Sand and the City‏

I finally escaped my string of nice-but-boring places and got back to doing some interesting stuff. After I left Bargara I went to a place called Hervey Bay and from there took a self-drive trip to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is a sand dune. A really big sand dune. It's basically a massive island that was created entirely from sand that has been dumped there by the ocean, and is now covered with rainforest which grows in the sand. The basic idea behind the tours is that the hostel gets about 10 of you together, gives you a big 4-wheel drive vehicle for three days, and those that can drive take it in turns to bomb around the island's sand roads like a crazy fool. The main highway is the beach, which is actually an official state highway as well as a landing strip for small aircraft. Oh, and there's streams to cross too. And a load of dingos (wild hyena-like dogs). As you can probably imagine, it's a lot of fun. Racing down the beach at about 70 mph, ploughing through a stream at full speed sending water all over the car like a big log flume, before veering sharply to the left to avoid a landing plane that is about to smack into you might not be an intellectual experience, but it's a good laugh! Our group were really good too. There were three groups, one of which were having a row before they'd even got on the ferry over, and we got well and were organised which meant we got to see a lot.


As well as the driving, you get to camp out which is fun (especially when you have a flat battery in the morning and you have to give a push start to a very big and heavy vehicle on a sandy track). There are also lots of beautiful beachy lakes scattered around. One of the best was Lake Wabi which is banked on one side by a HUGE sand dune that you can roll down like an idiot. Strangely, it was pretty much all blokes that were throwing themselves down like idiots. I wonder why that is? If you want to see what I'm talking about, have a look at this:



It's still difficult to appreciate the height and angle of the sand dune to the start of the water. It's steep.

While I'm at it, if you want to check out any of the other places I've been to, here are the links:

Oz Experience Buses
Cairns
Cape Tribulation
My Whitsundays Boat
Great Kepple Island
Bargara Beach Resort
Fraser Island
Noosa
Australia Zoo

That might help you to understand what the hell I'm talking about (some of the time).

Anyway, after leaving Fraser Island I went to a place called Noosa which is a posh beach resort with actual Australians, actual tourists, and actual nice shops and restaurants that I couldn't actually afford. I spent a couple of days there, a night in a place called Mooloolaba where we all had a crazy night out at the local bowls club. I kid you not. What the local 'seniors' thought of us I don't know, but we had a good night.

Whan I arrived in Brisbane, it was like arriving in New York for the first time. It's been two months since my last big city, Singapore, and it's surprising how excited you can get when you see people, cars, buildings and experience the general busyness and noise of the city. We bumped into the England rugby team leaving the Hilton next to our hostel (I only stay in the best places you know), and then watched them lose miserably in a pub full of Aussies. After getting up again at 4.30am to watch the England-Portugal game, my national pride has taken a lot of dents recently. As well as doing general city stuff (sightseeing, shopping, sightseeing and, er, shopping) I went to the Australia Zoo yesterday. It's a really good place in it's own right, but it's also the home to the Crocodile Hunter, Steve 'Crikey' Irwin. He wasn't doing any shows that day, but I was lucky enough to see him as he drove past me on a motorbike as I was wondering why the Tasmanian Devil really looks like a cross between a pig and a rat. He's a crazy guy, but you gotta love him.

So I'm off today to the infamous Surfers Paradise, described by most people as a high-rise cheesy tourist hell similar to Benidorm. Being an Essex Boy, I should love it.