A much needed update. Part One.

Right, so first things first, I must apologise profusely for being so bloody useless at updating this thing. I do realise that it's been over three months and I'm sure you thought I'd all but given up on it. Truth be told, I pretty much had until we arrived in Auckland and discovered our hostel had free internet. So, long story short I sat on the computer from 3am to 4:30am writing a lovely long post for your delectation, only to then have the internet connection die on me and the whole thing be wiped. To say I was unhappy would be an understatement. Anyway, here I am writing a new one for you that, with any luck, will make it onto a computer and then finally into the 'blogosphere'!

So here goes:

When last I wrote we had just arrived in Sydney and were looking for jobs. So after spending a week at my Aunt's house acclimatising to the aussie summer and lifestyle (it didn't take much!) we moved out into a hostel in the centre of Sydney where we began our real antipodean backpacker experience. We spent a week there looking for jobs and sampling Sydney's nightlife. Before long I had secured myself a job at the Sydney Opera House (definitely my coolest job to date) through a friend who had been working there for some time but was leaving soon. The position essentially entailed taking photos of the tour groups the go round the opera house every half hour and the trying to sell the pack to them at the end of the tour. No small part of the reason I got the job was the fact that three times a week there is a french tour and they were in dire need of someone who could speak french to interact with the rather predictably reticent french tourists. So, having secured ourselves jobs we then spent the nexy month in Sydney working and enjoying the benefits of city life - great nightlife, a french patisserie open 24 hours a day (the most refined post-club food you'll ever eat!) and all sorts of wonderful events that occurred in and around the city.

On that subject, one of the biggest benefits of working at the opera house was being able to secure tickets to the various shows, operas, concerts, etc... that were going on while I was there. So, I had the privilege of seeing the Youtube Symphony Orchestra (find them here: www.youtube.com/symphony) perform a wonderfully eclectic selection of music both classical, contemporary and modern for free. I also managed to see an opera at the Sydney Opera House, which, it must be said, was definitely one of the highlights of our time in Australia for me. Not only did I manage to see an opera, with fantastic seats but I also took Bobby along to his first opera (The Barber of Seville, by the way). So, not only did I have a pretty cushy job, but it came with some fantastic benefits.

Anyway, the time came eventually for us to leave Sydney and begin our East Coast adventure. The first leg of it; Sydney to Brisbane, would be completed over ten days by campervan. We got ourselves a Wicked camper, which, it would be fair to say, had seen better days. So, we set off out of Sydney in the direction of my Aunt's Father-in-law's farm at a place called Quirindi, roughly five hours north of Sydney. We found ourselves in Quirindi after dark and following our rather rudimentary directions; 'head out of town 12kms, find the dirt road, head down it, take the first road on the left and it's the first house on the right, opposite the windmill.' We did eventually find the right track after several hilarious exploratory trips up various other farm tracks and then even managed to find the right turning to the left (it really was the first one) and then found what we were fairly sure was the right house, but was conspicuously lacking in windmills. By this time it was around 3am, so we settled down for the night hoping we hadn't parked on some poor stranger's front lawn. We awoke early and upon conclusively discovering there really was no windmill, scarpered off down the dirt track the way we had come. While scarpering I received a phone call from said Aunt's Father-in-law, who informed me 'nah mate, the windmill's gone'. So, rather sheepishly we turned around and wenr back to see what the farm house had to offer in the way of accommodation and entertainment. We discovered little in the way of entertainment until I spotted a cricket bat and a tennis ball, so we settled down to do what any sane Englishman would do; play cricket in the midday sun for several hours.

We moved on from Quirindi the next day, having spent the evening star gazing and relaxing in the almost total isolation, the nearest settlement being over 12kms away. We drove towards the coast through some spectacular scenery and down various roads that were at times a little terrifying in our little campervan, which, by this point, we had dubbed 'Sheila'. Our stop for the night was Coff's Harbour, where we spent one night sleeping in the back of our campervan in a carpark on the beach. I awoke to hear two old surfers talking about 'The Man in the Grey Suit', no prizes for guessing what that is.

Moving on fairly rapidly that morning we pressed on to Byron Bay, whereupon we discovered very quickly that the local authorities were pretty hot on parking regulations and so sleeping in our camper wasn't going to be a viable option. So, instead, we spent three nights in one of the most beautiful, relaxed and fun places I've ever been to. I cannot praise Byron Bay highly enough and would urge anyone and everyone to visit if they are anywhere near.

Pressing on up the coast we hit Surfer's Paradise, which we had very much envisioned as being similar to Byron Bay, but were surprised to find was a lot of more built up and felt more like a mini Miami. Regardless, we spent one night in our campervan in a carpark on the edge of town next to a sexual health clinic and then one night in a hostel. It was around this point that we started to see what people meant when they said the East Coast is a small place. People all tend to do the same things up the coast and tend to stay in the same places and as such you run into the same people time after time, which can make the experience all the more enjoyable if you happen to make friends with the right people.

Sadly time waits for no man and we had to return the campervan to the Wicked depot in Brisbane the following day so we pressed on. We arrived in Brisbane all feeling a little worse for wear and with tempers slightly frayed. Nonetheless we got checked in to our hostel and then set about returning our campervan to the depot on the other side of the city. We spent the majority of our time recuperating from the journey so far during the day and then for the two nights we were there, in the hostel bar having some drinks before we headed out to see what Brisbane had to offer. We were rather disappointed with what Brisbane had to offer, but are reliably assured that it is actually a lovely place and one that under better circumstances is definitely worth visiting again.

From Brisbane we headed north to Noosa. A sort of Byron Bay-esque place with rainforests and a hill. The entire journey there it poured with rain and upon arrival it made no attempt to change, so, with typical British stiff upper lipped attitude we decided to play volleyball in the pouring rain in various stages of undress on the helpfully provided volleyball court in the middle of the hostel. Having roped in various spectators to complete our teams we finally called it a day when we were all soaked through and the light was fading. We spent the following days in Noosa adding to our already growing collection of friends as well as whiling away the hours doing large group sing-a-longs thanks to Bobby 'Chukebox' Chucas and sampling the rather limited nightlife. As with all good things, however, the time came for us to move on and so we said our good byes and hopped on the Oz Experience bus to Rainbow Beach.

Rainbow Beach is a very sleepy little town on the pacific coast that for the Oz Experience serves as little more than an overnight stop and a chance to break up the mammoth journey that takes travellers to their Fraser Island adventures. We did, however, have one very pleasant surprise while we were there; a free sand walk that the hostel puts on. We were lead through a meandering track to the top of an enormous sand dune where we were able to sand board, try our hand at throwing a boomerang and watch the sunset over the swampland behind the town. Our route back from the walk lead us down a steep sand bank striated with different coloured sands owing to the varied mineral deposits in the soil. The colours definitely lived up to the eponymous description and were a beautiful sight in the evening light. We finally wound our way along the beach in the twilight and early hours of darkness before returning to the hostel.

Leaving Rainbow Beach at some ungodly hour of the morning the next day we headed up to Hervey Bay where we were to spend one night before we began our Fraser Island adventure. Having received our briefing on the perils of such activities as sleeping on the beach (don't!), going in the ocean (it will kill you instantly! (There are tiger sharks breeding in the waters off Fraser Island)) and what to do when faced with a dingo (cross your arms and walk backwards away from it) we had one last good night's sleep and in the morning set off in convoy for Fraser Island itself.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It is over 125kms and has various settlements on it, not to mention a tribe of aborigines and the enormously varied wildlife that exists there. We were in what is referred to as a 'tag-a-long' tour, so while we were all driving our own 4x4s we also had a guide with us to show us the highlights of the Island and take us to our campsite, as well as to help us navigate the challenging elements that driving on sand brings. Each vehicle contained eight people, some of whom had chosen to go together and others who were together out of necessity or by default. We had the good fortune to have met up with a friend of ours from Sydney and to have found three others we liked the look of to complete our vehicle. Our additions were a crazy Ukranadian (Ukranian-Canadian in case you hadn't guessed), a loopy Irish girl and her English travelling buddy. So, we set off bright and early to catch the ferry over to the Island and upon arrival were immediately launched into the fantastic off road driving we would be encountering over the next three days. From the deep, soft sand of Indian head to dodging the swells on the beach to driving the inland tracks that felt more like a rollercoaster than a road, we drove it all and came out the other side in one piece and more than a little exhilarated.

So, we were to spend three days on Fraser Island, during which time we had a packed schedule. Whether it was the drive in to the campsite on the first day or the sandblow and steep sanddunes into Lake Wobby or even the crystal clear warm waters of Lake MacKenzie we never stopped moving or being amazed at what such a comparatively small island could offer us. As well as Lakes Wobby and MacKenzie we also visited Lake Allom where we received the closest thing to a spa treatment that the island had to offer; a tea tree lake where the oils and minerals in the lake leave your skin and hair feeling wonderfully cleansed and replenished. Something we all needed after several days of basic campsite facilities. One of the most spectacular sights on Fraser Island was the SS Maheno, a wrecked ship that sits hull deep in the sand on the main beach of the Island and which everyone drives past. So, suddenly we found ourselves driving past a shipwreck on our way to the campsite on the first day and it would be fair to say that more than a few jaws dropped.

Anyway, after spending three days exploring the Island, watching the moon rise over the Pacific Ocean, bathing in the various lakes on the island and dodging the local dingo population we had to depart. So, we piled into our trusty 4x4s and headed off in convoy again to make the trip back to the mainland. Finally arriving back in Hervey Bay we unpacked, moved into the hostel again and set about celebrating our return with a night out before we moved on up the coast the next morning.

I have much, much more to tell but for now that will have to suffice until I can get around to typing up the rest of it. I hope that keeps you satisfied for a while and once again I must apologise for my awful tardiness. I will, however, write it all up eventually. Although at this rate parts of it won't be done until I actually get home, but you never know!

Happy travels and much love from the other side of the world!

Joe

p.s. I'm in Queenstown at the moment, which is a serious contender for being one of my favourite places in the world. Wish there was a bit of snow though...