Since we are so behind in our post writing (we’re already in New Zealand!), we decided to do two picture posts to get all caught up. Our apologies for being behind, but the holiday season has been quite busy!

After leaving Rockhampton from Myella, we took the bus down to the town of 1770. Not surprisingly, the town was named after the year it was discovered by Captain Cook, the first English explorer to claim Australia. 1770 was a very small town with only a couple hundred residents, but our hostel there was fabulous. Our plan in 1770 had been to go scuba diving, but Jaz started feeling sick when we got there, and I didn’t want to book anything, because underwater is not the best place to be when you’re sick. So by the time he decided it’d be ok the next day, there were no spaces available on the boat. This ended up working out well though, because we spent the day relaxing before doing a sea kayaking adventure.

The kayaking was fun, but about average, until the guide informed us that we could do surf kayaking. I hadn’t heard of this before, and when he told us that everyone always fell out of their kayak, I thought Jaz and I would certainly not. Three times into the water later, we had caught several big waves, and headed back to watch the sunset.

Leaving 1770, we went on to Hervey Bay, where we were only staying as a jumping point to go to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world, and the only roads on the island are made of sand, so you have to have four-wheel drive vehicle. Seeing as how neither Jaz nor I know how to drive a four-wheel drive, and I didn’t really want to get stuck in sand, we opted to do a one-day tour of the island. I was quite glad too when I saw what was considered a freeway on the island – with a speed limit of 80 kph!

We had a fabulous guide who informed us that he had taken the most tours onto Fraser Island out of anyone, and had even written the Queensland government’s rules and regulations for sand driving. So while he was waving his hands in the air and turning in his seat while driving, we still felt relatively safe. The day tour managed to take us to all the popular spots on the island, including the Maheno shipwreck.

Champagne Pools

Indian Head

A puppy dingo, don’t worry, he isn’t ill, their ribs are supposed to show like that!

Fraser Island was used for logging back in the early 1900s, and there are still many heavily wooded areas on the island, including trees that take 11 people to encircle.

Lake McKenzie, a beautifully clear inland freshwater lake, made up entirely of rainwater. It tasted just like bottled water.

After Hervey Bay, we headed off for Noosa, where we really only stopped to break up the bus journey to Brisbane. We did manage to fit in a lovely walk along the beach into the national park to catch another sunset.

Stopping in Brisbane, we had the happy chance to be able to meet up Jo, who we had met previously on our trip in Africa. Jo and her boyfriend Kieren graciously offered to let us stay with them, and Kieren even spent the day with us showing us a lookout point above Brisbane.

Our stop south of Brisbane was Byron Bay, where we stayed in perhaps the worst hostel ever. Our room had a party in it when we tried to go to bed which continued until well past 3 in the morning. Thankfully we only stayed one night there, and just enjoyed our day walking along the beach.