Christmas Vacation in Queensland

 

This year (2007) I spent Christmas in Australia for the first time - ever! I've been very blessed to be able to have attended Christmas Puja in India for four years in a row since I came into Sahaj in 2003. This year Chris and I decided to stay and explore Australia a little bit as he hasn't really seen much of it since he moved here about a year ago. Our original plan was to camp in Fraser Island for 5 days (after a lengthy debate), but perhaps my desire for comfort was so strong that the vacation turned out to be a compromise between what we both wanted. Due to the cyclone (thank goodness!), we were only able to camp for one night in Fraser (under heavy rain and strong winds) and then we had to "escape" from the island along with the majority of the beach campers during low tides the next day. Driving along the coast (on the beach) in a borrowed 4WD was a very nerve racking experience under such harsh conditions, not to mention that it was our first time driving off road! We both agreed that it was one of the most stressful situations we've ever been in!

With this slight change of plan, we ended up touring around different towns in northern Queensland in a spontaneous way. We decided to stay in Gympie for the night after we left Fraser Island and soon found that its big dot on the map was quite misleading (because there's really not much to see in Gympie). The next day we drove along a tourist drive to Nambour, Mapleton, and Montville, and we walked in a couple of national parks. After a nice footsoak at the Kondalilla Falls, Chris insisted that we should walk to the bottom of the rainforest and that's when things got nasty. The track was very muddy due to the rain and soggy mud and leeches got all over my feet. It was a very uncomfortable experience and I left the rainforest in full speed on the way back as I just wanted to get out of there. We had another footsoak at the waterfall and Chris was making fun of me being attacked by leeches everytime while it never happened to him. His cockiness backfired almost instantly as I noticed a huge leech attached between his toes. He was bleeding througout the day after he pulled it off and this is what I call bad karma! We reached Maroochydore at about 8pm that day and found ourselves at an internet kiosk desperately looking for accommodation for the night. Unfortunately, due to the peak season, everything, and I mean everything, including hotels, motels and caravan cabins, was booked out. I suggested that perhaps we should just return home for the night, because after all, it's only 1.5 hours drive away. Chris was of course very desperate and was willing to do anything (including staying in motels near Brisbane or pay for 7 nights in a hotel to stay for only 2 nights) but to go home. Finally we came to an agreement that we'd go home but would have to pretend as if it's a hotel (i.e. we'd have to check out before 10am the next day). He still hadn't given up looking for accommodation on the way home but all the motels we came across had a "no vacancy" sign on. So after having a good night's sleep in our own bed, we booked a hotel (this time we were well prepared) at the O'Reilly's the next morning and set off for the rest of our adventurous trip.

It turned out to be the highlight of our vacations. We had a nice room with the mountain views, and joined several activities organized by the hotel (at extra costs) including the flying fox, the tree top walk, and the glow worm walk at night. All these would have been perfect if they were on a sunny day, but the rainy weather seemed to have followed us everywhere and we were completely drenched for the 2 days we were there. However, playing Scrabble in front of the fire place in the library room with a cup of hot chocolate and a scone made up for it! Chris has since been addicted to scones and can't stop thinking about them. He's even found recipes to make them himself!

All in all, it was an adventurous, wet, exciting, stressful but enjoyable vacation. Being close to the nature really helped us relax and open our hearts. It's very good for our spirit, as Chris puts it. But still, I have to say that I am rainforested out so no more rainforest hikes please!

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