After our night of hotel room games it was back on the bus again the next morning. This time we were off to a surf lesson! The whole lesson was probably around two hours but we were only in the water for about one of those. Although it was a short time in the water I think everyone managed to do a bit of something that looked like surfing, however brief it was. I got back in the grove fairly quick and eventually managed to be able to turn both ways almost every time I wanted to. Once we had looked at all our pictures and dried off we made our way on to Byron Bay. At Byron Bay we visited the most easterly point of Australia, spent some time at the beach, and went to a bar called Cheeky Monkeys. Cheeky Monkeys was the highlight of Byron Bay I would say, and one of the best bars we went to on the trip. It was a crazy good time. Loads of money was spent, things got lost (most importantly two Roughriders hats), we danced on tables, and people were asked to leave before the night was out (for various reasons).
After relaxing on the beach and some of us going for a swim (and me and a fellow Saskatchewanian buying new hats) we were back on the bus again. We were on our way to Surfers Paradise, but first we stopped off at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. They had koalas you could get your picture with, and kangaroos you could pet and lay beside. Or in one of our tour members case you could get attacked by a little roo. The best part is that he got it on video, priceless! Luckily it was a little roo so it didn’t hurt the guy too bad, just kicked him a few times, bit him a little, and chased him after. All the while the guy and everyone watching was laughing, which I think fuelled the fire in the little roo. I didn’t get my picture with a koala but I did hang out with the kangaroos for a while getting lots of pictures as we dressed up one sleeping kangaroo with hat and sunglasses.
Once at Surfers Paradise everyone got settled into their rooms and started to get ready to go to Dracula’s. Before we had got off the bus our tour manager had told us to dress to impress but be ready to be treated really badly. Dracula’s was quite a unique place. It was a lot of fun, but really weird. First you got squished into a little room with coffins on the walls and a creepy butler told you about the rules of the place. Then you walked through one of the coffins and entered into a souvenir shop which had a bar up the stairs as well. Then when you were ready they put you into a haunted roller coaster ride which was short but pretty good. At the end of the ride you walked out into theatre/dinning room. All the people that worked at this place were dressed up as vampires including the waiters and waitresses and they all treated you like crap. They brought your food on time and were good that way but the yelled at you and made fun of people, and really said whatever they wanted. There was a band that played for the first part, then you got your food, and after a while the main show started. It was like a rock concert mixed with a comedy act mixed with erotic dancing. Like I said it was weird but quite entertaining, they were really funny. Once the show was done we went out to Club Liv which was another one of the better bars we went to on the tour. It was a nicer establishment with cool lighting and good, upbeat music.
The next day was a sort of free day where you could go to Australia Zoo, do a skydive, go sea kayaking, or just relax. I chose to do the sea kayak day trip which was quite fun. We kayaked about 7km all together, did some snorkeling, had a simple but good lunch of baked goods and fruit, and had a nice walk around a nearby island. After the kayak trip and all the other activities were done we all got dressed back up and went down to one of the guys’ room and partied till the hotel staff told us we were too loud and needed to leave. So we all went out to Club Liv once again.
When we woke the next morning we had get on the bus and drive, first to Brisbane. We were there for only three hours and most of us just chilled out in some of the botanic gardens for most of the time. Once the three hours was up we made our way to Noosa. In Noosa we went to the beach and got hammered by the waves and the currents, probably the most punishing waters I have ever experienced. After getting beat up by the waves for a few hours it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for supper back by the beach. After our group supper some of us got ice cream and then went back to the hotel, for probably the longest sleep most of us got all trip.
Once again morning came, and once again we had to change locations. Only this time we were getting onto jacked up 4WD mini busses and going for a bumpy ride around Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. We also got to drive on Australia’s only sand highway. Most of us took it to just be a beach but it was also the highway on Fraser Island. On the island we got to see sand, rainforest, forest, a wild dingo, sand, a river of tea, a huge fresh water lake, oh and more sand. On the island some of the trees had tea leaves so when the water ran through the leaves it took some of the tea with it. No one tried it but it was brown and kind of tea looking so we took their word for it. After stoping and doing a little nature walk through the rainforest we drove to a fresh water lake in the middle of the island, Lake Mckenzie. It was the most amazing lake I have ever seen. The sand was super nice and the water was just the right temperature and fairly clear. We spent quite a long time in the lake playing Marko Polo, taking pictures, throwing people into the air, and generally just swimming around. Eventually it came time for lunch and then time to go to our lodge on the island for the night where we would watch the sun set and have a toga party. Another toga party and another group of people calling me Jesus. Some of us, including myself, wore our togas down to watch the sunset so we had some fun taking pictures. After the sunset some people went and had supper while others went back to one of the lodges and drank before we went down to the Dingo Bar.
The next morning it was packing up again, having some breakfast, and then catching the ferry back to the mainland and our original coach. From here we were heading west, away from the sea to a place that was……well more western.
Travel With Justin 