Fraser Island

On May 5-8, I went with a group of Americans to Fraser Island. We rented two cars in Brisbane and drove the 4 hours North to Hervey Bay. We stayed at koala backpackers, who also arranged our 3 days self drive tour on the island. Two german boys and an Irish guy joined our group and we headed out in our 4wd landcruiser!! Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It has no real roads, so everything is 4wd. You are also allowed to drive up to 80km/hr on the beach at low tide. We went hiking in the semi-rainforest area, stopped at several lakes, and camped on the beach. We had a great time exploring the island. It is gorgeous! You won't believe how pretty and clear the lakes are on the island. Fraser is renowed for having the purest strain of dingoes, as well as alot of sand! We were told not to swim (sharks), not to go to the bathroom alone (dingoes), and not to drive in the ocean (salt). We camped for two nights and cooked our own meals. We had a great group! It was a blast! Take a look.... A dingo on Fraser Island....watch your babies.

The Aussie Maritime flag on the ferry from Hervey Bay to the island.
Indian Head lookout- this is suppose to be the #1 breeding ground for tiger sharks in the southern hemisphere. But we only saw one.
Sand dune on Fraser Island.
Sunset on the 75 mile beach.
Lake Wobby.
The world famous Lake McKenzie!! It is gorgeous....hardly looks like a lake.

Giant palm trees on one of your hiking adventures.
Cool looking vine thing.
This is where we camped one night.
Maheno Shipwreck on the east coast of Fraser Island
This is our 4WD!

Girraween

I went on a camping trip with my outdoor rec group to Girraween National Park, which is about 3 hours SW of Brisbane, on April 27-29. We went hiking and had a great time. It was a little rainy and cold the first day, but we survived. We saw alot of kangaroos and birds as well. Girraween has huge granite boulders and is a very interesting park. The landscape looks much different than most of the other places I have been. Cheers!

Girraween National Park. The entire area is covered in granite boulders.

Kangaroo and joey near our campsite!

Cute little birdie

Most of my camping group at the top of Castle Rock.

The granite boulders create an intersting landscape.

Alan is the daredevil of the group. He has all kinds of tricks.


Michael, Koshy, and Jessica at Mount Norman.
We may or may not have climbed this in the rain and almost died.
How could we leave out the jumping picture?
It was a warm and sunny day at Girraween.....not!
I know we are silly.
Jess and I on the mountain...it was a bit chilly here.
Yay! We made it back alive! We were soaked and freezing though.

Whitsundays

Girls trip to Whitsunday Islands- April 21-25, 2007! We flew North to Airlie beach where we stayed for a night before departing for Long Island. We stayed at a nice place on the island and enjoyed the hot tub and karaoke. We took a day trip to Hamilton Island and the famous Whitehaven Beach. Wow it was awesome!! Whitehaven is one of the world's top ten beaches and is made of 100% silica (quartz)- which is not local to the area. The sand is very white and squeeks when you walk on it. We didn't want to leave. The next day we took a trip with Cruise Whitsundays to Reef World, which is a pontoon anchored on the Great Barrier Reef. We were suppose to go sailing, but the boat was broken and we got upgraded to the reef trip. We had heaps of fun!!The incredible Whitehaven Beach!!Kristen, Nikki, Me, Devin, and MichelleMore of Whitehaven.Reef World Pontoon. They had a semi-sub, glass bottom boat, and snorkeling equipment.
The colors of the water on the reef is very diverse.
Slide at Reef World.
Set of the sun.

Whitehaven. There was recently a movie filmed here- Fools Gold- I think.

Jumpin for joy.Even the birds like it here.
Devin and I.

Whitehaven Beach.
Hey I bet this guy got some brownie points with the lady. Private plane on whitehaven beach. Nice!

Another sunset!

Straddie

This is an island just East of Brisbane- North Stradbroke Island. We took the train to Cleveland and then jumped on the ferry. The island is gorgeous and not too touristy. There is a good fish and chips shop where we had lunch. We took a walk around the island, admired the clear green waters, spotted a turtle, and played on the beach. Love this place!

On the beach at Point Lookout

Not a bad view!

Taking in the sites.

Awesome water! The color was incredible!

Waves crashing into the rocks

On the beach.
Can you guess whose they are?

On the lookout.Kookaburra
Another one overlooking the main beach at point lookout.

Brisbane

Brisbane, Queensland! This is where I live and go to school. Mom and Lonna were in town for about 4 days and I gave them a tour. We went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Stradbroke Island, the city gardens, and to my uni. Check it out!City of Brisbane from Mt. Cootha lookout! Not a bad view!

Roma Street Gardens. The worlds largest inner city subtropical gardens.
Where to go, where to go?Petting a kangaroo at Lone Pine.The illusive kangaroo...haha
Sleepy koala....they sleep about 20 hours everyday!It isn't as soft as it looks, but it's still cute.
Fruit bat colony near river on the way to Lone Pine....biggest bats in the world. Wingspan up to 1m= 3 ft- that is a big bat!! I see quite a few flying around at dusk in the city.
From the bridge in Brisbane

South bank parklands.