Nov 2008

Fiji wasn't part of my original route but after struggling to find a short contract in rainy Sydney I decided to rearrange and take 3 weeks in Fiji and 2 months in New Zealand. So here goes...

Nadi

Fiji is a collection of islands, over 200 in total, although the top attractions are the main island, Viti Levu (home to the 2 international airports of Suva and Nadi), and the two groups of islands called the Mamanucas and Yasawas. Life in Fiji varies quite widely - most native Fijians are poor and live in run-down 'villages' which consist of little more than a few communal shacks which sometimes double up as homes and schools, whereas other parts of the country are developed and are usually home to money-making Fijian chiefs, expats or tourist resorts.

I arrived at Nadi airport with no plans other than a nights stay at a nearby hostel, Nomads Skylodge, which costs just £8 a night and is actually quite luxurious. My first impression of Fiji was of a lush, green, tropical and mountainous landscape, mainly given from the window of the plane; that changed a little bit as we drove through Nadi past a few derelict-looking shops with very shady types lurking outside. As always with places like this the roads were at times in appalling condition and the drivers are complete lunatics. I checked into my hostel, had a bite to eat and looked around for someone who looked approachable; I settled for some fairly dull conversation with a Dutch guy who liked walking and hiking. Fortunately some friends of his arrived soon after and things picked up a bit, and I staggered into bed feeling very tired just after midnight.

The next day I went to the hostel's travel desk and booked some packages to occupy my time in the next 3 weeks. I sorted out 3 days on Mana Island, a 7 day unlimited 'Bula Pass' which takes you around the Mamanucas and Yasawas, and a 7 days package featuring 3 nights on Robinson Crusoe Island (to the south west of the main island) and 4 nights at a new backpacker resort called Mango Bay, located on the south coast of the main island. My travels started the next day so I extended in the hostel for one more night and packed a small bag to take with me consisting of a few t-shirts, a wash bag, a towel and a few books. And the didgeridoo had to come with me, of course. After finding the bar occupied by a huge group of Americans playing drinking games I opted for an early night before leaving at 10 in the morning for Mana Island.

Mana Island

Most of the Mamanucas and Yasawas are pretty small in size, some of them little more than a few hundred yards, so comparatively Mana is a big island - it took me almost 3 hours to walk round it and take in all the sights. My package took me to the island on a tiny boat called the Mana Flyer which was full with about 12 people on board, although only myself and 2 other English guys went all the way to Mana - the others were dropped off at Walu Beach and Beachcomber Island, the party capital of Fiji. I was staying at Mana Lagoon Backpackers, one of three 'hostels' in close vicinity, so I said goodbye to the lads and checked into my digs.

Mana Lagoon is a pretty interesting place. There's a big room consisting of a bar and a 10 bed dorm room next door, and also a separate building a short walk away which holds another 10 bed dorm, a few private rooms and a couple of toilets and showers. The showers are actually just thin plastic pipes that dribble out cold water, and the lights inside rarely work, but what actually makes it an interesting place is that it's located slap bang in the middle of a local Fijian village, so you're effectively experiencing true Fijian life. Cool. There's a school nearby that you can visit and help out at whenever you want, and there's always a plethora of kids looking for attention on the beach and in the village - great fun but they always reminded me of my niece and goddaughter who are growing up back home.

Physically I had a tough time on Mana, spending more time than I'd have liked on the toilet. I'm not sure if it was the tropical heat, the food, the water or the booze but I lost my appetite pretty quickly and had little energy during my 3 days, which became 5 after I missed my early morning boat and decided to stay on for an extra few nights. Obviously I was having a good time there - the people and staff were great, the weather fantastic and the snorkelling on the surrounding coral was incredible. An added bonus was the appearance of an Australian of Aboriginal descent who tought me how to circular breathe on my didgeridoo, i.e. breathe through the nose while expelling air from your mouth - not an easy thing to do and I haven't fully mastered it yet.

After my 5 nights were up I was given a leaving song by the islanders, accompanied by the Aussie dude on my didge, and then it was time to leave and finally activate my Bula Pass, 2 days late.

Walu Beach

Taking the big Flyer boats from Mana Island doesn't leave you with much choice in terms of destinations. I didn't fancy Beachcomber, the party island, so I stopped at Walu Beach for 2 nights, still in the Mamanuca island collection. I'd purchased a 5 night accomodation pass to go along with my Bula boat pass and was surprised to see that my free accomodation was a luxury lodge all to myself with a huge hammock and hot tub outside. I was then equally unsurprised when a member of staff approached me an hour later to tell me that my accomodation pass wasn't valid at Walu Beach. Doh! Still, 35 pounds a night in a luxury resort with all your food thrown in seemed reasonable to me after 5 nights roughing it on Mana Island, so I decided to stay there for a couple of nights and waste a bit of my accomodation pass, as well as 2 more days of my Bula Pass - four days in and I'd only got on one boat. Never mind, I'm on holiday.

The resort seemed pretty empty - lots of staff and just 5 guests including myself. I got chatting to 2 girls from Guildford and soon realised that I'd spoken to them before on the Mana Flyer boat that took us out 5 days ago, and within 10 minutes we were playing filthy scrabble with a group of 4 Fijians sitting round us singing us songs and refilling our drinks at the first sign of getting near empty. I decided that I'd made a good choice.

Later that evening I had my first taste of Kava, the local drink made out of the root of the kava plant. It's basically a mild form of drug - it makes your mouth go a bit numb after one cup (half a coconut shell) and apparently can be halucenegenic if you drink enough of it, but there's no way I could ever do that as it tastes like crap. Muddy water would be the best description I could give it, which makes sense given that it's made from the root of an earthy plant. The Fijians love it, probably because you can make a huge bowl of it for about 40p and most Fijians can't afford beer - workers at hotels and resorts rarely earn more than a pound an hour and a smallish bottle of beer will set you about almost £2 in a bar. I could have a guess as to where the money goes, but it certainly doesn't go to the workers who make the places what they are. Fijians are generally incredibly friendly and happy people, and they have the most infectious loud and high-pitched laughs that I've ever heard. I think I'd be pretty happy too if I lived in paradise and never wanted for more.

I'm also yet to meet a Fijian who can't sing and play the guitar. On my second and final night it was one of the girl's birthdays and on his way past the maintenance guy picked up a guitar and sang the full version of the happy birthday song, which goes like this:

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Sarah
Happy birthday to you

Happy longlife to you
Happy longlife to you
Happy longlife dear Sarah
Happy longlife to you

May god bless you
May god bless you
May god bless dear Sarah
May god bless you

And all done with a huge cheesy grin throughout. Awesome. Next stop was Bounty Island, home to that wonderfully classy TV programme Celebrity Love Island.

Bounty Island

Take a handful of z-list 'celebrities', add a terrible plot and watch as a beautiful paradise island is transformed into a horrible mess of a TV show. That's unfortunately what happened to Bounty Island when ITV hired it out to make the dross that was Celebrity Love Island.

Just 2 nights on Bounty for me but at least I'd used my Bula Pass to get there and was also finally using a few nights from my accomodation pass, the only 2 nights I actually used. I bumped into one of the guys, Deano, from the first Mana flyer in my dorm room and we wasted no time in hitting the bar. At midnight everyone else had gone to bed and I lent Deano my wallet to go to the bar; he came back with 3 drinks each, namely a shot of black sambuca, a double vodka and coke and a black russian, one of my least favourite cocktails. Already wasted, I downed the sambuca and took a sip from my vodka and cocktail before stumbling off to bed, leaving him with my camera to give me evidence of him drinking them.

I got up in the morning to watch the second half of the Germany v Turkey match, and then laughed my hangover off when Deano appeared with a camera full of drunken evidence of the drinks being finished. Apparently he comes from posh stock so we grabbed a small catamaran sailing boat and set sail around the island, which turned out to be a bad move as the wind totally disappeared and we had to get off into the water to push the boat back to the shore, past everyone on the beach and by the pool. Smooth. A little later, after a very lazy effort by us on some kayaks, Deano's mate Tom from Mana Island arrived after four nights on Beachcomber, looking particularly subhuman and in my opinion vindicating my decision not to go there. I've never seen shakes and sweats like it, and after going to bed at 8pm he wasn't seen again until 11am the next day.

Back to Nadi the next day (after Spain v Russia in the morning), and to Nomads Skylodge in particular to say hello to Lisa who I'm travelling round New Zealand with, and then onto Robinson Crusoe island for 3 nights.

Robinson Crusoe Island

A 2 hour bus drive from Nadi to Robinson Crusoe jetty preceded a 20 minute boat ride through the mangroves to Robinson Crusoe Island. Typically my name wasn't down and I had a bit of hassle checking in, but I managed to get it done in time to grab some lunch and settle down on the beach for some sun and sleep. The tan was pretty much back by now so I was just trying to cement it on before the harsh cold of New Zealand. The evening's entertainment turned out to be the same every night - a series of Bula dances (the word Bula is used for almost everything in Fiji) followed by some pretty impressive machete and fire dances, the best I'd seen in Fiji. By the time I went to bed the generator had been turned off and I had to stumble into the 50 bed dorm room, find my bed in the dark and also pull down the mosquito net and climb into the top bunk within the net.

There are a lot of people travelling in Fiji and hopping around the islands, yet it's amazing how you keep bumping into the same people you've met before. Tom and Deano were on Mana and Bounty; I met a girl called Vicky in Nomads Skylodge who was in Lisa's room and she was also on Robinson Crusoe and Mango Bay; and on Robinson Crusoe I also met the three English girls that I shared a dorm room with in Cairns back in April. You're never really alone.

The next day I got involved with the coconut jewellery session and made myself a pretty cool ring, which I subsequently lost 3 days later on Mango Bay. Other people were making bangles and pendants so I decided to be a bit different; the trick is to file the fur off the coconut, saw off the top and then drill a hole in the side in increasing sizes. You then saw around the hole and sand it down to the right size before applying some varnish; it took about 2 hours but it gave me something useful to do.

The highlight of my stay was undoubtedly a trip to the mangroves nearby, the only things that can grow in salt water. I'd already kayaked all the way round the island earlier in the day with one of the girls, Crissy, and wasn't particularly fussed, but after a fair bit of nagging from the girls and 2 of the workers, Lex and Missy, I decided to throw a kayak in the boat and join them.

When we got to the mangrove patch Missy parked the boat up and we jumped out into our kayaks. Lex surged ahead and I tried to keep ahead of Missy behind me but the mangroves are tricky to navigate, with low-hanging branches that scrape your body and often try to claim your oar. After a pretty sharp u-turn I found Lex out of his boat and reaching down below the water to grab a slab of runny mud from underneath - this trip was actually a mudfight, unbeknown to me, and pretty soon it was girls against boys. Lex, Missy and I against Crissy, Kars and Sabrina; disgustingly good fun, I ended up caked in mud, including a couple of handfuls down my shorts, and eventually we headed back to show everyone what they'd been missing. We washed the boat, the kayaks and then ourselves in the sea before hitting the showers Robinson Crusoe style - buckets with rope pulleys.

One more journey to make before heading back to Nadi - a local bus to Mango Bay.

Mango Bay

The bus took almost 2 hours to get to Mango Bay but was worth it for the measly sum of £2.50. I was pretty tired so I upgraded from a dorm room to a safari tent, which worked out at £35 a night as I got 4 nights accomodation for the price of 3. The room was pretty decent, consisting of a double bed, 2 single beds, a safe, an ensuite bathroom and a big wooden veranda with a couple of hammock-chairs. Lisa arrived a few hours later and in the evening we joined a few people by the bonfire for some pretty childish truth-or-dare games, including two Canadian bimbos who were possibly the dumbest people I've ever met, despite recently passing their exams with straight A's. How easy must they be?

The next 3 days were spent sun-chasing - which involves moving your sun-lounger every 10 minutes to avoid the coconut trees - eating and drinking, and either watching or taking part in the activities that were going on. The highlights were egg-throwing, coconut bowling on the sand and a table-tennis tournament where the long-term residents got a chance to show everyone exactly what they'd been doing for the past few weeks.

Looking back, I'm not sure what the best place I visited was. Mana Island for the local taste of life; Walu Beach for luxury and being pampered; Bounty Island for a typical taste of backpacker activity on a small sand island; the fire dances on Robinson Crusoe; or the peaceful nature and beautiful scenery of Mango Bay. They were all great and completely different in their own way. One regret of mine is that I never got a chance to visit Monuriki, the island from the Tom Hanks film 'Castaway'. It was a £20 return trip from Mana Island but they cancelled it when I tried to go as there weren't the required minimum of 4 people wanting to go. The trip included food and a complete tour of the island including the cliff where he practices his suicide attempt, and the cave where he spends most of his time with Wilson.

One piece of bad news from Mango Bay - after taking some pictures for Vicky of her dive lesson my camera leaked some water and no longer works. I think - or hope - that it just needs a new battery as it won't charge, but for the time being I'm without a camera for the third time on this trip. Never mind, the main thing is that my memory card survived and I still have all my pictures. Four nights in Nadi remain before my flight to Auckland, and they'll be spent chilling, sorting out all my washing, uploading pictures, writing this blog and planning for New Zealand. For now it's Vinaka and Ni Sa Mothey from Fiji...take care everyone.

Nimbin/Byron Bay

Ladies and gentleman, we have now crossed the border into New South Wales.

If the Gold Coast is Australia's answer to Florida then Nimbin is surely their answer to Amsterdam - without the red light district. It's a tiny little town with a single small street, but on that street lie herbal and hemp shops on either side with stoned old men everywhere offering everything under the sun to all the tourists and backpackers that visit every day of the year. We had great fun looking through all the gadgets and and 'herbal' remedies in the shops - some people have gone to great lengths to make drug products that look like other things. Bongs in the shape of Homer Simpson's head, pipes that look like metal credit cards and even smokeless bongs that are no longer than one or two inches and fit inside the palm of your hand. I won't go into any detail on this blog but we left the town as pretty 'fun guys'. Get it? We decided to book another motel for the night to eat our new toys and after only paying for three people and sneaking Sam into the room we settled down for some Family Guy episodes and...other stuff.

It was a great laugh, but back in reality the next day we were in the cold in a campsite and back down to three people again. Sam has run out of money and her parents are refusing to bail her out again, saying that they'll pay for her ticket home but nothing else. Sounds a little harsh but it's probably a good thing as it'll force her to actually do something but anyway she's staying in Byron Bay with a friend for a few days while looking for a job; should be interesting as she was supposed to be looking the previous day but instead just sat on Facebook for an hour messaging her friends. We went for a goodbye curry after a day by the beach (which is very nice) - I ate a Vindaloo - and then went back to our freezing tent to get some sleep before beginning the final leg of our journey to Sydney.

On a cheery note I came within inches of death in the morning before leaving the campsite. I went to the toilet to lose the vindaloo from the night before and while checking the toilet for spiders I looked to the left and saw a tiny Redback spider about 6 inches from my face in its web - one of the deadliest spiders in the world. Ho hum.

Coffs Harbour/Port Macquarie/Forster-Tuncurry

Hhmmm. The diary entries are really getting short now, and I'm covering several days at a time too. That's not a reflection on how I treat this blog, it's just a combination of our state of mind and the fact that the places we're visiting are really quite bland. Queensland was awesome; loads to see, loads to do and beautiful at the same time. New South Wales, however, doesn't quite fit the first two but almost fits the third - it's quite nice to look but that's it.

Jamie drove from Byron Bay to Coffs Harbour - the nearest place of any note - which was about 150km. Nothing of note there. I then drove to Port Macquarie the next day - about 150km again - and then swiftly followed that with another 70km to get to Forster-Tuncurry after realising it was a bit of a dump. There's a nice lake in Forster which apparently is green but looked fairly blue to me; it also boasts the second smallest cinema in the world, which we didn't go and look at. We're getting quite lazy now - Jamie and Dave didn't even bother to get their cameras out of the car today.

It's nearly over now. Tomorrow we plough on to Newcastle, the second biggest city in New South Wales, and then on Wednesday we finally arrive in Sydney - and attempt to sell the beast. And get a job!!

Some good news - I have 3 weeks free(ish) accomodation in Sydney, by the beach in Bronte (see my previous entry on the Bondi to Coogee walk). Ash, our old sparring partner who travelled with us fo the first few months, and his girlfriend Kelly are heading back to England for a holiday/relative's wedding and they've kindly offered to put the three of us up in their flat. Get in there!!

Talee/Newcastle

What a day!

We slept in a National Park near Forster-Tuncurry and watched the Godfather on the laptop, then sat watching several Family Guy episodes in the morning before starting to get ready to leave. I got chatting to an old Australian couple on the way back from the toilets and noticed Jamie and Dave playing with a bat and ball set we picked up for next to nothing in a reject shop somewhere. I was doing my best to act mature and grown up but in the background Jamie was throwing his bat at a big tree near our tent; the next thing I new he was climbing up it, and the old couple were watching with strange looks on their faces. Turns out that the ball had got stuck in the tree, and when he threw the bat at it the ball fell down but the bat stayed there. Ever heard the expression 'it will end in tears'? Well, it did...Jamie fell out of the tree and landed awkwardly on a big piece of wood below; he seemed okay so we laughed at him for a while, and then he pulled up his t-shirt sleeve to reveal a big hole in his arm near the armpit. Ouch. About a minute later the elderly couple were taking him to the nearest medical centre in Forster and Dave and I were packing up the tents to join them.

We thanked the elderly couple when we got there and then took Jamie to Talee, complete with a dose of morphine and fresh dressing, as that was the nearest place that could fix him up. We sat in the hospital for ages and eventually at about 2pm they took him to sort him out, and so me and Dave drove around Talee for a while attempting to steal wireless internet from people's homes. No joy though, and so at nearly 5pm we picked Jamie up - along with his 6 stitches (which doesn't sound like a lot for such a big and nasty wound) and painkillers - and I drove us to Newcastle for our final stop on the journey. No campsites in sight so we booked into a motel for the night, watched Jackass 2 in celebration of Jamie's stunt and then hit the sack for our final sleep.

You might be wondering where we get all these films and things from. We've bought a few DVDs on the way - the Godfather was a birthday present for Dave - but most of them are copied from people we've met along the way. We did very nicely out of Spotto in Mackay, and Johnny who was with us on Fraser Island and Noosa had pretty much the complete Family Guy episode list barring about 5 episodes. I've added about 4,000 songs to my iTunes collection too, so I'm doing very nicely.

Right. I have to drive to Sydney tomorrow as Jamie's arm is in bad shape - and Dave doesn't have a license - so I'm looking forward to crossing the Harbour Bridge for the first time...

Back In Sydney

We very nearly sold the car today. But first, a quick update on what's been going on.

Well, the car made it all the way to Sydney, which is a result to say the least. It was overheating massively when we arrived - perfect timing for Sydney city centre - but it got there and it still hasn't broken down to this day. Driving over the Harbour Bridge wasn't that great, and we had to pay for it; afterwards we checked into our temporary hostel, got our stuff together (haircuts, showers, shaves, clothes washed etc) and then had a think about selling the car.

We decided to put the car on the market for $2,500. We spent about $1,700 on it including all the camping equipment but seeing as we were anticipating a long stay in Sydney we thought it might be worth a try. A quick trip to the car wash - see picture - and then a long and painful trek around Sydney and its suburbs to put adverts up in the hostels and travel shops.

After 10 days we'd had zero calls, so we dropped the price to $1,500 and did the whole thing again!

Actually there was a reason for the drop in price. Two reasons, in fact. Firstly, I haven't had any luck in finding a 3 month IT contract in Sydney and have decided to move on - that decision is vindicated anyway by the fact that the weather is terrible here at the moment, raining 24/7. The second reason is that I took the car to a garage to have the overheating looked at and was informed (and showed) that there are two separate leaks; one in the water pump and a big one in the radiator itself. After receiving an offer of $300 from the garage we decided to adjust the price - these faults can join the following list which we already knew about:

- Oil leaking
- Odomoter not working (doesn't clock any kms)
- Demister doesn't work
- No reverse lights
- Exhaust blowing
- Hood lining in car needs re-attaching
- Power steering fluid leaking
- Faulty electrics (you have to whack the dashboard for the fuel gauge to work)
- Dodgy automatic gear changes from reverse to drive (sometimes stalls)

Nice. Well, as soon as we put the adjusted advert up we had a call from two Geordies asking to look at the car. They took it for a spin and loved it - it goes just fine and is powerful too (V6 3.8 litre engine) - but unfortunately they asked to see under the bonnet and were greeted by lots of steam and water gushing out from the radiator. Damn. No sale of course, but we did 'fix' the problem by flushing the coolant from the system using nothing more than a Swiss army knife and a drying up towel and adding some radiator stop leak. Thankyou Google, and thankyou to whoever put up the step-by-step guide along with clear photos.

So, we're still burdened by the car and I'm plotting the next step of my adventure. We're still staying at the flat in Bronte, which although free is a real pain as it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, although there are buses to Bondi Junction every 15 minutes. Dave has got himself a fairly long-term job repairing power tools, while Jamie is in the same boat as me trying to find a short-term IT contract and has pretty much given up hope too - looks like a bit of bar work for him until he goes to New Zealand in a few months time. I haven't mastered circular breathing on my didge yet and my Spanish learning has stalled too, but I'm not giving up on either!

I hope everyone's well and enjoying their summer...I hear it's pretty rubbish in the UK too. What a surprise. And condolences to those who still work at HBOS - not just because you still work there but also the share price is laughable too.

I've no idea what my next update is going to be, or where from - if anyone has any good advice for travelling around Oceania and South East Asia then let me know!

Noosa Everglades

Time for another part of our package tour. Three days and two nights - although realistically two days and two nights - canoeing in the Noosa Everglades, with the usual sleeping in smelly tents in cold weather and rain, although the weather in the day was great. This trip just didn't have the same feel to it - we were tired of camping, the rain fell heavily and turned our campsite into a bog, all our stuff was left out and got drenched...cue a slight depression all round and thoughts of elsewhere other than Australia. Not even the goon could get us through it. The canoeing itself was nice and tranquil, good weather and as always we had our iPod speakers in the boat with us to liven things up a bit.

A few of the people from Fraser were at Noosa too. Brooke and Vicky started the day before but Johnny and Laura were doing the trip at the same time as us. I also recognised a few other people from various places in Oz - I particularly remembered a couple of hotties from a hostel in Sydney and a barmaid from Scruffy Murphy's, which happens a surprising amount when you're travelling around. Anyway, we chatted to a few people but left most of the group to themselves as we were tired and in all honestly really couldn't be bothered to socialise too much, and were really quite glad to be out of there and be back in 'free mode' - no dates and places to follow, just a map and an idea of where we'd like to go.

Coming soon will be Brisbane, Australia Zoo, Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay and Nimbin, as well as a few other things including an Aboriginal workshop where you paint your own boomerang for 10 bucks and get an hour's didgeridoo lesson. You can also buy a didge for 89 bucks and paint it yourself which I think I'm going to do - Dave actually bought one in Noosa for 139 bucks and took it with him on the trip. It was fun for a while but as none of us can play it that well it became a bit annoying after a while. It's only when you try and play one that you appreciate how difficult they are to play and listening to someone good gives a whole new viewpoint. We're hoping our lesson will get us going nicely.

Oh, and how about this for karma. We found an Olympus camera outside our tent on the final morning of the canoe trip and when noone claimed it as theirs at the site I claimed it as my own as a replacement for the stolen camera. It's 7.1 megapixels, sandproof and waterproof for 3 metres, and even fits my old camera battery charger perfectly. Get in there. I feel for whoever lost it but there's no way of giving it back so I'll happily look after it for the rest of the trip.

Next stop is real civilisation in the form of Brisbane - cue phone calls, emails and blog updates.

Brisbane

Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, sits close to the bottom of the state and is situated between two popular holiday destinations - the Sunshine Coast to the north and the Gold Coast to the south. It's the third biggest city in Australia with a population of just under two million people and enjoys good weather for most of the year; temperatures rarely drop below 20 degrees in the winter (although it's chilly at night) and often hits the 40s in the summer. It's only half an hours drive from Australia Zoo and doesn't have the ridiculous hustle and bustle of Sydney; from the brief time I spent there I'd have to say I quite like the look of it, it has everything you need and is pretty chilled out for a large city.

When we arrived in Brisbane we parked the car and strolled around the Botanical Gardens, and then wandered around the city centre for a while before heading off to try and find a campsite. This turned out to be a bad move; we'd left it too late and couldn't find any spaces in the few campsites that were still open. At about 9pm we pulled into a motel in a suburb called Oxley and decided to book ourselves in for the night - it was a lot pricier than a campsite would have been but it was all we could find and at least we'd be sleeping in warmth for once. After recharging everything, using 6 hours of internet time and getting a good nights sleep (as well as a Dominos takeaway) we set off at lunchtime to find a campsite and were a lot more successful this time; after doing all our washing we went back into the city again for more exploring and a few drinks. On Monday we tried to book ourselves in for the Aboriginal Workshop, part of our package deal, but the guy was sick and so we decided to take our free boomerangs and paint them ourselves back at the campsite. See below - they're pretty rubbish! Oh, I forgot to mention that I also bought myself a rather nice didgeridoo in the city centre. It's unpainted and light as a feather for its size, not to mention that it's very easy to play. So, I now have a didgeridoo and a boomerang.

On Tuesday we went to Australia Zoo and then stayed with someone that Jamie's dad knows through work in Brisbane. A very nice house, accompanied by a very nice barbeque and very nice booze, and then it was off the next day to the Gold Coast - in particular Surfers Paradise.

Australia Zoo

Not much to say really - a great day out, loads to see and pretty good value. For those that have been since he died - the staff no longer wear giant Steve Irwin heads.

Just a selection of pictures that are a bit different from the previous wildlife ones.

The Gold Coast

Blue skies. Beautiful people. Expensive shops and over-priced accomodation. High-rise tower blocks everywhere you look. Theme parks by the dozen. Welcome to the Gold Coast, Australia's answer to Florida. It even has a place called Miami; our own destination was Surfers Paradise, slated by most but loved by party animals. We had no idea what to expect really, but decided to give it a go and do things the true tourist way by going to Wet 'n' Wild water park followed by a night out in Surfers.

Wet 'n' Wild was great, a real blast and when the lifeguards weren't acting like Hitler I got to test out my new underwater camera on some of the rides. It cost just over £20 each but it was practically empty and we had the run of the park to ourselves. Fortunately we were astute enough to take our own lunch in rather than pay the inflated prices inside, and at about 3pm we set off for Surfers to try and get into a campsite within walking distance; alas, yet again to no avail - the two campsites that had what we were looking for were asking for over £30 just to give us a tiny bit of land to pitch our tents on in the freezing cold. We were never going to pay that so instead we found ourselves a cheapish motel again, quite a way from Surfers, and watched Team America on the laptop with a fair amount of wine before crashing out. Not the experience we were looking for but sometimes when you're travelling around like this things go that way. The next day we went into Surfers and I got some tips from a South American guy on how to treat and paint my didgeridoo, and also got some free bees wax from him in case I need to redo the mouthpiece. More freebies - see what happens when you genuinely show interest in something? Good things, that's what. After messing about in the Condom Kingdom shop we set off for Byron Bay, but not before a little detour to a rather infamous place called Nimbin.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island and is pretty remarkable in that it looks like a normal island with vegetation everywhere. It's pretty big too, measuring a whopping 1,630 square kilometres, and all travel is done by 4x4 vehicles with a few ferries that go back and forth from Hervey Bay and Rainbow Beach. Our trip included two free nights at Pippes hostel in Rainbow Beach - one before the trip and one after - and so at 5am on the 9th we got up, packed our stuff into the 4x4 and headed off for a brand new adventure.

There were 11 people in our group, crammed into the car with three in the front and 8 in the back on benches facing eaching other so it was going to be a cosy trip and we'd certainly get to know each other - fortunately we had a good group, mostly from the UK but an American girl too. The other group from the hostel were mainly German but with a couple of Swedes and two Irish girls. A quick comparison of the groups - the previous day each group was given 220 dollars to spend on food supplies; we spent 80 dollars on food for the two nights and spent the rest on goon (cheap wine). The German group spent 200 dollars on food and basically had to pay for their own alcohol, which didn't look like very much. We brought back 10 tea bags and half a box of rice crispies; they brought back more food than we took in the first place. Amateurs. We also had four iPods, two sets of speakers and an iTrip; they had nothing and apparently sat there in silence with the odd conversation muttered in German. We drove past them at one point with our music blaring out and everyone drinking goon, including the driver, banging on the roof of the car and singing along; they didn't look particularly fondly at us and in fact seemed to deliberately avoid us for the whole trip, apart from two of the German guys who were certainly up for a party. I had a hangover on both mornings and they were well earned, let me assure you.

The roads on Fraser Island are, of course, just sand tracks and beaches - it's made entirely of sand. It gets pretty bouncy at times and we got stuck on a few occasions and had to use the shovel to dig us - standard fair and nothing compared to some of the pictures you see of cars wrecked in the washes. There were five drivers amongst our group and I decided not to bother as I wanted to kick back and party in the back. Apparently driving the car was great fun but I had a fine old time in the back anyway so I've got no regrets. Jamie and a guy called Andy did most of the driving but Sarah had a go and Sam took it for a quick spin too. The speed limits on the island are generally 50mph on the beach and about 25mph on the inland tracks so it's all about control and timing to get up the steep inclines without throwing everyone in the back into a big pile. I've certainly enjoyed more comfortable rides before and a few of the girls were sporting some pretty hefty bruises on their sides.

Life on the island is pretty tough; it's difficult to get anywhere because of the terrain, it's cold at night (at the moment), you can't go in the sea for all sorts of reasons and sand gets everywhere; it's also difficult to wash it off and indeed wash your pans and plates etc. because there's really only the sea to use unless you're near some of the bigger creeks or freshwater lakes. Speaking of which, Lake Mackenzie and Lake Birrabeen are some of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen - pure freshwater lakes that dazzle the eye and are simply fantastic to swim in, and they're the best wash you're going to get on the island.

Fraser is pretty famous for its dingo population. In case you've never really read about dingoes or seen them, you have to watch a video before you leave on how to be 'Dingo Safe'; basically never approach them, don't leave any food or rubbish out and stand still if they approach. There have been lots of attacks on humans over the years and a young boy was killed by a dingo on the island a few years back resulting in a bit of a dingo cull. Of course after drinking a bit of goon we spotted one and chased it around the toilets near Lake Mackenzie - pretty stupid but it seemed like fun at the time. We saw five dingoes in total, one of them was on the beach when we drove past it and proceeded to chase the van down the beach for a fair distance. Another piece of Australian wildlife added to the list.

After two nights of drinking, smoking and eating sand-covered food we were back in Pippies on Rainbow Beach and, after some deliberation about how much we were going to drink, I bought a 70ml bottle of vodka and drank it to myself. The place was trashed; we were up until about 3am which is amazing considering how little sleep we had the few nights before, and everyone felt it in the morning. We were due to drive to Noosa in the evening and do the canoeing the next day but eventually decided to sack that off and called to delay it by a day, then did the honourable thing off finding some spare beds in the hostel and staying the night for free, using the showers in the morning and eating the free breakfast. Oh, and hogging the two computers all morning as well just for good measure.

Meet Spotto

On the 1st of May we stopped at Eungella National Park, where we saw a big carpet snake (tick 'see a big wild snake' off the to do list), and then on the 2nd we went to the small city of Mackay. Something unexpected happened there...

Just how many travellers get to hang out with true blue Aussie locals? You know the ones I mean. People who live in small towns in glorious sunshine, sitting in their yards drinking VB wearing straw hats, driving utes drunk around town and shouting at 'sheilas' in a language unknown to the English speaking world. Well, that's what happened to us - meet Spotto.

We first met Spotto at our campsite in Mackay; we'd just arrived and were putting up our tents when a loud Aussie guy stopped his ute and shouted 'Hey, where are you from?'; that was swiftly followed by a reach into his esky (coolbox), from which he literally threw us all a VB and instructed us to drink them. Meet Spotto.

A few beers later we'd been invited to join this lewd Aussie - sporting a straw hat over some dirty looking dreads and torn, paint-stained shorts - at his unit in the campsite. About an hour later he was back, asking why we hadn't come over and sporting another handful of VBs. After an excellent didgeridoo demonstration, and an intriguing altercation with a 16 year old kid who was walking past, we'd once again been invited over to his unit. We told him we'd be round after we'd eaten dinner; apparently crab was on the menu at his, which we politely declined.

As you may have gathered, Spotto isn't the sort of person to take no for answer. Half way through our dinner he was back in his ute, steaming drunk and with a few mates in the back. We were being chauffered to his place - time to join the party.

It was a small gathering - Spotto, us four and three of his friends - and it was centered around a large fire that was being constantly lit with a petrol can that at one point caught fire itself. Spotto himself was a little annoyed that one of his crabs had escaped and run off; after watching him down endless VBs, goon (cheap wine) and half a litre of black sambuca we decided to call it a night and head off to bed.

In the morning Dave nearly trod on the missing crab on his way to the toilet. We told Spotto where it was as he drove past and he seemed genuinely excited - apparently these crabs are worth 50 dollars a piece and he caught them all himself. Five minutes later we were armed with a hand-drawn map giving directions to Spotto's house. We called round a few hours later before heading off to Rockhampton and within another hour we'd agreed to stay for the night. But just the one night as we had to get going. Meet Spotto.

It soon transpired that this local, unkept, loud, intense and alcoholic Aussie was a millionaire, and his dad owns a boat worth a few million dollars. In fact, they co-own the campsite we stayed in the night before. Never judge a book by its cover.

I wouldn't describe Spotto as a fantastic person. He's rude, intense, obscene, aggresive, has a severe temper problem (he sees many shrinks and told us so) and has been in so many fights that his knuckles are closer to his wrists than his fingers. But I'll say this for him - he was open, friendly, entertaining, honest and genuinely 'stoked' about having four backpackers with him in a small place like Mackay.

After seeing the spectacular views from the Eimeo hotel we went back to Spotto's and carried on drinking; we slept on the floor (he has no furniture) without any curtains and when I got up at 7am I found that Spotto had been up for 2 hours already and was chatting to an old man across the road with about 10 dogs. Spotto then drove off in his ute, leaving us four alone in his house with his laptop, Bose speakers and wakeboard, and returned half an hour later with his friend Paulie, who we met briefly on Friday night. The two remaining crabs were to be cooked, and we were about to learn how to pick them up, cook them and eat them.

Queensland mudcrabs are big. Very big. And their pincers look...well, they look sharp. These two tough local Aussie guys who see crocs every time they get their boat were being very careful around them - I'd guess they can do some serious damage if they're in the mood. To pick them up you slide your foot along the floor from behind, then press their shell down with your toes; now that they're pinned you pick them up by their back legs from under your foot and hey presto, you're holding a pretty dangerous crab. Keep them cold, in a freezer if possible, before cooking them as it makes them dopey, and then boil them in salt water (preferably sea water) for about 15 to 20 minutes. When they're done, throw them in some ice and leave them for 10 minutes. Take them out, turn them upside down, rip out the ass and then wash the guts out in water. Tear up, dish out and eat. Yum yum.

We visited Paulie's house and checked out all the things he'd made from empty bottles of Bundaberg rum - a bar, walls, lights by his pool, even his dog is called Bundy - and then went on to the Eimeo pub to buy Spotto a few bottles of red wine before heading off. We eventually got away at about 4pm after many, many struggles and several 'one more' drinks. It was an experience, but this guy was trying to make us stay a LONG time; promises of crabbing the day after, a trip to the reef on his dad's boat, jobs, beds in his house - and it was all getting a bit too intense for four sleepy travellers trying to get down the East coast. We all took a big sigh of relief as we left Mackay, and also looked back with good memories and talked about how we were going to buy a didgeridoo. Next main stop - Town of 1770.

Town Of 1770/Hervey Bay

A lot of people we met on the East Coast that were heading in the opposite direction said that Town Of 1770 - yes, that's a strange place name - was worth a visit as there are a few pretty funky things to do there. Top of my own list was paying 50 bucks to fly a plane for a while; unfortunately we couldn't find any info on that so we decided to do the other main activity instead - riding around the town on 'scooteroos'.

For 50 dollars you get your own bike but as Dave and Sam were short on funds we paid 33 dollars each to share two bikes between the four of us. Amusingly the South African guy who runs the place asked me and Dave why we were sharing bikes and when we told him we couldn't afford one each he let us both have one anyway; mine also happened to be an uberbike that went faster than everyone elses, and we got given food at the end even though we didn't pay for it. All good. I'd never ridden a bike before but I really enjoyed it, you just cruise around the town for a few hours following him and he opens up on a lot of the roads to let you floor the bikes. Mine had a top speed of about 50mph which doesn't sound that fast but certainly feels it. At the end you watch the sunset - one of the only ones on the East Coast - and then ride back in the dark and get two free drinks at the local bar. A great day all round really, great weather and loads of freebies.

On to Hervey Bay next, where things took a turn for the worse. We went through Bundaberg and took a quick look at the rum factory (we didn't do the tour as it was expensive) and while we were there I snuck out and bought Dave a few DVDs for his birthday from the three of us and a card too. We wrapped them up and put them in my rucksack and in the campsite we nipped round the corner to cook some food, got fairly drunk and hit the sack ready for Dave's birthday; I got up in the morning to give him his presents but couldn't find my bag (a common occurrence when you're living out of a car). We searched around for it but came to the conclusion that someone had stolen it from the car the night before while we were cooking as the car doors had been open - the bag had my passport, my camera, my birth certificate, my drivers license, Dave's presents and the birthday card. Ouch. A bit of a downer on someone's birthday and pretty disappointing for me too.

After some breakfast I went to the police station and reported my bag stolen and was pretty pleased to see someone appear with it in their hand. Someone had obviously walked past the campsite, seen the open doors, tiptoed to the car and grabbed the first bag they could find before running off with it. They went a long way down the road, tipped the contents onto the floor and grabbed anything valuable they could see - the only thing missing from the bag was my camera and camera bag. Fortunately I'd put all my pictures onto my laptop earlier so really everything was replaceable, and we also still had Dave's presents and the card (which they'd opened to see if there was any money it). Not the end of the world but I won't have particularly fond memories of Hervey Bay.

Onto Fraser Island next - with no camera.