Noosa Everglades

What a trip...we got picked up very early Thursday morning and taken to the middle of no where to pick up our camping gear. It was quite funny watching everyone gather round while i was getting excited that we had trangias and was showing them how they worked. Then the guy took us down to the lake and we all threw out gear into the boat and heading up the lake to the ragers hut. We got off at the jetty and he gave us a quick briefing and put us into our paddling teams and showed us how to paddle etc then say bye..we all looked at each other and then at the little hand drawn map he gave us and went "is that is!"

I had the pleasure of a southen fairy in my canoe and he was so hungover it was just stupid... i made the mistake of letting him be at the back of the boat so not only was i having to follow this stupid map, he was half heartedly paddling with no control and we were all over the place. To say it was hard work was an understatement and i was so glad went 2 hours and 11km later we arrived at camp. I got straight into it and jumped out into the cool water and went and found somewhere for my tent... wasnt quite expecting at the time that id be stuck with Jimmy tent wise as well but well i couldnt fix the broken pole and he was whining enought as it was! The team spent a very shall we say relaxing afternoon next to the river. It was nice to chill out in such a quite and peaceful place with nothing, including showers and signal. And the toilets had some very friendly spiders in there...i think one of the girls said it was a huntsman...which all i knew was big and hairly but wouldnt hurt me. We also had so overly friendly bush turkeys and some big lizard things, Go... something, i dont know they were big and green and scary looking and i wasnt a fan on them watching my cooking later on (if you can call dried pasta in sauces cooking, adding hot waters doesnt really take any thought). To say we got excited when the other team arrived back at just gone 3 from the sandpatch trip would also be an understatement...just someone fresh and new to take to, there was only 11 on our team, 3 german girls who were travelling together, a rather interesting "back to nature" german couple, me, Jimmy, 3 irish people from Kerry and another german girl Sabrina who is actually on my fraser trip with me tomorrow. I got very excited when a canoe came in and the 2 guys in there couldnt be more Yorkshire if they tried, Sabrina asked me what they said as she couldnt understand their accent and i said i didnt here them but i can tell you hes deffinately from Leeds area, it was Shipley as it turned out and they kept us very entertained over dinner. Tj one of the irish guys said it was like an episode of Emmerdale farm but funnier...and Charlies and Sam turned round and said well we are farmers as it happens! It was so funny and betweent the 3 lads they just kept me so entertained...it was like listening to the boys down the wood! It was a really good evening until i went to bed at 9ish and had to listen to a group of german blokes talking european vs candian politics with the canadian guys from the other group...when they started going on about why Arrie could never be president i just couldnt help sticking my head out the tent and rather politely asking them to have some consideration for other and i didnt want to know. They went to bed soon after thank god and i slept quite well until Jimmy got up at 6am and then Alex came and shoke the tent and asked if Jimmy was up. Jimmy got up and packed all his gear and said he was going back with the others and didnt want to spend anymore time on the trip, which was quite good as all he did was moan from when he got picked up from the hostel. So after the other team went back at 7ish me, sabrina and the irish trio jumped into our canoes and heading up the Upper Noosa river to campsite 3 when the trail to the sandpatch started. It took us about an hour and a half to get up theres as we arrived just after 9. It was the start to what was a very very long day. 8kms in the canoe and a 12 km walk up to the sandpatch and back, and it was getting hot. And when its hot and im going up hill im always reminded about how unfit i am and how i should have let Al bully me to the gym more often...but never mind you never know....When we got up to the top TJ was on form and said "look whos decided to join us Pom and Gerry", it made me smile anyway. The sandpatch was so beauitful and the sand was lovely between my toes, it was more white like the sand in Thailand was than the sand in Noosa. We headed back down at 11.30ish and meet the German girls at about 12ish only half way up looking totally knackered because of the heat...i definately didnt want to be going back up there in that heat. At 1ish after a quick stop and lunch with the German couple me and Sabrina jumped back in our canoe and headed back for camp. We could see the clouds closing is and it wasnt looking good and then when we could hear the thunder in the distance neither of us were happy...we just hoped we could make it back to site before the storm hit. The storm hit us full whack 3 jettys away from camp and me and Sabrina fought against the wind and the rain and paddled as hard as we could in and out the the reeds which we kept getting pushed into and after about 15mins finally got ourselves back to site where TJ was watching for us and helped us pull the canoe out of the water. I havent been that scared in such a long time and well went im really scared and frecking out im not the easiest to understand and trying to get Sabrina to help force the canoe in a direction i meant not what i was maybe saying didnt help...left and right has never been a strong point of mine! But we made it and got ourselves dry and paddled barefooted throught the mud to the shelter with trangia, lamp and food in hand, there was no way i was going back before bedtime. So the next 6 hours we spend with a pack of cards chatting to the irish trio and a lovely english couple, Dan and Emma who had gone to Manchester Uni and lived in Fallowfield.
The following morning TJ came to my tent at 5am looking for the trangia to put the brew on...i was awake anyway as it had been raining most of the night so i just got up and put the tent down while it wasnt raining. I was all packed (inc in the canoe) by 6am and had 2 brews and breakfast and we were just chilling in the peacefully still morning. At 6.45ish the 5 of us all pilled into our canoes and headed back to the rangers jetty, we had to be back at 10am for pick up we me and Sabrina arrived at 8.30 unloaded and had the brew on for the time the irish trio arrived which we veyr much needed, we just couldnt believe it had taken us 2 hours on thursday to get to camp and it had only taken us an hour this morning to get back. It was worth it though and we were all overed in bites.
All you guys who were in Peru with me will be please to hear only the bites on my arms blistered and the biggest on was about the size of my little finger nail...Gaz you have all this to look forward to! You havent seen how i react to bites yet, i think John referred to it in Lima as totally minging but nothing i can do about it.. my skin has reacted this way since i was about 16. Its not nice though and my scars from Peru have now left white patches on my legs which im not happy about at all!
All in all i really enjoyed the trip and so glad i did it, got back to Noosa yesterday afternoon and washed everything that came with me coz everything was dirty and covered in sand. I wasnt expecting to be joined by one of the guys we'd met in Bryon. Michael was are rather interesting shall we say dutch guy who i think he said he was 34 and bit weird. I couldnt believe my luck, both me and Ad had tried so so hard to lose him on our last night in Bryon but Michael just hadnt got the hint and when Michael said to me yesterday that he was going to get me very drunk last night i got very worried. He i guess was a a nice enough bloke and always bought loads of drinks etc but he creeped me out and always seemed to be there where ever i went...including next to the bus stop the day i left Bryon.
I was rescued by 2 guys in my room...Shane and Ian and there mate Mickey from Huddersfield, Kirkheaton i think he said it was. Really lovely blokes, we had dinner together and then the boys went out to the bottle shop for some cards and obviously some beers and came back with a proper poker set which had been next to the till and a few packs of beer and a box of goon. (goon - a box of cheap wine) We had a really got laugh, Shane and Ian knew each other from back home, sort of...Shanes from Hull and Ians from Leister but they meet where they live for 6 months every year in Spain, or one of the Spainish islands, and every year they come on holiday from 2 months to some country in the world. Sounded like a pretty awesome life they had going....spend the winter months travelling, go home for a couple months and work and then have the summers in Spain.
So thats my last few days, im just killing time at the moment until my bus to Rainbow Beach at 4.30. Then i have the Fraser Island briefing at 7pm and the whole team goes out and buys the team food for the next few days...it sounds really good i just hope the weather is good to us and then back to Syndey after the tour. Cant believe that its next weekend Gaz gets heres its come round quite fast in the last few weeks.
Speak soon, love you xxx