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Gday guys and gals
Well what an active last few weeks its been in good old Oz. Since last writing in Exmouth I've flown around the remaining terroritories. Sorry to leave one horse town Exmouth behind (not! although the whale sharks were amazing) back to Perth for a few days and a trip to Fremantle. The jellyfish are huge in this part of the world, almost the size of a small child, ish.Â
From Perth I flew to Sydney, and boy was I excited. I did my best impression of a five year old going to Disneyland. Why, well because I would be joined by my partner in crime Rach to travel up the east coast. I was also meeting up with an old friend. And my excitment was justified. I flew into Sydney at night, staying in the Rocks area the oldest part of Sydney, right by the Opera House and the Bridge. First thing in the morning I had booked to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I had been given this as a belated birthday present from Rach, who suffers with vertigo so no chance of her joining me.  So my first daylight views of Sydney were spent wearing an attractive blue boilersuit with matching hat - and yes I'm afraid there is photographic evidence of this phenomina.  I have to confess I started to brick it pretty early on, that wobbley leg syndrome wasnt helping my in my climb over the road bridge and beyond.  But the group I was with were all youngesters with no fear whatsoever so there is no way I would confess my fright - I am hard solo traveller after all! And it was well worth it, the day was perfectly clear, abt 24 degs and just beaut. The views from the top were awesome and I felt very proud of myself. The photos they take at the top were more stressful than the climb up or down! But I admit I was glad to be back on terrafirma after the 3 hour climb. Rach arrived from London that evening and the adrenalin of the climb and the excitment of some company meant I was literally flying. We spent the next few days touring the sights, Sydney Opera House, harbour cruises, Darling Harbour, Manly etc. We were loving Sydney until our walk around the Botanical Gardens - I spotted up in the trees huge massive ginormous bats hanging in the trees by day. And that was the last time I was able to get Rach to walk anywhere near a tree in all of Australia. They were the size of cats and literally thousands of them. As we jogged out of the park we passed a manmade lake full of giant eels - my biggest fear!  We suddenly started to realise what a bizarre country Oz is. It has great weather, fantastic sports, awesome marine life - pretty much everything - but it also has the biggest bats and eels in the world, the most dangerous snakes and spiders in existance - now I know why the convicts were sent here!  Had a great evening meeting up with an ex BP Shipping employee - now freespirit of the outside world Julia Flossy Nicoll now shockingly married and pregnant (both of which were a huge surprise to me) and her hubby Matt. Catching up on tales from 10 years back made me feel old but good memories are worth recalling. I shouldnt have been surprised when Julia produced photos of our camping trip to france so many years earlier - Kev Arnold you know what trip I mean. The one we spent over 24hours on a coach for travelling through France...nutters. You wont be surprised to know that I havent changed a bit in the photos. Great evening, thanks Jules and Matt (remember the pizza eating from the middle phenomina!)
From Sydney we made a 24hour visit to Central Australia to see Ayers Rock. We must have been mad doing the 3 hour flight each way just to see a giant rock by sunset (drinking wine of course) and then up bright and early to see the sunrise (english breakfast tea this time!). We didnt see one Aboriginal person but we heard the dogs barking from their camps nearby - the camp of the famous headline "a dingo stole my baby". In respect to the community we didnt climb the rock (the abos request that you dont but there are plenty who do) instead doing a tour around the base with a ranger. Quite a crazy 24hours really but we had a good laugh so worth the effort.
From Uluru we were back to Sydney briefly before flying to Brisbane which as a major city was, to put it mildly, dull. But we hired a car and travelled up to Australian crikey zoo, Steve Urwins pad. Crocs galore, including a mad show that was clearly designed by Steve himself where guys show you how to avoid being eaten by a crocodile. We also learnt how to avoid being taken by dingos and how to deal with snake bites - so clearly we were then prepared for living in the bush (well maybe a 4 star hotel in the bush would suffice).
From here we travelled north to Noosa - thank god they drive on the left in Oz - Noosa is the St Tropez of East Coast Australia. So we doned our Chanel sunglasses and best bikinis and hit the beach in search of Kylie and Jason Donovan. We were mildly disappointed at not seeing them but that evening we met a local drunken builder who enlightened us on the dangers of swimming anywhere other than a pool north of Noosa. So that was the last time I was able to get Rach anywhere near the anyform of water (although thankfully she wasnt scared of the shower!).
From Noosa we drove to Hervey Bay, ditched the car and got our connection to Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world, over 100km long. This island is very unique, its all sand but has loads of vegetation and huge amounts of wildlife. They have the purest breed of dingo, and 3 of the most venomous snakes in the world. It took a few drinks before we would walk anywhere on our own at night. We swam in Lake McKenzie, a pristine beautiful secluded freshwater lake, so clear and clean it was unbelieveable. And we took a trip on a catamaran for a very romantic sunset cruise off the island with a lonely dolphin swimming past us - I had to refuse Rachs proposal of marriage at that stage as I just dont think I'm ready to settle down just yet. The 4wd ranger day tour of the island was unique, entirely off road over sanddunes and through sand rainforests. You can imagine how delighted I was when the ranger said his passion was for snakes - he later rushed out of the truck and moved a phython from the path - bringing it to the coach for our inspection.  A fantastic few days on this island, recommend it to absolutely anyone. (Just make sure you eat the pizza at the restaurant and dont have take-out as we met a couple who were followed home by a dingo as a result)
From Fraser Island we had a dull day in Hervey Bay before flying to Hamilton Island, our first experience of the Whitsundays. its probably the most commercial of the islands, catering for 2000 people and with its own airstrip but is a great gateway to the other islands. We booked up for what we thought was a day cruise to Whitehaven beach (voted number one beach in the world by the BBC) and a snorkel trip. What it turned out to be was an inflatable dingy capable of 45 knots for 12 people sitting astride what can only be described as bucking bronko style seats. Once we learnt the technique of gripping with the thighs and taking the pressure in the knees it was a hilarous 30 minute trip almost flying over the waves (thankfully as we are both horseriders it was almost a natural skill to us!). The sick feeling had disappeared by the time we saw Whitehaven beach, it is truely beautiful. White white sand and clear waters. Snorkelling on the adjacent beach was good too. So an unexpected day but one that has us still laughing, and I do have two very attractive green bruises on my thighs as a reminder.
Hang in there readers, this is coming to an end I promise. From Hamilton Island we flew north to Cairns the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Within minutes of arriving at our hotel we were on a bus to Kurunda cablecar and travelled the 8km over rainforest, stopping off at points to walk amongst it. It must be a botanist dream, but all we know is there were lots of different types of trees. Kurunda was a cute village. Back to Cairns for another romantic dinner cruise around Cairns harbour and out to sea for a wee while. Our last day in Cairns was spent visiting the Reef, Moore Reef. We took a trip out to a moored pontoon, but the trip out on the boat was so rough sickbags were at a premium! Everywhere you looked were sick looking people. The pontoon is great, you can snorkel and dive from it, go in the underwater observatory, sun yourself, eat lunch, or go in the semi submersible for dry underwater viewing. It was great snorkelling on the reef, swimming next to Wally a giant fish (I dont know which type but he was beaut) and hundreds of other varieties.   Whilst I have loved having my good friend with me on this part of my adventure, it has its downside. You see, she has this love of taking pictures at least every ten minutes. The pictures of me in a stunning red stinger suit are ones I will pay money for to have destroyed. But I did get my own back later in the day when the official photographer took some of us both - and being the great tourists that we are we bought them.   Thankfully the trip home at the end of the day was alot calmer. I would love to come back and spend lots more time on the Great Barrier Reef, it has to be seen to be believed.
So thats pretty much where our current adventures end, Rach flew back to London yesterday and I'm now in Brisbane waiting to fly to Singapore for a day before heading back to the UK. I shall send one final installment in a few days time. Â
Apologies for the length of this splog, but the last few weeks have been very active. I hope I havent bored you too much.
Love Annie the Nomad x
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