fraser Island later that afternoon and I was full on panicking for the first bit. The 4x4 had all our gear stacked on the roof, with 11 people in the vehicle and it was not easy to drive on the sand. But Jon, our driver, was excellent. For the next 2 days and 2 nights we set up camp, had some drinks, shared some very funny moments. I really enjoyed Fraser Island. We had an awesome time, but we were ready to come home, with sand in every orifice. We were in desperate need of a shower.

Right now we are hanging out in Noosa!! I'll write about that soon.

Enjoy! Write soon.

Whitsunday photos

Magnetic Island - Photos

Top - Sunrise
Middle - Me driving our car
Photos of the beaches around Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island - Whitsunday

Top photos - Carmen scuba party

Bottom photos - our hostel in Magnetic Island, sunrise

The last week has been rather busy. Carmen finished her scuba course...finally. It felt like it took a really long time, at least for me. I was starting to feel a little bored in Cairns. Although I had my friend Alex, it was time to leave. Carmen had met a girl in her course from Calgary, Lauren, and she decided to come travel with us, which was great. We celebrated the end of her certificate by attending the dive party, met some great people and woke up early the next morning to book the next leg of our trip. That afternoon we decided to head to Magnetic Island. It was a rushed day as we expected to leave Cairns at midnight, only they didn't have 3 seats so we ended up having less then 2 hours to get ready to leave. After a night of drinking, I was moving quite slow so 2 hours to me was no time at all. We made it though, on time. Crisis averted. 

We arrived on Magnetic Island late, and bed was the only option. Let me say, Magnetic Island is so beautiful. Our hostel was right on the beach and our huts were so adorable (such a girl comment). It's a lively place and at that point I was so happy to just be somewhere different, mingling with new people. It was relaxed, like most of Australia. We hung out at the beach for a day and decided to rent a car another day. I wanted to see how I'd do driving on the other side of the car/road. It was interesting. My first 30 seconds in the car I had to take on a traffic circle, which we don't have much of at home. I was super nervous, so naturally I just gunned it. The guys at the rental agency were getting a good laugh out of it. Luckily, I made it to the hostel in one piece, grabbed the girls and we drove around the whole day. The car was dinky, and we all took turns driving. We almost crashed once, pulling in on the right side of a parking lot - thanks, Lauren!. But I'm glad we practiced there cause it's a small road and not much damage you could do. We ended up being rushed to head to Airlie beach and discovered that some of our stuff was gone, particularly my iPod, which put me in a bad mood. But we had to keep on and and realized that we had less then 10 minutes to make it to the ferry and we still had the car to return. So there was no time to pout. We threw our bags in the car and sped off, in the dark, with no headlights because I couldn't find them, turned the wipers on by accident, had a freak out and sped down the road in a panic. I dropped the girls, and our bags, off at the bus station, and on her way out Lauren ripped a piece of the car off so we had to fix that. I made it back to the ferry dock in the nick of time. Needless to say this day was stressful, but we ended up roaring in laughter was the ferry took off. Not our best day yet, but I guess that's bound to happen. We are still traveling the world, so it's not that bad.

We headed to Airlie beach for our Whitsunday sailing adventure. Whitsunday is made up of 74 Islands and is breath taking. We were on the boat for 3 days and 2 nights. I've never sailed, so that part alone was pretty cool. Our crew was alright, the guy was an Australian and kind of a womanizer and the hostess or deckhand was a bit neglectful but that only made the trip a bit more interesting. Our group was 12 people, and everyone got along pretty well. The first day was rainy so we didn't do much but sit outside and freeze. The next day was better and we went to Whitehaven beach, the  most amazing beach I have seen on my travels so far. Very protected, therefore it looks completely untouched. Gorgeous water and beautiful sand that felt like you were walking on flour. We sailed a bit more that night, snorkelled for a couple hours the next day and basically lounged without a worry in the world for three days. We met great people, listened to great music and were surrounded by a beauty that words cannot describe. 

We are in Airlie beach now, and leave tomorrow for 1770. We met a guy from England, Karl, who's plan is to rent a car and has offered us a ride. I'm looking forward to travelling in something other than a bus. We should arrive tomorrow, or the next night, and plan to hang out there for a few days.

The time is flying by. The north part of the Australian east coast has been fun. I'm glad we have another person joining us. She is fitting in quite well. We are having a really good time here.

Write soon!