North Stradbroke Island

Last minute change of plans at Brisbane Transit centre: instead of heading off to Byron as I originally planned I caught the train and ferry across to Stradbroke Island or 'Straddie' as its known to the locals over here.I called in to the local YHA to book a bed but forgot to ask them how to get there so it was only after the bus dropped me off at Point lookout (3km from the hostal) that I talked to someone and realised that I'd gone right past it and would have to either wait for the bus or walk all the way back.Up on the right is a pic of Frenchmans Bay taken from point lookout while trekking back with my 12 kilo pack..

Apparently you are not supposed to drink tap water on this island… I guess the locals have a sense of humour, either way I can’t be bothered buying bottled water and I guess if the fish really do crap in it they're just adding local flavour, the water tastes wonderful in any case.. far better than the council juice I get in wandsworth.

And fancy that: You can actually see the stars in Australia. Here is a shot of Orion (if you can spot it in that pic). Just left of the centre those three little starts are Orions Belt. Its amazing that in the last 4 years living in a big city maybe I’ve seen this about… uhm.. twice.

Friday nite ended up being fairly mellow.. Imagine how mellow: the hot spot for a nite out on this island is the local Lawn Bowls Club, which I went to with a couple ppl I met at the hostal.