Australia Part 1

We haven't blogged for over 3 weeks and although we started to type this blog in Australia we have only just finished it into our 3rd day in New Zealand. Mostly because we haven't had any long, boring journeys on public transport to complete them. Well, you didn't expect us to delve into our fun time to do it did you?!

Surfers Paradise

Marc, Liz, Holly & Beulah

Holly, or should I say Nigella Lawson - Phillips, picked us up from the airport and from thereon in Brisbane became a culinary delight! Nigella Phillips had been baking and for the next four days we proceded to eat m&m and mint choc chip cookies, the best brownies we have ever eaten and delishous lemon tart, not to mention a lovely roast dinner :). Yummy food aside it was FANTASTIC to see Holly after she desserted us (see what I did there :) in London 10 years ago ;). After talking the hind leggs off a donkey our first touristy event was 'Australia Zoo', which was a hoot. We saw tigers, kangeroos, stroked Kualas, and of course watched a croc show - scary little blighters! The next day we went to Surfers Paradise where Marc and I were 'wiped out' by the waves, lots of fun, and strolled along the beach.


We had some fabulous fish n chips in Brisbane, very British ;) and on our final day we walked around Brisbane City Centre taking in the sights and visited an Art Museum (had to do something cultural). It was a chilly day so we gave the boat ride a miss. That evening we went for a yummy steak at a lovely Victorian restaurant, which was really reminiscent of an English pub. Great night! 

Marc, Liz & Holly

After a lovely four days sadly it was time to say goodbye to Holly & Beulah :( What a blast we had, with much chatting, indulgence and oodles of hospitality from the Phillips'. See you in London in 2012 girls!

We then headed north to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. Not to be tackled without a 4x4, as the roads are all made of soft sand! We hired an aged Land Rover Discovery - Marc's Mobile Disco - and caught the ferry. We found that the inland 'roads' are soft, dry, rutted sand, but once you get to the coast you are on the 'island's motorway', smooth sand that you can do 40 or 50mph on. Despite this, we seldom saw another cars, maybe because 75 mile beach is just that - 75 miles long and with only a few cars on it. You just have to keep an eye out for creeks running into the sea, which often create steps upto a foot high, over which 1mph is plenty quick enough. Over 4 days, we only managed to get stuck once, but Liz was a dab hand with the shovel and taking a bigger run up at the soft stuff got us through.

Trusty Land Rover

Man and Machine

Some of the island's most amazing sites are on the beach. There's the rusting wreck of a 1930s ship sitting in the surf, occassional dingoes roaming the beach, (we had 4 sightings) kukaburras and the towering Indian Head with views over miles of rugged coastline, sea and a huge sandblow - an inland sand dune.

Close encounter with a Kookaburra

Sand blow

What a beautiful island. The middle of the island is full of forest and perched lakes (lakes above the water table) such as beautiful crystal clear Lake McKenzie. Lake Llamo was full of fresh water turtles, although the water was a kind of rust colour, which Marc discovered was impossible to successfully snorkel in, so he got freezing cold for nothing, ha ha. Lake McKenzie however, was clear as a summers day, yet as equally freezing and had no fish. It took Liz about 15 minutes to pluck up the courage to submerge herself. Very refreshing!

Lake Mckenzie - colder than it looks!!!

Arty shot of Lake Mckenzie

We loved the island so much that we extended our stay to 4 days, but all good things come to an end. The following day we consoled oureslves with a whale watching trip. Unforunately, the whales didn't want to show off, so we only saw them from a distance, but we did have a dolphin playing around under our boat, which was very cool.

Noosa was next and very posh it is too. It has a stunning headland, which we were told remains one of the least spoilt. We stayed in a nice self contained flat overlooking a lake, which was very nice and quiet reasonably priced as it was a kind of 'pot luck/last minute jobby'. The weather was stunning and on the first day we walked along the beach and around the coast where we sat in a secluded spot and watched the sunset. Very romantic. The next day, which was equally as sunny with blue skies, we walked along the cliff walk - stunning! Then back through the rainforest, which was just beaufitul.

Up until now we'd taken our time making our way down to Sydney so off to Byron Bay we went. We both loved the chilled out vibe of BB, which had an esoteric feel to it. We stolled around the shops, and bars Liz wished she had had the money to try out some of their massages and therapies. She settled on a taro card reading! Interesting...but not convinced. We also went on a kayaking trip to spot, and hopefully snorkel with Dolphins. Kayaking in the sea was fun yet very exhausting. A wave caught us on the way back to shore and when Liz ended up wearing the kayak on her head it became clear to us why the guides insisted we wore crash helments! NO Dophins...apparetly there are sightings 95 % of the time, and althought they offered us the opportunity to come back and try again for free we had to move on. Oh well, maybe better luck in New Zealand?

Light House - Byron Bay

View from Noosa Head

As we spent three weeks in Oz and did so many fab things there will be a Part 2 to our blog - tune in next time for hugs with Koalas, Coffs Harbour, Pelicans and our fabulous visit with Matt, Lou, Abbie and Frankie in Sydney!