The trip to 1770 was eventful to say the least. Already one of our longest journeys, the trip ended up taking us around 14 hours as I left my bag in a service station and added 4 hours onto the drive. By the end of it we were so tired we would have slept anywhere, good job really as the reception was shut by the time we arrived so we had to huggle together in a single bed with no sheets. We were meant to be leaving for the castaway trip the next day but as the plane was broken we had to wait until Thursday.
The hostel itself was amazing and nothing like any other hostel we had stayed in. We upgraded the next night and stayed in a double room which was lovely.Unlike a lot of hostels, the rooms were in wooden cabins with 2 rooms per cabin and each room had their own toilet and shower. The grounds where it was set were really pretty, and it had an outside screen, a wood fire, lake, hammocks and bbqs.
The town of 1770 was pretty boring with nothing there except a local supermarket and the travel agents. I wouldn't recommend stopping off there unless going on the trip.
Although we had had to wait until Thursday to go on the trip, we were all glad we did. We got flown over in a tiny 4 seater plane to a private beach that could not be reached any other way. Once there all you were left with was wood for the fire, ingredients to make a stew, tents to sleep in and a few beach activities such as sea kayaking and a few bush walks.
The area was lovely and views from the plane were stunning. Plus the pilot kept doing tricks which scared the life out of me but that Dean loved. I think he could've crashed the thing and Dean would've been happy just to be back in a plane again!
After we spent the night there we got flown back early as we had another 5 hour drive that day to get to our next stop at Rainbow Beach. This is where we were spending the night before leaving for Fraser Island. Even though we left early, we still only just made it in time for the briefing.
Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. The best way to explore is to go on a 4WD tag-along tour which is what we did. Basically, you get split into groups of 8, otherwise known as your 'Fraser Family' and get your own landcruiser to drive around the island. You get enough food for 3 days and all sleep at the private camp site. It is called a tag-along tour as even though you are driving your own car, you are led by a tour guide and there are 4 vehicles in total.
The first day started off well. Our group was made up of me, Dean, Richard, Caroline, 2 deutch girls, a guy from Hong Kong named Jeremy and a german girl called Cindy. The best part was the trip up to Lake Macenzie, an off road track that was pretty crazy. It had lots of dips and we found ourselves getting thrown off our seats a few times. This wasn't helped by the fact that it was one of the deutch girls driving and she didn't have much experience driving a manual car. That said we made it to the lake in one piece.
Unfortunately, on the way back we weren't so lucky. Dean was driving and we had decided to take the track fast and hard as everyone was enjoying getting chucked around.This meant that the 2 deutch girls were sat at the back, the worst possible seats in the jeep if you don't like getting thrown about. what we didn't know was that one of the girls had a weak spine and as we went over a particularly bad bump her back got jarred and she was in a crazy amount of pain. We were right at the top of the track as well and so she had to be given really strong pain killers and moved to the lead vehicle. It then took us 2 hours to get down a track that should've taken 20 minutes at the most. We were met at the bottom by an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, along with her friend.
We didn't get to camp until around 7.30, by which time it was pretty dark and we were all starving, tired and completely sick of being in the car.
The next day, Neil and Vicki, a scottish couple that we had met the day before joined our group. They had been in the lead car before but they were with a group of french that spoke little english. Plus they hadn't been able to drive the day before and none of us wanted to drive anymore so it worked out well.
It was through these two that I heard about the farm where I am currently finishing off my farm work but I will get to that later.
The next 2 days were pretty disappointing. The weather took a turn for the worst and fraser island is really a place to be enjoyed in the sunshine. As it was so cold, none of us wanted to go swimming- one of the highlights of the trip - and as we viewed the famous wreck of the S.S Maheno, we were all doing our best to ignore the wind and rain. I can see how people could love the island, it is unusual and some of the spots are beautiful, it is just a shame that the weather ruined it for us.
The next stop for us was Brisbane. I had been looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. Although it is a big city, it didn't feel too big. Unlike london, it was really modern and I just thought it was really pretty. There were random pieces of art dotted all around the centre of town and the walk along south bank was really picturesque - probably one of my favourite parts of the city. I also got the chance to catch up with Laura and Keziah, the two girls I met on my very first day in Oz.
From here we were supposed to make our way down the rest of the East Coast and on to a place called Cessnock, near Sydney. I had a job lined up in an irish bar/ restaurant/ hotel there. However, after Neil and Vicki told us about the farm here on Kangaroo Island I decided to try my luck and see if they had any work here. We were in luck and they had work for both of us. Although it is pretty much only working for accomodation it meant that I could get the rest of my regional work done so that I can stay for a second year. It took us 2 ad a half days of driving through the outback to get here. We crossed 4 states and drove over 2,000km. It has been worth it though. The boss is really laid back and work is pretty easy, if just a little boring.
We also got to spend the night in Adelaide where I caught up with an old school friend who worked at the zoo there. He got us in for free which was pretty cool and he took us out around town that night. It was good to be out and experience adelaide like the locals do, rather than visiting the usual backpacker places. It was the first time i'd worn heels in 6 months, so that was different!
Anyway, as this is a mammoth entry i'll leave it there. As it is, we only have a few weeks left here then i head to Cessnock to start my work at the bar where I will stay until I come home in April. I'm looking forward to it as we will also get the chance to catch up with some friends from the first farm while we are in Sydney.
Much love to everyone who has bothered to read this essay of an entry.
xxx
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