Hi everyone,
Having spent 28 hours on trains and 10 hours in a 4x4 on our 4 day trip to Brisbane and Fraser Island, we can confirm that Australia is definitely a big place!
Our journey from Sydney to Brisbane was probably only about a quarter of the way up the east coast but that was still over 600 miles, and it was another 130 miles north on the road to Fraser (meaning Sydney to Fraser is about the same distance as London to Prague!). So we’re sat on extra spongy cushions to write this update…
***Special Bonus Fact #1: the landmass of Western Europe could fit into Australia with a bit to spare - struth!***
Our train to Brisbane left Central Station in Sydney at 7.15am which meant an extra early start as we were based over the water in Manly. We set our alarm for 5.30am so we could make the first ferry of the morning and assumed not many people would be up at that hour, until we opened the curtains to see surfers already in the water! Suppose it beats a jog in the rain around Clissold Park (not that either of us has ever got up for a pre-work jog mind…)
We met Sarah’s mum and dad on the train and settled in for the next 14 hours. The Aussie trains were really good, if a little slow (top speed of about 80 miles an hour, so a bit different to the Shanghai maglev). We managed to pass the time through a combination of reading, scrabble, sleeping and gazing at the lovely green scenery accompanied by occasional yelps of “Ooh kangaroos! Look! Quick!”, much to the amusement of our fellow Aussie passengers!
We had to switch to a coach for the last 3 hours of the trip from a place called Casino and arrived in Brisbane just after 9pm. We staggered to our lovely little B&B in central Brisbane where we had a very welcome cup of tea and crashed out. Kangaroo spotting is hard work you know.
The next morning (Thursday) we set off to explore Brisbane. At breakfast, the friendly B&B owner asked us what our plans were for the day and we told him we were going to have a cruise on the river and also head to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. He very helpfully recommended that we take the river ferry to the final stop and then catch a bus up to the sanctuary. At least it would have been helpful if any buses ran from there to the sanctuary…
When we got off the boat we found that the only buses from there went back to the city centre! So we had to jump back on one and go back to where we started and tried again, this time getting a bus all the way to Lone Pine.
The sanctuary was fantastic. They have over 100 koalas of all ages and just about every Aussie animal you could think of, including kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, dingoes, lorrakeets and kookaburras plus snakes, lizards and fruitbats.
Obviously there was plenty of cooing and aaah-ing over the koalas, and we also managed to feed some kangaroos*. We’d thought that the closest we might get to them would be watching them through a fence but visitors are allowed into a field where the kangaroos live and are free to wander among them and feed them. The kangaroos were very friendly and didn’t seem remotely bothered by us and made a beeline for anyone offering feed.
***Special Bonus Fact #2:: 'Kangaroo' actually means 'I don't know' in Aboriginal. They were given the name after one of Captain Cook's gang landed and asked one of the locals what the animal was. His reply, in Aboriginal, was 'I don't know'. Poor old Skippy! ***
We also managed to feed some rainbow lorrakeets, though this time the staff gave us bowls of feed to hold out for them, so John avoided a repeat of his Sydney botanical gardens experience where the cockatoos pounced on him and took chunks out of his hands and shoulders!
After the sanctuary we went back into Brisbane and got the ferry up river to find somewhere for dinner. We thought we’d left comedy road signs behind in China but on our way to the pier we passed a motorway flyover with a sign reading “Wrong way. Go back.” The fact that the sign was about 200 yards after the last junction led us to wonder whether the oncoming juggernauts would probably be a more salient warning to drivers who’d turned in the wrong direction…
We got off the ferry at Bulimba and found a little fish and chip shop and ended our evening having dinner by the river watching an amazing sunset.
The next day was a 6.30am start to get to Fraser Island. We met Mick, our driver and guide at the excitingly named Brisbane Transit Centre along with fellow passengers Detlev from Hamburg and Brian from Barnet.
Mick drove us up the coast to Inskip Point where we got a 10 minute car ferry over to Fraser. As we pulled into Inskip we saw a convoy of 4x4s rented by drive-it-yourself backpackers who were also headed across the sand to the ferry. As they stopped ahead of us, Mick explained that they were letting air pressure out of their tires so they wouldn’t get stuck in the soft sand. He chuckled as he over took them and said he wasn’t going to bother because he knew how to drive through sand… can you guess what happened next?
That’s right, about 5 seconds later our 4x4 ground to halt and got stuck in the sand. Mick tried to be blasé about it like it was a minor problem and we weren’t really stuck, but after 30 seconds he conceded we were and we had to get out and push! The flaming galah.
Fraser Island was really spectacular. Get ready for more numbers stats fans…it has a 75 mile long beach (yes 75) that we zoomed along for about 15 miles before turning inland. The beach is just normal sand but is classified as main road and speed limits and all other road laws apply. The island itself was formed over 700,000 years simply by sand being washed from rivers into the ocean and then collecting against rocks in the sea. Birds and the wind carried seeds over and now it has the world’s largest rainforest growing in sand.
The island also has the world’s largest perched lake in the shape of Lake McKenzie. Perched lakes are formed when the wind and erosion causes a pit in the ground which fills with rainwater and eventually becomes a lake. Because they’re formed by rainwater, the water has no salt and is perfectly drinkable. We had an hour at the lake and managed to get time for a swim (and a quick drink!).
While we were there, a couple of wild dingoes came down to see if we had any grub on offer but soon wandered off after we hid our bananas! Sarah also managed to "borrow" a little of the incredibly smooth McKenzie sand which she’s been using as an exotic exfoliator. Not sure if that’s entirely within the national park regulations, but the otherwise macho Mick said he swears by it...
After Lake McKenzie we headed inland to the beautiful Wanggoolba Creek in the rainforest. We had a short walk to take in the scenery before we had to head back to beat the tide. We could have stayed a lot longer than the one day we had on the island - but we'll have some priceless memories and the long journey to get there was definitely worth it.
We got the train back to Sydney on Saturday and then spent our last day with Gerry and John on Sunday. We got the local bus to Botany Bay in the morning and had a walk along the beach and through a forest to Henry’s Point before stopping for lunch overlooking the Bay.
In the afternoon, we got the bus back into Sydney and then the ferry over to Watson Bay where we had a fantastic meal at the famous Doyle’s fish restaurant on the harbourside, with the Bay and the bright lights of Sydney as a backdrop.
After that, it was back to Sydney and time to say goodbye after a wonderful 10 days with Sarah’s mum and dad. We’re sad to see them go as we had a fantastic time with them. The weather was perfect, we packed in loads of great things, and we even got to beat them at Scrabble a few times after all of the practice we've been having recently!
Gerry and John flew off to New Zealand this morning, while we head off to Melbourne tomorrow to spend 5 days with our friends Martin and Nicola.
And finally...we think we might have worked out how to upload videos to Youtube (it only took us 5 months) so here's a test link to see if it works...a video Sarah took of some bouncing kangaroos at Lone Pine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQCOl4uWxVI
Hope all’s well at home!
Love from Sarah and Phil x
