...And The Other Two Weeks

After not being caught we left Noosa the next day, after we spent the morning and the afternoon at the beach. We booked our trip to Fraser and the Whitsunday Islands there and just had to pay for the latter trip. Why? I don't know, but why would I care ;) We arrived in Rainbow beach at night and parked our car at a Pipi's, a backpacker. For a small charge we could use their facilities, which meant finally a real toilet and shower again. We cooked dinner and after that I played cards all night long with that Swedish/English couple. The girl lent me her Nokia recharger which Calum didn't give back to me after I borrowed it to him in Byron Bay-Thanx Calum!!! I expected the next morning with great excitement as I wanted to skydive from 14.000ft (4200m). However, the weather represented a little problem at first. But an hour later I got a call and the guy said we can jump now. They picked me up from the hostel, made me sign those forms saying that if I die I have no rights (of course not, I am f.... dead!!!), took me down to the beach to measure the wind, and then to Rainbow Beach International Airfield. It was just a piece of grass and the runway was marked with plastic buckets. The small plane took of and after 20 minutes of a scenic flight over the bay and Fraser Island my tandem dude buckelt me up to him and opened the door. It got suddenly really windy and chilly in the plane but I just enjoyed the view and the Pacific Ocean and rainbow beach. We sat on the edge of the plane, my legs hanging out the plane (a great feeling) when he stood up and jumped with me. We tumbled twice (which I loved) and then enjoyed 65 seconds of free fall and 6 minutes gliding. We landed on the beach both wearing just a shirt and shorts, no shoes. It was one incredible experience!

In the afternoon we had to attend a meeting preparing us for the three-day 4WD trip to Fraser Island, the biggest sand island in the world. We really didn't learn much which was beyond common sense and so we left the next morning after we loaded our cars with tents, food, and of course some alcohol to enjoy the nights. Marvin, promising us good times at least once in a phrase, took us to the ferry and from then two Irish, two English, three Danish, a Swiss, and two Germans were for themselves. We deboarded the ferry and to a really bumpy road to the beach. Yep, the beach was the road and you relied on the tides wether or not you could drive. We made our way up to Lake Mckinsey which was inland. The deep sandy road seemed not to end but after an hour and a half we finally arrived at this amazing blue with a white beach looking lake. It was time for a refreshment and so we jumped in to cool down. After a group picture we were the lasts to leave. On the way back Kenneth made our car jump, not on purpose - a great but yet very scary feeling - and after we checked if everybody was ok we continued our sandy drive to our campground. We put up our tents and lucky as we were we had a chef in the group, a 21-year old English guy, who prepared our dinner both nights. The next morning we were woken up by the heat and those freakin' March Flies annoying the sh... out of us. They were just some stinging bastards. Without breaky we left for Lake Wobby by food. It was a good 45 minutes walk and two thirds of the walk were like walking in the dessert. Around us were only sanddunes with no vegetation. An incredible scenery. When we were back, all looking forward to enjoy our break our chef got stuck with the car and it took us about two hours in the midday heat to free our 4WD, all with empty stomachs. We called the company and they sent a mechanic to us, diagnosing a dead 4WD and so we had to wait another two hours for a new 4WD which wasn't to bad as we could use a pool while we were waiting. In the afternoon, all confident with the new car, we left our camp and drove up to a shipwreck and the Ela Creek which I walked up and floated down with the stream in exorbitant cold water. For dinner we drove back to our camp. Whilst the preparations I really had to pee and had to look for a good spot (there were no toilets). I thought I found one where I could spent the next 30 seconds without being caught but not so...behind me drove a 4WD by full of boys and girls watching me doin' my business. A little bit embarassing but Kenneth and I still thought it would be a good idea to play some games with them at night. We went to their camp with a couple of beers and at the end of the night Kenneth hooked up with that German girl from Hamburg...a fun night but a bad morning the next day. We broke up our camp, drove all the way up to the Northern part of the Island with a great look out and the champagne pools were we went into and drove all the way back South to catche the ferry to Rainbow Beach...Now I've written enough for today. I'll write more about our sailing turn to the Whitsunday Islands and my diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef where I saw this in 12m depth...

A Month Full of Excitement-The First Two Weeks

Sydney not only hooked me up with the new love of my life but said good-bye to me with big fireworks at Darling Harbour. It happened that I spent Australia Day (the day Captain Cook first stepped onto Australian soil) in Sydney as well, my last day there. At The Rocks with the Opera House next door, many stages with a lot of life rock music made my day with a couple of cool beers. I met some nice poeple and even though I went to Sydney by myself I was not by myself once. After the concerts I made my way to Darling Harbour where the big fireworks were to go of at night. I met two girls from Canberra and with them and thousands of other people I watched the fireworks. The night ended in the YHA bar with some Koerean dude and to many jugs of beer, but oh well, it tastes good.

The next morning I took the bus to Byron Bay, a cute little town between Sydney and Brisbane, with beautiful beaches and a lighthouse on top of a hill. On the way to the lighthouse you meet some funny looking turkeys, lizards, and if you swam many fish (including dolphins and rays). Just a little before the lighthouse you pass the most Eastern Australian Mainland Point. It is on a cliff and the day I was there, some dude decided to fall down the cliff (1st version I heard) or some dude went fishing and hurt himself (2nd, much more embarassing version for the dude) and I could follow a rescue mission with helicopter and people climbing down the cliff to reach the dude with first aid equipment. I met really cool people in Byron Bay, rode the waves with a bodyboard and learned how to properly bodysurf. It is a lot of fun if there wasn't all the blue bottles, some harmless stingers (jellyfish). After three nights I went straight up to Brisbane to catch up with Nina and to pick up our campervan which should bring up all the way to Cairns. Nina and I spent the night at the Bunk hostel and at night went down to the bar for some food and a couple of drinks. As we were eating I pointed out a guy to Nina and told her that he really looks like one of Andy's mates (a good Scottish friend of mine I used to work with in Melbourne) but that it could not possibly be him because he is still in Melbourne. WRONG!!! It was him...the world is small. Together with him, Nina, and the campervan we left for Byron Bay for two reasons. I convince all three of them that Byron Bay is worth visiting and I wanted to catch up again with two German girls I met when I was there the first time. They both are from a place near Freiburg, Andrea and Hannah. Andrea got the nickname Losie from me because it didn't matter what but she always lost it. Calum (Andy's mate) was so happy in Byron Bay that we left him behind. From there, Nina and I drove via the Hinterland all the way up to Noosa, which is north of Brisbane. The way took us along backroads, the Naturalbridge, the Springbrook Nationalpark, up to Noosa. The Naturalbridge is a small cave in some kind of rainforest. It has an opening through which a waterfall drops and at night the ceiling of the cave was illuminated by hundreds and thousands of glowworms (and millions of flashlights from Asians visiting the cave at night. At least 10 busses unloaded on the parking lot which is equal to about 400 Asians...unbelievable!!!. We spent the night on the parking lot with three girls we met. We were not allowed to because it was a national park but we asked the rangers if they would fine us...They said "no" and that they left at 10:30pm so we just stayed. The next morning after breaky we left for Noosa, stopped in a little village to buy fresh pineapple, and visited a big waterfall and a lookout at the Springbrook National Park. The area around the waterfall was really hot and humid (a good environment for those poisoness snakes) but as soon as we got to the lookout which we reached after a 45 minutes trip along windy mounting roads we were freezing and had to put on a jumper. At night we arrived at Noosa where we cooked our dinner at the beach, took a shower at the beach and parked our car in some backroads to spend the night (we had to because camping is not allowed at those nice spots and they'll fine you if you do so)...