Noosa Heads & Mooloolaba

We had a short stopover in Noosa Heads. Now this had to be done because my Auntie Alison travelled the East Coast in 1995 and she liked Noosa so much she named one of her late dogs after it. We were also lucky with perfect weather so we just lay on this beach and read. 

Unfortunately near by there weren't any free stops, so not been ones to pay for accommodation we drove on around lunchtime to Mooloolaba. I'm not sure this is a normal east coast stopping point, but we wanted to stop here because we liked the name and we saw the Mooloolaba surf lifesaving team at the Aussies. We took a couple of selfies and then headed on towards a free rest stop. Short but sweet. 

Xoxo

Australia Zoo & Steve Irwin Highway

So ironically we found a rest stop on the Steve Irwin Highway, close to Australia Zoo, I'm going to assume it was named after him. We stayed there for a night before and a night after visiting the Zoo.

Now originally we wanted to choose between Singapore Zoo and Australia Zoo, but on visiting Singapore everyone said that Singapore is rated the best in the world so it was a done deal really. And to be quite honest it was amazing which I've talked about in a previous post so I won't go on. But then since arriving in Australia, especially since being on the East Coast, we kind of thought you can't go to Australia without going to the home of the crocodile hunter himself. 

It was good but I'm going to put it out there and say Singapore Zoo was a zillion times better. However I do love how much the Australia Zoo gift shop dedicates their space to Bindi Irwin, Steve's soon to be 16 year old daughter (I know this because I now follow her on instagram). There is Bindi dolls, Bindi workout videos, Bindi Adventure DVDs and so much more. It's Bindi mad. 

Nath's highlight was the Kangaroo enclosure, where you got to feed them, stroke them and obviously take selfies with them.

I'm not too fond of animals myself, particularly not the licking part, so I avoided the feeding malark and settled for just one stroke.

There was also a fantastic Crocodile and bird show which we both enjoyed and we were also luckily to catch the Otter feeding session. So we did have a good day but for $57 I personally wouldn't recommend it, especially if you've already been to Singapore, as nothing will compare. 

Xoxo

Blue Mountains

Not quite sure where to start with the Blue Mountains, but they are the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. When we decided to go to Australia, this was the second thing I knew I had to do after the Whitsundays and boy was it worth it. 

We stayed at Katoomba Campsite, which is located within walking distance of Echo Point and the Three Sisters and the points that the Blue Mountains are most famous for. In terms of weather during our stay, you would really not believe how freezing it was. I feel like I can now truely appreciate an Australian winter. I mean people are wrapped in scarves, proper jackets, gloves and hats. It's almost bizarre to see, especially after wearing a bikini and swimming in the sea a few days earlier. 

After doing a bit of Google searching, I discovered an Aussie website called 'weekend notes' where we found out the not so touristy areas within the Blue Mountains. However we still decided to see Echo Point and the Three Sisters as it was so close to the campsite. 

We also hiked to Witches Leap, where we went below the trees and saw lots of huge waterfalls. 

Sublime Point was the first recommended by 'weekend notes' and wow we were blown away. It's almost crazy the views and how intense they are. For a good picture, if you are to visit, I would recommend hopping over the railings for that untouchable photo. We only picked the rocks that looks stable enough and that people had graffitied on, hoping that they lived to tell the tale. 

The next spot we visited was Govetts Leap. It just crazy how so many of the points have a similar view but each time you still feel amazed.

Flat Rock/Lincoln's Rock was named after a famous mountaineer who I think recently passed away but don't quote me on that. This was our absolute favourite spot. 

On the way back to the campsite, we stopped by the Blue Mountains Chocolate Factory (obviously) also recommended by 'weekend notes'. It was totally not what we expected it was tiny and a little old house but was obviously adorable. The only thing that put a damper on the occasion, was we had a treat at the cafe and I let Nathan decide because normally I do and you'd never guess what he picked, only a Strawberry Cheesecake. I mean who orders a Strawberry Cheesecake from a chocolate factory. Anyway I may sound like I am complaining but I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. We also had a hot chocolate, which was basically hot milk, with a candle heating it from underneath and then we had to put in chocolate buttons and hey presto it became a cracking hot chocolate. 

I also treated myself to ONE (please note the emphasis on 'one') chocolate from the huge selection and I went with a Kir Royale white chocolate and guess how much it cost me, $1.50 for one chocolate and it was only OK.

All in all, Blue Mountains was unbeatable.

Xoxo

Brisbane

Our trip to Brisbane started terribly. We woke up ridiculously early, around 1am (we did go to bed at 7am) from our free rest stop around Australia Zoo and drove for around an hour and a half. 

See the plan was to get to Brisbane for just before 3am to find a parking space as we had to get to this pub Nath had found online by 3am because of licensing laws to watch England Vs Uruguay at 5am. Due to several wrong turns, we arrived and parked in Brisbane and got to the pub for 2.55am, with a mere 5 minutes to spare. We ordered a pint, the atmosphere made us!! And settled down to watch the game before, we did have 2 hours to spare.

Not the clearest picture but a picture at least. So basically the pub was your classic British football hooligan pub with extreme chanting and swearing, so I get football passion but it doesn't mean you need to swear 20 times in a row. Anyway as you can probably tell I was getting slightly annoyed, but I enjoyed the game and especially loved when Rooney scored however it would have been better if he could have scored again so we could have maybe gone through. So around 7am when the game finished we sleepily trudged to the car to find another car park so we could go and explore Brisbane. 

After consulting my Lonely Planet Guide it looked like SouthBank was the place to be and the most likely place to find a shower which we most desperately needed. Did I mention we were on day 3 of no shower, those poor people that had to sit near us. 

We found the local showers and they looked brand new and super clean so you'd expect a hot shower right? Well no, not quite what we got, absolutely freezing more like and I had to wash my hair so I ended up with brain freeze too. So as you can imagine I was not a happy bunny after this, but luck was on our side as I spotted a Max Brenner across the way. 

Several people I know who live in or have been to Australia have instagramed pictures of their Max Brenner feasts. Now for those that don't know Max Brenner, he is the chocolate god! Anyway the initial plan was to have one in Sydney just before we left, but we were cold and miserable and what better way to cheer one up than to have a chocolate feast at 8.30am in the morning.

Nath had a chocolate babka which was basically a chocolate bun with cinamon and chocolate and a pot of melted chocolate and I had a waffle with melted chocolate and we shared a thick hot chocolate. Woah that's a lot of chocolates in one sentence. Anyway it certainly cheered me up if not made me very full.

We walked along the South Bank, which had lots of little cafés, restaurants and shops and even a swimming pool, before crossing the bridge into the main city, fully equipped with our Lonely Planet.

The weather wasn't the best we've seen, note the jeans but like true tourists we saw it out, even when it drizzled quite a bit. We had planned on doing a suggested city walk, but that soon went out the window when I discovered Topshop and a sale, poor Nathan! No seriously though we didn't actually spend much time in there because we don't have enough money to buy cheese let alone a Topshop sale item. 

After a miserable first half of the day weather wise, we headed up to Mount Cooth-tha which an amazing lookout point overlooking Brisbane and luckily the sun was shining.

Next stop Surfer's Paradise...

Xoxo 

Fraser Island 4x4 tour

Fraser Island is best described as 'out of this world' and has been Nathan and my highlights of the east coast so far.

Fraser Island is an unusual combination of rainforest and sand which makes it perfect for a bit of adventure. It is also 4x4 territory only because the entire island is made of sand and other vehicles just wouldn't be able to hack it. 

A few facts about the island:

🔘 Home to more than 230 species of birds - one of the largest and most varied in Australia

🔘 25 species of mammal present and isolation has ensured there is also the purest breed of dingoes (wild dog)

🔘 Native mammals included wallabies, possoms, flying foxes and echidnas

🔘 During the migration of Humpback Whales they stop by some of the sheltered bays of Fraser Island

🔘 The waters which fringe the island have been home to more than 50 shipwrecks including the famous Maheno shipwreck

So we had an awesome group of mainly girls. 2 nurses from Taunton, another girl from Taunton but living in Oz, a guy from Germany, a girl from Netherlands, a girl from Staines and another girl from Norwich. These group tours work so much better if you actually like everyone in your group. 

So our first stop was Lake Mackenzie. The clearest water, which this picture doesn't necessarily show.

We weren't allowed to go in with sun cream or have a quick wee in the lake in order to keep the water as pure as possible, as the only water to go in is rain water and it leaves by evaporation. 

Our next famous area we visited was the Maheno Shipwreck. It is the most famous of Fraser's shipwrecks and has become a landmark attraction. The SS Maheno was one of the first turbine-driven steamers which was built in 1905. Normally her route was Sydney to Auckland however until she was commissed as a hospital ship in Europe during World War One. In 1935, she was sold to Japan for scrap, her rudders were removed and they were been towed to Japan. When they reached Queensland Waters, a cyclonic storm snapped the tow chain and the Maheno drifted onto Fraser Island's Ocean Beach. 

That night we stayed in an Aboriginal campsite where we all stayed in tents and cooked food within our groups and drank lots of goon (cheap wine). 

Early the next morning our group went on a walk along Ocean Beach from our campsite.

 

Later that day we travelling to Indian Head overlooking the Ocean where we spotted a few Humpback Whales, turtles and a sting ray.

Our next stop was Champagne Pools, which gives the 'illusion' of champagne as the waves crash over the rocks, but it was way too cold for me to swim in but it was our first chance to sun tan in while. 

That night we cooked up a feast of steak, buttery potatoes and salad.

On our final day we headed to Lake Wabby, on parking up it took us a good 40 minutes to actually walk to the lake.

It was quite a tough walk up hills and through sand but it was worth it when we got there. There was this huge and I mean huge sand dune with Lake Wabby sitting at the bottom. It was slightly eery and creepy, like you could imagine it on a high school horror film. 

We spent quite a long time here, topping up tans before heading to the mosquito infested Eli Creek! I don't have any pictures of this. 

Anyway we had an awesome time with some awesome people and I'll just leave you with a few more photos! 

Xoxo

NB: all of the facts and bits of information about Fraser Island were taken from the Fraser Island website.