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This is officially our last blog entry from Australia. We leave tomorrow morning after a 3 week whistlestop tour of the East Coast and head to New Zealand!!
As for the last week or two.....after leaving Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays, we travelled South to Hervey Bay which would be the departure point for our Fraser Island tour. We were staying in a Koalas dump again so everything was locked up...securely!!! We met our group of 10 (including us) and did the prep for driving a jeep on the Island and bought 3 days worth of supplies (and beer!). There were 4 Chileans, 2 Brits, 2 Koreans and us two eejits. We left about 9am and made our way to Fraser which is the largest sand island in the world......WOW...isn't that amazing!!!!!! We saw beautiful lakes, tropical rainforest, pristine beaches, spectacular sunrises and sunsets, whales, dolphins, turtles & dingos...we stayed "Dingo Safe" though (we only fed them small bits...honest!). We swam in the freshwater lakes, in the natural "Champagne pools" in the sea, drove on the beach highway, got stuck in sand (at one stage we spent half a bloody hour trying to get the jeep unstuck) and spent our evenings at our campsite eating and drinking. We were told not to swim in the actual sea as the area is a hunting ground for Tiger sharks! Yikes! Apart from crappy sleeps and having to wake up at 5am, Fraser was a quality few days of adventure.
We got back to Hervey Bay and decided to book a whale watching tour as it was the migratory season for the humpback whales and there were hundreds of them in the bay resting before continuing their journey to the antartic seas. It was amazing!! We saw mothers with calves feeding and males tail and fin slapping, jostling for territory. They are massive!! One actually swam under the boat and it was a monster male...we couldn't believe how close we were to them. It is definitely something I would recommend doing if you get the chance.
After Hervey Bay and another mediocre stay in a Koalas hostel we made our way 4 hours down the coast to Brisbane. We left at 7am and arrived in Brizzy (eh???) around 1pm. We had only one thing on our agenda to do and that was a visit to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We dumped our stuff and grabbed a bus straight away. Not only did we get the chance to see and cuddle Koalas, we saw a crocodile, fed Kangaroos (the mother and Joey were so cute), Dingos and loads more. I was a bit freaked out about feeding the Kangaroos as they looked so angry...especially the big ones and I didn't fancy getting boxed by one of the brutes! We took it easy that night as we had another bus to catch early next day to Byron Bay.
We had purposely left a few days to play with towards the end of our time in OZ as we wanted to relax...at least for a day or two as we had been doing something every day (poor us!). The hostel we stayed in was called the 'Arts Factory' and it was without doubt the best hostel we had encountered (it had nothing to do with the hot tub and quality pool). It had a kind of hippie vibe and was very chilled out with people playing guitars and wearing flowers in their hair (I made that bit up..sorry).For the first 2 days we did nothing but eat, sleep and lie on the beach. Not having to pack the backpacks in the morning was joyous! The third day we went to the famous lighthouse and watched the sunrise at 5:30am at the most easterly point in Australia. I then did a surf lesson while Laura managed to burn her little shoulders and legs once more. She swears that suncream doesn't work in Australia!!!!!
It was with a heavy heart that we decided to leave Byron for the metropolis of Sydney...on an overnight bus! Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!! Until you spend 12 hours on a cramped greyhound bus you cannot understand the fear that this trip invoked....12 hours of little sleep....12 hours of swollen fat feet.... I am a drama queen...I know! Ha ha.
We left Byron at 6pm and arrived in Sydney at 6am only to find that the room we were told would be ready was not ready! We waited 4 long hours until they finally let us into the room. We snoozed and then went to Sydney Harbour. We took the obligatory snaps of the bridge and Opera house and decided to hop on a harbour cruise to get a better view. It was a really enjoyable trip with loads of information about Sydney and Australia and its history. That night we met up with some folk we had met along our trip and hit the local bar. Imagine our surprise when in walked Laura's cousin Ja Rood and the Claudy/Craigbane posse!! To say we shared a few beers would be an understatement!
Our last day in Australia was spent nursing sore heads so we decided to have an easy day and visit the aquarium. It was fantastic!! We saw Manta Rays, Stingrays, huge saltwater crocodiles but most impressively, sharks! The were swimming feet away in the huge tank...pretty scary stuff! I would not like to meet one in the wild...thank God I didn't swim in the sea on Fraser Island!
So.....5 weeks down and 4 countries later, it's time to go to NZ....the place we have been looking forward to visiting most. The plan at the minute is to rent a car from Christchurch and spend 3 weeks touring the South Island trying to see as much as possible. After that we will move to Wellington on the North Island and hopefully work for a while (not hopefully..we HAVE to work) before a short tour of the North Island in late January.
For the moment it's over and out,
Roger roger,
Brian and Laura
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