Hervey Bay, Australia

With the French girls out of the way, I was free to do as I pleased. I was dropped off about 35km (22.5 miles) from my destination, Hervey Bay. I took some time to use the free wireless Internet at the McDonald's and send a couch surfing request and organize my thoughts and develop some pseudo-plan and then I started my walk.

After walking for a bit I did what any other person that knows the distance to his destination, the conversation rate to a measurement he understands (if necessary), and his approximate walking pace would do: calculated, roughly, how long it would take to walk there. The result? About 8 hours of walking. I stuck out my hand and raised my thumb. I do not not really like hitch hiking; I am kind of scared of it, but there was no way I was walking that distance and I have grown even more confident of my instincts while travelling. I knew that is something felt off I would be able to resist the temptation to get in or be able to find some excuse to get out.

Nobody even slowed down for what felt like an hour though it was probably closer to 20 minutes. The guy that pulled over, before I even had a chance to say anything, asked, "Hervey Bay?" He seemed normal; clean enough with a slightly messy car filled with stuff that looked like he was going to visit his grandparents in Hervey. (Hervey Bay is basically a retirement village. That section of the coast is the least expensive on the east coast of Australia. I heard while there that 48% of Hervey Bay's population is 40-years-old or older and, having been there, I think that might be low balling it.) I replied, "Yes," threw my stuff and myself in and off we went.

I have forgotten his name but he was an OK guy. We struggled for conversation after the basic small talk for most of the trip (it was about a 40 minutes drive to the main Hervey Bay bus station which is still a good distance from the area where I would find a place to sleep but farther than he was going and a place where I would be able to find transportation for the rest of the easily. He was right; as soon as I got out of his car, I saw a group of people getting into a maxi taxi (a taxi van that holds up to 10 people). I asked if they were going into town and if there was room for one more. Yes and yes. The ran was filled with 16-18-year-old Americans doing "volunteer work" in New Zealand and Australia and there Australian guide. We talked about what they were doing and about my travels. They seemed OK but I guess I must have forgotten what it is like to be that young.

We arrived to where they were going and the Aussie guide would not accept any money from me for the ride so I began walking around looking for the cheapest bed I could find. This would be the first time I have paid directly for accommodation since I arrived in Australia. I found a dorm bed for AU$18 (about US$16). This is a really cheap bed in Australia and the dorm was good except for how empty the hostel was. I did not do that night other than some grocery shopping, shower, and walk around a bit. It had been a long day and I was spent and I wanted to wake up early enough so that I could check my email to see if I had been accept by my potential couch surfing host and still check out of the backpackers in time.

Luckily my potential couch surfing host became a actual host when I checked my email early that morning. Unfortunately he lived on the complete opposite side of town. After packing up my stuff and checking out I began my journey to his place. I took pictures of the computer screen with the Google Maps directions so that I if/when I got lost I would have a easy-to-carry map available. It was a long walk, about 1.5 hours but went by quickly enough. My host said that though he would be at work there would be another surfer there to let me in. After some standard small talk my host, James, returned from work for lunch. He helped himself to a beer. We got along right way. After lunch he gave me a ride into town where I explored the town a bit, this time in daylight.

The following day James gave me another ride into town so that I could find a tour of Fraser Island, which is what I was really in Hervey Bay. This did not go as smoothly as I had hoped but it was my fault but worked out in the end. I ended up signing up for a tour from the company that the maxi taxi let me out of when I arrived in Hervey Bay two days prior. The tour required me to be at that location by 6:30AM the following day. I hoped James would be able to give me a ride that early before work otherwise I would have to wake up around 4AM to ensure getting there on time. Thankfully James is a good man and gave me a ride. The tour was for 3 day/2 night, came with two free nights in backpackers it was associated with, and at AU$250 (about US$225) was the cheapest non-one day tour of Fraser Island from a company that did not sound like you would die on the tour.

Fraser Island (sub-post)

Fraser Island has been formed by 80,000 years of wandering sand and there is, literally, no place like it on Earth. The indigenous Australian call it their word for paradise. Its lakes are fresh and crystal clear despite the fact that the island sits in the Pacific. It may not be paradise, but it sure is close.

Getting around Fraser "requires" a 4WD vehicle because of the rough terrain. Any hired tour comes with a 4WD which either you, other backpackers, or a guide is driving. Who is driving depends on the tour and a host of other options. Driving a 4WD along the sands of Fraser is a highlight for a lot of people but was not too appealing to me.

There are six different ways to explore Fraser as a tourist.

1. Walking. (Not realistic even if you have tons of time.)
2. Rent/own/obtain a 4DW vehicle and going it on your own. (A really good option if you have the cash. Allows for maximum flexibility.)
3. Hiring a day trip. (A decent option but does not allow you to see much of the island.)
4. Going on a multiple-day trip with staying in hostels. (Another decent option but does not give the experience I was looking for. Generally 2 days/1 night and more expensive because of the nights in hostels.)
5. Going on a multiple-day trip with camping. (What I ended up going with. There are usually 3 days/2 nights and though longer cheaper than those in option 4 because the camping is free.)
6. Finding some Australians with a 4WD and doing whatever you want for as long as you want. (The hardest to do and probably the best. If I ever come back to Fraser this is what I am going to try to do.)

The trip that I did is called a tag-a-long tour meaning the guide is in one 4WD car and there is at least one more 4WD car following it that has the backpackers in it. As I was not interested in driving the 4WD car on Fraser (I did not want that responsibility) and all those in the backpacker's 4WD are liable for damage to it, I was placed in the guide 4WD car though I ended up switching back and forth because there was no conversation in the guide car. In high season there are as many as three backpacker cars but as this was low season there was only the one. The group was not great but not bad; a French couple, and English couple, two Belgium girls, a very shy German guy, and myself. Had the crowd been better I am sure the trip would have been as well but it was still a good time. The nature on the island is beautiful. The famous Lake McKenzie was closed but Lake Birrabeen substituted nicely and was gorgeous. The camping was good and, to me, a crucial part of the experience. Going on a trip that included nights in proper accommodation would make me feel cheated.

I had a good time on Fraser. In fact, it is one of the highlights of Australia, but it was more about doing it. The experience of camping, riding in a 4WD on the beach and the roots of massive trees covering the "paths," swimming in the lakes, and just seeing the place. Sorry, at least within my abilities, it just cannot be put into words.

(The return to) Hervey Bay

The goal upon returning to Hervey was to find a ride continuing north, hopefully all the way up to Cairns. I knew I could couch surf with Hervey Bay for a couple more days before he went to a conference and then, if I still had not found a ride, I had two free nights in a backpackers through which I booked my Fraser Island tour. Other than some walking around finding a ride was pretty much all I was looking to do.

As luck would have it, most rides were going south and the few going north had qualms going 70km (about 45 miles) out of their way to pick me up. (Hervey Bay is about 35km off the main highway.) Even with offering to meet people by the highway I still could not get any takers. I went to the backpackers for my two free nights hoping to find some other backpacker there with a car heading north. Nope. Nothing. I did, however, find an ad on gumtree for a sailing trip from Brisbane (just south of Hervey Bay) to Sydney. I responded to the post and called as well out of excitement. The guy who posted the ad, Mike, got back to me and said I was welcome to come along on the sailing trip. All the sudden I was looking to go a little south instead of far north. The timing was pretty good considering I could not find a ride north but did require me changing all the plans I had formed in my head about my travels in Australia. None of this mattered. This sailing was too good of a experience to pass up. So, I started looking for a ride south to Brisbane but people did not want to bring me along for such a short trip (it is just a few hours drive). On my last night there I had already given up trying to find a ride and had resigned myself to hitch hiking, which would be difficult from Hervey Bay. I was hanging out in the backpacker's bar and mingling. I started talking to some Australian, Jusford, had come up from Brisbane to a place north of Hervey Bay for an interview and was headed back in a couple days. The timing worked out for me in terms of when I needed to be in Brisbane for the sailing but his intended stay would require a paid night of accommodation for me since I had already used my two free nights. I somehow convinced Jusford to leave the following day, instead of the day after that, which meant he would be missing out of a night of accommodation he had already paid for and the next day we set off for Brisbane.