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!