Gagaju Bushcamp .. Noosa

Fri 7th Nov

Today I am heading to Noosa along with Beth&Sean, despite hearing some negative reviews we are heading to the Gagaju Bushcamp where you canoe down the everglades. When I see Beth&Sean in the morning, before our bus arrives, they are having second thoughts about doing the Bushcamp canoeing trip due to the negative feedback. I am keen to do it despite also hearing similar feedback.. although it had mainly been word of mouth.. Hanna however tells me of a group of travellers she had met who had done it, and bar one of the them, they had all enjoyed the trip. We all make the decision that we will go ahead with it.. we have each others company and that's enough! On the bus I sit with Emma..from the Fraser trip and also in Beth&Sean's 4WD, we chat along the way.. so no napping for Emma!
Once in Noosa we board the Gagaju Bushcamp shuttle bus and head first to the supermarket and bottle shop for food/drink supplies. The bushcamp has two sleeping arrangements.. on the first night everyone stays in the dorm style rooms.. and hammock styleish beds. The other nights you stay in tents. There is a pool room, kitchen, fire area and cinema room with lots of comfy sofas. Sean gets underway cutting up the veg and beef for our stir fry and satay sauce meal.. after some heated rounds of UNO we get under way with some drinking games..and swiftly through our goon!

Sat 8th Nov

After a rushed morning packing up our stuff, eating breaky, and getting our lunch ready for the day ahead, we are finally briefed about the first days canoeing. There are 13 people in 5 canoes, we will all head out and return together and take a set route given to us in the briefing. It is a warm sunny day, the canoeing is enjoyable (Beth's catchphrase 'straighten up..'). The first part of our journey is down the river which eventually joins the lake..a beautiful view awaits us. A little way around the lake and we next head down a small stream, soon we arrive at our stop for the lunch and the next few hours. We pull our canoes out of the water and are soon jumping into the stream from a waterside platform, further down the stream there is a rope swing. Later on the platform we are entertained by the arrival of a family and their dog who never stops jumping in and out of the water to get his ball.

Our journey back proves to be a lot more hard work.. we are against the current. Corner after corner we keep turning but each time no sign of the camp.. how far had we come earier..? Eventually in the distance we see our ending point! A tiring but enjoyable time. Back at the camp we relax, play pool and later cook a 2nd stir fry with chinese style sauce.. another tasty and filling meal. After eating we head to the cinema room..(its a cinema shelter room.. open either side to the wildlife..) a group of germans (everyone else it seems are german here..!) are watching Wolf Creek (an Aussie horror movie set in the outback).. I can't stomach much more after things turn for the worse so me Sean and Beth head off to play some more killer pool. When the film is over we head back and watch School of Rock.. happy days!

Sun 9th Nov

After an uncomfortable night sleeping in the 3 man tent, me, Sean and Beth decide that we will head into Noosa after our 2nd days canoeing trip on the 3.30pm bus. When we relay our plans we are told that there will be no 3.30pm bus that day! We also have not got enough supplies for another nights meal therefore meaning that either we all miss out on the 2nd day's canoeing and leave together or one of us goes to get supplies. We decide that we will all head off at midday meaning we don't do the 2nd days caneoing. But we are all ready to ge to Noosa.. I need access to the internet to get the next part of my journey planned and booked up.

In Noosa we stay at Nomads. I get my ticket to Australia Zoo and cuddle a koala booked up. I take the short walk down to the beach.. one of the nicest areas I have been.. Noosa is a popular destination with Australian's for holiday and retirement. Later in the afternoon we take the shuttle bus from the hostel to the lookout point.. a picturesque view.. it doesn't look real! At the lookout we are greeted by a small group of Irish travellers who hand out beers to everyone.. and then pass around Jagermeister.. oh no..! We take the shuttle bus back to the hostel where there is free BBQ. We share some jugs of beer, a game of pool and enjoy the live music. A great end to a great week! My time with Beth&Sean has come to an end, they will soon be flying back to the UK, a fun few days with plenty of jokes and more good company!