Cairns

18-20 April

It's my last few days in Australia and I've made it all the way up to Cairns.  Due to the cyclone, my plans have altered considerably.  Annoying but these things happen.  We (me Joep and Sam) all arrived safely off the bus in Cairns on 18th before meeting up with Marielle in the evening.  It's always lovely to see her.  Her funny faces never fail to make me laugh.  In the evening, Joep and I headed out for a bite to eat before taking a stroll along the promenade.  That particular part of Cairns was tranquille , quite a contrast to Gilligans.

On the Saturday, we all headed out for a walk in the town.  Unlucky for us, it was also Easter weekend meaning that everywhere was shut.  This meant that I couldn't go and see the 'Hairy Mclarey' exhibit which is a book my gran read to me as a wee girl.  The afternoon was spent sitting in a park watching a live band and laughing at the crazy dancing going in around us.  Life was sweet.

Sunday was reef day.  Up at 6am and in the boat by 7.  Not my idea of a great start to a Sunday morning.  We headed out to a couple of spots in the outer reef.  The second was certainly better than the first.  Still, I managed to take some photos and most importantly, I found Nemo!

That night, I'd organised for everyone to meet up for dinner (Sam, Matt, Joep, Marielle, Ella, Amanda, Malin, Luuk and Mathijus).  It started badly as the first bar was poor and slow meaning we lost the girls.  Thankfully after a bit of food everyone came back together again and had a great night in the Woolshed (Woolpack).  The worst part but ending the night early due to my 6am flight and saying goodbye.  These people are some of the nicest, kindest and funniest people I've ever met.  Each and everyone of them made my east coast trip.  

Next stop: New Zealand

Experiencing being stranded in Townsville due to a cyclone

11 - 18 April

Writing about a cyclone certainly isn't something I thought I'd have to worry about but sadly Australia experiences a lot of them, particularly in the East Coast.  We left Airlie Beach on the morning of 11th and met up with Sam (Cool Bananas).  Sam had been planning on travelling up to Cairns that day but not even 30mins into the journey, we were told that all buses were to be terminated at Townsville.  It was at this point that I thought panic would erupt.  Thankfully everyone remained calm and altered their plans.  'It'll all blow over", we thought.  The cyclone was then upgraded to a category 5.  This shit just got serious.  

The night it hit Cairns everyone was glued to the tv for updates.  Thankfully as the night went on the cyclone lost power and slowly downgraded hour by hour.  A very lucky escape.  It hit Townsville and caused flooding across the town and the region.  Even the carpet of the hostel was soaked.  Roads were closed for days and routes blocked off.  People tried to leave town but failed.  Some backpackers even paid up to $200 for a car to Cairns.  Crazy!

Sam and I had opted to stay in Townsville for a few more days.  Yes there wasn't much to do but we were safe and dry.  Days were spent watching movies, including showing 'Frozen' up to 3 times a day which infuriated the boys or drinking.  Many afternoons were spent with Louise drinking tea and chewing the fat!  Life was pretty good!

As the days went by, people came and went including Marielle, Mathijus, Amanda and Malin.  By the time it got to Friday, we were ready to go.  Still, I had a pretty good week.  I made friends with some great people particularly Matt and 'wee-China' (Caroline) who has the most infectious smile and personality and spent time with Sam and Louise.  I couldn't have thought of a better way to pass the time away.

Next stop: Cairns

Whitsundays

8 - 10 April

Sailing around the Whitsundays has been something I've wanted to do since I arrived in this country some 7 months ago.  For the night before my sail, I stayed at Beaches.  Chris from my hostel had recommended it.  God knows why, the room I was put it was horrible and dirty.  Thankfully I had good company; Malin and Amanda, two girls travelling together from Sweden.  

In the morning before our sail, we wasted time by chilling at the lagoon and wandering round the town of Airlie Beach.  As a town, there isn't much there other than the main high street which can be explored in all of 30 mins.  The walk to the Marina was certainly longer than advertised but at 2.30pm we were finally all set and ready to go.  My boat was called Boomerang or "The Mighty Boomerang" as the skipper (Tommy) liked to call it.  Right from the off, it was clear that we were going to be well looked after, certainly in terms of food!  The crew were a group of 3 lads, Tommy, Jack (deck hand) and Gunny (host).  Once we'd cleared the Marina, it was finally time to set sail and get involved.  Tommy asked for 4 male volunteers to hoist the main sail followed by 4 ladies to hoist the jibb.  This is exactly what I'd come on-board to do seeing as I've only ever sailed Barbary Tern who's 34 ft compared to Boomerang which is a giant 70ft beauty with 28 berths.  Boomerang or "On-dine II" is an ex-racing yacht having 

Our only stop of the day was at 'Falsey-doo doo' to do a snorkel.  Sadly the water was at too murky to see anything.  Our anchorage for the night was 'Hook Passage'.

Our first stop of day 2 was 'Tongue Bay' before heading over to the famous Whitehaven Beach.  Matt from Launnie had described the beach as 'the best in the world' and he wasn't far wrong.  The water was crystal clear, the sand was soft but most surprising of all, it remained cool on your toes regardless of the temperature.  Incredible.  After a few hours chilling on the beach and taking some daft photos, we walked up to the lookout where the view was even more impressive.  To quote Gunny "you couldn't take a bad picture even if you tried".  The view was picturesque and looked just like a postcard.

In the afternoon, we sailed to Luncheon Bay which was another opportunity to get involved.  Instead I assisted hoisting up the main sail with the guys.  Hard work that's for sure, before heading out for another snorkel in the bay which was thankfully a lot better.  The water was so clear that I could see beautiful fish and colourful coral.  After this, we headed to 'Langford Sand Spit' near Hook Island for our final anchorage of the trip and our final snorkel of the day where the girls and I swam with a turtle!!! An unforgettable experience.

On our third and final day of the trip we headed to 'Caves Cove' for another snorkel before returning to the Marina.  In the afternoon, I cooked a barbie with Charlie and her sister and lazed about in the lagoon.  I returned back to Beaches but thankfully in a different room and to my surprise, Anne and Marieke were in my dorm.  We ended up having dinner altogether including Amanda and Malin before heading out for our boat night out.  Sadly none of the crew came and the bars were pretty quiet but we still had a good time all the same.  

Next stop: Townsville

Agnes Water 1770

4-6 April

After leaving Dolphins in Noosa behind, I knew my next hostel had a lot to live up to.  I stayed at 'Cool Bananas' one which had been highly recommend along the way.  To a certain degree, I can see why.  I met some great people, ate some delicious food (kudos to the chef) and even the wifi was fairly decent.  So what was wrong of it?  For me, it lacked that personal touch.  I found it hard to make friends on my first night.  The common room isn't a place for socialising but more for catching up on facebook and to be fair that's exactly what I did!

On the morning of 5th, I got chatting to Tom (aka Ginger Tom) and Sam who are both Brits.  After an hour or so of setting the world to rights, we headed up to 'The Museum of 1770' which explores the reasoning behind the name (first place in Australia that Capt James Cook discovered in...1770) as we genuinely looked interested, the kind lady let us in for free.  In the evening, Sam and I had fish and chips before getting back on her bus to Airlie Beach.

As you can probably gather, there wasn't a great deal to do here.  Our my last day, Tom, Cath and I headed for a wander down to the beach where I took some shots of the girls surfing.  We'd planned to go to the market but they'd cancelled our bus.  In the afternoon I caught up with emails and even managed to catch-up on Easties with Cath before heading out to watch the sunset with Tom.  Out of a group of 6 of us, it was only Tom and myself who ended up watching the sunset.  Pretty lame ey?  Instead they took off to see some kangaroos.  Lucky for us, we got to see both.

Tom and I took the bus up to Airlie beach that night.  He kindly let me use his ipad so that I could watch the first 2 episodes of 'Breaking Bad' before he ducked off the bus at Rockhampton.  The rest of the bus journey was horrid.  Overnight buses always are and why are they always so cold?  I hope I never have to take one ever again!

Next stop: Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays

Noosa Part 2: Making lifelong friends

25 March - 3 April

Noosa, beautiful Noosa.  I'm not even sure where to begin.  This place is certainly in the running for #1 place to visit in Australia.  Not necessarily for what I did there but more because of the incredible people that I met.  I stayed at Dolphins which is a hostel set up like an apartment complex providing a living room (no tv or DVD players in ours which was a bit annoying), kitchen, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.  Having your own kitchen made a huge impact on my drive to cook.  On our first night, I was out in a room with the lovely Laura, Conan and Lisa (pirate; nickname stems from the fact she drank a bottle of rum one night) and it was also the night that I famously taught Laura how to cook a chicken snitzel.  

Another thing I liked about Dolphins was the communal area.  It makes that dreaded initial 'ice breaker' that little bit easier.  It's also where I made most of my friends.  On the evening of 26th, Laura and I decided that we deserved a night out.  I've not gone out on many seeing as the price of alcohol is do extortionate here but I'm glad I decided to go.  There were 7 of us in total; me, Laura, Conan, Franz (Ferdinand), Lisa (Pirate), Anne and Marieke.  They all came from different places all over the world from Finland to Germany to Holland.  Even one from London...  It was such a good night!  We pre-drank then headed to Nomads where we met Conan's friend Chris.  It was an evening filled with creepy guys from the Aussie who told me that he'd like to "stick his tongue down my throat" (and they say romance is dead) to another drunk Aussie we met outside a club.  Thankfully the guys were there to protect us :)

On the way home, we had the same awesome taxi driver that had picked us up earlier that evening.  He even took us for Maccies on the way home.  Legend.  One song that reminds me Noosa and that night is "New York - Empire State of Mind" by Alicia Keys or "Noosaaaa" as we re-named it!

The next few days were wet, windy and miserable.  Franz, Conan and Lisa all left and it felt so strange in our room without them, even though we'd only met a few days previously.  It was that night that our Noosa family grew.  We suddenly inherited 5 Dutch people (Mathjus, Luuk, Marielle, Joep and Dajs) so the group now consisted of 85% dutchies.  This was certainly a good thing.  Evenings were spent watching Dirty Dancing and chatting till the early hours of the morning.  For me, it's little things like that which make you feel more at home.  I don't think I've laughed as much as that in a long time.  Particularly at Marielle's funny faces and the boys' love of goon.  After spending the day on the beach, it was time for the dutchies and Laura to bid farewell to Noosa.  Thankfully, I still had Ella (English) and Esther (Dutch) to keep me company in my final days in Noosa.  I'll always remember that night where we sat at the back of our apartment sharing stories about friends, family and even child birth at one point.

Noosa for me will always remain a special place.  It's where I met some of the nicest people in hyena world and friends I hope for life.  Exactly the boost.  Here's to our reunion in holland and plenty more adventures together with my little Noosa family...

Next stop: Agnes Water (Town of 1770)

Holding a Koala at Lone Pine

23 March

For most of this trip, I've rarely seen the same person twice.  It was clear from the off that this was about to change as I travelled further up the east coast.  The journey to Brisbane was fairly uneventful and easy.  I stayed at Base purely for its location meaning that I didn't have to apart my rucksack too far as it's quit frankly beginning to get on my nerves!  In the end, Base turned our to be a good choice as the lovely Susanne was upgraded into my 6 bed dorm.  

24 March

Before coming to Australia, I had a few set goals of things I wanted to see and do.  One of which was hold a koala.  My good friend Kate (brownie) had shown me her photos which had made me all the more determined to find me somewhere to do it.  I'd already seen them in Perth with Gayton and seen them in the wild on the GOR with dad but I wanted to hold one.  Don't ask me why!  

So after a little bit of persuasion, I managed to get Susanne to come with me to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is just outside Brisbane.  Believe me, when other travellers advise that a few hours is more than enough, they're right!  The sanctuary allows you to get up close with the animals without it feeling like you're in a zoo but the whole experience is easily over and done with in 2 hours.  So is it worth the 30 bucks entrance fee?  Possibly not.  But it's worth it to hold these amazing creatures, even if you do have to pay extra, which I begrudge paying, but was assured that the money from the photos would go towards improving the koalas's habit and planting those all important eucalyptus trees.

Next stop: Noosa (part 2)

Byron Bay & Surfers Paradise

20, 21, 22 March

It was time to start my east-coast adventure.  An area of Australia that's possibly the most well-known for its soft white sand, crystal clear waters and surfing haven.  After some deliberation, I opted to get a Greyhound bus pass instead of a Premier. Predominately because there are 4 times as many buses per destination per day for a couple of bucks more.  The fact the former have leather seats, USB charges for every seat and intermittent wifi are merely just additional benefits.  

I stayed at Byron Bay Holiday Village backpackers which was in the centre of town.  A fairly basic setup but a place that I met some lovely ladies particularly Susanne and Sanara.  In terms of things to do, there weren't that many.  Susanne and I took a wander up to the lighthouse and watched dolphins playing off the shoreline and I finally took the plunge and got on a surf board.  

Our last night was spent at the famous Cheeky Monkeys drinking free 'Champagne' and dancing (part) of the night away!  Byron for me was a bit of an anticlimax.  It was a town full of wannabe backpacker hippies as opposed to being true to its roots.  

I had planned to spend a few nights in Surfers but I decided to cut it short.  This wasn't a town for me; full of high-rised buildings and tacky nightclubs.  Once I'd seen the beach, I was done!  Take me back to Brisbane...

Next stop: Brisbane

Day trip to Fraser Island and Dad's last few days down under!

18 March

After a few days of relaxation, Dad and I decided that it was about time to get off our backsides and do some exploring.  We opted to take a tour of Fraser Island.  After being picked up in our 4x4 truck at 6.30am by our tour guide Ed, we drove the 2 hours north to Rainbow Beach.  After picking up some more members of our group, we took the short ferry ride over to Fraser Island.  

Upon arrival, we drove on the beach where we stopped for a short cuppa before heading up to Lake McKenzie.  I still can't get over how bumpy it was to drive on sand!  So much fun.  Lake McKenzie was stunning.  The water was crystal clear and beautifully warm, even for me!  After sitting on the beach, we headed back up for a delicious lunch cooked by Ed.  

In the afternoon, we drove down to the rainforest and took a walk through the famous Eco-system.  The colours were amazing but more importantly it was fascinating to watch the steady stream of water which doesn't change pace regardless of the volume of rainfall.  I'm pretty sure Dietrich and I were the naughty kids at the back of the class as we constantly held up the group due to our obsessive photography shooting!  

On our way back to Noosa, Ed took us for a drive along the beach to show us the sand dunes.  The colours and height of these dunes certainly had the wow-factor.  They were the perfect end to a great day!

19 March

Today was Dad's last day in Aus before he headed back home via Dubai.  After leaving Noosa, we drove back to Brisbane via Ranleigh and a couple of towns along the coast.  After eating dinner, it was time to bid farewell to Papa as he made his way to the airport.  I had such an incredible time with him and will never forget the great adventure we shared!  I'm so happy that he could be a part of my worldwide adventure; thank you Dad x

Next stop: Byron Bay

Noosa Part 1

15 March 

Dad and I decided to stay in an apartment for his last few days in Oz, meaning that he could relax! unwind and soak up some much needed Vitamin D before returning back to cold Glasgow.  We rented a 2 bed river apartment at Noosavillage River Resort in Noosaville.  Noosa is divided into 2 parts; Noosaville by the river and Noosaheads with Noosa Junction sandwiched in the middle.  Noosaville is the quieter part of town and just the place for us.  The apartment was a townhouse and much bigger than we expected.  It was within walking distance to the local shops and restaurants with a swimming pool and tennis courts on site.  Yet the thing that really made this special were the managers; Michael and Rosa.

16 March

We spent the day chilling out by the pool and watching the F1.  That evening Caroline came round for a barbie.  We hadn't seen each other for probably 5 years or so. It was really great to see her and pretty amazing considering we both came to the same place at the same time!  A few bottles of wine later and it felt like 5 years had gone by in a flash!  We even reminisced and sang the year 5 rap.

17 March

Another day spent by the pool and in the evening, Caroline and I went out for dinner to Bistro C which is a delicious seafood restaurant in town.  We devoured a bowl of seafood pasta, cheesecake and washed it down with a bottle of Sav Blanc- yum!

Brisbane

14 March

After landing a little later than planned, we arrived in Brisbane.  Dad and I are pretty sure we (he) was/were done over the taxi ride.  For a short journey, it sure did cost a lot!

15 March

In the morning, we decided to explore Brisbane and seeing as the riverboat was directly opposite our hotel, it seemed the most logical option.  Infact, it was actually really enjoyable and remarkably cheap in comparison to other cities I've visited.  The boat trip took about 40 mins or so and allowed us to soak up the surrounding highlights.  I really liked the redeveloped riverside apartments which were mostly former factory mills.  Certainly made a change from blocks of high rised, modern, characterless buildings.  After wandering around the city, stopping for lunch etc, we headed back to the airport to pick up the rental car.  I mistakingly forgot my licence (not on purpose I swear) meaning that Dad had the pleasure of driving our 1 litre mean machine up to Noosa.