Tuesday 8th March

I woke up this morning a very warm boy, thanks to the new duvet! We got up and missed the morning surf. So we had lunch and then went out for a surf until 3pm. We then decided to go play 'kangaroo golf' We got on the mini bus and drove to the local golf course. It was $5 for club rental and a bucket of balls. It was such a laugh hitting them about and trying to aim for thew holes. We soon ran out of balls and headed back to camp. The three of us then sat on the beach with a paddle pop for a while then had dinner. After the dinner, we decided to share a box of goon, and had a good night playing drinking games with the rest of the camp.

Monday 7th March

Woke up this morning freezing cold because my duvet smelt vile when I went to go to bed last night so I threw it on the floor and just slept in my sleeping bag liner. The weather still wasn't great outside.. We got up and had breakfast which was also a huge portion. We then put our boardies and rashies, and went for a morning surf. I've never surfed before in my life and we decided not to bother with lessons and just do the 'Lewis Jones crash course on surfing' Turned out to be a good course as I was catching waves and standing up within minutes! We were out in the surf for a good 2 hours before we got bored and decided to come in for some lunch ( unlimited sandwiches .. can't go wrong!) By this time all the clouds had disappeared and all we had for the rest of the day was baking hot sunshine! We went back out for an evening surf then came back in for dinner. After dinner there was a massive game of musical chairs involving the whole surf camp which was a laugh.Then I went back to fresh bedding! What a day!

Sunday 6th March

We got up this morning around 9 am and had breakfast. Finally we had some Sun!! Typical.. the day we were leaving Byron, we get nice weather.. Me and Lewis decided to walk to the beach and get some photographs of Byron bay Beach as we hadn't taken many photos due to bad weather! We then caught our bus out to a very small town called Woolgoolga. The bus driver wouldn't let me on the bus with a 'singlet' on (vest) so I had to open my bag up and put a t shirt on before I could get on! The trip was around 2 hours and would you believe it, as we arrived.. It started raining! From Woolgoolga, we got a shuttle bus to Spot X. Spot X is a surf camp right next to the beach. We paid 80 dollars for 2 nights accommodation and breakfast, lunch and dinner vouchers. We stayed in a cabin, which was a nice change from a hostel. We met the other people in our cabin and then Lewis and Tom went for a surf. Your supposed to pay around 15 dollars for surfboard hire, But for the whole duration of our stay at Spot x we just took the surfboards without paying and so saved us a small fortune! After the surf sesh, the three of us and our other room mated had dinner, which was amazing! such huge portions and it was an ENGLISH ROAST! which i've missed a lot! After dinner we all had a game of killer pool with our new roomies and then one of the surf instructors joined it. In the end I won (of course) and we decided to go to bed as we had to be up early to catch the morning surf.

Saturday 5th March

We woke up today and the weather was still horrible. We left to go get lunch and dinner for later and as soon as we left the hostel, it started to chuck it down! We had to shelter under a tree for 15 mins because it was hitting so hard! We had another walk through town then decided it was best to stay indoors at the hostel as it just rained all day! Me and Lewis decided to go out at night, but ended up coming back early as the queues were all huge and we were too tired and also had to leave for Spot X the next morning.

Friday 4th March

We woke up and decided to walk to the most easterly point in Australia! The walk was really long and the weather was still rubbish! we thought we had got there but turned a corner and saw that it was still miles and miles away so decided to sit on the bench nearby and just enjoy the views of 'near the most easterly point in Aus' On the way back we decided to walk back via the beach, which was about 10 times faster than the way we had come! After we got off the beach we went into a few shops and then went to get dinner and another box of goon. We got back and cooked our dinner then had a few cups of wine in our room. We got chatting to some of the people from the room nextdoor and we all went out into town together. We went to a few bars together then headed back to our hostel around 2am.

Thursday 3rd March

We had to be up and ready to catch our Greyhound bus to Byron Bay at 11.20 this morning. The journey was around 2-3 hours long which wasn't too bad. We arrived in Byron and we hadn't booked any hostel, so we wondered around for ages looking for one with spaces. We were walking for ages in the humid heat which was horrible. Not what you want after a 3 hour coach drive! We finally arrived at a hostel which was right next to the beach which was good! We got settled in our room and went out to get some lunch. We took our lunch down to the beach and sat on the rocks and watched some hippy woman on drugs beat up an abbo, which was a bit of entertainment. We walked to the shops and bought dinner for later and spent the rest of the evening in the hostel as the weather was horrible today.

Wednesday 2nd March

Me and Lew got up really early today and went to an internet cafe to catch up with all our mates. We walked back and had breakfast, then We headed down to the beach for a big chunk of the day. We then got back and I decided to sort my rucksack out and have a nap. When I woke up we decided to go check out this huge sky tower in the center of the city. We got to the top just as it got dark which was a shame as it would have been nice to have got up there as the sun was setting. Still, the views were amazing! You could see how big the city actually was and how it comes to a halt as it hits the beach! It was impressive, but we preferred the skypark in Singapore by far. We stayed up there for nearly an hour just relaxing and enjoying the views. We then went to get dinner and had an early one as we had to catch our bus to Byron Bay the next day.

Tuesday 1st March

Today we went down to the city to see what it was like. It's quite a nice city. I like how its such a built up area with skyscrapers, but it goes right up to the beach. It's quite a contrast, the packed city meets the empty beach. After having a good look around the city, we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. We took the rugby ball again and Lewis and Tom went in the sea. I stayed on the beach and watched kite surfers which was good. In the evening we went to the shop and bought a 6 pac of tinnies and sat on the river bank and watched the sun set ( that's the life ey!!)
We walked to the shops to get dinner and came across a crazy golf course. We thought "why not" and had a round. It was a good laugh and pretty close too ! But of course I won! We then walked back and cooked dinner and played table tennis again which was also a good laugh.

Monday 28th February

We had to get up pretty early today, as we had to catch our greyhound bus at 11am. We had the best breakfast so far on our travels, thanks to Louise. She dropped us at the bus station and we said goodbye to everyone. It took around 2 hours to get to Surfers Paradise. We checked in at a hostel which was actually quite a nice one! We took a rugby ball and went down to the beach for the remainder of the evening. I'm not quite sure why they call it surfers paradise, because the waves were no way near close to being appropriate for surfing. Tom and Lewis went to the shops to get dinner, while I stayed at the hostel and watched this huge, fast spider run riot in the hostel. It was so funny to watch all the girls jumping up and dropping their drinks and laptops in fright! I went back to the dorm and spoke to the other two lads in our room, then the other 2 tunrned up and we had dinner (back to kangaroo meat) and played a bit of table tennis then went to bed.

Happy Birthday Dad :)

Sunday 27th February

We all got up pretty late and not feeling 100%. Bec had work at 1pm so Amy dropped Me, Tom and Lewis off in the main city of Brisbane. We walked to a place called Southbank which is the place where the lagoon is. It wasn't open though because of the destruction caused by the recent flooding.
We wondered around for a while reading about the floods etc and got approached by a news reporter for channel 7 and a camera man. They wanted a brief interview with me. I didn't have a clue about the flooding at all, but they insisted I gave my thoughts on what had happened.. I don't think they used my interview in the final cut though! We spent a lot of the day sat by the river people watching, which is really enjoyable in Brisbane as there is a lot of nutters there! We decided to buy Jess and Bec's parents a bottle of wine, flowers and a card to say thankyou for letting us stay with them and for feeding us, but more importantly letting us wash our horrible travellers clothes in their washing machine! We then went back to the Treby house. We Then all got ready to go out again to a place called 'the fox' where they did steaks for something stupid like $2 !! Me, Lew, Tom, Sam, Amy and Bec got dropped off in town. Turns out they stopped doing $2 steaks just before we arrived which was a shame. We then ended up going to Mcdonalds instead. We also decided to go back to Bec's house, rather than go out to a bar. So we headed back to the house and just spent the rest of the evening at the Treby's which was nice.

Saturday 26th February

We were woken up by Amy and Sam at 7.30 (waayyy to early!) Sam had to go to work today, so missed out on the waterpark. Jess had to fly back to her work today so we got ready to leave at 8ish and said goodbye to Jess. So Me,Lew,Tom,Bec and Amy drove to wet n' wild water park. We had to put up with the girls singing in the car for around 40 minutes until we arrived. It was a really nice day and it was a Saturday, so as you can imagine, the water park was packed! it was a brilliant day though! The main slide was closed today which was a shame, but we did all the other slides in the park which was good! We left around half 4 ish and drove back to Bec's house. We were all shattered from riding all those slides so just crashed on their sofas for a good hour or so. Louise (Bec & Jess's Mum) made us the best cheese ham and tomato toasties ever which woke us up a bit!
We then decided to go out into town again tonight, so we packed some clothes together and went to Amy's house. We bought another box of goon and some dinner to cook at Amy's house. We spent the majority of the night waiting for a maxi taxi to come and collect us from Amy's house to take us into town. We were waiting on her drive for nearly an hour! It finally arrived and we went into Brisbane town. We got to the bar/club and decided to ring up one of the travellers we had met in Airlie beach (Jonatan) He was also staying in Brisbane and wanted to meet up with us all. He arrived at the bar shortly after us and we all had a great night. We went back to Amy's around 3 am and decided to watch Harry Potter for a while then we all decided it was time to go to bed as it was starting to get light outside!

Friday 25th February

Had one last delicious breakfast, then headed off to catch our greyhound bus to Brisbane. We arrived in Brisbane around 11.40pm and I went to a payphone to ring Bec (one of the 2 sisters we met in Airlie beach) I gave her terrible directions as to where we were, but after a while Bec and her sister Jess found us and picked us up and took the three of us to their house.We had a Tour of the Treby Residence, Then Jess treated us hungry travelers to an Aussie Barbecue. We then all Went to a nearby shopping center, so Lewis could buy a new camera. When we arrived back we Met the rest of the family who were all really welcoming and said we could stay a few nights which was really nice of them. They even did our washing for us!!! We gave Jess a game of tennis and their friends (Sam & Amy) turned up. We Then all sat outside and had dinner together and then we all decided to go out. We drank our leftover goon, and headed out to a place called the Royal Mail. It wasn't the best (Don't be offended when you read this girls! haha) But we still had a brilliant time and it was a good laugh! We left around half 1 and walked all the way back to the house and sat around their fire in the garden for a while then went to bed, as we had to be up early tomorrow to go to 'wet n' wild' water park!

Thursday 24th February

Today we went for another amazing breakfast nextdoor to our hostel. After breakfast, Lewis and myself decided to go book the fishing boat for 3 hours at 1pm. We walked back and me and Tom decided to chill in the hostel, while Lewis went for another surf attempt. 1pm arrived. The guy gave us a packet of shrimps, 3 rods and brief instructions on how to drive the boat. We started off driving over to a bank and trying our luck there, which resulted in lewis teasing the smallest fish in the world into a bucket using a bit of bait... Technically it counted as "catching a fish" so Lew was winning 1-0-0. I managed to get my line completely tangled after a cast and so after a few angry rants, we headed back to get my rig sorted. We then headed out to a bridge and decided to cast out our bait under the bridge (mainly because it was raining) As I threw the anchor out, the sun came out and it was baking hot. Then my luck started to change. Withing minutes I caught 2 fish! Something wish nasty looking teeth and a puffer fish! after my success, we had to go back as our three hours were up. But we had a lot of fun driving the boat back to the jetty! We got back and decided to all go to the beach for the remainder of the evening. We then all decided to go for a food shop. I suggested we watched the sunset on the jetty, which was pretty amazing, untill out of nowhere, a huge raincould came and nearly drowned us...

Wednesday 23rd February

We got up early today, because today we were going to visit AUSTRALIA ZOO! We went to the cafe nextdoor for a free breakfast (part of the hostel deal) which was really nice. Best breakfast so far on our travels! We walked to the nearest bus stop and waited for the over the top yellow coach roll up with a huge photo of Steve Irwin on the side. We climbed aboard and sat in our seats covered in Australian animals and headed off to the zoo which is around 2 hours from Noosa. To pass the time of the journey, the coach was equipped with several screens playing episodes from 'The crocodile hunter' It was actually quite fun. We arrived at the zoo around 9.30 am and it was almost empty! We walked around and saw a few crocs etc then made our way to the photobooth where you can hold a Koala and a Croc for 30 dollars. We thought "why not, your only here once" so went for it. Everyone was complaining the Koala stank, but I didn't actually think it smelt that bad! (probably because I smelt worse) It also decided to relieve itself on Tom's T shirt. We then went to the "Crocoseum" which is a big arena where they preform live croc shows. Was a bit of a let down to be hounest, so we were glad that we didn't have to pay to watch it! Would have been a lot better if Steve Irwin was there I'm sure! We then went to the kangaroo park where we bought some 'roo feed' for $2, which turned out to be the best $2 I've ever spent! The kangaroo's just bounded over to us and we were swamped with them all eating food out of our hands! I decided that after feeding them, I wanted to keep one, put a saddle on it and just ride it around back in the UK .. (don't think I will be allowed though .. ) We explored the rest of the zoo and fed elephants etc. One of the highlights of the day was this bird, who we nicknamed Marcus, chasing overweight children trying to peck them. We were crying with laughter at the mums and dads trying to shoo it away while it tried to attack their kids!
We left the Zoo at 4.30 and returned back to Noosa to sort out dinner. Overall, I actually quite enjoyed the zoo today. I'm not normally a 'zoo person' I think the fact I havn't visited a zoo in so long made it a bit more enjoyable, but the fact it was the legendary Steve Irwins zoo made it a must see! It was like a massive shrine to the guy though, which was a little bit creepy, but still.. you have to go to this zoo if you are in the area.

Tuesday 22nd February

We got up early and checked out of Pippies hostel. We then had a fairly long bus drive to Noosa. We had perfect weather for Fraser Island, but the day we left it poured down.. which was lucky! We arrived in Noosa around midday We checked into a hostel called Noosa backpackers resort which was a nice hostel. Lewis rented out a surfboard and me and Tom decided to walk to town to check it out. Although I've never been to Miami, Noosa kind of reminds me of what Miami looks like (in photos) It's quite a posh, well kept area. We had a look in the shops and then met up with Lewis on the beach. We got a free shuttle bus back to our hostel and Tom fell asleep. So me and Lewis decided to go find the local supermarket. We were walking along the riverside and noticed a sign for hiring fishing boats/rods & bait for only $70! The place was shut, but we decided to take a mental note of the place and come back tomorrow to check it out. Turns out that the supermarket is miles and miles away, so we had a long walk to do over the next couple of days!

Monday 21st February

Today we got up at our own leisure and strolled down to the beach to catch some rays. Lewis hired out a bodyboard and caught a few waves, while me and tom stayed on the beach. After a while, it got so hot outside we both decided to join Lew in the sea. After going to the beach, we headed back to our hostel and got in the pool for an hour or so. We then headed to an internet cafe, where I spent a good amount of time updating this blog. While we were in there, a storm came in and so we stayed in the internet cafe for a bit longer than expected. We were planning on going sandboarding in the afternoon and watch the sunset... thats the tropics for you !

Sunday 20th February

This morning we had our breakfast around 8ish and our first stop was the famous Maheno ship wreck This was an old WWII ship that was being towed to Japan for scrappage but it crashed on Fraser island and has been washed up on the shore ever since. The tide was in when we went to see it, so we couldn't get inside and have a close look. Lewis, who's camera was broken decided to just roll around in the sea and he then lost his sunglasses he bought from Thailand.. (Not the best luck over the past 2 days!) We then returned to the fresh water spring that we visited the previous day. We decided to swim up the stream and go for a bit of an explore. We then dried off and had a game of cricket on the beach, which I do believe I won! We then went for lunch at a little cafe. After our brief stop for lunch, we visited another stream, but this was a teatree oil stream (like the lake from the other day) we went for a swim in the stream and then it was time to leave Fraser island. on the drive back, we spotted wild dolphins jumping out the water right next to where we were going to catch our ferry back! We stopped and tried to lure them over to us, but I think they just got scared and swam away. We headed back to rainbow beach and went to the supermarket to buy our dinner for the night. After dinner there were a few bets being placed on games of Uno by Lew and Tom.. This resulted in both stripping naked, walking through a room full of people watching a film and jumping in the swimming pool.. and they were sober! We were all pretty shattered from all the swimming over the last few days, so decided to have an early night.

Saturday 19th February

Woke up this morning in a boiling hot tent, so there was definitely no lie in today! We all had breakfast together and set off to another lake. This lake was an orangy brown colour, because it was full of teatree oil. It was really good for you skin and hair apparently. We all had a morning swim and there were baby turtles everywhere at first, before we all jumped in and scared them away. We managed to push Lewis down to the bottom of the lake to see how deep it was and he surfaced having churned the bottom up, which created the most vile smell so we decided to all get out. Our second stop was another Sandblow. It wasn't as good as the lake Wabbi sand blow because we couldn't walk on it (you wouldn't want to as the sand temp was around 40-50 degrees) and it was difficult to see as there were a lot of trees in the way. But it was still huge and really impressive.
We went back to camp and had lunch, then we set off to a place called the Champagne Pools, which is the only area on Fraser Island that you can swim in the sea, well little sea pools, as the rest of the sea is so dangerous. Lewis stood in a tiny pool and managed to fall over and break his camera, where as Tom took full advantage and went off snapping photos left right and center. It was a nice place, but quite busy. We then went to Indians head which is a huge cliff face which gives you the most amazing views of the whole island. This was definitely my highlight of today. From the top you can spot stingrays in the sea and turtles, it was great. We walked back down to the 4x4 jeep and then shot off along the beach to another fresh water spring that runs into the sea. This was absolutely freezing! and as we were all still a bit tired from today, we dunked ourselves under and it woke us up straight away! We spent a bit of time here and then decided to call it a day and head back to the campsite and cook dinner and get straight back on the goon. We sat around the campfire again, and decided to walk to the beach and lie there and watch the stars (bit cheesy) pretty much everyone fell asleep on the beach for a while. Then we headed back to our tents.