My Spring Break in Fall

I know I promised that I would share with you my spring break experience, well the wait is over.  I have finally recovered from the break and can tell you all about it.  To preface, I took this trip with 14 other people, most from my study abroad program.

First, we left Sydney for Hervey Bay.  This is a small town, with not much in it, but it is near the coast so you can walk to the boardwalk and the beach from almos any place in town.  After one night there we headed off to Fraser Island: a 70 mile island covered in sand, dunes, dingos, and natural pools.  There we camped, 4 wheel drove, swam and tanned in the beautiful sun.  The problem with Fraser Island is that there are a lot of sharks in the ocean so they do not recommend swimming in the big blue.  However, because mother nature is kind, there are beautiful lakes and pools only a hike away from any point.  This part of the trip was a lot of fun, but the whole driving in sand thing got a little scary.  In the picture you can see that the trail we drove on was flat and packed down.  this was not always the case.  There was loose sand everywhere, and our car, Carl, gave us some scares of tipping over.

 

The next part of the trip was in Airlie Beach.  Just a midnight bus ride away, we found another paradise.  This beach was more of a tourist town with a main strip of clubs, bars, hostels, and shops.  Again, you couldn't swim in the ocean here because of the jellyfish, but we made due with the beautiful lagoon that acted as a huge public pool.  From Airlie Beach we took the British Defender out for a cruise on the Whitesundays.  The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands in the ocean off of Australia.  If you look at pictures from the Great Barrier Reef, they are usually taken from the Whitsundays.  The islands, the boat, and the ocean was beautiful.  We were able to relax, snorkel, swim, and relax some more on the boat.

Overall it was a great trip.  Probably the best I have ever had.  I recommend coming to Australia and traveling to all of these places.

I hope I have given you some great ideas for your next vacation or your study abroad trip!

Kim