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!
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!
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!
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