All above the streets…

and houses, Rainbow Beach is flying high.

Okay, so its not a thriving metropolis but its got a brilliant small travelling community mixed with a small number of locals and holiday makers from the city. It’s also a young community having only been established in 1969 and is famous for…wait for it…it’s rainbow coloured sands in the cliffs surrounding it.

On our first day we walked several kms to the south of Rainbow Beach along the sand to see it and it was simply amazing. 45 degree dunes stretching 50m high, trees growing at the wrong angle due to the sands shifting,

water runoff from the dunes eroding the black sandstone and a feeling that the place was alive. The colours were a mix from blacks and browns to curry powder yellow as well as chocolate sauce and stir-fried pork.

At times where they all mixed, think of a chocolate and caramel knickerbocker glory with meringue in it when its starting to melt and you’re sort of there with the textures and colours of the cliff face. (I’m not sure where all the food analogies came from but hey, that’s not such a bad thing…). Unfortunately the time we were there it was grey so the colours didn’t come out :(

It was quite an eerie place in a way because of the scale of the sand dunes compared to ourselves and the power of the sea coming in. It did look as though the sea was winning the erosion war but it will take many many years to win.

The sands, as well as the flags were a great opportunity to take a few RNLI related photos for SOS day with the different colours, textures and beach debris. Bill had a lovely time :)

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Rainbow Beach also happens to be the nearest destination point for Fraser Island, one of the World’s Heritage Sites and the largest sand island in the world and as such the main trips on offer focus on this. I’ll update later on our Fraser Island experience.

Amber & I stayed at Pippies Guesthouse and are still feeling sad that we had to leave. Everyone there was so friendly and had a bubbly attitude that was incredibly calming. Emmy, Emily, Graham, John and Paddy were some of the staff there and made our stay the best ever.

It was our first Australia hostel and cost $23 a night with YHA card in shared dorms and although it was a little disturbing when the early tours went out was just what we needed. Large verandah for eating, plenty of toilets and bathrooms, space outside to chillout, hammock,500m from the superb, lifeguarded patrolled beach and main shopping parade.

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It also sat opposite a large open space for games and the bus stop. All it needed was an internet connection and we probably would never have left.

There’s not much to do in Rainbow Beach other than the Fraser Island trip but you can learn to surf, kayak, skydive and something that we’d wished had done, visit the Carlos Sand Blow, a lookout from the cliffs overlooking Rainbow Beach and out towards Fraser Island. Apparently the sunsets and sunrises are spectacular but we were having too much fun to do it!

The isolation also means that the community gets together. On our first arrival a free BBQ greeted us accompanied with local DJ until the early hours. The Rainbow Beach Hotel, the grandest and probably oldest building in the town, hosts Tribal Night on Mondays with games, competitions and the chance to win travel vouchers. Tribal is the main tour operator in Rainbow and who we’ve chosen to book most of the remainder itinerary on the East Coast.

Several of the staff at Pippies are still travelling and working at the hostel to save some money either in return for free accommodation or paid work. This is something we’d not considered but after staying at Pippies, gives another option should we need it.

Apologies for any marks on the photos – the lenses have been playing up a bit and need cleaning but I’ve a nasty feeling it’s internally marked…grrrrr

Happy days :)

Little India

Crikey days - heat as we've never experienced it before ever. Day 1 was 30C with 75% humidity at 4pm so you can imagine how we were coping. Copious amounts of water just to keep going never mind to actually do anything else. It was a nice suprise and made us feel abroad although we're not sure whether a lengthy stay would be recommended


To aid matters, our hostel was located in Little India, a district created by the early Indian immingrants to Singapore, and where there the smells and delights of indian cooking merged with the pungent smell of rotting fruit and vegetables. With the heat it was a strange byut exhilerating experience; very foreign but for me strangely calming bringing back memories from the last trip to Asia.



Fortunately Inn Crowd has excellent air conditioning, clean cool showers and an ambient place to recover from outside that proved essential the last few days.
The sights of Little India are typical of SE Asia with once grand hotels and trading houses, replaced with open fronted shops selling massages, internet shops and backpacker bars not to mention the standard auto repair stores and silk merchants. Chuck in a couple of religious places of worship, , Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple and Abdul Gafoor Mosque, and you're sorted.


The colours and sights are incredible from rows upon row of vegetables to sell to the traditional costume of the Muslim religion accentuating (Word of the Day (WOTD) the contrast between this place and the city of Singapore. Tall, glass fronted and modern designed skyscrapers stand high above the shabby shopfronts with fast shiny cars powering past the many Indian men standing around.



Roads around Little India have been named in memory of the early pioneers of Singapore and been retained due to their prominence in the city through its history. An excellent food court sold us Fried Kang Kung, or fried pak choi and greens in a strong garlic and chilli sauces and Pad Thai with Coconut Milk and a Coke for under $8. What a bargain! This works out under £4 for two people. A tasty Aloo Samosa or Spicy Potato Samosa was consumed walking about too :)

Two points to make - (1) it seems everyone has a nice new car, or at least somewhere to prevent it from getting dusty and (2) where are all the Indian women?