Monday 17th October - Still Black clouds -tan fading by the minute! We had our orientation meeting for our camping trip to Fraser Island that was starting the next day. Got to meet our fellow 4x4'ers for the next few days - 3 lovely French girls - Connie, Astrid and Axelle. And all singing all dancing
flamboyant Tommy from Germany! The evening was spent sitting around the camper table and playing cards (ohhhhh I found somewhere that sold West Coast Cooler so that made my day!!!). Serious camper-fever setting in though. Little did we know what was to be encountered over the next few days!
Tuesday 18th October - Off to the Island! We went camping on the largest sand island in the world - Fraser Island. The package was to be NOTHING like the Whitsundays trip. No-one cooking for us, no beds, no sun loungers. Instead it was - DIY all the way. Cook for yourself, make your own campsite. Drive your own 4x4!! Not able in the slightest! All 3 of the 4x4's headed off from Rainbow beach bright and early. Spent the day working our way up one side of the island. We visited Lake Wabby - a fab lake in the middle of the sand island. Crystal clear water - would have been just gorgeous is..wait for it...that it didnt pour down raining again!!! We are kinda seeing the funny side at this stage that Mother Nature hates us! Well thankfully the rain didnt last when we hit our camp. Team Ireland was cooking for the jeep crew tonight. Shteaks and mash. Interesting to say the least with very limited cooking resources and me who cant cook! We did it tho! Partied into the small hours. Stars were so gorgeous on the island and even got to see shooting stars!
(Thats me being a tourist at Lake Wabby!)
Wednesday 19th October - Survived night 1 in the tent! I Think myself, Josie and Marie deserve medals in "roughing it" at this stage. Conal finds our melo-dramatics very entertaining. We were scared to death of the Dingos that inhabit Fraser Island. We had been warned, warned and warned again at how dangerous these wild dogs are. They just roam the island free and can attack your tent while you are sleeping! Nice right!! No dingo visits thank god though. We got into our self drive 4x4 jeeps again and saw lots of Fraser highlights such as the Maheno shipwreck, Indian head and the Champagne Pools (see pics!). Fraser Island is definitely worth a visit...just try avoid the roughing it! Team "everyone but Ireland" was on cooking duty tonight..so feet up and we got to enjoy doing nothing! More partying and bonding with our fellow travellers! Oh did I mention that not only are we roughing it on Fraser - there are NO showers or toilets!! So we were beginning to smell from lack of showering. And yes - we needed to go to the toilet in the great outdoors. I was beginning to think that Fraser Island shoulda paid be to visit the island and not the other way around!
Thursday 20th October - No Dingo visits again overnight in the tent. Thank god! Up really early and made French toast with the French girls no less. Amazing what you can throw together with basic ingredients. Albeit there was sand on everything at this point! Spent the day at Lake Mackenzie. Another beautiful spot on the island. Really fab - completely clear water in the lake and sand
you can polish your jewellery in again - I have never had such blinging bling! We were all ready to hop back on the MantaRay boat to get us back to the mainland to shower if nothing else! Within a few hours we were all sparkly clean and ready to set off (again!) in the camper to hit Noosa. Happy Birthday Anne-Marie!! Anne-Marie is busy in Melbourne sorting out a job and accomodation...might not be homeless in Melbourne yet!
Friday 21th October- Up at the usual 7am - sweat-tastic in the pent-house. It is just near impossible to snooze in the roof-rack when you have scorching sun in on top of you - but no reason for complaining! woke up in the lovely Noosa. Noosa is a beautiful town where all the celebs hang out on the Sunshine Coast. Spent a day baking in the sun on the beach before heading off for Josies Aunts house. We were all really looking forward to some home comforts and a break from our green and purple abode!! Arrived to Josies Aunts house (Marie) to a bubbly and hors d'oeuvres reception. Amazing - and something we are TOTALLY not used to! Lots of bubbles later we hit the hay into our "real beds". Could definitely get used to the life on the Sunshine Coast.
Saturday 22nd October - As luck would have it - Us Irish arrive on the Sunshine Coast and is pelts down rain!! Went to Eumundi Market, a massive outdoor market where I purchased THE most amazing bag. So we visited the Mooloolaba Beach and it resembled something like Ladies beach in Galway in the winter!! So we hit the cinema! That night we donned the glad rags and hit Mooloolaba to sample the night life. Great night out - felt like my feet had been bound at the end of the night though, so not used to heels as I am spending way too much time in my customised pink havaianas (Thanks Amanda!).
(Our Sunshine Coast Family - Excuse the closed eyes - blame too much bubbly!)
More bubbly on arriving back to our Sunshine Coast "real" house and home cooked dinners. I am REALLY gonna miss this house. Bit of house-hunting and job-hunting on th-interweb. Marie is just beside herself thinking she can get to do her "regionals" in a few months time. By regionals I mean - going to the a*se hole of nowhere and picking fruit. Marie is the pasty one in the pics - she is in utter denial and reckons she will look like an Aborigine if she gets 3 months on the farms!!
Watch this space - I will most definitely not be picking fruit for a living... (jaysus I hope not anyway!)
Monday 24th October - Family day out to Brisbane! We got the train in as the the Queen is visiting Brisbane today also! Ironic the drama queen and the real queen in close proximity! Spent a day lying by the pretend beach in Brisbane. Josies cousin Grainne brought the guys doing touristy stuff while I focused on far more important things. My tan!
Brisbane is a fab city - its like a cross between London and Manhattan. Could see myself living there!
Now Im not sure if you lot will take this as good or bad news - but this is the 2nd last blog entry for a while now! Marie and I just have one more week of holiday-ing before we "settle"! Let the job-hunt and finding a roof over our heads in Melbourne commence!
Ciao for now,
SJ x
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