The Lap of Australia – Week Seven

30th April to 6th May

Hervey Bay to Bundaberg

I’m afraid I don’t have much to say for this update.  It’s week seven of the lap of Australia and we need to top up our cash.Week seven started with a day trip from Hervey Bay to the world’s largest sand island, Fraser Island.  Or, as the aboriginal Butchella people call it, Paradise.  This was something we’d both looked forward to for a time and is one of those things on the bucket list for every East Coast traveller.We managed to see so much of the island despite only visiting for one day.  I’ve put together a separate blog post which you can read hereand see more photos from our day.On the tour, we a couple our own age (finally) who were on holiday from Germany.  They made the day so much better as we all got on really well.  Unfortunately, they’d booked a tour in the Whitsundays for two days’ time which meant they had an eight hour or so drive the next day!  Maybe we’ll get to see them again when we get that Berlin trip sorted.[easy-image-collage id=1893]We had probably one of the best days so far in Australia and it was all topped off when, whilst watching the sunset waiting for the boat to depart, we spotted a pod of dolphins swimming in the bay.  Suddenly, right in line with the sun’s golden reflection, the dolphins started jumping so high out of the water.  Beautiful.After Fraser Island, we drove back to Maryborough for a free night.  Interestingly, Maryborough is the home of Mary Poppins! I bet you didn’t know that.  The town draws on its links quietly but, most obvious of all, is the walk/don’t walk symbols on traffic lights.  Of course, it’s Mary Poppins and her umbrella.[easy-image-collage id=1898]The cost of the tour to Fraser Island wasn’t extortionate but we had some spare time to earn some pocket money.  Bundaberg is the place that most travellers go to get work.  Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have been a stop-off point as it’s a bit of a detour from the highway.It didn’t take us long to find work and, on the Wednesday, we began to deliver yellow pages.  Our van was filled to the brim with those little yellow books.  On the first day, we didn’t even get rid of them all but still managed to earn more than we did whilst fruit picking.  Only a little bit more, we’re talking something like 50c per book delivered.Eventually, we got a few decent estates where my skateboard came in handy.  We were delivering about 300 books in a five hours day.  Luckily for us we didn’t deliver to any ‘opt out’ addresses as you’d get a $200 fine immediately!Not much fun this week unfortunately.  Sometimes it’s hard without a stable income but, if I was still sat at my desk, I wouldn’t be out here seeing Australia.I can’t promise too much of an update for week eight either as, guess what, we need to keep working!  Sailing the Whitsunday Islands is next on our list and that looks to be around $600 each.Totally unrelated but does anyone want to buy my photos? Until next time, thanks for reading!