Byron Bay, Australia

I really enjoyed my Fraser Island jeep safari last week, thanks to having a great mix of people (11 of us). Amongst others were girls who had been studying in Syndey (a Dutch girl as an exchange student at Syndey University and three Swiss girls at a language school in Manly); one girl who worked at the hostel organising the trip (very useful as she knew what to do, where to go..); a Swedish hitchhiker, and a Scottish girl who'd been working in Syndey and Brisbane. We squeezed into the Toyota Troop Carrier, with our luggage and obscene amounts of food (we ate most of it over the three days) strapped to the roof. Got the ferry from Hervey Bay to Fraser Island, switched into 4WD and bounced along... I felt pretty nauseous by the third day! Great fun though. Fraser is the biggest sand island in the world, and there are inland tracks past stunning freshwater lakes and through rainforest, as well as the 'highway' along the beach. We soon worked out that driving as close to the sea as possible on the hard wet sand (without driving IN the sea!) was the way forward, but sometimes the softer sand was unavoidable and we got stuck. Whenever that happened we all screamed, then got out and pushed while the driver revved the choking engine! Most people had a shot at driving, and it was always easiest first thing in the morning when hardly any vehicles had made deep tracks in the sand, and it was wet from the receding tide. Everyone chose to swear loudly in their mother tongue when things went wrong. 'Holy mother o' God' (and worse) was popular with the two lovely Irish sisters, and 'Scheisse' was the Swiss girls' top choice. As a primarily female group we also got really good at screaming all the time, at every bump, or when it seemed the vehicle might tip over. At the 4WD hire place we'd been shown enticing photos of a tipped over jeep and were told 'help was hours away' and 'luckily no one died'. True Ozzie optimism. Apart from admiring the stunning landscape and screaming a lot we were also looking upwards for airplanes as the beach was not just a road (80kmh max) but also a landing strip! There were also a lot of suicidal fishermen standing in the shallows in their waders and sitting ducks for jeeps to hit. Luckily we didn't hit any. Fraser Island also has a dingo population which is apparently the most purebred in Australia, but we only saw one, which was extremely inquisitive and came up to the jeep and rolled around in the sand. It had clearly been fed by humans. We had also been warned not to approach dingoes and not to be aggressive towards them unless they attacked us, in which case we should give them a proper beating. Lovely. Other dangers included the rip tides and sharks in the sea, and of course spiders on the campsite.
The first day the weather was mixed. We stopped off at Lake Wabby and those brave enough took a dip, but soon after we got there it started raining so we walked back to the jeep (not a short walk). We also stopped at Eli Creek and waded along it - crystal clear water here too. We got to the campsite in the afternoon and pitched our tents. It was quite a good site with hot showers (2$ for 4 minutes!) and gas stoves, BBQ and several tables under cover. We barbequed the first night - absolutely delicious and had so much left over that we enjoyed chicken and sausage sandwiches the next day. There were several other groups and a fair bit of drinking, though curfew was at nine, after which people were asked to move to the beach if they wanted to continue drinking. Most of us crashed early though as we were exhausted, apart from an annoying German group - one guy in particular was intent on waking the entire camp in the middle of the night. We could hear him shrieking like a mad chicken and when people shouted at him to shut up I heard him say he would go over and kill them, or collapse their tents. Think he might have had too much goon (cheap wine made with fish guts - apparently long-term effects included mental illness, so maybe he'd overdone it a bit).
On day two the weather was worse, and it rained heavily in the afternoon when we were at Indian Heads (a lookout point from which we could see mantas and dolphins in the sea before) and Champagne Pools (a natural rock pool into which the sea bubbled). We were back at the campsite by two pm! We spent the rest of the day eating and drinking and warming up under hot showers.
On day three it cheered up considerably. We packed up the tents and stopped off at a shipwreck on the way to the lakes. One of the roads was blocked by a fallen tree trunk (and one poor group was stuck on the other side without enough fuel to detour - they made it to the ferry though) so we only went to one of the lakes, Lake Mackenzie, which was stunning - white sand and clear water. But only just warm enough for sunbathing and only the mad people swam! When we stopped for lunch we saw two very tame Kookaburras and they sat and watched us for ages. Again, I think someone fed them...

I set off for Brisbane the next day, where I had almost three days. I really enjoyed being back in a city, and had company from the jeep safari (everyone does the same route) so that was great. Brisbane is a little bit flashy sometimes, especially some of the younger guys in their stupid sportscars, but the river is nice and it has green parks on the South Bank, where I went to the Art Gallery, and there are loads of nice shops on Queen Street. A lot of business people around as well, so tons of bars and restaurants aimed at that sort of crowd. On the last day I went out to the Lone Pine Sanctuary, which houses koalas, kangaroos, wombats, and a couple of other critters. Took lots of pictures as you could get up close and feed some of them.

I'm now in Byron Bay, leaving this evening for Syndey. It's the nicest beach town I've been in, with lots of trendy boutiques and cute cafes and restaurants. The beach is beautiful too but wild horses couldn't get me into the water as it's very cold here (have crossed the border into New South Wales), so no surfing lessons for me! Yesterday I walked up to the Lighthouse and watched the sunset and am just puddling around town today, trying not to spend any money! I also booked my bus pass for New Zealand yesterday (can't believe I'll already be there next week!) and am going with Magic Bus. The ticket includes the Tranzalpine train journey which is the first thing I do when I get there and promises to be absolutely stunning.