Whitsunday Islands and Airlie Beach: March 8th - 12th

Following Fraser Island was a trip up to the Whitsunday Islands. Once we got back to Hervey Bay from Fraser Island on the 7th, we took an overnight bus (13 hours) north up to Airlie Beach, and departed for the Whitsundays a few hours after our arrival - pretty rough at first!

We left early afternoon on the 8th from Airlie Beach, a touristy beach town consisting of one main strip, heaps of souvenir and beach retail shops, hostels and resorts, and of course a McDonald's! Our 'Pride of Airlie' group had 54 people total, which made it a crowded boat! On our first day, we sailed for 2 hours before arriving at our resort on South Molle Island, one of 74 islands in the Whitsundays.
The South Molle Resort had everything from a small 9-hole golf course (which Ben really enjoyed), a large swimming pool and hot tub, a spa, a couple of bars, volleyball and tennis courts, and beach-view rooms.

Unfortunately, the weather was rainy and windy the next morning and that made sailing very difficult to Whitehaven Beach. Many people, including us, got very sea sick. For all those who drank heaps the night before, we felt really bad for them! We FINALLY arrived at Whitehaven (3 hours later) and to our benefit, the weather cleared us which gave us the opportunity to soak up some rays and do some snorkeling. Whitehaven is considered one of the world's top 5 most prettiest beaches. However, we were disappointed with snorkeling due to the poor visibility (the rainy season apparently churned up the sand in the sea). As a result of poor visibility, Ben gashed up his toe accidentally on some coral. Nothing serious but it was a good cut.

We enjoyed our last day in the Whitsundays - the sun was out, it was hot out, and the boat ride was tolerable! The main goal for the day was to find good snorkeling spots which we unfortunately didn't find. It was good to get in the water and swim around though.

Our last couple of nights before flying back down to Sydney were spent in Airlie Beach. We hung out with several other backpackers we met on our trip - really nice girls studying wine at University of Adelaide (attend Cal Poly in the States) and a couple of gals from Paris.

We can't believe that we've spent an entire month in Australia. It has gone by so quickly and we haven't seen nearly everything. We really wish we would've seen more of the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand. Oh well, there's always next time! It's been great fun but we are really looking forward to our adventures in Asia. Should be a good time! We fly out of Sydney in a few hours to Saigon, Vietnam, where we will be greeted by Liya's relatives.

Love love!!!

Brisbane, Hervey Bay, & Fraser Island: March 2nd - 7th

After visiting the super laid back town of Byron Bay, we took an hour bus ride north up to Brisbane. We only spent a night in Brisbane. There wasn't much to do or see in Brisbane relative to the other cities we've visited but it did remind of us Portland, OR. There is a river running along the city, a beautiful bridge, botanical gardens, a medium-sized city business district, a University, a Chinatown, and plenty of shopping.

The next day, we rode the bus for 7 hours north up to Hervey Bay, the jump-off town for Fraser Island. We spent a couple of nights in Hervey Bay before arriving onto Fraser. The day before we left for Fraser, we were put into groups of 11 at our hostel. Our group consisted of 4 North Americans (3 from the NW, and 1 from Vancouver Island in Canada), the rest were from England. We left early the next morning.

While on Fraser, we saw and enjoyed amazing sights - Lake McKenzie, Lake Wabby, Champagne Pools, and Indian Head. The pictures speak for themselves! (check facebook pictures from entry below). We absolutely loved Lake McKenzie. The water was so pure and that it was completely fine to drink it while relaxing in the lake - it was very refreshing! The Champagne Pools were great to experience. They are rock pools in the ocean and are the only places where we can swim in salt-water (we're prohibited to swim in the ocean due to rough waves, tiger sharks, stingrays and mean jelly fishes). Lake Wabby was a lake surrounded by huge sand dunes and it was where we could hand feed the catfish in the lake.

We had a humble campsite and had some interesting cooking sessions with our horrible cooking tools. It was all fun though - we had Alex on the guitar, a great ocean view, GOON (box wine) and great company. We met some wonderful people (Alex, Brittany, Annie, Anthony and Jenna) on this trip and will be sure to stay in touch with them. One gal, Annie, is from Redmond, WA, so we will be sure to reunite when we return to the States and take her to the Duchess! :)

The 4WD driving was an experience! Ben drove for a few hours during the trip. Imagine driving 9 other strangers with different personalities, on the other side of the car and road, on the beach, over tree stumps and streams, and in crazy deep sand (which we all had to get out of the vehicle to help push the SUV).

Following Fraser Island was a 2 day, 2 night trip to Whitsunday Islands and a couple of nights in the touristy beach town of Airlie Beach.

Ben in Brisbane

Lake McKenzie



Ben floating in the natural cola-colored Lake Boominjin

More pictures in Australia

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236846&l=3333e&id=10708181

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2244493&l=e0d89&id=10708181

Surfer's Paradise and Byron Bay: February 27th - March 2nd

We flew into the Coolangata on the beautiful Gold Coast from Adelaide on Wednesday, the 27th of February. We rode the local bus for about and hour to Surfer's Paradise, a small city north (also part of the Gold Coast). All along the coastal drive, we spotted locals testing the big waves of the Gold Coast. Despite the name, Surfer's Paradise isn't where the best surf is located unfortunately. We stayed in Surfer's for about 2 nights and found it relaxing, but a bit touristy. It had an atmosphere and appearance close to San Diego. We were lucky because when we arrived in the evening the first night, we had the chance to browse through the beach market (only Wednesdays and Fridays) which offered all sorts of goodies and merchandise. We had pizza and gelato to finish the evening. Crazy thing of the night was finding huge black bats flying through town and hanging down from palm tree branches!

On Thursday, we spent most of the day at the beach reading, swimming and body surfing. It was a gorgeous & sunny day and we made sure we took advantage of it. Following the beach were 2 scoops of delicious gelato :) The rest of the day was spent walking around the town and enjoying some cold beers.

On Friday morning, we took the bus south to Byron Bay (1.5 hours). When we arrived at our hostel, we immediately rented two boogie boards and headed towards the beach closest to our hostel. It was a good walk but when we arrived we found that conditions were too harsh to board (really windy, big waves, fast breaks), so we headed back the other direction towards the main beach in town. Unfortunately, we didn't find conditions that much better. Ben got in a couple of good rides but Liya had a much tougher time! We got back to the hostel close to dinner time. In exchange for a free meal, Ben and I offered to help grill the hamburgers and hot dogs at the all-you-can-eat-and-drink-BBQ at our hostel. The sangria and the Toohey's beer weren't that good but hey, it was free - can't complain! We stayed up late meeting backpackers from all over. Overall, a very nice day.

Yesterday, we got up early in the morning and rented bikes to ride into town. We grabbed a couple of muffins and iced coffees (which BTW in Oz is coffee w/vanilla ice cream - no ice!) and headed to the main beach to watch some good surfing. Afterwards, we walked through town and browsed through all the boutiques and cafes. Byron Bay is a very laid-back town with very nice people. There are a lot of hippies, surfers, musicians, artists, and happy-go-lucky people here...overall, just really nice & free-spirited souls here in Byron.

Following our ride through town, we participated in a 4-hour surf lesson about 30km outside of Byron. We learned to surf in a bay since the waves along the coast were too big to take on for most. We did really well right from the beginning. They were just hoping for a bit bigger waves...maybe next time! Our arms were tired nevertheless from all the paddling!!! We knew we would sleep well... Following our lesson and return to the hostel, we rode our bikes back into town to see what night life in Byron had to offer. We came across a lot of live music at various bars which we stopped by for a few minutes each. We grabbed some vino and fresh-baked bread and took that back to the hostel to enjoy.

This morning, we checked out of our hostel and headed back into town where we enjoyed the big and diverse Sunday market. There, we found a lot of organic products and produce, live music, clothes, bags, cafe kiosks, etc. We bought some lychees, plums, passion fruit, bananas, and apples. For lunch, we enjoyed a cone of shaved ice and a bratwurst.

We leave tonight for Brisbane on a bus. We'll spend one night there and a bus in the afternoon for 7 hours to Hervey Bay, the jump-off town for Frasier Island. We'll spend a couple of nights there before embarking Frasier Island. We'll do a self-guided tour w/6 other backpackers for 3 days & 2 nights. That means we'll be sharing a 4WD vehicle, camping gear and food, and having the freedom to explore wherever we want on the island (sand dunes, the pristine lakes, jungles, etc). After Frasier Island, we will take an overnight bus up to Airie Beach, the jump-off town for Whitsunday Islands. We will sail with 30-40 others out to explore the many islands and do plenty of snorkeling/diving and see the beautiful Great Barrier Reef of course! Following Whitsunday, we will fly back to Sydney and then it's on to Vietnam!

Hope all is well back home! Cheers!