East Coast
From Adventures in Australia in East Coast, Australia on May 09 '08
Hello to all our loyal readers!
I suggest getting a tea or coffee and maybe popping a bag of popcorn because this one is going to take awhile.
Leaving off two wonderful weeks in Byron Bay we began the first leg of our journey up the East Coast which will eventually end in Cairns. We took an evening bus to Brisbane where we were booked for the night in a hostel that was chosen due to its proximity from the bus station. We hadn't arrived until close to 11pm so our first view of Brisbane was cast in darkness but the next morning we set out to get a quick feel for the city as we were leaving that afternoon at 2pm. I have aquired a somewhat serious addiction to chinese buns or baos (small rice thingys filled with pork or chicken) so whenever we pull into a city of any respectable size we head for china town to get our bun fix. So anyways our Brisbane trip consisted of china town and a stroll down their main strip and then we loaded ourselves once again onto a bus headed to Noosa where a 3 day 2 night canoe trip awaited.
Noosa- Great town, perfect for the 40 something couple looking to spend some time on the beach in the afternoon, still find a nice restaraunt for dinner or sip a cocktail on a bar patio overlooking the ocean after stopping in a designer store to buy some expensive sandals that match your gucci shades and armani floral print shirt.
We spent the night in Koala's backpackers which unknown to us at the time of our booking is a bit of a party hostel. My trips outside to yell at unruly 18 year old drunks in the middle of the night seemed to only entertain them. 7am came quite early the next day as that is when we needed to be up to catch our shuttle. Luckily it worked out as Mairead tells me all the time I am an extremely enjoyable person to be around in the morning especially after a rough nights sleep.
We were bused to where they keep the tents, cooking sets, and other camping gear to get geared up for the trip. From there we drove to the lake on the outside of the everglades that we would canoe through for the next three days and ferried to where would start our trip. This is where our breifing took place which consisted of giving each of us a hand drawn map and told to stay out of the water due to sharks as well as other hazards. This confirmed our suspicions that this is in fact not a guided tour.
They pointed to where the canoes are and to where the river starts and told us they would be back to pick us up a few days later. We loaded our canoe and set off for a 9 kilometer trip up river to our campsite. The everglades themselves are very beautiful but not in the conventional way. It is nothing but trees everywhere you look and the only wildlife we were able to spot while on the trip were the occasional turkey and a few birds. On one occasion we did see a huge lizard. We started out ramming one side of the river before slamming into the other side and then turning back to hit the other once again. We eventually picked up eachothers strengths and weaknesses and acted accordingly. I am unable to get tan where as Mairead tans very nicely and I am apparently good at paddling where as Mairead would rather tan. Soooo Mairead caught some sun upfront and I paddled from the back. Needless to say she is quite bronze and I was unable to move my arms for the following week.
*She is going to have a fit when she reads this so I feel I need to add that the above statements are a slight exaggeration and Mairead did paddle at times and was very effective when she did.
The Noosa Everglades are reffered to as the "River of Mirrors" because when the water is calm the river reflects the surrounding scenery abolutley perfectly. It really was quite a site. Hours after our departure we reached our campsite and set up camp. We were with a great group of people, a few german guys, an english couple, a danish couple and two Israli guys. We had fun cooking our meals together and chatting with everyone until each night one by one our exhaustion took over and we passed out. All in all we canoed over 30 kilometers, hiked 14, saw a beautiful sand dune in the middle of the everglades, made a few freinds, and by the end we were canoeing as one (for the most part).
Upon returning to where we picked up the camping gear the driver asked if anyone had asked about working for accomadation at the house where they keep the canoe trip equipment. We of course chimed up and spoke with the owner of the house who is also the owner of the canoe trip and the travel company that we booked all our following trips through. The deal came down to 2 hours a day of gardening in exchange for us having a three bedroom guest house to ourselves. The guest house was perfect and after our camping and previous hostel experience we were in heaven. A TV where we actually had control of the remote, a bathroom without people knocking on the door, a KING size bed!, and a kitchen whithout having to wait our turn at the stove. H E A V E N! We satayed a week and spent our afternoons playing tennis in the backyard, swimming in his pool, lounging around watching tv, oh and of course we did the occasional gardening. The evenings though are what I will never forget. Around 4pm each day the trees surrounding the house would produce kangaroos that would hop around the backyard. We spent each night until it became too dark just sitting amongst the kangaroos in the backyard. Our relationship with the kangaroos started on the first night with a few peices of bread. I was crouched about 20 feet from one of the larger kangaroos (Big Momma) using my most inviting kangaroo voice to entice the kangaroo to come give me a hug. After being ignored Big Momma turned to me and at full speed which is lightning fast she came straight for me. Not knowing what to do I froze in place with my heart racing not knowing whether or not she was going to run me over or was just as excited to meet me as I was to meet her. She came to a stop right infront of me and reached out to take the bread from my hand and then stood infront of me enjoying her snack. She was incredible. Sitting there with Mairead a safe distance behind we watched in bewilderment and when she finished she looked at each of us almost seeming to introduce herself. Already gleaming with excitement at the experience something all the more incredible happened. From inside her pouch a baby kangaroo peaked its head out introduce himself as well. We shared the moment until she decided to go back to grazing the backyard. Unforgettable. Big Momma and her little one came to say hi to us each following night for as long as we stayed.
After a week of lounging we had to leave in order to make it to Harvey Bay where we had a 2 night 3 day self drive 4x4 safari awaiting.
A quick bus ride later we arrived in Harvey Bay had a great night in a hostel there and left the next morning for our safari. We were with a group of 5 French Canadians and an Irish couple all stuffed into a land cruiser. We drove the truck from the hostel to the waiting ferry that would take us to the island. A 30 minute ferry later we were off with one of the candians at the helm. We drove through sand covered tracks for about 30 minuted before arivving at the most amazing white sand clear watered lake I have ever dreamed of. McKenzie Lake. The pictures will show it better then I can ever describe but it was truly amazing. I think we all would have been happy to spend the entire trip lakeside but we eventually left eager to see what else the island had instore. Frasier island is the biggest sand island in the world but it is so old that a large amount of greenery has been able to grow through the sand so we were able to see lots of both. We sped along the beach which is an official highway with speed limits and traffic laws due to the amount of traffic that comes to the island. We came to a large passenger ship that had beached itself in 1935. It was the 4th largest ship at the time and still stands on the beaches of Frasier island. It was a bit rusty but quite beautiful all the same. Again I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. We set up camp at what was supposed to an Aboriginal camp with fire dancing and story telling but I think the natives were on strike because they never showed. It was a great time none the less. The next day we continued up the coast to Indian Head Point where from the top we were able to see giant manta rays flying through the water. Our itinerary changed some because the other car we were with blew their motor and our 4 wheel drive broke so we were inable to make it back to our campsite. Instead we camped where we were stuck and spent the night singing songs by the fire. The next day the company sent someone to get the other car and we managed to make it back to the ferry on time. Despite our mechanical failures and change of plans we had a great trip and due to the treatment of us by the company we are awaiting a refund.
We spent the following night on an overnight bus to Airlie beach and today we are excited for the hopeful highlight of our trip. 3 days and 3 nights sailing around the Whitsunday islands on a 103 ft maxiyacht.
Love to all. Stay tuned for more.
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