KatieTheKat

Hi all,

Sorry about the lack of blogging lately. I'm sure you have all given up on me by now. But that's what staying in one spot tends to do...

Which is why the reason you are hearing from me now is that I am no longer in Perth. Not for the last couple of weeks in fact. I am currently on the other side of the country in Brisbane, where for the last two weeks I have been travelling around with Scott in our little white rental car. This morning, I dropped him off at the airport and the car at Thrifty's, and now I am off to other adventures, but I will get to those soon enough.

First, some highlights from my adventures with Scott:

1. FRASER ISLAND
This was our first stop. A four-day hike on the Fraser Island Great! Walk, past warm sandy lakes and through jungle-like forest. Highlights included the following:
- seeing a huge python from the 4WD Taxi the night we arrived
- eating the most delicious pineapple ever then surreptitiously disposing of the remains rather than carry them with us for 4 days
- swimming in the shallow lakes
- seeing many many large goannas
- nearly walking into the BIGGEST SPIDER WEB EVER with a HUGE GREEN AND RED SPIDER IN THE MIDDLE OF IT and meanwhile being ATTACKED BY BLOODSUCKING LEECHES from below
- dingoes (AKA dogs)
- walking through Tarzan-style jungles
- encountering some amazing trees and plants
- surviving the walk despite my acheing knee with the help of a little Ibuprofen (which I must admit, actually seemed to help)
- swimming in the aquamarine waters of Lake Mackenzie, despite all the tourists

2. GREAT KEPPEL ISLAND
Stop 2, which we nearly missed our first day on due to a little too much meandering en route, but with some hasty packing, we managed to catch the last boat. We stayed at the YHA ("The Quiet Alternative"), which I would highly recommend. Our days consisted of walking to one of various deserted beaches with our snorkel gear and hopping into the water. Some underwater highlights included:
- a SEA SNAKE
- a little green turtle
- a little fish that befriended first Scott then me and swam along with us nibbling bits of who-knows-what off our skin
- lots of fishies
- lots of bleached-looking fluorescent yellow coral
(it was overall much like snorkelling at Ningaloo, but with some subtle differences)

3. SCOTT LEARNS TO DRIVE STANDARD
I'm not sure exactly where this fits in, since there was a little bit of it here and there. But it was er.. interesting :). No really, he did pretty well, particularly given that they drive on the other side of the road here.

4. BLACKDOWN TABLELAND NATIONAL PARK
We drove in in the rain, and had to cross a few little creeks and puddles. It rained a little more. We were a little afraid of making it out in our little car. But in the end all was good. There were some pretty lookouts that reminded me of hiking in the Blue Mountains.

5. CARNARVON GORGE NATIONAL PARK
A pretty park and the closest to the outback we got (which wasn't very close at all). There was one main track running down the gorge to the campsite 10km in, with lots of little mini side trails to various points of interest. One little gully had some enormous King Ferns which were like normal ferns, only huge. I don't know what else to say about it. Defintely worth the visit.

6. NOOSA
We decided to go to the town of Noosa for the night for the beach and to catch a movie. Well, it was cloudy when we got to the beach, and there was nothing worth watching at the movie theatre (the most likely choice would have been Ice Age 2, but we gave it a miss).

7. GOLD COAST
For a sunny beach experience, we decided to stop by the Gold Coast. The size of the highrises was stupefying. But swimming in the waves was fun. Except when one pounded you into the beach and your ears were filled with sand.

8. LAMINGTON NATIONAL PARK
This is where we stayed for our last two nights. Up in the mountains, it didn't feel like Australia anymore, especially at night when my fleece was greatly appreciated. Scott and I did a long dayhike, though his day was longer than mine since I turned back early after lunch and took an alternate route back through a pretty valley. The highlight of the day definitely came at our morning granola bar break at the first lookout. It was a nice sunny little rocky outcrop and we had just gotten ourselves comfortable, removing our boots to air our feet, when Scott heard something in the bushes just behind him. We looked over to see a large (think diameter of a baby's forearm or so) snake slowly sliding away from where it had been coiled jsut next to Scott's seat. It retreated to the shadows in the nearby bushes where we tried to take a few pictures of it, though it was difficult to get a good one with the bushes in the way. Then Scott ahd the brilliant idea to attach a camera to the end of a trekking pole and use the timer to get a closeup. Apparently he didn't think I'd take him seriously since he hastily began to lace up his boots when I started attaching my camera to my pole. It took a few attempts since it was hard to get the angle right and actually get more than a little bit of the snake's coils in the picture. After about four or five, when Scott was giving it a try, the snake struck at the camera. After making a hasty retreat, I examined the camera to see a drop of venom next to the lens. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the strike. Other than that, we've seen very few snakes compared to what I saw on the Bibbulmun and in Tasmania. Oh the other good thing about lamington was all the cute little pademelons hopping about the campsite.

And that's it. Scott is off to Canada early tomorrow morning. It was a short trip, but a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, I have nearly three weeks to kill before my flight back to Perth... I am looking for a cheap ticket to Malaysia...

Katie kat