Jetstreamjitterbug’s Weblog

Arrived in Brisbane yesterday evening. I had trouble finding a room, so just went for the first one that said yes out of the Lonely Planet. Mistake… Cloud 9 is a nasty place: I was in a 10 bed dorm, the bathroom has a most disturbing smell and in one of the most drought-stricken cities [...]

(Written on Tuesday morning, but somehow I didn’t publish it)…
Had a great time in Noosa. It’s the sort of resort that people go to get rid of their excess money, so I joined in the spirit briefly and did some activities.
The “world famous” Halse Lodge YHA was indeed great, quite expensive for a YHA but [...]

Had a great time on Fraser Island. The tour I chose, Fraser Experience, has a much smaller bus than most with 14 people – more like a truck with a bus body stuck on, like the one I took in the outback. They picked me (and a couple who were also staying at the Woolshed, [...]

Firstly, they beach is quite nice. And the Woolshed backpackers where I stayed was really nice, very quiet and clean and I met some really nice people.
I had a good time on Fraser island, but would suggest that Rainbow beach, where I am now, is a better stopping off point – for a start, the [...]

There must be something in the water here.
I just got thrown out of an internet cafe for booking a hostel on line – well actually, I didn’t get thrown out but the owner came and hovered over my shoulder and said, “what does that say?” pointing at a sticker saying “ALL bookings must be made [...]

Well as mentioned in my previous post, I didn’t have printed ticket for my bus/rail journey. All went well, as the bus from Airlie Beach picked me up right out side the YHA and the driver was very friendly and helpful, the station was OK, very quiet and when the train pulled in I asked [...]

I went for a day trip around the Whitsunday islands on Thursday, although in the end the real bad weather didn’t set until this morning.
But I got to see the main sights. I saw turtles from the boat, and some people on the trip were able to swim with them. In fact, I probably did, [...]

Magnetic island was nice, lots of birds, possums etc. I stayed at the YHA affiliated Bungalow Bay Koala Village.
Went for a walk around the island with someone from my dorm, tried snorkelling, but the weather was against it, so swam about and jumped over massive waves instead.
Yesterday, I took the ferry back to townsville, and [...]

It seems a couple of things have changed since my Lonely Planet was published, just a year ago.
Firstly, the train station at the centre of town is now just a booking office / museum piece, with the former rail tracks being built on for new development, leading to me walking about 2km from the new [...]

Just a quick update. Will post more details tomorrow, hopefully when I get on to the free internet.
I popped up for a night in the world’s oldest rainforest at Cape Tribulation. It was nice, then back to cairns for a couple of nights. Today, I spent all day on the train heading back down south [...]