Okay, now that I've managed to procrastinate for this long, let's see if I actually remember things!

 

To continue from the last post, after Jay and I got cleaned up at the nice B&B in Airlie Beach, we went for dinner at Nandos (Jay's latest obsession) and then met up with the crew and other folks from our boat for a last night out together.  It was fun partying with all the nice ppl we met, but man I was so exhausted I couldn't stop yawning, and definitely didn't feel like drinking.  The next day, due to Jay's hangover, I started our drive down to Hervey Bay - the next long drive of our trip.  It took us about 8-9 hours to get there, and by the time we arrived at our B&B we were so tired of driving!  The guesthouse we stayed in was super nice, and the couple who ran it were really nice and friendly.  We had to get up the next morning super early to get picked up by a shuttle bus that was supposed to take us to the harbour to catch our boat to Fraser Island.  Unfortunately, we realized there was a mix up and they were waiting for us at some other hotel.  It was a downward spiral of misunderstandings and miscommunications, which led us to miss our ferry.  We found out from the tour office that there was no way for us to get on another ferry and join the 1-day tour we had booked - we'd have to go the next day or go on a 2-day overnight tour and pay more.  We didn't want to spend a day sitting around in Hervey Bay, and after much deliberation, decided to forego our plans to go to Byron Bay and instead join a 2-day tour which was leaving for Fraser later that morning.  Luckily, we were able to cancel our accommodation in Byron Bay, and move our 2nd night's stay at the B&B in Hervey Bay to the next night. 

 

After rushing back to the B&B to pack up our stuff, we boarded the later ferry, tired and frustrated.  But once we got on the island and boarded our 4WD tour bus, we were distracted by the fact that we were on the largest sand island in the world!  It is also a national park, and only 4WD vehicles are allowed on the island.  The only paved roads are the ones on resort property, otherwise around the island, its just sand, sand, and more sand.  And the coolest thing is that there is a RAINFOREST growing on this island.  So how does a rainforest grow out of sand you may ask?  Well Jay and I were wondering the same thing.  So we learned that billions of years ago, when the sand island formed (from volcanic activity, where tectonic plates shifted, pushing sand up and out of the cracks in the earth), there existed a plant life called spinifex which actually feeds off the minerals in the sand.  Eventually because of the growth of spinifex, the sand had enough nutrients for other plant life to grow, and eventually, after thousands of years, voila - a rainforest!  Crazy stuff...

 

We started off by doing some hiking through the rainforest, and going to Basin Lake and Lake Mackenzie.  The lakes are formed by rainwater, and filtered by the sand, so the water is very clean.  The sand on the island is the same stuff that was on the Whitsundays - white sand made of 99% silica.  We swam in Lake Mackenzie (it was freezing at first but then we got used to it), and chilled on the beach - ahh the life.     Then we were dropped off at our resort cabins where we could settle in and freshen up before dinner.  The package we paid for included the 1 night accommodation, all meals, and the 2-day tour.  We weren't all too impressed with the accommodation... we were in a cabin with 4 rooms, and shared bathrooms.  Not horrible, but for the cost of the tour, we were expecting something better!!!  Oh well, it was just for 1 night, and only 1 other room in our cabin was occupied, so our cabin was really quiet.  During dinner we started chatting with another couple - the guy Maxime was French Canadian, and the girl Mariella was from Equador, but they met in Guangzhou, China!  Whoa... anyways, we were having fun hanging out and having drinks after dinner, but the drinks kept coming and by the end of it, I was hammered!!!  This was not the best idea, because the next morning we had to be back on the tour bus super early and all 4 of us had major hangovers.  To make matters worse, we were the last ones on the bus, so we got stuck in the back, and the ride was super bumpy (I guess that's what happens when you drive on SAND). 

 

So for the 2nd day of our tour, we drove along the 70-mile beach, which is on the eastern shore of the island.  The water there is unsafe to swim because of the crazy rip tides, and the SHARKS!!  Apparently you have a 10-minute lifespan if you swim in those waters!!!  Eeeks... anyways, so we were speeding along the beach, and then our tour guide spotted a dingo!  So we all got out to look at it and take pictures.  Dingos are the "wild dogs" native to Australia, but actually they're not dogs but a type of wolf.  There have only been 2 reported incidences in Australia of people getting hurt or killed by dingoes, but the tour guide was telling us all this stuff like "if you see one, don't turn your back to it, maintain eye contact and back away slowly." Umm ok.    But when we saw them on the beach, they look pretty starved and skinny - not really all that threatening.  We saw the Coloured Sand, Champagne Pools, Maheno shipwreck, Indian Head and Eli Creek.  Indian Head is this huge cliff that we hiked up to the top of, where we got an awesome view of the ocean, including whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and even stingrays jumping out of the water!  It was awesome to watch all the activity going on in the water below us.

 

After dinner, we boarded our boat back to the mainland and headed back to our B&B in Hervey Bay.  Overall I'm glad we did the 2 day tour because I think we got to see a lot more than we would have in 1 day, and it wasn't as rushed.  It was nice to have time to just chill out and enjoy the sun.    The next day we had time in the morning to enjoy our breakfast, and feed the turtles in the lake behind the B&B house.  The owners told us not to feed the ducks because they didn't want them coming back all the time looking for food.  So as we were standing on the dock, being surrounded by hungry turtles, this big black swan with a red beak comes swimming by, trying to get some food.  So Jay tries to shoo it away, cuz he figured if we weren't supposed to feed ducks, we shouldn't feed any type of bird.  So he's shooing the swan, and making movements to scare it away - and then it HISSED at him!!!  It was quite funny... and it did it more than once!  I thought it was going to come up and start pecking Jay or something.    Check it out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan.

 

It was our last day on the road and since we were originally supposed to be in Byron Bay, we had a flight booked out of the Gold Coast, so we still had a 5 hour drive before flying back to Sydney.  We stopped off briefly in Surfer's Paradise to check out the beaches, but it started to downpour spontaneously.  We flew back to Sydney and met up with some of my friends for drinks at Opera Bar and Pontoon.  The next day we did the Coogee to Bondi walk, a 5km path along the beaches and cliffs.  We were both pretty tired and weren't up for a big day, so after the walk, we headed to Paddington and went to Max Brenner for hot chocolate and chocolate souffle.. mmmm...   At night we met up with friends for dinner, and then went to Loft bar for a couple of drinks.  Sunday we rented a car and drove to the Blue Mountains and spent the afternoon hiking there.  Drove back to Sydney to meet friends for Jay's last dinner in Australia... time flies when you're having fun!!  Monday we woke up, and rushed to have laksa for lunch before heading to the airport.  Vacation over... booo hoo!!!!!