You may have noticed from our Facebook updates that we have indeed moved on from Australia now. But there is still plenty to tell about our last days down under. So without hesitation I shall carry on from where I left off.

Back in camp it wasn’t long until the food was done and the alcohol was out. Goon was everyone’s preferred tickle. Remember that awful wine in a box stuff we had in Sydney. Literally only good for the wallet and getting you really, really drunk. Looking around at everyone else we definitely seemed to be the most together of all the groups. We were close already and not one of us had began moaning about the weather. And remember we had Soph and Courtney in our group. So we got the drinking games going and quickly started to become the obvious group for everyone else to want get involved with. The more the merrier.

At one point the girls decided they wanted a shower. They had got drunk pretty quickly so it was probably for the best they took a breather. Remember however the bathroom was up the hill out of site from the camp through a deathdefying path of mud, snakes and spiders. They would need to stick together to ensure their safety. Once at the shower they could separate and feel safe enough to take a shower. But they didn’t. Instead they decided to take another shower together. I don’t know if I should start getting worried here but they do seem to enjoy getting naked together when I’m not around. Hmm.

Meanwhile I was making new friends. A couple of girls, one from Bristol, one from Candada, had sat down next to me to join in the game. There were now so many accents at the table I wasn’t sure who was speaking English and who wasn’t. We continued to play until people started to give in and head for bed. There weren’t many people left when I went up to the bathrooms to find the girls. I could hear the giggles from the campsite so they weren’t too hard to find even through the pitch black snake path. Up there we ran in to cool guy tour guide, Danny. So together we all started making our way back to our tent. At that point the girls screamed. A frog! They weren’t scared of it, it was just huge. I couldn’t even see it in the dark forest until out of nowhere bushman Danny launched his right foot out and stamped it on the floor. He had stopped Kermit in his traps. He began to show us where the frog’s poisonous sap came from on its back before picking him up by his back legs. The girls begged him not to kill the poor thing, which Danny agreed to. Instead he launched the amphibian as if it was a discus far into the jungle. We never did see that frog again.

The next morning we were woken up by Danny banging a cup against a spoon. It actually sounded more like he had just set up an entire arsenal directly outside our tent and set off every weapon one after the other. It was 8am. Not the sort of time you want to be getting up after antics such as ours the night before. We got to making breakfast and our lunches for the day. We’d learnt our lessons from the day before and decided not to go with ham and plastic sandwiches. Instead we would go all out by having a single slice of bread folded in half, filled with Nutella. I can think of worse lunches.

It was of course absolutely tipping it down as we got in to the 4x4s to set off for our days activities. One of the groups started to get worried about what seemed to be a bit of a petrol leak from their car. Danny told them not to worry though. Rumours had started to spread amongst the camp that there was a pretty big storm on its way over and would bring with it some strong winds as well as even more rain. Yet it didn’t seem to phase anyone. We jumped in and headed off for a spot called Champaign Pools. A beautiful spot at the very top of the island. Well, I say beautiful. I’m sure on a good day it’s stunning.

When we got there Danny came over the radio asking us to grab some swim shorts from our bags and meet by the toilets out of the rain. The rain was literally hammering it down by this point. Once changed and together again Danny explained a little about this spot. He said that we shouldn’t go all the way in as there are some really sharp rocks that we may struggle to spot. That if we fall off the side we would be smashed to bits and almost certainly die on impact. And if we were lucky enough to survive the fall we would be a special treat for any passing tiger shark with a healthy appetite.

Moving on from the good news, Danny explained in more detail the seriousness of the incoming storm. A category 4 cyclone was moving rapidly towards Fraser and it wasn’t looking to making friends. This more than likely meant we would need to be evacuated from the island later that day with very little chance of receiving our money back for our troubles. For a small minority this was exactly what they wanted to hear. For most, including all of our group, we were devastated. Sure it was raining, but the activities are mainly water based anyway. Suck it up and jump in the water you miserable….Hmm

Having run through rain that felt more like a team of raging dingos firing nail guns at us to get to Champagne Pools, we found it was pretty much a giant rock pool. Nice to look at though. Back at the cars the plan was to drive back to our camp so Danny could call his boss on the main land and see if we needed to be shipped off or not. We waited for a while at a shop just off the beach trying to get dry before Danny announced the new plan. The cyclone was now so bad that even if we did leave the island tonight we would probably find ourselves capsized before making it half way across the channel. So instead we would tough it out and do all the things we were going to do anyway, just wetter. This caused a huge cheer from the entire group, bar one or two moaning individuals who were scared their hair might get wet. Grrr!

Ignoring their outnumbered complaints the group jumped back in their cars and headed to the next destination, Eli Creek. But not before that same group brought up their fears of that petrol leak. Again they were told it was fine and not to worry about it. Eli Creek is basically a freezing cold river with a current that ran out to sea. So the idea was you could get in and float your way down stream using those float mats you used during your school swimming lessons. It was good fun but outrageously cold. Plus due to the heavy rain the water was now impossible to see through. There could have been any number of snakes or snorkeling spiders ready to pounce on us. Yet we didn’t care. We were all so happy to still be there that we gave everything 100% no matter the weather. And it’s a good thing too, as there was no let up whatsoever.

A little further down the beach were the remains of what was once a luxury cruise liner. Before the completion of the Titanic it was in fact the largest ship of its kind in the world. Until of course a bunch of Chinese took the helm only steer it directly into some oncoming cyclone, similar to the one we were experiencing at that very moment. It is also happened to be the most photographed ship wreck in the world. So of course we needed a photo. As you can see we were really lucky with the weather….

The storm was now hovering just away from Fraser Island, threatening to drop its load right on our heads in the coming hours. So it was now time to head back to camp for a repeat of the previous evenings antics. Dinner was spaghetti Bolognese accompanied by another session of goon themed drinking games. It was another really great evening with everybody from all 4 groups now mixing with each other and making the most of an imperfect situation. Even the couple that moaned all afternoon were having a good time. At this point Danny appeared from the buses to announce some fresh news on the cyclone. We expected something like ‘well done everyone, you’ve survived it’ or maybe ‘that’s it everyone, all over’. Instead Danny told us the incoming cyclone was still not here and that it had in fact now been upgraded to a Super Storm. For those that don’t know what a Super Storm is, it is not a large black cloud with a cape on its back and a pair of tight latex undies wrapped around it. It’s 280km/h winds. That’s umbrella turning inside out kinda winds. The outcome of this news was that we needed to have all our stuff ready in case we needed to make a runner from our tents to the concrete shower unit. Exciting ay?

We stayed up as late as we physically could by finishing our drinks, staring at the stars and listening to Danny’s bush stories. The rain had stopped. Perhaps this was quite literally the calm before the storm.

When morning came we expected to be floating in our 4 person tent somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Instead it was gorgeous sunshine for as far as the eye could see. Where was this so called Super Storm? Rumours spread again that it was apparently still on its way. That it had stopped off at the nearest service station for a wee and a bacon sandwich but was still most certainly on its way. So we quickly cleaned up the camp and set off to catch the boat back to the main land. We would have to travel for some time along the beach to get to our destination. So if we’re going to miss the storm we were going to have to put our foot down. We always travelled as a convoy. If one car was in trouble they would flash the one in front who would then flash the car on front of them and so on. Unfortunately this didn’t seem to work. Remember that car with the unserious petrol leak? They were no longer part of the convoy. In fact they were missing altogether. We all shot back to find the car dead in the middle of the beach with…you guessed it…no petrol!

It took a little while before we could fix the problem but in the end all was rectified and we were on our way to the boat and then to our original hostel in Rainbow Beach. It really was a superb couple of days. The people we met and the fun we had by far outweighed the disappointment brought around by the awful weather conditions.

Back at the hostel the tv was on loud with a few people crowding around it. The storm that never came had in fact most certainly come. Brisbane to the south of us was being evacuated and towns to the North of us held over 70,000 people with no power. All buses and trains in and out of Rainbow Beach had been cancelled. All trips to Fraser Island had been cancelled. The extent of the cyclone Marcia’s destructive force was becoming evidently clear. We were one of the lucky ones as we had pre-booked our 5 person house before we left for Fraser. Others struggled to find accommodation at all. Thankfully the council had put up an emergency shelter in the village hall so people could at least stay out the rain. But that was the funny thing. There was no rain. It was the hottest day ever. In fact the forecast for rainbow beach was hot hot hot for days to come. Yet we couldn’t leave.

The buses remained cancelled for days. There was no way in or out of tiny Rainbow Beach for at least another 4 days and even then the buses would be jam packed with backpackers desperately trying to make their way to their pre planned destinations. Unfortunately this spelt the end of our journey in Australia. With a flight from Brisbane to Auckland on the Sunday, we couldn’t risk going further away from the airport in case no bus was available to get back down again. So we would miss the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. It was a devastating decision but one we had to make. Perhaps next time.

Would we let this spoil our last few days down under? What do you think? With so many people struggling to get accommodation we invited who we could to come and stay at our house. So instead of 3 of us staying in a 5 bed place, we filled all 5 beds and had a couple of people sleeping on our sofas. We even made a little extra cash from it. Some of our Fraser Island group had paid for an emergency bus to get them out of Rainbow Beach for an astronomical price. Something we simply couldn’t afford. For those of us left however, we had just enough time for one more big night. We all met at the hostel to drink even more goon before heading down to the beach with only the reflective light from the moon to guide us. Half of the group were English, the other half English speaking Germans. And as people from those two nations always do, it wasn’t long before we were having a singing competition. Screaming out eachother’s national anthems like we were about to head into battle. Again.

Leaving Rainbow Beach was actually a rather sad moment. Overall we’d spent 10 days shopping from the same tiny shop, seeing the same people all wishing they could leave. By the time we actually did leave, nobody wanted to. But life must go on, and so it did. Back to Noosa for two nights before Brisbane and ultimately Auckland, New Zealand. But that’s for the next blog. It won’t be long, I promise.

Thanks for following x