Australia East, Part III (photos)

24 March - 4 May

My notes are pretty scant for this section.

We left Gladstone on Sunday (24 March) and continued heading south, stopped in Agnes Waters for some pies and bought some ice. The pies here are something we enjoyed. They are an inexpensive lunch and are like a pot pie, filled with gravy and beef or chicken. My favorite were steak and mushroom. We ate them all the time. From there we headed toward Deep Water National Park, on the coast near Bundaberg. It was a long ride in through bumby gravelly road and we weren't sure we would get a spot since it was ANZAC Day (commemorating the Gallipoli landing by Australian and New Zealand troops). We rolled in and saw an unoccupied campsite that was reserved. Since it was pretty late in the day and toward the end of the holiday weekend, we figured we'd be safe to just snag it, so we did. When the ranger came around he noticed the name it was reserved under was the same as a big group on the other side of the grounds so he asked them and found out they didn't need the site so we were in. We set up and went down to the beach. It was a fantastic empty beach with big clear waves crashing against an outcrop of rocks. We were the only ones there. Back at the campsite a solemn looking man (with a beer in hand) walked up with his son and told us they would be having a ANZAC commemorative ceremony on the beach at 4:18am (I may have the time wrong). We figured it might be fun, since there was a full moon that night. We decided we would set out clock for it. Then, we made dinner and had a few beers and Dara saw a turkey in a tree and we went to bed. We didn't make it up for the ceremony.

The next day (25 March) we said goodbye to the beach and I caught Dara dancing. From there we headed out and south to Noosa, a great little riverside town. We got there and got a campsite right next to the river and watched the sunset over the river each night.

On the next day (26 March) we went on a coastal walk around a big point of land. Here is a view from the trail. We looped around and came to the point and sat down for a picnic lunch. There was a huge inlet below us and we could see turtles. Here I am enjoying lunch overlooking the inlet. We saw some great sunsets from our campsite and I spent that evening fishing. I didn't have any bait so I was using little bits of cooked pork sausage and they worked great. Here is a bream that I caught, just over 22cm, so a keeper (I let him go). The pelicans are keen to whats going on and as soon as they see the excitement of a catch, the pelicans come over to see if you'll give them the fish. That night we met an Australian couple, John and Larah and chatted with them for a bit.

The next day, 27 March, it was pretty rainy so we went into town and did some internet, had some pies and saw "The Interpretter", which was pretty lame. We did laundry that night.

The next day (28 April) we rented a boat and cruised around in the river. I'm sure some other stuff happened but I only have financial notes. He had burgers and wedges for lunch, I bought a pair of cheap sunglasses and we bought groceries (ice, tuna, coffee, cereal, mushrooms, tomatoes, lemon and garlic). That evening we watched the sunset and I fished again. That night we hung out for hours with John and Larah. I think it rained.

The next day, 29 March, we took a route suggested by John and Larah into the hinterland. We drove inland through the hills and had some great views. We didn't want to push the car too much on the hills since we were going to sell it soon. We stopped in a cute little town called Maleny and ate at a diner and read celebrity magazines. Then we carried on and got some sausages from a grocer and ended up at a campsite on the Somerset Dam. That night we had our second fire of the whole trip. There was a fire ban in most of the places we were.

The next day, 30 March, we woke up and had breakfast and saw a bunch of people near us looking up into a tree. I grabbed my camera and headed over there and saw that they were watching a koala sleep. We also saw him wake up.
From there we headed to Brisbane, more rain so we went to the mall. We had a couple of slices of pizza for lunch and went and saw "The Hostage". All movies seem to be the same these days. Not sure what else happened. My financial notes indicate that we bought a 30 pack of VB (Victoria Bitter) and a liter of milk.

The next day (1 May) we drove to the ferry and took a boat over to Moreton Island. It was a bit of a tourist trap and the weather wasn't so great but we spent three nights there. Not sure what happened. We went for a really long walk on 2 May and saw starfish. We rented DVDs and made food and did some walks. At night they had a dolphin feeding. They line up scores of tourists (mostly Japanese) and each person gets a single fish and then two people from the resort take you by each arm into the water then you give the fish to a dolphin. Someone videos it and sells it to you for thirty dollars or something. It was pretty obscene and we didn't do it. Not big marks for Moreton Island, but, it is the location of The Spooky Motel in the first Scooby Doo movie. Oh yea, they also feed the pelicans.

We left Moreton Island on 4 May and started the big drive to Sydney. We spent that night at Emerald Beach and camped right near the beach and ordered in pizzas. It was windy I think, and it rained.