Canoes and such

Trip Start Jan 03, 2008

Trip End Mar 15, 2008

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Flag of Australia Noosa, Australia
Friday, February 1, 2008

We left Brisbane on the 29th and headed towards Noosa Heads up the coast a few hours. Our car is acting up and is in dire need of a checkup. We can't drive up hills at a slow speed. It starts to shake and sputter before it just stalls out. Its horrible when there are cars behind us. I hope it doesn't cost to much to fix but it needs to be done otherwise we'll never be able to sell the car. After a stressful drive out of Brisbane we made it to the Pacific Highway and driving was easy. Our car has no trouble going fast just when we need to stop is when the trouble starts.

We spent the afternoon at Sunshine Beach in Noosa. It was a strange beach because about 5 feet from the waters edge there was a massive dropoff to about 5 or 6 feet. It was really sunny so I tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible, but I did do some gnarly boogie boarding.

The Group

I finally did something right and rode some massive waves. It takes forever to get out past the break and is extremely tiring. I rode a few and got destroyed by a few. On one I was about to go over the wave when it broke before I was ready, sending me straight into the ground. I was under the water for at least 30 seconds getting tossed around. I got up and couldn't move my right arm and I was sure I had dislocated it. I struggled to get back to shore, when my arm started feeling a lot better and I was sure there wasn't any permenant damage. I saw my first Jelly fish today, blue little things with air sacs and tentacles. After the beach we went into town and did some shopping. We snuck into the movie Juno at the local movie theature. It costs $15 dollars each otherwise. We each ate a liter of ice cream (1000 calories) and went to bed in the car.

The next day was the start of the canoe adventure to which i was really excited. Our pseudoguide (he doesn't take us on the trip) met us at a gas station and led us to Boreen point. We packed up our gear into big plastic barrels and hopped on a water taxi that took us across the lake.

In our group were 8 people. 3 for the UK, 2 Swedes, and a German dude and us. All of them were really nice and friendly

. We made it across the lake and started packing up the canoes for the voyage. Paddling is tiring. We paddled up a side creek to another lake, back down and around an Island, back up to the point, and then to Harry's hut were we set up the tent and spent the night. The camp site consisted of a fenced in area to keep the aborigenies out, a bathroom, and a place to dock the canoes, and not much else. It gets dark at around 7 so for most of the time I just sat around and played cards with the others in the group. Max is always writing in his stupid diary instead of conversing, everyone thought he hated them or something. I had a good time, all the foriegners think that if they come to America they will get shot and killed so I had to set them straight. Played cards and went to bed.

The next day we headed to the Great Sand Patch being that we were in Great Sandy National Park. In the morning we saw a few huge goannas that tried to steal our food. We headed up the Noosa River to Camp 3 where we were to walk to the sand patch (its a huge beach on top of a mountain (hill) in the middle of a rainforest like atmosphere). Anyway, we were all sick of paddling and it was slow going. After an hour and a half we reached camp 3 and rested for a while. We then walked 6kms up to the sand patch. Everyone hated it quite a bit. The sand patch was quite cool though. Big dunes in the middle of no where overlooking the entire area

Canoe Masters

. We then walked about another 5kms to the beach. Apparently no one does this walk (we were a very ambitious group) so the trail was really overgrown and full of spiders and thorny bushes. We finally made it to the beach and it was glorious. We were the only ones as far as we could see and the water was extremely refreshing and cool. Saw a giant Jelly fish. After that we headed back. It was horrible. I was so tired and hungry. We didn't pack enough food, but thankfully the others in the group felt pity for us and fed us a little. All said for the entire trip we canoed over 50kms (30 miles) and had to have walked another 25 kms (15 miles). It was some good exercise. I was really impressed with the girls on the trip they held their own and then some. Back at camp we had another good night together and shared some more laughs.

Next morning we packed up all the crap and headed back to Boreen point. We saw a large python on the road and got to touch a large kangaroo that was used to people. We said goodbye to everyone and headed to the kangaroo sanctuary in Kilkivan.