Brisbane to Fraser Island!

We finally arrived in Noosa after battling through the Friday afternoon traffic out of Brisbane and instantly fell in love with the place, especially Kat's family unit with amazing views over Sunrise Beach. We decided to go for a quick dip in the sea before the sun went down, a nice refreshing swim before a meal and drinks for Laura's birthday. To celebrate for the birthday girl we went to a nice restaurant and Laura was happy with her chill seafood pasta which had considerably more seafood then pasta and Charlie had his second burger of the day! After a few schooners of beer we then headed to KB's or Kamel Bar for some jugs of cocktails before heading home to a nice comfy bed. Purely by chance, Laura woke up just before sunrise and saw the orange-ing skies begin to appear from the balcony so woke up Charlie to enjoy the sunrise and, of course, take some snaps! After the amazing fiery sunrise we slept a little longer before waking up and heading down to Noosa main beach. We spent the day chilling on the beach with Kat and her family and wondered around the town before walking back around 7kms through the national park, a beautiful walk following the coastline with amazing views. Although we didn't see the illusive koala it was a lovely walk topped by an ice cold beer at the surf club. We were all shattered after the walk so decided it was time for a nice chinese, a few beers and an early nights sleep before our bus to Hervey Bay in the morning. 

The next morning we got to the bus stop with plenty of time but, from the amount of people that where waiting, we were worried that we wouldn't get on. After a long wait and being the last to get on because of our route to Hervey Bay, we finally got on before stopping and getting on a different much quieter bus that shortened our journey time by over an hour. On arriving at Palace backpackers we chilled out for a bit then met our guide and group for orientation. We were told to get in to groups of around six to shop together for our food for the trip so teamed up with Joel, a Scottish joker, and three english boys, Will, Chris and Archie who were on their gap year. Our shop consisted mainly of meat for two nights of bbq on the island and 1.5kgs of ham for sandwiches, with a few other bits chucked in! We stocked up on goon, 4 litres of box wine for $10 and headed back to the hostel to prepare for our expedition. 

We were checked out by 6am and met for more briefing at 6.30am. We then loaded our wagons, classic toyota land cruisers and swiftly left. Charlie drove first and, with a convoy of four trucks, we headed down to the crossing point, boarded the ferry and enjoyed then sun and views on the crossing. Once we arrived on the island we engaged four wheel drive and made our way to our first stop, Lake Mckenzie. The first part of the track was steep sandy bumpy tracks going up and down, by far the most extreme track on the whole island, with some entertainment as the girl driving ahead of us stalled half way up a hill! We arrived at Lake McKenzie in the sunshine, and what an amazing place it is! Bright white sand leading in to a perfect blue fresh water lake! The water was so refreshing in the sun we were sad to leave after only spending an hour or so there. We also saw a Goanna the Aussie name for a Monitor Lizard in the cark park and on the beach which was a great sight! 

After Lake McKenzie we went to Central Station where our guide Rango told us about the history of Fraser Island, its logging past and its importance in the present. We then walked along a nearby creek before having lunch in the sun, in the company of the purest line of dingo in Australia, their native wild dog, who were very interested in our backpacks and our food. One was even jumping up at the windows of the trucks trying to get in. After lunch we continued on to Lake Wabby where we spent the afternoon. The thirty-five minute walk to Lake Wabby was through lush forest before suddenly coming out on to a sand blow, an area that was like a desert where sand has blow up off the beach and covered everything in its path. The Lake was situated at the end of the Sand blow creating a giant dune like hill in to the lake, great to run down before splashing in the lake. We spotted some catfish and whilst sitting in the shallow water small fish came and nibbled at our feet. After a nice afternoon at Lake Wabby we arrived at our campsite, tents ready and a trailer with cooking and cleaning facilities, and an awning over some picnic benches it seemed to be pretty comfy! We ate our yummy steaks and sausages and drank lots of goon, invading the next door camp who seemed less inclined to party, with first class entertainment from Archie, Will and Chris. We ended the night sitting on the beach under moonlight staring in to the amazing night sky. 

Coffs Harbour to Brisbane!

On our last day at Coffs harbour we met up with Neil and walked out to Mutton Island, named due to the mutton birds that breed on it. The island is connected to the mainland by a walkway along the harbour, where we saw some nice boats as well as a sting ray and some other tropical looking fish. Walking up on to the island we were greeted by some stunning views up and down the coast as well as inland to the mountains and the sub-tropical rainforest. The tip of the island was a wind swept point with signs making us jealous of the right season to see the migrating humpback whales, as apparently its a great point to see them pass and often breach. We then walked back to the hostel and chilled out by the pool before catching the bus to Byron Bay.

We spent five nights and four days in Byron Bay, a vibrant yet relaxed place full of things to do. The first day we made the most of the good weather chilling on the beach all day, trying to catch some rays. Later on we caught up with Neil and went out for his birthday; we started off at his hostel where we met a few more people and then went on to a few bars including Beaches and Cheeky Monkeys. We woke up the next day feeling slightly worse for wear along with not-so-favourable weather so we decided to have a chilled out day at the hostel and wandered around Byron, soaking up the atmosphere. The following day we woke up to slightly better weather and the excitement of going for a snorkelling trip around Julian Rocks, kindly organised by Cassie. We arrived at the diving centre, got briefed and suited up in shortie wet suits. We headed out to Julian Rocks, a distant island visible from Byron Bay main beach which is in fact a marine reserve. We entered the water and were instantly surrounded by schools of different tropical fish including wrasse, parrot fish and little electric blue fish. The we spotted some angel fish, puffer fish and porcupine fish. After a little more exploring we saw a few leopard sharks, who were great to follow! Harder to spot were the odd looking wobbygong sharks named because of their bearded faces in aboriginal. We then spotted a few groper fish, known to grow to ridiculous sizes and a little green turtle. After almost an hour of exploring we were told it was time to head back to the boat, but as we did so another turtle swam up right in front of us to catch some breaths at the surface. Completely unfazed by our presence we swam around it within a metre or so before he swiftly dived back down. After our snorkelling trip we met up again with Neil and chilled on the beach and played some frisbee. 

The following day we decided to walk along the coast to the lighthouse at Cape Byron, where we were told you could spot sharks, dolphins and manta rays from the cliff tops. It wasn't a particularly sunny day but the humidity made the climb up a tricky one. On our way up we spotted a variation of wildlife including native bush turkeys, eastern water dragons and rainbow lorikeets. We finally made it to the most eastern point of Australia, which still wasn't quite the top, but stopped to look for manta rays and sharks and after some local Aussies pointed a few out we slowly got our eye in and started spotting them for ourselves. As we walked up further towards the lighthouse we spotted more rays, including some eagle rays. We reached the lighthouse, took in the amazing views of another part of the east coast. Laura especially liked the mist created by the surfy seas along the coast. We were about to head off, following the path inland back to the centre of Byron Bay when we saw a small pod of dolphins moving in the opposite direction and of course we had to follow them! We followed them back the way we came before they disappeared heading towards the cape. However we did catch a glimpse of a giant shark, most probably a tiger or bull shark, but maybe a great white as they are regularly seen in this area. It was terrifying to think that there were hundreds of surfers just around the corner. We chilled out in the evening and left the next morning headed for Brisbane.

We arrived in Brisbane and found our way to a bus stop to get a bus to meet up with Laura's friend from Uni, Kat. After getting of at the wrong stop we were guided through the amazing University of Queensland campus to where we were meant to meet her. We dropped our things at hers and went to go and get beers and then pizza for a much needed catch up. The next day we re-lived the student lifestyle, chilling out making the most of the endless tv series on Kat's housemates hard drive whilst Kat was busy chopping up sharks at uni. In the evening we got fish and chips and Laura and Kat had more catching up to do! The next day we left Kat's and got picked up by Laura's other Brisbane friend, Matt Winkley who worked as a gappy at Tonbridge School. We did some more chilling at Matt's met his brother before spending the evening seeing the sites of Brisbane and enjoying a Cold Rock. The next morning we were woken up by Matt with breakfast in bed for Laura's birthday. We then spent the morning at the man made beach in Brisbane before having a yummy burger at Grill'd. After that is was time to head back to Kat's to get a lift from her mother up to their families' unit in Noosa.