From Hervey Bay over Airlie Beach to Magentic Island

Ok, I am way behind my blog writing... I know... sorry :)

Anyways, I've been to Hervey Bay and went Whale Watching. It is sooo different when you do that from a boat than from the coast. Those humpback whales are so curious and come super close to the boat. Just wonderful. Mommies show off their little ones and you get awesome pictures. (they follow someday... on FB)

I decided to go on a 2 day Fraser Island tour. Of course I was curious about the Dingos, as I am a huuuuuge fan of them. And believe it or now... not ONE Dingo showed up.... oh buuhuu... but we had two awesome days with our tour- guide Steve. And I finally met 3 Swiss girls... yay my first Swiss (and I see Swiss girls all over since lol). Anyway, Fraser Island is most certainly a MUST if you are close by. It's simply stunning and pure nature. The lakes are wonderful to swim (don't forget your swim goggles) and the trees and plants are just wonderful to look at. I very much enjoyed it despite not seeing a Dingo.

From Hervey Bay, it was a loooong bus ride to Airlie Beach (14 hours!!!). And I promised myself before, not to do that anymore... ah well.

Once in Airlie Beach (meeting another Swiss Girl) I decided to take a small plane (well not taking it myself obviously as I don't know how to fly...) and fly out to the Great Barrier Reef. It is breath taking and if you have just a wee bit of spare money, worth going. (Do the one hour trip as this takes you all the way out). You see all the Whitsunday Islands and you see the Heart-Shaped Reef. Simply wonderful.

The next day I went with Evelyine, (a French traveler whom I met at the YHA) to the Crocodile Safary. I am not a fan of Kroc Farms, so we went to see them in the wild. It was pretty impressive to see them all out there... and the young ones (1-3 years) are sooo tiny. Super cute. You kinda want to cuddle them. Well I wanted to. (Guess that's just me).

On Sunday it was finally time to go on to the Summertime. A timber boat that took 15 silly tourists (one of them was obviously me) out to the Whitsundays for 3 days. I decided to buy a diving mask and not to freak out on board.

The trip was unbelievable. The first day we discovered the white sands of the Whitsunday Island and went for a little swim and saw small sharks and sting rays.

The food on board was wonderful and the whole crew really funny. In the evening we "had to" look at all the pics that were taken during our day and went early to bed.

Next morning was "dive day" and of course I was really worried about it. In the end... I went diving 3 times, twice through a cave and I got hooked on it. (Thanks Mickey and Adam!!!)

During our last day, we had a bit of a Kayak Tour and then sailed back. As the weather got a bit worse and the wind picked up, it was perfect to sail. And nope, I didn't get sea sick at all. :)

Tuesday evening we met up with the crew and the group and had a bit of a "eat and drink" thing going on.

Wednesday it was time to say goodbye. I took the bus to Townsville and went straight to Magnetic Island. The first morning, I decided to explore the Koala Sanctuary and cuddled with Koalas, Snakes, Crocodiles and other animals. :) So yup I was in heaven :)

I wanted to leave the next day and make my way up slowly to Cairns do get my OW PADI license but in the end, decided to stay on the island and do it here. My instructor Maria, from Sweden, was absolutely AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I honestly love her for being such a funny, bubbly person who makes everything look so easy. Yes of course I freaked when I had to fill my mask with water in the pool and almost died... (I must look sooo terrified hahahaha) but in the end... not only did I pass my OW license test but I went on to do my Advanced OW License and yup... I am now an advanced OW Diver :) Can't wait to get into the deep again :) (Already checked out some wrecks to dive to).

Today is my last day here on Maggie Island and I went horseback riding and swimming with the horses :) Super fun. :) Now I guess it's time to finish my laundry and go for a last time to Geoffrey Bay to feed the Wallabies. I am a bit sad to say goodbye. I honestly like it here... Well maybe once I retire I come back here and have some horses and go diving all the time.

Anyways, for anyone who wants to learn how to dive and doesn't have tons of money to spend, Pleasure Divers is the place to go. Maria, Rob, Simon and Matt are all wonderful people and take you out to dive and teach you all you need to know. :)

And yup, who ever told me "once you see a fish you simply follow and forget you're underwater" was most certainly right. :)

Heading up North

So my journey goes on here in Down Under. After Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Byron Bay, Brisbane and Noosa, I finally arrived at Hervey Bay.

I am honest here (and please Aussies no offense) but I do like Queensland better than NSW. I really liked Brisbane and I did enjoy Noosa. (I should buy a flat there for investment, honestly!)

Anyway, let me tell you a bit about my "trip into the wilderness". I booked an unguided tour to the Noosa Everglades (yes... there are two Everglades). So this "unguided" tour means, you are picked up, put on a boat, drive to the everglades, are given a kayak, a map, a tent and cooking stuff and then you are sent off for the next 2 1/2 days. On your own. (Well as a group obviously but no guide).

I was sharing my kayak with Joern from Germany and we soon got into the whole rowing thing and yup, we beat 'em all. haha... (no no.. we were NOT competitive at all... haha).

So here we were, paddling upwards Noosa River towards our campside. At some point we were sure, that we took the wrong turn, just, there was no other turn really, so we just kept going. Finally arriving at our destination, we set up our tents. The good thing was, being a small group of only 14, we had a lot of space. After the tents were up, it was time for a swim. (we didn't meet any sharks, but they say, Bullsharks are around here).

Dinner time came and we set up our cookers and made some food... then we just sat there, around one table, with two candles to give some kind of light and were wondering, if 7pm is an ok time to go to bed. We did laugh a lot and at around 7:30 quite a few went to bed. I guess by 8:30 everyone was tugged in their sleeping bags.

We all woke up real early. No wonder, those "mattresses" we got were worth nothing. It really felt like sleeping on the ground. Anyhow, breakfast and off we went up north. After about 1 1/2 hour paddling we got off our boats and started walking uphill for 6K to get to the Sandpatch. It really is impressive. All the green around and then this "desert" in the middle. (Pics will follow, I promise).

On our way back down, we felt some rain drops, so we decided to hurry back to our camp. Well of course, while we were paddling downstream, it really started to rain like crazy and 4 of us got back to camp and the other 3 went out of the water further up north. Tents were wet, sleeping bags were wet and we were wet. As you can imagine, it was a lovely sight. And a cold one for that matter.

We tried to dry up and change into something warmer. As this is in a nature reservoir, we had no shower or hot water. The actual plan was to go for a swim to get clean which, in this rain with lighting was impossible. Well, I guess that's part of the adventure.

After some time the rain got less and we found a place where we could sit down under a roof and at least try to have dinner without being soaked.

One of the tents was "lost" so Joern and I shared our tent with Tom. I will never look at a "3-some" the same way again!!!! hahaha

I couldn't sleep at all and my back was in so much pain that I was ready to go at 3am. At 5 am I gave up and just got out of the tent, watching the sunrise and warming up. 6AM came and we woke up the rest of the gang, had something to eat, packed up and paddled back downstream. Joern and I were the last ones to leave and even though the "flying Dutch" left 40 minutes before we finally took off, we got them before the end. (I think we should register as an international rowing team for the next Olympics). :)

The boat arrived with new "victims" and we were taken back to civilization. You have no idea how wonderful a hot shower and those cheap hostel beds feel. Heaven I tell you.

And now, I am venturing again into the "wild". Fraser Island it is. Going to see tons of Dingos hopefully.

Well, that's all from Down Under right now.

G'Day :)