Sun, sea and most definitely sand

Sand, sand and more sand...that's pretty much what Fraser Island is made of, which is slightly disconcerting until you realise the island is about 130km long and upto 20km wide. I guess you could make a pretty huge sand castle there if you tried, but I decided to be a bit lazier and just go sit on beaches.
For an island in the middle of both the sea and drought affected Queensland the place has an awful lot of fresh water. There are loads of dune perched lakes which have been filled by rain water over thousands of years. They're pretty warm and nice to go float in. I think the biggest is Lake McKenzie which is in the last photo. It's a bit too packed with tourists but has exfoliating sands and you're supposed to come out with soft skin and looking 10 years younger. I'm not sure if the looking younger thing worked,but locals swear by the sands,even the guys were at it.
There is a huge beach on the east coast called 75 mile beach but like many long beaches down here it's not as long as it's name, in this case it's apparently 63 miles long. Anyway it's fairly impressive and has a nice array of multicoloured sands,freshwater creeks,champagne pools and a shipwreck to keep you entertained for the day. There's even one bit of rock called Indian Head to climb up so you get a bit of exercise. It's officially a highway, but also a runway which is a bit mad and worrying when you can see a plane coming into land through the windscreen. They don't seem to have any crashes though so I guess it works.
The place is worth a trip if you're in the area but bug spray should definitely be in the suitcase - my feet have been eaten!

Slightly Damaged Goods

So it's been a while since the last post. I've suffered a little bit of damage due to someone else not looking where they were going and am now the proud owner of 5 stitches in my left leg. This kind of slowed my travels a bit as I couldn't go surfing as the leg strap needs to go right where the stitches are...

Instead I've been amusing myself on dry land. I headed to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast and went on a few rides there as well as seeing the tigers and koalas, kangerooos etc they have there. Then I headed to Maroochydore where I nearly stayed long enough to see the world cup triathlon in nearby Mooloolaba but it was a 4km walk and the road was closed so there were no buses and long walks were not a good idea at that time.

Right now I'm in a place called Noosa where Richard Branson, Pat Rafter and several aussi and kiwi celebrities I've never heard of have holiday homes. I'm staying in Halse Lodge which is an old Queenslander building which seems to be a listed building or something similar. Noosa's got a nice park unofficially called the Everglades but actually called Great Sandy National Park that I took a boat ride down to. It's got a lot of lakes and mangrove trees. The weather was fairly bad that day though so the pictures aren't great and the ride was bouncy at times! Luckily the weather was nicer today so I went for a two hour walk in Noosa National Park which is right on the edge of town. Later I grabbed a boogie board and hit the surf. Tomorrow I should get the stiches out and hopefully will be able to start badly surfing again.

Being a Beach Bum

So I've not really done a lot over the last week or so. In Coffs Harbour I went surf rafting and sea kayaking one morning which was fun as we went flying a few times when the raft and kayak flipped on big waves. Then I headed to Byron Bay and sat on the beach or round the pool for a few days. While there I also headed to a place called Nimbin, which is a bit of a hippie hangout. It has a bit of a mad museum made by people who were stoned and the people there are still quite heavily into hemp based products, so v funny to go and people watch.Next I headed up to Surfers Paradise and did indeed go surfing, though it wasn't exactly a paradise more a bit of an effort, but I think I got better by the end! It's a bit too built up and touristy for my liking, so I only stayed one night. I headed up to Brisbane next for a day, went to the museum, realised there wasn't a lot to the place and so now I'm in a place called Yeppoon which is near Rockhampton and Great Keppel Island. It seems quite nice, but I've only just got here so I don't really know. They do have a second hand book shop though which is a bonus as I've got two books I want to get rid of.