A lot has happened since my last update because the last update was a long time ago! From surfers paradise I made my way 8 hours to a place called Hervey bay which is a small town with not much to do. There is one main street with a parade of shops along the esplanade and a small beach. Beyond that it is fairly residential. The motive for coming here though was the advantage point for Fraser islands.
The ferry is that departs for the island is about 10 minutes away by car. Fraser island is a natural sand island which has a rainforest growing on top of it, with a lot of native wildlife on the island including Dingoes, Snakes, Spiders and Scorpions! The island is very beautiful and we was there for 3 days 2 nights camping. We went on a group tour (60 people) and hired 4 wheel drives as it was a self guided tour. It was good fun, good partying but unpleasant at times. The first day it rained like you wouldn't believe, I forgot a sleeping bag and my swimming gear so I couldn't swim or sleep properly! My only critiscism of the island is the ever growing interference of man. I heard that the dingoes get captured, tagged and culled to keep numbers down apart from that the island is fairly unspoiled and the partying, getting smashed and chilling was great. When we got back from the island we all had a goodbye party to celebrate which was funny :)
After this I wanted to make my way to Airlie beach and sail around the Whitsunday islands. I decided to try hitch hiking and got part of the way there which was interesting. In between we stopped in a place called bundaberg which was another quiet town with not much going on here, I left after one day and made my way to Airlie beach.
Here in Airlie beach I took a boat tour to the Whitsunday islands and saw the most beautiful beach ever just check the pics on facebook. After seeing the islands here we then went snorkelling on the barrier reef which was good but not amazing. I think the best diving/snorkelling for the reef is up by Cairns further north however I was never told this which was a bit annoying. There were some nice fish but the reef wasn't that amazing (not many colours).
Airlie beach itself is a nice town, small and a bit too touristy for my liking but very picturesque. Touristy places come with tourist prices and the beer was way more expensive here.
By coincidence In the 'Magnums' bar I saw some people who were on my tour group from fraser island. The crazy Italian of the group Filippo.
We just got talking over a beer and he said he was heading to Cairns the next day so I hithced a lift with him which was really handy.
Here in Cairns it was where I spent a few weeks just being lazy, chilling out in a really cool hostel one of the best ones so far actually not doing much in the days. Once you get to Cairns you've practically reached the top of the East coast. Met some really cool and strange people here. There seems to be a lot of Aboriginals here in Cairns and it's here where I have had my first eye witness accounts of how dodgy they can be, Filippo the italian got beaten up and robbed here.
Here is where is faced a decision where to next? money is running low and domestic flights to Perth, Darwin and Alice springs are rediculously expensive. I decided to (after much convincing by others) head to Thailand! I figured my money would go much further and to see somewhere drastically different would be a nice change.
16th May I will be in Bangkok. After Thailand I may stay in Asia or come back to see the north and west coast of Australia not sure yet!
Peace and love
