Easter Weekend, part 2--Moreton island Saturday

we got up really really early the next morning, like at about 545 am and then headed out to another hostel where we got picked up at like 730. from there we met our fellow van-mates, who were multinational. there was a gal from UK, 2 gals from switzerland, 1 lady from philippines, who was with a guy who was from slovakia, and his 2 kids. plus me, singapore, zj, china, and lorna, new zealand! lol.

we headed to the port of brisbane, and the guide paid for the tickets at the entrance. and then i got a surprise when we just drove straight onto the boat. i was like 'wha--????' i thought we were gonna like get off the car and go onto the boat. i was really country bumpkin fascinated when the bottom deck of the ship (or they call it catamaran) was all filled with cars, and people just park it and go upstairs where there's a cafe, seats, and on the 3rd level, an open deck. it was really cool. the journey there took 1 1/2 hours..and when we neared we saw all the shipwrecks moored in the sea.

once we landed on moreton, i was in for another surprise. no roads! no asphalt, no tarmac, no bitumen. basically, no ROADS. all the 4WDs just came out of the boat and straight onto the sand. and we just went on the sand all the way along the beach! like driving right next to the waves. we got to our campsite, and there were tents already set up for us, i thought we had to pitch our own tent lol. and there was an eating area too with benches etc. very civilised camping conditions i thought, i was expecting something like OBS lol.

and once again, i thought we'd be doing something like small for a start, but nope, first thing we were gonna do was to go snorkelling! something like we had to do it before the tide came in cause it'll be very tough to snorkel then. so yep my first snorkel! the wet suits and flippers were rather hindering i felt, and we had to wear gloves cos we were going near the shipwrecks and we didn't wanna get cut or sth like that. the conditions were not the best that day, being easter weekend and loads of people bringing their boats into moreton bay, so there were boats we had to weave in and out of. i was rather scared when i got close to a boat/yacht cos i was worried that it'd start up halfway and tt's it for me. and when u wear flippers it is SO HARD to walk on sand u'd have to go into the water backwards. for some reason it feels hard to even kick in the water too. but when we reached the shipwrecks, we started seeing lots of fish and ocean life. the waters were a little murky, prolly stirred up by all the boats in the bay, but u could still see fishes, and lorna saw a stingray, and other people even saw the shark! like how cool is that. i just saw lotsa fish, zebra fish and bright blue fish and etc. and we reached the shipwrecks, thats when we got to feed the fishes with bread, and it was really cool cause u'd put the bread out in front of u in the water, and watch as HEAPS of fish just come right in front of ur face to eat the bread and u could even feel them swimming and 'flapping' about as they swoop in for the bread and swoop out again. like really awesome.

lunch was self-serve burgers, they had turkey ham and salami etc, and sauces and veggies to go in ur burger too. after lunch we headed up to the highest peak in moreton island, mount tempest, and it was a tough climb, much harder than bushwalking at springbrook, cause it's all sand, not pavement. u climb up one step, u slide down half a step. it's like taking 2 times the number of steps to go up. but the view up there was good and it nice and breezy too.

we headed to the shop after that, where like probably everyone except us bought alcohol. on the way, we were along the beach again and our guide was telling us that sometimes we might be able to see wildlife and all that, and that's when we saw something big in the sea! we stopped the car, and we saw dolphins like in the water (just the fins when ever they come out), and they came out periodically. they were heading down with the current, and it was cool cause we saw like 3 of em togehter heading down to tangalooma, possibly for the dolphin feeding at night.

back at camp, there was a little time b4 dinner, so we went kayaking. it was a distance from camp to the beach, and the kayaks were really heavy, so 3 of us just brought one. but the part on the sea was really enjoyable, and some people gave us their kayaks (with the secret motive that we'd have to bring it back up in the end lol). when we were done with it, zj and i had a hell lotta problems bringing the kayak back up because that one had no handle, so we kept lifting it up and dropping it, and like it was soooo embarrassing cos there were like quite a lot of ppl on the beach and some of them were just laughing and laughing and laughing at us. i thought it was kinda mean though, to just sit there and laugh and not do anything to help.

we had a shower and there were only 2 for the female side, so lorna and zj went in and i was like outside feeding the mosquitoes honestly literally feeding them, after that i had bites all over my back and my left arm had 13 bites, 6 of them were in like 2 parallel rows of 3 it was like gross. and after that we walked back to camp dinner was already ready, that's when i found out my wallet was missing. and like zj took the torch up to the van to check but she didn't manage to find it, so i went to dinner feeling very unsettled. dinner was good though, rice with bbqed chicken and veggies with coconut flavoured gravy..and pasta at the end of it.there was garlic bread too and that was alright as well. after dinner i had this feeling that it was on the van so i went up and checked myself, and this time i found it hidden behind the seat, it dropped into the gap. that was good, but i went back to the tent to keep it, and that's when i spoilt the zip on the backpack that i'd borrowed from wayne. not a very good night lol. but after that we went and sat by the campfire that was built up, and roasted marshmallows. they dun use clean hygienic satay sticks, they just pick any random branch off the ground , put a marshmallow on it, and roast. i suppose the fire sterilizes it anyway. hah. but it was yummy. and the fire prolly kept the mozzies away.

after a while of warming ourselves and chomping on marshmallows, we decided to go down to the beach to see the stars. there were stars but they weren't particularly bright, but there were many of them. sadly there were clouds in the sky and it wasn't pitch black, and we were just sitting on the beach asking funny riddles or telling jokes and all that, when it started to rain. so we headed back, and the tour guide had her guitar out and was singing wonderwall, and everyone was just seated in that area singing along with her. it's a really good kinda camp song. after that they basically just talked amongst themselves (the tour guides) and like played their own songs on the guitar that we didn't really know.

the rain stopped after that, so we went out to the fire for a while longer, and then headed to slp.

and now, I am headed to slp to cause it's 2am and i'm dead tired!! report writing tmr zzzzz. continue with part 3 and 4 tmr or sunday :)