The Ultimate Roadtrip - Part 4 - The Final Leg

So the adventure continued. As we were going to complete the mammoth drive from Cape Trib to Noosa in just two days I had been given the task of finding somewhere to spend the night. Not being satisfied with just staying anywhere I spent hours perusing the various guide books we had accumulated and eventually found the ideal place. So, at about 7pm after a full days driving (thank you Adam) we left the main road and began heading inwards towards Eugella National Park, home of the platypus. Now, at this point I feel that it is important to point out that I am English and on English maps when something looks close to the main road on the map it generally is . . . obviously this is not the case in a country as enormous as Australia. We drove, and drove, and drove, and eventually found ourselves at the entrance to the one hotel this National Park had to offer where I was was sent inside to discover if there was anywhere nearby we could grab a bite to eat and pitch our tents. You have to remember that when I got up that morning I had been in quite a warm (if slightly damp) climate and had spent the whole day in the car . . . I was obviously dressed accordingly and therefore attracted very strange looks from the clientele of the hotel who were wearing coats and gloves and sitting round fires. Upon discovering that this was in fact the only place to eat the three of us descended onto this odd restaurant which resembled something like the inside of a ski chalet from the late 1960's and after a bizarre meal we left, directions in hand, and set out to find our campsite.

Now, I should probably tell you that we were beginning to run pretty low on fuel, we had after all not really meant to venture quite this far inland. So, it was crucial that we followed the very simple directions and arrived at the campsite as quickly as possible. So, with all eyes peeled we were surprised when we got to the end of the road without any sightings of a camp ground. Faced with the dilemma of sleeping in the car at the National Park car park or trying to discover the evasive campsite we decided to give the latter one last try. Turning round we began a slow drive back along the road (at which point the car in front of us seemed to think we were stalking it and sped off into the distance). Luckily we weren't forced to sleep in the car as the campsite miraculously appeared out of the darkness, we did however all sleep together in one tent, cosy!

We had to get up very early the next day in order to get to the river for dawn which is apparently the time when the platypus' (platypus' or platypi?!) are the most active. After staring at quite a few long brown still objects which I later discovered were logs a platypus appeared. They really are quite incredible creatures . . . they lay eggs but suckle their young, have fur but also a beak, therefore making them pretty unique (in case you were wondering they are officially categorised as mammals). I don't think that Ad or Owen were convinced that they were worth the combination of the long drive out here and the ridiculously early morning but I thought that they were pretty cool . . after all, it's not every day you get to see a wild platypus. So, it was back to the car for another ridiculously long day travelling. After a painful 12hours drive with just a handful of CD's to keep us amused we eventually arrived in Noosa and set out for a well earned night on the town.

We spent an awesome few days in Noosa, chilling out on the beuatiful beaches duing the day and then drinking our way through the many different Australian beers by night. One day Owen discovered that nearby was a nudist beach and managed to persuade us to venture over there (did I stand a chance voting against two boys?). Imagine Ad and O's horror when we arrived to find only two people on the beach, both retired males who were most definately naked - not quite what they had in mind!

All too soon the end of our fabulous road trip was in sight. We headed back to Brisbane where our friend Yo (one of the other Tanzanian volunteers) had offered to put us up for the last couple of nights. We spent our first night together just chilling out, watching films (which inlcuded Wolf Creek - so glad we did this at the end of our trip and not at the start!) and taking full advantages of being in a nice warm house while it tipped it down outside (no having to try to dodge the raindrops when you needed the loo - bliss!).

What better place to spend our last day in the land of all things dangerous and scary than at Steve Irwin's Zoo! Had an awesome day (despite the rain which appeared to be following us around this supposed drought ridden country) seeing all the kinds of wildlife that Australia is famous for. We patted Kangaroos, saw lots of killer snakes (did you know that the ten most dangerous snakes in the world are inidgenous to this fair land?) and watched crocodiles stalk a very brave man who was holding chunks of meat which he luckily managed to let go of at the last minute and so prevented his hand from being bitten off!

Yo sent us off with a blast (almost quite literally!). She had built a huge bonfire and despite the rain we were determined to enjoy it, so, beers in hand we set off into the garden to get the enormous creation lit. As it had been raining all day Yo and Ad decided it would be a great idea to douse the bonfire in parafin before they tried to light it. Not thinking it was such a great idea I took a back seat while matches were thrown at it but both being pyramaniacs they knew just what they were doing and before long we had an amazing roaring fire.

The night gradually descended into drunken anarchy as usual and ended with Yo lying on the soaking wet grass laughing hysterically and Adam jumping over (yes over!) the bonfire!

All too soon our Aussie adventure had come to an end. We both felt really sad at the aiport saying bye to O and having last minute chats with our down under friends. Maybe though our sadness was heightened by the prospect of leaving the sunshine behind us and heading over to a freezing cold New Zealand. Winter, here we come!

The Ultimate Roadtrip - Part 3 - Cairns to Cape Tribulation

Now don't get me wrong, Cairns is a nice enough place but it doesn't really warrant driving hundreds of kilometres up the East Coast to visit, it is after all, just a small town. However, there is something this far North that does deserve such dedication and we decided to hop on a boat and see it . . .we were off to see the awesome sight that is the Great Barrier Reef. Reportedly the only living thing you can see from Space the Great Barrier Reef is simply enormous. Covering somewhere between 280,000 and 344,000 square kilometres it is the largest living thing on earth and therefore definately worth driving such a colossal distance to visit.

So, on our first day as a three we got up pretty early to discover that we had had torrential rain during the course of the night. The storm had brought to Owen's attention that maybe his bargain tent wasn't such a great buy as unfortunately it didn't appear to be waterproof. He'd spent the night sleeping inside two sleeping bags but assured us that this meant he could hardly feel the rain drops that fell on him. Although we were moving on that eveing we decided to abandom our tents on the campsite for the day in the hope that the outsides (and in the case of Owen's tent, the inside too) would dry out; there really is nothing more vile than trying to sleep in a damp, mouldy smelling tent!

On reaching the harbour I was delighted to discover that our boat was rather big as I tend to suffer from sea sickness and did think that this could ruin the experience somewhat! Even better were the free sea-sickness tablets available. I helped myself to a few and settled back to enjoy the ride.

As the journey got underway it was evident that medication was more or less compulsary for most as the boat rocked around on the waves. Strolling about the boat became a near impossible task as it rolled around on the waves meaning that even the slightest movement began to require a considerable amount of co-ordination. We decided that the best plan was to simply sit outside and enjoy the view. Suddenly, the rocking stopped and the boat began to smoothly glide through the water . . . we had arrived.

Recently learning that the Great Barrier Reef contains at least 1500 species of fish and 400 types of coral I was eager to don my wetsuit and venture into the underwater world. Luckily there were only four qualified divers on board our boat so we were the first into the water.
What greeted us as we descended below the surface of the water was incredible. Coral as tall as a person and fish that were so brightly coloured they looked as though they were out of a cartoon. Swimming around and being surrounded by such amazing wildlife was simply awesome, words just can't describe it. Just before the end of our first dive we spotted a sting ray lurking close to the sea bed . . . pretty special to see. Our second dive was even better. We hadn't been in the water long when we saw a huge turtle . . we were thrilled and then things got even better. Swimming round a particularly large coral we literally swam into another turtle that was feeding, it was so close we could touch it and it didn't seem at all bothered by us.

After our amazing day we ventured back to the campsite to find slightly drier tents and Owen was pleased to discover that the puddles inside his tent had completely evaporated. We put the tents down in record time, hopped in the car and were once again on our way.

We had one last Northern destination to visit before we began the long drive back to Brisbane; Cape Tribulation. Clearly we hadn't learnt from previous experience as we began this trip at about five o'clock in the eveing with no idea of where we were going to spend the night. As we drove Northwards it began to get darker, and darker, and darker. The roads got narrower and
narrower and instead of being on quite a main road (the type that Australians refer to as
motorways but back home would just be a normal road) we found ourselves on a quiet winding
country lane. Every mile or so we were faced with warning signs about cassawarries and things
were starting to feel a little creepy. We eventually found ourselves at the edge of a lake . . a lake
I must add that had no bridge across it. We'd read about this in our ever reliable guidebook so
weren't fazed at the sight . . however, we were quite bemused as to why no one had ever built a
bridge. The ferry across takes a meagre four minutes, it's hardly a vast expanse, surely a bridge would be a more suitable method of crossing?! Anyway, I digress, as we were waiting for the ferry to appear Ad decided that this would be the perfect toilet break, despite the likely presence of killer cassawarries and murderers. He was quite offended when as he got out we leant over and locked the door behind him, no reason to let the murderer get all of us now was there! Eventually the tiny ferry arrived and took us to the other side of the lake which we soon discovered was even spookier. The combinaton of the road winding through the oppresive rain forest and the thought of an immenent cassawarrie attack was making us feel more than slightly apprehensive. To make matters worse we were driving through torrential rain and every stream we crossed was bulging, threatening to flood the road at any minute. Abandoning the idea of sleeping in tents we pulled up outside a small farm that advertised available rooms. The owner was amazed when Owen appeared at the door, she couldn't believe that we had got through as she presumed the roads would already have been flooded due to the 10cm (yes I mean cm not mm!) of rain that had fallen during the last twenty four hours! She politely assured us that it wouldn't be long before the roads were unpassable and we would be stranded!

Bearing this in mind we rose pretty early the next day and after a quick stroll through the rain forest (making lots of noise to keep snakes away and always keeping close to trees - apparently a key to surviving a cassawarry attack) we were on our way again, eager to escape while we still could.

The Ultimate Roadtrip - Part 2 - Brisbane to Cairns

And then we were four. We were feeling quite depressed after the departure of our fifth member and so decided to abandon the original plan to stay in Brisbane and instead hired a car, turned the radio up full (NOT THE CRAP CD'S THOUGH!) and headed north.

By the time we reached Rainbow Beach (our planned destination) we were all feeling much better and we were looking forwards to a good meal and a few cheeky beers. However, as we drove around the small (and I mean very small!) town we noticed that there were no lights on anywhere, in fact everywhere was well and truly shut! Looking back, maybe we were a bit naive, we did try to call ahead though and it was only about nine pm! The town being closed posed for us two immediate problems; we had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat! Arghh . . maybe our spontaneous decision wasn't going to be as successful as we'd hoped! After a hilarious conversation with a very grumpy campsite owner who wouldn't let us stay at his site and some frantic conversations with Ozzie friends (they began something like "can you be arrested for camping on the side of the road here?" followed by laughter from the other end of the line and then a demand for an explanation before an answer would be provided, which was always "I'm not really sure!") we met a couple of fishermen. Looking back I'm pretty glad that non of us had seen Wolf Creek at this point as these random guys who we had never met before said that they knew of somewhere we could stay and it just happened that they were heading in that direction now so why didn't we just follow them. So, after locking all of the doors, we began to follow them. The roads became narrower and narrower and darker and darker. Either side of us there were just forests, no sign of human life, if we screamed no one would hear us! Eventually the car in front pulled over and one of the fishermen jumped out . . . and said "you can camp anywhere around here mate, should be fine!" and with that they drove off. Australians are really very friendly!

So, we found ourselves a nice secluded bit of sandy ground well away from the road and put our tents up. Well, to be honest we only put up one of our tents and the four of us spent the night squeezed in it as we were still pretty freaked out about being in the middle of nowhere and to make matters worse we could hear wild dogs!

We woke up bright and early the next day (maybe because it was about 50 degrees in the tent with the four of us in!) and set off to explore Fraser Island in a 4WD that Adam refers fondly to as The BIG Beast! (3.4 litre V8!!!!!! WAAHOO!) In true passenger style Meg and I promptly fell asleep when we arrived on Fraser Island and missed most of the first drive along the awesome wide, sandy beach (not that we missed much as we did the hourney at least another 10 times). After whizzing along the beach for hours we eventually arrived at Indians Point, all feeling quite excited as we had heard great stories about shark viewings from this awesome vantage point above the ocean. Unfortunately though, we had no such luck, we couldn't even see any fish! A little disappointed we decided that after the events of the night before we would be sensible and go and find a place to camp before the sun set, so, off we went. We found a gorgeous spot, right on the beach, pitched our tents, set up the BBQ and were all relaxing (beer and goon in hand of course) and feeling very proud of ourselves when a random bloke came and told us that we were in fact camped in a no camping zone! By this time it was very dark and we we couldn't really move our tents. Worried we asked the bloke for his advice and he assured us we should be able to avoid the rangers (and their hefty fines) as long as we moved on in the morning very early!

Luckily for us we managed to escape early the next morning before being spotted by the rangers and we spent the day exploring the island, or should I say being bumped to death by Ad who was driving our 4x4. In fact, it was so bumpy that lots of the beers in the ice box exploded, then the lid came of the ice box so all of the beer ran out into the back of the pick up, all over our pillows, it made them smell errrr . . . fragrant! We all had an awesome day watching turtles, swimming and, much to everyones delight, shark spotting!

So after the fun of Fraser we headed up to Airly Beach and booked a sailing trip round the Whitsundays. As we were finally back in civilisation we felt that we ought to take full advantage of the facilities available and so headed out into the town for a few drinks. Much to Owen's delight we ended the night at a foam party! It was hilarious! Random people kept picking us up and throwing us into the foam, which although looked very soft and spongy, definately wasn't. By the end of the night we all looked like drowned rats. Woke up feeling pretty groggy the next day and covered in cuts, bruises and carpet style burns! Ouch!

Sailing around the Whitsundays was awesome. The first day aboard was fab - blue skies, calm sea, snorkelling - this is the life! However, the next day was a different story, the sky was a shade of battleship grey, the sea so choppy that I thought I was going to throw up any moment/be thrown over board!, and boy did it rain. It just tipped it down all day! We were dropped off at Whitsunday Island to go and see the famous Whitehaven Beach and the crew didn't come back for us for about 2 hours! It rained the entire time and what can you do at the beach in the rain in jellyfish season!?! Not a lot! Still had an amazing couple of days though.

Next stop . . . Cairns, where we lost another of our group. This time it was Meg who was flying back to England and leaving me to travel with the two boys (I'll forgive you eventually Megs!). So then we were just three . . . . but the roadtrip continued!

The Ultimate Roadtrip - Part 1 - Sydney to Brisbane!

So having planned the first leg of our OZ road trip with Owen, Megan and Liz the only thing we had do was to get a good early night before we set off! That was the plan, but not what happened. In addition to the 5 of us on the road trip meeting for the first time in months, another of our friends, Miff, decided that she would drive down from Canberra to get in on the action. It was all very simple, everyone met up, went for a meal and then went for a few drinks, then some more drinks, then some more drinks, then back to Megan’s place for more drinks! The effect of this however was not so simple, Owen started to steal “no smoking” signs from pubs, Miff lost her ability to walk and even stay awake, everyone thought they could sing when even talking was a challenge and then everyone went to sleep (drunk!).

So probably not the best preparation for the road trip, and not surprisingly the early start ended up being more of an early afternoon start! The next problem came in the form of lots of luggage that hadn’t seemed quite so big until we tried to get it into the car. What followed was a 3D jigsaw puzzle involving a car boot and bags that would rival anything ever seen on the Krypton factor (but it all went in….. in the end)

So off we went, first stop Port Macquarie. After our early start it was no surprises when we got there in the dark, especially considering the girls made me drive the scenic route for 100km! Putting up tents in the dark is always fun especially for “I don’t do camping” Megan, who failed to mention that she didn’t have a sleeping bag until we were almost at the camp site. After the drama of the tents it was a relief to chill out and have a good old fashioned OZ BBQ (with a few beers of course).

While the girls went off swimming the next morning it was left for Owen and I to take down the tents and pack the car up (lazy bloody girls, they don’t even do the cooking!) and we were off again. Nearing our destination of Wooloorugo (or something like that) we stopped of at the nearby Coffs Harbour information centre to see if we could get some information on campsites. When we mentioned where we were staying the women in the centre grilled and reprimanded us for not staying in Coffs Harbour, including the statement “well errrr, what is wrong with staying here then!” and “I don’t really know much about that place so I can’t really help” So we blindly stumbled on and found a site (in the dark again) with a swimming pool and slide. WOW a swimming pool and a slide I hear you say, what fun. Well, it was at 2 in the morning when Owen and I (after 1 or 2 beers) decided that this was the best thing in the world and experimented different ways of going down the slide and risking injury! The other development of this evening was the production of a road trip CD using Megan’s i-tunes and computer (important camping equipment Meg!). We had grown a little sick of the radio already and thought that this would be great. However what actually happened was…… Megan and Liz filled 3 Cd's with the same songs that were crap (the best 2 songs being Billy Idol, White wedding and Boy George, Do you really want to hurt me?!) So after 4 hours of crap Cd's with hangovers the next day we were back to the radio again (PHEW!).

Next stop Byron Bay where we found a lovely campsite that was full of hippies and other people that didn’t wash much. However it was close to the town and facilitated another night of drinking and fun which included Liz putting a whole mobile phone in her mouth, Owen showing parts of his body that aren't supposed to see the sun, me becoming an acrobat and showing how I could flip over (on nice soft concrete!), Meg just generally being very drunk and then Ellie pretending to be dead. We also discovered (at 3:30am) that the smelly inhabitants of our campsite liked to go to bed early, WHOOPS!

It was no surprise that the next day was spent recovering on the beach and what fun we had. We body boarded until dizzy and then Owen and I dug the biggest hole in the history of Australia (and then left it for the evening to see if anyone would fall in drunk for us to find the following morning!). This photo shows us in the very early stages of 'hole construction' . . .I think the girls were too fed up with us to take photos later on!

To reinforce what a bad influence Liz, Meg and Owen are on us that night we were forced (!) to play drinking games and guess what, everyone got a little tipsy again. Now I know what you're thinking, this road trip sounds like 5 people getting drunk most nights and errrr . . . you would be correct! Most memorable thing to happen this evening was the trolley "roller coaster" I put some of Meg's friends through!

So, the next day was again spent recovering on the beach and being battered by waves that we were attempting to body surf on. Oh, and we buried the girls in the hole that we had made the day before! They got in of their own free will -IDIOTS!!!! (IT'S A LOT MORE PAINFUL THAN IT LOOKS . . BELIEVE ME!) Then it was time to leave Byron Bay and we headed North again to a quiet beach near surfers paradise where we spent the evening in preparation for the following day at WET & WILD! What can I say? What a day! Wet and Wild is a huge water park, outdoors (imagine the water park at Stoke, only 100 times bigger, 100 times better, with no stinking chavs and in glorious sunshine! And not in bloddy Stoke!) that has rides similar to the water park we visited in Vietnam, only they are safe. We all had the most amazing day and acted like little kids running from one ride to the next and refusing to leave until the park was actually shut and the water was turned off!

After a hard day at the water park it was onto Brisbane where we would meet up with another of our friends from Tanzania, Yoland (Yo) who lives just outside Brisbane and was going to show us the sites for the evening. You will not be surprised to hear that the night was another drunken fiasco that included being turned away from a gay club because Meg was wearing a rubber thong, (I was very surprised to learn this and wondered how he knew about Megs strange underwear fetish, until I remembered that thongs are flip flops!) playing drinking games in a very nice jazz bar that ended in Yo losing the ability to speak, walk and stay awake (just like her friend Miff in Sydney!), Liz getting very drunk and making a speech (as she was about to leave us) which no one could remember the next day, Owen blowing bubbles through a straw into my beer and bartering with the man at the pizza shop for a cheaper bulk buy rate (hhmmm). So once again a very drunk evening!

It was only natural that the next day should be a very somber affair. Not only because of the few drinks from the night before but also because Liz was flying home. So it was coffee and big breakfasts all round as we waited for the hangover to subside and for the time when Liz would have to go.