Darwin: 5th-10th June.

On our first day in Darwin, we headed out to Litchfield National Park. While in Cairns, we had arranged a package with Peter Pan's which took care of our excursion to Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks as well as our accommodation when in Darwin. Once on board the bus, Armelle met Tory, the first person she had met from Chichester while traveling! After chatting away with Tory and our fellow group members, we reached the park with the termite mounds being our first stop. The Cathedral mounds are huge and they grow by a meter every 10 years above and 10 meters below ground.

The troop inside consist of the Queen, the workers and the soldiers who defend the mound from the nasty ants! In the neighboring floodplain were the magnetic termite mounds which from a distance look like tomb stones. The mounds are incredibly narrow and are aligned from north to south so that each side of the mound make full use of the sun, warming the easterly side until midday when it is then the westerly side’s turn to warm up- so clever! We then each took it in turns to capture an ant and lick their bums! Basically, their bums are green and taste of citric acid.

We then made our way to several different waterfalls: Wangi, Florence and Tolmer Falls but we are not exactly sure what order they were in! The first was absolutely stunning and impressive as we viewed the fall from a distance. From the outcrop we had glorious views of the surrounding bush land.

The next fall was a twin set where large ‘closed’ signs indicated that the presence of crocodiles illuminated any possibility of swimming.

We then feasted on sandwiches before leisurely swimming in a plunge pool at the base of another fall. A red brick road then led us back up through the bush to the bus. Our final stop was Burley Rock Hole where basking in the sun and bomb dives were perfected by all! Once back in Darwin we headed to the Vic Pub with our free dinner vouchers and then did a quick detour to the local supermarket on the way back to the hostel.

The next day we decided to get to grips with Darwin city centre. This therefore of course included a spot of shopping. Amongt the shopping we made a quick phone call to Kakadu Dreams to make sure that it was all go for the trip leaving the next day. The lady then informed us that the 3 day trip had been cancelled as we were the only ones on it! Therefore, the trip had been pushed back a day which meant that we had to do a 2 day trip instead of a 3 day one as we were due to fly out on Sunday. Once we were refunded the difference, a miffed pair was comforted by coffee and cake. We then realized that we should actually sort out our malaria tablets for the next part of our trip in SE Asia. After visiting a couple of unhelpful pharmacists who informed that we couldn’t buy the tablets over the counter and that we would have to see a doctor to get a prescription, we were given a leaflet for a travel health clinic. After making an appointment, we return an hour later to see the medic who supplied us with a box of pills and put our minds at rest! That evening we watched Little Miss Sunshine at the deckchair cinema, quote ‘where stars light the screen’. We then popped to the Wisdom pub for a couple of amazing cocktails!

The following day, Armelle turned the ripe old age of 23. As the Kakadu trip had been postponed, we were both determined to slot together a number of activities to make it a day to remember, and gee, an amount of things we did do! First stop, Aquascene. Right, while traveling, Armelle has become mildly obsessed with sighting fish and therefore why not pay to feed fish with stale bread on Darwin sea front- brilliant! There were several hundreds of fish present on the morning of the 7^th, including large swarms of milk fish and cat fish. Next, we ambled down the road for half an hour in sweltering heat to Cullum Bay, one of the posh harbor areas in Darwin. Here, feeling a little underdressed we dined for 3 hours at the Buzz Café enjoying salads, squid, chocolate mousse and macadamia tart which was accessorized with rather over excited sparklers! This was the first time on our travels where we completely splashed out on a meal and we loved every minute of it. We then decided to add a touch of France to the day and went to see J’aime Paris at the cinema. Seeing as it was 4 pm we were the only 2 in there. The film was interesting, arty and definitely quirky! Then it was time for the night market which is held twice a week, every Thursday and Sunday. So off we trotted back down the road where we spent the evening browsing at the stalls, sampling the local cuisine and admiring the didgeridoo performing people! After a brief stop at the casino to make a phone call we headed to the Wisdom, the same pub that we had frequented the previous evening. The cocktails did not disappoint with cream based concoctions and strawberry daiquiris perfectly ending the day.

The morning of the 8^th June we were picked up bright and early to start our Kakadu trip, which was unfortunately to be only a two day adventure instead of a three day one. We started the journey with Jess having the mickey taken out of her for bringing our pink flowery plastic plates in the back of the 4X4 to dry them after breakfast, as the hostel didn’t have a tea towel. After making polite conversation with our ‘trip pals’, we arrived at the first stop: ‘Jumping Crocodiles’. Before the start of the river cruise, we both got to hold snakes, something we had been debating over doing at the Oz zoo. Jess was not expecting to be uncomfortable holding it, but when the time came she didn’t enjoy the experience much, even though she didn’t panic or anything. Armelle seemed quite happy holding the snake.

When it came to the ‘Crocodile Jumping Cruise’, we were both a little more than dubious, as dangling pieces of meat from a boat didn’t seem like the most ecologically friendly of tourist gimmicks. Knowing the efforts that the Canadians make to keep human food away from bears so that they do not associate it with humans, we wondered what they would have made of this. Anyway, turning a blind eye to this, the cruise turned out to be quite good fun, and it was very interesting to be able to get so close to wild crocodiles. We spent most of the trip on the lower deck, so that we were eyeball-to-eyeball with the crocs. Some of those crocs who didn’t make enough effort to get the meat were left ‘hungry’ as the tour guide kept informing us that he ‘didn’t want to waste our time’.

The second part of the trip consisted of Kestrel feeding. It was also amazing to see these beautiful birds swoop and catch the meat, though again of doubtful ecological morals. After this, we continued driving south, and admired the wildlife in a wetland area. Stopping for lunch next to a beautiful meandering river, (which we had first crossed in the 4X4), we feasted on sandwiches and watched the birds, who in turn watched us eat.

The next stop was a visit to an Aboriginal art site, where we were treated to over 20 000 years of rock paintings. It was remarkable to see the development of these paintings, which went from simple paintings to much more complex ones showing even the bones inside the animals, and which were said to have a more educational purpose. There were also pictures from Aboriginal mythology, which were often lessons for the Aboriginal children too.

On the way to our camp, we stopped to collect firewood (Jess and Armelle had images of us wielding saws, but in fact the timber was easy to gather owing to a tropical cyclone which had ripped through the area a few years ago). On the way through the park we came across many fires too, which had been lit intentionally by park rangers in order to reduce the risk of massive uncontrolled bushfires later on in the season.

This was a practice carried out by the Aboriginal peoples, who use ‘floral indicators’ to determine the time of year that the fires should be lit to avoid damaging the most fauna. After collecting the firewood, we stopped once more to appreciate the sunset over a vast expanse of lowland, and with chilled beer/cider in hand it was almost perfect!

On arriving at camp, we dined surprisingly well on kangaroo, buffalo sausages, jacket potatoes roasted on the camp fire and stir fried vegetables. Our guide had been a chef at one point, and it showed! Throughout the evening Armelle was presented with a cake and a bottle of bubbly for her birthday, both of which were consumed with relish by all on the trip, and the evening continued in this manner until all the beers were finished and everyone was very sociable! We even had visitors from another trip that was going on, who were staying in the same site, and our guide, Cameron, got out his ‘firesticks’ (flaming batons) and proceeded to do a very impressive show. He was fine, it was just when everyone else started trying it that they blackened their t-shirts. Well, almost. After a try on the didgeridoo, which is actually easy to play, and difficult to get more than one note out of, we headed for bed in our tents which were more like structured mosi-nets, but it was nice to be directly beneath the stars and hear the wind rushing through the trees. How romantic!

The next morning Armelle woke with a somewhat sore head, not exactly in the best state for the day’s activities, which started off with a walk along an old hunting track to a very pleasant plunge pool just above Motor Car Falls, where we enjoyed an early morning swim in the (thankfully) not so freezing water. We were pleased to be told that the crocodiles had been removed by rangers earlier in the season, though there the lurking doubt in the back of our minds was hard to shake off. After a quick look at the billabong where a scene from Crocodile Dundee was filmed, we headed to another waterfall, which, unfortunately for Armelle, was preceded by a 150m-or so vertical ascent. This did, however, mean that the views of the flat land below from the pool at the top were incredible. The pool had a narrow lip, over which the water cascaded, and we were duly warned not to attempt to cross it, as two people had already died doing so. This was an excellent place to have lunch and bask in the sun, so we took full advantage of the opportunity.

On the return journey we paused to look at some termite mounds which Armelle was delighted with. These were a different type of termite to those we had come across in Litchfield, as they were almost conical, and built to withstand flooding in that area.

We also stopped at a place to fill up (once more) on petrol, and to our great amusement the pub connected with the garage had the buffalo from Crocodile Dundee stuffed and on a pedestal, so of course we had our photograph taken with it.

There was also an enormous crocodile in a glass cabinet, and there was much debate over whether the taxonomist’s plaque was real or not. The last stop of the day was at an Aboriginal shop. Since none of us were tempted to buy a didgeridoo, some of us contented ourselves with holding more of the pet snakes. One of the less healthy looking ones in a glass cage had apparently been hit by a car earlier in the week and duly ‘rescued’. Arriving back at our hostel, we had what felt like half a minute to get clean, and what a job that was- the red dust which had coated quite literally everything we owned had got everywhere, and there were points when we were even inhaling the stuff even whilst sitting in the back of the 4X4. Anyway, that evening we ‘cashed’ our meal vouchers at the infamous pub ‘The Vic’. We ate with the rest of the group, and continued the evening with fun and frolics, freely volunteering members of our group to go up and win us rounds of beer much to their disapproval, but entering wholeheartedly into the spirit of the evening, which was a late one, let’s just say that.

The next morning, after a fantastic last night in Darwin, we were both suffering from acute headaches, so we stumbled to McDonald’s (of all places), after which we lazed around in the park avoiding the direct sunlight until our flight to Singapore in the evening.

Cairns: 31st-4th June.

At the ghastly hour of 6.35am, our bus ground to a halt beside the Esplanade in Cairns. As the reception at the Cairns Girls Hostel (no stinky boys with moldy socks strewn around the room) was not yet open, we decided to bring our senses to life by sipping on a strong cup of coffee. Once checking in and leaving our bags at the hostel, we meandered into town to get our bearings and completed some much needed internet checking, which was not wholly productive as we ended up Facebook-ing each other from different internet cafes! Anyhow, once our room was ready, we drifted off with the fairies for a couple of hours before spending the rest of the day ambling around and to be honest, doing absolutely nothing.

On the 1^st June, we arose bright and early to spend the day on the Uncle Brian’s tour. We were informed about this tour with great enthusiasm by a pair we met in Byron Bay and therefore it came to the top of the list of things to do while in Cairns. We were picked up by Cousin Paul who would be our guide for the day, who impressed us by reciting the names of the other 18 people who had already boarded the bus. First stop were the boulders near Babinda where we were told that if we entered the pools we would most certainly die but on a lighter note, we learnt about the weird and wonderful characteristics of the surrounding rainforest vegetation. Next off, Josephine Falls, three connecting waterfalls which permitted angelic rock sliding by members of the group who could withstand hyperthermia early on in the day! Mr. Lunch then satisfied our pangs of hunger with lasagna and carbonarra followed by butterscotch pudding. We then trundled to Millaa Millaa Falls which was extremely exciting due to 3 separate reasons: a) it features in the Quantus advert to entice people to Australia, b) it was the waterfall used in the Timotee shampoo advert and c) it was used in Peter Andre's 'Mysterious Girl' advert were he would smother his abs with the crystal clear water! So, of course, doing it for Peter we braved the cold (and it was very very cold) and swam behind the falls. Jess was a pro at reenacting the famous Timotee pose:

Armelle then braved the chilled waters at the next site of interest; a huge lake formed by the result of volcanic activity and therefore has no rivers flowing in or out of it. On the way back, we stopped beside a river to hopefully spot a platypus, but after half an hour or so of seeing a few ripples, we decided to give in.

Now, the Uncle Brian’s tour was not any ordinary tour. Cousin Paul entertained us throughout the day in Gus the bus by encouraging bus dancing (swaying to Hakuna Matata seems to be a favorite), chocolate munching, perfecting Mexican waves and the passing-a-ring-with-a-match-stick-in-your-mouth-to-the-back-of-the-bus game while driving.

On return into Cairns, we speedily got ready to race to Cairns Central to catch the evening showing of 'At World's End', the supposedly final film in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. We both enjoyed the film but were rather confused by the ins and outs of the plot which later had to be explained to us!

An extremely lazy weekend then followed, consisting of shopping, trip organizing, wandering the night markets, laundry and swimming in the man made lagoon.

Saturday night however, was the peak of excitement. Dressed in our glad rags we headed into town with our room mate Stephanie. First off, O’Reily’s, where we clambered over numerous benches to bag a seat outside. Shenanigans was our next destination were a questionable band blurted music out until the early hours. Being 3 girls sitting at a table was obviously an open invitation for groups of men to approach us! The first lot was a group of backpackers who were actually quite boring so there is not much to be said about them. We were then descended upon by a football team who had made a stop to the pub on their way home. They were absolutely hilarious! Half of the team tried to convince us that they were indeed crocodile hunters! This banter continued for a couple of hours before they were escorted by their coach to the bus to continue the journey home, claiming that they were going to slash the tyres so that they had to stay here and continue their evening with us! Stephanie and Armelle then decided to carry on and return to the Irish Pub but after entering the pub and finding topless girls dancing on the bar they hastily decided to retire too!

Monday the 4^th it was time to move on, and after a morning of internetting and sending parcels home, we caught our flight to Darwin without a hitch- the joys of our first and only internal flight. We arrived at the Cavenagh hostel in time for a glass of red wine in the adjoined bar before bed.

Agnes Waters (1770) & the Whitsundays: 24th-30th May

After a 10 hour daytime bus journey, we rolled into Agnes Waters (aka Town of 1770, which is actually 5km down the road) and piled into our hostel, which instantly trebled in size under the weight of our bags. The hostel was called Cool Bananas, and had been recommended to us by Hugo, one of the guys we had met in Surfer's Paradise. It certainly had a very relaxed ambience, accentuated by the hammocks hanging from the pillars of the balcony, and with evening meals served for less than ₤2.50, what more could you ask for?!

Friday morning we treated ourselves to a long-awaited lie-in, before heading down to the beach for a bit more relaxation and sun-basking. Being a traveler can be really tough sometimes. Later that afternoon, we took an opportunity that neither of us could resist, and became Hell’s Angels for the afternoon.

As we clambered aboard our chosen vehicles, we were both a little more than apprehensive, the only two-wheeled vehicles we had ever driven before being ye olde bicycles, and the idea that we had to not only stay upright but control an engine and simultaneously not kill anyone was a little daunting. Fortunately for everyone else, we were not driving Harley Davidsons (maybe next time!) but mini Choppers, which were easy peasy to ride and soooooo much fun! So after a brief lesson, and once we’d mastered the art, we spent the next 3 hours testing the accelerator, as about 30 of us took to the roads, convoy styleee. Sadly the speedometer on Jess’ was dead as a dodo, but Armelle reckons we reached a top cruising speed of, ooh, 45mph. We paused briefly to view kangaroos (which for some reason were much bigger than any of the others we had seen, hmmmm, maybe something in the grass…); and again for photographs and a shout of ‘Scooteroo’, which was to be the word of the afternoon.

The final stop brought the day to a perfect close. We reached a pub, where we ate potato wedges as the sun set over the water in the pretty town of 1770. Ok so the potato wedges don’t exactly add to the romanticism, but they were fine wedges and certainly added to the moment.

We flew back in the dark with the wind in our hair and thrills in our tummies, after a short but to the point warning from our ‘instructor’ about a ‘gravelly patch by the junction which everyone had been coming off at recently’. Forewarned is forearmed as they say, and we tucked ourselves up in bed that evening unscathed and reeling from the thrill of that 45mph. The next day we arose at what felt like sunrise for a spot of yoga on the beach. Jess got half way there and discovered that she needed a towel (d’oh), so decided to opt out, and head back down later with towel for another 40 winks on the beach instead. As it turned out, however, the gods were against us, and the heavens opened. We both got drenched, and Armelle made her way back to the hostel while Jess decided to wait it out (little did she know). The day continued much in this manner, with Armelle passing the rainy day in the hostel feasting her eyes on film after film, while Jess, taunted by 5 minutes of golden sunshine every 30 minutes, spent a few hours running between the beach, the shelter, the shops and the hostel. It was one of those irritating afternoons when whatever you do seems like a waste of time. Eventually giving up, she took a bus to the Town of 1770 (as I said, 5km from the hostel in Agnes Waters), as the annual festival/fete was going on, to celebrate the first recorded landing place in Queensland of Captain Cook in 1770. There was quite an atmosphere, with lots of children’s entertainment, live music and stalls. Jess succumbed to a stand selling homemade honey (her weakness), and ‘invested’ in some of the mangrove variety, justified by Armelle’s love of mangroves and the idea that you certainly wouldn’t get that at home (well, not until after a few years of global warming, anyway). After she had had her fill of beach-side festivities, Jess’ frustrating day was back to haunt her as she waited what seemed like forever for a bus which was apparently lost, as nobody knew where it was, until one of the other bus drivers altered his route. Arriving back at the hostel, she was amused to find Armelle exactly where she had left her.

That evening was 'overnight greyhound' time once more, this time for Airlie Beach, ‘Gateway to the Whitsunday Islands’. The Sunday was spent, after a little nap, doing admin (see, I said it was tough traveling), sorting out our Whitsunday sailing trip, and eating at the Fish Divine, where Armelle had delicious fish and chips, and where Jess discovered she likes Spanish Cod (apparently no relative of normal Cod). Especially when it’s with Caesar salad and in a Tandoori dressing (there was no chicken left and you could only taste the dressing.) Anyway, it was very nice whatever it was.

The next morning we were up bright and early once more, and ready for our sea-faring voyage, aboard Ragamuffin II, named by a well-known boat designer who’d been considered useless at school. Day one was spent meeting our fellow sailors, a guy from Lichtenstein, who was delighted when Jess told him that she’d been there, a German guy, 3 French, an Irish guy, and 4 Bristolians who made Jess feel very at home despite their constant bickering. This started off by being very amusing, until you got to the point where you couldn’t have a normal conversation with one of them without his mate correcting him and civil war ensuing. We think they may have been traveling together a tad too long. Our helm was called Ian, aka ‘Splash’ (crrringe!), and his first mate (crew) Nick. The first leg, through Hook Passage, was a blustery affair, with Jess sitting as high up on the windward side of the boat as she could, and nervously watching the opposite leeward edge of the boat (gunwhale) as it was permanently submerged. Armelle took a few of the old sea sickness tablets (resorting to drugs was the only option) and hoped it wouldn’t be like that for the each of the 3 days, which it wasn't. We stopped for lunch in the shelter (lee) of Dumbbell Island, so-called because of its shape, where we feasted on fresh salad (which you had to eat quickly on deck because of the wind) and other wholesome food. After lunch (who was worried about cramp when you have jellyfish and sharks to worry about! Even if reef sharks are ‘completely harmless’) we donned our sexy stinger suits. These are full body suits which look like they’re made from something between lycra and tights! they stop you from being stung by the nasties which can be as small as the tip of your little finger. After a brief introduction from Nick, we grabbed our snorkels and took the plunge. Armelle was totally in her element pottering around the pretty corals and swimming through the shoals of sparkling fish. Jess took a little longer to get used to it, but was happy admiring the sub-marine world even if she did feel a little like a fish out of water. That evening we anchored at Tongue Bay, where we spotted huge turtles surfacing for air, and Jess had a lesson in tying ‘rolling hitches’ and anchor chain ratios. The evening came in faster than we had expected, and the French girl, who was our only other female companion, spent her time trying in vain to convince her friends to stay on deck and ‘discuter’ with us. That night we were in for a turbulent one, I think Jess was the only one who got a decent night, though whether that was because everyone else was being kept awake by one of the guys snoring (it sounded a bit like a cross between a train and an earthquake) or because of the sensation that you were not in fact on a boat, but actually on a swing, I’m not sure. Anyway, the roles were reversed the next night, when we had near calm water, and Jess didn’t sleep a wink. The next morning we were ferried by ‘Tender’ (dinghy) to the shore, where we made the ‘ascent’ (all of a couple of hundred metres, if that) up to the lookout, for spectacular views of Whitehaven Bay, where the sand is so white and fine, and has such a high silica content that it was used in the construction of the lenses of the Hubble Telescope.

We whiled away a happy morning on the beach trying to keep our cameras from death by the aforementioned sand, and watching the Bristolians squabbling over the football. Coming back to the boat, we were greeted (much to the delight of our empty tummies) with another A-Class lunch, before motoring over to Cateran Bay, off Border Island for some more snorkeling. We were told to make the most of this opportunity, and Jess was slightly concerned that Armelle may take this to extremes and just plain not come back. I don’t know, turn into a mermaid or something. After becoming fairly wrinkled, we set sail this time for South Molle Island, where Jess took the helm for a while, much to her delight and everyone else’s concern!

We arrived with no mishaps, however, and settled in for a delicious steak barbeque.

The next morning we were deposited on the Island, where we hiked up Mt Jeffreys (this time it truly was a hike, we 'walked' at the boys’ pace, and they seemed to think they were trying to attain the escape velocity or something so that they could fly into orbit…). Anyway, at the top we took plenty of photographs, as the views were incredible-a true 360 degree panorama of the Whitsundays. Stunning! On the way down we came across a small snake in the bushes next to the path, brown with a yellow belly. We had been warned before to watch out for the black ones, but that the brown ones were even worse. Jess thought it wise, however, (after the small fiasco in which we got sort of lost in the bushland outside of Brisbane) not to tell Armelle until we were safely past it. Since it didn’t seem too bothered by us, Jess managed to keep her trap shut until afterwards, though it made her heart beat a bit! Discovering that it was not on the ‘venomous snakes’ poster back in the hostel in Airlie Beach was a bit of a let down though, but still, we saw a snake in Australia and we didn’t know that it didn't want us for lunch at the time! The Island of South Molle on which we were spending the morning was actually a privately owned resort, so, having paid our ₤2.50, we made the most of the swimming pool and showers, which were very plush even if we hadn’t been roughing it for the past few days. That afternoon we sailed back to Abel Point Marina. We were both distraught to be invited out for drinks with everyone else that evening, as we had to reply that we would instead be spending yet another night on the greyhound. We consoled ourselves with an icecream at the Cold Rocks icecream parlour, where they mash up any number of things and add it to your icecream. Jess had jelly babies and chocolate Freddo in her butterscotch icecream. Yum! We did not have time to recover our land legs sufficiently before staggering aboard the greyhound, and consequently toppled into Cairns the next morning at half past six. But that’s another story for another day.

Noosa & Fraser Island: 18th-23rd May

We arrived into Noosa around lunchtime on Friday the 18th May. The sky opted to fashion a grey canvas so throughout the afternoon we persevered the weather while reading on the beach. Noosa is separated into 3 parts: Noosa Head, Noosaville and Noosa Junction. Our hostel (Halse Lodge YHA) was nestled into the boundaries of the national park at the end of Hastings Street in Noosa Heads, and was so beautiful, it was like an overgrown beach hut, all white wooden paneling. Anyhow, now the orientation part has been sorted, we pretty much withered the evening away, strolling over the hill to Noosa Junction in the hope that somewhere was open to jump on the internet. The next day, it was time for Australia Zoo: Home of The Crocodile Hunter. A gleaming double decker picked us up at 8.30 to transport the backpacker hoardes to Beerwah, an hour drive southwest of Noosa. We had a brilliant day at the zoo even though Armelle was slightly apprehensive at the start due to her opposition to caged animals. However, after reading about how the zoo primarily put its efforts into educating the public to protect and conserve, Armelle grated the zoo her seal of approval! First off was a shuttle bus ride around the park to get our bearings. It was then time to witness some back-to-back shows including giant tortoise feeding, elephant feeding- yes we will queue to feed an elephant a small piece of melon, and the infamous wildlife warriors 101 live show where the crocodiles come out to jump for meat a la Steve Irwin stylee. We have to admit that it was a bit creepy and very sad to wonder around the zoo all day with Steve Irwin’s mug shot constantly present even though he is no more. Damn sting ray…. Anyway, we then feasted on our soggy sandwiches in the wetlands after deciding that we really didn’t need to fork out for a picture of us with a python around our necks. Then we ambled over to say hello to the elephants and tigers, both in impressively large enclosures. We then strolled back, patting a few koalas, feeding the red kangaroos (our favorite part of the day) and experiencing near decapitation in the rainforest aviary. After ogling at some wombats, snakes, crocs and Tasmanian devils, it was time to depart and return to our pretty hostel. The next day was our first and last full day in Noosa before departing on a 3 day Fraser Island trip. We therefore decided to give surfing a go- there is nothing like submerging oneself in the chilling sea with nothing to wear but a bikini and board top to start off the day! Half of the pair triumphantly succeeded in mastering the skill of the sport where as the other half took 2 HOURS to crouch/half stand before performing a spectacular nose dive- guess who that was?! This immense sporting session left us both completely exhausted so we decided to reward our effort with a touch of retail therapy! We then snuck into the tail end of the Noosa wine and food festival where some supposedly famous woman was wailing her heart out. After mild palpitations thinking we had been left behind, we clambered onto our 4x4 jeep/bus/tank trailblazer vehicle at 8 am the next morning to discover Fraser Island- the largest sand island in the world.

We picked up the rest of our party and headed for Rainbow Beach where we would drift via barge thing over to Fraser. We then bombed across the beach lining the eastern side of the island (our aching chests from surfing cause a little yelp of pain to emerge from our mouths on every bump) for a much appreciated lunch at our accommodation for the next 2 nights in Eurong. We decided not to go for the self drive tour as, after tallying up the pros and cons, a pre arranged tour revealed itself as the much better option- no camping in rainy weather in holed tents, no ‘crammed like sardines’ effect as 8 people fit into the rear of a jeep, no stuck in the sand syndrome by over confident lads..…. Anyhow, that afternoon we explored the eastern coastline firstly wading through Eli Creek, which pumps out 80 million of gallons of fresh water into the sea every day, and where we came worryingly close to a wild dingo. We then paparazzied the stunning Maheno Shipwreck (which has a further 5 decks hidden beneath the sand) and dug for clams that would later be used as fishing bait by our guide. Next, we summited Indian Head to unsuccessfully spot sharks and stingrays from above. The view was breathtaking with sand dunes stretching for miles in all directions. On the way back to base camp we made a quick stop to admire the Pinnacles coloured sands. That evening, we had wined and dined the night away, and the last couple of hours were spent singing along to the guitar played by Derk, our hilarious German companion and the shaking of an egg shaped rattle by a tiddly Canadian! The next day was the lakes day which was thankfully accompanied by glorious weather. Lake Boomajin is a tea tree lake with hair and skin conditioning qualities which provided an excellent excuse for Armelle to smear a whole load of mud over her face! We then bumped our way along to Lake Birrabeen where we snorkeled for turtles on the southern side and feasted on salad and sandwiches on the northern side beside a perfect bright white beach. We then strolled through the rainforest of Pine Valley at Central Station to conclude our day of exploration. That evening, we watched the sunset before heading to the local bar fully decked out in flashing disco lights. It was like being in a rural French discothèque 10 years ago- the hilarity! On the final day it was time to reenact Lawrence of Arabia as we waded across the largest sand dune you have EVER seen, it was brilliant! The sand mass ends by taking a nose dive into Lake Wabby which the dune is slowly encroaching into at 3m/year. This proved a perfect opportunity for Armelle to gracefully sand board into the dune- if only the board didn’t stop 2 meters from the edge to catapult Armelle half into the sand, half into the water with a couple of bumps along the way for good measure! We all then sadly traipsed back to the bus to commence our return journey, and Jess learnt a new German sentence: (Leider is unsere reise heute zu endert= unfortunately is our journey today to end!) After biding farewell to half of our fantastic group at Rainbow Beach on the mainland, the rest of us drove back to Noosa along the most beautiful beach ever seen backed by green covered hills stretching for miles. Jess swears she took a photo of a shark in the surf (don't worry, no swimming was allowed), and Armelle flatly refuses to believe that it isn't just a rock. Jess reckons she's just saying it to wind her up. Anyway, you can judge for yourselves (yes, you do have to look closely):

After spotting a few kangaroos we were dropped back at our Halse Lodge where we splashed out on roast dinners and caramel slice desserts! Next stop: Angus Waters- the Town of 1770.