25 March 2006

Aussie Holiday: Surfer's Paradise and Fraser Island

Our next stop was Surfer’s Paradise, the famous beach on the Gold Coast, about an hour south of Brisbane. On the way there, we crossed over into Queensland, which means that we had to set our clocks back an hour. Earlier, we had been in New South Wales, which recognises daylight savings, but Queensland doesn’t (or the other way ‘round, I forget which). So, even though Brisbane and Sydney are geographically in the same time zone, they are an hour apart.

Our first stop was at the Natural Arch, a geologic formation that is pretty famous. Some of the people on the tour (Jenny, Laura, and Ali) had left us in Byron Bay to go on a two-day ‘Eco Hike,’ and the Natural Arch was one of their stops as well. It was really pretty, with a waterfall and everything. We walked through a bit of the forest as well, and Clinton told us about all the different kinds of trees and birds.

Once we got into Surfer’s Paradise, I immediately set out to find Meredith (flatmate from Wellington). We had decided several weeks prior that she was going to join me in Surfer’s for one last holiday before she had to go back to university. She had actually flown over on Wednesday as she was planning to meet another friend there, but that didn’t work out. She did meet some really cool English girls in her hostel, though, so we went out with them on the first night. We wandered around the night market for awhile, just browsing, before going out to a good Italian dinner. Surfer’s Paradise is very commercialised, complete with movie theme parks and a ‘sea world,’ and it also has a very vibrant night life.

The next day was a free day. Some people had activities scheduled, but I wanted a free day to explore the city and hang out with Meredith. She was actually checking out of her hostel and moving into our spare bed (her hostel was a bit dodgy, and our resort was much nicer), so while waiting for her to get over to our room I did my washing. After she got here, we gravitated to the sunshine by one of the three pools. Paradise Resort, where we stayed, is a family-oriented resort, with several kids’ pools and toys, but there was also a more ‘adult’ pool around the corner. We stayed there for some time, just enjoying lying in the sun, before deciding that we were being lazy.

Meredith hadn’t done much else in Surfer’s Paradise, and I had only just gotten there, so we decided to take a walk down the beach. She had heard somewhere that the only Versace Hotel in the world was in Surfer’s Paradise, so we set out to see what we imagined to be a beautiful hotel. The hotel was a lot farther away than we anticipated, but in the end we made it. It was a really nice hotel, and I really liked watching the cars out front (nice ones, like my Z4). We got smoothies and then began our walk back. That was interesting because we didn’t really know where to get off of the beach to get back to the Paradise Resort, but we are resourceful Ambassadorial Scholars and managed to find our way. We took showers, had dinner, and then went out to celebrate my last night in Surfer’s. Lots of dancing and socialising was involved, and it was a great night.

The next morning, we had to wake up at early-thirty to get on the bus for Fraser Island. It wasn’t actually very far to drive, but we had to make sure that we could catch our ferry. We all made it on to the bus and promptly fell asleep again. We woke up for a stop in Brisbane quickly. Not much was open because it was about 8am on a Sunday morning, but we all managed to find snacks and coffee shops open. I am sad I didn’t have much more than an hour in the city because it looked beautiful, but it wasn’t a large stop on our itinerary. By the time we got to the island and got all settled in, the sun was beginning to set. I took the opportunity to walk on down to the beach and watch the sun set over the trees. We were on the east side of the island, so I could only watch the colours over the trees, but it was still beautiful. Later that night, after dinner, some of us went out on the beach to stargaze. The sand dunes were lovely for lying in, so we sat down, leaned back, and were amazed by the shear number of stars we could see. The Milky Way was so clear and so large that it seemed like all we had to do was reach up to swish our fingers through it. I have never seen so many stars or seen the Milky Way so clearly.

Now, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, and its sand is a gorgeous golden colour and very fine. It’s a good thing that the beach is so beautiful because you can’t even think about getting close to the water. First of all, it is the summer season, so jellyfish like to hang around the shores. Secondly, the sand bank drops off very sharply, creating a perfect environment for sharks to breed and hunt. Thirdly, the current is so strong that if you got in the water, you need to remember your passport because you’ll probably end up in New Zealand. Basically, you don’t go near the water. There is an amazing amount of fresh water on the island, though. Vegetation falls on the sand dunes, eventually becoming meshed together to form a lake bottom, and rain water fills up these pools. Some of them are spectacular, especially the ones where the sand dunes are right up against the edge of the water. It’s quite a hike into the interior, so there are lots of 4WD tours that you can go on and explore.

I, however, did not feel like seeing more sand, being active for an entire day, or moving in general. Rather, I woke up that morning to see the sunrise. This was the last opportunity that we had to see the sun rise over the ocean, and I didn’t want to miss it. There were only a few of us who woke up to see the sunrise, and only Ali and I remained to take heaps of pictures. It was absolutely gorgeous. I just counted my pictures, and I took 72 pictures and 2 movies that morning. The colours were perfect, and there isn’t much that is nicer than the sun rising over the ocean in the early morning air. Ali and I stayed on the beach well after the sun was fully raised taking pictures of the ocean, the sand, our footprints, etc. We were trying to be artistic, and I am happy to say that we got some amazing shots that morning.

After all that time in the sun, I couldn’t even think about going back to sleep. We still didn’t have breakfast for about two hours (it was around 6.30am or 7am at this point), so we went to the pool and had an early morning swim. The pool was gorgeous. Rather than steps or a ladder leading down into the water, it was designed like a pool where the depth gradually got deeper and deeper and the water lapped up at the edge. This meant that you could lay in the water with your towel for a pillow and sunbathe while keeping cool. I am sure it was designed for ease of entry, but our use was much better. I was originally planning to spend the day on my own like that because everyone was either on the organised 4WD tour or had plans to rent their own 4WD. It turned out, though, that all of the 4WD vehicles on the island were broken (that’s an island attitude for you), so I had some company poolside.

That evening, we had a big party on the beach. It was a birthday party for our tour company, and Jules had bought several kinds of champagne and nibbles for the occasion. We even had birthday hats! We had the party as the sun was setting, and it was a lot of fun. That night we had some karaoke after dinner. There was another Connections group who was doing our itinerary the other way (Cairns to Sydney), so we got to meet and hang out with them for a time as well. Then, Fraser Island was over, and it was time to move on to the next spot!

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