Saturday, June 28, 2003

Airlie Beach is a bit of a con really in that it hasn't got one. A beach that is. Only imported sand from some 60 kms up the road - Bowen to be precise. This place is backpackers heaven/hell depending on your viewpoint really...loads of fast internet cafes (heaven), but loads of dodgy travel agents, sailing companies, bars, and people...Unsurprisingly we've brought our bus to Hervey Bay forward to Tuesday - meaning we've only got tonight in this god-foresaken place, as tomorrow we board Iluka for our Whitsunday's sailing experience. It nearly didn't happen as when we went to see ProSail yesterday they only had 3 (including us) booked onto the trip, needing at least 2 more to definitely venture out. We were told we'd be downgraded to a (much) worse boat and get a little bit of cash back for our trouble - we weren't happy last night to say the least. That said we're now a group of seven, and because we paid nearly full price and they're now discounting we should be upgraded to a cabin from a dorm...every cloud and all that...

As I write this my bro is boarding his flight to the UK (via Singapore) and by the time I next check email he'll be home the poor sod. It's weird to think but it's still about another week until we're halfway through our trip - scary stuff!

So here's to 3 days sailing, sunning, and snorkelling (what great aliteration, Mr. Parsons (my English teacher) would be soooo proud) - catch you all in a few days...

Friday, June 27, 2003

Piccies time.

Atherton Tablelands first; Jen with Pelican at said Tablelands.



Me at Cathedral Fig Tree; Jen with diver's helmet at ReefHQ.



Maori Wrasse on the Yongala wreck; us hovering at the bow of the Yongala.

Thursday, June 26, 2003

First things first, whoever typed in "spanked by my wife" into yahoo and got our website must have been in for a bit of a shock...very very amusing...(the quote on our Blog refers to when Jen thrashed me at pool btw)

So we're back on terra firms - thank God. During the last three days and nights we have experienced everything from 30 knot winds (in the middle of the ocean) to the most amazing dive-site we've ever been to.

Just to start - I forgot the walloping we gave the wallabies...hahaha in your own back yard as well...

Anyway - to the trip. We set out and the first thing we were given (apart from our nice ensuite double room) was the weather report for the next couple of days - strong winds (up to 30 knots) and 2m+ waves...happy happy joy joy... Just how bad this meant things would be wasn't clear until the first overnight in which the boat rocked so much en route to the reef we were thrown around our room and Jen saw her tea for the second time...nice...

Arriving at Keeper's Reef we finally got in the water only for me to find that I couldn't equalise (my ears, not CM4) and thus I stayed on the surface whilst Pat & Jen buddied up for a few minutes. They eventually resurfaced some 10 mins later having lost the rest of the group - not a good start. Onwards and upwards, and after the mighty Sudafed had taken effect we completed our second dive. Good news in that my ears were fine and we completed the dive. I felt a bit rough and didn't do the 3rd dive of the day whereas Pat and Jen buddied up again and went back down. We all felt the first site was a little disappointing as alot of the reef was bleached and dead, and also there were loads of 'Crown of Thorns' which had killed off alot of the coral.

The following morning I lost my 'never been sick on a boat' virginity as it was my turn to see exactly what I'd eaten the night before...however once in the sea (we were now at a different reef - Wheeler's Reef) my sickness went and we enjoyed three good dives. In Shark Alley we saw (wait for it) a white tip shark - the first reef shark we'd ever seen. The coral was much better and a good day's diving was had by all. In the evening they managed to rig up a TV so we could all watch State of Origin II and the mighty Blue slaughtered the Maroons. The Captiain (Greg - a top bloke) was cheering for the Maroons and at one point threatened to crash the boat that night if we continued cheering for NSW...we all shut up and then a broad grin erupted on his face, so then we shouted for the rest of the game...(NSW won 27-4 for those who don't know - we'll be there to see if they can get a 3-0 sweep for only the 3rd time in their history on July 16th). So to today, we arrived at the SS Yalonga wreck at about 6am and were woken up, kitted out, and in the water by 6.45...some wake up call. The SS Yalonga was on the last part of it's voyage - the leg from Sydney to Cairns - when it went down during a tropical cyclone in 1911. All 121 passengers and crew perished. The wreck, still mostly intact but now covered in soft coarls, stands in the middle of nowhere - in about 30m of water on a sand bank. To get to it is more than a little tricky and requires a good leap of faith. You have to swim from the boat along a rope to the buoy line where you descend to about 10m before joining another line which goes down to the ship. You have to do it like this as a) the visibility above the wreck is so poor you can't see it until you're 3-5m away from it, and b) the currents (especially at 6.45am!) are so strong if you didn't hold to the lines on you'd end up in New Zealand. That said after a few ear problems (it's these early starts) we managed to descend onto tthe wreck. Having dived some great sites our expectations were quite high and we were not to be disappointed - an unbelievable sight greeted us. The shape of the ship itself is recognisable and a couple of the mast type things were at an angle they shouldn't be. The cargo bays were uncovered and you could peer in and stop for breathers, although penetration of the wreck is not allowed due to the fact that the iron is corroding and it is more than a little unsafe. Those in the know believe the wreck has about 30 more years before it collapses and forms a new artificial reef. The sheer variety and size of sealife was incredible - we saw Moari-wrasses (about 1.5m long), clownfish the size of your hand, and most fantastic of all, a couple of giant potato cod (one nicknamed V.W. - as it's the same size as a Beetle) which must have been all of 3m in length and fatter even than me...unreal. We enjoyed the two dives immensely, I can't imagine we'll ever dive a better site, even though we only amassed a total of 55 mins underwater - you don't half suck your air in those currents and depths...

So back onto the boat and a calm(ish) trip back before bading fairwell to our crew and new found diving buddies. Diving Dreams were excellent and I would thoroughly recommend them to anyone considering doing the Yongala and the GBR. We have some piccies - one of us on the wreck (well above it) and one of the Moari Wrasse, they should get uploaded tomorrow.

On arriving back at our hostel we found out that an English guy had pentrated the wreck today, whilst diving from another diveboat (twice - he was pulled out and bollocked once, and then went back in...). He now faces the prospect of being deported from Australia, or at least a few nights in jail and a whopping fine - serves him right.

Tonight is the last night we are a threesome - we're off to Airlie Beach tomorrow for the Whitsunday's (we're praying the winds will have dropped), and Pat's off home. After 8 weeks travelling together we've only had 2 or 3 rows all of which after we'd both consumed a few too many shandies and we've all got on really well. Believe it or not it's the most time we've spent together since I went off to uni some 10 years ago...Whilst it'll be nice to get some privacy back I'm gonna miss the old sod...we're going for a meal tonight and no doubt we'll raise a toast to our Aussie adventure...(just to rub it in Pat we've halfway through Aus and still have NZ/South America to go...tee hee!)

Monday, June 23, 2003

Yesterday we visited the ReefHQ which is a huge aqarium. We saw a variety of fish, all along the lines of the ones we'll see for real over the next few days. We also went for a drink with Helen and Rich who were both looking well. We swapped stories about the places each other had been and tentatively agreed to meet in Perth later in July. It was good to see them both again. We made it an early night, which was only disturbed (ironically) by a disturbed sounding woman going on about her friend's sombrero at 1am...

So that's it for Townsville really - next 'blog will be after the diving, and when we have to bid adios to my brother - he flies back to Manchester on Friday, via Townsville, Brisbane, Singapore and Heathrow airports...sounds like fun.

Saturday, June 21, 2003

Well here we are, in Townsville staying at another great guest house. Not alot to do tonight other than watch the Poms getting a bashing from the Wallabies hence we're off to the pub shortly. One thing we didn't know is that this is a US Navy port and one of it's ships has turned up today after 6 months at sea. Great 3,000 rabid Yanks wandering around trying to get drunk and/or laid...should make for an interesting night at the very least.

Helen and Rich are arriving tomorrow so we're meeting up to go round the aquarium and for beers tomorrow night before they head up the coast to some sort of hippie commune (their words) for a few days...

Friday, June 20, 2003

Just as an addendum to that last one we're getting some weird hits from people typing strange things into search engine ('Paul outbreak boyband' is by far the weirdest so far) so to try to improve the accuracy of hits I am putting a load of words below that should help us get the right sort of traffic.

round the world trip journal diary tour australia travel travelling asia china laos vietnam cambodia thailand diving british airways (tempting to put 'are shit' after that one)

Will keep you all informed of the progress.
Cairns, for those of you who don't know, is most definitely not the state capital of Queensland as per my email...just having an off moment on that one...it is of course Brisbane, home of the Broncos (and Gordon Tallis - grrrrrrrrrr!). Either way it's a pretty cool place absolutely teeming with backpackers. We have been staying at 'Tropic Days' for the last couple of nights, run by Gabriel - a 16 stone 6 foot plus Aussie dude...and it's great. If only all hostels were like this...friendly, inviting, knowledgable, well equipped and just a ball of fun really. Part of the deal with staying there is that you get a free meal every night at 'The Woolshed'. On arriving it's a bit like a soup kitchen with 10s of hungry emaciated backpackers (and me!) queuing for free food. When you enter you can upgrade to a better meal by paying about 2 quid. I had steak on both nights we went and it was marvellous...steak, chips, veg, pepper sauce for 2 or 3 quid...MAGIC! Having said that at around 10pm when food stops being served it just basically becomes one big student night complete with bad dancing, awful music and hilarious drunk 18 y.o.'s. It couldn't have been all bad as we stumbled out at around 1am the first night.

Cairns itself is quite a cool place - the city centre is new thanks to some hurricane or other a few years back and it shows. We spent most of yesterday booking stuff for the trip down south and we now have the following to look forward to:

23-26 June - 4 day, 3 night liveaboard diving...got it at a stupidly cheap price, and they come highly recommended. Apparently they've got all new equipment and a new boat to boot. One of the sites we are going to is the SS Yongala which is one of the most famous wreck sites in the world - for info click here.
27 June - Jen and I travel from Townsville to Airlie Beach (by bus) where we stay for a couple of days before we head out to the Whitsunday Islands with these guys on 29 June for three days. Pat leaves us here and is flying to Brisbane before the long haul back to the UK. On our first ever sailing adventure we are on this boat and the company comes highly recommend it. Helen and Rich have had an awful time on there one by the sound of things so we thought we'd go for one a little higher than our budget...it'll be interesting to see if our dinghy sinks, or if the crew have never sailed a sailing boat before...I bloody hope not.

After that we have got connections through to Hervey Bay (for Fraser Island - going to go 4WD/camping ourselves and hire stuff when we get there), and onto Noosa before hitting Brisbane on or avround the 14th July. The 16th of July is State of Origin III (which is now sold out) and we've got tickets!!

We also booked a car for today and tomorrow mainly so we can get down to Townsville tomorrow, but also it gave us the opportunity to explore the Atherton Tablelands today (not Table-lamps as Pat thought they were called). At the Budget rent-a-car place they very kindly offered to upgrade our Renault Clio to a 3.5 litre automatic Mitsubushi beast for a whole 2 dollars (80p) a day...it was a really tough decision. Girl's car or Animal - you decide... So off we went and had a great day. The landscape itself is mostly ex-volcanic areas thuis there are a few craters and the like and some hills that look like volcanoes...We also went to Lake Berrine which is a deasd ringer for Coniston, and had a cracking couple of hours watching the wildlife (2 pelican's that you could get within a couple of feet of were the highlight) and having a lazy lunch. We also managed to visit 'The Crater', Barron Falls, and a couple of massive fig trees that were over 40 metres round the base. Both were also over 50m tall and over 500 years old, they are basically parasites that have lived off the other trees and now stand up of their own accord long after the other trees have died.

In other news I have broken the first bed on our travels - no real story other than the fact that one of the supports underneath buckled and then the bloody thing snapped. We bent it back into shape but it was well and truely 'fubar'ed - Gabriel said he wasn't surprised - the manufacturer went out of business a few years ago apparently...

Pat did a skydive today from 15,000 feet. He said it was utterly amazing but on the downside it was all over within about 7 minutes (and wasn't cheap - over 200 quid). He got the piccies done and there are a couple below.


Wednesday, June 18, 2003

Just as a follow-up to yesterday's post here are the piccies - most are the ones Jen and I took, the YMCA one is from Pat's site.

Me in Alice Springs (sporting new NSWRL State of Origin top) with a sign saying how far London is away (15,030 km); Jen and I at the King's Canyon



Us at the King's Canyon again and first night around the campfire.



Group shot at the Olga's and mini-group shot (l-r Pat, Eva, Jen, Rachel, Me) at the Olga's



Us at Ayer's Rock (Uluru) and a picture of it as it starts to turn a different colour (sunset)



Group shot at the rock (l-r Stuart, Me, Jen, Pat, James Sylvia, Rachel, Robyn, Myriam - crouching); mini-gp shot on the alk round the base



YMCA on the bus; us on a camel (can't remember if this one was called 'Psycho' or 'Killer')



Us at 'The Last Supper' and the quote of the trip...

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

'Any Adventure.
Anywhere in the World.
I will take you there...'


This quote will have a real relevance - trust me...you'll just have to read the rest to find out why...

So we're back - and in three days we've (been) driven over 1,600 kms, have walked over 20 (more than I have walked cumatively in the last 3 years yet alone days...), and have both ridden and eaten camel (although not the same ones). More importantly we've had a bloody great time. The hardest part on the first morning was getting up, which we somehow managed and stumbled onto the 'Mulga's Tours' bus at around 6.30am. Darrin - our driver, guide, storyteller, and all-round nutter for the next 3 days seemed chirpier than most and we were soon on our way. As an ice-breaker he got everyone to get up and tell all about themselves. The best confession surely came from Claudia who confessed about the time when she hadn't worked for any exams...the only way she could get out of it was for a couple of 'friends' to break her fingers by slamming them between two desks. Her teachers then let her pass the year and not stay down a year...NICE! Introductions done we headed off on our big adventure. We truely were an international bus, made up of the following people (apologies to anyone who's name we've spelt wrong...:
2 Swedes - Magnus and Johanna - he is a chef, (oh how we laughed when we mentioned the Muppets and the Swedish chef, unsurprisingly having worked in London for a year he'd heard it a few time before...)
2 Germans (the by now famous Claudia, and Eva - not travelling together though)
1 Frenchwoman - Myriam (travelling for the moment with Claudia)
1 Canadian - Kian, who sports a great tattoo on his chest
1 Scot - Stuart, just sporting new dreadlocks
1 Japanese girl who's name I can't spell (SORRY!)
The rest of us were all Poms - Me, Jen, and Pat obviously and:
Jess, Robyn, and Maura - on Gap year off to uni later in the year - lucky sods...(also big Vic & Bob fans, great renditions of said funnyman's work on night 2 - 'I love the smell of....'etc etc....)
James - Alan Partridge in diguise, very funny (dirty) Leeds fan
Rachel - Mad Tate Modern woman - great laugh, known now for an appalling redition for the Vall-der-ee, Vall-der-ahhh song...we have the evidence on video...
oh, and one mad 'lazy bastard' Aussie guide...

The ice-breaker seemed to work and we were all getting on really well by the time we got to our first turning which, Darrin explained, would be a rare occurance. From that point every junction got rapturous applause and wild cheers, we even did a 'U-ie' to the bemusement of a couple in a campervan and went absolutely nuts...guess you had to be there for that one really. The first port of call was to be the King's Canyon (named, according to Darrin, after Elvis after it's discovery in the late 1800's). Lots of opportunities for ooh's and ahhh's on the walk around it...truely breathtaking views - it is, after all, the biggest canyon in the world as the Grand Canyon is actually a gorge not a canyon...technically...Anyhoo, off to the waterhole where a few brave souls dived in and promptly jumped straight back out. I would love to repeat on here what those hardy guys said as they entered the water but as it's just 4-letter words I will spare you the details. I think the only people to do it were Stuart (he's from Scotland and has been in Loch Lomond in the winter so he was fine), James (twice) and Eva & Rachel - who'd borrwed Jen's swimming cossie for the dubious pleasure. We all stayed on the side and ate snakes given to us by Darrin. (Jelly ones)

After the walk we stopped off for tea (Camel con Carne, or Chilli con Camel depending on your view) before heading off for our first night in the outback...beers were drunk and the name game was played - Stuart coming up with inspired 'Pontius Pilate' when presented with the letter P. Utter genius. James kept us entertained with his encyclopadic knowledge of Alan Partridge, we all had a go on a genuine didgereedoo and Pat lost at the drinking games - badly...

Up at 6ish for our trip to the Olga's - these are basically loads of round(ish) rocks that you can walk through and are even more sacred to the Aboriginals than Uluru. It was exceptional, the walk taking in some great Kodak moments and our first group photo - to appear here soon hopefully. We made it to Uluru for sunset, and had a nice cold beer whilst watching the sun go down. If you were wondering it really does change colour, and is as spectacular is it is in all the photos world-wide. Again, loads of piccies and another group shot were had. Night number two was much colder than the first night - and we had a bloody early start - 6am...not great after a few cheeky beers and a 1.30 bed-time...God I feel old...

Anyhow, we made it to Uluru but couldn't climb it due to high winds...this solved a nasty dliemma as the Aboriginals are not keen for you to climb it anyway (interestingly if you do they call you Minga's - bit harsh they don't even know us - it means 'ants' in their language btw). So, we set off on the 10 km base walk - walking round the whole thing. The stragglers - Me, Jen, Pat, Eva, Rachel and the Japanese girl (sorry again) made it back one whole hour after the rest of 'em...by which time James had taken to the mike for some impromtu karaoke, safe to say a career in singing does not beckon, although stand-up maybe a possibility...

So, to the end of our trip - a short stop at a camel farm for a quick ride and lark around with a friendly dingo (ironically named after Lindy Chamberlain's daughter), followed by arrival back in Alice. What to make of the 3 days? Unbelievable! The sites themselves were interesting but the whole trip was made great rather than just good due to a couple of other things...namely:

Darrin - this guy is an absolute headcase, but he can tell a great story, build a ripping fire and can gell a grroup of people together really quickly - we cannot recommend him and the tour itself highly enough.
The people - we're pretty convinced we'll never get a group like this on a tour again. Everyone out for a good time, friendly, fun, no egos, just a great bunch of people having a great time...we'll hopefully be staying in touch with a few and have invited Eva over to ours when she's next in England...she's reciprocated too

Ahhh to the quote...I didn't hear it - we have it though thanks it to the three Pommie girls (Maura, Robyn and Jess)...it was said by a love-struck guy to his girlfriend whilst watching the sunset at Uluru - the girls somehow managed not to vomit. It became the quote of the trip (along with Eva's 'I want to be a pussy!') instantly and was written ceremonially on the windscreen in marker pen.

The trip iteslf was basic yes, but the swags were great and relatively warm - hey we also got to stay in areas with no other people and as above, our guide was exceptional. I would recommend Mulga's tours and Annie's Place to anyone and can honestly say it's been 3 of the best days we've had since we've been away. Photos should appear here tomorrow. Off to Cairns tomorrow afternoon for some sun (it was -2 last night) and some diving...can't wait.

Saturday, June 14, 2003

Just a very quick one - we're in Alice Springs, and have booked a 'no frills' 3 day tour to Uluru. We're also going to King's Canyon too. Both nights are out under the stars and we're sleeping in a 'swag bag' - I always thought that was what burglers carried. It was -2 last night so in preperation we bought ourselves a new beanie hat each. We're booked into a great hostel who're also running the tour so should be a laugh...there's 29 of us and all but 6 are women so Pat's a happy man...

Friday, June 13, 2003

Jen outside her hotel (!) Notice that it's shut - this picture was taken at about 9pm!!!! Us on a ferry - me 'CM4'-ing and Jen asleep - some would say our joint fave past-times...



It's the Dan and Jen wildlife show - A penguin at night (using Jen's camera on nightshot); seals and Kangaroos - all Kangaroo Island.







The Remarkable Rocks and Dan & Pat; Dan & Jen



Jen & Sunset over Kangaroo Island, and our resident Kanga at night!

Our last day on KI was spent pretty much in the van as Jen was feeling a bit rough and the waether was awful. In the evening the local pub came and picked us up (!) and we had a few beers and a bottle of locally made wine which wasn't half bad. The bloke that gave us a life in spent 20 mins saying we'd done the right thing by not drinking and driving etc etc...and then promptly wolfed down 2 bottles of wine with his wife...someone else dropped us back - thank God!

We boarded the ferry back to the mainland this morning after spending 20 minutes watching it get battered by the waves on it's way over...and the trip back wasn't any smoother. It was like a scene from a film as things rolled across tables and people formed an orderly queue to go and be sick in the toilets. None of us succumbed though although Pat said he would have had we been an extra 10 minutes or so...

A couple of hours, and an altercation with a lorry driver, later (he even gave me the 'birdy' - what a friendly chap!) we arrived in Adelaide at Backpack Oz. They very kindly picked us up from the 'campervan deposit place' and although basic the place is excellent - free videos, pool table, lift to the airport tomorrow, and most importantly of all, friendly and informative staff. Adelaide itself seems to have it's fair share of nutters/weirdos. So far we've had sightings of at least 3 Tourette's sufferers, and enough grungey types to fill a Soundgarden concert 30 times over. No-one seems very friendly either - maybe it's the weather as it's currently pissing it down.

Luke (our mate from Melbourne) sent us a text messgae saying he'd bumped into Jason McCartney in the street and told him about the '3 Poms' trip to the footy' and said to say 'Hi!' to the Roos new English fans...cool eh? Kind of. So off to Uluru over the course of the next few days - no idea how we're going to get there or on what kind of tour, but either way unlikely to be any updates (other than photos that I'm trying to upload now) for a few days - not until we reach Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef anyway...


Thursday, June 12, 2003

Wednesday was a real wildlife day. We started at Seal Bay and spent some time on the beach on a tour of the sea-lion breeding centre. There were no barriers and we were allowed within about 5 metres of the animals. One pup even came right up to us for photos. Great fun. We then went over to the New Zealand Fur Seals Colony (over 10,000 of them here but you couldn't get as close) and saw Admiralty Arch which will eventually erode to leave an island. Our final stop was at the 'Remarkable Rocks' - huge rocks that were formed thousands of years ago by the volcanic activity in the region and have subsequently been weathered so they now resemble Henry Moore sculptures. We got there for sunset and got some great piccies.

Over night we found out why Kangaroo Island is so named as a 'roo decided to use our van for shelter from the wind and took up residence by our driver's side door. He also kept sniffing round for food but we heeded the warnings not to feed so he left hungry. He didn't keep us awake too long, and by the time we got up this morning he'd gone...

We spent half an hour this morning on a 'Koala Walk' and, by jove, we saw some in the wild for the first time. They were, predictably, all asleep and about 30 foot up in trees...ho hum, at least we saw some though. Jen is feeling a little under the weather with a stomach bug so we've decided today will be a nothing day and will probably get to the campsite fairly early. Tomorrow morning we're on the ferry at 10.30 and should be dropping the van in Adelaide around 2pm (ish). We are flying to Alice Springs at 9.40am on Saturday and wil then do a 3 day trip to Ayers Rock (Uluru) with some camping involved (oh goody!) no doubt.

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

So unsurprisingly the whales decided to do a no show. Still no spottings and although we waited for about 1/2 an hour at the spotting platform they didn't turn up on cue as we'd hoped. The next drive was all set to be a bit of a trek (although nothing of what was to come the next day...) and with that in mind we decided to visit Cape Bridgewater. The sign said '600m past headland - allow 2 hours' and a couple returning to the car park confirmed that it was a 'tough walk'. Being the supreme athletes that we are we decided 'what the hell' and set off in pursuit of our goal - a colony of seals which live on the cape, sheltered from all the rough seas and bad weather. En route we passed Victoria's tallest cliff (130m) and eventually we reached a couple of viewing platforms which enabled us to get a good (but not amazing) view of the seals doing their thing. Some were playing energetically, some diving for fish, some just lazing around catching some rays...I wonder what type of seal I'd be...? After a few minutes scrambling down the cliff to get a better view and some photos (Mum would have had a fit - 'Daniel, don't go down there it's cordoned off for a reason' etc etc...) we headed back, knackered but pretty happy with the whole walk and wildlife. Next stop the blowholes (just big crashing waves really) and petrified forest which was basically a load of trees that got covered in limestone or something tens of thousands of years ago. The trees then rotted from the inside of their new cases and thus a kind of stone forest was born. Eerie, weird but strangely interesting.

So, head down and onto Mount Gambier - which was once volcanic. All that remains now is a huge crater which is now a reservoir and provides all the local community with drinking water. It's meant to be grey in the winter but it looks very blue on our photo! The night out here was hilarious given that we went to an Irish Bar for tea and at 8.45 gut turfed out as they were closing...an Irish Bar. ON BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY...(why do the Aussies get a day off for the Queen's birthday and we don't...? (answers on a postcard to John Howard, c/o Australia)

On waking up we decided to make the trek towards Adelaide in order to jump on a ferry to Kangaroo Island either Tuesday evening or Wednesday...however, when we rang the ferry company they said we needed to pre-book because our van is over 5m long..D'oh! So we decided to put the maniac driver (me) in charge and proceded to aim to drive 300 km in 3 1/2 hours. In a 6m long, 3.3m tall campervan. On B roads. Well we were doing OK 'til we got stuck behind the learner motorbiker, the trail of cars that pulled out in front of him, and an ice-cream truck and with 1/2 an hour to go we still had about 50kms to drive. I will spare you of the full details but safe to say we made the ferry with Jen feeling so sick she could barely stand and Pat also looking green. Hey I was fine though!!!

Kangaroo Island is great - not just Kangars here but loads of wildlife. Last night we went to the Penguin Centre in Penneshaw and saw them in their natural habitat as they came home from a hard day at the ocean. It was a great hour or so and I managed to take a couple of pictures too to add to the Cornwell wildlife collection. One humerous moment was when an American with a 2 foot mullet (perfectly groomed I kid you not about the length - Billy Ray Cyrus would have been soooooooo proud) arrived and I proceded along the lines of the following conversation with Pat:

Me: 'What do Penguins eat?'
P: 'Fish'
Me: 'What sort of fish?'
P: 'I dunno, mackerel...?'
Jen: 'No, mullet surely...'
Pat: 'Do they? Oh I dunno....'

So us being childish didn't work because Pat didn't get the joke. Oh how we laughed.

Afterwards we went for a beer in a place straight out of Hicksville, Tennessee, where Jen stroked a little puppy and the bloke at the bar said something along the lines of 'you won't do that in 10 months' without knowing we own a dog twice the size of his house (probably) - oh the irony....they were all leathered and were not the friendliest Aussies so after one beer we moved on...back to bed...wimps that we are. Today we've found an internet cafe (yay!) as Pat can't get GPRS an the island - in fact no phone signal here - and we're now off to explore - more seals, and hopefully some koalas and the like.

One thing we have noticed about Aussies is that they like to abbreviate everything by putting an 'O' on the end of everything...so far we've had:

Vego - vegetarian
Smoko - smoke break
Rego - car registration
Spazzo - offensive remark against an opposing player in the 'footy'

...to name but a few...

Sunday, June 08, 2003

Time for some more pictures - first up, me and Jen on a very famous street...that's Harold's house in the background apparently; and also the night out with Flic & Luke, l-r Pat, Nick, Flic, Luke, Kim, Dan - Jen's taking the photo.



Metropolitan, cosmopolitan Melbourne by night, and the two of us stood outside the stadium with the scoreline and Jason McCartney towering over us.



A couple from the Great Ocean Road...2 tourists and...a) The 12 (alledgedly) Apostles, b) London Bridge (is falling down, falling down...)

Our first night away was spent in Lorne where we managed to see absolutely nothing. We arrived at dusk and then did a big shop before being far too tired to do anything other than sleep. This morning we went to a waterfall (Erskine Falls) that was pretty unspectacular, before heading off towards the most famous parts of the Great Ocean Road. The 12 Apostles are 12 sandstone rocks hundreds of feet high that have formed over the years due to erosion from the tide. We could only spot 10 1/2 though. Maybe Judas had persuaded a couple to crumble and the 1/2 was a lamb or something...anyhow - great views and piccie opportunities. We also saw 'London Bridge' which used to be a bridge but is now an island. There is a reputedly funny story about the day the middle section collapsed leaving the island...a man and women were on it and were eventually rescued later on that day after being filmed by a passing news helicopter. HIS wife wasn't too impressed...when she saw them both on the news...neither was his boss as he'd rung in sick that morning.

So here we sit in Warrnambool - some 400 km into our 2nd road trip - it was a little further than we thought but the only other stay-in-able room en route was in a a place called Peterborough and you know my feelings on that one. Warrnambool is one of the best places in the world to whale watch, as the whales migrate for the summer or winter - can't remember which. Having said that they haven't made and apprarances so far this year...let's hope their alarm is set for June 10th this year as that's what we're doing tomorrow. Pat is looking into the possibility of diving with Great White's - we're going to have to pass on it due to cost but if he does it we'll meet up with him later.till no idea on our route/itinery from here - just see how it goes really.

Saturday, June 07, 2003

Another in a series of great nights out. We started out at a bar where the Poms whooped the Aussies at pool (2-0 - read it and weep!) and Pat was in exceptional form potting a couple of long ones en route. For tea we had 'ParmaGarna' which is basically a piece of chicken wrapped in ham, a tomato sauce, and covered in cheese. Just to finish the lard fest they then bung it on a bed of chips, to appease the girls they added some lettuce and the like. The gang had expanded to 7 and was soon to be 10 when we finally made it to an Irish Bar which was actually rather good. Interestingly, being the king of facial hair, Luke's friends also wore similar pogs - every one of them sporting a fetching beard of some description. Even the girls. Not really.

Anyhow we chatted and drank until the small hours, one of the most interesting thints we covered being 'Scavenger Hunt' which happens at Melbourne Uni every year and it is basically a big...Scavenger Hunt. What happens is that the previous years winners get to write a list of around 3-600 items for teams to collate in a 24 hour period. The teams are then awarded points based on the difficulty of the item. e.g. The most naked people up a tree photo - 500 points, a fire engine 1000 points, and a police car door 5000 points. Luke is captain of a team that has finished 2nd on a number of occasions...he didn't manage the police car door but did manage getting the boys in red to drive their engine around to the judging panel. He also onced changed his name by deed-poll to the name of his team (His name became 'I. I.' - I think that one was 1,000 points...). Why don't they have uni events like that back home...pure genious, pure carnage.

Feeling decidedly worse for wear in the morning (we didn't get to sleep til after 5am - rock and roll !!!!) we had a bit of a walk round Melbourne. It's much more cosmopolitan and multi-cultural than Sydney, and has loads of great little spots and excellent bars and cafes.

In the evening one event I had really been waiting for - AFL - the footy. Now it's not footy as we know it but 36 (18 on each team) rabid Aussies running around a cricket pitch trying to kick a rugby shaped ball through some posts - mayhem. Last's night game was played at the 50,000 all-seater Telstra Dome - and last night it was bursting at the seams with over 43,000 crammed in for the local derby between Richmond Tigers and North Mebourne Kangaroos - the 'home' team. The match itself took on a huge significance as the 'Roos' number 5 - Jason McCartney - was severely burnt in the Bali bombings and last night was his comeback match after 8 months out with horrific injuries. It was a truely moving spectacle as a number of teams who lost players were represented by fellow team-mates at the start of the match. Jason himself wore a shirt with 88/202 stitched onto it in remembrance of the 88 Aussies and 202 poeple that died last October, and received an exceptional ovation from both sets of fans at the start of the game, despite only being named on the subs bench. So the scene was set...on the walk to the ground I had secretly decided I would cheer for Richmond as they play in black and amber (Cambridge) and the Roos play in blue and white (Boro Scum) and it is against all my principles to cheer for anything in blue and white, hell I even boycotted Thomas Cook for 5 years when they sponsored Boro...BUT the Aussie guy I sat next to was a Roos season ticket holder and he was such a nice guy, explaining all the rules, and exchanging sporting anecdotes that I did the unthinkable...cheered for a team in blue and white. By the end of the 100 minutes play (spread over 4 quarters) I was as wrapped up as anyone...

It was a great match - Luke said we'd chosen a hell of a game to go to afterwards...and going into the final 1/4 the scene was set with the scores within 3 points. Then the moment the whole crowd (and to be honest me, being a bit of a sentimentalist, too) had been waiting for. With the Roos trailing by 3, McCartney, obviously struggling to keep pace with the game somehow managed to catch a ball (a mark) some 25 yards out and thus had the opportunity, with about 5 mins to go, of kicking a goal to put the Roos into the lead by 3. The whole crowd roared as he stepped up and cooly slotted the ball over. He was mobbed, fans hugged each other and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The drama clearly hadn't ended as the Tigers went straight up the other end and slotted a goal of their own. So, into the last 2 mins and the Roos attacking saw them in good field position, but without a clear opportunity until their number 5 somehow managed to get a scuffed kick away under pressure which was taken on the full by another forward for an easy goal and a 3 point victory. It was fitting that when the final siren sounded Jason McCartney has the ball in his hands and was then surrounded by not just his team-mates but the players from Richmond. All around us grown men were shedding tears, yet were exhalted, there was no doubt we had been a part of something that'll go down in Aussie sporting folk historty for decades to come. He was then hoisted shoulder-high and did an impromptu press conference where he announced his retirement, which was no real surprise as footy is a hell of a physical sport and he could only play with full compression suit and gloves. He has agreed to stay on with the club until the end of the season and has then got a role lined up in the media - good luck to him too. Having been a sports fan since my father first took me to football matches when I was 10 I have seen many memorable things both live and on telly...Cambridge at the Millennium (although we got hammered), the Eagles winning at Wembley, Goran winning Wimbledown etc etc...but this was possibly the most emotional sporting night I have ever witnessed - absolutely magical...we were so lucky to be a part of it. (Click HERE for offical webisite and aftermatch comments)

So, we said our goodbye's to Luke and Flic - you won't find 2 nicer people, and extended invites to England - hopefully one day they'll be able to take us up on the offer...if not I could always get a gang together and visit them for Scav Hunt!!! We're now in the campervan office and, after having a good look at the 2 1/2 berth van have decided to go for the 4 berth one instead so they're spending a couple of hours cleaning it for us. Not sure of our route yet but we'll be taking in most of the Great Ocean Road en route to Adelaide. We also want to get to Phillip and Kangaroo Islands and do a bit of whale-watching. We're disappointed to be leaving Melbourne so soon, it's a great city, really vibrant but very different to Sydney. Who knows, one day we may be back, I for one, hope so.

Thursday, June 05, 2003

Just a very quick shout to my brother's mate Laura...THANKS for paying the China cheque in - much appreciated. She's looking after all the post when my bro's out here and has already paid the cheque in - so Laura we'll raise a glass to you tonight when we're meeting up with Luke and Flic whom we met in Chengdu - China. We've already had Nando's with Luke though at lunch time...

The Neighbours set then...erm well it was a street called Pin Oak Court (not Ramsay Street) but the houses were vaguely recognisable. We also got to see Erinsborough High (called Blackburn English School). There was no sign of Bouncer, Helen Daniels or Cody, although I've been told they're all dead. We're not staying for the meet the Neighbours night on Monday where Dr Karl Kennedy is the special guest star...gutted eh?

We have also changed our itinery to the following:

17 July (Day after State of Origin III) - Brisbane to Darwin
26 July - Darwin to Perth
16 Aug - Perth to Brisbane
17 Aug - Brisbane to Auckland
1 Oct - Auckland to Santiago
8 Nov - Rio to Lima (via Santiago)
20 Dec - Quito to Madrid
27 Dec - Madrid to Barcelona
2 Jan (2004!!!) - Barcelona to MANCHESTER - HOME! So we won't be back for Xmas (which we wanted to be) but if we were we'd have had to rush everything to the extent that we would miss out on South America. Also it means I can hit the job market at the best time of year...it'll be strange being on the other side of the desk...

McDonald's with an internet cafe - I kid you not. Now if they served beer and showed footy what reason would there ever be to leave? Here are some piccies for you via my brother (again).

Firstly my homage to the king of all kings, and a shimmery one of us wine-tasting in the Hunter Valley.



Pat, Bob, Koala, and Me; wallaby grabbing Jen's hand as she feeds it sugarpuffs.



My brother and me (how camp??) waiting for the white water rafting; us in the sea at Bryon Bay - it was bloody cold.



Jen silhouetted on Byron Bay beach; us just after a race - l-r Pat, Rich, Jen and me...Rich won - GIT!!!



Wednesday, June 04, 2003

A great night out followed, and an inpromptu dip in said freezing sea at around 10pm...all good fun. Yesterday (Tuesday) we decided, despite the freezing rain and cloudy weather, to head to the biggest and best water park in Aus. It was great fun - there were about 10 'rides' and they seemingly had catered for all forms of falling down a slide - some lying down, some sitting up, some head first. There was also a massive wavepool where I proceded to nearly drown - how ironic would that have been given the amount of time we've spent on the actual sea in real waves...?

The trip to the water park was not without event however, as Helen decided instead to go to the cinema and as she did so, she turned my phone off...when she tried to turn it back on she realised she didn't know the PIN. We'd already emailed though and we managed to arrange a place to pick her up...we were nearly down to 4 not 5...anyhow, a mad adash up the coast to Brisbane followed and we managed to find a space at a campsite despite it being the National Caravan and Motorhome show just up the road. They did stick us on an 'emergency' stand at first but when we realised we were on about a 20 degree incline (thus, no sleep) we managed to persuade them to move us...

The park was miles from anywhere so we settled down for the night with some of the Hunter Valley wine and Peter Kay - Live from the top of the Tower ('Garlic bread?, bread with garlic on it....') before bedding down for the night. The rain did not abait however and pretty much all of us had a broken night's sleep whilst the storm continued outside.

So 5 has become 3 - travelling with 2 others we'd previously not met (Helen & Rich) was for the most part great fun. I am sure they are looking forward to their privacy a little as I know we are...I don't think we annoyed each other that much although a couple of times the atmostphere was a little charged...hey what do you expect with 5 people in the space of a jail cell for 12 days!! Either way we're all still friends (I hope) and we've vowed to meet up in Cairns in about 2-3 weeks for some fun and diving. This afternoon, in order to kill time before our flight we went to see 'Old School' - funny in parts but no real storyline...it killed a couple of hours though, and we've now arrived at Brisbane airport for our 6pm (ish) flight. Next stop Melbourne where we meet with Luke & Flic (the most bearded man in the world and his Dentist friend - we met them in Chengdu), we are going to tour the Neighbours set, and also go to an Aussie Rules match, hopefully at the MCG on Saturday. From there we head off down the Great Ocean Road before winding up in Adelaide on the 14th in preparation for the trip up to Ayres Rock (Uluru). En route we are trying to fix up a 'dive with Great White Sharks in a cage' type thing...not sure where or when yet but apparently you can do it in Aus.

Oh and while I remember part 5 (or something) in a series of 'our faith in humanity is restored...'. We have received a cheque for 160 quid from CTS (China Travel Service) Hong Kong Ltd. for the flights we cancelled and we thought we had no hope of getting a refund for...yay! This means with BA's 300 we actually about broke even getting out of China. Certainly helps. Also we're now booked onto the Neighbours tour - going tomorrow - we will be going to Ramsey Street and will get to see Erinsborough High (whatever that is) and hear some new storylines...can't wait.

Monday, June 02, 2003

Nothing really to report other than that we had a great night out with good beer, great food and a couple of weird but good bands. This morning we went for a swim in the sea and proceded to get buffeted about by wind and currents before heading into town. We are currently finalising our route for the next few weeks...more specifically Melbourne to Adelaide from 4-14 June.

Sunday, June 01, 2003

So I've not written for a couple of days which usually means we're having a good time right? RIGHT! The horse riding was a blast even if I did get the worlds only gay horse to ride on...well 'Trooper' was described as 'having a boyfriend'. He's a gelding though, and so is his partner...confused...? I was...anyhow, enough about horse sexuality and onto the riding. We went through about 10 km of rainforest and although we were promised that there were Koalas we didn't see any. The trip took us through some lovely scenery and my 'usually lazy bugger' of a horse even managed a trot or two. Poor sod. He did look truely knackered at the end. The estate on which the horse riding is set has been owned by the people who took us riding for about 5 years and they own 400 acres - read it and weep. You can buy a 5 bed house with 5 acres out here (albeit 20 km from the coast) for about $500,000 Aus...about 200k to you and me. Ho hum...will someone remind me why we live in England again....?

In the evening we all went bowling and Rich topped the scoring charts with a whopping 177. Both me and Pat managed creditable averages of about 125. Jen wasn't last so she was chuffed! We thought it'd be rude not to visit the pub Russell Crowe had a big drunken fight in a few months before his wedding (he lives just up the road), but the big burly and thick as pig-shit bouncers barred Jen and Helen's entry on the grounds that 'you need ID if you are under 32'. I nearly asked if he meant IQ or age, as he would clearly have needed ID for the former. Ho hum...trip back to the van and an early night where Jen, Helen and Pat all tied last and were all shit-heads. I'm not telling you who lost the play-off they decided to have to choose a clear 'winner'. She won't let me.

On the evening (before the cards) we booked onto a day's white water rafting on the Nymboida River for the following day (yesterday). It proved to be great fun although we did nearly flip the boat on one of the more dangerous sections. We knew we were in trouble when the guide's command changed from 'get down, get down' to 'f**ing get down - NOW!' Very amusing. A great BBQ was had by all before we headed back.

An early night then, and then an early(ish) start to get to where we are now (Byron Bay - not the internet cafe). First impressions are good, although loads of travellers and, ahem, alternative lifestyle people (see Khao Sarn Rd for details). Should be good fun for a day at the beach and possibly a day's diving before we head North to Surfer's Paradise and Brisbane. The van has to be back on Wednesday by 4.30pm and anyhow, our flight to Melbourne is at 5.50ish...it's a Qantas internal so let's hope there's no nutters with wooden stakes.