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G'day all,
Well it was with mixed emotions that we said farewell to Asia. Sad because we had such an incredible time there but also really excited to be back in a western/English speaking country again!!!!
We arrived around 9am to a panicking Cairns as there had just been a Tsunami warning due to an earthquake in the Cook Islands (everyone is really paranoid about this now) and everyone seemed freaked out about it even though there was only an extra 5cm of water. Although we had not had any sleep on the plane Pete and I swung into action straight away! We only had 4 weeks to get down the whole east coast of Australia so we had no time to loose! Adonis (old house mate from Uni) was joining us in about 4 hours time so we found our way to the Hostel and did some research on activities. After a touching reunion with the Greek god of love we booked up some things for the next few days. Australia is a bit like a theme park and there are loads of things to do so the first 3 days set the pace for the rest of the month. In those first few days we went White Water rafting, diving on the Great Barrier Reef and on a Rain Forrest/Waterfall walk thing. All three were great!!!
First was the White Water rafting on the TullyRiver! This was wicked fun! After coming to the conclusion that we probably wouldn't die doing this, Pete and I volunteered to go at the front of the 6 person raft as we generally consider ourselves great in whatever we do!! The guide who was steering the raft at the back may have detected a hint of cockiness from the both of us as it did not take long for us to get a deluge of water pouring over us!! As it turned out the front is where you get the most wet (but it's also the most fun). We spent the most of day negotiating different sections of the river and getting battered by rocks and other members of the raft!! I was a bit disappointed that none of us fell out so I though that Adonis was looking a little dry so I may have (inadvertently) pushed him off the raft!!! I thought that I had gotten away with it but about 10 minutes before the end I was tag teamed by Pete and Adonis who fought to get me out of the raft! Eventually they did manage to loosen my grip and I was plunged into the water.. Luckily I managed to take Pete along with me!!! All good I thought but he lost his sandal in the water so we spent the next 5 minutes chasing it through the rapids!!! This was a wicked day; I would defiantly recommend it to anyone!!!
The following day was the Waterfall and Rain Forrest walk. This was pretty cool but as Pete an I had spent quite a lot of time in Forests in Asia it was not exactly new to us!! It was quite cool to see a red bellied black snake in the wild though! The highlight of this day was definitely swimming in the waterfalls! One in particular was awesome as we managed to swim through the curtain to a point behind where the water was falling.. This was very cool but we could not stay too long due to the fact that it was approaching the Australian winter and the water was freezing!!!
Diving was left to last due to the weather being a bit s***. Although we had been told that is was difficult to get good dives on the Barrier Reef on one day trips there was no way we were going to pass up the opportunity to dive the Reef when we were so close to it and we could not afford to do a live aboard. Luckily for us the day of the dive was good weather and we had clear skys all day. The amazing thing about the Reef is that it just appears from no where. We were speeding east at about 30 knots for about an hour and then suddenly the sea changes from a dark blue to light shades of green and turquoise which really look beautiful from the high platform of the boat. In total we managed to get three dives in that day and it was really great in parts. At one point the dive master was feeding a huge grouper (about 80kg) that was swimming between all of the divers (close enough to touch) which was very cool. Some of the hard and soft corals were good but all in all the reef did not live up to its reputation! If I got the chance to dive there again I definitely would but I would do a live aboard to get out to the more remote parts of the Reef.
The hostel that we were staying in was called Gilligans and it was WICKED!!! This was probably the coolest hostel that we have stayed in especially up to this point.. The backpackers in Australia are slightly different to Asia. Mainly there is much more British and the average age is lower as there is loads of gap year students. This is really cool as it kinda gave the hostel a halls of residence feel to it with loads of 18 and 19 years olds going nuts on there first experience of freedom. For example, the group of people that we had a few drinks with were getting naked at any opportunity running round the hostel with a bin lid over there c*** asking people if they wanted to see what was behind door number one!!! Classic!! The good thing for us was that it really got us motivated to dominate the night life. The big nights in Australia are to come later but up in Cairns, Adonis was leading the way by getting up on stage and busting his groove in a dance competition!!
Our first destination after Cairns was a place called Airlie beach. The main thing that attracts people to Airlie beach is that it is the jumping off point for sailing trips around the beautiful Whitsunday islands home to the outstanding White Haven beach. Apart from the sailing, the town is essentially a massive piss up town and that is about it!! For the last few days it had been hammering it down with rain and the weather was so bad that our 3 day sailing trip was actually cancelled! We were all gutted but me in particular because this trip was one of my absolutely must dos in Australia. To drown our sorrows we decided to rinse though the whiskey that we had bought for the sailing trip and then start chatting to anyone we could find in order to introduce them to a little drinking game we call "suicide". Yep, you guessed it.. the night was pretty large and a few wet t-shirt competitions and a club later we were feeling much better about things. The next few days in Airlie beach continued in much the same vain, chilling out by the lagoon during the day and hitting the bars on the night. On the day before we were due to leave there was a break in the weather so that we managed to get on to a day trip to White Haven beach which is one of the highlights of the Whitsundays! This place was stunning; the sand was as white as anything we had seen in Asia but on a much bigger scale. The beach was massive and stretched off into the distance flanked by clear blue waters on one side and palm trees on the other.. The amusing bit of this was that you could only swim in the sea with a stinger suit on due to all the jelly fish in the water?? Check out the lovely suit that Adoni is wearing!!! We were really pleased that we got a chance to have a little look at the Whitsundays after having our sailing trip cancelled but we now had our sights firmly set on our next destination FraserIsland!!!!
We arrived in HarveyBay early in the morning after another tedious all night Greyhound bus. We got a few hours shut eye and then got up to have our pre Fraser Island meeting and meet the group that we were going to be spending the next three days with. When you do the group things on FraserIsland you are let loose in a 4x4 and then you are dumped on the Island with the next three days to yourself. It was so cool!!!! There was one person too many in our group so we got 2 Toyota land cruisers between the group. After 5 months of not driving I jumped at the chance to be first behind the wheel of our 4x4 and after we stocked up with food and alcohol for the next three days we were off.
After leaving the ferry we set off on our way to the first stop to prepare lunch.. FraserIsland is the largest sand island in the world so driving was far from smooth?? it was all good for me and Pete in the front but I think that Adonis and the other three lads were all getting smashed about in the back. lol.. it was funny for us though!!! Lunch consisted of sandwiches and half the group trying to catch the 3 foot lizard that was after our scraps.. attempt to catch the beast proved unsuccessful!!
Next on the agenda was finding a place called LakeMcKenzie. This place was AMAZING!!!!! Absolutely beautiful.. None of us have ever seen a lake like this in our lives, it was truly fantastic!!! The pictures are good but you really need to see this place for yourself, it really was that good.. White sand, crystal clear water that starts light blue and then changes to a deep dark blue within about 5 meters. To give you an idea of how pure this water was; we filled up our water drum straight from the lake and all of us drank it for the next three days (it really tasted great). It is very strange to be swimming in water pure enough to drink!!!!! I think I neglected to mention that our group of 12 people consisted of 11 guys and only 1 girl! This was initially a cause of concern for most of the guys but it proved to be quite a good laugh!!! As with any large group of lads we all very quickly reverted to 12 year olds!! You know how sometimes on a beach or round a pool you get that large and loud group who tend to dominate proceedings, well that was definitely us!!! The tranquil paradise that I have just described was very quickly turned in to our personal play ground with the main purpose to see just how high 4 people can throw another person. Or who was capable of doing the most extreme/dangerous dive into the lake.. Adonis was pretty good at both of these! I was pretty much relegated to chief thrower as I am apparently not as physically sculpted for flight as the other guys!!!
Unfortunately our schedule meant that we had to leave the lake behind and start making our way up the 20km of beach to an old ship wreak from the 1930's and then on to set up camp before night fall. After getting through the slow going crater laden traks of the inner island I handed over controls to Pete who jumped into the front seat of the 4x4 with a little glint of evil in his eye!!! We were quickly on the beach front and now with clear sand in front of us Pete was able to put his foot down! Despite long warnings about taking it easy on the beaches it proved to be difficult to keep two land cruisers full of lads from racing and we were now all hurtling across this long stretch of beach shouting abuse at each other!
We arrived at our camp for the night with about an our to spare before it got dark so we all swung into action unloading the cars and getting food, drinks and fire wood prepared for the night ahead. Pete being the self proclaimed chef took charge of the cooking for our car and started whipping up some really good food considering the cooking conditions. Kangaroo sausages and chicken was on the menu as well as some fire cooked jacket potatoes!! Night had now fallen so we got some music on the go and everyone started getting involved with their drink of choice. The main activity for the evening was the retrieval and chopping of fire wood which was as time consuming as it was satisfying. As the evening progressed and the drink started to sink in I am not too sure how safe it was that we were wielding a large axe! Every 15 minutes or so one of us would disappear into the woods and return looking tired dragging a tree stump behind us.. its amazing how something as simple as a camp fire can keep everyone amused for hours!!
The company that we booked the use of the 4x4s from had promised us that on our first night we would be treated to aboriginal dance and didgeridoo playing. The aborigines were supposed to creep up on us in traditional dress and body paint and perform. When the first few aboriginal guys appeared in genes and t-shirts holding cans of beer we kinda got the impression that the night was miss sold to us. That said, we did get to hear some didgeridoo playing; well as long as a cut off bit of plastic down pipe qualifies as a didgeridoo.. To be honest by this point in the evening we were all too drunk to really care.. Our memories of this part of the night are a bit hazy but the video that one of the guys recorded seems to show Pete holding the piece of down pipe in front of him suggesting some "alternative" uses for it. I don't think the aborigines found this too amusing but we were too drunk to care!!! All this happened about 40 minutes before Adonis was to walk around the corner to find me collapsed flat on my back assuring him that I was simply star gazing and the I was more that capable to standing and that I was simply choosing not to! After a gentle reminder about all the deadly snakes and spiders that were nesting in the woods only meters away I confidently rose to my knees and crawled off to find my bottle of vodka.. but alas it had disappeared!!
My final memories of this night are some of us doing to two things that we were expressly told not to do.. the first was to whistle and the second was to spit into the fire!! We were not supposed to do this because it was believed that it would summon evil spirits. However when you are on a quiet island with not too much to do; summoning evil spirits does not sound like such a bad idea.. Unfortunately the Pete led whistling quartet produced no appearance of the supernatural. And with that disappointment, we retired to our shed for the night and collapsed!
The following morning we all awakened to the torturous pain inflicted by the previous nights dinking!! We had a full day ahead of us so we had to get moving so after a quick wash in the spider infested shower we packed up the cars and we were off! Once we were all ready we set off for Indian Head and the Champagne pools but before that we all has a quick dip in Eli creek. All you need to know about the creek is that it was bloody freezing but quite an effective hang over cure!! So, on to Indian head; this is a peak that cuts the beach in half near to the north of the island. After a quick climb to the top of the peak you are treated to a fantastic view of the beach on both sides stretching in to the distance. If you face directly east you get a brilliant view out to sea from 100ft in the air! It was amazing! The other cool view from the top of Indian head is that you can see sharks and turtles swimming in between the waves that are crashing against the rocks below you!
After we headed down from Indian Head we parked the cars next to each other to form a wind break and got the gas stoves down from the top of the cars. My culinary skills came into dazzling effect here and I quickly rustled up scrambled egg and bacon buttys for the six guys in our car! Great breakfast and we needed it as both cars were developing the habit of getting stuck in the deep sand which required most of the guys to pitch in and dig us out!! After breakfast the other guys headed off to collect clams from the beach so the Luke could create something interesting for the night (Luke is a chef.. result!!) Everyone in our car decided that we would head onto champagne pool to see what was offer! We set off from where we had lunch for the 5 minute walk to the pools, 20 minutes later we were still walking!!! We were now on the other side of the island heading down another never ending beach. We stopped some people and asked where the hell the pools were and they kindly pointed us to a spot on the horizon and said "oh, just 10 minutes after that rock" GREAT!! Even though it was a lot further than we thought, it was a nice day so we carried on walking. About half way there Pete got our attention and was pointing down at the sand. We all came over to have a look at a tiny baby turtle that was trying to make its way out to sea!! We could not figure out where it had come from as there was no nest and no other turtles around it. This is the type of awesome stuff you get to see when you spend all day everyday outside in new places and seeing a baby turtle in the wild trying to make it out to sea was very very cool! Eventually we made it to the pools and we soon figured how they got there name! The three main pools were separated from the sea by a thin wall of rocks. Every time a wave broke against the rocks it sent a huge amount of spray went up into the air which made the pools look like they were bubbling. This was cool as you could sit in the soft sand pool about waist deep in water being lightly sprayed by the sea.. Unfortunately we could not stay here too long as the day was drawing in and we needed to get back to the cars so we could try and find our camp site for the night!
Tonight we were staying in tents and so we embarked on the usual flurry of unloading of food and gear before it got dark again. Once again Pete took up food duty and whisked us up pasta for the evening meal. That night most of us took it easy because we were still suffering from the previous night however a few of the more committed lads got involved with a box of "Goon" (very cheap box of wine consumed in large quantities by backpackers in Oz). There was a noise curfew in the camp site at about 10pm so all 12 of us headed down to the beach with a huge tarp were we all spent the evening lying on our backs star gazing and looking for shooting stars!!! Any of you who have had the pleasure of looking out on a clear night into a sky with no light pollution will be able to appreciate how impressive this sight was; chilling on the beach was a really nice way to spend out last night on the island and after a day of running around no one had a problem falling to sleep that night!
Our third and final day required an early start if we were to make back to the ferry port by 2pm. So we all packed up and headed off for another lake (LakeWobby). By now the childishness was hitting all time highs!! Any time we passed other vehicles all the lads in the backs of our cars were pressing there bums against the windows; on a few very special occasions we actually managed to overtake a 4x4 with one of our cars on either side so to double the effectiveness of our mooning!!! So funny!!!! On another occasion I decided that we needed to increase the stakes and open the back of our 4x4 and hang out the back giving the other car a full frontal.. Unfortunately for me a large 30 seater bus was coming the other way and so my lovely body was displayed to the entire bus load of day trippers!!! s***!!! I am not going to lie, the pictures aint pretty!!!!!
To get to LakeWobby a 45minute walk was required across and amazing mile long stretch of sand dunes which looked like they had just been transported from the Sahara desert. The lake was nice but quite cold so our childishness did not disturb the relaxing tourists for too long.. it was long enough to launch one of the guys about 6 feet into the air (naked) to which we all received a round of applause from the 50 or so people that had given up trying to ignore us! Nice as the lake was it was no LakeMcKenzie so we set off to spend our last hour there. As if there had not been enough nudity that day, me and Luke the chef decided that a naked run across the expanse of sand dunes was in order. Don't ask why! But it was a very liberating experience!!!
The time back at LakeMcKenzie passed quickly and before we knew it we had to head back to the ferry port! This would have been fine if we had not started to get lost! This meant that we had to endure the ever increasing speed of the driver over the very uneven terrain. After a few wrong turns and a couple of Portuguese hitch hikers later we managed to get ourselves on to the ferry headed back to the main land! The three days that we spent on FraserIsland were absolutely fantastic and the fact that we had a really cool group added to trip massively! That night we went out for a meal and a few parting drinks with all the guys and sadly said our goodbyes as we were heading to ByronBay in the morning.
Unfortunately, due to a decision made 10 months previously we were traveling against the flow of people. Most people travel from south to north whereas we were going in the other direction. Sadly this meant that every time we made some good mates we were pretty promptly separated..
Anyways, after an uneventful two nights spent in Surfers Paradise we arrived in ByronBay to glorious sunshine and what looked like a wicked and chilled little town... The main thing that will stick out in my memory about Byron Bay was finally managing to stand up on a surf board... this had been bugging me as it was something that Pete had managed back in Bali and he took great pleasure in mocking me for my lack of surfing ability... But now I was on an actually surfing on a learners beach it was all coming together.. Adonis took to it like a duck to water as well so the surfing was a big plus for all three of us while we were there. Nights out included lots of table dancing... that's about it.. Randomly we got chatting to this cool guy on the bus out of Brisbane who was called Ziad and he hung around with us for the next week or so.
So far all our time in Australia had been spent in small towns so now it was finally time to hit the big stuff as we only had Sydney and Melbourne ahead of us! Paul and Bobby (friends of mine from Citrix) had recently moved to Sydney and they were kind enough to put a roof over my head in their wicked apartment right on BondiBeach (result!!). Due to our two tag alongs there was not enough space for the other two so Pete decided to stay a hostel with the other guys. The day we arrived was amazing sunshine so we saw no reason to head straight into the city so we whiled the afternoon away over several beers with Paul and Bobs. Pete, Adonis and Ziad headed down to the beach for some more surfing while I sank a few more beers at the bar. That night we took full advantage of our hosts generosity and enjoyed Paul's fine example of an Ausi BBQ!! And some more beer!! The next day we headed into the city center looking for the Opera House we had seen so many pictures of... Unfortunately for us the amazing sunshine of the previous day had disappeared and had been replaced by grey skys and rain :-( this is how Sydney would remain until we left... Sydney was a wicked place and we both really enjoyed our time there. The whole place was modern and clean with a real cosmopolitan feel to it. Definitely a nice change from the small places we had been so far. Obvious highlights were the Opera House and a boat trip under the harbor bridge. Sydney's night life had a very British feel to it... we hit the bars a few times while we were there and it has the same pissed up punters and moody bouncers that we get back home. The last night was the best as we found the bars that all the backpackers go to and there was a really cool atmosphere in the place and everyone there was younger and more chilled out than some of the other places we went to. We actually got pretty smashed this night and ended walking the 40 minutes across Sydney to get home.. By now we were pretty much experts at navigating unfamiliar cities so we did not end up sleeping in a doorway which is always a plus!!?
On to Melbourne and it was now just the three of us again! Adonis had some family in Melbourne and they kindly came and picked us up from the airport.. The whole time we were in Melbourne we were really made to feel like and extended part of the Greek family, It was great!!! We only had a short time in Melbourne before our flight to NZ but we definitely made the most of our time there! Melbourne is a mega sporting city and they definitely live and breath it down there.. If it is not hosting the Australian Open Tennis or the Australian Grand Prix then there is either Cricket being played or Aussi Rules Football.. Luckily for us Adonis's uncle Paul was fanatical about Aussi rules and he managed to score all of us tickets to watch his local team (Richmond) play the current champions at the MCG? This was great!! The stadium (90,000 seated) was great but the game itself was also really good fun to watch. We were sitting next to Adonis's cousin who was more than happy to explain what the f*** was going on; so that before we knew it me and Pete were getting involved abusing the Referee in true English style!! Richmond were robbed of the game but we still had a wicked time.?
As if getting us from the airport, feeding us and taking us to the MCG was not enough Paul also took Adonis, Pete and I down to PhillipIsland which is two hours out of Melbourne to see Penguins in the wild.. What makes this so cool is that you have to sit on the beach and wait for dark to fall. Once is gets dark you start to see the penguins under the flood lights set up on the beach.. They come out of the sea in groups of about 20-30 and the actually walk up to there nests straight past you.. Literally about 3 meters away. They were really cool to see so close up and in a cage at a zoo..?
One of the other things that we had lined up for Melbourne was to meet up with Grant and Charlotte who we spent 25 days with in China. It was so cool to see them and find out how things were going for them in Melbourne. We met them about 2pm for lunch but as anticipated this turned into an all day drinking session.. It was a wicked night. Grant and Char took us to some cool bars along the riverfront and also to a really good restaurant where we all had Kangaroo steaks which were fantastic!! The night was wicked and after embarrassing ourselves singing along with a live band we hit a club to bust out some moves before saying good bye!!?
Early the next morning me and Pete said goodbye to Adonis and made our way to the Airport.. As we never do anything the easy was we had to fly back to Sydney and before our flight to New Zealand which left one hour after landing.. It was all good though and before we knew it we were leaving Australia behind us... If only knew what we had waiting for us in New Zealand!!!
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