boat races and happy faces!

Eva spent a good bit of time selecting some photos to put up then uploading them all, and i'v spent a good bit of time going through just adding wee descriptions, just to try make it a tad more interesting for the fan club. so hope you enjoy!

p.s. comment on the blogs if you like them, or don't, or want us to add stuff. good to know people are actually reading it and if they enjoy it or not.

Thanks rabio and tess! every other day wish you were here with us! Lookin forward to gettin the drinks on when we get back! :D

Eva says sorry dad, forgot to put the blog up last night.



Photies:


on the Freight Train! (a pocket maxi round the world racing yacht worth millions and millions and MILLIONS of $$$)

I felt like i was in a really cheesy cartoon to make kids like fruit and veg.

Eva's new fave drink. Bit to sweet for me.

Whitsunday Islands. Yachting

Me and my baby buddy croc.

Black headed Python.. pretty cool. feels cool. seems pretty sound. until it turns its head and looks directly at you in the eyes.. thats when you realise this thing could kill you on a whim. not my cup of tea. but a bit of an adrenaline rush. snakes... unable to pull facial expressions.. just have the constant look of.. yes.. I am thinking about eating you. .... Eva really likes them for some reason.




My new most favourite Animal in the world! The bearded Dragon. I'll be having one of these please. :D Thanks santa! :D

I heard baby crocks can be a bit chewey.. eh eva?

The one highlight of Magnetic Island. What a night that was.

Please sir, Can i've some more..





What you lookin at fooool!




A real live Dinosaur!




Dinosaur Facts.

Eva and her new pet lizard.. sorry ronnie and adele.. at least your house will be free of flies..

The Kuranda Skyrail. 7.5kms of it over the top of the rainforest.




GREAT Barrier Reef.



GREAT Barrier Reef!

Eva and dingo pup!

Me dingo pup! :D

at no point did it feel like 22. i think it lies.

Cairns Lagoon. Although slightly dull looking... was roasting.

Long A**'d train.



A pitty da fool!



......

Me on the train Scenic railway.



Self explanitory... Kuranda Railway Station.



stu eva and Hogan (Hamilton Jr.) For those of you that don't know, When i visited kuranda 6-7 years ago I was at this koala centre, And i insisted on coming here again cause it was my favourite place last time. And i wanted eva to hold a koala there even though we were running WAY low on cash. cause ther were so nice and friendly last time i was there. so i said to one of the incredibly nice ladies that I had held hamilton and is he still around? it would be nice to see him. and they said sadly not, he passed away. however before he did he had a son, called hogan. so the very very nice ladies instead of going to the koala pen of the ones that are available for holding, went into another pen, and with great difficulty, and after needing to call in some help from a worker with a close reltionship with hogan, managed to get him out, and eva got her photo taken with Hogan, Hamilton's son. and they let me jump in to take a photo at no extra cost. So I'd just like to say a huge thank you to the ladies there, and i definetly recomend Kuranda Koala Gardends as the best place to hold a koala and feed kangaroo's and Wallabies. Before leaving they told me that Hogan now too has had a son, so i said i'd be back in another few years to see him.





Mr Cuddly koala bear! :D

Eva in the middle of the rainforest, with a 3 metre python underneath the walkway she's standing on.

There will be more soon I'm sure! but hope you enjoyed these!

Beautiful one day, perfect the next..

hello! finally got the patience to come back on here and right some updates! (just as well i wrote everything down otherwise i would never be able to remember it all!)


10.11.08



there was no oz experience buses running today so we had an extra day in Hervey Bay. Stuart, Adam, Oliver and I wandered into town to see what there was. Turns out there isnt a lot! It took us ages to find the town center, which is a combination of the heat and the really long, wide roads, everything just seems to take double the time. We went to Red Rooster for lunch, it was agreed that the taste wasnt as good as the pictures make it look. After that we spent quite a while wandering the local toy shop looking at all the millions of toys that ozzie children get these days! After we got back to the hostel we just chilled out in the hammocks for the rest of the afternoon, ate pizza, and socialised with the next lot of people that were about to embark on the Fraser Island adventure!



11.11.08

today the oz bus took us from Hervey Bay to Kroombit cattle station. We decided not to stop at 1770 or Bundaberg (home of Bundaberg rum) as we were starting to run out of cash.


Kroombit Cattle station is one of the oz experience compulsory overnight stops. Its not on the coast, its further west, into the outback, and you can tell. The ground is red, and there is nothing around for miles. There are different activities that you can choose to do here so you can get more of a feel for living in the outback on a farm - but they come at a price. We wanted to do the goat mustering, which is riding around on horseback rounding up goats from the many, many acres of land at Kroombit, but it was too expensive, most of our fellow back packers agreed! We did however, have a go at the shot gun, you got five shots to try and hit it the flying disks. Stuart got five out of five, and I got, well, lets just say I didnt do as well as Stuart! Another thing Stuart could master that I couldnt was using the lasso! (videos soon to come)


One of the included activities was the goat rodeo. For this, you had to get into a team of 3 (we had ollie in ours) think up a team name, all team names had to include something to do with goats, like, goat, kid etc. I thought up the fantastic team name, 'The Goat-ee's" For the goat rodeo, one person had to catch the goat, another tip it and the last had to brand it, then the team with the quickest time were the winners! Oliver was in charge of catching the goat, stuart, tipping it and i was in charge of branding. Our team was given a teeny little kid to catch, the problem with this is that the smaller the goat, the quicker they are! Surprisingly we managed it in 15seconds, and won the goat rodeo, most other teams were getting around 45seconds.



After a fantastic dinner, there was more activities! I had a lot more sucess with the whip cracking, I got the hang of it on my second go, stuart took several more tries. Did you know the sound a whip makes is not the sound of it hitting the ground, but the sound of it breaking the sound barrier? Im learning! The final task of the night was the mechanical bull, which stuart completely failed at and lasted less than a second! (videos to come at some point) Not long after we headed to bed, exhausted.


12.11.08


Today is the longest day on the road with Oz experience, Travelling all the way from Kroombit to Airlie beach, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, which took 11hours. It felt like it took so much longer because for two hours one of the drivers played ABBA, safe to say the ipod was on straight away. We had two drivers this time round, one who had been doing the job for 6 years called Guido and another called Squatter, and it was his first ever time doing the drive up the east coast. We stopped for a barbie lunch at a lovely little area called Clairview, where there were lots of parrots flying around. It was the first time we had been in the tropics, and you could tell, as it was not only extremely hot, but also extremely humid.

Finally we arrived at Airlie Beach. The drivers had organised for everyone to meet in a bar/restaurant called 'Beaches' and because we were oz experience we got cheap, but very, very nice food, and also discounts on drinks. We decided to make the most of it as it was our last night with travel buddy, Adam, whom we've been traveling with since we left Sydney back in October. After Beaches we went to an Irish bar, purely because Stuart liked the name of it, 'Paddy Shenanigans'. Then we moved on to a place called Mama Africa, which the drivers had said was good, but i thought it was pretty strange, i liked the leopard print toilet seats though!


13.11.08

Adam left around 6am, after we said our goodbyes we went back to sleep and slept till the afternoon, we were both exhausted from our long day the day before. We got the bus and adventured to the local shopping center to get some food to last us for a while, that evening was just spent relaxing in front of the tv, which was in our room, for a change!



14.11.08 / 15.11.08

Today and the next were both just relaxing days, spent by the pool, and Airlie lagoon, which is fantastic, it even has barbeques on the grassy area with a view of the sea. We both think it made us love Airlie that bit more than we already had.

16.11.08



We checked out of our hostel, 'Koalas' nice and early before meeting up for our sailing trip on the yacht, 'Freight Train', I thought it was rather confusing calling a yacht a train, the sun really does get to the Australians heads! We also hired our stinger suits, which you are more than advised to wear because summer in the tropics is jellyfish season, and the box jelly fish is common. The stingers on a box jelly fish sting when it comes in contact with protein, which is found in humans, the poison that it induces can kill you within 12minutes. The suits stop the stingers touching your skin, and therefore not reacting to the protein and you dont die. So there was no way we were going without them!


Anyway, the boat was lovely, the lower deck was pretty cramped but it was alright seeing a most time was spent on deck. You were in barefeet the whole time you were on the yacht. Our first stop was at a bay next to Hayman Island, we put on our stinger suits and went snorkling at part of the Great Barrier Reef for the first time. It took Stuart a while to get used to it but he was swimming about in no time. The coral looked amazing and there were so many different kinds of fish, with so many different colours! We even saw a stingray. The boat stayed at that bay for the night and from the boat we got to see a turtle just casually swimming past. After the sun had set there wasnt much to be done on the boat. Some people were playing drinking games, but because Stuart sometimes gets sea sick, we didnt want to risk it. So instead we got an early night.


17.11.08


It was just as well we got an early night, because we had an early start. Didnt get much chance to wake up before we got to go scuba diving! We chose our boat purely on the fact that you get a free introductary scuba dive with it. The equipment feels extremely heavy our of the water, which is worrying because you think your just going to sink because of the wait the moment you hit the water. Thankfully you dont, the equipment is surprisingly weightless. Scuba diving was really strange, takes a while to get used to seeing all the air bubbles floating up past your face. While we were out diving we saw a big Maori Wrasse, which the diving instructor described as 'the dog of the sea' because it let you pat it, like you would a dog. Shortly after lunch, we stopped at a random bit in the sea to let people to jump in the water to cool down. People were doing backflips off the boat! We didnt really get much sailing done at the Whitsundays because of a lack of wind, it was all motor driven. As the Queenlanders say 'beautiful one day, perfect the next'.


Next stop was Whitehaven beach which is the 3rd best beach in the world, the sand is made up of 97% silica. Stuart and a few of the other guys on the trip flung a rugby ball about in the water for a bit and while they did so they saw a school of baby sharks. We lazed about in the water for a bit - way to hot to just lie on the beach. Although the sand was lovely, it was annoying, because it just stuck to you and because its so smooth its more difficult to get off.


That evening there was a stunning sunset, the colours were amazing, but once again, after the sun went down, there wasnt much to do so we headed to bed. It wasnt long before there was lots of loud cheering and clapping. Stu went out to investigate, he told me to come see quickly. There was wild dolphins swimming and jumping between our boat and the one next to us. It was amazing, they were about a metre away from us at one point. Eventually they went away and it was back to sleep for us!


18.11.08

Today was our last day on the yacht, woke up about 6. Not much happened today, we were aiming to be back to Airlie by 11am so the whole morning was taken up sailing back to the marina. We arrived back on time but we couldnt even handle the heat of the 10min back to the hostel and stopped of at the lagoon to cool down. Once again another Beaches night had been organised, this time by the boat companys so everyone got the chance to meet up again. We went along to prove we werent actually anti social, seeing as we hadnt been drinking or staying up that late on the yacht. It was decided that some of us would go for a barbie the following night. We also bumped into Tom, who we had traveled with on Fraser Island and some others we knew from the oz bus. Before we spent all our money at Beaches we headed back to our room and chilled out with our new room mates, Tori and Paul, both really nice people, and drank goon (really cheap wine) The couple are doing the same kind of thing we are doing, travelling the East Coast. They left on their Whitsunday trip a few days later.



19.11.08

Today was another sleeping day. We found out that everyone else on the boat had got a sleep when they got back to the hostel the day before, but we hadnt, so we were exhausted. We kept our plans and had a barbie up at the lagoon with a few of the others. It tasted amazing, although a seagull did steal one of the sausages.


-thats all for now, ill write more when i get the time to!

oh yeah, and leave us comments, we feel deprived!

e

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

it seems to be taking us longer and longer to getting round to updating this! just shows were out experiencing oz rather than sitting down at a pc everyday, so its a good thing!



6.11.08

we left noosa, the bus stopped off at rainbow beach for a bit, we went and got lunch, a big ozzie burger, complete with flag. Rainbow beach seemed really nice. we had thought about staying there, but we stayed in Noosa that extra night and skipped it instead. after our hour there we stepped onto the bus to get to Hervey bay. The dorm on the first night was horrible! The room was roasting all night and all that was there to keep you cool was one stand alone fan which was at the opposite side of the room from our beds! wasnt exactly the nicest last night before leaving forr fraser island!



7.11.08

We woke very early after our not so nice sleep so we could check out and get our fraser island saftey talk. we got spilt into our 2 groups to go to the camp shed to pick up our equipment and other 4WD for the trip, at which point the group nominated stu to drive us to the camp shed to pick up our stuff. having never driving anything bigger than a toyota yaris, safe to say i was a bit aprehensive about being responsible for 9 people in the back of this 4WD in a country i'd never drivin in before. lol obviously we survived. just =P and we got our 4 wheel drives before heading off to get our shopping then for our ferry. The roads at fraser island are crazy! it would be totally impossible to get around without a 4wd, your regular corsa defo couldnt do it! For those of you who dont know, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, (it has more sand on it that there is on the Sahara) with many deadly animals on it, you cant swim in the water there because of the animals. the roads are really bumpy and you end up falling all over the place, but its great fun. stuart became the designated driver for the weekend, the 2 other drivers gave it a shot too but it was decided stu should do the majority of the driving, just as well he enjoyed driving on the bumpy roads so much! :D

our first destination was lake wabby which is the deepest of the many lakes on the island. from the car park it was a kilometer walk to the lake, all down hill, on the way down we bumped into one of our fellow travellers, Terri the Canadian girl, she had been with us at surf camp and byron bay. She was a day ahead of us with travelling fraser island and she told us the walk to the lake was well worth it, and she was right! Everyone jumped in to cool down for the midday heat of the sun. It was beautiful, the water was so clear and there was no rocks to be seen, just all sand, surprisingly. Just beside the lake there are big sand dunes which people began running, and rolling down and into the lake.

After chilling out at the lake for a while we treked back for lunch, this is where we discovered one of the members of our group, Josefin, was a chef! Hurrah! and even better than that, she wanted to do the cooking! Double Hurrah! We were going to be well fed this weekend! i used the toilets at the car park (i didnt know when i would next get the chance to us one!) and saw a massive spider, much bigger than the ones in Erskine! luckly there was a sheet of glass separating us! I made sure i checked under the toilet seat after that!

We drove for about an hour before finding our (ahem... stu drove for about an hour) lol! camp spot for the evening, it was a nice sheltered area next to the beach. The tents went up very easily, but they looked less than sturdy, they were only being held up by one pole! it was 3 to a tent, so we shared with our long term (2weeks) travel buddy, Adam. As the sun was going down we all headed to the beach, which is also the highway, for a game of touch rugby before heading back up for a barbie meat feast dinner. Our group bonded over some german card games then had an early night. Me eva and adam had just settled down in our tent when we heard some hurried footsteps come over towards us, followed by tom (our new french friend) asking for our torch quite hurriedly, so we obviously said no problem and opened the tent.

So we got out, and i says: "whats up tom? whats the torch for?"

to which he replies: "theres a snake in my tent."

stu,eva,adam: "A SNAKE!!!!!!"

tom:" yeah it was under my pillow when i lay down. i heard rustling, and looked over and just saw its head staring at me."

So we all cautiously approached the tent and slowly pulled bag the flaps. tom shining the torch in. Nothing to be seen. So the daring tom ventured in, crazy french, and walked to where his pillow was. Quickly pulling the pillow away, the true source of the ruslting and panic was found..... an adult crab. not quite as terrifying but probably able to give you a nasty wee nip. So disaster and panic over, and a huge sigh of relief all round, and we all returned to our tent for an uncomfortable nights sleep.Thankfully we were not eaten by dingos or crabs
or snakes over night! Which we had been well warned about.

8.11.08

Another early start again we found our camping area had been run by crabs over night, there was lots of little holes in the ground from which baby crabs had escaped and made a rush for the sea. we left for Indian head and champagne pools this morning, took us ages! We also stopped at happy valley (not the one in hong kong!) to fill up our water canester. Indian head was just a big hill/lookout point but it was too warm to hang about so we shortly after left to look for the champagne pools, on our way there our big 4wd got stuck in the really soft sand! it took a team effort to dig it out of the sand, and push it out. It was a good laugh though because our group got on so well, eventually we got back on our way. the champagne pools got its name because its a collection of rock pools, and when the waves of the sea splash up and over the side of the rocks it looks like champagne pouring down, its quite a site! would not advise drinking it however.

Next stop was Eli Creek. The water there was lovely, clear, and warm! Stuart and I swam down the creek, you can pretty much just float all the way down, very relaxing. An hour or so later we went back to our new camp spot, it wasnt as sheltered as the one the night before, but still flat enough to pitch the 3 tents. We had another delicious chef made dinner then just drank some of our cheap, cheap wine relaxed and went to bed. Didnt sleep for long though, a big storm broke out and blew the tarpolin off the roof of our tent, soaking us completely. Had to brave the storm and the pitch black of the night to get out to fix it up. We also noticed that one of the other tents had collapsed completely and that that group of three had resorted to sleeping in the van. We got back into the tent, thouroughly drenched and eventually the storm calmed down and we got some sleep.

9.11.08

They say there is a calm after the storm, and whoever it is that said that, was correct! It was a lovely day, we only had one stop, Lake mackenzie, its the most photographed and popular lake on Fraser, its the one you see in all the postcards. You can tell why, the water is lovely and warm, and so clear! the sand was really soft and white too. We didnt have a lot of time to spend there because we had to be on time for the ferry back. We had a quick lunch in the car park at lake mackenzie where we saw our first dingo! We made sure to rememeber to NOT feed it. Took a few photos and left for the boat, smelly, as none of us had had a shower since arriving on the island.

Eva spent 2 hours updating you all on everythin we have done and all the amazing sights and fun things, and somehow we've lost everything that she had written. Leaves a sick feeling in your stomach. so could be a while before we have the motivation to re-write it. meanwhile, here's some pictures and videos.

Stu at morroco's next to the hostel

The lagoon at airlie

Eva at the lagoon looking out to the harbour

A scotland flag in the irish bar "paddy's shenanigens"

Bare foot lawn bowls

into the Tropics

Eva has cracking skills!

kroombit dinner

eva stroking her cockatoo

Stu lasooing

Eva's deadly aim

chillin oooooot

Lake wabby on Fraser Island

The lagoon again

Stu Eva and Ollie

Stu and Jagermeister

ozE crew

mmmmmmmmm

Stu and Tobias

Lonely tree

Kroombit

The ferry back from fraser, a nice cold beer after days of roughing it. mmmmm

The bots cat and Eva's hand

Our nice clean car, or it was till Stu took the helm.

AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! DINGOOOOOO!!!!!

Lake McKenzie

HUAGE Lizard

Chef Joe cooking up another delicious meal

Our awesome group at the shipwreck of the boat made in scotland!

arrrr, day be stealin my boat

rebel

The pinicles

yeeeehaaaaaa!!!

Champagne pools

Lake wabby

Jeeeeeeezoooooo

Expert driving

weow!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm