Rainbow Beach, Queensland, Australia

After a hard few months, it was time to swap the farm for the beach. The bus down took about fifteen hours, which to be fair didn't seem so long. Poor Jason kept on banging his head off the side of the window every time he fell asleep. Ouch! Of course, with constant stops, we couldn't get a proper sleep and to make things worse, our bus pulled up outside our hostel, 'Pippies Beach House' just before 8am and we couldn't check in until 1! To kill a few hours, the two of us decided to do a bit of exploring. There's really not very much to see here. The town comprises basically of one short street with shops, cafés and a bar just before the beach. Thankfully it's only a few minutes walk down to the beach, where we enjoyed a nice stroll through the lovely soft sand as we took in the amazing rainbow like colours of the sand dune's. From the distance, they look like big stone cliffs but when you get closer you realise that their all made of sand. It's pretty cool to see. On our little walk we saw some interesting carved rocks that looked pretty cool! Finally, after hours of waiting, we were finally allowed to check in. The hostel itself was very basic, but the staff were really friendly. It resembled more of a hippy camp. Jason wasn't too pushed on it but I really liked it. We got to meet some really nice people while we were there. It's the people that can really help you decide whether or not you like or hate a place. The following day, we both just chilled on the beach. With no hesitation, the first thing we did was to go for a nice swim. I say swim, but you couldn't really swim as there was a very strong current with huge waves. We had great fun jumping over them. We're like two big kids! Later on when we went back to our hostel, we were surprised to see a German couple in our room as it was quite late. They seemed nice. What surprised us even more when we came back later was that the guy found the bed very uncomfortable so the two of them were going out to sleep in their car. A car that is more comfortable than a bed? I didn't know such a car existed! Tell me which one it is and I'll go buy it! The next day we checked out of our hostel and into the one next door, 'Dingo's Backpacker Resort.' The other hostel was nice, but we originally had this place booked, but decided to come down here early! What made Dingos extra special was that our lovely German friends, Katharina, Anna and Danny Boy were all coming down to spend Christmas with us! It had been so long since we last saw Katharina, and myself and Jason were both really looking forward to meeting Danny Boy for the first time. Our new hostel is definitely a lot nicer with better facilities. But most people just come here to go to 'Frasier Island' and usually only stay one night. If you were here alone for a couple of nights, it would be very hard to make friends! Guess what I saw on December 23rd? A car registration plate that said 'Dec23!' How cool is that? I wonder does it change every day! One of the bad things about Christmas here is that really doesn't feel like Christmas. It's not like home where everywhere are covered in decorations. The places that are decorated usually consist of a tiny bit of tinsel from about twenty years ago. I don't think my lovely mammy would be impressed! As I'm sure you have gathered by now, Germany is a very strange country with even stranger people! They don't even have Santa. They have 'Kris Child' instead. To make things even more confusing, he delivers his presents on the 24th with most of them ready for all the children of Germany the same evening! Strange or what? Mind you, Christmas in 32° heat on the beach is even more peculiar! To celebrate the German Christmas, we all had a nice barbie down beside the beach where we exchanged some presents with each other. There was even a turkey running around. I think he was German as he was coloured in the German flag. What are the chances of seeing a turkey like that on Christmas Eve? It was very depressing as there was going to be no Christmas Turkey on my Christmas plate this year! So sad!!! We all had a good night! I can't say we were all good the following morning, but it was definitely worth it! Christmas Day was actually better than we expected. Ok, our families weren't with us, but we did get to spend it with our lovely friends. Early in the day, myself and Jason went on a Christmas stroll down to the beach. The whole beach was buzzing with families. A lot of them had their cars with them with large canopies attached to the back. Of course, all the barbies were all in use. What is really good about Christmas in Oz is that it is more relaxing for everyone, including all the mothers. It was just nice to see everyone enjoying themselves. The kids were all loving the water and all the big waves. It really made us feel a bit more Christmassy seeing how all the locals celebrate the festive season. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a proper Christmas dinner with turkey. Instead we had to settle for a Christmas buffet lunch instead. It was the first time I had pasta, beef and a prawn on Christmas day. I guess there is a first time for everything. Nevertheless, it was still really tasty. I will definitely be drooling over the thoughts of my mam's amazing turkey dinner at Easter. Seriously, I cannot wait! After our lovely lunch, we all headed down to the beach for a lovely swim with some large, but very greedy waves. Can you believe that they stole Jason's goggles and later, they took mine. They even tried to rob Jason's swim hat three times, but luckily enough his angels brought it back to him each time. Honestly, what does the sea want with all our stuff. So greedy! Our first Christmas Day Down Under finished with us enjoying a few drinks back down on the beach, laying on the sand, looking up at the stars. It was a perfect end to a perfect day! A cool thing to do at Rainbow Beach is to check out the sand dunes. It is such an amazing place, high in the mountain with amazing views of the Australian coastline. Jason tried to do a bit of sand boarding, but it didn't turn out how he expected. We did get to see a tiny rainbow while trying to enjoy the sunset. However, the sun was a little bit shy, and wouldn't come out from behind the clouds! All in all, we really enjoyed Rainbow Beach. I'm not sure if we will ever return as we spent more than enough time here, nevertheless, it is a beautiful little seaside town.

By Andrew

#beach #sea #swim #friends #christmas #stars #turkey