Australia - Fraser Island pt2

below: a curious dingo

below: dead whale... the smell was horrendous!

below: dinner on the second night. steak and new potatos

below: me and anna from germany

below: the B team L-R: me, jack, christiaan, greta, stacey, robert, anna and laura!

below: another dingo (taken from the jeep)

below: a shipwreck from the 1940s

below: the gang disbands... although we should all see each other in a weeks time in Cairns :)

It is midday on Sunday and I'm in Rainbow Beach having a cyber update before I catch my bus at 1900 to Airlie Beach which arrives at 0900 the following day.

Australia - Fraser Island pt1

''Fraser Island is an island located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Brisbane. Its length is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) and its width is approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi).^[1] It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992.^[2] The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km².^[3] It is also Queensland's largest island, Australia's sixth largest island and the largest island on the East Coast of Australia.

Fraser Island has been inhabited by humans for as much as 5,000 years.^[4] Explorer James Cook sailed by the island in May 1770. Matthew Flinderslanded near the most northern point of the island in 1802. For a short period the island was known as Great Sandy Island. The island became known as Fraser due to the stories of a shipwreck survivor named Eliza Fraser. Today the island is a popular tourism destination. Its resident human population was 360 at the census of 2006.^{[6]'' - SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA}

So I am in 'Team B' with Jack(20) and Stacey(23) from England, Christiaan(29) from Holland, Robert(22) from Sweden, Anna(25) from Germay, Greta(21) from Italy and Laura(21) from France! 
below: the ferry


below: Fraser Island

below: me in our beasty land crusier

below: Lake McKenzie

below: time to cool off... L-R Robert, Christiaan, Anna, me and Jack

below: 2 in the front and 6 in the back. L-R: Laura, me, Robert, Christiaan, Jack and Greta

below: bliss

below: Team A and B campsite

below: in the evening we walked out of our dingo secure camp site the beach to lay down and stare at the dense collection of stars and shooting stars (this photo doesn't to it justice obviously!)

below: dinner is served...

below: scary looking spider in the gents

Australia - Rainbow Beach

Arrived on Tues 5th at Rainbow Beach. I travelled up on the coach with Jack and Stacey who I had met at Noosa. The beach at Rainbow Beach was still pretty dirty from a cyclone that had hit a week before I arrived. From Rainbow Beach most travellers go across to Fraser Island for a 4x4 adventure for 2 nights. Everyone is given a compulsory safety video for the island which mentions the dingos, safe driving and the shark invested water surrounding the sand island.

4 4x4s go across and each seat 8 people including a driver. The lead car is driven by the tour guide with the 3 tag along vehicles following. As long as your 18+ and have a driving license you can drive. I was put in Team B with Jack and Stacey from England, Robert from Sweden, Christiaan from Holland, Anna from Germany, Greta from Italy and Laura from France... So a right mix in our car!

We were up at 7am on the Thursday for pancakes and to pack our vehicles and head for the ferry.

below: Rainbow Beach

below: team B waiting at Rainbow Beach ferry point


below: heading for the ferry

Australia - Noosa

Noosa for 2 nights...

below: leaving Brisbane Transit Centre with Premier

below: view from Laguna lookout

 below: Noosa Main Beach

Australia - Brisbane

A few photos from Brissy during my 3 day stay there....

update 03/2

So after 3 months in NZ it was time to leave and continue my travels back to Australia, this time Brisbane and Queensland's East Coast.

After a comfortable 3/4 full 3.5 hour flight on an Emirates B777 I arrived in Brisbane at 1900 on Jan 31st. The daytime temperature has been 28-33c so far.

Today I start my trip up the east coast to Cairns via Noosa, Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island, Airlie Beach, the Whitsundays and Townsville.

Will post some pics when I can!

NZ - housesitting in Titirangi, Auckland

I joined original travel pal Dave in his task of housesitting for his Uncle & Aunt. Between the 15th and 31st of Jan we both looked after the house, walked the dog, ran errands and survived off some good home cooking. Dave is still housesitting for another week on his own.

below: view from the patio



below: Man Utd and pizza

below: view from upstairs... the view overlooks a little beach, Auckland city and the airport

below: Fudge the dog

below: train

below: Dave with moonboot