Days 78-87: Chronicles of a Legendary Roadtrip

I sat down to write this and then managed to spill milk on my laptop, camera, and planner all at the same time. Good job. Think I got it covered though. Anyway, I apologize that I haven't updated in so long, a LOT has happened since my last update and I'm not really sure what the best method of covering it all will be. I think in this entry I will try to cover spring break mostly using pictures for two reasons: telling all the stories would take years and what happens in Queensland stays in Queensland, haha. So here goes: The Aussie Spring Break Roadtrip You Wouldn't Believe:

The travelers: Amber (my British bff), Koko (spunky German), Jackie (Minnesotan, sweetest person award winner), Codey (Noah's Aussie gf), Aki (I think he's Japanese?/American, one of my fave ppl all time), Dino (loveable eccentric tall person), Brett (meticulous trip planner), Noah (the voice of sarcasm), Nick (doesn't like to wear shirts), Tim (whimsical yacht accomplice), Michael (the pale Australian), and myself (only southerner.. only American not living in Cali actually).
The vehicles: white Mitsubishi, the Ford Falcon, Corolla
Distance: roughly 2300 mi up Australia's east coast and back

The Falcon and Corolla left around 11am on Friday heading for Noosa and the Mitsi left around 4 as it carried people who had class to go to that day. My car (the Falcon) was very musical as Jackie, Tim, and I all like to sing. I got my first experience driving on the wrong side of the road for a few hours. It was pretty fun, but I hugged the left side of the road really hard and hate roundabouts. I spent the majority of the time we were on the road sleeping, cars just magically have that effect on me. We also ate heaps of Maccas and LOADS of crappy gas station food. I got a Cornetto ice cream cone practically every time we stopped. Diet over! We met up in Noosa at a hostle in the wee hours of the morning and crashed.

The next day we checked into these awesome townhouses we rented for two nights in Noosa, which is a cute little beach town on the Sunshine Coast. While there we went to the beach during the day and then got up to lots of mayhem at night. Also, I think we made about 4 trips to Woolworths in 2 days. (pictured below: the girls ready to go out, Amber grilling out 'roo steaks, and the state of the townhouse every morning)

The next stop on our trip was Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world. Its kind of a miracle because these beautiful rainforests grew out of this sand islands and there are magnificent freshwater lakes and heaps of dingoes. The only way to get around the island are on sand tracks that you are only accessible by 4WD vehicles. We rented two six seater Land Cruisers and had a blast off-roading through the island. The beaches are huge and served as the freeways essentially, the speed limit being 80kph and there are people in their 4WDs all up and down it. The first night we camped on the beach and played games like werewolf (a hide and seek variant). I saw my first dingo sneaking around the campsite while everyone was off hiding. We put the food up in the cars that night so we wouldn't attract them, but someone left an esky (aussie for ice chest) out and dingos broke into it while we were sleeping and ate all our lunch meat! (below: pushing the Crusier after it got stuck in the sand, the beach freeway, our campsite dining area)

The second day we drove around the island. We stopped at an old shipwreck on the beach and climbed up to a very nice lookout point. The rest of the day we hung out at Lake McKenzie which is the lake they put on all the postcards because its absolutely gorgeous water.

We camped out in a forest the next night, I popped a bottle of champagne to have with my meatball dinner. I woke up with the sunrise both mornings because I really hate sleeping in tents. The first morning I rewarded with a magnificent sunrise and the second a few of us went for a walk to this creek that has water so clear, its practically invisible. I was particularly thrilled about this creek because I remembered it from an episode of Crocodile Hunter.

After we came back from the magic invisible creek, everyone else was waking up. We packed up our campsite and drove to the ferry and left the island. We spent the next day driving and made it to Airlie Beach that night where we stayed in a hostel. The next morning Amber, Tim, and I split off from the rest of the group as we booked the Anaconda II for a 3 day, 2 night cruise around the Whitsunday Islands which are in the Great Barrier Reef. The Anaconda II is a retired racing maxi-yacht that has circumnavigated the globe, she was a real beaut. She had the capacity to hold 30 people but there were only about 15 on board so we had plenty of room and lot's of deck space to lay out on. The first day we cruised around and did some snorkeling at this sandy island. We were encouraged to wear stinger suits in case we happened to come into contact with jellyfish (it was too late for me at that point, as you will see in a minute). We thought they made us look like Star Trekkies.

The first night we sailed to South Molle Island which is some private island the guy who owns the boat and several other boats put a resort on. We had dinner there and partied at their club before getting back on the boat around midnight. The next morning we got up early and went back to South Molle to climb up to a very beautiful lookout over the islands. Then we hung out at the resort for awhile and went swimming. I bought a Cornetto ice cream again, obviously, and a cheesy South Molle tank top.

Later that day we did some more snorkeling at a reef called the coral gardens. It was the most beautiful reef I've ever seen. We also went to the magnificent Whitehaven beach with its famous swirling sands. That night we watched the sunset on the boat, had dinner, and then made lots of mischief and had guitar singalongs til the wee hours of the morning. It was ledge.

On our last day of the cruise we did lots of jumping off the boat, more snorkeling, fed eagles sausages from the deck, and lots of general boat activities like laying out. The crew was tons of fun, Amber and I had a total crush on the deckhand from New Zealand (the dark one at the wheel in the picture). He would throw bread into the water where I was swimming and these giant batfish would swarm me, its scared the mess outta me; so fun though. The food was delicious and it was quite a relief to be eating something other than PB&J and camp/fast food.

At the end of the day, we sadly had to leave behind our beloved Anaconda II and get back in the cars for the very long drive back to Sydney. We took a more inland route to save time through the middle of nowhere. We didn't have cell phone reception 95% of the trip and rarely saw any other cars out on these roads. The first night we had to drive through kangaroo country and they were everywhere darting out into the roads. Dino was driving the Corolla when one jumped right in front of him and he hit it! Basically it died and cracked our bumper and the rental people are not happy about it. We spent the night in place that seemed like a total ghost town and then drove the whole way back to Sydney the next day getting in around 1am.

It was the most amazing trip ever! The friends I went with were so much fun, the locations were beautiful, and I got to see so much of the country. It was by far the most amazing spring break I've ever had, and I've had some pretty great ones. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I also want to throw in one more that depicts the jellyfish sting I got on my left thigh in Noosa. I didn't feel it happen but had a really nasty reaction I noticed the next day that started as a rash and then started blistering. Pretty painful, but I was pretty proud of my wound and enjoyed grossing everyone out with it.

Yea, that's gonna scar; a little something to remember the trip by. The End!