This is a classic case of wanting to see as much as possible, in a short amount of time, on a limited budget, and being back in NSW for Christmas with my 'Aussie Family'.
I'm cutting it into 3, coz it was an epic week!
In some ways it seemed like I didn't get to do or see much because I was heading up the coast so fast. In a way that was right, but everything was so fun and fleeting and free from constraint that it didn't really matter. It didn't matter that I wasn't doing the popular things, like a booze cruise scuba trip in the Whitsundays. Yeah that might have been fun, but I didn't want to spend that much on being drunk half the time. Yes, I would have loved to go diving but I'd had a tropical reef all to myself for a week of snorkeling in paradise in WA, it just wasn't the 'Great Barrier Reef'.
My night train to Sydney was fantastic (apart from nearly missing it). I had an entire carriage to myself so I just lay down on the floor and slept for the 4 hours. Being back in Sydney was great. It was nice to know where I was and where I was going. Sydney was in Christmas mode of course. Seeing Santa's in 30'C heat will never be anything but bizarre. Santa belongs in SNOW! He'd get too hot in that get up in the sun! And sitting in a cafe drinking ICED coffee listening to Christmas songs. In all honesty I think contented was the word for how I felt there =)Then onto an overnight train to Brisbane (a lot of sleeping on buses and trains on this trip). A journey of 13hours, yes flying would have been more convenient but budget travel dictated train. Besides, I got some sleep on the train. Having a double seat to myself was a bonus. Not quite an entire carriage though. A guy across the aisle shared his scone with me too. Trains in Aus have an obsession with 'Devonshire Teas' (which they pronounce Devon- Shire). These are basically a cream tea with scone, jam, cream and tea.
Unfortunately the train arrived in Brisbane at 4am, a bit early to do anything much, so napping at the train station it was. Surprisingly (or maybe not so) quite a few people were doing this. Finally I went for a wander through the Botanical Gardens with my little Tig and my kindle. Luckily I travel light so only had one little bag to cart around on my explorations. I eventually found my hostel, via a wander around a small market where I found olive bread, fresh squeezed lemonade and cherries, which I intended to keep me going a couple of days. My hostel was on the same road as the one I stayed in the first time in Brisbane, finding the road was another problem...
Cloud 9 hostel was a cheap hostel, comfortable enough though, and I was given a 10 bed dorm to myself, to start with. After returning from watching Dodgeball in the hostel lounge, I was no longer alone, and thus ensued the most fun you can have in a hostel dorm I'm sure!
It started with a trip to Woolworths supermarket specifically for Pringles and continued into Duck Faces, Mattress Forts and many discussions of Doctor Who! What else do you do with 8 empty beds? Amazing fun!
Then pancakes and strawberry thickshakes for breakfast next morning after much walking to find somewhere suitable. Then it was goodbye to my American Cloud 9 Mattress Fortress friend and onto the bus for Rainbow Beach, again.
A sleepy trip with the same stops as last time, including the Commonwealth Kangaroo. I'm so glad I got back to Rainbow beach. It was like a complete circle for my trip. I do wish I'd had the time to go to Fraser Island this time but really it was just a meandering trip to Cairns.It was another relaxing, sunsetty evening on a sand dune for me, with 'sand angels' and boomerangs. After dozens of near misses, I joined a group of people learning to throw one. Better than being a target. It's not as easy as it looks throwing a boomerang. There's a knack to it that I just couldn't learn. And, whilst on an evening wander along the Cooloola walk, I finally saw a couple of Kookaburras.
I could have flown straight to Cairns instead of taking my meandering journey but I would have missed out on the beautiful, random experiences... A late night surfer running up to congratulate me on my moon tan; catching a cat nap (aka just sleeping) on the beach when I had a late bus; realising that 20'C felt cold, and the water was warmer; having impossibly cold feet, and not enough clothes to warm them up after midnight swims.
After an overnight bus, where I somehow managed to get plenty of sleep, It was Airlie Beach, which was beautiful. It had a tropical beach feel to it, including fresh coconut milk, still in the fleshy coconut with the top hacked off. There was a gorgeous little market on (I do like markets in this post). I started with a coffee, then a few little bits and pieces, and of course a coconut and cooee whistle from a little stall in the corner. The stall holder could only be described as an old bushman. I still can't get a decent cooee from my whistle.
The trip to Townsville was stunning, as was Townsville itself. It was mountainous, or at least hilly, and islandy and lovely. The architecture in Townsville was beautiful, a Mediterranean sort of feel, and the trees, they were incredible: covered in vines, but not like vines, more like separate trees attaching themselves to, and growing on to the host tree to create incredible walls of trees. Trees growing trees, supporting trees, being so naturally beautiful!
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