Alex

Hello )

Andrew getting into the spirit )

I’m in Airlie Beach again now having just come back from sailing around the Whitsundays yesterday, but I’ll start from where I left off. Me, Travis and Derek went to see the turtles laying their eggs at night which was really cool, I was amazed at how close we could all get to them and to find out they can’t hear us. Before leaving Bundi and the dump of a hostel we were in we checked out the Bundaberg Rum distillery, taking full advantage of the tastings of course, and headed to 1770/Agnes Water. There we stayed in a brand new hostel (open 6 days) which was heaven compared to Federal, and randomly bumped into Mike and Lisa from Fraser Island outside a café! We spent the rest of the time messing about in the pool, walking the beach (killer jellyfish everywhere) and in the bar as a group which was a laugh.

Too soon it was time for my Whitsundays sailing trip so I caught an overnight Greyhound up to Airlie Beach arriving at 6am (having had no sleep and a midnight McDonalds) and checked into a huge backpacker place. I stayed awake all day and that night went on a bit of a pub crawl with my roommates who were all Midlands girls and had a great night out but got a hell of a shock to turn around to see Jason McAuley, Glyn Howard and Tao Hulin as well as 3 other Mach lads by the bar! )

The Samurai

Mike and Lisa caught up with me and we spent a day relaxing by the central man-made lagoon, and then the next day I set off on the ‘Samurai’ – a 68ft sailing yacht with 20 other guys and girls plus 4 crew, for a 3 day trip. We had a great group and we all came together straight away as the boat went through a dirty squall just off the bay; we were tearing along leaning so much some rails were in the water but everyone just held on with one hand, tried not to spill their beer in the other shouting ‘Cheers!’ above the wind! )

We saw some great scenery including Whitehaven beach which is ranked 3^rd in the world apparently although we only saw it in sunshine from the lookout! We had some really crap weather half the time but still got a snorkel and a scuba dive in on a bit of the Barrier Reef which was great fun.

World-famous Whitehaven beach

I’m back in Airlie now which is such a party town – last night we had drinks and free pizza as a group before a few of us hit the other bars and had such a good night I woke up in an apartment 3 miles away with a headache! )

A few of the group!

Hello everyone,

Wow, now I think about it I’ve really got into the backpacking groove since leaving Three Ships!

I finally took the Greyhound coach up to Noosa again after a comedy of errors on the part of greyhound, which resulted in a mad taxi dash into central Brisbane, and settled into the Koala resort there. Although I’d heard a lot of bad things about it, it had a pool and was pretty much the only place with space!

Here I pretty much lived it up for three days, hanging out mainly with 3 English guys by the pool or body boarding on the beach. We had a great time meeting loads of people and taking full advantage of the onsite bar – I made the mistake once of buying 3 people drinks before happy hour, so that when it came around they bought me 6 back! A day spent drinking mango smoothies by the beach and fooling around in the pool with the guys and girls soon cured the hangover! )

Simply beautiful!

After making some new facebook friends I left a day late (forgot to book a bus!) to go up to Hervey Bay, the launch town to Fraser Island! By not reading my email properly I missed out on meeting my group and the shopping for the three days, but quickly met everyone as soon as I eventually arrived at the hostel.

While we all desperately tried to remember 13 new names we had a few drinks and played some poker, before most of us headed over to a nearby bar. We had a good night out and started the trip as we meant to go on, with a hangover!

Turns out we had a great group of people, which was a relief for me travelling by myself, and we set off in a 4×4 for the ferry with 3 people in the front, 8 in the back and roof rack full of stuff! Our first stop was Lake Makenzie which was amazing, like something out of a postcard! White sands, light blue water that was so clear you could drink it, all surrounded by jungle! We had a great time playing volleyball in the cool water before heading off along some seriously bumpy tracks to the Mahano ship-wreck which was a great hulk of a steam ship washed up in 1942.

Splashing the crap out of Travis in Eli Creek

After accidentally missing our track we drove for ages up the 75mile beach that makes up the east coast of Fraser (having a plane land literally in front of us along the way!) before stopping at an aboriginal campsite for the night. We crashed another groups campfire and weathered a sudden storm deluge singing songs, playing the didgeridoo and guitar and of course, drinking lots and lots of beer and goon!

The next day we headed up to a remote lookout point, where I bumped into the three English guys from Noosa again, which was pretty funny, and then saw them again at Champagne Pools – bubbly rock pools that were a great swim spot. We also had some hilarious rivalry between ‘The Dutch’ (who were blamed for the terrible road and bumps to a lake full of turtles), ‘Team Canada‘ (Travis and Derek) and of course ‘The Irish’ (who’s jokes and antics kept us all entertained)!

Lake Wabbi and Sandblow (notice us swimming)

We camped in the dunes that night and heard dingos all around us in the night, but unlike other groups we met they didn’t eat all our food, nor taste a guys leg and our tents didnt blow away! )

The drive back to the ferry came too quickly for all of us, but we detoured to grab another couple of hours at Lake Makenzie which was our favourite spot, before just chilling out for a movie night back at the hostel.

Fraser Island was beautiful and the group I was with made it fantastic fun, and today I’m off up to Bundaberg with Team Canada after saying goodbye to my other new found friends, to see if I can catch the turtles laying their eggs…

Lovely Lake Makenzie

Take care everyone, Al x

p.s. I’ve now arrived in Bundi and have had my first experience of a ‘real’ backpackers – filthy rooms, mouldy bathroom with holes in the door and walls, flies and mess all over the kitchen etc – excellent…. )

City-Cat

Hello everyone!
Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year – and if your in the UK I hope your  not too cold! They even mentioned the ‘plight of the Pomms’ on the radio here! )
That’s a bit of a contrast to the weather here in Brisbane at the moment, last night it was 28 degrees at 10.30pm, and during the day its a bit much if you actually want to do anything.  I’ve been out in it on deck, scrubbing and polishing everything and anything to earn my keep – which has been hard work but at least my back is nut brown now!
Well, as expected Christmas was a bit of a novelty this year. I spent it with around 8 other boats on the beach in the sun which was great fun! Lots of good food, conversation and some very interesting characters, and of course lots and lots of booze! Me, Water Dragon and Whisper kept the celebrations going until late evening (having started 10am) and I’m surprised we found our way back to the boat… )

So very, very tempting! )

A Jaagermeister experience...

New Year was fantastic too, I headed into Brisbane city to join 80,000 others and booked into a hostel. I took advantage of the dirt cheap public transport fares to go up and down the river on a super-fast public catamaran, which was a great way to see the city. I arrived at South bank a little too early, but bumped into (quite literally) some Aussie guys at a bar and passed the time until the first set of fireworks went off spectacularly. I struggled to resist jumping into the network of communal swimming pools with all my clothes (as a lot of other revellers were doing!) despite the heat, and ended up in another bar where I met three Swiss guys, a Londoner and an Aussie couple. After decidedly passing from tipsy to hammered we went to watch the midnight fireworks, which were even better than the first lot, and got passed drinks from strangers which added to the atmosphere! I ended the night drinking illicit champagne on the sly with a lovely girl, before sprinting up and over stairs and bridges to make the last train at 4am which had rolled in 4 platforms away, with a little crowd chanting my name which was a funny end to a good night out!

Fantastic display!

Fi and Chris have got back from their Christmas visit to the chilly isles now,  and so my time on Three Ships has come to an end. Also quite suddenly my finances are looking a little dire, so Im off up north to do some fruit-picking for around two months. I’m planning to 4×4 around Fraser Island, sail to WhitSundays, scuba dive and see turtles laying their eggs on the way though, should be great! )
Well I’ll keep it short for now as I’ll be updating regularly soon as I’ll be on the move, so I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year and your all warm enough !  )    Take care, Al x