Stranded in 1770

The Australian leg of the journey began in Brisbane and after 3 months in Asia I was looking forward to a change of scenery and a change of culture, so it came as somewhat of a surprise when I got off the shuttle bus and the first thing I saw was a Chinese temple - and yes, it was definitely Chinese I am now well versed in these things! Without realising I had booked myself into the only hostel in China town! Since then its been Ausie "culture" all the way. Probably the biggest surprise has been just how wet rainy season can be....the picture I'd had of bright blue Sky's, sunny days lazing on the beach and dry landscapes has been well and truly shattered. Queensland is experiencing its wettest rainy season in decades and the floods have been as extreme as those seen in England last summer.

After soaking up the sights of Brisbane: The South Bank beach, Botanical gardens, City hall & the XXXX brewery tour, I headed up the sunshine coast, stopping in Noosa for a few days of walking in the National park and meandering around the Euumundi markets before heading over to Fraser Island for 3 days of luxury camping and the most amazing tour of the island. The island is full of lakes , rain forests and sand dunes and is completely made of sand (apparently more sand than the Sahara) which is really hard to believe when you see the scope and variety of vegetation and the speed in which the landscape changes from rain Forest to transitional Forest to desert. The lakes are stunning; green, yellow and blue. Several are fresh water which is purely from rain and gets stored by a thick layer of vegetation on top of the sand - they are some of the only lakes of their kind in the world. As well as swimming in lakes and creeks, we walked through forests and went on a bush tucker walk with two aboriginal guys who introduced us to some of the local delicacies and gave us an insight into some of their beliefs through dream time stories - listening to them was fascinating and their creation story particularly is very similar to that of many world religions. Their name for the island is K'guri after the goddess who gave up the spirit world to become the very essence of the island and means Paradise, a much more apt name than Fraser island named after the woman which many say was the catalyst for the brutal slaughter of the Aboriginal people across Australia (today there are zero full blood aboriginals remaining).

In a bid to get off the main tourist route for a day I hopped off the bus at a small town called 1770 (yup - only town in the world with a number for a name...prizes for guessing which year Captain Cook first arrived??) other than a beautiful beach, which is the furthest north you can surf without a stinger suit, there is nothing there and I mean absolutely nothing.... which would have been fine, except the rains kept coming and the waters kept rising and the only road in/out of town flooded so badly that I ended up stuck there for 7 days! After watching every DVD Greg the hostel manager owned and drinking him out of tea, he drove us to see the extent of the flooding...and I think to prove he wasn't telling porkies to keep us longer at the hostel! Well, the road was indeed flooded, the bridge was under 12 feet of water and you could just see the tops of some of the road signs poking up above the water. In several spots massive sections of the tarmac road had been lifted by the water and now made their home on the grass banks - truly a sight seen to be believed. There were 7 of us girls trapped in the same position, so although dull and frustrating at times we had a lazy few days and big celebrations when greyhound finally rang to say the bus out of town was running!

The other true highlight of the Queensland coast is the Great Barrier Reef and the day I picked for my sailing trip was hot and sunny and perfect conditions for sailing and snorkeling. The reef was spectacular, more amazing than I could ever have imagined. At low tide especially you are close enough to touch the reef when snorkeling (extra care needed so you don't!) the coral is awesome, so many vibrant colours and textures and fish of every colour and size, including several reef sharks, which although not dangerous look pretty scary! swim all around you. A truly awe inspiring day and a fascinating insight into life below the waters.

Next stop (after a 36 hour bus ride) Darwin and the Northern Territory....


The Queensland route: Brisbane, Noosa, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, 1770, Airlie Beach, Cairns, Townsville..... and into the Northern Territory....