After a nice short hop from Hervey Bay I had a bit of a wait for a girl at the hostel – who said she was 3 days into the job – to sort out a booking problem for the couple in front. Because the dorms were so busy they had to put me in a dorm at a unit about 5 minutes’ walk from the hostel. Another lady drove me round to it, and left me with the key. But when I tried the key out it led me into a double room. What an accidental score! I had the place to myself until early evening, but I didn’t hang around as the beach beckoned.
Rainbow Beach is so called because of coloured rocks that can be seen just along the coast. By coloured, they’re all kind of orange, but still a pretty sight and it distinguishes this beach from the many others. I walked up a bit and noticed much more coffee rock as I’d seen on Fraser Island. This indicates a forest would have been in the area a very long time ago. The trees disintegrate and mix with the sand to form this soft, dark rock…which many people had taken the opportunity to carve their name into.
I decided to stop and sit on a bigger one of these rocks and right in front of me was a rainbow! Many people walked past me and nobody else seemed to notice it. But I should have known what it meant…moments later I ran from the beach as it started tipping it down.
The next day I came back from the beach to find myself being kicked out of my accidental double room, which was to house a lovely Irish couple so I didn't mind. After a chat with them I went out for a sunset jog. The full moon looked absolutely amazing. When I got back everyone was out so I spent the entire evening self-indulgently watching the news!
The bed in the dorm was the worst I’d experienced yet in Australia, but that was probably advantageous, as I was wide awake well before my alarm which I’d set to catch the sunrise. And it was well worth rising for….