Author: sigormley

Like a quick rewind of our journey north into Queensland, the drive south today covered the same distance as we managed in ten days before. Of course this time there were fewer detours and stop offs, save Lennox Heads, who could resist another dip in the tea tree lake? Well, Caroline for one!
Now, we’ve had a bit of rain over the past few days, but none quite as impressive as seeing this storm lurking over the hills as we had a wee stop. With flashes of lightning over the river, the clouds passed over accompanied by fierce winds and a noticeable drop in temperature followed by buckets of rain. As we were driving along there was a flash and the whip crack of a strike about a hundred metres away, now being a good physicist I know a car is the safest place to be, still scary though!

For the second and final Gold Coast theme park for our trip we chose Sea World. We limited ourselves mainly because they’re expensive but also to avoid extreme theme fatigue.
Sea World not only has a marine wildlife conservation side, but also manages to squeeze in rollercoasters and shows! With the Seal Detectives, Water Skiers (who accidentally fell off a few times, which made the show much better), and of course the jumping, splashing, human-transporting dolphins. They try to sell the dolphin show as mankind and dolphins living in harmony, I think it should be sold along the lines of “it’s amazing what a dolphin will do for a fish”.

Tropical cyclone that is though! With concern for the waterproof-ness of the van through the night, we awoke to a stream, or rather white water rapids, beneath the van (good job we’re not in a tent!) Seeking refuge in a multi-storey car park, and the dry cool air of a shopping centre, we rode the storm out before driving on to Surfers Paradise.
I’m sure it was once a surfer’s paradise, but it’s now more of a Blackpool on steroids, or a sleepy Vegas with fewer casinos. It doesn’t do badly though, $2.2bn turnover, 200 high rises, and the tallest residential building in the world. All this learnt from our trip on the amphibious duck bus, which takes a little paddle up the river as part of the tour. They also mentioned that Schoolies week (30,000 17 year olds descend on the place to cause havoc) brings in $60mn, and that’s why they put up with it, doesn’t sound worth it to me!
I’m off to guard my wallet, there’s too many businesses keen to relieve you of cash around here!

Fraser Island isn’t the only sand island in town, just further south, west of Brisbane lies Moreton Island, so our wee treat was a day sail. Incidentally, it was first seen by Captain Cook who thought it was part of the mainland, as he did with Fraser Island – I reckon he must have been going faster than we are!
With a grey start to the day, we weren’t holding out for much, we did get in a good bit of snorkelling around some wrecks, but alas the sand boarding was rained off. So, it was time to try the jet piloting, essentially a inflatable disc towed behind a fast moving vessel (piloted by skipper Joe who doesn’t like going in straight lines, especially if you call him a sissy!) Much fun ensued, as you might be able to make out from Caroline’s expression!
The yacht, “Solo”, was built in 1955, holds the record for winning the most Sydney-Hobart races (from Boxing day, if you’ve been paying attention 😉 ), has been solo circumnavigated around Australia twice, and the world to boot. It was then used as an Antartic research vessel before being the first Whitsundays tourist yacht before moving to Moreton Bay. So we’ve been on a bit of floating Aussie history, still feels like Howard’s Way to me though…

Well, it’s been an adventure packed few days and it’s going to be hard to top it, so we thought “why bother?” and turned our wee van around and headed south.
Well, that’s not strictly true, we’ve had a lot of fun going north, but we’ve saved a few rippers for the journey south so that it’s not all driving down highways to Sydney and the undiscovered territory beyond.
Before we left Mon Repos, we took a walk down the beach, and found this little nipper lying on his back in the sand. On our way to the ranger, she sprang back to life, so she’s in the sea somewhere, at least with a better chance of survival than back on the beach. Fair well wee girl, hopefully you’ll be back on those shores in thirty years time!

Well there certainly was a lot of it, but less to see than you would imagine. The place is covered in thick forest (some of it rainforest), along with fifty odd lakes, an abundance of fresh water creeks and a couple of rocks thrown in for good measure too. There is enough sand to cover the Sahara, given that Fraser Island is over 600 metres deep in sand, and the sahara only 20 metres.
Our leisurely tour took us to the Maheno shipwreck, a lump of rust that was a ocean liner in the 20’s, until some Japanese sailors tried to tow it. The Champagne pools were about as close to a natural jacuzzi as you could get, huge waves crash over into rock pools, leaving a white fizzing foam behind for you to wallow in, although the best bit was getting caught unexpectedly by a huge white wave!
Camp for the night was pure luxury compared to our campervan, with a proper bed and wooden floors in the tent, the only thing tent-like was the canvas. We didn’t even need to make our own food, now that’s what I call camping!
The next day brought us lounging around in the warm fresh water of Lake Wabby, with little fish sucking dead skin off my legs, Catfish swimming past, and the occasional turtle sticking it’s head up in the distance. Final stop for the day was Lake Allom, with it’s little turtles swimming next to the shore, hanging around with their little ET like heads sticking up, until we got in for a swim that is!
With all the wildlife and lakes it’s easy to see why the aborignals call it the paradise island! It certainly feels like we’ve been in paradise for the last few days. Sure beats work anyway 😉

After a quick bodyboard to wake us up, we booked a trip to Fraser Island, and drove what must be our longest drive so far – 200kms non-stop. The only thing that did warrant a detour was the Big Pineapple, just as we left Mooloolaba. It has that 70’s kitsch about it, essentially a 3 storey plastic pineapple you can walk up the inside of, for great views over a couple of pineapple patches, and what has to be the most optimistically sized car park for said attraction.
Anyway, we’ve made it to Hervey Bay and are now raring to go on our little 2 day adventure to Fraser Island!