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Hi guys,
Apparently despite our last post we are still just as if not more rubbish at blogging than when we were in Asia. We have had a very packed 5 weeks here so I will summarise for you!
We landed in Cairns on the 25th March (two days late thanks to our epic screw up witht he flights, we now check the flight times and dates several times!) The moment we landed it was raining and it carried on raining for the next five days, sometimes torrential, sometimes just a bit of drizzle but it was definitely rain. We didn't end up doing much because of the rain, we had wanted to go to the Barrier Reef etc. but as we're only snorkellers we wouldn't have been able to see anything when the weather was that terrible. We tried to book onto some trips with Oz Experience but got nowhere and looked into booking buses with them but we soon found out that these were rubbish - one bus every two days a lot of the time which you have to book onto 4 days in advance! We are very much spur of the moment travellers and this didn't work for us so on the spur of the moment we went and hired a Spaceship so we could drive ourselves down the coast.
For those of you who are now confused a spaceship is a bright orange people carrier that has been converted into a sort of campervan so it has a bed, fridge, cooking stuff etc. all in the back. It was awesome! we hopped into Unch (they're all named too) and set off down the coast. Coincidentally the day we left Cairns was a beautiful, hot sunny day so we did manage to squeeze in a trip on the Skyrail which travels over the rainforest and a trip to the Tjapukai Aboriginal park which was really interesting.
We didn't get far that night and camped in a rest area where we learned the art of cooking pasta on a public bbq as we couldn't get our cookers to work.
We worked our way down the coast for the next couple of days and arrived in Airlie Beach where we had wanted to do a Whitsundays Island sailing tour for a couple of days but unfortunately with the recent cyclone we couldn't get booked onto one as they were all full and instead chose to do a day trip on a superfast, superbig rib type boat. This was pretty fun and we were going to get to see Whitehaven Beach (google it, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world) but of course, in true Kat and Sarah style as our boat approached the beach it began to absolutely piss it down, i'm talking about the kind of ran that HURTS! So we spent most of our time on the beach huddled under one shelter with a bunch of drunk Australian girls with a goanna looking at us. The sun did come out for about ten minutes before we left Whitehaven but it wasn't what we had hoped for!
After Airlie we headed to Hervey Bay where we were going to travel to Fraser Island but again Australia doesn't like spur of the moment travellers and we couldn't get booked onto a group self drive tour which is what we had wanted to do, so instead we hired a two seater 4x4 which we called Susie and decided to drive ourselves. IT WAS AWESOME! the highlight for both of us on the trip, Fraser is the most beautiful place, it has no roads only tracks which is why you need the 4x4 and you can drive up and down the beach (normal road rules apply as we found out when Kat got pulled over and breathalysed.) We saw some pretty interesting wildlife, snakes (really poisonous ones), jellies, dingoes, goannas. We also camped (yes camped in a tent) by the beach which was pretty incredible at night - we've never seen that many stars! Words can't describe how much we loved Fraser! And we got to do the Bear Grylls thing for a night which was also pretty cool.
After Hervey we found ourselves at Noosa for the day, a gorgeous but very posh/expensive little town where we spent an afternoon on the beach.
After Noosa we headed for Brisbane but ended up getting lost in the city and sleeping illegally in a rest area - a bit scary when i got out of the van in the morning to find a tow truck parked up behind us! Luckily I think he was just lost as after a while he drove off without bothering us.
We decided to give Brisbane a miss as it had annoyed us the night before and we were already missing the beach so we headed down the coast to Surfer's Paradise. At Surfer's we had a really fun day bodyboarding in the msot ridonculous waves we have ever seen. In fact I think we spent most of the afternoon pulling up our bikinis rather than boarding! We ended up feeling a bit battered at the end of it, we both got quite a few waves to the face and there were definitely times we thought we were going to drown but it was a lot of fun. We went out that night and had a good time but the next day found out someone died in the club we were in as he got pushed through a window! Time to leave Surfer's.
We then headed to Byron Bay which we absolutely loved - 2nd favourite place. We spent 4 days here chilling out, going to the beach, going to the pub, dancing - it was a lot of fun. We also randomly ran into a group we'd met in Cambodia! We had no idea they were even in Australia so that was pretty nice.
After Byron we were almost out of time so we decided to go to Newcastle and spend a night there before arriving in Sydney on the 15th. However, Newcastle is rubbish so we went to Sydney that night to have a night in the city. We stayed in a hostel after illegally parking the van a hike away and had a really fun night listening (and chatting to) a really good band that was playing in the hostel.
The next day we dropped the van off and it was off to Caringbah to stay with my family, how nice to be back in a clean bed in a home with food and a toilet!!!!! Luxury. We have been very well looked after here with the whole family pitching in to take us out and show us places. We had three full days in the city itself where we went to Manly, saw the sights, went up the Sydney Tower, went to the Aquarium (to see a platypus which was SLEEPING!!), went to The Rocks, did the Harbour Bridge Climb and probably more that I've forgotten! We also were taken to the beach they use to film HOME AND AWAY (hahaha emilie - i've got pics though) and Bondi, we spent a day in the Blue Mountains, went to Paddington Markets and generally saw all that Sydney has to offer I think. We also spent at least one day sleeping which was very much needed!
So today is our last day here, we're off to the local national park to wander along the beach and then it's home to pack as we're off to New Zealand tomorrow morning. I think we both have mixed feelings about it - SO EXCITED to get there and pick up our van but we're really going to miss Australia.
We will try and update in New Zealand! xx
P.S pics on facebook xx
- comments
jen elliott glad 2 see ure taking waves to the face skills are improving! Did u do any surfing? Or throw any shrimps on the barby? Where u headin first in NZ? i HOPE YOU DO THE LORD OF THE RINGS BATTLE SCENES- take photos! Take a walk down Auckland harbour near sky tower- thats where i lived for 6 weeks! And if u r in the north try and visit the bay of islands- its beautiful i went dolphin watching here and u can get in the water with them. Also see if u can fit in Bilbo-baggins's hole?
sue and andy Shame weather was so bad in Cairns (you didnt mention the spiders) but at least improved further south. Sounds like Fraser Island was definitely a high point as was the bridge!! Enjoy NZ, have a safe trip - you Riders of Rhohan. Hope you find Legolas! xx