April 23, 2001 - Monday - North of Mackay (Rest Stop)
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| Meeting up with Jens and Sandra - North of Mackay - Queensland, Australia |
We didn't leave til 11 today and it was a slow drive up north. Jens and Sandra followed us in their car but we parted company at the fork where one leads north while the other leads to the coastal town of Bunderburg.
We stopped in Childers for lunch but Matt quickly realized that he left his money belt back at the hostel so he and Joerg went back to fetch it. It was more than an hour away so Anna and I decided to get lunch and hang out there instead.
I went into the tourist information center to ask for any information about camping and national parks in Queensland. The two ladies who helped me was friendly, but they gave me a strange haunted look when I first greeted them. There was a certain dark shade around their eyes and a bit of sadness that I thought was rather strange.
I found out later from reading my guidebook that this was the town where arson fire killed 11 international backpackers in a hostel. How quickly the world forgets about an incident like that, and how slowly the town struggles to recover from such disaster.
After passing the town of (insert town name), we stopped to look at the sunset and cows and got a call from Jens and found out that they were back in the town that we just passed and they decided to skip Bunderburg and continue north as well. They wanted to meet up and travel together and we agreed and started going north and then pulling into a rest stop for the night. After setting up camp, Anna decided to sleep in the car while Sandra slept in a hammock.
April 24, 2001 - Tuesday - Arlie Beach
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| Fuzzy-o-vision of Me, Ben, Laura, and Matt at a bar in Arlie Beach - Queensland, Australia |
We parted company with Jens and Sandra because they were going to an island elsewhere for a while before going to Arlie Beach. Anna joined them because she wanted to go to Townsville to see her father.
So it was down to 3 of us again and we continued our way up north up to Arlie Beach. We pulled into Reef Oceania later that afternoon. The room we check into was dimly lit and dingy. I don't know why they make all these hostels so dimly lit. I guess part of the reason is to save money on the electricity and I also suspect that it's to hide the dirt and dusk in the room. Our room had a slight urine smell to it, which wasn't pleasant at all.
Joerg decided to stay in to eat whatever so Matt and I headed in town with Ben and Laura who we found out was staying at the same hostel earlier. After dinner, we had a few drinks at a bar before heading back.
;)
;)
