Last night I went to bed after the winter olympics and seeing gb win a medal, but woke up this morning to what was an absolute bomb site! It appeared that the Germans who made up the majority of the campsite compared to the few English people had a bit of a good night as I found one of them sleeping on the table, and another on the sofa. The old man who was one of the people running the camp was not impressed to see the sink blocked with crisps, and bottles and unwashed dishes congested with mosquitos everywhere! Overall however I slept well in the tent, mainly because being completely outdoors made things a little cooler, as well as having a three man tent to myself!
After having corn flakes for breakfast straight out the box, I fried up some sausages in preparation for lunch which was a success. Today we were instructed to paddle the other way to another lake, before being firmly instructed to paddle to the third channel marker to head across to this house where we could walk to the ocean. We didn't leave until 9 today however, and our group was now 13 after the two Germans I was with chickened out. This meant I went with the Scottish guy who I forgot to mention didn't remember meeting me when we played pool on the first day, but does now of course!
A short while after leaving, going with the tide through dense rainforest a few of us decided to jump in as there are no crocodiles this far south. I won't see one until Rockhampton. I took the lazy approach and put on my lifejacket to let the tide slowly take me along the river, whilst letting my canoeing partner drag the boat. Before long we were a rather long way behind everyone else, although one of the Germans swam back to us and we got back in the boat and powered back to the others where the Lake Cooraibah came into sight.
Stopping via this island for a drink which was covered in this murky sand, and losing three people who had to leave early for the bus, we continued across this lake through the channel before turning off to land at this road. We had to walk some way in the middle as the water got so shallow, but it luckily got deeper again and we continued to the road. One of the people in the now male heavy group with just one girl remaining said they saw a massive stingray!
A short walk along the road after having lunch, we got to this pub where we had a well deserved drink. They served everything in schooner's in here which were smaller than a pint, although the range of beers was big, even telling you what food to eat with the drink! In the pubs garden as well was this big jumping pillow like a bouncy castle which kept us all amused for a while, even if it did trigger off head aches for a couple of people who had been drinking last night.
By now it was coming up to 1 so we continued down the road in the almost unbearable heat in the hope of reaching the ocean. As the road winded through the dry vegetation surrounding it in the sand dunes, we finally arrived at what was called Cooloola Recreation Area. From here we got views of Noosa spanning right round to the national park, as well as the coastline sinking into horizon north. The sand was unbearably hot once again, even with sandals on, and shade was hard to come by. The sea was also really rough, and we only paddled as apparently the rip tides take many people into difficulties in this uncoastguarded stretch of beach.
We then headed back along the road, passing the pub en route for cold water as well as the ice cream shop for a similar effect. I stubbed my little toe on a rock however just to add to my increasingly damaged feet! When arriving back to our boats we decided to power back to the campsite which wasn't actually that far when taking into account we floated much of the way before. After negotiating the shallow waters of the lake we soon rejoined the river, passing a cruise boat which was one of a very few amount of boats we saw whilst paddling through this remote area.
About an hour after setting off we returned where I had another shower to wash away the sands, as well as properly cleaning my blooded toe. My mosquito bites were also annoying by now too as I had started scratching them. After another evening playing more pool and watching these random movies which were stored on the tv, I had a lovely pasta based meal made better by the fact I cooked it all myself for a few of us. I was having problems opening beers now however as they were normal bottles, but the Germans had their little tricks to open them for me! After another relaxing evening in the camp I headed to bed in my tent again ready to leave Noosa after a cracking 6 nights in the place!
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