Most of the guys left at some crazy hour, and we checked out and stored our luggage so we could go down to the laundromat and dry/wash our clothes. Wandering along the waterfront, we bumped into Susanne and Barry, and grabbed a hearty breakfast with them, though Barry just had a beer, unsurprisingly. Susanne left to sort things out and Joff and I went back to the laundry room, suddenly remembering we had forgotten to pay for breakfast. A quick jog back sorted that, and revealed Barry was drinking more with another Irish guy that had appeared. The next 2 hours before our bus I spent drying my clothes 3 times, and getting more and more angry as they were still wet at the end of all the palava. Anyway, we bid farewell to Susanne (Barry was no where to be found) and got on our Greyhound towards 1770 with no hint of accommodation booked. Hardcore.
The trip was uneventful, in that I don't remember it in the slightest, except that we were extremely excited to be going to a town named numerically, with no inkling of what was there. On arrival we realised the slight error, when the only hostel with a bus to meet us said they were full up. So we wandered across the road to the only other hostel in town, and as we strolled in we saw Jamie, Lucie and Fi. We explained our predicament, and with bemused expression they explained they had booked us in, which was awfully nice and cool that we had to rely on some fresh school leavers to look after us. Anyway, the hostel was fantastic, with a cool attitude and easy going nature that didn't require dorms to be locked. We dumped our bags and went down to an outside beautifully kept court yard, outside the kitchen, where every night a really cool guy cooks a meal for everyone for just $5 each. We were a bit late but he let us have his own personal bread with the yummy beef stew he had concocted.
The rest of the night we chilled out at a table with a few cheeky beers, and a guy called Charlie joined us, who was cool, and we reminisced about fraser, possibly to the detriment of Charlie's evening as he had a crap time. In fact, he had the group we wanted to be with, and apparently after poor camping skills on the first night, resulting in Van sleeping, they all stayed in a $50 hostel the 2nd night! Anyway, we called it a night and went to bed as is the done thing, and we had excellent plans for tomorrow....
Showing posts with label Hervey Bay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hervey Bay. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Saturday 19th April 2008
On awaking at 6.25 in a rather chipper mood, I discovered the tent had transformed into a sauna-esque explosion of heat, so I equally evaporated to the outside. As people began to wake up it was soon discovered that Lucie had slept entirely in a massive puddle in her tent and Barry had slept in a tent on his own with no sleeping bags due to Daniella somehow using 2. After lacking in effort we managed to pack everything up and Joff drove us off inland towards Central Station campsite. Progress was slow due to mad wack roads but we arrived successfully, cleaned ourselves and the dishes and headed back on towards Lake Mckenzie. And Whoa. Lake Mckenzie is an amazingly beautiful, 2 tone, perfectly clear and blue lake, with the finest white sand that you can use to wash yourself and even brush your teeth with, if you so desired. Apparently. We played in the lake for a while, then a dingo ate our football. And it began to rain. We grabbed a lunch of tuna and peanut butter sandwiches before it was my turn to get us back to the barge. Now we all thought we were late, so I rallied Taloola around the roads, mighty safely I add. Unfortunately, we arrived an hour and a half early, and the only time anything dangerous happened was at the very last hump before the tarmac road, and I was going about 5kph, and the right sand of the track just dropped away without warning. After much screaming and heart beating we realised we were upright and pulled into the petrol station, where Joff and I pumped the tires back up, we all got ice creams, a random tour bus driver gave us loads of free spare cookies and muffins, and we headed to the barge queue. On the barge we mostly passed out in really uncomfortable positions and I woke up with a non-functionary arm.
We then went through the motions of unpacking and returning Taloola to palace, checking into our rooms, awesomely most of us were in the same apartment. That evening we enjoyed all you can eat Dominos pizza, and I won the challenge by eating 12 slices, then there was no more left. No alcohol tonight though, just far too much Lift, an old school lemonade drink. We retired to our room, and Jamie, Joff and I chatted rubbish for a few hours while half asleep. Extremely funny though.
We then went through the motions of unpacking and returning Taloola to palace, checking into our rooms, awesomely most of us were in the same apartment. That evening we enjoyed all you can eat Dominos pizza, and I won the challenge by eating 12 slices, then there was no more left. No alcohol tonight though, just far too much Lift, an old school lemonade drink. We retired to our room, and Jamie, Joff and I chatted rubbish for a few hours while half asleep. Extremely funny though.
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Thursday 17th April 2008
Woke up insane early, checked out, and threw our big bags in lockers. Watched a video detailing how not to die instantly and not to sleep in the road on Fraser Island. Also, avoidance of dingos, but to fight back aggressively should you have to.... Got in our groups (no choice) and ours seems really good. Signed all our lives away (me and joff only drivers), paid $1000 for bond, got sleeping bags, then met our 4x4 for the next few days, soon to be named Taloola. Joff expertly drove the old 4x4 to the garage and we utilised some excellent team work packing Taloola extremely snuggly (3 tents, gas, stove, sleeping bags, mats, eskis, cutlery, etc). Drove to woolies to get group food, which, thanks to Susanne, was highly organised and only cost $10 each for 3 days! This included a meat BBQ for the first night. We then bought vast quantities of goon (boxed cheap wine) and beer. In the end we were the last to leave the supermarket, but 2nd out of 4 to get to the dock, and bust out some hacky sack car park action. Before boarding our Barge of wonder, we lost Barry, our token irish guy. This was partially due to a toilet hunt and his commencement of alcohol consumption. Needless to say some Oz dude threatened him with a $27,000 fine later on in for the escapade of existing in close proximity to an open beer can.
Anyway, Joff reversed with great skill onto the barge. As the 2nd driver I had the front seat, which was cool as the other 7 were crammed in the back with all our bags, where as I could stretch out comfortably. On the barge I bought a Diet Coke off a guy who seemed convinced I was to blame for every stupid car accident on Fraser Island. Apparently 3 4x4s roll a month, to much calamity. On arrival, Joff and I let down the tires in preparation for some serious off roading, and nearly got lost trying to obtain our camping and vehicle permits, though my nav skills saved all mankind. What followed was a grueling x miles of driving for Joff, through the middle of the island an crazy uneven tracks through forest. Eventually, we bust out to the eastern beach and on up the beach towards the champagne pools, and Indian point. We reached Indian Point quite late, just about at the time when we weren't meant to drive on the beach after due to the tide. It was pouring at this point and we took a short inland track to the champagne pools under my driving skillery. The weather cleared so we walked down the cliff to the disappointing champagne pools, where you can normally swim in really hot water. But there was no sun and tide was far too high. Still, having a great time even though we realised we were stranded far from our suggested camping area.
After a discussion with a bus driver, it turned out the beach was fine as long as we (read I) were careful and stopped if waves were close. So I busted along the beach for a while, dodging waves and rocks, one eye on the ever creeping sea. In the end, we just had to choose a bumpy area to build our home for the night, with no one else in sight. It was quite exposed to the crazy wind and sporadic rain but after much confusion we got all the tents up, though one had suspicious structural integrity. The meat got cooking and we all chilled, mainly hiding in Taloola, with beer and goon. Barry manned our temperamental gas stove for the first batch of sausages and burgers. Foolishing, I was left in charge of the next batch of sausages, which turned out surprisingly good, for half meat half sand sausages, and we kept them wrapped for tomorrow. Fiona was unfortunately ill for the entire evening :(.
The rest of the night involved moderate drinking and then crashing out before 12, much to Jamie's dismay. Barry, Jamie and I shared a tent which was awesome, except it was our "special" tent, so kept flapping against our faces and halfway through the night Barry woke up, had a panic attack, and trampled me trying to get out. Quite humourous.
Anyway, Joff reversed with great skill onto the barge. As the 2nd driver I had the front seat, which was cool as the other 7 were crammed in the back with all our bags, where as I could stretch out comfortably. On the barge I bought a Diet Coke off a guy who seemed convinced I was to blame for every stupid car accident on Fraser Island. Apparently 3 4x4s roll a month, to much calamity. On arrival, Joff and I let down the tires in preparation for some serious off roading, and nearly got lost trying to obtain our camping and vehicle permits, though my nav skills saved all mankind. What followed was a grueling x miles of driving for Joff, through the middle of the island an crazy uneven tracks through forest. Eventually, we bust out to the eastern beach and on up the beach towards the champagne pools, and Indian point. We reached Indian Point quite late, just about at the time when we weren't meant to drive on the beach after due to the tide. It was pouring at this point and we took a short inland track to the champagne pools under my driving skillery. The weather cleared so we walked down the cliff to the disappointing champagne pools, where you can normally swim in really hot water. But there was no sun and tide was far too high. Still, having a great time even though we realised we were stranded far from our suggested camping area.
After a discussion with a bus driver, it turned out the beach was fine as long as we (read I) were careful and stopped if waves were close. So I busted along the beach for a while, dodging waves and rocks, one eye on the ever creeping sea. In the end, we just had to choose a bumpy area to build our home for the night, with no one else in sight. It was quite exposed to the crazy wind and sporadic rain but after much confusion we got all the tents up, though one had suspicious structural integrity. The meat got cooking and we all chilled, mainly hiding in Taloola, with beer and goon. Barry manned our temperamental gas stove for the first batch of sausages and burgers. Foolishing, I was left in charge of the next batch of sausages, which turned out surprisingly good, for half meat half sand sausages, and we kept them wrapped for tomorrow. Fiona was unfortunately ill for the entire evening :(.
The rest of the night involved moderate drinking and then crashing out before 12, much to Jamie's dismay. Barry, Jamie and I shared a tent which was awesome, except it was our "special" tent, so kept flapping against our faces and halfway through the night Barry woke up, had a panic attack, and trampled me trying to get out. Quite humourous.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Wednesday 16th April 2008
- Checked out and played hacky sack in the Botantical gardens
- Went to virgin and got an Oz phone.
- Greyhounded and arrived late in to Hervey Bay
- Awesome bear fueled mini van journey from bus depot.
- Nice hostel, rooms connect to cool lounge and kitchen. Nice group from an Oz uni (international students from Americas and Asia)
- Wandered around a dead Hervey Bay, wanna do the 4x4 safari with the group.
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