Noosa Day 4

Yesturday I returned from my 3 day 2 night canoe trip in the Everglades of Noosa. Wow it was something!

DAY 1 - Got up early and jumped into a bus for a 30 minute drive to a lake whose name I can't remember. I then met my group: An English guy named John, 4 guys from Scotland (Kev, Ian, Steve and Elliot), 2 couples from England and a couple from Israel.A the lake we loaded our gear onto a boat and went accross it to a Rangers Station. There we got briefed on what the trip is all about and was theb left on our own! I shared a canoe with John and the whole group went down this tiny creek called Kin Kin Creek. The surroundings were beautiful and it was a really nice day. I got to see a few interesting birds as well. We canoed down for about an hour until we saw this bridge and then turned back. John is 29 and a big guy so he took the back and the canoe kept veering left a bit. On the way back, we just BARELY hit this branch sticking out of the water but missed it and got stuck int he underwater tree. Everythign was ounder control and we pried ourselves free. Ten mnutes later though, I managed to navigate us DEAD ON into another branch. We hit it with such an impact that John went flying out of his seat smacking his knees against the seat in the middle of the canoe. I don't HOW i did it because the branch was about 2 inches thick and sticking out of the water about a foot. After the 'accident' we continued back to the ranger station and got all our gear on our canoes. We canoed north for about another hour until Harry's Hut. There is no hut or Harry it;s just the name of the camp ground. We unloaded our stuff and pitched our tents. I juped into the lake for a swim and the water was funky. Due to all the tea trees whose roots are in the water, the water was actually really dark and when I put my head under water it was just pitch black. The only thing I could see was my hands and arms and they were this golden orange color lke maple syrup. Afterwards it was basically eating dinner and drinking in the dark. We played this game Look-a-likes where you choose someone and name allt eh famous people you think they look like. All the usual ones were choesen for me: Egon (Ghostbusters), Skreech (Saved By The Bell), Weird Al Yankovick, Shaggy (Scooby Doo). We were all nackered and I ended up going to bed at like 9pm.

DAY 2 - Got up early, had breakfast and then we were off! We canoed for 6 km and tghen hiked up a hill for another 6km to reach The Sand Patch. Imagine a moutain with snow on the top of it but replace mountain with hill and snow with sand! It was like a forest with a desert in the middle. It was well worthe the treck. The view was phenominal and the sand dunes were really cool. After chilling up there for an hour it was time to head back. On the way back the new group who were arriving to start their day 1 passed us and apperently they missed Harry's Hut and canoed down for like 3 hours to where we were! We left them behind and went back to our camp site. Back at the site we had the pleasure of being invaded by 3 giant lizards aka Goanas. They were huge but very cool to look at. We then cooked dinner as it got dark and chilled before bed. Once I was in bed it started to down pour and ended up raining all night.

Day 3 - It stopped raining but it was time to go. Two nights out in the woods was plenty. It was a struggle to get back to the Rangers Cabin since the wind was against us. We finally made it back, jumped on the boat and headed back to land. I got back to the hostel by 1pm. John, the four Scots and I decided to go out for dinner and have a REAL meal. John had a car so we drove down to Noosa Ville, the more rich area of Noosa. We went to this Indian restaurant and it was delicious! It was the first time I ate in an Indian restaurant. After dinner we headed back to the hostel adn they guys had rented The Princess Bride. I could hardly stay awake so after 20 minutes called it a night. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the guys because they were all sleeping but if you guys are reading this, good luck in your travels and have fun!

Today I went to the Australian Zoo - Home of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. It was really big and great. I got to be up close with kangaroos and koalas. I also saw the lots of other animals including the tasmanian devil and dingos. I went into the venemous snakes hut and while taking a picture of the most venemous snake in the world it flinched! Thank got it was behind glass.

Tomorrow I head to Hervey Bay.