QUEENSLAND TRIP

After leaving Airlie beach me and phil headed up to Cairns, we decided the best way to get there would be by greyhound bus, so thats wot we did. The journey took just under 10 hours. It wasnt to bad really, the seats were really big and they also had dvds on the bus. We arrived in Cairns and checked in to our hostel. Cairns looked a really nice city, it was a bit unusual really for a city, there were no high rise buildings and everything seemed really spread out. It was quiet too. We decided to go out that night, it was a really good nite, there was alot of good places to go and the nite life seemed pretty busy. The first pic is of me and Phil and a couple of lads we meet out, we had a ball. We ended up going to a bar called "The Shack", it was rammed with people, everybody on the tables dancing, swinging from the low beams on the ceilings. Lets just say it was intresting. We spent a couple of days in Cairns.
Next stop was Port Douglas, about an hour further north of Cairns. Both me and Phil had heard alot about this place, so we were looking forward to getting up there. We had only booked a few nights here, as had been told there wasnt much to do there. It was a nice break we didnt do alot really, we visited the four mile beach just yards from where we were staying, it was beautiful as you can see from the second picture.The third picture is one i took of the four mile beach, I tryed to catch the sun rise but unfortunately the sky wasnt clear enough, still looks good though.The last day we were there we hired a car out and went further north to Cape Tribulation, this is basically another gorgeous beach, but with nobody on. Phil and I were the only people on the beach, very romantc.
On our way back from Cape Tribulation we visited Mosman Gorge,the fourth picture is of me just chilling by the rocks. We swam in the gorge and jumped of some of the bigger rocks, good fun.
We headed back to Carins for another couple nites,during this time we went white water rafting on the river Tully. We got picked up at six in the morning by coach and then travelled two hours to the Tully. I had been looking forward to this for a while and couldnt wait to get into it.We got kitted out with helmets and life jackets and put into teams. We were pretty lucky really as we got put with a good group, two guys from america and two from amsterdam. The rapids were awesome, we had a little bit of rain the nite before which only made it better. We did a quarter of the river in the morning, just so we could get used to being in the raft and paddeling. It was shaping up to be a good day. At 12:30 we pulled up on the embankment and had a ready prepaid bbq, and a chance to relax. After dinner was when the fun really begain, our group were all pretty confident, we tryed some of the bigger and fatser rapids, it was class. Some of the drops we got chucked out of the raft, so funny, some you held on for dear life.Picture five shows us just about to get flipped. On several occasions we tryed flipping the raft, we would all huddle at the front of the raft just before going down a drop, you get thrown about like ping pong ball it was class. We tryed to go directly over a rock, and got stuck, and more than half the group got stuck on a different rock, we had to paddle against the rapids to retrieve them (hard work),but funny.This i felt was one of the highlights of the trip. I loved it.
We flew from Cairns down to Brisbane about a two and a half hour flight. Brisbane from wot i so looked a really nice city, like most of the australian citys the have river running through them, it a nice sight. Some really nice buildings to see. We didnt really do that much here, we just had a few drinks. I would like to try and get back to Brisbane and spend some more time there.
Rainbow Beach was the next destination, we had booked a trip on Frazer Island and had to attend a meeting the day before we went out on the island.The meeting was at Rainbow backpackers. The trip was for 3 days 2 nights camping/4x4 driving on Frazer. We arrived in Rainbow, which was a really small town just one main street and a few shops, the beach was once again awesome, didnt get any picture as the beachs all look the same, all up the coast.
The next day we were put into groups of ten, as this is the number the jeeps could hold. Picture six shows our group. It was a good mix, there was me and Phil, three Irish lads, three Koreans, one English chick and another from Canada. We packed up the jeep, most of the gear going ontop of the 4x4 and set off on our little adventure. I was driving first. Once we had crossed on the ferry, we were on our own. We had arrranged to meet the other groups later on that nite. Our group decided to go to Lake Mckienze, which after about a 30 min ride on the worst roads i have ever driven on, i say worse, i wasnt complaning it was great fun, we got there. This is one of the best places i have seen since beng here, it was wkd. White sand, warmish fresh water and class surroundings. Even though it was cloudy when i was there, i still loved it.We spent a few hours here, before heading back down to the beach. We headed for our arranged meeting place, which was near a shipwreck.
We set the camp up using the jeeps as wind sheilds and also using them to attach our canopes too. The cooking stove and the eskies went under the canopes, all the food had to be kept in the jeeps as there are alot of wild Dingos on the island. The first nite was a blast once we had all had a feed pretty much everybody got on the drink. The groups are well mixed, male and female and also nationallitys, so it was good fun. There was lots of drinking games going on.The second day we were all up pretty early. Picture seven is the view from my tent whenn i woke up, pretty cool. We travelled along the beach to a view point, it was the furtherst north we could drive, it took a while to get there but it was worth it. You could see for miles, right down the coast of the island.Picture eight was taken from the view point. We also went to another lake that day called Lake Wabba. We had to park up the jeep on the beach and walk for about 45 mins, it was hot and we only had warm water, nightnare. Once we had made it to the lake it waas awesome, smaller than lake mckeinze, yet just as nice. It looked just like an oasis, three sides of the lake was bush and the fourth was a massive sand dune, had plenty of fun running down that and into the water. The second nite was pretty much as the first, everybody was together and drunk. We were all playing limbo, and singing with this one guy who was brillant on the guitar. Another thing i loved about Frazer was the night sky, all the stars were so clear and not to mention the brillant milkyway.The last day we pretty much just chilled out at a creek after visiting another view point. The creek was fresh water running into the sea, it was a nice place to cure the hangover.
We drove back to the ferry and finished what i thought was an amazing experience. Loved it.
That same day we hitched a ride with a couple of Irish lads down to Surfers Paradise, and stayed with a couple of Phils friends. The next day we headed to BIG DAY OUT.This is a massive festival with loads of bands playing. We got there pretty early and got the most important thing out the way, cueing for the beer tokens.ha. There was lots of bands and groups on which i enjoyed, The Killers, Jet, Scribe, Eskimo Joe and the best of all The Streets. The Streets were one of the last groups we had seen, after a long day of drink, sun and jumping around like an idiot. I didnt really like there material before i went to see them, but they had the tent rocking. It was by far the best performance of the day. It was awesome,a great day.
We stayed in Surfers for a couple weeks, going out and surfing a little. Found it really hot here which was a bit weird after coming from Carins. Surfers seemed a really cool place to be, lots and lots of hot girls, couldnt believe how many there was, they all knew it though. Loads of clubs and bars, seemed a fun place to be if you are young.
Before Returning to Sydney we stopped off in Byron Bay for a couple of days. A nice little town just inside NSW. This is renowned for its good surf to learn on. The first day we surfed and chlled on the beach, the second we just chilled out in the backpackers and relaxed down the beach. The hostel we were staying inn was called "The ArtsFactory". If you wanted to you could learn how to juggle, play the didge, make your own didge, go on bush walks, there was loads to do. Alex Park the singer from i think pop idol was there working.
Im back in Sydney now working with the same guy i was working with last time. Skint after the trip, so need to save up some more money before doing some more travelling. Rob Smith a friend from the uk is coming over on the 19th feb so that should be good. Will update the blog again soon.