Australia Week 5: Noosa -> Airlie Beach
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2006
1
18
Trip End
Aug 17, 2006
Airlie Beach,
Australia
Friday, June 2, 2006
Following a pretty uncomfortable day at Australia Zoo I decided the best thing to do would be to get myself to the doctors as soon as possible. We asked at reception if there was a 7 day medical centre nearby (it was Saturday I was pretty worried I'd have to endure another few days before I could get an appointment somewhere) and luckily there was one in Noosa Junction. By the time we found it it was after 4pm so it seemed unlikely I'd get seen that day. Instead, we walked in to find the waiting room empty and I was able to see the doctor almost straight away. That doesn't happen often in England on a Saturday afternoon! We did find out it was going to cost me $100 just for the consultation but after a week of agony I'd have paid just about anything.
After a couple of minutes of waiting, Dr White came out and called me in. I followed him into his office and told him my symptoms, how long I had had them, that I assumed it was a UTI and that I had taken some Ural in the hope it would get better by itself but it was now worse. I then realised that after talking for about 5 minutes he still hadn't said a word. He then walked over to the cupboard, got out a urine sample jar and proceeded to silently bowl it (over-arm) toward me. Thankfully I managed to catch it and trotted off to the toilet.
01: The view from our cabin
I hate giving urine samples. It feels so undignified. Still it confirmed I had a kidney infection and the bright blue pH test emphasised just how much of that bloody Ural alkaliniser I'd managed to drink. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics and told me they were 95% effective, so 1 in 20 found they needed to try a different type of antibiotic. If I wasn't feeling a lot better in two days I should come back. Two days! What bliss - I could be back to normal in just 48 beautiful hours.
Or not. The next day I woke up to find that, if anything, I felt worse. We'd hoped to drive up the coast having lost a lot of time already, but there was no chance I was going to be 4 wheel driving on Fraser Island in this much pain. We were going to have to give up doing the 3 day trip and do a day trip from here in Noosa (most trips leave from Hervey Bay). It was a bit disappointing but what could we do? Take any 7 month period in two people's lives and chances are one of you will get ill. The day trip would still be great.
I gave it the full two days to make sure I wasn't getting better and on the Monday we went back to the surgery to see Dr White. It was quite a bit busier this time so we made an appointment for the afternoon and went to a nearby internet cafe to research the trips to Fraser Island and the Whitsundays so that we could book it the moment I started to get better.
When my appointment time finally arrived, I went back to see Dr White who was slightly chattier this time but still rather strange.
02: Somewhere...
He prescribed me another antibiotic which this time was 98% effective. Hopefully I wasn't going to be one of those 1 in 50 unfortunates but, just in case, I was bowled another sample jar to send off to the lab for tests. Dan had suggested as a joke that once I'd finished I should bowl the sample back to him. I must say I was tempted but my kidneys and future happiness was relying on him and after almost 2 weeks of feeling like I desperately needed the toilet I wasn't going to take any risks! Besides, the last thing someone with a sore bladder needs is to get the giggles...We went to the chemist and paid a fortune for my miracle pills. These tablets were significantly more expensive - no standard NHS charge here sadly - which is why they try the other first, but by now I was past caring about the cost. The chemist came out to give me the prescription and rolled off the rather long list of things I needed to avoid while taking it which included alcohol, dairy products, iron and any kind of sunlight. Sounds like it could be fun.
The next day I woke up feeling a lot better but hadn't yet felt the relief the doctor had promised me so I didn't count my chickens. I spent the day resting, taking tablets (never before have I so looked forward to taking some pills) and drank 3 litres of cranberry juice which I assure you takes quite a lot of effort.
That night I had the first undisturbed night's sleep for almost a fortnight and woke up feeling a lot better. What blessed relief! We wasted no time and booked our day trip to Fraser Island for the next day, wincing slightly at the 5.50am pick up time.
03: Ding dang doo it's a dingo!
Then, after some lunch, we set off on our first proper outing for days and started to head toward the Big Pineapple. We got about half way before we realised we'd forgotten both our cameras and turned around to come back again. Oh well, it was still more exciting than anything else I'd done recently! We got back, decided on what Whitsundays trip we wanted to do and went ahead and booked that as well.We didn't manage to get to sleep that night until 1.30am which made our 4.30am alarm absolutely delightful. Our driver Chris met us walking through the caravan park and addressed us as Mr and Mrs Templeton, which amused me no end. Dan wasn't impressed but so many people seem to have problem pronouncing Dewey that I've given up trying to spell it out over the phone to people who spell it however they like anyway.
We drove out of Noosa on what looked and felt like a dirt track through a rainforest. The journey was fairly dull but we did see some kangaroos in the wild which was nice after we'd been so close to them a few days ago. We got to Rainbow Beach almost 3 hours later and drove onto the barge to take us over to the island. It only took about 10 minutes and then we were off and driving up Seventy Five Mile Beach on the wonderful Fraser Island.
That day wasn't only the first day of Australia's winter but was also the first day of the company's new itinerary which included more of the island for the same money. I was quite chuffed as I hadn't known this before then and was disappointed to miss out on so much the island had to offer.
04: Lake McKenzie
The only downside was that the day would be long and hectic but it wasn't too much to put up with to see a bit more of Fraser Island.We drove on Seventy Five Mile Beach for quite a while, a novelty that had been spoilt somewhat by having already driven on Ninety Mile Beach (which ironically is shorter than Seventy Mile Beach) in New Zealand. Fraser Island quickly nosed in front when we found ourselves driving alongside a dingo, trotting happily up the beach. Dingos are mainly nocturnal, or at least more active once it gets dark, so I didn't think we had any hope of seeing one. The dingo was called Bluey on account of his blue identification tag in his ear (they don't like to complicate things too much here!) and ran at quite a pace so Chris had to keep speeding up to keep up with him. We also got to see some dolphins frolicking around in the sea just off the beach and only a matter of metres from our bus, not to mention billions of different birds of prey.
After some tea at a beach resort we drove down a boneshaker of a road to Lake McKenzie, the jewel of our trip. The sand there is made up of something like 97% silica making it bright white and the water a beautiful crystal blue. We only had half an hour here which I was disappointed with as we could have stayed so much longer. I was still pleased to be there for any length of time though, particularly as it was almost deserted (thanks to it being off season) and a lot of tour companies avoid it in preference to other lakes on the island that are less crowded.
We had a little paddle in the very "fresh" water, which was enough to make Dan chicken out of swimming in it for fear of certain parts of his anatomy retreating inside his body never to be seen again.
05: Absolute paradise
I was braver and after a superman style change I gingerly got into the water. It might have been freezing (is there a word for colder than freezing?!) but there was no chance I was going to miss out on the opportunity to swim in one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The water actually warmed quite quickly and I doggy-paddled my way through paradise. I had the lake almost to myself until one chap got in a few metres away and found it so cold that it aggravated his asthma and he started to have an attack. He waved to his friends for help but for a while they thought he was just joking and I prepared myself for my best Pamela Anderson impression (as a Baywatch lifeguard, rather than getting my boobs out which frankly wasn't going to help anyone). They helped him out eventually and I felt sorry for him having to sit on the beach while his friends had fun without him.We then made our way to Central Station and took A Short Walk Through A Rainforest(tm) to look at the ancient trees and giant ferns. I was glad that Chris told us afterward that there were so many poisonous spiders in the forest that there was one for every square metre! They're nocturnal and live underground in holes so chances of seeing one in the day are next to nothing, but that still wouldn't have consoled me much. The walk was nice and the highlight was one of the girls screaming bloody murder when a leaf landed on her shoulder and made her think it was some kind of gigantic bug. I was just glad it wasn't me for a change!
After a buffet lunch we drove north to the Maheno Shipwreck, a rusty ship half buried standing upright in the sand.
06: Lake McKenzie: swimming in paradise
It was massive and quite impressive but there were a lot of people there which stopped us getting the perfect photo. We then drove further north and visited the multi-coloured cliffs at Coloured Sands before driving back down to Eli Creek. We played with the sand and watched some kids make a sandcastle while people paid to go on a scenic flight around the island. I'd have loved to have done it but it was too expensive, even if it was only $60. I regretted not splashing out a bit afterwards though as it sounded brilliant.We drove back down the beach to the barge and Dan and a few others spotted a turtle in the sea. I'm sure they were just imagining things as I was damned if I could see it and had to console myself with a few more dolphins. The rest of the journey back to Noosa was pretty uneventful and very boring, save the odd swerve from the new grumpy driver who'd taken over from Chris who had used up all his legal driving hours. We got back to the cabin just before 8pm and collapsed in front of the TV, happy but exhausted.
The next morning we were up bright and early to pack our stuff and say goodbye to the place that had been the closest thing to home over past four months. Before we left, I gave the medical centre a call to get my test results which confirmed the kidney infection and found it was immune to the first antibiotics but "sensitive" to the second lot so they should do the trick. I'd paid $45 to find out what I already knew, but it was good to have it confirmed nonetheless.
We left Noosa at 10am and set off on a mammoth 1000km journey (which is roughly 621.371192 miles) up the Bruce Highway to Airlie Beach.
07: Something I said?
We'd originally planned on going to see the Big Pineapple but as the current journey was going to take almost 12 hours we decided to skip the hour detour. Such was our delight, then, when after an hour up the highway we passed what looked a hell of a lot like a large pineapple on the roof of an old garage! After checking it wasn't a mirage, we parked the car and walked over to get pictures of what we like to call The Medium Pineapple. Beauty.We got straight back on the road and pressed on. At 3.30pm we stopped briefly to get shots of The Big Crab (sadly Shep didn't fit between the pincers for the maximum humour shot) and then stopped in Rockville which we had pinpointed at roughly half way. We got some petrol and a Subway which we ate sat in the car parked in the shade. You know you're having a bad day when the highlight of it is devising a plan how to sneak into KFC to use their toilets without having to buy anything.
The rest of the journey was a counting game as we watched the kilometres on the signs slowly decrease as we neared Airlie Beach. At 8.30pm we had a brief stop for some coffee and then drove the final hour to our next cabin in Airlie. The entire journey was just over 1002km and took around 11 1/2 hours. The longest and most boring day of my life but surely worth every minute for the Whitsunday trip in just a few days.
So that's another week updated for you. Did anyone actually make it all the way to the end?! I'm never sure how a fairly uneventful week can still be this long but I've never been one to be economical with my words!
There will probably be a break before I manage to next update so you've got a while to digest the last 3 and take a look back over the photos. I'll get onto attaching some to this entry so that you can at least enjoy the picture book if nothing else!
Hope you're all well and keeping busy until I make it back and light up your lives once again! Keep in touch, all of you.
x
