Day 71
Bad day. Stinky, tired, long bus journey, psychotic shower when we get to scummy hostel and sweet chilly sauce explosion in the cool bag, and nothing for dinner but chips – blurgh!
Day 72
Feel better today as no longer tired! Explore Airlie Beach and like it :-) Buy a pretty bag so I no longer have to have two rucksacks... things are looking up!
Day 73
Sailing today! Not a lot of wind, so we mainly use the motor, but we're on a sailing boat! And the scenery is too beautiful for words! The whitsunday islands are gorgeous, and the sea is a deep, clear, azure! Wow!
Day 74
Jam packed day today, first to whitehaven beach, which is gorgeous, white, fine silicone sand – which I appreciate from a lookout before trying to sleep away my impending illness in the shade!
Then we go to luncheon bay (so called because captain cook stopped for luncheon here!) and snorkel – its amazing, there are fish everywhere, of all sizes (from a tiny yellow and black one, which hung around with us for hrs, to massive metre long monsters!) And the coral is awesome, loads of different types and colours rising up out of the sand in weird and wonderful shapes... then we went diving, through coral ravines and into massive shoals of fish – absolutley fantastic!! We spent around 5 hours in the sea today!
Day 75
Last day on our boat, The Samurai, today, and more snorkelling for breakfast. It is again, very beautiful, but the stingers are out today. It is jellyfish season now, so whenever you enter the water you have to wear an oh-so-attractive stinger suit (or rick death by box jellyfish – I wonder which i'd prefer!). Yesterday there were no jellies around, but today the water is full of tiny, see through stingers, who are completely non dangerous, but I tell you now, their stings still hurt! Especially all over your face!
On shore the stinging sensation stops after about 5 minutes, so not too bad, but I still only snorkelled for around 15 mins – the pain was too much and i'm beginning to feel pretty fluy :-( I'm so scared of the jellies and my illness I even pass up the chance of a $45 dive (cheap as chips but not worth the pain) And i'm happy with what I see anyway: I see Elvis (the biggest fish around) and a family of clown-fish in their anemone, baby fishy and all!
We get back to a better room in the hostel (cheaper and nicer as the 4 of us share a twin) and a far far better shower, and some jellybean-esque medicine – again, showers must have been invented by the gods!
Day 76
Don't do a lot today as although the jelly beans helped I still feel pretty ill. We look at buying some fins in a dive shop, as they are very cheap compared to tother Oz prices, but we look at the Vobster website and decide it will be a LOT cheaper to wait til we get home (we LIKE Vobster)!
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Cattle Station!
Day 67
We leave Hervey today :-( On the way to 1770 we stop at Childers to look at the memorial there – which is to 15 backpackers who lost their lives in a hostel fire – very very sad.
Southern cross, when we get there, is more of a resort than a hostel, it has a really nice pool, a lake to look at, and big grounds to walk around in – backpacker heaven!
It's Valentines day today, so the hostel has put on fun and games and free punch! It's therefore a very fun evening!
Day 68
We catch the first shuttle bus into the town of 1770, and, not finding a lot, head to the beach! There we see the oddest rocks, all pretty colours (green, blue, purple) and some of them in strange spider web patterns of what looks like rusty metal protruding from the rock as they have not eroded so quickly.... I am assuming that the rock is some kind of metal ore? It looks very pretty anyway.
We climb up a bit of the cliff to sunbathe so we dont get too sandy, and we watch Shaun and Charlie get another surfing lesson, then go back to discover the burn! Argh im in pain :-(
Day 69
spend the day inside hiding from the mean mean sun, and marking our room-mates English tests. He's Swiss and in Oz to learn the lingo, but boy his tests (just practice ones) are hard – we were struggling to answer some of his questions!
Day 70
Kroooooombit!
We leave the lovely southern cross for lochenbar cattle station in krrombit today, and eventually get there after an hours unplanned stop and a bus change (from the moment the bus started going I know we would never finish the journey in that thing – any vehicle making that noise is going to stop very shortly... I was surprised it lasted the hour or so that it did!)
It's amazing here! We round up some goaties on horseback, eat some fresh off the cow steak (although the bbq man did seem surprised at how rare I wanted mine to be!) shot a 12 bore shotgun (3/5 dead clay pigeons for me) learnt how to lassoo and practiced our skills in a goat rodeo (Shaun was goat catcher, I was goat tipper, mark was goat 'brander') rode a mechanical bull, and learnt how to crack a whip!!! Me and Charlie also shared a bottle of nice(ish) wine (not goon, yey!), and we were with a really nice bus full of people, so it was an absolutely awesome evening!
We leave Hervey today :-( On the way to 1770 we stop at Childers to look at the memorial there – which is to 15 backpackers who lost their lives in a hostel fire – very very sad.
Southern cross, when we get there, is more of a resort than a hostel, it has a really nice pool, a lake to look at, and big grounds to walk around in – backpacker heaven!
It's Valentines day today, so the hostel has put on fun and games and free punch! It's therefore a very fun evening!
Day 68
We catch the first shuttle bus into the town of 1770, and, not finding a lot, head to the beach! There we see the oddest rocks, all pretty colours (green, blue, purple) and some of them in strange spider web patterns of what looks like rusty metal protruding from the rock as they have not eroded so quickly.... I am assuming that the rock is some kind of metal ore? It looks very pretty anyway.
We climb up a bit of the cliff to sunbathe so we dont get too sandy, and we watch Shaun and Charlie get another surfing lesson, then go back to discover the burn! Argh im in pain :-(
Day 69
spend the day inside hiding from the mean mean sun, and marking our room-mates English tests. He's Swiss and in Oz to learn the lingo, but boy his tests (just practice ones) are hard – we were struggling to answer some of his questions!
Day 70
Kroooooombit!
We leave the lovely southern cross for lochenbar cattle station in krrombit today, and eventually get there after an hours unplanned stop and a bus change (from the moment the bus started going I know we would never finish the journey in that thing – any vehicle making that noise is going to stop very shortly... I was surprised it lasted the hour or so that it did!)
It's amazing here! We round up some goaties on horseback, eat some fresh off the cow steak (although the bbq man did seem surprised at how rare I wanted mine to be!) shot a 12 bore shotgun (3/5 dead clay pigeons for me) learnt how to lassoo and practiced our skills in a goat rodeo (Shaun was goat catcher, I was goat tipper, mark was goat 'brander') rode a mechanical bull, and learnt how to crack a whip!!! Me and Charlie also shared a bottle of nice(ish) wine (not goon, yey!), and we were with a really nice bus full of people, so it was an absolutely awesome evening!
Fraser Island
Day 58
Well... what's here at Rainbow Beach? Nothing! Obviously there's a beach, but not a lot else! Typically we spend some time at the beach, and not a lot else!
Day 59
Yup we're here for more than one day... so we don't do a lot again! At 4pm we go to see the Carlo Sand Blow though, and let me tell you – that was definitely worth the boredom!
The Carlo sand blow is a massive sand dune on the town side, ending in cliffs to the sea side. Our guide tells us the Aboriginal story of its creation, which goes something along the lines of:
There was once a beautiful woman who sang, every night, to a rainbow which came across the sea to visit her. An evil man from another tribe saw her beauty and stole her to be his slave. He had a gigantic killing boomerang, which was his pride and joy, so she was scared to run away. One day she got the courage, but running along the beach she heard the terrible boomerang chasing her, she fell on to the ground in fear and covered her head. The boomerang did not reach her though, her faithful rainbow came to rescue her, and met the killing boomerang with a terrible CRASH!. The boomerang was instantly killed, but in the process the rainbow had been broken to pieces, and lies strewn across the beach, which is what created the colours of the sand and the cliff.
Rainbow beach is so named because the sand is not only sandy coloured, but also white, red, black, orange and brown – when we were walking along it the colours would come up through the normal sand and leave swirly footprint patterns – it's beautiful! The story goes that Aborigine women bathe their hair in the sand to bring them good luck!
Anyway we spend a few hours up there, learning how to throw boomerangs, sand surfing and watching the sunset. It was a very nice evening!
Day 60
We move on to Hervey Bay today, to the nicest hostel so far (yey!) where, at dusk, thousands of massive fruit bats fly past on their way out to a nights foraging! Amazing to see, the sky literally goes black with their bodies!
Day 61
We move to a different hostel in readiness for our Fraser Island self drive 4x4 trip today – all you can eat mexican here, which is TASTY!!!
Me and Charlie go to investigate the beach today, and amongst the coral and the shells, see lots of weird patterns made up of tiny balls of sand.
Day 62
FRASER ISLAND! Part of the Great Sandy national park, this island is made entirely of sand (with rainforest growing right out of it!) and is home to the purest strain of Dingoes left.
Into our pink toyota land cruiser and off we go! Our first stop is lake Mackenzie, and it's worth looking up some pictures of it... Its absolutely stunning. Crystal clear water, not a trace of dirt, warm as a bath... really it is fantastic, if ever you get a chance to go there, take it!
Day 63
I get a go driving today, and it's great fun! Bouncing around on the sand tracks all the way down to the beach shop where 'zombie' refuses to go into 2wheel drive (naughty car!), and I let mark have a go. Beach driving looks quite difficult, the swathes of dry sand are like automatic breaks, and if you stop.... your bogged!
Luckily, or thanks to marks driving, we don't get bogged, but another group, happily beeping as the overtook us, got stuck right by us (hehehehehe). Slow and steady wins the race!
We get to the Moheno Shipwreck no worries, and take a few snappy snappys with this immense iron skeleton of a boat – no one knows how it got there, but its an absolute wreck – very impressive looking!
After that its off to indian head (a rock formation which 'looks' like an indians head...) to enjoy the view of the island and the sea (although we don't see any sharks :-( ) And then onto Champagne Pools, a set of naturally sheltered pools, where if you sit on the edge you can get sprayed by waves crashing over the rocks, just like champagne! Its gorgeous, and very very refreshing after the hot hot hot walk there!
Camping is at Eli creek, which has a year round constant temp. of 16degrees – ooo chilly!
Day 64
Wake up to some weird noises, sounds like someone's pretending there's Dingoes in our camp... Oooo there is! Right outside our tent howling at the sunrise!
It's awesome to see some Dingoes up close, and we get to see the remnants of a beautiful sunrise too (the downside being it's 5.30am of course!)
The morning is spent at lake Wabby. Not as nice as Mackenzie as the water is more like a pond and less like evian, but it's cool to swim with catfish, and Shaun has fun running down the massive sand dune to jump in!
P.s. After this trip I realised just how great showers really are!
Day 65
Back to 'Next' (the really nice hostel) today... and that's about it! I make a case for my Didjeridu, and we peruse the local book shop.
Day 66
Watch a few films, walk along the beach, look in a few shops... just nice chilled out things in this nice little town!
Mark sees the best thing though, he walked to the beach in the evening only to see 1000's and 1000's of tiny sand crabs running around! The videos make it look like the whole beach is moving! Awesome!
Well... what's here at Rainbow Beach? Nothing! Obviously there's a beach, but not a lot else! Typically we spend some time at the beach, and not a lot else!
Day 59
Yup we're here for more than one day... so we don't do a lot again! At 4pm we go to see the Carlo Sand Blow though, and let me tell you – that was definitely worth the boredom!
The Carlo sand blow is a massive sand dune on the town side, ending in cliffs to the sea side. Our guide tells us the Aboriginal story of its creation, which goes something along the lines of:
There was once a beautiful woman who sang, every night, to a rainbow which came across the sea to visit her. An evil man from another tribe saw her beauty and stole her to be his slave. He had a gigantic killing boomerang, which was his pride and joy, so she was scared to run away. One day she got the courage, but running along the beach she heard the terrible boomerang chasing her, she fell on to the ground in fear and covered her head. The boomerang did not reach her though, her faithful rainbow came to rescue her, and met the killing boomerang with a terrible CRASH!. The boomerang was instantly killed, but in the process the rainbow had been broken to pieces, and lies strewn across the beach, which is what created the colours of the sand and the cliff.
Rainbow beach is so named because the sand is not only sandy coloured, but also white, red, black, orange and brown – when we were walking along it the colours would come up through the normal sand and leave swirly footprint patterns – it's beautiful! The story goes that Aborigine women bathe their hair in the sand to bring them good luck!
Anyway we spend a few hours up there, learning how to throw boomerangs, sand surfing and watching the sunset. It was a very nice evening!
Day 60
We move on to Hervey Bay today, to the nicest hostel so far (yey!) where, at dusk, thousands of massive fruit bats fly past on their way out to a nights foraging! Amazing to see, the sky literally goes black with their bodies!
Day 61
We move to a different hostel in readiness for our Fraser Island self drive 4x4 trip today – all you can eat mexican here, which is TASTY!!!
Me and Charlie go to investigate the beach today, and amongst the coral and the shells, see lots of weird patterns made up of tiny balls of sand.
Day 62
FRASER ISLAND! Part of the Great Sandy national park, this island is made entirely of sand (with rainforest growing right out of it!) and is home to the purest strain of Dingoes left.
Into our pink toyota land cruiser and off we go! Our first stop is lake Mackenzie, and it's worth looking up some pictures of it... Its absolutely stunning. Crystal clear water, not a trace of dirt, warm as a bath... really it is fantastic, if ever you get a chance to go there, take it!
Day 63
I get a go driving today, and it's great fun! Bouncing around on the sand tracks all the way down to the beach shop where 'zombie' refuses to go into 2wheel drive (naughty car!), and I let mark have a go. Beach driving looks quite difficult, the swathes of dry sand are like automatic breaks, and if you stop.... your bogged!
Luckily, or thanks to marks driving, we don't get bogged, but another group, happily beeping as the overtook us, got stuck right by us (hehehehehe). Slow and steady wins the race!
We get to the Moheno Shipwreck no worries, and take a few snappy snappys with this immense iron skeleton of a boat – no one knows how it got there, but its an absolute wreck – very impressive looking!
After that its off to indian head (a rock formation which 'looks' like an indians head...) to enjoy the view of the island and the sea (although we don't see any sharks :-( ) And then onto Champagne Pools, a set of naturally sheltered pools, where if you sit on the edge you can get sprayed by waves crashing over the rocks, just like champagne! Its gorgeous, and very very refreshing after the hot hot hot walk there!
Camping is at Eli creek, which has a year round constant temp. of 16degrees – ooo chilly!
Day 64
Wake up to some weird noises, sounds like someone's pretending there's Dingoes in our camp... Oooo there is! Right outside our tent howling at the sunrise!
It's awesome to see some Dingoes up close, and we get to see the remnants of a beautiful sunrise too (the downside being it's 5.30am of course!)
The morning is spent at lake Wabby. Not as nice as Mackenzie as the water is more like a pond and less like evian, but it's cool to swim with catfish, and Shaun has fun running down the massive sand dune to jump in!
P.s. After this trip I realised just how great showers really are!
Day 65
Back to 'Next' (the really nice hostel) today... and that's about it! I make a case for my Didjeridu, and we peruse the local book shop.
Day 66
Watch a few films, walk along the beach, look in a few shops... just nice chilled out things in this nice little town!
Mark sees the best thing though, he walked to the beach in the evening only to see 1000's and 1000's of tiny sand crabs running around! The videos make it look like the whole beach is moving! Awesome!
Sunday, 7 February 2010
2929 words, just for you :-)
Ok ok ok so I didn't manage to post this when I intended, so i'm behind again, but mark is a laptop hog (anyone would think it's his or something!) So I haven't got time to write anymore right now... this should be enough keep you going though :-)
Days 39-42
Byron bay has been my favourite place so far, whether it was mooching around the pretty little market, or wandering to the arts and industrial estate and buying up little trinkets from the charity shop, or getting some arty supplies and sitting on a little lookout over the beach... It's a lovely little town!
Consequently, I have been very lax in updating my blog and my diary (which I am keeping so that when I write my blog I know what has happened) and have therefore forgotten what happened on what days! I can summarise that it would not be of too much interest to any of you though, as it mainly consisted of hanging around beachside and drawing whilst listening to Stephen Fry read Harry Potter to us!
The main thing of interest that we did was walk to the arts and industrial estate, which is full of art studios and the like (some very very cool and cute tin sculptures which we weren't allowed to take photos of). Anyway on the walk there I spotted the largest stick insect there has ever been (in my knowledge!) It was a full inch longer than marks hand!. Then, on the way back we spotted movement in the distant trees, and zooming in with the camera found them to be massive bats, and I mean massive – we think they are the huge fruit bats (which we saw at the zoo) which are apx 50cm tall, and have a HUGE wingspan. Anyway our discoveries were very exciting, and we were very pleased with ourselves for spotting them accordingly!
Day 43
Today we leave Byron for Surfers Paradise, and to meet up with Shaun and Charlie again. The bus journey takes a while (we arrive at apx 11am) so they are already at wet and wild (Australia's biggest and best water park!). We therefore have a lazy morning playing chess and doing free laundry. When we get peckish we head out to explore, and come across a little place called chickory chick, where the man behind the counter is so friendly and full of advice (where's best to go, other places to eat etc etc) that we can't help but eat there! He gives me the largest portion ever though, and although it is undoubtedly tasty, and I eat it all, it does mean I have to have a nap when we get back to the hostel!
Anyway... When I wake up S& C are back, and in their room we get chatting to a girl called Vivi, and decide to go out with her that evening, the hostel provides free bus, entry and first drink to a different bar every night, so its a very easy night out! I get talking to a Canadian guy, and when the others from the hostel decide to go home I stay out and don't get back 'til 4, because I'm not quite sure where I live!
Day 44
WET AND WILD! I'm pretty sleepy, as I didn't get much sleep, but the water park is still good fun, although I stay away from the really scary looking rides cos I'm a wuss!
When we get back Mark, Shaun and Charlie decide to go out, and I go to sleep, cos I am TIRED!
Day 45
Feeling much refreshed after a good nights sleep, it takes a while for me to get mark up as he was out the night before! Therefore we decide to give movie world (which is the other theme park S&C got unlimited tickets to – we used these for W&W as the pictures were rubbish – made it far cheaper!) a miss, and go shopping instead....
I'm pretty sure a blow by blow account of mine and marks gullibility when it comes to salespeople would be unnecessary, but suffice to say we bought a lot! I got sunnies, a dress and perfume, Mark got a didjeridoo and a sarong...
The most exciting part of the day (although I did really enjoy the shopping, and my dress has proved invaluable so far) was visiting Ripley's 'Believe it or not!' museum, full of the weird and the wonderful and the unbelievable. Unfortunately we took so long looking around, by the time we got out all the restaurant prices had been hiked up, and it was too late to make it back to the hostel before the kitchen shut! We found a relatively cheap and nice Indian, but it was an added expense to an already expensive day!
Day 46
Bus journey to Mooloolaba today. We meet S and C on the Bus in Brisbane, and then we're off. We arrive at apx 3pm, and after putting our bags down, suss out a campsite for the next few days. All seems good, so we go back and Me and C have a nap whilst the boys play with one of the free sea kayaks. Following such a strenuous afternoon we feel the only option is to go out and get all you can eat pizza for dinner! Yum!
Day 47
Our first full day in Mooloolaba begins with a HOT walk to the campsite – I have too much stuff, it is now causing me physical pain to walk carrying it :-(.
After setting up camp the boys go to borrow a kayak again, and me and C chillax on the beach waiting for them to arrive via the river (which we cant see but assume reaches the beach somewhere!) They take forever, but eventually they arrive with a kayak full of water, looking worn out and burnt!
On the way back the boys decide to take a shorter route to the hostel (involving a short walk to the harbour), which requires us to drop the kayak off a wall into the murky harbour water. As we're debating how best to achieve this, without having to swim, a man comes up to ask what we're doing with his kayak – he's the owner of the hostel! Luckily he approves of the scheme, and gives the boys a hand!
We meet up at Coles, and later have a massive campsite meal :-D
Day 48
Australia Day!!
Unfortunately Charlie is ill, so instead of joining the 1,200 people on the beach running around in massive, blow up, haviana flip flops, we stay cool in the camp kitchen. Looking at the state of the beach later in the day, I'm kind of glad we didn't go there!
Day 49
Today we are booked onto a $15 Glasshouse Mountain tour, which turns out to be the best deal we have found so far! The day began with a car ride (as it was only us 4 on the tour) up to a lookout point and a rainforest walk. The view over the Glasshouse mountains are stunning, misty and majestic in the distance, and the rainforest is just as impressive! Some of the trees are MASSIVE, with roots as tall as Mark rising up in weird formations from the floor. We didn't see much more wildlife than turkeys (which are everywhere!), but we did hear the distinctive cry of one bird which sounds like a baby screaming!
After this walk (which was a gentle 45mins, unlike some of the other walks we've been on!) we moved on to visit a local swimming pool – a nice deep waterfall! On the way to it we see a red bellied black!! It's a very pretty little snake, and despite being very venomous, was very shy, and shot off into the bushes as soon as it saw us. I was glad it wasn't a water snake though!
The waterfall itself was quite nice, although not as pretty as the one we visited in Thailand. The main attractions we're 4 jumps though, 2 from the rocks, and 2 off rope swings (and one off of the tree the largest rope swing was hung from... if you're mental!) Shaun did all 4, Mark 3, Charlie and I none, because we're not silly!
Following this exercise the next stop was at maleny mountain wines, where we did some wine tasting. This consisted of a delicious sweet white, some not so tasty reds and a rose, and a tasty tasty wine based cream called mountain dream, which I bought a bottle of because it was so nice!
Believing that our tour was fully over, we climbed back into the 4x4, only to find there was another stop! WOW! We stopped for lunch in a little town called Montville, which has lots of lovely quaint shops full of crafts and oddities – the most impressive of which being a liquor store, which had alcohol in every flavour you could possibly imagine, in a variety of novelty bottles! We got to try a few here too, and passionfruit crème was undeniable lovely!
After this last stop, it really was hometime... back to the campsite for dinner and a relaxing evening on the beach.
Day 50
Today we leave for Noosa in the afternoon, so as we're on a campsite and have no strict checkout time, we have a leisurely morning packing up slowly. We get to Noosa around 3, and check into a twin room, much much comfier than a tent, and get a good nights sleep before we set off on our canoe tour of the upper noosa river!
Day 51
Very excited! Pack all our stuff into the Canoes, take our water taxi across the lake, and set off! Turns out we rushed off in the wrong direction, so 6k later we turn around... and then end up going wrong AGAIN! I will never again be shouted down by an arrogant spaniard! Anyway after going wrong at every turn , and paddling 30 instead of 6k, we are all very glad to find our campsite, and set up the tents before the rain began!
Day 52
More paddling today – I am soooo tired! At least we can't go wrong though, there aren't any turnoffs today! The 6k paddle serves to take us to the beginning of a 12k walk – oh no, I dont wanna I don't wanna, I don't wanna! However after exhausting myself in the heat I cheer up, we reach the cooloola sandpatch, and it is beautiful! The sandpatch is an isolated patch of sand in the middle of the rainforest! Its a bit of a mystery as to how it got there, but it does give a lovely view over lakes and rivers to the mountains on the horizon, so I don't care!
On the way back I appreciate the bush more (because I know i'm steadily getting closer to rest – yey!) It is a lot like magic seeing the regeneration of the Australian bush after a fire, and this area suffered ravaging fires in November, so the regeneration is in it's first stages. I got some fantastic photos, of green shoots with blackened stalks looking like macabre flowers still protruding from the top, trees which have a black core, peeling middle, white upper, and green leaves... it really is crazy to see!
Day 53
After torrential downpour yeaterday evening, we're all (all 14 of us) glad its dry whilst were packing up camp, unfortunately it doesn't stay dry for the paddle back along the river, across one lake, along another rive, and across the big lake – by the time we're in the middle of the lake the weather is so bad the rain is painful, and waves keep on trying to jump in our boat!!! I did not sign up for that! The silver lining of this scary journey across the lake was that we are let off the $65 local payments, meaning the entire trip only cost us $25 :-D Also we get to see some pelicans sitting on an upended tree, which is pretty cool.
After putting the tents up, and then down again, and washing up all our kit again etc etc... we get back to the hostel and get to have a shower! Yay! I feel human again!
Once I have recovered from the hardships of the trip (ie once I am dry and comfortable) I realise that although it was a lot of effort, the trip was definitely one of the coolest things I have so far experienced, being completely within one of Australias national parks, self powering ourselves on tours to geological wonders, and seeing bush regeneration first hand... what more could I want!?
Day 54
Todays main aim is to get a phone (as mine had an accident falling into the waterproof barrel, and isn't quite working as well as it could be...oops) however it fails. We don't do a lot today – we do walk up to the shopping area, but I can't find a nice or cheap one, so I give up! I'm quite glad I didn't spend my money as (touch wood) he seems to be working ok again now (he's a fighter)!
Day 55
Australia Zoo!
On the bus at 8am, watching Steve Irwins mad escapades with murderous crocs on the bus T.V, and then straight to look at the very same crocs in real life! Unfortunately as its quite early in the morning the crocs aren't up and about yet, so we move on to see the other inhabitants of the Zoo (although we do get to see them later, and very impressive they are too!). First we go off to see a bearcat – which is adorable, and wakes up especially for me! Then we see Cassowarys, tassie devils, wombats, echidnas, koalas... before its time for the wildlife warror show in the Crocoseum (named by steve not because it's like the coloseum, but because its where the crocs go, so people can see 'em!)
The show starts with a showcase of how well trained the Zoo animals are, which is cool, but a bit weird, and then we get to see a croc attack! Well... we get to see a croc 'fed' I for one will not be going within 10foot of any crocodile I meet though, I can tell you!
After this we walk through 'hoparroo' heaven (THE most hilarious argument between a small boy and his mum about them being 'kangaroos' not 'hoparroos'!) where you can feed and pet them – they're so stupid though, I managed to trick one into thinking I had food for it at least 4 times, they're very soft though, so I forgive them for being stupid! Also one had a joey in the pouch, which was adorable!
There is a Koala walk too, and so I get to stroke a naughty koala called chloe (after she walked off, walked back, and bullied her friend by sitting on its head and biting it... Lol). Koalas are just as soft as roos, and even cuter!
The last thing we did was by far the most impressive though. We went to tiger temple, and watched a presentation about how their keepers exercise them. The bond between the tigers and their keepers is very strong (the zoo got them at 2 weeks old, and the keepers spent 24hrs a day with them!). They play with them with simple homemade toys, coaxing them to play in the water and practice pouncing etc. I took around 400 photos – i'l show you them sometime!!!
The entire day was fantastic, and although it's smaller than Taronga Zoo, its more interactive (and we had as much time as we needed, which was nice – we didn't have to miss half of it like we did with Taronga!). But it's a little weird how much steve irwin is still evident. His picture is everywhere, videos of him on all the screens, stuff about him in the zoos magazine... And i'm not sure how much I like how commercialised his 10yr old daughter has become...
Day 56
Eumundi markets today – hundreds of little stalls full of lovely stuff to look at! I really enjoyed it, and as we all split up pretty much as soon as we got there, I was under no pressure to be quick or move on :-)
After a few hours browsing I find Shaun and Charlie in a didjeridoo stall, bargaining with the owner over prices (not that that was difficult, he lowered the prices everytime he spoke!) and listening to him play his wares. After a while choosing and chatting the three of us end up with 4 didjeridoos and a cover for $210! I only got a small one for myself, but Shaun and Charlie got a large one each, and a spare mini for a present! Bargain!
The evening is spent practising playing our didj's... so far Shaun is the king of making didgy noises, but i'm best at making them all sound like a trumpet.. Lol.
Day 57
Today! I am actually up to date (as I have spent the morning typing :-D) I hope you enjoy!
Later today we will be catching the bus to Rainbow beach, which should be beautiful, so we have spent a chilled morning in the hostel courtyard passing time until we need to go to the bus stop.
Love you all, hope everything is ok at home! Xxxx
Days 39-42
Byron bay has been my favourite place so far, whether it was mooching around the pretty little market, or wandering to the arts and industrial estate and buying up little trinkets from the charity shop, or getting some arty supplies and sitting on a little lookout over the beach... It's a lovely little town!
Consequently, I have been very lax in updating my blog and my diary (which I am keeping so that when I write my blog I know what has happened) and have therefore forgotten what happened on what days! I can summarise that it would not be of too much interest to any of you though, as it mainly consisted of hanging around beachside and drawing whilst listening to Stephen Fry read Harry Potter to us!
The main thing of interest that we did was walk to the arts and industrial estate, which is full of art studios and the like (some very very cool and cute tin sculptures which we weren't allowed to take photos of). Anyway on the walk there I spotted the largest stick insect there has ever been (in my knowledge!) It was a full inch longer than marks hand!. Then, on the way back we spotted movement in the distant trees, and zooming in with the camera found them to be massive bats, and I mean massive – we think they are the huge fruit bats (which we saw at the zoo) which are apx 50cm tall, and have a HUGE wingspan. Anyway our discoveries were very exciting, and we were very pleased with ourselves for spotting them accordingly!
Day 43
Today we leave Byron for Surfers Paradise, and to meet up with Shaun and Charlie again. The bus journey takes a while (we arrive at apx 11am) so they are already at wet and wild (Australia's biggest and best water park!). We therefore have a lazy morning playing chess and doing free laundry. When we get peckish we head out to explore, and come across a little place called chickory chick, where the man behind the counter is so friendly and full of advice (where's best to go, other places to eat etc etc) that we can't help but eat there! He gives me the largest portion ever though, and although it is undoubtedly tasty, and I eat it all, it does mean I have to have a nap when we get back to the hostel!
Anyway... When I wake up S& C are back, and in their room we get chatting to a girl called Vivi, and decide to go out with her that evening, the hostel provides free bus, entry and first drink to a different bar every night, so its a very easy night out! I get talking to a Canadian guy, and when the others from the hostel decide to go home I stay out and don't get back 'til 4, because I'm not quite sure where I live!
Day 44
WET AND WILD! I'm pretty sleepy, as I didn't get much sleep, but the water park is still good fun, although I stay away from the really scary looking rides cos I'm a wuss!
When we get back Mark, Shaun and Charlie decide to go out, and I go to sleep, cos I am TIRED!
Day 45
Feeling much refreshed after a good nights sleep, it takes a while for me to get mark up as he was out the night before! Therefore we decide to give movie world (which is the other theme park S&C got unlimited tickets to – we used these for W&W as the pictures were rubbish – made it far cheaper!) a miss, and go shopping instead....
I'm pretty sure a blow by blow account of mine and marks gullibility when it comes to salespeople would be unnecessary, but suffice to say we bought a lot! I got sunnies, a dress and perfume, Mark got a didjeridoo and a sarong...
The most exciting part of the day (although I did really enjoy the shopping, and my dress has proved invaluable so far) was visiting Ripley's 'Believe it or not!' museum, full of the weird and the wonderful and the unbelievable. Unfortunately we took so long looking around, by the time we got out all the restaurant prices had been hiked up, and it was too late to make it back to the hostel before the kitchen shut! We found a relatively cheap and nice Indian, but it was an added expense to an already expensive day!
Day 46
Bus journey to Mooloolaba today. We meet S and C on the Bus in Brisbane, and then we're off. We arrive at apx 3pm, and after putting our bags down, suss out a campsite for the next few days. All seems good, so we go back and Me and C have a nap whilst the boys play with one of the free sea kayaks. Following such a strenuous afternoon we feel the only option is to go out and get all you can eat pizza for dinner! Yum!
Day 47
Our first full day in Mooloolaba begins with a HOT walk to the campsite – I have too much stuff, it is now causing me physical pain to walk carrying it :-(.
After setting up camp the boys go to borrow a kayak again, and me and C chillax on the beach waiting for them to arrive via the river (which we cant see but assume reaches the beach somewhere!) They take forever, but eventually they arrive with a kayak full of water, looking worn out and burnt!
On the way back the boys decide to take a shorter route to the hostel (involving a short walk to the harbour), which requires us to drop the kayak off a wall into the murky harbour water. As we're debating how best to achieve this, without having to swim, a man comes up to ask what we're doing with his kayak – he's the owner of the hostel! Luckily he approves of the scheme, and gives the boys a hand!
We meet up at Coles, and later have a massive campsite meal :-D
Day 48
Australia Day!!
Unfortunately Charlie is ill, so instead of joining the 1,200 people on the beach running around in massive, blow up, haviana flip flops, we stay cool in the camp kitchen. Looking at the state of the beach later in the day, I'm kind of glad we didn't go there!
Day 49
Today we are booked onto a $15 Glasshouse Mountain tour, which turns out to be the best deal we have found so far! The day began with a car ride (as it was only us 4 on the tour) up to a lookout point and a rainforest walk. The view over the Glasshouse mountains are stunning, misty and majestic in the distance, and the rainforest is just as impressive! Some of the trees are MASSIVE, with roots as tall as Mark rising up in weird formations from the floor. We didn't see much more wildlife than turkeys (which are everywhere!), but we did hear the distinctive cry of one bird which sounds like a baby screaming!
After this walk (which was a gentle 45mins, unlike some of the other walks we've been on!) we moved on to visit a local swimming pool – a nice deep waterfall! On the way to it we see a red bellied black!! It's a very pretty little snake, and despite being very venomous, was very shy, and shot off into the bushes as soon as it saw us. I was glad it wasn't a water snake though!
The waterfall itself was quite nice, although not as pretty as the one we visited in Thailand. The main attractions we're 4 jumps though, 2 from the rocks, and 2 off rope swings (and one off of the tree the largest rope swing was hung from... if you're mental!) Shaun did all 4, Mark 3, Charlie and I none, because we're not silly!
Following this exercise the next stop was at maleny mountain wines, where we did some wine tasting. This consisted of a delicious sweet white, some not so tasty reds and a rose, and a tasty tasty wine based cream called mountain dream, which I bought a bottle of because it was so nice!
Believing that our tour was fully over, we climbed back into the 4x4, only to find there was another stop! WOW! We stopped for lunch in a little town called Montville, which has lots of lovely quaint shops full of crafts and oddities – the most impressive of which being a liquor store, which had alcohol in every flavour you could possibly imagine, in a variety of novelty bottles! We got to try a few here too, and passionfruit crème was undeniable lovely!
After this last stop, it really was hometime... back to the campsite for dinner and a relaxing evening on the beach.
Day 50
Today we leave for Noosa in the afternoon, so as we're on a campsite and have no strict checkout time, we have a leisurely morning packing up slowly. We get to Noosa around 3, and check into a twin room, much much comfier than a tent, and get a good nights sleep before we set off on our canoe tour of the upper noosa river!
Day 51
Very excited! Pack all our stuff into the Canoes, take our water taxi across the lake, and set off! Turns out we rushed off in the wrong direction, so 6k later we turn around... and then end up going wrong AGAIN! I will never again be shouted down by an arrogant spaniard! Anyway after going wrong at every turn , and paddling 30 instead of 6k, we are all very glad to find our campsite, and set up the tents before the rain began!
Day 52
More paddling today – I am soooo tired! At least we can't go wrong though, there aren't any turnoffs today! The 6k paddle serves to take us to the beginning of a 12k walk – oh no, I dont wanna I don't wanna, I don't wanna! However after exhausting myself in the heat I cheer up, we reach the cooloola sandpatch, and it is beautiful! The sandpatch is an isolated patch of sand in the middle of the rainforest! Its a bit of a mystery as to how it got there, but it does give a lovely view over lakes and rivers to the mountains on the horizon, so I don't care!
On the way back I appreciate the bush more (because I know i'm steadily getting closer to rest – yey!) It is a lot like magic seeing the regeneration of the Australian bush after a fire, and this area suffered ravaging fires in November, so the regeneration is in it's first stages. I got some fantastic photos, of green shoots with blackened stalks looking like macabre flowers still protruding from the top, trees which have a black core, peeling middle, white upper, and green leaves... it really is crazy to see!
Day 53
After torrential downpour yeaterday evening, we're all (all 14 of us) glad its dry whilst were packing up camp, unfortunately it doesn't stay dry for the paddle back along the river, across one lake, along another rive, and across the big lake – by the time we're in the middle of the lake the weather is so bad the rain is painful, and waves keep on trying to jump in our boat!!! I did not sign up for that! The silver lining of this scary journey across the lake was that we are let off the $65 local payments, meaning the entire trip only cost us $25 :-D Also we get to see some pelicans sitting on an upended tree, which is pretty cool.
After putting the tents up, and then down again, and washing up all our kit again etc etc... we get back to the hostel and get to have a shower! Yay! I feel human again!
Once I have recovered from the hardships of the trip (ie once I am dry and comfortable) I realise that although it was a lot of effort, the trip was definitely one of the coolest things I have so far experienced, being completely within one of Australias national parks, self powering ourselves on tours to geological wonders, and seeing bush regeneration first hand... what more could I want!?
Day 54
Todays main aim is to get a phone (as mine had an accident falling into the waterproof barrel, and isn't quite working as well as it could be...oops) however it fails. We don't do a lot today – we do walk up to the shopping area, but I can't find a nice or cheap one, so I give up! I'm quite glad I didn't spend my money as (touch wood) he seems to be working ok again now (he's a fighter)!
Day 55
Australia Zoo!
On the bus at 8am, watching Steve Irwins mad escapades with murderous crocs on the bus T.V, and then straight to look at the very same crocs in real life! Unfortunately as its quite early in the morning the crocs aren't up and about yet, so we move on to see the other inhabitants of the Zoo (although we do get to see them later, and very impressive they are too!). First we go off to see a bearcat – which is adorable, and wakes up especially for me! Then we see Cassowarys, tassie devils, wombats, echidnas, koalas... before its time for the wildlife warror show in the Crocoseum (named by steve not because it's like the coloseum, but because its where the crocs go, so people can see 'em!)
The show starts with a showcase of how well trained the Zoo animals are, which is cool, but a bit weird, and then we get to see a croc attack! Well... we get to see a croc 'fed' I for one will not be going within 10foot of any crocodile I meet though, I can tell you!
After this we walk through 'hoparroo' heaven (THE most hilarious argument between a small boy and his mum about them being 'kangaroos' not 'hoparroos'!) where you can feed and pet them – they're so stupid though, I managed to trick one into thinking I had food for it at least 4 times, they're very soft though, so I forgive them for being stupid! Also one had a joey in the pouch, which was adorable!
There is a Koala walk too, and so I get to stroke a naughty koala called chloe (after she walked off, walked back, and bullied her friend by sitting on its head and biting it... Lol). Koalas are just as soft as roos, and even cuter!
The last thing we did was by far the most impressive though. We went to tiger temple, and watched a presentation about how their keepers exercise them. The bond between the tigers and their keepers is very strong (the zoo got them at 2 weeks old, and the keepers spent 24hrs a day with them!). They play with them with simple homemade toys, coaxing them to play in the water and practice pouncing etc. I took around 400 photos – i'l show you them sometime!!!
The entire day was fantastic, and although it's smaller than Taronga Zoo, its more interactive (and we had as much time as we needed, which was nice – we didn't have to miss half of it like we did with Taronga!). But it's a little weird how much steve irwin is still evident. His picture is everywhere, videos of him on all the screens, stuff about him in the zoos magazine... And i'm not sure how much I like how commercialised his 10yr old daughter has become...
Day 56
Eumundi markets today – hundreds of little stalls full of lovely stuff to look at! I really enjoyed it, and as we all split up pretty much as soon as we got there, I was under no pressure to be quick or move on :-)
After a few hours browsing I find Shaun and Charlie in a didjeridoo stall, bargaining with the owner over prices (not that that was difficult, he lowered the prices everytime he spoke!) and listening to him play his wares. After a while choosing and chatting the three of us end up with 4 didjeridoos and a cover for $210! I only got a small one for myself, but Shaun and Charlie got a large one each, and a spare mini for a present! Bargain!
The evening is spent practising playing our didj's... so far Shaun is the king of making didgy noises, but i'm best at making them all sound like a trumpet.. Lol.
Day 57
Today! I am actually up to date (as I have spent the morning typing :-D) I hope you enjoy!
Later today we will be catching the bus to Rainbow beach, which should be beautiful, so we have spent a chilled morning in the hostel courtyard passing time until we need to go to the bus stop.
Love you all, hope everything is ok at home! Xxxx
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Up - to - Date!
Day 27
Crocodile pie! It's a little bit like a chickeny fish, quite bland with a flaky texture, but the pie filling sauce was very nice, and I can now say I have eaten croc and roo! All I need to eat now is emu, then I have tried the Aussie Trio.
Anyway, lunch was a croc pie because we stopped off at Fredo's pies on the bus journey to Coffs Harbour, our next stop. Coffs is a nice looking little town, and our accomodation is a small hotel/motel called the Hoey Moey and is literally less than a minute from the beautiful beach! It's evening by the time we check in so we head to the beach with two Canadians; Carly and Sam, to play frisbee and let Shaun try out his new returning boomerang (courtesy of me and B for his xmas/newyear/birthday).
Day 28
Today the four us of move to a 3 bed room (well one double and a single) – the manager seems happy for us to cram as many people in a room as we feel comfortable with which is handy as we're all getting poorer by the day! However, the room move means we have time to kill as we have to wait for cleaning, so we go to the plaza to check out the shops...
Shaun and Mark buy fishing rods...
Lol.
Me and charlie had a nap (the sun wears you out) whilst waiting for the boys to 'catch our dinner'. Luckily we didn't actually believe they'd catch anything, or we would have gone hungry! B did manage to lose to sets of tackle though!
Day 29
Wake up early, ready for an exciting day, and spend the morning trying to scrub the rust stains off Bs new Tshirt because he left it to 'dry' (after getting SOAKED fishing) on the shower curtain rail, which was, unsurprisingly, (considering the general cheapness of our room) rusty! It actually went quite well... and then Shaun leaves his white rash vest on the clothes rail and that gets rusty too! Whoever thought it was a good idea to buy a white rashy though!?
Then, Charlie gets in the shower, and starts screaming! There was a HUGE spider in there! We reckon it was only a huntsman, but it took ages to catch and take away! And it required the modification of the bottom of a juice bottle to catch as it was too big to fit in a mug like a normal spider! Mark and Shaun had fun spider hunting though!
Anyway, once we eventually sort out the boys we head off to try and find the jetty. On the way B stops for fish and chips at a fishery, where three pelicans are being fed scraps by the fishermen. It was very cool, for such big birds they are very agile in the air, and also quite good at catching too! One swooped down at high speed to snatch a big bit of salmon off the floor! They were absolutely massive, and completely dwarved the Gulls they were hanging around with (which, to be fair, are, weirdly, smaller than English Gulls.) It is also surprising to see how malleable their beaks and gullets are, its completely different seeing things in real life to on T.V!
Later the boys go fishing again, and I decide to watch (the beach really is rather nice here!). Just as I get bored and start to think about going in, Shaun runs over with a ray! Watching him attempt to bash it to death with a rock was making me feel a little sick – the poor little ray – so I went to talk to B, and he catches a fish too! B's looks edible (unlike the ray, which is now oozing but apparently still alive – Inbetweeners moment!) but also prooves difficult to kill. Meanwhile Shaun has stabbed his ray three times in the head to try and kill it, and its still flapping its finny bits, and then it gives birth to a tiny baby ray!! Shaun is such a mean murderer! However the ray had completely swallowed his massive hook, so I guess it would have never survived the traumatic incident anyway.
Day 30
River bay! This area is a nice patch of grass and sand (with the usual free bbq and water fountain and toilet facilities which are so useful :D) next to the mouth of a river. It apx 10 mins from the hoey and the water is calm and clear and perfect for snorkeling and swimming, so we have a very chilled out day.
Walking back from dinner me and mark find Shaun and Charlie being harassed by a group of drunken aussie girls who are trying to persuade them to go out. Me and B prove more persuadable when one of them offers to pay for us entirely – who'd turn down a free night out??
Turns out the night out wasn't so much of an event – drunk girl gets refused entry at the first bar, and then gets bored of the second place after apx 10mins, so we go back to drink on the beach... which is undeniable beautiful at night (clear sky means thousands of fantastic stars!) but not all that interesting. That being said, they were all really nice girls (and they paid for a lot of alcohol for us and a married couple they had also persuaded to join them) and it was nice to get out and be sociable!
Day 31
Snorkel time :D Not that much to see as we were only in the river bay, but fun all the same! Also whilst waiting for Shaun to buy a snorkel, mask and fins (which I have no idea how he managed to fit into his already breaking backpack) me and B saw the friendliest blue tongue. He was eating the remains of a peach the lady sat next to us had given him, and once he'd finished he slithered over to see us, poking his little tongue in and out – we got some fantastic pics! Then some kids scared him away, they were like 'do lizards bite?aaaah!' (which is silly as blue tongues obviously don't bite!).
Another chilled evening, as the sun really does drain your energy – we watched slum dog 'mill-on-air', I'd forgotten how fantastic that film really is!
Day 32
Wake up at 5 to watch the sunrise, and take a lot of pretty pictures :D then I start feeling all funny – I think I got too hot yesterday, so I sleep it off while Shaun and Charlie go to snorkel around a mini island, which is meant to have the best snorkeling in the area. Mark waits with me in the room, and then later we go to the same place (after 3pm the sun is loads more manageable). It very cool, with rays and little brightly coloured fishies, and thousands of tiny jellyfish (they don't sting, although it is annoying when you get your hand stuck in one!). We did have to stop earlier than I would have liked though as B got really cold! He needs to get a wetsuit!
Day 33
Off to surf camp today, so we check out at 10 and decide to walk to see the famous BIG banana (which is big enough to walk through, but B found disappointing because it wasn't as big as his imagination – read his blog for his philosophical thoughts on size expectations lol). It's very very hot (it is midday) so B is the only one who feels like walking the banana trail – and we're all glad we didn't go when he comes back disappointed again as its partially closed. He then persuades us (with good promises of air con) to go to the art gallery which is, oddly, situated in the same building as the banana stuff. The air con is good, but the art is fantastic! We all liked it, although I seemed to prefer different paintings to the others lol. Anyway check out Jeffrey Baker, he's good.
Waiting for the bus is the most tedious thing I have ever done... took 41/2 hrs! Anyway we eventually get to surf camp, and guess who's there – our friendly Canadians from Coffs!
Sam and Carly persuade us to drink (all of) our vodka, so we have a good evening chatting with everyone, playing on the beach and playing games etc. Or rather I did, B got drunk, passed out, had to be rescued from a hosing down by the management by some of the girls in our dorm, and then threw up all over the toilets! And that, boys and girls, is why you should learn your drinking limits!
Day 34
Surfing lesson! Good fun, and I stood up twice! Thirsty work though, and after a while being bashed by the waves wears you out somewhat! We did get an all you can eat lunch though with lots of tasty tasty salad – yum!
Apres luncheon we're back on the bus to byron bay, where you can get a meal for $5! (which was actually rather nice!)
Day 35
Our hostel provides free bike (and board) hire, so we hop on some canary yellow bikes and cycle along the coast to the most easterly point of Oz. Its is beautiful, although has a lot of steps, so we walked quite a lot of the way! The views were stunning, the sea unbelievably clear and a fantastic pale turquoise. Just past Easterly Point we also get to see sea turtles – from afar obviously as we're at the top of a cliff, but I got a fantastic photo of an absolutely massive loggerhead, he rather thoughtfully raised his head and front flippers out of the water at the same time so I could photo him perfectly!
When we get back we head to Byron bay dive centre to book a dive/snorkl trip for Charlies birthday on friday, and on the way back get sidetracked into tribal travel, where we book quite a few activities up the coast – the first being a canoe tour of the tea tree rivers (river of mirrors) in Noosa national park, which sounds amazing!
Day 36
Today we make use of the free board hire (even though me and B are checking out to go camping instead). I get a body board not a surf board because I'm not stupid and realise that these boards will be a world away from the teaching boards we were on in surf camp (and I'm right, no one manages to stand up and they're difficult to manage). Its a fun morning anyway!
Later me and B decide it's probably a good idea to get some cooking implements for our camping expedition, and that pretty much occupies our whole evening!
Day 37
DIVING! Tres tres coooool! We saw wobbegong sharks, a HUGE turtle, loads of little fishies of all colours everywhere, some angelfish which were nearly a foot long, whole families of rats, scary black spiky sea urchin things, coral.... it was amazing! We also saw a blue grouper called Monty who has lived near Julians rock for over ten years and lets the dive guide tickle his lips! The only part I am sad about is that I spent quite a lot of time trying to take pictures as opposed to concentrating on the environment! I will definitely be diving as much as I can!
It is also Charlies Bday (Happy Birthday Charlie!) so the dive centre give her a free Tshirt – how nice of them!
Anyway the evening is spent having a BBQ in Charlies honour and getting slightly 'googled' (which is what they call it when you drink too much goon!) Lucy and Em, you would love it here, it's goon central! Then on the way back to camp me and B have a chat with the supermarket man about biscuits – they don't know what digestives or penguins are here!
Day 38
Today!! Most of today has been spent writing this for you lovely guys, so you better appreciate it! Obviously we went to the beach for a bit – but it's cloudy and muggy today so not as fun as it could have been! May go again later when it cools down a bit; there's a nice picnic bench overlooking the beach at the top of the camp site so B and I might go to chill out there for a while (the kitchen is the coldest place though, so we may stay here... time will tell)
Love you all! xxxx
Ps Goon is really cheap aussie 'wine'. It's so un-wine-like the boxes don't even label themselves as wine (although they obviously don't label themselves goon either lol). Anyway its lethal and cheap!
Crocodile pie! It's a little bit like a chickeny fish, quite bland with a flaky texture, but the pie filling sauce was very nice, and I can now say I have eaten croc and roo! All I need to eat now is emu, then I have tried the Aussie Trio.
Anyway, lunch was a croc pie because we stopped off at Fredo's pies on the bus journey to Coffs Harbour, our next stop. Coffs is a nice looking little town, and our accomodation is a small hotel/motel called the Hoey Moey and is literally less than a minute from the beautiful beach! It's evening by the time we check in so we head to the beach with two Canadians; Carly and Sam, to play frisbee and let Shaun try out his new returning boomerang (courtesy of me and B for his xmas/newyear/birthday).
Day 28
Today the four us of move to a 3 bed room (well one double and a single) – the manager seems happy for us to cram as many people in a room as we feel comfortable with which is handy as we're all getting poorer by the day! However, the room move means we have time to kill as we have to wait for cleaning, so we go to the plaza to check out the shops...
Shaun and Mark buy fishing rods...
Lol.
Me and charlie had a nap (the sun wears you out) whilst waiting for the boys to 'catch our dinner'. Luckily we didn't actually believe they'd catch anything, or we would have gone hungry! B did manage to lose to sets of tackle though!
Day 29
Wake up early, ready for an exciting day, and spend the morning trying to scrub the rust stains off Bs new Tshirt because he left it to 'dry' (after getting SOAKED fishing) on the shower curtain rail, which was, unsurprisingly, (considering the general cheapness of our room) rusty! It actually went quite well... and then Shaun leaves his white rash vest on the clothes rail and that gets rusty too! Whoever thought it was a good idea to buy a white rashy though!?
Then, Charlie gets in the shower, and starts screaming! There was a HUGE spider in there! We reckon it was only a huntsman, but it took ages to catch and take away! And it required the modification of the bottom of a juice bottle to catch as it was too big to fit in a mug like a normal spider! Mark and Shaun had fun spider hunting though!
Anyway, once we eventually sort out the boys we head off to try and find the jetty. On the way B stops for fish and chips at a fishery, where three pelicans are being fed scraps by the fishermen. It was very cool, for such big birds they are very agile in the air, and also quite good at catching too! One swooped down at high speed to snatch a big bit of salmon off the floor! They were absolutely massive, and completely dwarved the Gulls they were hanging around with (which, to be fair, are, weirdly, smaller than English Gulls.) It is also surprising to see how malleable their beaks and gullets are, its completely different seeing things in real life to on T.V!
Later the boys go fishing again, and I decide to watch (the beach really is rather nice here!). Just as I get bored and start to think about going in, Shaun runs over with a ray! Watching him attempt to bash it to death with a rock was making me feel a little sick – the poor little ray – so I went to talk to B, and he catches a fish too! B's looks edible (unlike the ray, which is now oozing but apparently still alive – Inbetweeners moment!) but also prooves difficult to kill. Meanwhile Shaun has stabbed his ray three times in the head to try and kill it, and its still flapping its finny bits, and then it gives birth to a tiny baby ray!! Shaun is such a mean murderer! However the ray had completely swallowed his massive hook, so I guess it would have never survived the traumatic incident anyway.
Day 30
River bay! This area is a nice patch of grass and sand (with the usual free bbq and water fountain and toilet facilities which are so useful :D) next to the mouth of a river. It apx 10 mins from the hoey and the water is calm and clear and perfect for snorkeling and swimming, so we have a very chilled out day.
Walking back from dinner me and mark find Shaun and Charlie being harassed by a group of drunken aussie girls who are trying to persuade them to go out. Me and B prove more persuadable when one of them offers to pay for us entirely – who'd turn down a free night out??
Turns out the night out wasn't so much of an event – drunk girl gets refused entry at the first bar, and then gets bored of the second place after apx 10mins, so we go back to drink on the beach... which is undeniable beautiful at night (clear sky means thousands of fantastic stars!) but not all that interesting. That being said, they were all really nice girls (and they paid for a lot of alcohol for us and a married couple they had also persuaded to join them) and it was nice to get out and be sociable!
Day 31
Snorkel time :D Not that much to see as we were only in the river bay, but fun all the same! Also whilst waiting for Shaun to buy a snorkel, mask and fins (which I have no idea how he managed to fit into his already breaking backpack) me and B saw the friendliest blue tongue. He was eating the remains of a peach the lady sat next to us had given him, and once he'd finished he slithered over to see us, poking his little tongue in and out – we got some fantastic pics! Then some kids scared him away, they were like 'do lizards bite?aaaah!' (which is silly as blue tongues obviously don't bite!).
Another chilled evening, as the sun really does drain your energy – we watched slum dog 'mill-on-air', I'd forgotten how fantastic that film really is!
Day 32
Wake up at 5 to watch the sunrise, and take a lot of pretty pictures :D then I start feeling all funny – I think I got too hot yesterday, so I sleep it off while Shaun and Charlie go to snorkel around a mini island, which is meant to have the best snorkeling in the area. Mark waits with me in the room, and then later we go to the same place (after 3pm the sun is loads more manageable). It very cool, with rays and little brightly coloured fishies, and thousands of tiny jellyfish (they don't sting, although it is annoying when you get your hand stuck in one!). We did have to stop earlier than I would have liked though as B got really cold! He needs to get a wetsuit!
Day 33
Off to surf camp today, so we check out at 10 and decide to walk to see the famous BIG banana (which is big enough to walk through, but B found disappointing because it wasn't as big as his imagination – read his blog for his philosophical thoughts on size expectations lol). It's very very hot (it is midday) so B is the only one who feels like walking the banana trail – and we're all glad we didn't go when he comes back disappointed again as its partially closed. He then persuades us (with good promises of air con) to go to the art gallery which is, oddly, situated in the same building as the banana stuff. The air con is good, but the art is fantastic! We all liked it, although I seemed to prefer different paintings to the others lol. Anyway check out Jeffrey Baker, he's good.
Waiting for the bus is the most tedious thing I have ever done... took 41/2 hrs! Anyway we eventually get to surf camp, and guess who's there – our friendly Canadians from Coffs!
Sam and Carly persuade us to drink (all of) our vodka, so we have a good evening chatting with everyone, playing on the beach and playing games etc. Or rather I did, B got drunk, passed out, had to be rescued from a hosing down by the management by some of the girls in our dorm, and then threw up all over the toilets! And that, boys and girls, is why you should learn your drinking limits!
Day 34
Surfing lesson! Good fun, and I stood up twice! Thirsty work though, and after a while being bashed by the waves wears you out somewhat! We did get an all you can eat lunch though with lots of tasty tasty salad – yum!
Apres luncheon we're back on the bus to byron bay, where you can get a meal for $5! (which was actually rather nice!)
Day 35
Our hostel provides free bike (and board) hire, so we hop on some canary yellow bikes and cycle along the coast to the most easterly point of Oz. Its is beautiful, although has a lot of steps, so we walked quite a lot of the way! The views were stunning, the sea unbelievably clear and a fantastic pale turquoise. Just past Easterly Point we also get to see sea turtles – from afar obviously as we're at the top of a cliff, but I got a fantastic photo of an absolutely massive loggerhead, he rather thoughtfully raised his head and front flippers out of the water at the same time so I could photo him perfectly!
When we get back we head to Byron bay dive centre to book a dive/snorkl trip for Charlies birthday on friday, and on the way back get sidetracked into tribal travel, where we book quite a few activities up the coast – the first being a canoe tour of the tea tree rivers (river of mirrors) in Noosa national park, which sounds amazing!
Day 36
Today we make use of the free board hire (even though me and B are checking out to go camping instead). I get a body board not a surf board because I'm not stupid and realise that these boards will be a world away from the teaching boards we were on in surf camp (and I'm right, no one manages to stand up and they're difficult to manage). Its a fun morning anyway!
Later me and B decide it's probably a good idea to get some cooking implements for our camping expedition, and that pretty much occupies our whole evening!
Day 37
DIVING! Tres tres coooool! We saw wobbegong sharks, a HUGE turtle, loads of little fishies of all colours everywhere, some angelfish which were nearly a foot long, whole families of rats, scary black spiky sea urchin things, coral.... it was amazing! We also saw a blue grouper called Monty who has lived near Julians rock for over ten years and lets the dive guide tickle his lips! The only part I am sad about is that I spent quite a lot of time trying to take pictures as opposed to concentrating on the environment! I will definitely be diving as much as I can!
It is also Charlies Bday (Happy Birthday Charlie!) so the dive centre give her a free Tshirt – how nice of them!
Anyway the evening is spent having a BBQ in Charlies honour and getting slightly 'googled' (which is what they call it when you drink too much goon!) Lucy and Em, you would love it here, it's goon central! Then on the way back to camp me and B have a chat with the supermarket man about biscuits – they don't know what digestives or penguins are here!
Day 38
Today!! Most of today has been spent writing this for you lovely guys, so you better appreciate it! Obviously we went to the beach for a bit – but it's cloudy and muggy today so not as fun as it could have been! May go again later when it cools down a bit; there's a nice picnic bench overlooking the beach at the top of the camp site so B and I might go to chill out there for a while (the kitchen is the coldest place though, so we may stay here... time will tell)
Love you all! xxxx
Ps Goon is really cheap aussie 'wine'. It's so un-wine-like the boxes don't even label themselves as wine (although they obviously don't label themselves goon either lol). Anyway its lethal and cheap!
Friday, 15 January 2010
Update!
Soooo...
Sorry again for taking so long! I will pick up from where I left off (even though that's a long time ago)! My last blog ended just as I arrived in Sydney, so I will begin on Day 20, our first full day there....
Day 20
Shaun and Charlie were only able to book into Wake Up for one night, so we were up early to book all our buses before they had to leave, then it was on to the bag lock-up where S&C spent a while re-packing so they only had to carry one bag around with them all day! The rest of the morning was spent finding a tent so B and I can sleep rough too, and a rucksack so we can carry things sensibly – 'fun'.
Afternoon saw us visiting the botanic gardens next to the Sydney opera house, and a FREE meal at 'The Gaff'. The botanic gardens were lovely, especially as the day was cooling off! There are water fountains everywhere in Oz, which is a lifesaver, as even I am drinking more water than I can carry each day (and B is drinking more than a camel could carry!)
Day 21
Carrying our own bags is EFFORT! Sooooo heavy! Luckily today was predominantly spent on the famous Sydney harbour ferries... We visited Darling harbour, and then decided we'd rather go to the Zoo (so back to Circular Quay), and then found out there was an hour queue for the zoo, so went back to Darling harbour, and later it was another trip to Circular Quay, to get the ferry to Manly!
Anyway... Darling harbour is very touristy, with an aquarium etc. It also has the Maritime museum, which has a free cloak room for our bags and free entry :D It was also pretty cool inside, although most of our time was spent in the mythical creatures exhibition, which had nothing to do with the sea! Did you know the original unicorn was a goat, with a red black and white stripy horn??? No? Neither did I!
Manly is beautiful once we get there, we head to Shelly beach (which has free BBQ's – which are everywhere, but fantastic all the same!) I marinated some (cheeeap, and massive) prawns in a bag with some lemon juice, and felt very pleased with myself about it too! We also had a lot of bacon, and I cut my finger (but nowhere near as badly as the superglue incident, so I didn't feel too stupid :D).
Sleep time was on the beach, which was perfect white sand, and lovely and soft – I barely felt homeless at all!
Day 22
5.30 am: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sand tractor! Plus it is misty and cloudy and chilly – I have a hoody on!
Time to go to the Zoo, which is brilliant by the way; sun bears and tigers and lizzzards and all kinds of other animals (obviously). The clear highlight was seeing a baby elephant, even though we saw lots of eles in Thailand, baby ones are absolutely adorable!
It is New Years Eve, so we are in competition with the entire population of Sydney for a good spot to watch the fireworks! The harbour was packed at 10am, when we ferried past it to Taronga, so we were a little worried, however walking back to the quay, I happened to notice the view was, well, stunning! So we decided to stay on Taronga beach to watch the fireworks, which was cool as we could camp there (inside a real tent – woop), but had far less facilities than Manly (no toilets :-s).
The fireworks themselves were beyond description, the kids display at 9pm was the best fireworks display I had ever seen, and the ones at midnight were truly fantastic! Twelve minutes of amazement! (You'll see the photos!)
Day 23
Pity some redneck ***** were our neighbours last night... the only mar on an otherwise perfect New Years I'd say!
Shaun however made up for any disappointment with the night by providing some brilliant comedy during the day... Sleeping on Bondi beach for 3hrs with your arms crossed and no t-shirt on is the perfect advert for why suncream is an absolute necessity! Hahaha! Looked pretty painful though, in the worst affected areas his skin was bruising – OUCH!
Another night on Manly, and then on to the Blue mountains tomorrow we hope :D
Day 24
We decide the best way to see the Blue mountains was in a rented car (provides rain protection, bag storage, accommodation, and transport – bargain!). So Mark and Shaun pull up to collect me and Charlie in......
A tiny, white, automatic, Toyota Yaris hahaha!
Mark however does a fantastic job getting adjusted to the foreign roads and car, and were soon finding a beautiful waterfall to stop at and explore. Leura cascades is truly beautiful, but again I learn my lesson about wearing flipflops anywhere but the beach! Always, always, always, wear the boots if you have the chance Freyr!
Day 25
So - 4 people in a mini car equals stiff necks in the morning! But it did rain beyond whats reasonable during the night, so we are all glad of the car!
Today's adventure involves following Shaun's directions on a walk through the rainforest. In all fairness they were actually very good (apart from when he lead us 1k in the wrong direction!). The forest was stunning, massive trees towering above us as we climbed down thousands (and I'm not really exaggerating) of steps, and lovely waterfalls following us on our descent. However the rainfall of last night created the mother of all mists, which has reduced visibility somewhat!
We get to the halfway point of our circular walk, and it happens to be an awful looking railway (at a 45degree angle) or a cable car. Grr. I suck it up and get on the cable car. At the top it is all worth it... me and charlie have the most fantastic, $25, all you can eat buffet you can imagine – Salmon, roast potatoes, salad, pasta, kangaroo noodles, veggies, tiramasu, pavlova and strawberry cream cake!!! The boys didn't eat it because they are scrooges, which back fired on shaun quite considerably as he ended up eating deep fried noodles for dinner (which taste just as bad as they sound!)
Day 26
Still misty so no chance of seeing the 'Three Sisters', which is sad, and means were straight off to Sydney in the morning.
After washing ourselves and our clothes and feeling human again we try to see the opera house at night one last time – to take some photos. It's a nice evening but any photo opportunities are lost because a huge, and I mean huge, ocean liner is docked at circular quay, right where we'd need to stand to take photos!
Anyway, i must be going now - internet is about to run out! Love you all, and hope you're having fun in the snow! xxxx
Sorry again for taking so long! I will pick up from where I left off (even though that's a long time ago)! My last blog ended just as I arrived in Sydney, so I will begin on Day 20, our first full day there....
Day 20
Shaun and Charlie were only able to book into Wake Up for one night, so we were up early to book all our buses before they had to leave, then it was on to the bag lock-up where S&C spent a while re-packing so they only had to carry one bag around with them all day! The rest of the morning was spent finding a tent so B and I can sleep rough too, and a rucksack so we can carry things sensibly – 'fun'.
Afternoon saw us visiting the botanic gardens next to the Sydney opera house, and a FREE meal at 'The Gaff'. The botanic gardens were lovely, especially as the day was cooling off! There are water fountains everywhere in Oz, which is a lifesaver, as even I am drinking more water than I can carry each day (and B is drinking more than a camel could carry!)
Day 21
Carrying our own bags is EFFORT! Sooooo heavy! Luckily today was predominantly spent on the famous Sydney harbour ferries... We visited Darling harbour, and then decided we'd rather go to the Zoo (so back to Circular Quay), and then found out there was an hour queue for the zoo, so went back to Darling harbour, and later it was another trip to Circular Quay, to get the ferry to Manly!
Anyway... Darling harbour is very touristy, with an aquarium etc. It also has the Maritime museum, which has a free cloak room for our bags and free entry :D It was also pretty cool inside, although most of our time was spent in the mythical creatures exhibition, which had nothing to do with the sea! Did you know the original unicorn was a goat, with a red black and white stripy horn??? No? Neither did I!
Manly is beautiful once we get there, we head to Shelly beach (which has free BBQ's – which are everywhere, but fantastic all the same!) I marinated some (cheeeap, and massive) prawns in a bag with some lemon juice, and felt very pleased with myself about it too! We also had a lot of bacon, and I cut my finger (but nowhere near as badly as the superglue incident, so I didn't feel too stupid :D).
Sleep time was on the beach, which was perfect white sand, and lovely and soft – I barely felt homeless at all!
Day 22
5.30 am: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sand tractor! Plus it is misty and cloudy and chilly – I have a hoody on!
Time to go to the Zoo, which is brilliant by the way; sun bears and tigers and lizzzards and all kinds of other animals (obviously). The clear highlight was seeing a baby elephant, even though we saw lots of eles in Thailand, baby ones are absolutely adorable!
It is New Years Eve, so we are in competition with the entire population of Sydney for a good spot to watch the fireworks! The harbour was packed at 10am, when we ferried past it to Taronga, so we were a little worried, however walking back to the quay, I happened to notice the view was, well, stunning! So we decided to stay on Taronga beach to watch the fireworks, which was cool as we could camp there (inside a real tent – woop), but had far less facilities than Manly (no toilets :-s).
The fireworks themselves were beyond description, the kids display at 9pm was the best fireworks display I had ever seen, and the ones at midnight were truly fantastic! Twelve minutes of amazement! (You'll see the photos!)
Day 23
Pity some redneck ***** were our neighbours last night... the only mar on an otherwise perfect New Years I'd say!
Shaun however made up for any disappointment with the night by providing some brilliant comedy during the day... Sleeping on Bondi beach for 3hrs with your arms crossed and no t-shirt on is the perfect advert for why suncream is an absolute necessity! Hahaha! Looked pretty painful though, in the worst affected areas his skin was bruising – OUCH!
Another night on Manly, and then on to the Blue mountains tomorrow we hope :D
Day 24
We decide the best way to see the Blue mountains was in a rented car (provides rain protection, bag storage, accommodation, and transport – bargain!). So Mark and Shaun pull up to collect me and Charlie in......
A tiny, white, automatic, Toyota Yaris hahaha!
Mark however does a fantastic job getting adjusted to the foreign roads and car, and were soon finding a beautiful waterfall to stop at and explore. Leura cascades is truly beautiful, but again I learn my lesson about wearing flipflops anywhere but the beach! Always, always, always, wear the boots if you have the chance Freyr!
Day 25
So - 4 people in a mini car equals stiff necks in the morning! But it did rain beyond whats reasonable during the night, so we are all glad of the car!
Today's adventure involves following Shaun's directions on a walk through the rainforest. In all fairness they were actually very good (apart from when he lead us 1k in the wrong direction!). The forest was stunning, massive trees towering above us as we climbed down thousands (and I'm not really exaggerating) of steps, and lovely waterfalls following us on our descent. However the rainfall of last night created the mother of all mists, which has reduced visibility somewhat!
We get to the halfway point of our circular walk, and it happens to be an awful looking railway (at a 45degree angle) or a cable car. Grr. I suck it up and get on the cable car. At the top it is all worth it... me and charlie have the most fantastic, $25, all you can eat buffet you can imagine – Salmon, roast potatoes, salad, pasta, kangaroo noodles, veggies, tiramasu, pavlova and strawberry cream cake!!! The boys didn't eat it because they are scrooges, which back fired on shaun quite considerably as he ended up eating deep fried noodles for dinner (which taste just as bad as they sound!)
Day 26
Still misty so no chance of seeing the 'Three Sisters', which is sad, and means were straight off to Sydney in the morning.
After washing ourselves and our clothes and feeling human again we try to see the opera house at night one last time – to take some photos. It's a nice evening but any photo opportunities are lost because a huge, and I mean huge, ocean liner is docked at circular quay, right where we'd need to stand to take photos!
Anyway, i must be going now - internet is about to run out! Love you all, and hope you're having fun in the snow! xxxx
Friday, 1 January 2010
Xmas Adventure Tour
So it has been a very long time again! Sorry about that! The weather here has deteriorated somewhat (around 25 degree standard hehehe) Xmas eve got us all very very soggy in a manic downpour, and Xmas day was 23degrees and cloudy! Since then i has been a mix of cloudy and sunny weather, still shorts and tee-shirt weather though :)
Christmas was very chilled, we had a lovely meal out on Christmas eve (although Shaun had a strop because he couldn't get a roast and made us all get wet walking around in the torrential rain trying to find one!). Christmas day was BBQ in the park, bit of a sunbathe etc, and then back to the hostel to pack for our three day adventure tour to Sydney!
Boxing day began VERY early (although later than planned as my alarm didn't work!). We got on this adorable little bus ( I think its called a mitsubishi rose?) with a trailer on the back for all our bags, and off we went...
First stop was Wilson's promontory, the most southerly point of Australia, where we walked through along a rocky track to squeaky beach - which squeaks when you walk on it! Squeaky beach was absolutely gorgeous, soft white sand, massive rocks which the waves were crashing over etc etc. We then went to an old airstrip abandoned after WWII which has been taken over by roos. Over 1000 kangaroos live on the airstrip, and although they tend to sleep in the bushes during the day we managed to get a good look at a group of them, including a few joeys (unfortunately they weren't in the pouch, but they were still cute!). We also got shown a deadly red-back spider by our guide, Bones, who is a little mad, but knows everything there is to know about these areas! He found a wild blue tongue lizard to show us, and later in the tour he chased after an echidna (shnookyputz) which he spotted on the road while driving, and caught it to show us - he literally had to dig it out its hole, they are unbelievably strong diggers, and this one had dug down about a foot in the minute or so it took to stop the bus and get out! It was very very cute! Anyway, back to our journey...
The second day was another early start, we were climbing around little river falls by 8.30 am! Little River falls is a set of tiny waterfalls and pools created by little river, which is barely a trickle, but has created a whole gorge over time! I could have stayed at the falls the whole day taking pictures, and so I was the last one back to the bus (which seemed to become a habit after this lol) - not helped by the fact that I was wearing flip flops and was attempting to scale the side of a waterfall!
By midday we were travelling through stunning scenery in the mountains. The areas we were going through were those affected in last years bush fires, and there was evidence of regeneration everywhere, as well as lots of blackened tree trunks! The roads were a little mad though, just dirt tracks, twisting and turning with barely enough room for two cars to pass, let alone for our bus to pass a horse lorry!! Our destination was mt Kosciuszko, the highest point in Oz, which later that day shaun hiked to the top of!! We were staying in a ski hotel (out of season obviously, although there were still patches of snow in places) which was very close to the chairlift up the moutain. Me and mark went to the second look out point, which overlooked one of the 5 glacial lakes in australia, which had very impressive views, and shaun went the whole hog and went right to the top (he was rather pleased with himself!). The moutains were stunning, with loads of flowers and the noise of frogs croaking in little pools all over the place, however it was quite cold, and on the way back a cloud descended on top of us and we got soaked (and i mean soaked) through!
Our last day of the tour brought us through Canberra (and parliament house) and then to Sydney itself! Parliament house was interesting enough, for instance the seating is not westminster green like in our houses of parliament, but Eucalyptus green, and fades to a paler green as the seats get further away because that is how Eucalyptus forests look! Also I never knew there was more than one Magna Carta, but apparently there are 4! And, not all that long ago our Queen sacked the Australian PM! (as I said, Bones is a fountain of knowledge lol) We arrived in Sydney quite late, and checked in to Wake Up hostel where we met loads and loads of english people! Everyone in our ten bed dorm was from the UK!
Anyway I had better stop writing now, as we have to go and pick up a hire car... but I will update soon hopefully (I'm still days behind!)
Love you all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Christmas was very chilled, we had a lovely meal out on Christmas eve (although Shaun had a strop because he couldn't get a roast and made us all get wet walking around in the torrential rain trying to find one!). Christmas day was BBQ in the park, bit of a sunbathe etc, and then back to the hostel to pack for our three day adventure tour to Sydney!
Boxing day began VERY early (although later than planned as my alarm didn't work!). We got on this adorable little bus ( I think its called a mitsubishi rose?) with a trailer on the back for all our bags, and off we went...
First stop was Wilson's promontory, the most southerly point of Australia, where we walked through along a rocky track to squeaky beach - which squeaks when you walk on it! Squeaky beach was absolutely gorgeous, soft white sand, massive rocks which the waves were crashing over etc etc. We then went to an old airstrip abandoned after WWII which has been taken over by roos. Over 1000 kangaroos live on the airstrip, and although they tend to sleep in the bushes during the day we managed to get a good look at a group of them, including a few joeys (unfortunately they weren't in the pouch, but they were still cute!). We also got shown a deadly red-back spider by our guide, Bones, who is a little mad, but knows everything there is to know about these areas! He found a wild blue tongue lizard to show us, and later in the tour he chased after an echidna (shnookyputz) which he spotted on the road while driving, and caught it to show us - he literally had to dig it out its hole, they are unbelievably strong diggers, and this one had dug down about a foot in the minute or so it took to stop the bus and get out! It was very very cute! Anyway, back to our journey...
The second day was another early start, we were climbing around little river falls by 8.30 am! Little River falls is a set of tiny waterfalls and pools created by little river, which is barely a trickle, but has created a whole gorge over time! I could have stayed at the falls the whole day taking pictures, and so I was the last one back to the bus (which seemed to become a habit after this lol) - not helped by the fact that I was wearing flip flops and was attempting to scale the side of a waterfall!
By midday we were travelling through stunning scenery in the mountains. The areas we were going through were those affected in last years bush fires, and there was evidence of regeneration everywhere, as well as lots of blackened tree trunks! The roads were a little mad though, just dirt tracks, twisting and turning with barely enough room for two cars to pass, let alone for our bus to pass a horse lorry!! Our destination was mt Kosciuszko, the highest point in Oz, which later that day shaun hiked to the top of!! We were staying in a ski hotel (out of season obviously, although there were still patches of snow in places) which was very close to the chairlift up the moutain. Me and mark went to the second look out point, which overlooked one of the 5 glacial lakes in australia, which had very impressive views, and shaun went the whole hog and went right to the top (he was rather pleased with himself!). The moutains were stunning, with loads of flowers and the noise of frogs croaking in little pools all over the place, however it was quite cold, and on the way back a cloud descended on top of us and we got soaked (and i mean soaked) through!
Our last day of the tour brought us through Canberra (and parliament house) and then to Sydney itself! Parliament house was interesting enough, for instance the seating is not westminster green like in our houses of parliament, but Eucalyptus green, and fades to a paler green as the seats get further away because that is how Eucalyptus forests look! Also I never knew there was more than one Magna Carta, but apparently there are 4! And, not all that long ago our Queen sacked the Australian PM! (as I said, Bones is a fountain of knowledge lol) We arrived in Sydney quite late, and checked in to Wake Up hostel where we met loads and loads of english people! Everyone in our ten bed dorm was from the UK!
Anyway I had better stop writing now, as we have to go and pick up a hire car... but I will update soon hopefully (I'm still days behind!)
Love you all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)