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Hey everyone! Last update from Australia - can't believe the time has gone by so quickly here! We have had an amazing time in Australia, would love to go back to Melbourne - not sure we could live here, and it has been seriously expensive, but we have tried to make the most of everything and have had a really great time.
Last time I wrote from Brisbane - pretty tired from non-stop going, so we needed a 'day off' (don't laugh, traveling can get tiring sometimes I promise!), having slight meltdowns of lacking budget and proper food! Still, we managed to see quite a bit of the city - had a fantastic long morning walk - all along the south bank of this pretty 'garden city's' river. They have set this out really beautifully, with great parks and botanic gardens, cafes and even a man-made beach and pool (with some very keen sun-worshipers out bathing!). We crossed the river to check out the old parliament buildings and more botanic gardens - very relaxing. A highlight was the 'cultural area' of the city where they have a great collection of museums/art spaces/graffiti walls - we spent a bit of time in GOMA (gallery of modern art) which had a fantastic modern Chinese art exhibition on. Spent the afternoon doing the 5km Brisbane river run - a beautiful run along the river bank and through the gardens, plastered in suncream, but good exercise to work off all the food we have been scoffing, and felt good to be doing a decent pace again!
We got the early bus upto Noosa the next day - a really beautiful area on the headlands of the east's 'sunshine' coast. The weather was fantastic again, and we wandered along all the small coves and bays with their beaches of rocky outcrops (full of surfers and bathers!). We also spent some time in the national park on the headlands, with some great walks. We walked all-in-all about 12km, first along the coastal track stopping off in some really picturesque bays and coves, up to 'hells gates', and then back through the thick of the bush (ie. What they call forest/rainforest here! Lots of gum trees (eucalyptus) where we were supposed to be guaranteed to see Koalas - not so lucky). Really great area - full of loads of beach-side restaurants and cafes, way out of our budgets as this is meant to be the 'celeb spot to be seen' on the sunshine coast! Dinner was just as novel - we bought kanga bangas (kangaroo meat) and some sausages and cooked on the outside BBQ on the river bank - absolutely delicious! Spent the rest of the time here jogging around the national park, and renting out (free from our hostel - bonus!) kayaks along the river and into the sea - good times (until you have to stroke against the current, not so motivating!)
We then took the overnight bus to Airley beach - a small town on the coast that is basically the gateway to the Whitsundays - 74 beautiful islands off the coast at the beginning of the Great Barrier Reef. It was a cute little area, although the name is pretty deceiving as the beach is miniscule at best, and pretty much covered at high tide - but there is a 'blue lagoon' which more than made up for it, a pool in landscaped gardens with places to chill, play footie (which obviously pleased Sean) and have BBQs. All good, and free - so no complaints! There was also a stunning boardwalk to the next village (which you had to do to get to the supermarket!) but made for a pretty beautiful run - through Abel marina where the boats leave, and shingley beach. The hostel we were at, whilst not even giving us pillows and providing our first sighting of a cockroach, is pretty sociable, and we met some great people. Ended up chatting for hours at dinner with an Ukrainian, American and French guy (love the combinations of people you meet at hostels) way beyond the kitchen closing - always a good excuse not to wash up your dishes! We stayed up to watch the first lions test match until the early hours of the morning, accompanied by an expensive jug of beer or two, but better accompanied by two guys - one from Solihull (5 mins from Sean) and the other Welsh - weird coincidence!
Highlight was obviously our 3 day, 2 night trip on the boat out to the Whitsunday Islands. There was a really great bunch of people on board, a good group of girls from the UK, a really nice few German ladies and Swiss girls (of the German variety also..!), a few more nice German and French guys - and a mad group of UK people who, within 5 minutes of getting on the boat, were already lying on deck pouring 4L bags of goon into each others mouths! (Goon is cheap CHEAP wine - emphasis on the cheap, the ingredients say they may include fish, eggs and nuts…?). The crew were great fun as well and the weather beautiful, and it was so novel to camp out on the boat at nights - unbelievable clear starry skies (saw the Milky way again…), great food (we actually got 3 meals a day for once…luxury!) and lots of entertainment!
The Whitsunday Islands were pretty beautiful, Whitehaven beach was pretty special and we started off there - an amazing beach with the purest white sand you'll ever see as its 95% silica, you could even brush your teeth and clean your jewelry with it! Think it is rated 3rd best beach in the world, so not a bad start to a trip! The water was so clear you could see all the Stingrays swimming around and me Sean and a couple of friends went wading in with them - pretty friendly creatures - that was until a reef shark swam upto us (so quick we couldn't move), ate a shoal of fish and swam away! We got to snorkel at a few coral spots, had to jump in amongst the jelly fish so was pretty thankful for the stinger suits (a fashion statement they are not…). Saw some amazing fish, coral, and even swam with the turtles which was gorgeous. I wouldn't say the snorkeling was as great as Asia, Malaysia especially, but we hadn't hit the main part of the Great Barrier Reef yet so more exciting times are to come!
The highlight of the trip, minus making friends and having a good laugh on the boat at nights, was the fact that me and Sean did our first dive!! It was so cheap, only about 25 pounds each, and there was 3 of us, with our new German friend, and it was just one of the most incredible experiences of my life! I almost psyched us all out of it, panicking about the breathing - but once I had got used to it after about 10 mins, it was just so amazing. We went down about 7m, swam through holes and maze in the coral - it was just so incredible to be right in the thick of it, knowing that the fish you see snorkeling are meters above your head - I'm still on such a high that I want to do my certificate as soon as I can! Fantastic experience! Back on land, we had a really entertaining free didgeridoo lesson, before the afterparty with the crew, a fun night with tons of people, and even better - free pizza! Got back to our room thinking we'd got in a relatively early night, and two American lads in our room were up 'slapping the goon' (don't worry - it just means drinking cheap wine) outside so we stayed up and chatted and before we knew it, it was time to get the bus to Townsville!
Quick stop at Townsville - very tropical and hot - before hopping on the ferry over to Magnetic Island. Straight away it had a SERIOUSLY laid back feel. When we turned upto our hostel the owner was down the pub, even the bus driver was super friendly - they knew everyone and dropped them off right at their houses! Quite a nice change after the craziness of Whitsunday Islands!
Had a fantastic time on Magnetic Island. Spent a lot of time walking - some brilliant treks around the island to all the coasts and bays. We walked the Arcadia track - through the bush on a pretty heavy trek, but with some stunning views right to the other side of the island. There's so much wildlife here - even in our hostel tropical birds and possums come and eat with you (if you're not careful - your food!), and wallabies even come into the bathrooms to drink water! We saw our first wild echidna (like a porcupine/hedgehog type animal with highlights!), our first rock wallaby (very cute and tiny), and…our first (and hopefully last!) snake. Scared the life out of us even though it was absolutely tiny! But that box is now ticked - no need to see anymore thank you! We walked up to the Forts track - a track with all the old gun defenses still there. It was a really good walk, with a fantastic lookout (360 degree views of the island), and made even more amazing by all our sightings of the cutest koalas hugging the gum trees. We saw about 3 or 4, some asleep, some half awake and fidgeting, and I am sure there is no cuter animal in the world! I was, however, slightly on edge the whole walk as it was in death adder territory. On all the walks through the bush/hills, the signs just say if you see a snake walk around it without disturbing it - whereas here it simply said…run! We walked onto Horseshoe Bay on the opposite side of the island, and then on about a 15km route around the side of the island, through the rocky outcrops to the beautiful bays - Balding, Radical, Florence and Arthur Bays - all such beautiful spots, it never quite equates on the camera. Nor would the naked 90 year old man on Balding bay (quite apt) - the nudey beach. We felt pretty overdressed in our hiking gear!
We were really lucky to have a super spontaneous amazing day - Jack, one of the men who works here and lives in the hostel, offered to take us out on his boat - an offer we couldn't refuse! The hostel had been robbed - food and Jack's Ipod had gone missing (irritating) but that is testament to how nice a guy he is that he just took me Sean, Trevor, a Canadian who lives here, and Erol a French girl from another hostel out for the day. It was amazing - his speedboat was like a rollercoaster ride but better, hitting the waves at awesome speeds. He took us to loads of bays and beaches that aren't even accessible by car/foot, Lovers Beach and 5-Beach Bay - really beautiful. We stopped off at one of the beaches which we had all to ourselves, went snorkeling, chilled out - it was beautiful, and saw turtles and duradongs (like manatees) along the way - perfect! We then decided we should camp out on a beach that night, so we headed back onland, picked up a few more people and lots of supplies and headed to a tiny secluded beach on the other side of the island - about 20m wide, again, not accessible and hidden from the sea police! We had such an amazing night - we built a huge fire, cooked potatoes, sausages and steaks, salad and chips - washed down with a healthy amount of beer, wine and vodka, and even marshmallows to top it off! It was a great mix of people, us 5 on the boat, as well as Dennis, a German painter, Ricardo an Italian who lives at the hostel - and Vince - a very entertaining 62 year old who has been living on the island for years. He was Czech and provided much singing entertainment with folk songs - that was until he got so drunk he decided to strip down to his red y-fronts and go swimming in the ocean at 1am, very amusing! Its crazy that it is the middle of winter and we all slept out in just sleeping bags under the stars. So beautiful - an undisturbed carpet of stars in the sky, you could see the milky way, shooting stars. A fantastic night and totally out of the blue - makes a change to sleeping in hostels for sure. And luckily no snakes, mosquitos or waking up to possums in our lap!
Pretty crazy 4/5 days of pure hiking - even hiked out to West point, the most remote part of the island, basically just mangroves with a really beautiful beach at the end of a good 8-10km hike each way, 20km walk is not bad after a nights sleep on the beach! Barely saw anybody bar a few locals who stopped to check we had enough water (very friendly island) - one guy cycling past even stopped to show us where his house was and told us to go in and help ourselves to the his water, or a cup of tea, if we got thirsty! Its another world in this island!
Eventually we arrived in Cairns - a bit of a weird place. It seems a bit run down, and very Americanised - grid streets and big cars! It's basically a city full of backpackers and all the loud drinking that goes with it! There's quite a nice 'lagoon' (or man made pool) on the sea front, but its so busy you can barely see the ground for all the topless backpackers lounging around! Lots of good space for exercise, and some entertainment as war-ships were docked and the town was full of American marines and navy for Canada day. Good place to get out to the reef and upto Cape Trib though so its not all bad. We used the time to chill out, or so we though we would, but with Canada day (and some really nice Canadians in our room at the hostel), we ended up looking after one of the Canadians, who got so drunk he collapsed around the toilet being sick. The mother in me came out!
It gets hotter as you get up North into the tropics, but its strange as you can't go in the sea as its saltwater croc territory, and they're the aggressive ones! Despite the name, Saltwater crocs can live in both salt and freshwater and so they're in all the rivers, creeks and seas up North and so they have to make 'lagoons' (or man-made landscaped pools) back from the beach so that people can sit out!
Had a day trip out on the Great Barrier Reef on Ocean Free sailing boat - an absolutely fantastic day. The weather was beautiful, and we moored on some private reef which was fantastic, beautiful purples and electric blues - tons of amazing fish, sword fish, giant trevally fish (huge), nemos, even sea cucumbers and a sea-snake eel type thing. The best part was all the reef sharks about - they were so close to the boat and when we were snorkelling one brushed my foot - so close, and quite scary, but they're very beautiful and friendly animals. We were so lucky to see so many trevallys and reef sharks. We also got to head over to Green Island, an exclusive island on the reef which was a nice break. It was the best day and the worst day at the same time though! Whilst snorkelling on the reef was an experience of a lifetime (it is quite awe inspiring!), the trip back was torure! We were on a sailing boat, and they let the sails down - the sea was pretty rough, something to do with a northerly wind, and southerly HUGE swell, and so it made for a pretty bumpy and wet trip home - a trip that turned into sea-sickness torture for Em! Some nice projectile vomit was witnessed as free entertainment for everyone on board much to her embarassment - still, a small price to pay for the experience on the reef!
Then we headed upto Cape Tribulation, via Port Douglas and Mossman Gorge - the beautful area in northern Australia with one of the worlds oldest rainforests/jungles, that meets the sea on Cape Tribs beautiful beach. Cape Tribulation was such a welcome break from the madness of Cairns. USS Essex - the marine and navy war ships had been stationed in Cairns whilst we were here, as North Korea had apparently made a threat to Hawaii, and so they were stationed close to Korea. True or not, it was hectic as there was lots of testosterone flying about, especially on 4th July! But at least we got to watch the fireworks for free..!
Cape Trib was such a fantastic end to the trip in Australia. The journey itself up north from Cairns is worth the trip alone - beautiful scenic drives along the North's answer to Victoria's Great Ocean Road, with rainforest looming on one side, and rocky coasts on the other. We had a great couple of stops on the way up - some silly treats, like the Ice Cream farm in Cape Trib (advised by Tina!) where they made fantastic tropical fruit falvoured ice cream, whittle seed, jackfruit, but the coconut won out! We stopped at a couple of great look out points along the coast, as well as Mossman Gorge - a nice area by the river where you could swim with the fish (if you were mad enough to brave the cold water!). Port Douglas is the last 'town' on the way upto Cape Trib and is a gorgeous seaside village with great cafes (Tina- Mango Jam even did gluten free pizzas!) and shops, and fantastic views of the rainforest meeting the ocean. To get to the Daintree rainforest you have to cross the Daintree river (infested with crocs) and so we decided to do a ferry cruise croc-spotting. It was fantastic, we saw Scarface (the alpha male croc inthat territory) and his head girlfriend Dusty, sunbathing on the banks. Scarface swam towards us as a warning so we saw some action too! We were even lucky enough to see the one baby crocodile that had survived that year! They are incredible creatures, saltwater crocs, the most dangerous animal you could imagine, but so huge and impressive to look at - its hard to believe they have been around since the dinosaurs - and we think humans are efficient! There was so much bird wildlife as well on the river, geat experience.
We got to Cape Trib itself and stayed in this great Lodge smack bang in amongst the rainforest - we had a golden/yellow-back spider living with us (about the size of a small plate) and tons of other wildlife! There were some fantastic walks to be done through the rainforest, we did a couple of boardwalks, including Dubuji, where we saw saw-shelled turtles swimming in the swamp and plenty of crazy plants and wildlife - even the plants are scary in themselves, some burn you, some poison you, some release ants to attack you - rainforests have evolved in some whacky ways! One of the best, but equally most adrenaline pushing, walks we did was a 15km walk upto Emmergen beach and back. It was fantastic as the beach was deserted - but that is because it is by an estuary where saltwater crocs live, so we moved pretty quickly along the beach on our way back! Luckily, we didn't encounter anymore crocs, however we did see our second snake - and it was quite scary! Just under 2m long, he stared at us, and then started to move away and we pegged it…as calmly as we could manage! It got my heart pumping more than any exercise I've ever done! The walk back was fantastic, 1km long sections of rock climbing, we saw scorpions and giant crabs, it was fantastic! But Cape Tribulation and Myall beach (the one closest to where we were staying) were just stunning in themselves. Imagine rainforest tumbling down mountains and meeting coral form the Great Barrier Reef, with only a tiny stretch of sand separating them. It was incredible, and I wish photographs could show how amazing it was - we spent hours just walking or jogging around - beautiful!
We weren't lucky enough to see any Cassowarys, but we had already seen some crossing the road on our coach trip upto Cairns. To be honest, I'm ok with that as they are the most dangerous bird in the world! They grow to about 2m tall, have knifes as claws and can disembowel a human in one kick! Having seen crocodiles, spiders, snakes and scorpions, I was ok on the deadly animal checklist! It was great to learn more about Aboriginal culture as well, as a lot of Northern Australian land is sacred to them. It is the Guge-ylange (no idea how to spell it!) who are native to Cape Tribulation, and it was really interesting to learn how they passed on techniques of backburning to prevent bushfires, that they had learnt from lightning strikes, and to hear their beliefs in the sacredness of certain areas, rocks, beaches etc. It just seems a shame that you barely get to interact with them - I think I've seen a total of about 20 Aboriginal people in the whole trip - but maybe we haven't made enough effort. All in all it was a fantasic end to the trip, and so nice to relax with a glass of wine at the end of a long day walking, surrounded by rain forest!
We arrived back in Cairns yesterday to sort out our bags, then we fly down to Sydney tomorrow and out to New Zealand from there. Really excited about a new adventure campervanning around New Zealand…time to prepare for cold weather. A shock to the system no doubt going from 35 degrees to 0, but what is traveling about!?
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