Day 1: Flight to Brisbane. Off to a rough start as our bags were all overweighted and we ended up having to pay an extra $70 to check on of them. After arriving in the early evening and taking a complimentary shuttle to our hostel where I’ve never been so terrified by the characters that we stopped to pick up, the 5 of us cooked dinner together. Ofcourse this is when I call it a night, and thankfully convince Mellanie to stay in with me so I didn’t have to spend the evening with the 3 random (smelly) men that we shared a room with that night.
Day 2: After coming to terms with the fact that our lack of planning of this adventure lead to many of our plans being fully booked (ie 4wheel driving and camping on Fraser Island) we decided to stay in Brisbane another night and explore the city. Fortunately the weather couldn’t have been any more beautiful. We went to the museum, the botanical gardens, Parliament, and the south bank. After upgrading to a smaller room (wayyy worth the extra dollar) we had dinner at the hostel and headed out to see the night life. Nothing really exciting to report here.
Day 3: Bright and early we set off on the first leg of the road trip. Slightly detoured an extra hour or two north as there were no Hostels available in Rainbow Beach, the town that we needed to be in. We made it to Hervey bay before sunset though and got to play in the ocean surrounded by hundreds of parrots flying about in the trees which was lovely. Until Isaiah made me get in a fight with the man at the tourist center. Sometimes I just lack patience for rude people. I was slightly bummed to not have made it to a Good Friday service, but overall good day that legit ended at 9pm. (oh yea we’re party animals!)
Day 4: 5am. Rise and shine! Back on the road. Destination: Fraser Island!!! We ended up doing a day trip tour there. Again the weather was incredible and Lake Mackenzie was the clearest body of water I’d ever swam in. We got to see a dingo and other wild creatures. And explored the rainforest.
Day 5: I can’t really be sure when day 4 ends and day 5 starts and we decided to drive straight through the night to save money on hostels and avoid traffic. Maybe we can break the 2 days apart with our one stop for food in GinGin. Good times... 13 hours later in a cramped car with 5 people. There were moments I didn’t think I was gonna make it… Probably the biggest around 3 am when all our calculations pointed to running out of gas before we reached any civilization to fill up. Anyway, we got in around 6 am and all passed out on the beach (I stay in the car) for hours until we could check into our hostel. This was definitely my favorite hostel! It was family owned, and we had our own cabin with 2 bedrooms and our own kitchen! We layed out in Arlie Beach Lagoon in the afternoon and cooked up and Easter Feaster for dinner! This consisted of lamb chops, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, garlic bread, champagne, and Tim Tams J
Day 6: Argh Matey! We set sail. This is the last of the sun that I would see for what felt like eternity. But we’ll get to that… Monday’s weather was spectacular. Watching the sun set behind the islands in the vast open ocean. Apparently the term “smooth sailing” is a gross exaggeration… I missed the boat on that one. Eventually I got to know the ropes and battened down the hatches by avoiding the splash zone. (Okay Pun attack over I think..) Tomorrows weather is what would really take the wind out of my sails (last one!)
Day 7: Made up of lots of fun people, lots of good food, and lots and lots of rain… Fortunately when you’re snorkeling on the great barrier reef its kind of irrelevant. I only hit a low when I was chilled to the bone after taking one for the team being shafted with one raincoat short on the boat, someone had to do it, and I didn’t want to rock the boat (ßsee what I did there!). Then slicing off a nice chunk of my foot on a barnacle! Fortunately, it is not humanly possible to be in a bad mood when you are sitting on the most beautiful beach in the entire world, White Haven.
Day 8: One last snorkeling adventure in the reef before we headed back to shore. After a record long shower, record long nap, and overhaul of our hostel to find my lost ring we headed out to spend one last evening with “the boat people”. I enjoyed our new friends company even more on the comfort of land! I may or may not have even got up and sang 500 miles with the live music on stage : /
Day 9: “Rain rain go away, your running the Whitsundays!” Shockingly I awoke before everyone today which just meant more hours laying on the couch watching movies, which is what we did. All. Day. It was actually nice to have a day to literally do absolutely nothing, worry about nothing, and just relax. I only wish this could have been achieved whilst getting extremely tan on the beach… Clearly being too much to ask I accepted our fate for this day and looked forward to the INCREDIBLE dinner the 5 of us shared together at one of the best seafood restaurants in Australia. I’m still enjoying it in my mind…
Day 10: All great things must come to an end. Queensland, you have been good to me. But I am ready to go home! Three buses, one ferry, and one airplane later I finally arrive back at my apartment just in time for a Royal Wedding Soirée at the Lemon Tree House.
It’s been real. It’s been fun. It’s been real fun! Until Next time!
"In this world we are just beginning, do you understand the miracle of living? baby I was afraid before but I'm not afraid anymore! Oo baby do you know what thats worth? Oo Heaven is a place on earth!" -Belinda Carlisle <-- My friends were forced to listen to me sing this all week... Atleast I think they're still my friends?
you captured a rare photo of my wolf relatives! i also love the pic of you with the trees in the beautiful water!!!!!
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