Wonderful Whitsundays

The Eureka II

On Wednesday we did another one of the main activities to do on the East Coast of Australia - Sailing around the Whitsundays. We were really looking forward to it, and it was a dream. We were on one of the Whitsunday's fastest racing yachts called Eureka II. There were 15 people on board, including the 2 crew, a French family (the youngest was 17), a Swiss couple and 2 girls who had brought along their friend, who I referred to as Princess Shelby because she was a total nightmare. Anyway, it wasn't the best group we could have hoped for but the best thing was the boat itself was lovely and the weather was perfect. We left early on Wednesday morning and got the sails up for a couple of hours when the wind was strong enough. The boat was anchored at midday just next to Hamilton Island where we had lunch on deck, then did our first snorkel. The big downside to the Whitsundays is that the water is beautiful but it is full of the dangerous box jellyfish and irukandji jellyfish, so we have to wear these really attractive stinger suits which are like thin wetsuits covering you from head to toe. There are also sharks around but they are less of a worry. As you can imagine, I was slightly nervous about swimming after being told to avoid the jellyfish as we may well see them floating around despite the fact they are about an inch big! I pulled my suit right over my hands and would've pulled it over my head if I could have. Anyway, it wasn't too bad - we saw lots of weird things floating around but tried to not think about it too much because I wasn't concentrating on the amazing reef and fish we were meant to be seeing! The water was so warm too, it was really cool. Saw all sorts of fish, but sadly no turtles yet. Once back in the boat, relieved that we were still alive, we settled down on the front of the boat to dry off and chill out with our books while we sailed to the bay where we anchored for the evening. That night was extremely hot down in the cabins, but quite comfortable to sleep because the water was so still.

Inside the Eureka II

Whitehaven Beach

The next morning we made our way to Whitehaven Beach - one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We arrived there before 9am as the tide was in, and it was a bit cloudy but still looked pretty good. We got in our lovely stinger suits to loll about in the warm shallow water, and managed to see a little lemon shark swimming around near to us. About half an hour later, the sun fully came out, the clouds cleared and the water began to recede so it became very shallow over the sand and was just incredibly beautiful. I wondered around and must have taken about 50 photos. It was unreal, a true paradise.

  

Daring to wade into the water without a stinger suit

♥ Paradise ♥

The brilliant white sand there is 98% pure silica so it's an excellent exfoliant and great for cleaning jewellery - I gave my ring a bit of a polish and it came out gleaming! As you can imagine, it was difficult to leave! But we had to get back to the boat for lunch, and another marine reef to see that afternoon. We were supposed to be able to see turtles there, but sadly we were really unlucky and didn't see any. We then sailed onto a quiet bay where we were to stay for the night. It was such a lovely evening, as we sat and watched the sunset. After dinner, we sat on deck under the moon and had lots of cold glasses of wine. We were just thinking the whole time, this is the life - I would definitely like a boat please. That night was even hotter (there had been no wind at all that day so we had to use the motor instead of the sails) so most of us slept up on deck. I opened up the sail bag and slept on the main sail which was rather comfy, until the wind picked up and it was so noisy I couldn't get back to sleep! Also the moon was the brightest I have ever seen - no need for a torch! I ended up going back down into the cabin to sleep because it was much quieter, but sleeping up on deck under the stars was fun while it lasted.

View of Whitehaven from the lookout

One of the other sailing boats at sunset

The beautiful water as the tide goes out

Pulling up the sails

We set off early the next morning for a fish reserve, where we snorkled again and saw so many amazing brightly coloured tropical fish. There were zebra striped fish, electric blue and purple fish, and loads more. They were so funny because they were obviously really curious and kept getting really close to us and following us around! We also saw a small stingray which was cool. After lunch was our final stop of the trip, which I cannot remember the name of but it was a big stretch of sand which runs inbetween 2 islands. It was quite an unusual sight, and again it was so incredibly hot on the Friday the water was extremely inviting! After that it was time to start heading back to Airlie Beach Marina where we began. It was about a 3 hour journey, and although there wasn't much wind, our captain wanted to sail for a bit so that we got a bit more actual sailing done. Sam and I pulled up the sails this time which was fun! (Had the help of the large strong Swiss guy, but we still did some of the work!).  We all suffered a bit because there was no shade on the boat and it was too hot in the cabin, and the only bit there was constantly occupied by Princess Shelby (she was allergic to gluten, allergic to heat, everything you can be allergic to etc) so most of us got a little bit burnt. One of the French girls woke up with a massive bottom lip due to sunburn - that was quite amusing. When we got back we did get numerous comments from friends about how tanned we are now!


Anyway, I was just so pleased we had great weather because so many people we've spoken to have had rubbish weather and did not manage to see Whitehaven in all its glory. There must be someone looking down on us...lets hope the weather continues because we will be doing our first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef on Wednesday which is exciting. We are now in Cairns, and tomorrow we are spending 2 days and 1 night on Atherton Tablelands (AKA Cairns Highlands) where we will do hiking, biking and canoeing through the rainforest, where there are lots of lakes, swimming holes and waterfalls. We then have our Green Island scuba dive and will be flying to Bali on Thursday! Can't believe we only have 4 days in Australia left, but I am really looking forward to getting to Bali.


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Fraser Island! The world's largest sand island =)

We have just got back from our 3 day Fraser Island trip and had the BEST time!! It was quite a large group of people - about 60 altogether, so there were about 7 people to each car. We had a really nice group, with 3 Dutch girls we met in Byron, then one English girl travelling on her own and one poor guy - an Israeli called Matan who was quite quiet, or possibly slightly overwhelmed being the only male of the group! Each group had their own 4x4 truck to carry all passengers and some camping equipment, food and large cool boxes for food and alcohol. In Australia most travellers tend to drink this vile "wine" called goon, because it's seriously cheap so we had 4 boxes of that for the next 3 days. There were 6 trucks driven by the groups, then 2 tag cars which we follow. They are very strict now about speed limits and so on, so we all felt very safe. I was the first to drive, and gained everybody's approval straight away by managing to reverse out of the hostel without crashing the monster truck. It was a 20 minute drive to the ferry, and on the way we had to go into 4 wheel drive once we got onto the sand. There was an Israeli girl driving extremely badly in front of me, so our tag driver got out to speak to her, then came and said to me he had a feeling she would get stuck in the sand so to keep a good distance! The next challenge was driving onto the ferry through some water, then after the 10 minute journey, a long bumpy track through the bush. Our tag driver said we had to go fast in order to not get stuck, so that was good fun. Not so much for the poor girls sat right at the back who got thrown in the air at every bump, along with the cool boxes!! Then it was the first time driving on the beach, which was really cool. We stopped to have lunch on the beach where we would be camping for the first night, then the guy in our group drove for a bit. He stalled the truck a good 5 times before setting off (he says he hasn't driven manual for a while..) then later managed to get stuck in the sand. I had to take over the driving to get us out, which I think he might have been slightly embarrassed about! Anyway, next stop was Champagne Falls - a collection of large rock pools where you can swim. You are strictly not supposed to swim in the sea because there are sharks everywhere and the rip is so strong it can take you out to sea within 3 minutes, and the water comes up so high so quickly you wouldn't stand a chance. So swimming in the rock pools is safe. The reason it is called Champagne Falls, is because as the waves come in they fill up the pools and  foam like champagne. I managed to experience at first hand a very large wave which washed me down into the lower pool, and scraped my leg all the way down a huge rock. It was very funny for everybody watching, but I stepped out the water and my leg was dripping with blood from big gashes on my knee and shin! That gained me the reputation of being accident prone....Ah well nothing a bit of savlon and some plasters can't fix!

First night it took about 3 hours for our group to get a canvas set up and make dinner, and set up our tents. I was not looking forward to camping. Especially with all the deadly snakes and spiders on the island which they don't tell you about until you get back! We were also advised to go to the toilet (there wasn't actually a toilet - most people went in the shallow sea!)  in pairs because this is the home of dingos, the wild dogs who look like normal dogs which can be quite disconcerting. They are very curious creatures, and might just follow you to see what you're up to! After dinner everyone sat around drinking and chatting, then went to bed for a sleepless night. At least I did anyway, and kept being woken up by one of the trucks having it's horn beeped throughout the night. It was weird, I don't think anyone would actually beep the horn all night and no one found out who it was so we could only assume it was a dingo that had got into one of the trucks and kept walking on the horn. Very annoying. Thought it was about 9am when we woke up the next morning in the bright sunshine, but it was only 7. Made breakfast and headed to Eli Creek for a morning swim since we don't have showers here. In the afternoon we went to the most incredible place on Fraser Island - Lake Mackenzie. It was just so incredibly beautiful, with the clearest water and whitest sand I have ever seen. That evening we camped further down the beach, in more comfortable deep sand. We made ourselves a cosy set up to cook in, and put all our tents together. Dinner was really nice - Asian chicken stir fry. In the group next to us a guy said he was standing right next to the rubbish bag, when a dingo came and stole it. He did say, however, how impressed he was by the speed at which the dingo demolished the entire bag. Said dingo then came and checked out our group, curious to see whether we had left anything lying around. It looked me right in the face, so I stared back until it gave up and skulked off. I am known for my death stare, so there you go - while everyone else ran away screaming I used it to good effect! During the night a whole pack of them were howling, but their pathetic wooing didn't sound too threatening! Still, wouldn't want to find myself surrounded by the curious creatures in the middle of the night.

On the last day we went to Lake Wabby, where there are huge sand dunes to cross on the way. We were later told that funnel web spiders live in holes across the sand dunes, so I definitely wouldn't have gone had I known that before! It was a beautiful lake to swim in, with lots of fish that come and exfoliate your skin if you sit still enough. I drove the last bit on the way back, because nobody wanted to drive onto the ferry! The tide had come in so we had to drive slowly through the shallow sea most of the way. Fraser Island was definitely the best thing we have done so far in Australia! Although I was quite looking forward to getting back and having a shower - there was sand quite literally everywhere.

Here are some photos:

                                             Here's our group with our truck

                                           Being washed down Champagne Falls...

                                          Me and Sam with a cup of goon over dinner

                                                    Me in Lake Mackenzie

                                                Us girls in Lake Mackenzie - it really does look that good!

                                          Driving the monster truck =)


SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx

Finally more photos as promised from Nimbin and Kingscliff

                                                     Me and Sledge

                                         View from Sledge and Danielle's Kingscliff apartment - beautiful!

                                         The house in Lillian Rock

                                                    The toilet - I know you're all curious!!! Check out the view!

 

 Me, Sledge, Amelie, Danielle and Sam

Byron Bay then a few days with friends

After surf school we went up to Byron Bay where we stayed in a backpacker lodge called the Arts Factory. It's a really cool place, with cafes, bars, spa, heated pool, cinema etc. and the accommodation is a bit different. There are loads of different places to stay - from dorms to tents, and we stayed in a 6 bed teepee for our first night. That's literally what it was - a solid teepee with 6 beds in it. It was a bit damp after it had been raining but still good. So good, in fact, that we decided to stay another night because it didn't work out any more expensive than anywhere else in Byron. During our stay we went on a tour to Nimbin. The little town of Nimbin, an hour inland from Byron, is an interesting place. It is known for it's total disregard for the laws against drugs so this is where people go to get supplies, and to smoke openly. The tours are for people to see the crazy town and the crazy people, and to buy marijuana if they like. It was a bit strange when we got stopped on the way in and the immigration police came on board our bus to check that we all had visas. Thought it was weird, but anyway we carried on into town. It's very hippy-ish with lots of funky little shops and some mad old hippies and slightly mental aborigines roaming around. Then the police arrived. I don't see why they don't just leave the town alone, it's fine as it is. Apparently the police rarely come here - just our luck they came today! The locals screamed and shouted at them, it was all quite amusing to watch. Anyway, we left the town after a couple of hours to go and have a BBQ lunch. Now our tour guide had warned us that once before, in all his 18years of taking these tours, he has only ever been stopped once before. He said if anybody had any illegal substances on them to put them on the floor, or throw them up in the luggage rack so the dogs don't find it in case we do get stopped by the police. Well, of course we did! They bought the sniffer dog on the bus, and found everything in the luggage racks so took it all away. The dog (who was the most beautiful Labrador - though we obviously didn't want to like him!) got particularly excited about 1 bag on the bus belonging to 3 Canadians. They denied having anything on them, but when the police discovered $300 dollars worth of a wide variety of marijuana products in the bag, they were officially cautioned. So the police ruined all our fun. The next day the story of the police crackdown in Nimbin made it into the newspapers, and as it turns out they didn't find any illegal immigrants. Well thank goodness for that...And to top it all off as the bus pulled away from the police it got a flat tyre which was just excellent. BBQ lunch was great though, it was 4pm by the time we managed to have it but it was worth the wait. First BBQ in Australia would you believe! `

We loved the Arts Factory so much that we ended up staying for 3 nights! Then on Sunday we met up with a friend of Mum and Dad's, Scott Sledge, who they met when travelling about 100 years ago. He picked us up from the local airport (took us a while to find him because he doesn't have a mobile...) and took us to his apartment on the beach in Kingscliff, right next to the border between New South Wales and Queensland. There we met his wife, Danielle. They have a lovely place, with a fantastic view across the creak which leads into the sea. We went snorkeling in the beautiful turquoise creek that afternoon and saw loads of fish and crabs. We stayed there for one night, enjoying the beautiful weather by the coast, then on the Monday Sledge and Danielle were heading to their other home up in the hills in Lillian Rock, near Nimbin so they took us with them, taking us out for a lovely Thai meal on the way. They tend to split their time between Kingscliff and Lillian Rock, so it was perfect timing for us to see both places! Sledge and Danielle own 101 acres of land up there, and they built their own house to their own specification. They are active supporters of the Green political party so as you can imagine, the house is very environmentally friendly. It is all built from the wood within the huge rainforest where they live, they only use solar power and collect rainwater from the roof for a steady water supply. They also have a self composting toilet, which is new to me. What I loved about their house was the fact that they put in huge windows everywhere to make the most of the stunning landscape, so the toilet actually looks straight out into the forest! The one downfall of the place was the MONSTER spiders everywhere. These were the biggest spiders I have ever seen in my life. Sledge assured us that they are huntsman spiders and completely "harmless", but I did have to apologise later for the screams in the night as Sam and I had to go to the toilet together at 3am as we were so scared! We stayed with Sledge for 2 nights and on our last night we went up to their son Sebastian's house, where he lives with his wife Ruby and their 1 year old daughter, Amelie. Sebastian built his own house on Sledge's land, but it's much more modern with TVs and normal bathrooms etc! I do admire the way they live, having built the house of their dreams, but I couldn't do it with all the spiders! Sledge and Danielle are highly active within local politics, often organising protests against any plans to disrupt the landscape or wildlife for example, so they are very busy at the moment. Sledge has made many proud appearances in the local newspapers for his "artwork" on the roads to protest car rallies in the area, so he is quite well known! Anyway, we had great fun staying with them and Josie - they are expecting you next!

We are now back in Byron Bay, going to a big music concert tomorrow up the coast where they are holding the international surf championships. Then on Saturday we will be heading up to Noosa, then we will do our Fraser Island tour which I'm really looking forward to. Sam and I are both quite burnt today, however many times everyone warns eachother how strong the sun is everyone still gets burnt on days like today! It's really hot and has been for the last 5 days or so, but there has just been a huge storm so I think it'll cool down a bit now. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear it is forecast to be cloudy tomorrow =(. Sorry but my card reader is not working so I will have to add more photos shortly...

xxxxxx

                                         Sledge, Danielle and I in Kingscliff (more to come)