Airlie Beach (The Whitsunday Islands) June 12 – 16

Sailing the Whitsundays is one of three must-sees in Queensland. The other two being 4WDing on Fraser and diving in Cairns.

 The Whitsundays consist of more than 70 islands

Fortunately I just got the boat I was looking for. It was a catamaran (LOA: 15m, Beam 9m) with diving on board at a standby rate saving me $150. They crammed 21 people + 4 crew on board and so there was a snug atmosphere but still quite enjoyable.

All the sheets and sails were operated with hydraulics and so there was not much we could do to help the skipper. The swell picked up and so it was quite a bumpy trip with at least half the passengers getting sick on the way to the Whitsundays.

Rockhampton (June 9-12)

Unfortunately there is only one Greyhound bus out of Agnes Water (the second big coach company Premier Motor Service doesn’t even bother to go there) which is at 9 pm and so we were due to arrive Rocky at midnight. I phoned up the YHA in Rockhampton and they deposited my room key in their safe for me to pick up. Of course there was no taxi at the bus terminal and so we had to wait 20min for one to show up.

I met Suzi again in Agnes and it turned out she also wanted to stay at the YHA. Apparently we just keep bumping into each other. Together with a Dutch guy we shared a cab to go to our accommodation. The Dutch guy wanted to give me the money for the taxi later, he probably just forgot to do so ;-)

The YHA receptionist was a nice bloke from the Philippines. He showed me some cords on the ukulele (it is actually not tuned like a guiar), let me play his guitar and recommended a great restaurant.

I met Kevin from Noosa again (as everybody is travelling in the same direction and since most backpackers stay loyal to YHA you always meet your fellow travellers again) and we had a look around the city searching for the library for free Internet. The Show was in town (something like the Oktoberfest but much smaller and without the huge tents we are familiar with) and so people used it as an excuse not to work this day. Even the library was closed. I assume you meet more people in town on Boxing Day at 06:00 in the morning. The streets were wiped empty.

Since everybody was at the show ground we figured we should at least check it out swallowing hard when the lady said “That’ll come to $15, please”. I would never go to the Oktoberfest if I had to pay $15 admission. WTF???

Anyway, it was just as crowded as the Oktoberfest and so it felt like home.

 as crowded as the Oktoberfest

Agnes Water and Town of 1770 (June 6-8)

As the name indicates in 1770 James Cook came to this nice place and founded the state of Queensland. This is actually the most northern town where you can surf but I didn’t try it. Might save that for Sydney, not sure.

 Agnes Water

It is quite a small town and apart from the beach there is not much to see. Apparently this is a good spot for snorkelling but I will see loads of fish in the Whitsundays and Cairns and so I pointed my attention toward something else.

 Beach in Agnes Water

Hervey Bay (Fraser Island) June 01-06

I had to decide between Hervey Bay and Rainbow Beach as my starting point for Fraser Island. Since I am not the fastest traveller I choose the more northern City.

The YHA Collonial Village is a nice place and it looks more like a camping site than a hostel. Apparently space is becoming less of a concern the further north you go. Even the smallest streets are a lot bigger than back home. The hostel has its own tennis court, ping pong table and a good pool.

My skin deteriorated all of a sudden and so I decided to take it easy for a couple of days to let it get better before going to Fraser Island. Kinda fed up with all these delays and so I need to travel faster from now on.

Initially, I wanted to book a self drive tour on Fraser but as I didn’t feel well during the days before, I chose the guided tour where you can sleep in a hostel room rather than the sandy campground.

Driver was 8 minutes early and so everybody on the bus had to wait for me. Even the hostel staff was already looking for me.

Fraser Island consist of 99% sand and a wee volcanic material. Being 123 km long and 22 km wide it is the world’s biggest sand island and for some reasons different types of forest were able to settle. Depending on how much minerals the trees have already absorbed the color of sand changes every few kms. About 700-2000 Aboriginals (depending on the season) used to live there, but they were deported when the island was discovered by the logging industry.

The shuttle got us down to River Heads where the ferry was already waiting for us. The journey took about 35min and we saw something that some identified as dolphins.

 Fraser Venture