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 :)