I stayed a few nights and walked around the city. I’m not really into cities. In short, a wonderful, clean city for the rich. I went to see a 7D cinema (crazy experience), swam in the ocean and admired the beauty of the city at night. Overall, a little expensive but I survived. They say it’s a paradise for surfers. I didn’t see any there, but that’s okay. It just wasn’t the season I guess.
When I wanted to go on, I had to hitchhike on the highway. Quite a busy highway. I found a suitable place and slowly walked towards it. I’m crossing the road and out of nowhere, a van almost runs over me. She passed right in front of me, I’ll tell you that I almost… I needed new underwear after that. And I looked around before I crossed. Honestly, hitchhiking on the highway is a really dumb idea, but it worked. It didn’t take long before I was going to Brisbane in a sport car.
With a short stop in Brisbane, I took the train to Glass House Mountains Park. I arrived in the evening and it was such a desert. I still made it to the Information Center before it closed to find out where to sleep. One nice lady directed me to her husband’s farm where I could camp, he will be expecting me. I was happy so I set off. I went for several kilometers and still nothing. I couldn’t find the farm. It was getting dark so had to find another place. I was in the middle of nowhere. I came across a small orchard. Down at the end of it was a small grassy area near a forest where I could hide. I was afraid that some farmer would shoot me there, thinking I am a thief. I had no other choice.
The woods on the way were full of thick bushes, nothing for tents definitely. I run down, opened my backpack and start seting up my tent. I just put it on the grass, a cloud of mosquitoes rose up. Normally I set up my tent in 10 minutes, here..in 3 minutes. Even so, I was full on bites all over. I prayed for it to be dark soon and morning especially. The forest seemed to come alive at night. Just rustling, cracking branches. In the middle of the night, I heard something crawling into the front chamber of the tent. I did not know what to do. I think it was a snake. Well…we are in Australia, right, so snakes and spiders everywhere. I had a knife ready in my hand. I hit the wall of the tent and waited to see what’s gonna happen. The thing run away, but I didn’t sleep all night anyway. In the morning, at dawn, I disappeared immediately.
This park was interesting because of rocks that looked like huge claws coming from underground. There weren’t many, but still was worth it. I climbed one hill where I had a beautiful view of the entire park. At the top I met a nice family. They invited me for a tea and at home their grandfather showed me a head of a crocodile they hunted. It was well over a meter long, and smelled so brutally bad at the same time. They hunt them when the crocs attack people. He also told me how smart they are when hunting. I kept this gentleman’s advice: „Never camp near rivers and swamps!“ This will definitely prolong your life.
I continued on my way and reached the coast from where I took the ferry to Fraser Island. I didn’t want to pay crazy money for travel agencies that did tours there…so I walked. But that was a big mistake. I’ll mention in a moment why I regretted it as soon as I left the ferry.
This island is basically a sand island. There is no soil, only sand, and yet it is fully forested with many small lakes and beautiful beaches. There are also no roads, so I waded along a sandy road where others passed in jeeps or modified buses. They were looking at me like they saw a ghost because I was the only idiot walking on foot. I can tell you that it was very difficult with a heavy backpack on my back and was hot as hell. My feet sank into the sand with every step and I walked three times slower. The only thing I was worried about were dogs. A species of wild dog Dingo lives on this island. And they, if they are in a pack, are capable of attacking a person as well. It was a very steressful walk.
I reached the post from where they led other routes around the island. There was supposed to be an information center, but no one was there. There was basically no one there at all. I visited several lakes that layed along one of the roads. Some were beautifully transparent and others beautifully colored. I felt like a castaway there. Eventually I spent several days there, but the lack of food and the size of the island did not allow me to stay longer. And that’s why I didn’t even get to the best part, the east coast beaches, which I really regret. If I paid for a trip, I would see something and had no stress. That was a big lesson.
Getting back on the paved road was a relief like taking a shower after two weeks. Then as I hitchhiked further north, I got a lift from a nice guy who asked me for help on the way. It was about dismantling the pool and he didn’t want to pay a company to do it. Yes, they hire companies for everything, from cutting down trees to dismantling pools, and everything here is terribly expensive. In exchange, he lets me sleep at his house. Couldn’t say no. I like to help people, especially those whom I have never seen before and when nobody knows where I am so can’t get any help (if something goes wrong). He invited me for dinner where I met his family and then I stayed in a caravan next to the house. The next morning we were taking the pool apart. When I was taking the mess away, I found a snake skin about a meter long on the ground. I ask him as if he knows about it and he says it’s normal there. Yeah, sure… We got the job done quickly and late in the afternoon he took me to Airlie Beach town.
It was a beautiful little town and the main reason I traveled here was to see the Great Barrier Reef. I wandered round the city and managed to find an agency where I bought a day tour for $150. I could have gone the very next day. You can’t get there any other way, otherwise I’d walk again, heh. In the morning, there were super fast and super yellow boats with speed up to 80 km/h. That was a ride man. We saw dolphins, sea turtles, snorkeled on the reefs with a many various weirdo looking fish and the icing on the cake was a visit on Whitsunday Island. There I saw something that I will not forget for the rest of my life and death. Even Alzheimer’s disease will not erase it. We stopped on the other side of the island, walked through a beautiful forest and ended up on a viewpoint. From there we had the most beautiful view on a beach I have never seen in my life…the Whiteheaven Beach. If my heart wasn’t so cold I would cry, definitely.
The whole bay was like something from a fairy tale. We descended down and entered the beach. I took off my sandals and sank my feet into the sand. Smooth as flour, it was like walking on clouds. Water that had a turquoise color from above, but below was as clear as when you pour water into a glass bowl. I felt like I was in a paradise that I never want to leave. Just beautiful, mesmerizing.
After returning from paradise, unfortunately, I hit the road again and hitchhiked north to Cairns. Well, when I was in Townsville, fate sent me a person whom I will respect very much forever. His name is Stewart and we drove together all the way up to Cairns. He even let me drive a bit as he was tired from a long drive. He was coming back from a funeral…yes, again. We talked a lot and became good friends. Eventually he offered me to stay at his place so I wouldn’t have to look for an accommodation in hostels.
I ended up spending about two weeks there. He showed me the city, took me to the crocodile farm, to the waterfalls, and many other places. Thanks to him, I met a lot of his friends, that became my friends. Oh, I almost forgot, if you can, go and try the a cake from The Cheesecake shop, they make the best cakes in the world.
The biggest shock was when he took me to his friends, somewhere outside the city, on a farm. I don’t know how to describe it…it looked crazy. They were storing things everywhere, and in the middle of it was the house where the three brothers lived. We stayed there overnight. We had a barbecue under the terrace, where they let me try out the body cleaning device. I sit on a chair, put my feet in the sink, and they put a bulb in it connected by wires to the device. Within about an hour, the water turned completely black. So I was cleared…
The next day they had a slaughter, they killed about ten geese. You know, I’m not a sissy, but I don’t need to see that. However, I then helped them with plucking and disemboweling. You never know what you’ll learn while traveling…
Being this far north, I was a short distance from my final destination on the east coast. That was the Daintree National Park. I hitchhiked to the ferry that was the entrance gate to the park. After that, I had quite a problem moving. Almost no traffic. Finally, I managed to catch a small car with three French girls in it, and with them I traveled the park and saw the beauty of the rainforest. We had a great fun in such a short time and they even took me back to Cairns at the end of the day.
But since I can’t stay in one place for long and I felt that time was pressing on me, I had to move. I traveled the entire east coast and the next stop was the Outback, the middle part of Australia. I said goodbye to Stew and thanked him for everything. I hitchhiked back down to Townsville and on to Charters Towers from where I wanted to get to Alice Springs. Getting to Charters wasn’t a problem, but to get outta there, was hell.
The whole area is like a desert full of dry bushes and termites. I found some nice spot to sleep on top of a hill but when I came back at night, it was full of people watching a movie. It was a dodgy place so had look for some accommodation in the town. When wandering the town, some people passing by showed the middle finger to me…nice people, I guess they don’t like foreigners here. I ended up in a pub that looked exactly like for cowboy movies. Upstairs they had this cozy rooms where I crushed.
The next day I was hitchhiking all day long and nothing. Roughly one car per half an hour and they didn’t stop. Mostly local farmers who didn’t drive that far or trucks (Road Trains) with three trailers that just won’t stop. I had to go and buy more water at the nearby petrol station. It was the most expensive one I’ve ever had. A liter for $5. Outside I asked some truck drivers for a lift but everyone refused. Insurance policy or just lied they are heading other direction.
I was standing there in the brutal heat all day long, no wind, no clouds, until it became unbearable. I didn’t have time so, after an agreement with Stew, I returned back to Cairns from where I flew to Darwin. But it wasn’t so easy to do. Since I left the town I had to walk for hours before somebody decided to give me a lift. I was exhausted and didn’t feel my feet. Such a nice couple, from Mont Isa town, saved my life.