REAL WORLD ULTIMO SPRING BREAK ’08!!!

It’s true; we had the BEST spring break out of everyone in the program doing the ONE thing we were told we were NOT allowed to do. Hey, you only live once, and you really only live in Australia once. Don’t tell us what to do!
After papers and finals tried to take over our lives, the ‘family’ (Ted, Grant, Marisa, Sophie, Steph and I) pilled into our Tarago (glorified mini-van) and departed up the Gold Coast. We went on a nine day road trip from Sydney to Hervey Bay (Fraser Island) and back. Ted and I were the designated drivers. Driving was a blast!!! Seriously, all countries should drive on the left and have roundabouts (even in the middle of a highway) - it’s so much cooler! We even got to do some minivan off-roading. Good thing we paid for the complete insurance.
We went to incredible places, some popular and some not. It was a blast getting to choose our own path and discover places that a travel agency would never think to send you to. We camped every night in sets of three in our two little tents (though some opted for the backseat of the Tarago sometimes). Luckily, every town here has a campsite (or more) and so we were never without showers and bathrooms (thank goodness considering six of us were crammed into one car for more than a week). It was the adventure of a lifetime and will remain one of my BEST Aussie tales.
Day One: Ted and I picked up the car and then our children. Ted drove us out of the city and completely freaked out while going over the massive harbor bridge when he realized that the six lane passage was made up by three lanes going the opposite direction of us without a center divider. Talk about a forced, quick adjustment! (But obviously, we are good drivers because I am home, alive, and writing to you now). We drove to a small town called Forrester where everyone was pretending they were in Florida, sitting around, over half-way to dead (no offense old people, but think about it: we were on spring break… not quite the party one would hope for). We set up camp in the dark (after a 3 hour drive) and got dinner at an Asian restaurant and fell asleep fairly early.
Day Two: The first of many EARLY mornings. We packed up (which got faster/easier everyday) and got on the road. Our next site was along a beautiful river. We were no more than 25 feet from it while we slept! That night, we BBQd and it started POURING rain. We hung out in a common lounge room we found and then ducked into our tents for the night. When the rain stopped, I snuck out and watched the fishies jumping out of the water by our site. Camping is the best!
Day Three: Early morning, drove to Lennox Head where there is a Tea Tree Oil Lake. The water, when you move it around, looks like gasoline in water – rainbowish. We found a tree with a rope attached and everyone spent time jumping into the water. I swam a lot and loved every minute of the fresh water. We got lunch there and then drove a short distance to Byron Bay. This place was my FAVORITE!!! We found a campsite along the beachfront (can’t see it from the tent, but you can walk there!). It started pouring again when we got there; we are so used to random rain now so it didn’t bring us down. We went out for cocktails and then to another place for dinner. So nice! We decided that there had been enough driving going on and so we stayed the night and planned on staying for the day the next day in order to go to the beach.
Day 4: We went to the beach ALL DAY! Then, at night, we got dinner at the grocery store, ate on the rocks by the water watching the sunset and listening to hippies play aussie instruments. Then, on the way back to the Tarago I suggested that we go and play in the water – night swimming and surprisingly, no one thought I was crazy and so we did! That was my favorite moment of spring break. I couldn’t help but wish I had a camera out there with me. It was dusk, I was with my best friends, and I was starring back at Australia. The cove wrapped around us and a never-ceding horizon sat behind me as I looked at the sun touched hills behind the beach city of Byron Bay. I cannot and will not be able to ever describe the beauty that overwhelmed me in that moment.
On the way home, we drove to the lighthouse and explored on foot. It was dark and scary and exhilarating all at the same time. Ted and I took a path to the most western tip of Australia. It was amazing; how many people can say they did that?! (Everyone else freaked out and thought we died; sorry guys, it was worth it). That night, we went back to camp and had heart to heart discussions, watched the waves, and went to sleep.
Day Five: We left Byron Bay, although I never wanted to, and made our way to Nimbin. On the way, we stopped in Nightcap National Park and hiked through a rainforest to a waterfall. I love love love rainforests so I was clearly very happy. Funny sidenote: Sophie got locked in the bathroom there and I thought she was a goner (that part isn’t funny). Then, we went to Nimbin. If you haven’t heard anything about it…it’s the drug capital of Australia. It’s full of unproductive hippies selling stuff to lame people like us who are amused by their love of pot and everything natural. They are the anti-corporation corporation. They capitalize on their lifestyle. Every store sold the same ‘hand-made’ earrings and unless the small town has one kitchen, they are all selling the same ‘cookies.’ They FREAKED me out. DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR LIVES HIPPIES! Geesh. An hour there was more than enough for me. I got a pair of earrings and got out of there! In the car later, Sophie and grant created Hippie alter egos for us. So dead-on and amusing! I, Morning Glory, own a used book shop and rewrite all the stories to have a happy ending. We drove from there, through Brisbane (a city…ew!) to Port Macquarie. We had lunch there and decided it would be a fun place to come back to – slightly commercialized beach town. We got to Hervey Bay LATE that night. Luckily, we were able to wake a dude up and get him to let us into what turned out to be the BEST site we had complete with a $4 rate and fluffy grass. NICE. We went out to Mexican dinner and came back and hung around the pool for a few hours before going to bed.
Day Six: FRASER ISLAND – the turning point destination. We left our baby Tarago on the mainland and rented a four wheel drive beast of a car. Seriously, Indiana Jones status. Ted was our trusty driver for this one. We took a ferry over to the Island from Hervey Bay for our adventure. The roads were dirt ( and not nice, groomed dirt either) through dry forests and then we arrived on a white sand beach where we drove feet from rolling waves (you can't swim though because of tiger sharks that fill the water). Driving on the beach was amazing. The girls, all lined up in the backseat flew around like crazy but enjoyed the views and the wind in our hair. We drove awhile and ended up at a shipwreck site of a ship that operated in both WWI and II. SO COOL! There were strict warning signs saying not to climb on the boat, but the fine was only $20 so I took the chance and climbed away! Owell. After that, we walked through a lazy river and set off on more bumpy forest roads to Lake Mackenzie. Sophie had told us it would be beautiful, but that is an understatement. The lake was just the right temperature, filled with clear-aquamarine water and is surrounded by lush forests and white sandy beaches. We were told the island is covered in dingos but, of course, the second I set out to find one...one comes right by where our towels were. No dingo for Gabs; owell, the walk I went on was even better - gorgeous and exhilarating. I slept like a baby on the ferry ride back and we made a group decision to stay another night in the Bay before driving more. Day Seven: From there, we drove to Noosa. It's a gorgeous, Laguna-beach like place that is definitely a 'go with your parents' type of vacation spot...super expensive!!! We ate the BEST breakfast ever by the water. Then, we walked over to the national, water-side park that flourishes on the claim that you will DEFINITELY see a koala…even while still in the parking lot. We went on a short hike and did NOT see ONE. But, we did find a natural swing made out of a branch that Ted sung on like a five year old boy/ George of the jungle. And, we found HUGE spiders, a butterfly and a monitor lizard. The lizard was awesome, but he had a nub tail. After Noosa, we got on the highway with the intention of not stopping for quite a while until we saw the sign for the “Place where fun is made!” How could we resist? We turned off the highway at the GINGER FACTORY! Haha. It was SUPER touristy and after trying on animal hats intended for children and trying ginger beer (super weird soda, like root beer but gross) we hopped back on the road. This was the ONLY moment when we went the wrong way…Ted decided to not listen to my directions (he will never live this down). We turned around and headed to Port Macquarie to fill up our last tank of gas. There, we went straight to the beach. We fully intended on driving further that day but it was TOO nice out. There was a cricket match on the beach and a DJ blasting music that you could hear out in the ocean too. So fun! Ted and I let everyone lounge on the beach and drove to find a place to camp/check-in. The first place we checked out was PERFECT!!! The owner was super friendly and showed us that a baby Koala, a Joey, was outside in the tree. He said its mother had been hit by a car and it was a local Koala now. I took pictures of the lazy thing as it yawned and stretched. It was SO cute. Unfortunately, it had moved on by the time everyone came back with us for the night. Ted and I set up the tents where we claimed a spot and went back to the beach for a nap and sunset. We bought food to make and went to the site and BBQ’d that night.
Day Eight: We woke up early, again, and drove to a secret beach called Seal Rocks. We drove along the coast (and down a dirt road complete with potholes) and saw various lakes and beaches and then arrived at a dead end where there sat a campsite. We paid to park at the site for a day and then went down a path to a private surfer’s beach. It was beautiful. There were some surfers and a handful of other people on a beach surrounded by rolling hills with white sand. We laid out and played in the water. I have never swum so far out in the ocean as I did on this trip. It was an incredible last breath of fresh air before piling in the car to get home on time to turn in the car. Once we were in the car we drove through “heaps” of traffic and we eventually on the harbor bridge entering our city.
(hmmm I thought it was nine days; i must've missed something..are you suprised?)
The trip was incredible and worth every cent and every minute. We were still friends in the end and had seen places that would never have been seen if we were on a planned vacation. I fell in love with this country more every single day. We are the luckiest kids around. I am so grateful for the friends I spent the time with and the opportunity that was afforded to me. I miss spring break a little more everyday!