Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and is only accessible by 4WD. We were a bit worried about our trip as the Whitsundays nearly killed us.

But everything worked out perfectly. Our lovely group was made up of 5 French, 2 Basques and an Italian so we had a very civilised time with no crazy drinking like we had on The Card.

We set off in our 4WD on Wednesday morning and drove from Hervey Bay over to the ferry. When we arrived at Fraser the roads seemed grand, just a bit sandy. We headed straight for Lake McKensie which was beautiful and even nicer when we visited it on our last day as it was so sunny. The other lakes were beautiful too and the sand was like snow. We camped at Lake Boomajin where we had toilets and a sink for washing the dishes. The next day we set off for Indian Head. The inland road was crazy! It was really bumpy and overgrown but we made it grand. The 75 mile beach was beautiful but we had to watch out for planes landing from above.

The French guy Flo was driving over 80km per hour on the beach which was cool. At Indian Head we saw loads of dolphins and turtles. We think we saw whales too.

After lunch we headed to Rainbow Gorge which had so many different colours of sand. We camped at the beach and watched the sunset and the stars come out.

And of course we drank some goone and Dave did a flip off a sand dune and another French guy Perreek dived into the shark and jellyfish infested water. The next day we set off for Lake Wabby which was fantastic. Lake Wabby will not be there in a few years as the dunes are slowly caving in. After visiting Lake McKensie for the last time we drove home and even got all our bond back despite Dave breaking the shovel. What a great experience!

The town of 1770

We were feeling a bit crap and sore after the madness of the Whitsundays so we really needed a rest which was not helped by a horrible over night bus from Airlie Beach.

But we arrived in the small town of 1770, North of Bundaberg, so called as this was the year Captain Cook first set foot in this area. Our hostel was in a large ranch about 5 minutes drive from the beach and it had two massive doggies!

One was called Scoobie but we don't know the name of his sister or girlfriend. The hostel also had a cat called Shadow and a nice horse which looked very sad. The town is basically a beach and a few shops and you really feel cut off from everything.

We just chilled in 1770 for a few days and Dave took some surf lessons and was really good at it, (Chris couldn't do it because of her sore arm). The beach at 1770 is the most northern surf beach on the East coast. The Internet here is shit so we don't know when our photos will be uploaded. Poo.

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The Whitsundays

Our 3 day trip on The Card around the Whitsundays was awesome! The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands off Airlie Beach and is the 3rd best sailing place in the world next to the Carribean and the Greek Islands. Our group had the coolest people and our crew were crazy! We had an amazing time! Check the photos to see what we mean.








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Magnetic Island

Magnetic Island is our first tropical Island that we have been on. It is beautiful but really sleepy with hardly any shops and places to eat.


The first night we arrived we saw toad racing where locals and tourists bet up to $50 on toads to race each other. Crazy but loads of fun!

The man running it was a character. We have spent our time here doing bush walks (we got to see a baby koala) and sea kayaking. We have also been battling with some annoying Irish culchies from our dorm. We hate them! Lets hope we get some sleep on the Whitsundays boat. We doubt it!



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Mission Beach

We arrived in Missions Beach Monday morning and the sun was finally shining! The place is basically one big beach and there are lots of activities to get on with like bush walking and swimming. We both did the 14,000 ft sky jump which was so amazing! Going up in the plane and having to move ourselves to the edge of the door was the scariest part! The 60 second free fall was unreal. It was quite hard to breath as the air just shoots up your nose. As the instructor pulled the parachute the views of Mission Beach and the surrounding islands were spectacular! It was really beautiful. We have a DVD of the dive but it does not capture the nice views that we saw from up there.


Today we did the Extreme White Water Rafting in Tully. Not only did we get to crash down the river but we also got to jump off rocks and go down shoots. The forest and mountains were gorgeous. This place is class!

We have most of our photos and video on DVD so you will have to wait till we get home to see them. The sky dive one is really embarrassing!

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Cairns

We arrived in Cairns on Tuesday morning. The town itself is nothing special, its just one big tourist information centre. We headed to the Great Barrier Reef to see the fish the next day which was amazing! The weather was overcast and windy so the boat ride there and back was really rough and the bumps were great! Being in the water was pretty scary sometimes as it was quite choppy and the currents were strong. But the reef was so beautiful. So many fish! So many colours! It really is a different world under there.


On Wednesday we went up to Cape Tribulation and saw crocodiles in the wild. We stayed the night at a beach house and went horse riding through the rainforest. When we reached the beach the weather was bucketing.

Apart from the the rainforest it could have been the West of Ireland. We loved it, especially when we got to go really fast! Our horses Raja and Little Red were the biggest and smallest of the group. They had to go through dense rainforest and muddy hills and were so well behaved.


Tomorrow Dave is doing his bungee jump.....


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More Melbourne

We met Susan Kennedy from Neighbours on Friday! She was so lovely and chatted away. She said she was born in Carrickfergus! Libby and Paul Robinson drove past but we did not get a photo. Chris has now seen 8 Neighbours actors and saw Dr Karl twice. Ramsay Street was a lot smaller than what we thought. We also met a cat and a dog who live there. How exciting!


That night we went to get Thai and a few drinks at Melbourne Central and then went to a comedy club on Collins Street. The comedians were not great but we still got at laugh, laughing at the shape of them. Later Edel took us to St Jerome in this cool alleyway near Shit Town where we had a wee boogie.


The next day we went out for dinner with Doireann, Stephen and their flat mate Adam.The food was so gorgeous! We headed into the casino for a while but found the whole thing a bit daunting. While lot of minging people in there! Dave briefly won $20 but promptly lost the whole $40 with two more spins of the roulette.


Yesterday we headed to St Kilda for a dander and tonight we are going to Melbourne jail for a night tour. I hope it is not too scary! Then off to Cairns tomorrow at 5am! Bring on the good weather!

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