Having roughed it in our second hand tent for a couple of weeks we decided that there were far too many spiders/snake/crocs up in queensland to be lying out in the bush under a tea towel supported by a couple of twigs. Instead, we settled for some good old fashioned back packing down the east coast via the greyhound bus and some celubrious hostels.
We landed in cairns and headed straight for the beach but were promptly informed that if you set just one toe in the water a salt water croc would bite your leg off. Settling for the man made lagoon instead we quickly decided to get out of cairns asap as it was - to be honest - pretty crap.
First stop was mission beach for some white water rafting on the tully river. This one just for dave as erica was still a little shaken from the our last white water experience in thailand when i nearly got squashed by a rock. You thought it might have been me who was worried but...hey ho.
The tully is a cracking little grade 3/4 river and we had a suitably insane guide to steer our boat for us. Comments like...
"right...you see that big rock that the boat in front just avoided...well we're going to hit it straight on as fast as we can and see if we can tip the boat..."
...made for a decent trip down the foaming madness. We even managed to "taco" the boat at one point which basically involves getting the front to touch the back. Excellent fun all round.
We'd put the diving on hold for a bit after se asia as it's a little more pricey out here. However, we couldn't really pass up the opportunity to see the Yongala wreck, a cargo/passenger ship that sank over 90 years ago off the coast near Townsville, and has now formed into one of the most vibrant articial reefs in the world.
The abundance of coral and plants here means that marine life flocks from far around and seeing as there's so much food everything is just that little bit bigger. On a good day you can hope to see some 4m bull sharks and manta rays. Unfortunately, we just had to settle for shedloads of really big fish and the most poisonous snake in the world swimming around my toes.
Next stop was airlie beach. This is the launching point for your whitsundays sailing trip and one of the must do's on any jaunt down the east coast. To take care of us we had a suitably moody captain with a liking for blues guitar and a mildly insane deckhand who cooked a mean lasagne. An unusal but effective pairing. Our group of 14 also consisted of a few too many germans for most peoples liking (8 of the buggers - seriously, what are the chances).
The trip itself lasted 3 days and took in, amongst other things, the world famous whitehaven beach. It's an early start to beat the masses to the lookout on whitsunday island but its worth it for a uncrowded view of the brilliant white sands and crystal clear blue water that make up the 3rd best beach in the world (and apparently one of the top two will be under water in a few years anyway so that's a sure fire promotion - got to love global warming). On the beach itself you can stroll around in the shallows with the resident junvenile sand sharks and stingrays, or just sit back and admire the stunning views.
Everyone took advantage of the chance to do a bit of sailing as well. There were plently of guns being flexed as the sails raced their ways to the top of the masts, not to mention some steady hands on the wheel as we cruised along on a 45 degree slant at a breezy 15 knots.
Boating fun done with, we headed further down the coast towards the hamlets of Agnes Water and Town of 1770. Mind you, this wasn't before we'd had a brief stopover in Rockhampton - beef capital of oz with 2.5 million of the beasts within a 250km radius - and had a juicy 16oz beauty [of a steak].
Town of 1770 was a good spot to see the great barrier reef from, so we took the chance to head out to Lady Musgrave Island as we figured we couldn't come all the way to oz and not see that mother of all reefs. I'll be honest though, unless you're flying over the thing and can take in the scale of it, it just looks like any other big bit of coral. You live and learn.
Rainbow beach was the launching spot for the second must do of the trip - Fraser Island, the largest sand bar in the world stretching 120km alongside the coast of oz. We were introduced to 9 new friends and loaded up with enough food and goon (i.e. 4 litre bags of "wine" more suited to strippping paint) for 3 days of merriment, plus a mean looking 4x4 truck to negotiate the beaches and dirt tracks of fraser. The driving was great fun and the temptation to perhaps take the vehicle past it's limits of off roading was hard to resist at times.
Even though it didn't stop bloody raining for 3 days it was still a fantastic place. Lake Mckenzie with its clear blue waters and white sandy beach, Lake Wabby with something called tea tree oil in it (girls tell me it's good for you), and the Champagne Pools where the Pacific crashes into some natural rock pools, were all highlights. You couldn't go in the sea as a tiger shark would bite you on the arse but then the currents that would drag you all the way back to cairns weren't too appealing either.
Back on dry land and smelling slightly better than we had before we left the island, we jumped on a bus to trendy noosa. Unfortunately plans to have a swanky meal and night out were put to the sword by a poorly erica and I had to settle for nachos and a pint in the hostel.
Final stop was the Australia Zoo, former home of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, before crusing into Brissie. I'd say more about Brisbane but it was so pants we only stayed for about 18 hours before grabbing our car for the final leg of our Australia jolly down to Sydney.
p.s. if anyone is on facebook there are even photos to accompany this little tale. enjoy!
