Hervey Bay to Cairns

Cant believe I havent written anything since arriving in Hervey Bay, although i churned out enough rubbish so probably good to have a rest! well the reason I havent written is basically not too much to say really. As some of you may have guessed from tones of messages and previous blogs not really loving Australia as much as South Africa. Dont know why, lack of culture maybe and no, not even now seeing the Aborigines is helping probably because the ones i have met are sadly all drunks and looking the worse for wear due to the europeans introduction of alcohol last century!! nice! Hervey Bay was a nice little town, with lots of homes that looked the same, again a bit Stepford wifey but the main reason was to leave there and head across from the marina to the infamous Fraser Island. This is the largest Sand Rainforest Island in the world. It was cool, until we got the YHA and were told that if we wanted to see it we had to hire a 4x4. No problems, well yes, they didnt have any. So what about tours - as offered by the YHA? no - they didnt do tours! okay, so we were in a remote island, very large island, with no transport, so nothing to see!!! not good. Sam and I looked at each other and went to the bar! Thankfully we met a barman who kindly gave us free drinks - that helped. He gave us free internet - that helped and we found Scrabble!!! it is a life saver, although I have to play the world champion - aka Sam! damn!!! the poor barman - Heath (and no he didnt look like Mr Ledger in any of his films!), felt so sorry for us, he came and told us he had sorted out a 4x4 for us to hire (at discount!). WE love Heath! so the next day, we jumped in just like Thelma and Louise and went burning rubber up and down the sandunes and beaches. It was awesome, despite - yes youve guessed it - the lovely aussie weather (RAIN!). it was really cool and we saw a couple of dingos! cant be bad. thank god for Heath.
So we started to love Fraser Island until we met our room mate!! this time it wasnt a smelly boy or snoring person, it was a F##**n huge spider. My worst nightmare. Sams worst nightmare. It became even worse when seeing the other girls screaming on their beds clearly not going to do anything about it - other than throw things to make it run towards me and our beds - and then realisng Sam was stuck in the bathroom (apparently naked standing on the toilet when she saw the legs of the F####er going under the door). So we either stayed in the rooms for ever or I had to get it out. When did i become Mum!!!! crap. My book didnt work. It missed - i know, youd think with something that big (size of my hand) id hit it - well i clearly throw like a girl or you could say, pee like a boy - i missed! nothing else to throw at it. So the girls, made me walk past it (yes spiders can jump and chase me so i was petrified) and collect the very thing I needed - the bible!!! Threw it, i missed. Bastard! but this time it decided to run at me and into my room under a blanket on the floor by sams bag. not good. so the bible was thrown repeatedly at the blanket. I grabbed the blanket and ran out side dragging it and stunned spider onto the ground. job done. my worst moment, well a bit of an exaggeration but very nearly!!!! yuk!!!!! first and last time i hope. that was horrible. Fraser island - done!!
next stop - overnight bus to Airlie Beach - the gateway to Paradise apparently. Paradise being the Whitsunday Islands. My dream, we had a sail boat organised for 2 days and 2 nights. Id never been on a sail boat. Blue Seas, blue skys, hot crew, sailing round the islands..... you can see where my heads at!!! You think - - no bastard Australian weather struck again. Cyclone. didnt pass over for 4 days. Flooding up the coast from us. We had the boat cancelled, had to find accommodation in town along with everyone else who couldnt leave the place! ended up in a cabin outside of town in the rain. no cinema, one bar opposite (well more like a betting shop with a bar) and SCRABBLE!! yay. A girl we met, Fiona, gave us her scrabble as she didnt want it. We love Fiona. I hate Sam, she still keeps winning!!! Apparently my words dont exist in the english dictionary, although we realised both of us lacked intelligence when we tried to put words down that were norfolk in spelling and so clearly wrong. Sounded right to us!!!! anyway i headed for the bar one day after a walk in the rain, found they were showing Man U v Wigan and watched Mr Emile Heskey for 90 minutes with a few beers. That put the smile back on my face. The day we were to leave was a bit better, slightly less rain and we went on a Helicopter flight over the Whitsunday islands just so we could say we had seen them. It was cool. Cant deny, i really enjoyed it.
Feeling a bit happier in that we had seen something other than rain and a scrabble board, We finally got a bus Friday, another overnighter. Overnight buses - well, they re okay. IF you dont mind not moving for 13 hours, sitting in the same position, being bashed in the back by the person behind, being bashed in the front by the person in front and watching a film thats either ODD (Golden Door - not advised) or where the driver turns the sound down so you cant hear it (Jesse James with Brad). Actually, i clearly must be chilled as it was okay. You get used to it! We arrived bruised and tired in Cairns and it was sunny. YES - please note that on 17th January 2009, the sun shone in Australia. ACtually it was shining most of the previous week elsewhere, just not where we were!
Anyway i felt much better after a day of sitting by the pool, walking round Cairns and a night at the cinema to watch Role Model (highly recommend if dry sense of humour!).
Today was possibly my best day. Dream come true - I went diving in the Great Barrier Reef. three dives, loads of fish and coral. Photos i took to follow on Facebook at some point. But, it wasnt the diving that made my day, it was in one way, but today I met Robson Green. YES! it was actually him. He is filming a fishing programme (yeah thats not soooo cool) all around the world. I had to walk past him to get to the boat and he chatted very briefly as I walked past. Then I decided i had to do it - so with camera in hand I apologised as it was obviously imposing but could i have his picture. He came over to me, gave me a kiss on each cheek (Face (: ) and a hug and said of course but wouldnt i prefer it if i were in it. Well actually no as I take hideous photos, but not to be rude i said of course. So photo of me and Robson Green. We had another chat about his work, how he was finding it and he asked my name (not number :( ) and i walked away from him. Hes so nice. So when you see a programme with Robson Green going fishing around the world, when it shows Cairns, think of me!!!!
next stop Ayers Rock. Harley Davidson awaiting me!
Sarah x

Hervey Bay to Cairns

Cairns, Australia