Going south along the eastcoast, many bushours were spent looking at views like this
A giant shrimp gas station!
I spend one night on Magnetic island, which is famous for the wild koala population. I didn;t see any koalals but I did got a close look at these Possums in the hostel, looking for food in the garbage! The are so cute and have a very funny waggle when they walk.
I also met these two veterans who told me about Anzac Day. (25 april) They convinced me to attend the 'dawn' ceremony at 5 am, and then continued thier all night pre-celebrations.
The next mornging, the entire island population + people from the mainland had come for the ceremony. It is a war memorial day, and according to Adam and his friend the most important Australian holiday. Quite special to see the sunrise in such an event.
The phrase they use a lot is 'lest we forget', and I was surprised how many young people attended, it is truely a holiday for the whole population, not just the seniors. Good thing to be grateful for things like peace and be concious of the past. (maybe australians value their history more because they have so little of it?)
After the speeches and flowers, the whole population headed for the 'town' for breakfast and party.
Old and young people, with medals and uniforms (also fire service, police, students etc.) Very informal and relaxed atmosphere.
And loads of alcohol at 6.30.
Breakfast charity event (most people had it with a beer or rum!)
I heard that some kids wear the medals of their parents or grandparents, to pay respect.
I ended up talking all morning with these geezers, the guy on the left is a park ranger on a day off. He knew a lot of Europe and even got our picture in the local online newspaper: http://www.magnetictimes.com/index.php?b=11&c=353
Next I made a short stop at the village of Mackay, not much to do except for photographing the art deco hotels in the blistering sun.
Must be because it was a sunday, but the whole town was pretty much dead.
FRASER ISLAND CAMPING TRIP with these crazy people. (we got France, Netherlands, UK, Korea, Germany and Canada)
A 3 day camping and 4WD adventure on an island without roads, so you have to drive on the beach.
Fraser island is a gigantic sand island that is one of the most popular destinations of Australia with backpackers. First you have to get there on a ferry...
.. and then you're on your own with 14 people and zero 4WD driving experience. Fun times!
The middle of the island is covered with nothing but tropical forest. There are a couple of resorts and about two shops, and the rest is just wild natural park and sand roads.
We had our two sweet pink 4x4 trucks, most noticeable vehicles on the entire island! I also did some driving on these crazy roads, it was a very cool experience. You get stuck a lot, and have to reverse to get out.
The other car was clearly the crazy car. (picture by Pam)
Lake Wabby in the middle of the island (freshwater)
Pam conquering the hill (picture@pam)
sand sand sand sand sand sand and sand.
The cool thing is that even though you have a 'schedule' to keep to, you still have a feeling of freedom, and the thing is so big that it never feels crowded despite the many many groups of backpackers doing the same thing. Here we had a whole campsite almost to ourselves.
Zak and Emilie are the bbq masters.
People who know me might find this unbelievable, but YES I camped!
Riding the beach seems easy but there are apparently a thousands way to kill yourself here (there was a fatal accident only weeks ago) so keeping an eye out for water, rocks, and planes using the beach to land (!!!)
The infamous rocks! (picture@ Pam)
When things got bumpy, people in the back of the truck would fly all over, and our cooking gear would do a little dance.
Cliffs at the tip of Indians Head. They said you could see dolphins and sharks from up here, but apparently not in this season.
Walking near Indian Head.
The famous shipwreck (less impressive in reality, but still a good photo opportunity)
Stole this picture from Emilies facebook, her comment was; "doing a flip-flop high-five for finding our campsite!"
Because of the Dingos (wild dogs) we were instructed to dig a 50 cm hole for every toilet visit, with brilliant candid moments as a result. (the naughtiest aren't online unfortunately.)
Our French Chef making some pasta. Check out that sand in our truck (after the first hour, there is just sand everywhere.)
Eva, Niels (yes dutchies) and Vitali on our second camping site.
Dingoes around the tents! Grab your camera!
I took this one the next day. They look sweet but we had a million instructions to stay 'DingoSafe'. One of my favourites was the following: "When encountering a dingo, stay calm and walk backwards slowely. Never run or wave your arms. When attacked, defend aggressively." (how contradictive is that?)
!!!!
A beautiful freshwater creek where you could float to the ocean.
Chilling at Lake McKenzie, the best swimming location on the planet. It's like a pool, but BETTER.
Another gorgeous picture by Pam, she captured the paradise quality the lake had before then thousand tourists raped it an hour later.
Hell yeah! (picture@Pam)
We brought the cheapest beer with us, only to discover later that it was non-alcoholic... (picture @Pam)
I stole this one too from Pams album, amazing sky. (picture by Pam)
Zak waving the island goodbuy. It was an amazing 3 day ride, lots of new skills and experiences and very good memories of our group. (pic@Pam)
On the ferry back we saw this amazing garbagetruck driver.
The guy had sideburns the size of his hand, and wore nothing but shorts and cowboy boots.
Brisbane city hall.
It is strange to be in a big city again. The population is so different from what I've seen in Australia so far, it might as well been a different country. Suddenly you see people wearing something OTHER than flip flops on their feet, and even fancy dresses!
With shopping malls, cafes and museums it feels very familiar and almost boring. And then you see something like this! (it is a real one btw)
Local casino.
Going on another 12 hour busride South, beautiful misty morning scenes.
And more imaginative gasstations.
Arriving in Sydney I immediately left again, and took a 2hour trainride west to the Blue Mountains, something very different from what I've seen in Australia so far.
Home of the famous 3 sisters rock formation.
In Queensland, the only hint of Autumn is the shopping sale. To come here and suddenly get a very familiar, european Autumn scene was something I didn't expect.
The town of Katoomba is filled with these wooden houses, art deco cafes and cuddlly cute b&b's that seem from a different time (and country)
There was even a Teapot museum!
Well more than just teapots, about any cheesy souvenir, antique junk or imitation art nouveau bric-a-brac you can imagine. (and overpriced cakes)
Nice matching picture for all my Sakura ones from japan :)
The interesting thing is that these wonderful autumn trees that remind me so much of home, are mixed with tropic ferns, Eucalyptus trees and exotic birds on every street corner.
There are dozens of these flying around, they make a lot of noise.
Rockclimbing on Mt York.
"Could somebody down there grab my camera please?"
Me climbing a wall called 'Obituary' (for good reason?)
The 3 sisters at dawn.
Down that misty valley is a tropical rainforest, did a very nice long walk.
The 'Common Ground Cafe' is a mix between a medieval tavern, a hippie community and a Hobbit house. Every little corner of the interior was made with second hand wood, flower paintings and souvenirs from the 70'ies.
They had a tiny second floor, a open fire place, and real candle lanterns. All the staff wore long loose clothing (selfmade?) and loads of facial hair. Very cosy!
Of course the thing to eat here is a giant bucket of Pumpkin soup.
This picture marks the end of my Autumn Oz experience, from now on nothing but coast and big cities ahead. Later!
