Brisbane, Fraser Island and lots of Dingoes

The goal was to be in Brisbane by last weekend and another long journey via greyhound was the most efficient way to do it. I took an overnight break in Byron Bay, where the heavens opened and proceeded to soak me at 8am as I stepped off the night bus. Luckily it dried out as the day went on and I found myself in a hot tub drinking beer at 4pm with a bunch of other reprobates. Hostelling will always be a good way of making friends quickly.

Coopers enjoys the Roar

Upon arriving in Brisbane the next day, hungover and a little disoriented, I met up with the man who had 6 months previously given us all 2 weeks’ notice that he was emigrating; Coopers. Overwhelmed by the emotion of seeing a familiar face, we promptly headed to the nearest pub and had a couple of beers to calm ourselves, before heading out to spend Friday night in the only way you can when the opportunity arises – watching Hyundai A League Football. For a brief ten minute spell it seemed like Brisbane were in trouble, going 1-0 down early. Then for the second time in two days the floodgates opened. This time in the manner of goals. Brisbane were 5-1 up at half-time and 7-1 up by the end. We then discovered they were unbeaten in 32 games and the current A-League champions. Not bad going.

Could be Skippy...probably not though

The Saturday brought us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary; where you can hug Koalas, pet Kangaroos and generally look around all sort of Australian beasties. It killed a few hours, and allowed the chance to get up close with a lot of the wildlife I’d otherwise missed seeing on the Australian leg of my journey so far. However Koala-hugging was off the agenda. They had a disturbing habit of pooping over everyone and at $20 a pop to be soiled, I passed on the opportunity. The rest of the weekend was spent wandering around Brisbane, mostly staying on the South Bank drinking beers and admiring the scenery. Brisbane’s museums are reasonably short on exhibitions right now, with the two biggest currently closed for refurbishment, the town hall also being refurbished and the Museum of Brisbane offering slightly more niche galleries on social commentary.

Dingo pups

Tuesday came and with it came a 5:30am wake up to get to Fraser Island. Fraser Island, it turns out, is the world’s largest natural sand island, supporting dense ecosystem of forests, sub-tropical rainforests and multiple different types of animal. Almost all of them lethal. Of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world, 6 of them can be found on Fraser Island. Wild dingoes are also present in numbers of about 200 and the island is covered with warnings about the dangers. Dingoes, it would seem, really will eat your babies. And your food. And you. They were not to be trifled with (or any other form of desert). Still, I saw a few, including some pups, and they were impressively cute. Just a shame they'd rip my face off given half a chance.

That's a forest, embedded in a sand dune!

Fraser Island itself though is a wonder of nature. A place of incredible beauty and mind boggling natural sights. The fact that such dense forestation can grow on an island comprised almost entirely of sand with no soil is something that I struggled to wrap my head around. It has a multitude of freshwater lakes for swimming in, which I dutifully obliged; which tempers the fact that the ocean surrounding it is completely unusable due to the massive amount of sharks, rays and jellyfish to be found in it. Undoubtedly one of the most spectacular sights was to be found at the top of a 2km long sand dune, which was in the process of covering an entire forest. Having passed through a Saharan tundra of sand banks we scaled the summit to see a living forest extending out far beneath us. Mind well and truly boggled at this stage. 

Shipwrecked on Fraser

The island is awash with things you'd never expect, including the wreck of an old passenger ferry that was washed up here in the 1930s and is now in and of itself a tourist attraction.

After three days on Fraser Island (and a swim in Eli Creek, where you can wade around up to your knees until you suddenly come across a pool that is shoulder deep) it was time to return to Brisbane, with sand absolutely everywhere. In two weeks I will be on a plane leaving Australia from Cairns and in that time I have 1,800km to travel. Looks like I might be getting on a plane earlier than I expected…

Don't let a dingo eat your baby

Melbourne - Sun, Sea, Staph Infection

The long route back to London continued as I landed in Melbourne at 1am. The plan had been to spend a couple of days here before moving on to Canberra. Of course, that plan didn’t take in to account that I would be spending the first morning in the city in the Emergency wing of St Vincent’s Hospital, conveniently located across the road from my hostel. Cue a rapid change of plans and my staying in Melbourne until Friday. For those who are interested; I ended up being diagnosed with a severe Strep infection and a moderate Staph infection along with a couple of other nasty critters. As you can also tell by the fact I’m writing this blog; I’m on the mend.

Luckily Melbourne is a vibrant city with more than enough to do to keep me entertained for a week. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday am wandering around exploring the city and looking for a book shop (Melbourne, it seems, has a scarcity of them). I also had the chance to find a couple of cool little eateries and Max Brynner's Chocolate Shop; maker of the most chocolatey Mocca I've ever had. 

The very top step of the MCG...it's high

Then I turned my attention to some of the more traditional tourist activities, starting with a trip to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and National Sport Museum. I’m by no means a cricket fan, a fact which seemed to confuse my tour guide, a nice bloke by the name of Peter, but you can’t come to Melbourne as a sports fan and not go and look around this Mecca of sports. It’s a vastly impressive ground, seating 90,000 and the tour was incredibly informative, aided by the fact it was one-on-one. Plus I got to sit in the MCG Members Chairs whilst wearing an England Rugby shirt. That shouldn’t have amused me like it did.

Also worth a look (again as a sports fan) was the National Sports Museum, at the same location if for no other reason than it provides an excellent look into how the always confusing, occasionally entertaining and often violent sport of Aussie Rules football came in to being. I just wish I’d left longer than an hour to look around it.

Great Ocean Road

Wednesday was entirely occupied by a day trip to The Great Ocean Road, operated by Wildlife Tours and involving a 7am pick up and a near 10pm return. Even with the long day it’s a spectacular drive, along a 300km stretch of some of Australia’s most stunning coastline, peppered with sandy beaches and huge rock formations jutting out of the sea. It offered me my first view of a Koala (no kangaroos yet though). There was even a rainforest on the route.

In an effort to save money I spent Thursday wandering around Queen Victoria market, where I was able to pick up a kangaroo fillet for dinner (tasting report = bloody delicious. Gamey and tender) and a trip to ACMI, the Australian Centre for Moving Image, a free and interactive museum focussing on the rise of Film/TV/Digital Entertainment in Australia. It was actually a lot of fun, incorporating classic movie clips, interactive games and the ability to record yourself in Bullet-Time (remembering that The Matrix was filmed in Australia).

Tomorrow I finally leave on the overnight bus to Sydney. Hopefully my time there will go slightly smoother than the start of my time in Melbourne.