Posted by
Anny Chih on October 12, 2009 at 3:05 am.
The last stop on my Wicked Road Trip through Queensland was Surfers Paradise. I hadn’t planned on doing much there but lounge and had no interest in surfing. But, since I was in Surfers Paradise I did feel obligated to try it. I had an extra day to kill anyways, so I booked a two-hour lesson. It was awesome! 
Go Ride a Wave wasn’t answering their phone that morning, so I booked the lesson with Cheyne Horan School of Surf. They went through everything step-by-step but the style of teaching was primarily watch-and-copy.
Posted by
Anny Chih on October 7, 2009 at 7:40 am.
I walked around the sand for a while and couldn’t figure out why the place was called Rainbow Beach. I was expecting multicoloured sand on the beach and all I saw was a big sea of tan and a section of white. I saw some footsteps in the tan sand with some white sand mixed in there, but I thought it was from people walking across both beaches and dragging the colours across. When I looked closer though, I realized that the white sand hadn’t been dragged across, it was underneath the tan sand! I looked around some more and found that there was dark orange sand underneath some parts too. There are actually several different colours including grey, blue, green, red, orange, white, yellow and tan. It really is a rainbow coloured beach!
Posted by
Anny Chih on October 3, 2009 at 10:08 pm.
I was very apprehensive during the days leading up to my birthday on September 24th. A lot of it had to do with superstitious reasons (I could write a novel just about the superstitious stuff leading up to my 24th), but it also had to do with being alone on my birthday for the very first time. I’ve always had family and friends to celebrate with, and now that the most important birthday of my life was coming up, I was and would be alone.
Posted by
Anny Chih on October 3, 2009 at 3:38 pm.
I had to return Dee a couple of days ago and it was a little sad to let her go. We’d spent the last month travelling Queensland together and had a good thing going. I checked her oil and water tank every time we stopped for fuel (which was pretty much every day), and she only had one minor hiccup during the entire trip.
Posted by
Anny Chih on October 1, 2009 at 12:11 am.
I figured since it was rated the #1 tourist attraction in all of Queensland and Vineeta liked it so much, I really ought to visit it. Going there would mean driving up North again (counter-productive since I was already on my way down South), and also missing Charters Towers. “Yeah, alright. Let’s go to Paronella Park and see what all the hype is about” I thought. Man alive, I CANNOT believe I almost missed Paronella Park!! Seriously, I just kept repeating in my head as I left the place “I cannot believe I almost missed this!”
Posted by
Anny Chih on September 27, 2009 at 7:46 am.
I fed them, I played with them, I lay on the grass with them, I took pictures of them, I took pictures with them, I saw them as roadkill, I saw many of them as roadkill, I learned how to tell them apart, I learned how to avoid hitting them on the road, I learned how to shoot them, I learned about their habits, I took a tour about them, and now… it was time to eat one!
Posted by
Anny Chih on September 27, 2009 at 6:48 am.
Though I may whinge about tour guides and rough roads, I really did have a great time at Undara and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to go. I think the best part of visiting Undara is just staying there. It’s far away from everything but so close to nature.
Posted by
Anny Chih on September 26, 2009 at 5:50 pm.
On the day before I left Undara, I had the option to go on either the two-hour The Archway Explorer tour, or the four-hour Volcano Valley tour. Thinking that the four-hour tour would be better since you’re supposed to be able to see more of the lava tubes, I chose that one. I wish I had picked the two-hour tour instead. Why? Well, mainly because our tour guide kept telling us how much better the two-hour tour is (it goes to different sections of lava tubes that are supposed to be more “magnificent”). But also because we didn’t get to see that much on the four-hour tour and it was more standing around listening to lecture-style talk than anything else; we didn’t get to walk much.
Posted by
Anny Chih on September 26, 2009 at 4:27 pm.
I’m in Bundaberg right now because I wanted to see the different hostels that offer farm work and interview a few people about their experiences working in Australia. I was hungry and a little tired after all that so I stopped at the nearest caravan park which happens to have ensuites for each caravan lot. It’s more expensive than most caravan parks at $28 / night, but when the woman at reception showed me an ensuite, the first thought that entered my mind was “OFFICE! My little table and chair will fit in the bathroom and it has a plug and window screens so I’ll have power AND be free from bugs. SCORE!” *giggles* I’m very happy with myself right now.
Posted by
Anny Chih on September 25, 2009 at 7:44 pm.
On the Saturday morning at Undara, Andrew (Resort Manager at Undara Experience) invited me over for “Bush Brekkie.” Of the meal options available at Undara, “Bush Brekkie” is the best value for your money. For $22, you get fresh coffee and / or tea brewed over a campfire, bread that you toast yourself bush-style over another campfire, all the usual cereals, juices etc, and the real breakfast goods including a veggie bush stew, bacon, eggs, sausages and baked beans. It’s buffet style, so come hungry and leave happy. 