We crossed into Queensland after our stay at Byron Bay, leaving New South Wales behind us. It was our plan to stay in Brisbane for a few days before flying on to Fiji, but we extended the campervan for a few more days and decided to head north of Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast for some more sunshine.
After a quick read up and a look at the map, Hannah and I really struck lucky and ended up at a beautiful place called Noosa Heads. This turned out to be the nicest resort town we came across on all of our travels up 1400km of East Coast. Noosa and Noosa Heads is an area of beautiful beach-lined coast which has a number of inlets to crystal clear rivers and lagoons. As you drive into town, you cross numerous bridges and causeways which make it feel like a number of separate small islands. The sky was blue and the water absolute turquoise in every direction! We found a nice camp site located right on the lagoon and rented a kayak for an hour or two and paddled around in the warm water next to huge pelicans, thinking how lucky we were!
Wanting to see some more, we drove into town and lazed on the main beach. As with most Asutralian beaches, it was impressive. Being school holidays, it was busy which gave it some buzz, but without being too busy. Typically Australian, the beach had an impressive Surf Life Saving Club, and there was plenty of beach activiy - surfing, kayaking, boogie boarding, windsurfing, swimming. We rented a boogie board for a few hours which was brilliant fun as usual. Noosa, directly behind the beach is a really smart town, with more upmarket shops and restaurants than your average Australian resort. We walked the shops and then bought some steak and supplies, and had a BBQ dinner back at the campsite. We decided at this point that we would take a day trip up to Fraser Island the following day. Hannah was keen to see it, as I had raved so much about it after my recent visit.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world (20 miles wide x 90 miles long) and is a World Heritage Site. Despite being made entirely of sand, it supports impressive and very rare rain forests and is famed for its 75 mile beach, crystal clear inland lakes and sunshine. There are few full time residents and there are only a handful of hotels which are all located in one small area, so it really feels like a desert island.
An early start at 5.30 the next day and we were collected from the campsite by our bus to take us to Fraser. It was a long 2hr drive in the rumbling 4WD bus to the ferry at Inskip Point which took us across the short stretch of sea to the southern tip of Fraser. The journey was made to feel even longer by the completely humourless (and rude) female French bus driver/guide and the fact that we had to collect numerous other guests including some stupidly dressed French backpackers (who I later wanted to kill) and some serious looking Germans, complete with walking boots, rucksacks and wearing full safari gear. Everyone else had beach towels and flip-flops! The journey improved after the sighting of some pretty large Kangaroos bounding across the open countryside. We have seen plenty of kangaroos on this trip, but usually they are standing still or lying down or eating. To see one bouncing at full speed across the plains at sunrise is quite magical.
After a quick 10 minute ferry crossing, we arrived at the southern tip of Fraser and headed up the bumpy soft sandy beaches to Eurong, the central service area on Fraser Island. We had some morning tea (naturally avoiding the other people from our bus) and then headed up 75 Mile Beach to see the shipwreck the S.S. Maheno. The ship was once a rapid luxury 1930's steamer linking Auckland to Brisbane, and after serving as a troop carrier in Europe in WW2, it returned to its cruising duties and was ultimately wrecked here late in the 1940's. It lies right on the tide line of the beach, so the rusty iron hull makes for some impressive pictures with a background of white sand and blue water. Next we headed to Eli Creek, which is a strong flowing freshwater stream. It flows from one of the inland lakes, down the hills and finally across the beach into the sea. There are many creeks that wash across the beaches on Fraser, but this is the only one that you can walk up and then float back down again through the jungle - like natures own water park! Next we were herded back onto the bus by the surly Frenchwoman for lunch and we did our best not to speak to anyone, but we did speak to some nice Aussie women who we (wrongly) suspected were probably lesbians. The French contingent really annoyed me (and everyone else) as they seemed to find it difficult to get back to the bus on time, which meant we all had to wait 15 minutes for them. Next we drove inland to Central Station, once the heart of the now abolished logging industry and took a quick walk through the rainforest. Some of the ferns were apparently over 500 years old - they were quite big. Finally, we drove further inland to Lake McKenzie, the largest of the inland lakes. It really is a lake from Paradise - white sandy beaches and crystal clear freshwater. Sadly we were only given 45 minutes to enjoy the sights, as we had to head back to the 4pm ferry. We were finally dropped off back at Noosa at 7pm. It was a very long day, but we were glad to have been to Fraser and I was happy that Hannah had had the opportunity to see the beautiful place, albeit a rushed viewing. After all of our independant travelling, we do not make very good bus/tour group passengers!
The next day we had planned to head into Brisbane, but the weather was so nice we decided to stay on the beach at Noosa and just relax!
The following day was overcast, so we packed up the campervan early and drove the 2 hours down to Brisbane, checking in at a motel at Kangaroo Point. We returned the van and then took a walk into Brisbane along the South Bank area. (This was with some excitement on my part, and fear on Hannah's part, as back in February whilst innocently walking along the same pavement with Jeff, I came far too close to standing on a dangerous snake). The weather was gray and cool so we spent some Internet time in a loud and irritating backpacker Internet cafe. We hate 'backpackers'.
Thankfully, our last day in Australia was hot and sunny, so we walked around the sights of Brisbane - there is some great Victorian architecture mixed in with a well planned modern city, and we rested in Queens Park in the sun. We spent the afternoon lazing around South Bank's cafes, near Streets Beach (the man-made outdoor pool with sandy beaches in the city centre), and later got a taxi to the airport. Our taxi driver was a really nice East Londoner, and was very interesting to listen to. After 27 years in Australia, he seemed sad that it has lost so much of its charm - the original breed of 'Fair Dinkum Aussie' has been wiped out by an overzealous immigration policy. This has lead to many ethnic groups all living in separate districts. Australia may be multi-cultural, but it seems that the cultures don't mix well. This made some sense to us, as all of the interesting people we had spoken with on our travels tended to be from the older generation. Most younger Australians don't seem to have much sense of identity or anything interesting to say!
I was very sad to be leaving Australia, especially with summer on the way, but so happy that we had seen so much of the country - some of the most incredible coastline in the world, quaint country towns, desolate red centre desert, the stunning sights of Sydney and enjoyed some great weather... but time to move on - next stop - the South seas! Fiji !
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