Aussie Diary

Today was the day to leave Hervey Bay. In the afternoon I took the Greyhound to 1770. The journey was awful… the bus smelled like someone threw up before… At the end I got so sick and the road was so bad that I nearly throw up myself. I finally arrived in 1770. My hostel, Cool Bananas was just on the other side of the road. I checked in and the manager, Greg, told me, that they have a job going on but I have to stay a week. Well… I didn’t planned to stay a week but I changed my plans. I’m going to take the job in two days.

The hostel is such a chilly place. Hammoks, Campfire in the evening, a chief which cooks 5$ meals and everything is so clean! Awesome place!
I started my job which was cleaning the common room. It took me around 1h and I got free accomondation, internet and laundry for that. Yay!
The same day I started working I went for the Scooteroo tours (a tour on mini-harley’s). It was soo much fun and I enjoyed the 2h ride through the country and 1770. In the evening we watched the sunset over the ocean. It was beautiful. On the end of the journey I went to Rod, the guy who runs the Scooteroo and asked him for a job because the guy he had before was going to leave. It was so cool, he just said, come tomorrow and start working Now I am working with Ronald, a Dutch guy, at Scooteroo and all we have to do is driving with the group every day, hehe, definitly the best job in the world!

This place is too chilly, i am to lazy now to keep on writing… maybe later

I was so happy to leave Rainbow Beach! Was there for too long… I took the Greyhound till Maryborough where I jumped off for a 3h stay. I was lucky and could leave my luggage at the ticket office. I went for a walk through Queensland’s oldest town, home of Mary Poppins autor P.L. Travers . I even found a Mary Poppins statue. Maryborough is a nice town, looks really peaceful and pretty with the old buildings.
After 3h I took another Greyhound to Hervey Bay. I went to the Woolshed Backpackers. I was amazed! For 22 $ I had a TV and DVD player in my room! And there were no bunkbeds, just 3 single beds! It was pure luxury! I really love that hostel. The living room is decorated in an outback style and everything is really clean!
I spent a couple of days in Hervey Bay because I had to go to the bank and forgot that there was a long weekend because of Queen’s birthday. When I finally went to the bank, they didn’t sent my account card to Hervey Bay… they put something wrong in the address in Brisbane… noooo! So I asked to send the card to Bundaberg, my next stop. But since I loved the hostel I decided to stay another day here.
I had really nice room mates, so I felt quite good in my hostel, hehe (especially when you can watch movies during that rainy weather - yes, it was not better in Hervey Bay!!!)

I wanted to leave and go to Bundaberg to meet up with some friends there. But I changed my plans 3 hours before I wanted to leave. My friends already got bedbugs in their hostel and it’s dirty. I couldn’t find any other decent accomondation in Bundaberg, so I checked in again in my hostel in Hervey Bay. The hostel is run by a family and the husband’s going to leave for a holiday, so they asked me if I want to work for my accomondation. Of couse So now I’m helping Megan with the kids and some other small things. It’s really nice, I save so much money and I just love the hostel!

I was not that happy, the sky was still grey and with Felix we started for our 2nd Fraser trip. After we heard the whole briefing, packing the car and all that stuff again, we were finally ready to start our 3 day safari. We took the barge and went to Fraser (again). It started good, we could drive all the way at the beach, yay. We drove first to LakeMcKenzie. I was sad because it started raining a bit but all the other people said, we should go for a swim, its awesome. So I changed into my swim suit and we went down to the lake. It was breathtaking, I never saw something that beautiful, even in the bad weather you could see the beauty of that lake. The blue colours, the pure water, amazing! We went for a swim and for some reason it made us totally mad. We enjoyed a couple of hours in the lake (with rain, hehe).
After that refreshing swim we went to our camping ground at the beach. We set up camp just before dark and started cooking. After dinner I went to the beach with Chris and Jo and we watched a thunderstorm which was far away over the ocean. It looked soo nice.

The next day we left camp early to drive to Lake McKenzie again because the weather cleared up over night. This time I just couldn’t believe it, it was amazing! We went for a swim again. The water was beautiful and you could even drink it! We refilled our waterbottles before we left.
We started driving up the eastern beach to Indian Head. First stop was Eli Creek. A very nice looking creek, greenish colour. We continued to the Maheno Shipwreck. It’s really strange how a wreck can look nice but it did! We stayed there for lunch and then we hit the road (ehm… beach) again to Indian Head. Normally you should be able to see marine life there like sharks, dolphins and whales in winter. But because of the bad weather we had the sea wasn’t clear and we couldn’t see any marine animal. But the view from Indian Head was awesome!
We had to drive back because the tide was coming in. We drove to another beach campsite and set up camp. After dinner we walked through the other camps, there were so many other backpackers. Was fun to see their camps. Later we sat again at the beach, looking at the stars (Australians have more stars than we do :D!)

The next moring we left early again and went through the inland to Lake Wobby, this time a green lake. It was very nice but not as exciting as Lake McKenzie. We had a sandboard but because the sand was still wet the sandboard didn’t slide at all…
After a couple of hours we had to walk back, had lunch at the car and then drove back to catch the barge back to rainbow beach.
We had so luck with the weather. The first day was grey but the rest was beautiful blue sky! Fraser Island was an amazing trip! I recommend that to everyone!

After the canoe trip we spent another night at Noosa before we catched the Greyhound to Rainbow Beach. The weather was terrible and I was hoping that it gets better in Rainbow Beach… But no chance, it was raining there too. In the afternoon we had a briefing in our new hostel for the Fraser Island Tour the next moring. The whole group was a bit depressed because of the bad weather but we had no choice… The next morning we packed the car in the rain, heard last instructions and where even told that our camping ground is closed because of the heavy rain and that we have to camp at the beach twice. Well… that starts good.
We started in the rain, took the barge over to Fraser and went to the inland track because it wasnt safe to drive around Hook Point. We drove for a while till we reached the beach. From there we drove at the beach to Eurong where we stopped to have a talk with other backpackers. The weather was terrible, it was raining so hard and the wind was bad. The other backpackers told us, that everything on Fraser was closed, even the beach road to the shipwreck… So what the hell could we do here? We were supposed to camp and they started talking about a cyclone warning…!!!
We phoned our agency and that lady on the phone just told us not to panic and come back. So we did… That was probably the shortest trip to Fraser ever.
When we came back to our hostel, they had no space because there were too many people, so they gave us two amazing little appartements! With TV and own kitchen and bathroom!
We spent two days in these appartements till all of the group expect Felix left. Then we moved back to the hostel. We had to wait now till the weather gets better because we didnt get a refund…
Rainbow beach was soo boring. You couldn’t do anything with that rain. And the town was so small, there was nothing to do either. The only thing was to hang around in the hostel and read a book…

Early in the morning I left the hostel with Felix. We got picked up and drove to Boreen Point where a water taxi brought us to the info centre where the canoes were. It was really strange, all the lakes around there were only waste deap! Our stuff was all packed in air tight barrels which we packed into our canoes. We started paddeling with the rest of our group up the river to Harry’s Hut, our campsite. The river was deep and apparently there were Bull Sharks in the river system… yay…
After an hour we arrived at Harry’s Hut where we set up the tents and then started cooking dinner. But we were not quick enough so we ended up cooking and eating in the dark
At 8pm we went already to bed… that was so strange but i was quite tired.

The next morning we stand up quite early and left camp at 8am. We paddled up the river another 7km to another campsite. From there we walked to the Cooloola Sand Patch. It was amazing. It was soo big and the view was fantastic! After lunch we walked back and paddled back to Harry’s Hut where we all had a quick swim (really quick because we were afraid of the sharks - although they shoudn’t be around). This time we were quick with cooking and finished before dark. We all sat together for the rest of the evening and went to bed early again.

The next morning we had to get up early because we had to be back at the info centre at 9.45am. We were really lucky because it was raining at night and it just stopped at 6am. We paddled back and arrived at the info centre a way to early. We were all happy to go back to civilisation and enjoy a hot shower!

Together with Patricia, a German girl I met in Brisbane, I started travelling up north. We arrived in Brisbane and our hostel was just around the corner. It was sooo lovely. It was an old building, white painted and had a lot of verandahs. It was so invitig and just looked beautiful. The best about it was, that we were only 2min away from the beach and that we could rent surf boards for free!
As I walked around on the verandah, suddenly a door opens and Lisa, a girl I met in Brisbane, was standing in front of me. That was so funny. Together we went all to the beach to see the sunset which was awesome!

The next day we walked over the litte hill to Noosa Junction to go grocery shopping. Noosa was not a big town but I expected more shops like little beach shops or so. But there were mostly holidays appartements and units to rent… so there was not much life in the town.

Patricia and I wanted to do the walk around the National Park to the Sunshine Coast but we didn’t go far because the beach was so beautiful that we had to stop for a swim. Finally we spent the day there.
On the way back we stopped at the info centre where I saw a horseriding pamphlet. It was horseriding at the beach, I had to do that! So I booked a tour for the next day.

I got up quite early to get ready for the horse ride. I was so excited because they said we’re going to canter along the beach! I was nearly ready as the door opened and a new room mate came in. Her name was Katherine and she went for a horse ride too! That was a funny coincidence!
I went to Noosa North Shore were my horse ride starts. I had a lovely Australian Stock Horse called Solomon. First we rode through the bush and did some trotting too. We arrived at the beach and it was like in a dream! On the beach we started cantering and it was the best thing I ever did in my life! It was just amazing! I had also so much luck with the weather because it was raining all night and it just stopped for the horse ride and when I got back it started raining again. So I went to the kitchen for lunch where I met Katherine. We exchanged horse stories and just talked for a long time. Suddenly it stopped raining and we thought, lets go and grab the free surfboards and go surfing!
I think, the hardest thing about surfing is to carry that bloody thing to the beach… We had soo much fun and it was amazing because we were surfing till sunset and it was just unbelievable to be in the water with a surfboard at sunset (note: we were not successful at all :D)

The next day Katherine and Steffi joined Patricia and me for the walk and this time we didn’t stop at the beach. The walk was amazing, it was like in paradise! All these palmtrees, the pure water, the national park! Really nice. But the best part was, when we arrived at the Sunshine Coast the view was just breathtaking!
From the Sunshine Coast we took the bus back to Noosa Heads where I had to say good bye to Katherine because she was flying back to Sydney that day. But I promised her to come to Sydney in Spring or Summer and work for a month or so in Sydney.

In Noosa I also met another German boy called Felix. We planned to go to a Canoe trip through the Upper Noosa River. We both ended up buying a really cheap package: Everglade Canoe, Fraser Island and Whitsundays.

After 3 weeks it was time to move on, so I left Fordsdale and went to Brisbane. It was strange to see a city after such a long time on a farm. I checked in to the Bunk Backpackers in Fortitude Valley. Soon I met my room mates and went for a drink to the bar with them. There we met some more people and we had a really funny evening.
The next day we went together to South Bank, an artificial beach in the middle of Brisbane. It was beautiful, there was a white sand beach and the view pointed over the river to the city skyline. After a swim we walked back through Queen Street, Brisbane’s shopping street. In the evening we went to the bar again. I liked that hostel with bar and swimming pool.

My room mates Tessa and Jo left and I was quite sad because we had so much fun together. I started exploring Brisbane on my own and went shopping. I bought my first Akubra (Australian Cowbowy hat).
I quite like Brisbane. It’s not too big and you can go everywhere by foot. But on the other hand it’s still a big city with it’s own charm.

After a couple of days it was time to move on and I bought a Greyhound ticket up to Cairs. Next stop was Noosa Heads.

I left early in the morning and catched the train in Robina. I changed in Brisbane and a few other times. On my way i met Koen, a Dutch backpacker who will be the second WWOOFer at Fordsdale. We arrived in Gatton, the town Sue (our future boss) should pick us up. But there was no Sue… we started getting a bit worried and were happy that we weren’t alone. After one hour Sue picked us up! We arrived in the evening at her home. Its quite funny because we are staying in old railway carriages It’s actaully like camping. After we dropped our luggage we drove to the guest house to meet Danielle, another WWOOFer. It was very cool, Sue just told me to take one of the cars and drive down to the guest houses and meet Danielle.

Fordsdale is like a holiday farm. They offer Farmstays and trail rides. We are living a bit up the mountain in old railway carriages and always need the car to go there.
Sue owns around 30 horses, but only around 20 are on this property. Most of them are amazing Arabian horses, some are thoroughbred and a few anglo arabs. They are really good trail horses or Sue’s endurance competition horses. On Fordsdale they have also cattle, goats, ducks, little chicks, guinea pigs and dogs of course.

Danielle showed us around and teached us some of the work.
The next day we saw what we had to do: In the moring, take off the horse rugs, feed the calfs with the bottle, feed all the other animals,… On the weekend we do all the work with the guest, especially the kids enjoy doing it!
Danielle left on Monday and Koen and I were on our own. Sue had so much work to do that she was never around. So Koen and I did all we remembered and it seemed to be allright
But already on our third day something happened. One of the horses, Kaleela, had a colic. Luckily Sue just arrived as we found her. So i was walking her for a long time and after some medicine she was better. This was a really long day!
But the next day was really good! Koen and I could go for a ride! It was awesome and my horse, Rolly, was just great!
Its really interesting here, a lot of things happens. Sometime they are sad, like the other day one of the horses kicked a baby goat and it died of shock… was pretty rough to watch it happen…
Or i nearly hit a Kangaroo…
But i think the most interesting here is the driving. Its the first time i drive in Australia but i had actually no difficulties to drive on the other side, i was already used. But it very cool to drive these big trucks and 4WD cars around the property and up the mountain. But i think, driving up a little Toyota Echo a steep, stony hill is more fun, because you never know if the car is going to make it

 After a couple of days, Christoph, an Austrian backpacker joined us and we were now 3 WWOOFers. Was pretty cool. We started working on little projects and started building a little path with a stone wall. I was very lucky because i could go and lead trailrides over the weekend.

After nearly two weeks Anna, a Swedish backpacker, completed our little crew. On a Sadurday Sue invited us all to the Pub in Gatton. It was soo funny, it was actually the first time Koen and I went away from the property for two weeks. The pub was very funny, we played pool but were sooo bad that the whole pub was watching
The next day Sue left us because she went on holidays and she gave Anna and me the best job ever. We had to ride Robin and Posseidon daily = yay!!!! i could go horseriding daily now! it was just amazing.

A few days later the boys left Fordsdale and there were only Anna and me left and of course Jenny, Sue’s sister who was keeping an eye on us she was really lovely!
Anna and I spend most of the day riding and it was just great!
But then, after a week i really felt like moving on so I left with Jenny and drove back to Brisbane with her when Sue was back.

After waiting a long time i could finally buy a WWOOF book. It’s an organisation which helps you to find work. You will work for 4-6 hours and you get food and accomondation. You’re not paid. IThe book is full of different offers, you just have to pick and email or call the person. I finally found something with horses and other general farmwork. I emailed them and got a positive answer. I just had to wait now till they will have room for me. I decided to go back to Pablo’s mum in Elanora since she asked me to come again after i went there for the first time.

Hannelore and Michael picked me up at Tarlee’s dad place in Biggera Waters.
Unluckily, it was raining again… I think the Gold Coast doesn’t like me…
I used all that free time to go shopping. I catched the bus or Hanelore drove me to the shopping centres. I enjoyed Pacific Fair, a huge shopping centre near Surfers Paradise.
Finally, I had some sun and i took the bicycle and went to the beach every morning. Twice, I went to Surfers and it was awesome. I just enjoyed walking through the crowded streets, talk to some other young people and shopping a lot of souvenirs and some souvenir clothes.
With Hanelore and Michael we went for a drive. So i saw Byron Bay (where i want to go back when the sun is shining!), more of Coolangatta, some little country towns, etc.
After some days i finally got an answer from Sue, my future boss, that i can come. But since it was Anzac Day on the 25. i decided to leave on saturday, because i had no train on friday.