The Travel Diaries | Noosa- Whitsunday Islands

Continued from The Travel Diaries | Sydney to Brisbane

NOOSA

Friday 4th February- Sunday 6th February 2016

Having spent the day at Australia Zoo we didn't arrive in Noosa until 7pm. Getting to our hostel turned out to be a total palaver as James took us to the wrong hostel; he thought we were staying at Nomads but we were actually staying at Noosa Backpackers. This meant that having already had a five minute walk from the coach station to Nomads, we then had a long walk up a really steep hill with our heavy backpacks to then get a bus, before we eventually made it to the right place. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed! However we did have a private room to ourselves hostel so that kind of made up for it!

We woke up the next day and annoyingly we were onto day three of no sun. Up to this point, we hadn't seemed to have had the best luck with the weather in Australia. We tried to make the most of it and went on a really long walk around the national parks but the views just weren't the same as if it had been blue skies and sunshine. I can only imagine how beautiful Noosa really is! We even took a walk up to the lookout point only to be greeted with a huge cloud covering any spectacular views. Unfortunately the weather the day after was even worse and a complete washout so we didn’t really get to do many touristy things at all. We left Noosa later that evening so regrettably didn't manage to see Noosa in it's true beautiful form; especially as we'd been recommended to go there by so many people, however that's a good enough excuse to make the effort to go back some time.

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HERVEY BAY/ FRASER ISLAND

Sunday 7th February- Thursday 11th February 2016

Our next very brief stopover was Hervey Bay; our pit stop ready to go onto our three day tour of Fraser Island the following morning. We weren't really sure what to expect from the trip but it definitely turned out to be one of our favourites parts of travelling. The tour operators picked us up from our hostel in Hervey Bay around 11am and we got the ferry across to the Island for our ‘pre night’ of the Cool Dingo Tour. This meant that our tour didn't actually start until the next day but we were able to use all of the facilities around the Kingfisher Bay complex, including the swimming pool, sun loungers and the bar area. We hadn't had this kind of luxury in weeks so it felt like we were staying in a really posh hotel! Afterwards we made our way up to our Wilderness Lodge accommodation that we were sharing with twelve other people from our tour and even this was a lot more fancy than we ever thought that it would be.

Being on the East Coast we’d missed watching the sun set over the sea just as we had done regularly in Perth, however as we were on an Island we were able to catch a beautiful sunset once again with a strawberry daquiri in one hand and camera at the ready in the other, or in James’ case a cold beer! Afterwards it was straight over to dinner where we were served a hot buffet which went down a treat. The meals that we had throughout the tour were probably the only proper dinners that we'd had since the homecooked meals at James' family home in Perth so we definitely made the most of them.

The three day tour of Fraser Island as part of Cool Dingo's was incredible and we were taken to so many stunning locations. The morning of day one was spent at the beautiful Lake McKenzie; a fresh water lake with crystal clear blue waters and soft white sand. It was so idyllic! Throughout the rest of the three days we did a walk through the rainforest, drove along 75 Mile Beach Highway, visited the Maheno Shipwreck and the The Pinnacles Coloured Sands, swam in The Champagne Pools, climbed Indian Head cliff top, tubed down Eli Creek, went Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Lake Birrabean and trekked to an oasis- Lake Wabby. It was an action packed three days but each and every thing that we did was amazing and we were really sad for the trip to come to an end, especially as we met so many lovely people.

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AIRLIE BEACH/ WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS

Friday 12th February- Tuesday 16th February 2016

Our reluctance to leave Fraser Island didn’t last for too long as that same evening we got on the night bus to Airlie Beach ready for our Whitsunday sailing trip. We arrived in Airlie around 9.30am the following morning to the most beautiful blue sky with not a cloud in sight! The weather definitely started going on the up whilst we were in Fraser Island and it was only getting better! We had the whole day to chill out so we spent it sunbathing by the lagoon and sipping on our favourite refreshing New Zealand Natural smoothies.

The next day was an early start as we made our way over to the marina to board Siska; our accommodation for the next two days as we sailed through the Whitsunday Islands. The weather couldn't have been any more perfect as the sun was shining and it was baking hot but with just enough wind for sailing. It was such a lovely chilled atmosphere listening to music and sunbathing on deck with a few drinks in hand before arriving at Whitehaven beach, the most beautiful beach with amazingly white sand that is 98% silica. I would go as far to say that  it was actual paradise!

We moored after sunset that evening and spent the last few hours of the day having a few drinks and playing drinking games. There were 24 of us on board the tiny sail boat so it was very cramped below deck and the beds were pretty much little cubby holes so a lot of us chose to sleep on deck. It was incredibly surreal looking up at the sky with the more stars we’ve ever seen before. It was so beautiful and such an amazing experience, despite getting very cold halfway through the night! 

The  following morning we went for our first snorkel of the day in the same place that we had moored over night. I’ve not snorkelled in the sea before so I was really quite nervous, especially as I'm not the best at keeping myself afloat but I soon got used to it and loved every second! There were fish swarming all around us and the water was so clear that we could see so much. It was like nothing that I had ever seen before! Our second snorkel wasn't quite as good as the first purely because the water was a little murkier so we couldn't see as much however we did manage to find a turtle which we swam with for a short distance. I was so close that it was hard resisting to reach out and touch it!

We spent the rest of our second afternoon setting sail back to the marina and again the weather was just as perfect so we lay on deck catching some rays. We arrived back in Airlie around 4pm meaning that we had the last few hours of the day and the following day to spend enjoying the lovely little town before making a move again on to Magnetic Island.

love Katya x

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