My diary entries are somewhat erratic for this portion of the trip but I shall attempt to recall some information. They say Facebook is a time sink - perhaps it is, but it has furnished me with most of this, so I say huzzah for it.
Noosa was a total washout. Unsurprising really, considering Oswald was very much still on the loose and wreaking havoc. Fortunately Ness of the Fraser Island contingent managed to help me persuade Rick that I needed a lift all the way to my next hostel in Noosa, Dolphins Beachhouse (the hostel names do not improve from here, I'm afraid). I met a girl called Emma and we teamed up to go 'into town'. This involved wearing our usual unflattering backpacker's garb, but for two game-changing attentions to detail: putting on some lipstick (Emma) and donning flip-flops (me). It was Australia Day, so even if I hadn't wanted to leave the sickly yellow four walls of Dolphins' female dorm to find some evening entertainment, it would have basically been against the law. Fortunately, Oswald seemed to be a storm with a healthy respect for partying, and had eased up ever so slightly, so we were able to get a lift into town on the last shuttle bus.
To mark the occasion, we met up with the Fraser Island gang and went big at Flanagan's Irish pub. I don't remember much apart from drinking whatever was on offer and watching Connie go nuts on the dancefloor. As we whirled around (read: skidded about a bit and periodically peeled our feet from the sticky floor), the mighty Oswald picked up the storm pace outside - he wasn't about to give up any time soon.
Emma and I walked back, the rain and the date meant there were no taxis to be had, and I broke my second pair of flip-flops of the World Tour on my way back to the hostel. The forecast wasn't getting any better, and so I resolved to leave for Brisbane the next morning. I said goodbye to Emma, and boarded what turned out to be the last coach leaving Noosa for a few days - it was the first (and last) time in my life that I made a sensible navigational decision. The three-hour journey was horrendous - not least because there was a problem with the air conditioning and freezing water intermittently dripping on me throughout, exacerbating the sting and itch of the giant mosquito bites that had become part and parcel of my time in Queensland. It was a low point, but as they say 'worse things happen at sea' and that three hours was nothing compared to the bus trips that were to come in Asia.
Happily, I had arranged to meet Anna, Alex and Caitlin from the American leg of the Tour, and Anna had kindly agreed to let me stay at her parents' house while they were on holiday (fortunately they weren't planning to stay in Noosa). The girls met me at the bus station and we sped off to a classy joint (edit: The Regatta Hotel, discovered thanks to Facebook stalking myself from 2013) somewhere near Roma St to have a drink and some nibbles. I recall being quite poorly dressed for the occasion, then remembered I was living out of a dirty backpack filled with damp clothes that were erring on mouldy, and forgave myself the transgression.
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| Got fed and dried, thanks to these legends |
I spent a week or so of down-time in the generous company of Anna and her siblings at their beautiful family home in the suburb of Chelmer, 20 mins train ride out of Brisbane's CBD. I was pathetically grateful to be out of the hostels and in a place that had hot running water and the use of a shower that didn't require wearing broken flip-flops in order to avoid verrucas. We drank tea under duvets to watch the breaking news around the wrath of Oswald - meanwhile, Alex's basement flooded and Caitlin's power was shut off - it seemed that this was no ordinary common or garden cyclone (at least not to my mild British meteorological standards). It was a matter of time before Anna's power shut down too, and with no electricity to speak of, we embraced the wartime spirit and cooked fajitas on the gas stove via candlelight, then played Cranium, which was actually delightful.
The girls took good care of me and we visited the cinema to watch Gangster Squad, ate pies at Pie Face, ice cream at Movenpick and went to the Brisbane Powerhouse for drinks, where I saw a sculpture in commemoration of the 2011 floods which showed the (significantly more extreme) flood level at the time. Maybe Oswald ain't so bad, I thought to myself.
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| Outside the Brisbane Powerhouse |
I also got my first taste of kangaroo steaks, thanks to Caitlin's mum who kindly invited me to a BBQ dinner at their house (shout out to Mrs Manché for the hospitality). Kangaroo steak is absolutely delicious. Lighter than beef and allegedly better for the environment given the large number of kangaroos in Australia, I resolved to find another excuse to eat it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, my next encounter with kangaroo meat was in 2015 when I found some frozen steaks in Hackney Lidl - safe to say it was not the same high quality I had experienced back in Brisbane.
During that week, life went back to normal and I felt recharged and ready for the next leg of the journey. After a brief visit to the Modern Art Museum, a burger at Grill'd (featuring the legendary Ellen, also of the American leg of the tour) and an iced coffee that came with an ingenious spoon straw, it was time to move on to Byron Bay.
I HEARTED BYRON BAY (or should I say Byron 'Bae'?! No... no I shouldn't) LIKE WOAH.
It reminded me of the Coromandel in New Zealand, but with more surfers, and was just like that seminal work of art 'The Inbetweeners 2'. Unlike the film, I managed to avoid any card carrying AGDs (Acoustic Guitar Dickheads) and instead ensconced myself at the YHA Byron Bay for 2/3 nights. After spending the first day wandering the streets and beaches, and having
the most delicious coffee I have ever tasted I met a lovely French lady called Flora. We hung out, ate cake, went body boarding and walked up to Cape Byron lighthouse, the most easterly tip of Australia.
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| View from the Cape |
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| Wot, no ice cream? |
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Yours truly at Cape Byron
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During our bodyboarding stint, I managed to get stuck in a strong current whilst swimming at the main beach. I lost my trusty M&S sunglasses, bandana and dignity, and fortunately managed to escape with my life. I managed to get the sunglasses and bandana replaced, but the dignity continues to take a bashing even now ;-).
Before long, I was back on the Greyhound and I was keen to get to Sydney - but it was still approximately 9 hours' drive away (not sure if I have mentioned it yet, but Australia is BIG). For this reason, I selected Coffs Harbour as my not-quite halfway pit stop. There wasn't a lot to say about Coffs, which is potentially unfair given I spent less than 24 hours there, but I did manage a visit to Muttonbird Island, a swim on Jetty Beach and a wander around the botanical gardens to kill the time. The weather wasn't great (for Australia - it would have been a blustery but otherwise perfect day by UK standards) so the swim didn't last long, and there was mild panic (compounded by being left alone with my unreliable and skittish imagination) when I thought I contracted bed bugs thanks to the appearance of some suspiciously red and bitey marks upon my person. Being the tight bugger that I am, I decided I couldn't possibly be arsed with burning all my possessions, or shrinking them in a 90 degree wash so I just hoped the bitey marks would go away, and they did. Addendum: I'm pretty sure I also enjoyed another classic hostel Ready Steady Cook meal composed entirely of ingredients gleaned from a supermarket reduced shelf - other than that, detail is lacking, so let's move onto Sydney.
In the meantime, have some pictures from the botanical gardens and a sign advertising a really expensive beer multipack to make up for it.
