The next two hours were pretty busy: Sean landed the role of supermarket sweep buying food for all 10 of us; and the rest of us got the briefing on how to drive the car, where to go, and what to do when you get stuck in the sand. Finally, we all met up again and loaded up the 4x4 car ready to go.
The first day on the island was pretty smooth, although we did manage to get bogged down within about 30 minutes after following one of Karl's shortcuts. The road we were expecting to take turned out to be one way (the map was definitely wrong - often seems to be the case when Karl is guiding us!) so we had to dig the car out and turn around. Dan managed to have the first clutch episode at this point, albeit a minor one - the smell and the smoke probably gives you an idea. During the day we visited a few sights: freshwater Lake Wabbi where Sean sand-boarded into the lake while the rest bathed; the wreck on the beach; and plenty of creeks. Finally, upon arriving at the campsite, we set up the tents and prepared the evening's barbecue and goon.
The second day was a fairly early start. 'Korea Dangerous' started the driving and proceeded to slam the car over many deep creeks causing the Japan girls in the back to smash their heads on the roof every two minutes. After visiting the Indian Head lookout point, the Swedish 'soon to be dangerous' driver took over to get us around a difficult corner. About a million revs, a cloud of smoke, a dune load of sand and a barbecued clutch later we proceeded to the Champagne Pools frothy bathing area. Next it was Karl's turn to drive the longest leg of the trip back south. After four stalled starts, we eventually got moving and headed back to the difficult corner. Karl decided that it was not worth the risk of getting stuck again so planted the accelerator and flew around the sandy tracks. Despite a few screams from the on-board passengers about trees and rocks, we got round without a problem. However, on the long run south, Karl noticed that the clutch was not behaving between gear changes, signaling problems to come. We eventually arrived at Eli Creek to float down its freezing current.
Sean then had the job of driving back to the campsite. Within about 2 metres it was clear that this car was going nowhere - the torture of earlier had taken its toll. Karl hitched a ride back to base camp woth another 4x4 full of girls (via a ranger briefing on dingos) to ring for help and pick up the other van to collect everyone. Upon Karl's return, everyone except Dan and Karl were loaded into the van - then out of the blue Sean decided to stay too. As we were being picked up within the hour we chilled in the moment. However, time passed and it got darker and emptier. By 7.30pm, three hours after breaking down, it was pitch black with no-one in sight and the tide creeping up. Around 8pm we saw lights only to be disappointed. Finally, at 9.30pm, a whole five hours later (the guy I had rung earlier had quit that night and couldn't be bothered to pass on the message that three Grimsby boys were stuck on the beach 8km from camp!), we were rescued and returned to basecamp to face a huge welcoming party with beers and food. We were mini celebrities for a while and even had a song written for us to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas.
The last day in the new car went smoothly with a final trip to Lake McKenzie before heading back to the mainland. However, the vehicle hire company hit us with an $800 bill that we had to split between everyone. But I think $80 for the experience was decent value.
That night both cars had a huge night to celebrate with drinking games in the giant dorm and plenty of Goon. The on-site bar was so empty that they came to our room at 1am and, in true mafia style, begged us all to go to the bar, gave us some free jugs of snakebite and even allowed us to bring our own drinks. (KC)
The next day we were up early for our surfing lessons on the beach. The two hours proved to be very useful and, despite the love one instructor was showing Dan, we all managed to stand by the end. The afternoon was filled with kayaking around Noosa Heads' many waterways. We somehow managed to waste an hour playing a game in which you have to run around the three canoes without falling into the water. This was pretty funny but not as funny as seeing Sean trying to get into the single canoe - after half an hour Sean had to give up and be shown by the Karl how to do it. However, for the record, he could not do it either as we had somehow managed to flood the thing.
That night we returned once again to the goon so we could check out the local nightlife, with the intention to visit Steve Irwin's Zoo early the next day. (KC)
Away from the beaches there was really only one thing to do, so we went out on a mad sesh for a change... We got a taxi to the first bar only to be told we needed ID. Dan and Sean got theirs out. Then it was the turn of the man who once said 'Come on lads, I used to get served at the local off-licence when I was 14 - why would I carry ID!', but oh dear, he didn't have any on him. So back to the hostel in a taxi and then back again ensured that it was an expensive first round for Mr 'I don't need any ID'! A few hours (and drinks) later, after Dan had been refused entry to a bar for being too drunk, with Sean and Dan only slightly more drunk than Karl (for a change), we decided to have a bit of a sing along down the street, arms round each other in full vocal harmony. Karl, not too pleased with this said 'Lads, if you don't stop acting drunk we're not getting in anywhere. Stop singing and hugging. If we don't decide where were are going then I'm going home'. So, the teacher had told us off and it was time for Sean and Dan to act sober (pot, kettle, black are three words that Spring to mind) ...Thanks to Karl's advice we did manage to get into a club that night and returned home around 5am.
We tried our best to make it feel Christmassy by decorating our room with tinsel (which had been attached to our backpacks for the last week), making a Christmas tree and put all the presents around it. On Christmas Day, Sean was awoken at 9am by an excited Dan Davo holding two bottles of beer saying 'let's open the presents!'. So, Dan opened his 6 presents and Sean opened his 36. After a few early morning beers we rocked up at the beach around mid-day for a BBQ. With our toys (bubble makers, cap guns, etc.) and beer we had a great day. Sean even managed to get a tan... (DD)
The early arrival in Sydney gave Karl a break from the backpacker life for a short while: hostels were replaced by smart hotels; beans on toast were replaced by restaurant visits; and cheap Goon was replaced by cocktails.
Christmas away from home was a strange experience. Instead of Christmas eve in the Honest Lawyer in Grimsby, we went to a house party in Paddington - a trendy Sydney suburb. Waking up on Christmas morning to Bright summer sun was very weird. However, it gave us a chance to head to Bondi Beach for Christmas dinner picnic and drinks on the beachfront - and, of course, the ring around to the family. Boxing Day was even sunnier so some decent sunbathing was done on Bondi.
Eventually, Dan and Sean arrived in Sydney to join in the fun. Although, different plans for New Year's Eve meant that Dan and Sean went to Sydney Harbour, while Karl and Pam went to Shore Thing on Bondi Beach. Shore Thing was an awesome night out with Sneaky Sound System (newly discovered and loved by us) supporting Groove Armada and kept us entertained well into 2008.
The next day required a difficult early start to check out and Karl had to return to the hostel to meet Dan and Sean before we all headed to Fiji. During the next week or so, Karl would need to migrate back into backpacker mode and avoid the temptation to be a flashpacker. (KC)
The next couple of days were spent wandering around the city in the lead up to the big night...
On New Year's Day, Dan and Sean decided to go for a wander (while Karl was recovering from his night at Bondi Beach) and stumbled across an all day rave with 20,000 people at it! After comtemplating scaling the fence, we opted for the route of trying to buy wristbands from people leaving (either because they´d pulled or they were off their faces). Bearing in mind ´Field Day´is one of the most popular events in Australia with tickets costing $140 and selling out within an hour of going on sale we somehow managed to get one wristband for free and another for just $50! The event itself was awesome...
Our last day in Sydney was relatively quiet. The highlight being going for drink in the tower with a rotating bar. While the bar itself was quite cool it was the lifts that impressed us most. There are TV screens in each lift showing what´s going on in the other lift - lucikly for us when we got the lift up the lift going down was full of girls who put a smile on our faces with an impromptu flash... (SM)
We eventually arrived at our second destination, Pacific Harbour, where we went on a four hour jet ski safari around the islands stopping off to snorkel in the clear blue sea. This was followed by an hour being towed on the back of a boat on various inflatables. We then attempted the craziest sport we have ever heard of - Horseboarding. This was basically a surfboard with a rope tied between it and a horse. While the horse ran along the beach you had to try to stand up on, and not fall off, the surf board. Whilst this was near impossible, Sean and Dan managed to complete the task. Karl, on the other hand, felt the effort involved was not worth the reward.
After all the excitement it was time to hit the desert islands and top up the tans. Our first stop was Beachcomber island, supposedly the party island. However, having only one bar and a dreadful band playing the greatest sixties songs to slash your wrists to it was far from it. Anyway, we made the most of it by playing another game of ring of fire with some Canadians before heading to the bar to take part in the Butlins-like Bula dance. After a couple of days on Beachcomber Island we got a boat to Bounty Island where they film Celebrity Love Island. This was paradise and a great place to do nothing.
After a few days on the islands we went back to the mainland and decided to visit the mudpools. This was all good until it started to absolutely chuck it down (breaking Sean`s camera). On the way back we noticed the road ahead was flooded! We all got out to check the depth of the water and Dan, not realising we were actually stood on a bridge, stepped back and fell off into the raging river which pinned him against the bridge with water, logs and everything else gushing down the mountain and crashing into him. Sean and Karl found this hilarious until they realised he was almost drowning! Dan somehow managed to pull HIMSELF out (thanks lads). With only a few cuts and bruises on his back he felt lucky to be alive. Finally, despite the taxi driver trying to convince Karl to drive the car through the flooded road, the taxi driver plucked up the courage to go for it and we managed to get us home. (DD)
After a night at the Poo pub we travelled down the west coast stopping off at various places including a Possom museum where we learnt the fascinating history of possoms, ate some possom pie and Tony (another guy on the Kiwi bus) was attacked by a wild pig!
After leaving Wanaka we headed to Queenstown for a few days. The days were spent taking part in various adventure activities and the nights drinking in the numreous bars around the town.
Some highlights:
Two days later Dan and Karl left on the Kiwi bus to head to the next destination, while Sean stayed in Queenstown for an extra day to do the canyon swing... (SM)
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