Seans first blog post

Once again the rain passed and we faced a tough decision. Being at rainbow beach meant we could see the largest sand island in the world from the shore, but with only rugged sand roads and beaches to drive on, the only way to explore it is to go by 4WD. It's not advised to take your own vehicle, especially when it's pretty much everything you own, but Danny and Lauren (our new travel buddies) had already been looking at tours and it was not something we could afford. Upset and heart broken I poured myself a lovely cup of rum and coke while Alex guzzled her wine. In the morning Danny decided to cut all his hair off which cheered our spirits up as we could laugh about his new look. We all met at the beach to play a little football (next to Fraser Island) where me and Alex thought we would go for it. We would go to Fraser Island with our beloved car.

All four of us unpacked our things into Danny and Lauren's van (tent included to reduce the weight) and set off at 5am the next morning. We decided to split everything between the 4 of us to keep it cheap. We were all excited and ready for the adventure ahead. Within minutes of departing the short ferry we could see why people were advised not to bring your own car as the 'roads' were so rough with the soft and hard sand, trees, logs, tree roots, dips and puddles. It certainly made it an interesting but bumpy ride.

The trip itself was very nice and we had lots to see, although Danny's head made it hard to at times due to the reflections from the sun (sorry I had to put one in). We first stopped to have breakfast next to one of the many lakes and then continued to the famous lake Mckenzie to try and beat the crowds. When arrived it was really nice but it was already packed as it is the main selling point of the island.

Lake McKenzie

The pinnacles

The wildlife was great to see and we managed to get some great pictures of the dingos on the beach as soon as we arrived. Continuing on we stopped at the shipwreck and then up to Indian head where we go to see multiple turtles and some Hawks or eagles... well some kind of bird. The views were amazing. It was nice to stop and relax and to have a break from being thrown around in the car. We literally could have sat there for the rest of the day but time was pushing on. We then decided to go have a dip in the 'champagne pools' and then cook our evening meal of sausage casserole.

Indian head

Champagne pools

Dinner on our knees and enjoying life none of us kept an eye on the time. The meal was disrupted by 'oh no! It's 4:30! We were just over an hour away from the ferry and the last one was at 5:30 or so we thought. The tide was out which meant it was a nice smooth drive back so I put my foot down to try beat the time. We all felt could make it until a ledge made from a little stream going to the sea appeared from nowhere. BANG. The car dropped and steam went everywhere from the water hitting the underside of the car. It now sounded like a boat. I jumped out and I saw that it was just the pipe to the back box of the exhaust that had slightly come apart so I carried on racing to the ferry.

We all accepted we would be spending a night on the island when we found out that the last ferry stopped at 5:15 so we had actually missed it by quite a while. When we got to the ferry port me and Danny tinkered with the car which I managed to fix while Alex and Lauren spotted dolphins that swam right next to the shore. A few minutes later we saw a beautiful sunset. Things weren't that bad.

We pulled over in a little woodland area where we would later try and get some sleep. Alex ended up getting bitten of the head three times. The bites swelled up so big, which again lightened up the mood as we all laughed at her new horns. Unfortunately she wouldn't let us get a photo. We also managed to see a strange kind of moon-set as it was bright orange and set over the horizon at about 10PM. We all thought it look amazing and weird. The girls didn't like getting out of the car to go to the toilet as they were scared of the dingos attacking and we couldn't really wind our windows down either because of all the bugs so the car was unbelievably hot. It was then time to try and get some sleep.

After a very horrible night we waited for the ferry. We arrived back at 6:30 AM and all very grumpily cleaned and prepared our things and the car so we could hit the road again. Once we were showered we could start to laugh about what just happened. Overall it was a great day.

We weren't in any rush to get to our next stop Noosa, so on the way we took a break at a rest stop for a little while. We got the ball out to play catch or should I say attempted to play. Alex's throws were some what hit and miss. Many of them end up perfectly in my hand and others just got thrown up in the air with Alex running to catch them. It had been a good way to pass some time.

With it being Lauren's birthday coming up we had being trying to think of something small to get her and made a quick stop at Coles (the supermarket) to get her a card and the card game, uno. We thought it would be nice as I remember when I received nothing for my birthday in Vietnam which wasn't nice (a dig at Alex there). Anyway another night at a free camp. We couldn't believe how nice it felt to lie down, the first time since Fraser Island. We were out cold.

Now in Noosa, which was unbelievably busy, we decided to do the coastal walk where supposedly loads of koalas live. The walk was about 13km and was really nice but unfortunately we didn't get to see any because of the wind that day.  We were a little disappointed but it was still worth the walk. After, we met up with our buddies and gave Lauren her birthday present and card. We were then later joined up with Debbie and Emma (our other friends who come and go) and all went for some drinks at the hostel. We all song happy birthday and then stuffed our faces with chocolate gateaux before heading to the restaurant down the road. All of us picked the cheapest option on the meal which was some well needed, well cooked, non camping food. To our surprise Debby and Emma paid for everyone's meals which was great and upsetting as I'd have picked steak had I known ;)

Noosa coastal walk

In the morning we all rented some free surfboards from the hostel and headed for the beach. We haven't surfed before and was told it would be quite hard without lessons. The beach was jam packed and considering the surfing ettiequte rules which basically says if your a beginner get off the wave when someone else is on it, made it very hard. I ended up catching 3 waves. One I just body boarded to the beach, the second I tried to stand up but saw rock so jumped off and the third I actually stood up but then fell off after a couple of seconds.

We are now sat waiting for the washing to be done in the laundrette and don't have a plan of where our next stop will be.

:)