Thursday, July 31, 2003

For T III read Hulk. Again, although highly stylised (aren't all comic books), a little long, and with no discernable storyline I thought it was much much better than the critics. We are now in Margaret River - a picturesque town situated, unsurprisingly, on the stretch of water that bears its name. It boasts some great viewpoints, a few eateries, and one fantastic internet cafe! The trip here was via a couple of places; our first stop being Busselton, which is famous for it's pier. At 2km long it is one of the longest in Aus and we duly trapsed it's length (and back, obviously) with the wind whipping and the rain lashing our faces. Still it was quite a pleasant experience for no other reason than that there were so few people around and you could really feel the force of the wind and sea. After this we made it to Ngilgi Cave which was found, completely by accident, in 1899. It is about 40m deep and has hundreds or thousands of stalagmites and stagaltites. We descended as far as we could go and had a good look round before the guide turned all the lights off leaving it eerily dark. Thankfully he turned them back on before the long trudge back to civilisation. In total we walked over 2 km and up and down 681 steps (no I didn't count them).

No real plan from here - we;ll probably move on tomorrow - there have been reports of an albine Southern Right whale being born in Albany, so we're hurrying along to get there in time to see it. We called a company doing whale watching there today and they said that they thought the mother and child may shelter in the bay for a few more weeks so we are hopeful we can get there in time. The weather is still shocking - rain and gale-force winds.

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

I actually thought Terminator III was much better than alot of the reviews I've read. I thought the predictable one-liners were well-delivered, story line had a decent twist, and the action sequences were fantastic. The crane chase is really excellent. All in all worth 8.5 bucks! For those who don't know Tuesday is cheap Tuesday in cinemas throughout Aus...thus the cheap ticket. We loved the cinema so much (honest) we've decided to go back today to kill a couple of hours...this time to see 'The Hulk'. The weather is predictably awful - that fine rain that soaks you through again.

This morning we had a couple of hours at the Dolphins Discovery Centre where we spent some time in the museum area and also on the beach where we saw at least 7 if not alot more wild dolphins who swam right up to the shore line looking for their food. Unfortunately the sea was pretty choppy so we couldn't wade out and 'interact'.

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

'Parents, be nice to your children, they choose your retirement homes...' as found on a wall in Fremantle - a place we've just spent the day wandering. Freo (as it's known to the locals) is a really smart looking place with buildings straight out of picture-books, fantastic looking cafes, and a relaxed, (almost falling over) laid-back feel. We started the day by walking to the 3km or so into town from the caravan park along a coastal path. The weather was unusually hot and sunny for the time of year and it was a fun 40 minutes or so. En route we passed some dreadlocked hippie type woman with a couple of those fires thingies that you twiddle round your head. It's a good job hers weren't on fire as she would have set herself alight on numerous occasions such was her uselessness with them. We also watched a black lab. puppy run into the sea chasing a tennis ball and spend fully ten minutes searching for it before it's owner realised it had gone forever and plucked another from her bag...she'd obviously done that before.

So onto Freo...we spent a fair part of the morning just walking around (that's free you know!) and looking in bookshops (can't afford such luxuries now...) before having our (packed) lunch in a town square different to most we've seen so far in Aus insofar as there were no tramps, annoying children (well one, but he wasn't that annoying) or paralytic aborigines. Sad, but true. Our one indulgence for the day - a coffee at one of the afrementioned cafes whiled away another half hour or so before we headed to 'The Roundhouse', which, incidentally, is not round but has 12 sides. I suppose 'The Dodecahedral-house' just isn't as catchy (or easy to spell). This was the site of the first Freo gaol and here they once executed a 15-y.o. boy. That'll teach him for playing truant...Onwards to the Maritime Museum which holds a reconstructed part of the stern of the Batavia which sunk off the West coast in 1629. Of the 316 on board only 116 survived due to a mutiny shortly after people fled the sinking ship. Ironically only a handful drowned as the ship went down, most died in the bloody 'coup' that followed. Just a quick shout out to an Oxford supporting friend of mine - thanks for ringing me last night to gloat about Paul Wanless. For once I have no reposte. I fully expect you to get promoted and us relegated...

This morning we were due to head out to Rottnest Island but with thunderstorms, 30 knot+ winds, and 3m swells due for this afternoon we decided against seeing our dinner again and have travlled south to Bunbury - home of the Dolphin Discovery Centre. We are going to try to see soem of the little fellas tomorrow morning which is their favourite time to come into the 'interactive zone'. Jen's also had some really good news about something that has been dragging on for about 2 years now so all in all we're pretty upbeat for the first time in a few days.

Monday, July 28, 2003

The dust has settled after a nightmareish time really. In the immediate aftermath of the crash Helen and Rich stayed behind to help us out, and drove us to the nearest police station the next day so a big shout to them. Also a big thanks to the 4 people (2 of whom I didn't get their names...) who stopped by the side of the road and helped us salvage everything we could. Without them passing by (and the South African couple who picked Jen up and took her back to the campsite) a bad night could have been a whole lot worse.

In some of the emails we have got people keep asking 'did you hit the 'roo'...the answer, quite simply, is no. Having said that we are now buying as much kangaroo meat as possible - it tastes a little like a cross between beef and pork btw.

We also get asked 'what about insurance'? Well the 3,000 (UKP) we are paying is only the excess...being backpackers, and needing a cheap campervan rental to get a reasonable excess (say 200 UKP) you have to pay at least 50% on top of the rental price - sometimes up to 100%. Having already taken the insurance out once and not the other time we decided against it this time for purely financial reasons and I guess we were the unlucky ones.

The most difficult thing now is trying to motivate ourselves to do other things as we obviously cannot afford the diving, or, indeed, the long trip up the coast (once bitten and all that...). It's really easy to think of all the ifs...

if we'd picked up the first van at 10am we wouldn't have been driving at dusk
if we'd gone straight to the campsite and not out to the Pinnacles we'd also have been fine
if we'd hired a more expensive and newer van (this one had done over 420,000 km's) it would have had anti-lock brakes and we wouldn't have veared of the road
if we'd taken out more expensive/lower excess insurance...

but then there's the other ifs...

if we'd rolled on the road not the soft sand which took the impact of the roll what would/could have happened?
if we'd hit the 'roo (we had no 'roo bars on the front and the engine was under us not in front...) what would/could have happened?
if there was a car coming the other way what would/could have happened?

So on one hand we're really annoyed about losing the chance to go north, losing a load of cash and possibly losing the opportunity to do certain things on the trip. On the other hand we could both be on the way home in a casket by now, a point vividly illustrated to us on the front page of the yesterday's 'Western Australian' newspaper. The headline 'No Chance' above a picture of a car that crashed into a bridge killing a young couple instantly.

As an friend of ours says 'if my auntie had a moustache she's be my uncle...' and I guess that's what we have to do - it's in the past, it's happened and now let's move on.

In an effort to do so we went to Cash Converters (!) yesterday and bought the cheapest TV we could find. We figured that doing so would mean we wouldn't get bored in the evenings (even though Aussie TV is basically UK TV with strange accents and bad acting), and hey, they'll even buy it back off us for half the price we paid (we paid 130 dollars - about 50 quid for colour TV and aerial) should Qantas not allow us to take it to New Zealand with us. So we're kind of thinking of it as a TV rental cost of about a pound a day - a bargain in every sense of the word. Incidentally the sales assistant looked at me as if I'd escaped from the local asylum when I asked if I needed to buy a licence. 'What for?...A telly? You're kidding mate?'

As I've already said we've changed our plans and aren't going up north any more. After some wrangling with NQ rentals they have given us a new van (they didn't have any of the ones marked 'scabby backpackers vans' and thus tried to charge 20 quid a day 'upgrade fee' for the only van they had available, before I pointed out in their terms and conditions that it says 'if we need to upgrade you we will pay for it' or words to that effect.)

So here we are in the delightful coastal town of Fremantle. It's all 'art deco' buildings (ish) and fancy coffee shops. We had a quick look round yesterday and have come back today (with packed lunch and bottle of squash) to see it when it's a little less crowded. The plan from here is to go out to Rottnest Island tomorrow, and then head south towards Margaret River, through to Albany, doing a tree-top walk or two en route (Walpole) and then back to Perth via Wave Rock and York. We will probably stay in lay-bys every other night but as campsites are pretty cheap (8-10 quid a night) and they have hot showers that may be our biggest outlay. We still have enough money to get to, and do New Zealand fairly effectively we think. At the moment we are trying to sort a little additional funding (donations welcome ;) (!)) which will enable us to do the South America touras planned.

One other thing is that because we are watching our money diary entries will almost certainly become more sporadic (certainly whilst we are camping anyway as few sites have internet access) and we may take a couple of days to respond to emails. If anyone needs to contact us urgently my Aus mobile number is available on the message system for my UK number (!). You can text us on that.

Saturday, July 26, 2003

OK. It's not been a good day or two really. We left Perth after changing campervans once in one that had done over 420,000 km's. Upon arriving at Cervantes at around 5.15pm we decided to make the trip out to the Pinnacles so we could get on up the coast first thing the next day. We were going fine until a huge 'roo (the biggest we've ever seen) jumped out in front of us. I slammed the brakes on and we skidded into the side of the road before the car decided to roll over (and land upright) tearing the roof off in the process. Although really shaken up neither of us are/were hurt and we walked away. Some very kind people stopped by and helped us salvage everything. The roll wasn't at very high speed as nearly everything was intact (apart from the van)...even the wine, beer bottles etc... survived !

The bad news is that cost. It's going to cost us $7,000 due to the excess, towing charges, and 'single-vehicle' accident clause. This means that we're some 3k down and as we were living to budget at the mo we are not sure how we're going to pay for South America. We're trying to sort something out but it looks likely thanks to one bloody 'roo we may have to cut our trip short. As the cop we reported it to today said 'at least you're alive' and for once I'd agree with that. Apparently the biggest part of his job is dealing with car crashes - many fatal.

We're heading back to Perth tomorrow first thing and picking up a replacement van as we decided this morning in typical British stiff upper lip type way that 'the show must go on' and we're going to try to stick to our original plan. The alternative was to lose the money we'd paid for the van and hang around in Perth for 3 weeks. We would have gone back to Perth and got jobs but we can't work here as we don't have work, only tourist, permits.

We are both OK - a little bruised and sore, but no cuts or anything more serious.

Friday, July 25, 2003

We're off up the coast then, and access t'internet may be a little more sporadic. Hence if you don't get an email back for a couple of days don't worry! Our first stop in Cervantes for the Pinnacles, then off north towards Monkey Mia (swimming with dolphins and some 'Awestromomy' - star-gazing in a hot-tub!) before finally heading up to Ningaloo for some much needed diving.

Thursday, July 24, 2003

Our last night with the gang was a little shorter than the previous one. We only managed a couple of drinks before heading back due to the 4.30am wake up for our flight to Perth. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, a really really good bunch of people. Ben did his 'mar-mee-tay, vey-je-mee-tay noo-tell-ahhh' routine (in joke) and we got it on video so we were happy. He also beat me at pool the git! Strange to think really that in a couple of months Ben'll be back in France, Katherine (who has already headed to Sydney) will be back in the UK, Laurina will be in Canada, (dirtygirl) Zoe, and Rog will be in Sydney and we'll be in South America - literally all spread round the world.

So, here we are in Perth. First impressions are that it's a very laid back big city. We met up with Helen and Rich for lunch - they're off up the coast today and we've arranged to meet in Coral Bay on 29th for some diving. They had a spot of bother with their campervan from Wicked Campers as the one they were allocated had a porngraphic depiction of a couple of women and their sex toys. Unsurprisingly they weren't amused and the van is currently being re-sprayed...

We've brought our van forward by a few days and are thus picking it up tomorrow. It means we can spend more time heading up the coast. Ours is from NQ rentals and has no daubings on the side thank God.

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Today is the ninth anniversary of my Dad's death. That's nearly a third of my life. He was kind of the inspiration for doing this whole mad year out thing in a 'carpe diem' kind of way. Ironic really as he never even went in an aeroplane. I still miss him.
Last night will definitely go down in the 'Dan & Jen World Trip Annals' as 'another great party night out...' After meeting up with everyone from the trip bar the Aussie couple (who incidentally told some of us they'd left town but told others they weren't leaving for a few more days) at Shennanigans - an 'Irish Bar' - we decided to do their quiz. On round 1 we scored 10 out of 10, but after only getting 5 in the next round decided to move on sharpish to Hanuman's - a Thai/Indian restaurant that has won loads of awards for it's food and ambience, although, not as it would turn out, it's customer service.

We arrived at 9.05pm only to be told our table, booked for 9, had been given to another group. Whilst we were a little annoyed we weren't that bothered and went across the road to another Irish bar for a beer. They had my mobile number and duly rund at 9.39 to let us know our table was ready. Drinks were downed and we made our way to the restaurant within a couple of minutes only to be told to order quickly as they'll be closing the kitchen soon. Within a couple more minutes we had ordered wine and various meals only then to be told (after tucking into the wine) that 'chef has shut down the tandoori over for the evening', meaning most of us would be left with dishes we didn't want. Not impressed! (Dirtygirl) Zoe complained and for old times sake I joined in but in what I thought was a fair and constructive way - hey I didn't even raise my voice. The unanimous decision was made (after quaffing more of the wine obviously) to leave the restaurant (without paying for anything), and the girls (Ben was on the internet so just the 6 of us by now) were up and gone pretty sharpish leaving me to chat with the Assistant Manager, Dino. He explained how sorry he was and I said how disappointed we were and how we have eaten in some really good restaurants all around the world and in the UK. I then mentioned I ran a website and that I'd have to mention it in there (in a disappointed about your place kinda way not a bitchy one) and it was then he really (for some reason) started begging us to stay. Indeed his exacts words were:

'What would it take for you to stay?' reply - 'nothing, we've made our decision', then he said (and this has NEVER happened to me before) 'I'll take it' (take what????) 'I'll take it, I'll pay for your food'. Meaning we could have all had a free meal in one of the best restaurants in Northern Australia for nothing - just paying for the wine. By the time this ludicrously generous offer had been made the girls had scarpered though and by the time I had explained to them what had happened we were all agreed (honest!!) that we had made a decision to leave and it was now a matter of principle. Fair dos. So (with it now past 10pm) we trudged up and down Mitchell Street looking for a place to eat. The Hog's Breath Cafe had stopped serving food and so had everywhere else (including the numerous fast food places - arghhhhhhhh) but eventually Rog and Zoe used their charms to persuade the chefs at Cafe 69 to stay on for another half an hour and cook us all a meal. And what a meal it was. Massive steaks, lamb shanks to die for and, according to Jen, some of the best ribs she'd ever had. The message is clear - if you ever go to Darwin go to this place - the staff were friendly and the food was just exceptional. A bonus was that the bill came to under a tenner a head... TREMENDOUS! Now touching midnight we wandered back to where it all began this time with Ben in tow. Incidentally, he was sporting the best t-shirt I've seen so far...Plain black with the words 'Qui est ton Papa?' on it (he is French after all...). Superb. Another couple of pints and a bizarre conversation, using props, about emus legs were had before we bade farewell to our new found buddies. Katherine had left for her flight back to Sydney a little earlier and we were tired...we finally made it back around 2 o'clock. Stupidly enough, with a 6am flight tomorrow we've all arranged to meet up again tonight...should be fun again...

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Big hairy elephant (mammoth) post coming up...

Our first evening in Darwin (last Thursday) was spent at the Nimbil Market, home to hundreds of craft and food stalls, tens of hippies with bad dreadlocks and one fantastic didgereedoo player. In fact he was so good we even bought one of his CDs although, alas, not the Drum 'n' Bass one. After listening to didgeman for 20 mins or so and chomping on a pile of nachos as big as your house we bumped into Jason Gillespie - one of Australia's fast bowlers. He was in town for the test match against Bangladesh starting on Friday. I am pleased to report he looks as tall, ugly and gipsy-esque (Romanic?) in real life as he does on the telly. We retired early (bit like Bangladesh - an innings and 132 runs defeat - OUCH!) due to our early start. We were so bleary eyed that Jen took it upon herself to fall down the stairs, bruising and grazing her knees. 'These things always come in threes don't they...?' I thought...only to be proved spectacularly right in the course of the trip.

Our guide (Warren, or Wazza - pronounced 'Wozza', just as, I found out the other day, Wagga Wagga is pronounced 'Wogga Wogga') had been in and around Darwin for about 5 years and kind of sub-contracted himself to our tour company in that all the equipment, 4x4 et al were his. I thought I worked some hours in the past but it pales into insignificance for this guy as he gets up at 5, and starts work at 6 after typically finishing at around ten the night before...but as he said, whilst stood in the middle of the National Park, 'Yeah but just look at my office...' He was a good and knowledgable guide although occasionally he would floor us with 'facts' that were just plain wrong...e.g. 'The crocodile has a three-chambered heart - just like us', and the best - 'Go to the top of the hill for a full 380 degree panoramic view...'

After a few niggly bits of admin, park fees, sleeping bag hire and the like, we all crammed into Wazza's Landcruiser. Our group was quite well balanced - 3 accountants (Aussie early 40s Glen and his partner, early 30s Kate and Katherine, a South-African living in Britain), 3 recruiters (arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! me (well, ex-recruiter), Zoe (later to be known as 'Dirty' Zoe and Rogelia - both of whom now live in Aus after immigrating from Wales (definitely NOT ENGLAND OK!!!!)and Portugal repectively) a doctor (Laurina, from Ontario), a dentist (Jen) and a mad Frenchman - Ben. We remarked that our group would be ultimately balanced if Ben was in a medical profession, and to our surprise when we asked us what he did he replied 'nursing'. We could hardly contain our glee until Ben qualified that in fact he was a student and actually did 'Nothing', just with a heavy French accent. So, off we went into the dust and towards Lichfield, stopping just once, briefly at magnetic termite mounds. These mounds are built from north to south (about 5 inches wide, but a couple of metres long) so that the termites get the sun in the morning on one side and the evening on the other - kind of like natures central heating I guess. Some were 50 years old and towered some 2 metres plus tall. On arriving at Wangi Falls we were ready to cool down and we took time out to swim across a lake (no cros here although, curiously, there were no locals, only tourists, swimming) to said falls before discovering that a car had been broken into in the car park and a couple had lost all their rings, passports, children, that kind of thing. Ever so slightly worried by the whole thing (we'd asked Wazza to lock the truck - his reply 'No-one ever breaks into vehicles here' meant he left it unlocked...) but returned to an untouched truck and trailer...I guess 'backpackers' never have much worth stealing anyway. After an hour or so it was time to move on to Tolmer and, subsequently, Florence Falls (down, and then back up, 160 steps...) where we also enjoyed the tropical whether with swim-time, but thankfully without 6 metre reptiles.

Only one really amusing incident happened during the day. Katherine (who was sitting next to Jen) got on the bus as I was talking to Glen and Kate. She reversed in (we were sitting on two benches of four - facing each other), and bent over to pick something up. I looked up to see this bum (covered in sarong) about 30 cms from my face and, convinced it was Jen (Jen evidently has a sarong & swimming cossie just like Katherine) went to give it a good pat. For some reason (maybe the look of horror on Kate and Geln's faces) I just made as if to before Katherine sat down and I flushed red in embarressment. God knows what would have happened if I had actually slapped her on the arse. Incidentally we had a good laugh about this later and she said afterwards if I had she would have elbowed my somewhere...)

The trip to the campsite followed, during which I was very careful to identify my wife before touching her knee, holding her hand etc... It was highly amusing to watch people do that little head slump thing when just drifting off to sleep. Every single time Laurina's head nearly touched the window of the bus she would sub-consciously correct her slump and her head would go back upright. Very strange but quite amusing nonetheless. Beer and bolognaise for tea which were both delicious. we decided against the tents (no mozzies in Lichfield for some reason) and, thus, slept in swags looking up at the stars. (Interestingly enough for me and my brother when we asked Ben how he felt as a percentage when he was flagging a little he said 57 and a half!!!!!)

Our (very) rude awakening came at 6 before we heading out towards Katherine Gorge where we spent half a day canoeing up and then back down. About halway up, we spent some time on our very own secluded beach before continuing on. There was a section at the end of the first gorge (there are 9 in total I think) where you could carry your canoe over 3 sets of (not very) rapids before carrying on to (you've guessed it) the second gorge. In the 35 degree heat we decided to watch the others and shout encouragement from the bank, and made it back around 20 minutes early. Laurina, Katherine, and Ben (paddling on his own) didn't get back until nearly an hour late meaning a change of plans - not all bad - we got to go to Katherine Thermal Spa
instead of another waterfall.

We finally entered Kakadu National Park after more driving (in total we drove more than 1000 kms over the four days, on dirt, 4x4 and normal roads), arriving at Barramundi Gorge (Maguk to the local aboriginals) campsite. After an uneventful night (remembered only for my toasted marshmallows, and Zoe's roasted bananas with chocolate) we got up early for the entertaining walk straight up a bloody big hill to the top plunge pool. There were, in fact, two main pools, with one other only accessible by diving and swimming into it or jumping in and then swimming out. Feeling brave (and-or foolhardy) we decided to jump off a couple of rocks some 4/5m high into the main pool. Jen decided to complete her second fall (quite spectacularly too it must be said) by slipping on the rock and grazing her backside whilst bouncing off the rock and into the water. Was this a (potentially) nasty accident or was she trying to give me something to help me differentiate her bum from others? Either way I'm pleased to report she didn't hurt herself physically (only her pride hurt) and what's more I got it on video!! This spot (despite Jen's Greg Louganis-esque fall) was our favourite of the whole trip - a real oasis in the tropics. Oh, and the fact that we didn't have to keep our eyes open for crocs as none of the buggers could ever climb up to those pools.

Jen decided to complete her sumersaulting triumverate with the most spectacular coming last - on the way to Jim Jim falls. Neither her, nor I, am 100% sure what happened other than after stubbing her toe on a tree root/stone/small mammal she ended up flipping over, and lying face up in some undergrowth. Considering the whole tracks was nasty looking rocks she was pretty fortunate to choose the only bush for a good km to land in. Nevertheless she now sports a bruise the size of a fist, but no longer sports the shorts she was wearing - they were ripped beyond further practical use. At Jim Jim we swam in the clear pool (not convinced there were no crocs here although I felt more convinced we were safe when Wazza dived in too) and spent a good couple of hours chatting to others in the group.

With a fridge full of beer it was inevitable that the final night would descent into some form of debauchery and it duly did. I think it is unfair to besmirch anyone's character on here (honest) but suffice to say it was during this evening, as the beer and wine flowed, that we gave Zoe her new moniker; 'Dirty' Zoe, she doesn't get that nickname from a lack of cleanliness you know! Without getting into too much detail she told us of her fascination for 'dirty men' (Robbie Williams and Colin Farrell are top of the tree, although Vin Diesel qualifies too apparently). This topic and line of conversation had most of us in stitches but not poor Ben, who by this time had consumed a couple of litres of red wine (well he did start at lunchtime) and was taking about half an hour to get a sentence out. We finished the night by trying to solve one of Zoe's men dilemmas for her by all chipping in our 2 cents of advice before finally getting to bed around midnight. It was a great night, as the seven of us (the two Aussies and Wazza slunk off to bed early) really gelled and had a great laugh.

With most of us feeling surprisingly refreshed we headed off, after breakfast, to the local Aboriginal Cultural Centre. I say most of us as Ben looked as though he was about to die. He muttered something about the steak being off or something and, feeling generous, we gave him the front seat (more leg room for him, less change of getting covered in vomit for us) for the duration of the day. The centre was similar to the one at Ayers Rock, although no 'scary-boob dance' this time round, but we'd seen enough after 30 mins or so and hurtled off to Ubirr rock, site of some of the oldest Aboriginal art (some say up to 22,000 years old) and a great view over the wetlands. With time running out all that was left was our crocodile cruise along the Corroboree Billabong. Our host, Ted, a straight talking late 50s Aussie, had to wait an hour or so for another group who'd suffered a flat tyre before setting out onto the water. The tour was fantastic - another highlight. Ted certainly knew his eco-system and treated us to an excellent commentary describing all the birds and other wildlife. However we'd all come for the crocs and they didn't disappoint. We must have seen 5 or 6 Freshies (smaller - not dangerous to humans unless provoked) and the same number of, the larger and much more menacing, Salties (they eat everything and anything - even their partners and offspring - these are the ones that killed a German tourist in Kakadu last year). Ted even managed to find what he believes could be the biggest recorded croc in the world - one 6 metres (over 19 feet) long. It swam on the surface some 10m in front of the boat for a minute or two before, rather ominously, deciding to submerge. At this point Ted hit the 'full throttle' button and we were out of there p.d.q. After a bit of fun with lotus flowers (leaves as hats - that kind of thing) we trapsed back into the van for one final drive back to Darwin. Never has a shower been more welcome (we hadn't had one since day one) and we must have scraped off accumulated dirt at least a millimetre deep.

The tour, guide, food, wildlife, sights, and people were fantastic. One of the most fun tours we've been on and definitely a great group of people. In fact, we all got on so well we're meeting up for more drinks and a Thai meal tonight before every one moves on. Who knows what revelations we'll get tonight...

We've spent the morning washing just about everything we own (that dust gets everywhere).

Whilst we've been away our collective sets of parents have been busy and it now looks likely that Richard, Lynn, and Rachel will be popping over (only 30 hours) to New Zealand to go skiing with us in September. Jen rang Lynn (her mum) last night and was so tired she could barely speak let alone sound excited, but, just in case they read this, Lynn, Richard Rachel - SHE IS - VERY!!! They should be booking something in the next day or two. However, my mum, stepdad and brother have all booked their tickets for New Year in Barcelona which, is also, great news.

Off to Perth on Thursday - we're in the process of arranging to meet up with Helen and Rich who arrived there yesterday. We should be able to spend some time diving with them on Ningaloo.

The following are a load of pictures some as far back as Brisbane/Aussie Zoo, and others from the recent trip.

Tasmanian Devil, sleeping koala - Aussie Zoo.


Jen with 'Steve Irwin' and again with a couple of 'roos (asleep not dead before you ask)



The stage is set - State of Origin - Suncorp Stadiumm Brisbane, and us at the match.



Jen on Nimbil Beach, and The Roadkill Cafe - 'You kill it, we grill it'...



Us by the magnetic termite mounds, me at Wangi falls.



Tolmer falls, and us at Florence falls.



Jen at Florence, us at Buley rockholes.


Me canoeing and on 'our' beach.



Empty canoe-park, group shot at Katherine Spa.



Katherine Spa again, and me with marshmallow stick(!).



On the walk to, and at Barramudi Gorge.



Aboriginal art, and us overlooking the Wetlands.



Salties, the second 'The Biggest in the World?' (!)



Thursday, July 17, 2003

State of Origin turned out to be, if not a damp, a very soggy squib. The Blues lost 36-6 and thanks to Jen persuading me to wear my new Blues shirt I got a fair amount of (fairly good natured) abuse from Maroons fans. Good job I took a zip-up top to wear on the way home!

We've arrived in Darwin following a 4 hour flight (with additional hour delay thanks to some idiot not getting on the flight despite their baggage already being on it...I mean just what type of person does this???), and it's a little hot. Now I like it warm, but I don't like it this warm. There's warm and there's warm...(bit of Peter Kay for you there) and indeed it is bloody hot again but then we are back in the tropics...only a few hundred miles from Indonesia. Darwin appears quite laid back and less backpackery than the East coast. Our Kakadu tour starts tomorrow and we've got a full group of 9 people (&guide) going so should be fun. They've closed the area we were meant to swim 700m (Twin Falls) due to a newly discovered, and now resident, crocodile. Nice! Providing we survive you'll be sure to get a blow by blow account sometime Monday evening/Tuesday morning!

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Well, we had the night out with Shane...the poor mite just couldn't keep up with his English drinking buddies and by the end of the night looked a little akin to the famous Alan Partridge, 'I'm Confused' moment...haha We offered to let him sleep on our floor as he'd missed his last train back but he declined stating it was his intention to go and clean the local casino out. We duly let him out back into Brisbane and haven't heard from him since...hope you're alright mate!

Somehow we struggled out of bed by 7 yesterday in preparation of the day's whale watching we'd booked earlier. Every year thousands of humpback whales make the trip from the Antarctic up to warmer waters to give birth to their (blubberless) young. They then slowly make the trip back down. Having missed them on the South coast (Warrnambool) and Fraser Island (we saw a couple of spouts of water but no actual whales) we decided to take the trip out on 'Eye-Spy' to Moreton Bay with Kerry Lopez, the only female boat captain in Australasia. (Click here)

As we left Brisbane I came across a sign reading 'Don't Spread Fire Ants'. Now I may be in a minority of one (well two, along with Jen) but I have never heard of Fire Ants, or indeed why I should not spread them. I didn't know if they were referring to spreading them like marmite on bread (kind of aboriginal delicacy per chance?), or populating a large area with them. I thought they might even be like small insect arsonists...however via google I have discovered that:

"The red fire ant is a tenacious but ordinary looking red-brown ant originally hailing from South America. If you disturb their nest they will swarm on to you and sting you with their tails repeatedly and in unison. Each sting releases a small amount of venom. The immediate sensation is that the bitten area of your body is on fire. The sting gives rise to pustules which can be extremely itchy for a week. In about 1% of cases an allergic reaction will occur."

Fine, but it still begs the question as to why anyone would deliberately spread them.

Further along the highway we went past a wonderfully named place called 'Humpybong'. This is where the Bee Gees went to school and indeed played their first gig at a hotel around the corner. when you type in 'Bee Gees Humpybong' into google you only get three results...are they embarrassed of their roots?

On arriving at the jetty I had a chat with a lovely old lady who'd spied the 'Dive the Yongala' t-shirt I was sporting. She was from Townsville and her husband was an ex-sailor and we spent a good few minuted chatting. She sported a rather natty cap/visor and it wasn't until I was just finishing the conversation what I noticed the brand name, barely readable, on the brim. And a splendid name it was too - 'Drunk'nMonkey'. I wondered for a brief couple of minutes whether this was a description of the wearer but dismissed that thought immediately. I also wondered whether she knew of what she was wearing, and indeed, whether it would be pertinent to inform her of this fact. Maybe, I decided this particular company hadn't sold enough products to 'the youths of today' and where thus tackling an, ahem, more mature market...

Anyway enough of the trivial matters and onto the whales. The sea was, to put it mildly, choppy and Jen decided to perform her usual party trick and re-view what she'd eaten a few hours previous. I, for some reason, felt great, and even managed some of the bloody awful lunch they provided. However, they are not chefs but a whale-watching company, and where they failed with the panini they succeeded with the whale-watching. First up we saw a couple of pods, maybe 5 whales in total and they spent a good few minutes coming to the surface to a chorus of 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs' from all aboard. The fun really started though when we chanced upon another pod - just two whales this time - a little further out to sea. These guys were totally uninhibited - coming within 5 metres of the boat and performing a number of 'breaches' - where they flip spectacularly out of the water. They also laid on their sides and waved their flippers. If I hadn't been there I wouldn't have believed it - they were definitely communicating with us. Indeed when we finally had to leave them for shore some 40 minutes later they made an screaming-like noises before performing a final wave each - truly mesmerising. Of all the things we've done either here in Aus it ranks up there with the best. A humbling, but amazing experience, one that will live long in the memory (I think I've used that phrase a few times on this trip now...;) )

One other thing Brisbane knows how to do well is kebabs so we had one last night and it was just like a Doner at home...In other parts of Aus all the kebabs have been weird and looked more like dog droppings in pita bread. So here we are now, waiting for State of Origin III tonight. Although it is a dead rubber there's alot more than pride at stake as the whole series is currently tied at 33 wins each (with 2 draws) and, thus, NSW (GO BLUES!) can take the overall lead for the first time ever tonight. To say I'm excited is a massive understatement. Tomorrow we're off to Darwin, and, I am sure to get to the airport we'll have to take a cab. I only mention this as the 'yellow cab company's cabs are all orange which I find somes up Brisbane really - a little quirky.

Monday, July 14, 2003

Just booked our 4 day tour of Kakadu. Click here for details...

So, we've arrived in Brisbane. I've always thought of Brisbane of something akin to Peterborough insofar as it has sports teams I hate and doesn't compare to other similar sized rival cities (i.e. Cambridge and Sydney)...however having spent the afternoon here I may have to change my mind (about Brisbane, not Peterborough - that is still, and always will be, a hellhole...) First things first...we bade farewell to our newest found enemies by not even saying goodbye to them (that'll teach 'em eh?) when we left. Tempting as it was to run them through with a sword we managed to bite our tongues although we did bitch about them on our way out to reception.

Arriving in Brisbane we were picked up by an absolute nutter who runs out hostel. He drove though the City at top speed chewing on a piece of cod whilst attempting to give us a guided tour. Jen thinks he is certifiably insane, I just think he's a little quirky. Either way he's made us feel very welcome at his hostel and he's got an even friendlier dog, a Wynerama called Mr Spock. We finally managed to pick up our State of Origin tickets for Wednesday night (although as I booked them using a credit card that now resides in Sheffield at my brother's house that was more trouble than it sounds...) and we are getting ready to meet up with Shane whom we met in Vietnam earlier in the trip. Should be a fun night. Tomorrow we're off whale watching at Moreton Bay providing we can find a tour that's cheap enough...

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Tweedledum and Tweedledumber decided to stay in last night and sat on the sofa talking to themselves refusing, seemingly, to admit we existed. I tried so hard to communicate with them but presume they just must hate the English (they made a couple of sly comments I didn't rise to...) They hurumphed around all morning as well and must have gone past us in and out of the house and in the street on at least four/five occasions; blanking us EVERY time. At least we move on tomorrow and will never have to see their over-perfumed, pretentious, fake, irritating, thick as pig-s**t faces again. YIPPEE!!!

Did very little today other than hit the beach for a half hour or so, lovely and warm it was too.

Saturday, July 12, 2003

From the sublime to the ridiculous...

Chris and Charlotte; mild mannered, friendly, down to earth, loads of stories to tell, helpful.

New Irish housemate couple (even after 3 days after trying to be nice to them and find their names out they haven't bothered to tell us...); inconsiderate, rude, unfriendly, boring, nothing to tell.

Chalk and cheese, Cambridge and Manchester Uniteds, Tony Blair and an honest politician. Yes they are all as different and as contrasting (some would say so different in fact that they're opposite) as our previous and 'new' housemates. All we know despite seeing them on three occasions (and hearing them on many more) is that they're Irish, love themselves (HE spent over 40 mins in the bathroom this morning perfecting his boy-bandesque look (he now successfully looks a bit like the ugly one from Boyzone)) and have no personality between them. She is so vapid that she makes the Queen Mother look full of life...

Anyway claws away for a minute. Although it is just mentioning the hilarious moment last night when we locked ourselves in the bathroom (the handle came off in our hand) and the only exit was through the dullards' room...at about 10.30. They weren't amused but we thought it was hilarious...

Onto our past two days, which have been, housemates aside, an unmitigated success. We managed to find a hire car last thing on Thursday evening and, thus ventured out from Noosa yesterday, and again today. First up yesterday was Australia Zoo - this was set up in 1970 by a couple who spawned the most famous 'Crocodile Hunter' in the world - one Steve Irwin. He has since taken control of the site and it now covers over 75 hectares with plans to increase in size to over 315 ha within 3 years. It is a great zoo because the animals are enclosed in areas akin to their natural environment; crocodiles in billabongs, snakes in dense undergrowth, and spiders under toilet seats. We also sat through a highly entertaining crocodile show (no top-hats and dancing though...shame) before leaving at around 2.30pm. We didn't spot the man himself, although he was apparently, 'in the area'...I guess it's a little strange in that it's just about the only zoo in the world where people come to look at a human.

Onwards and upwards to the local Noosa Par 3 (Aussie for pitch 'n' putt) golf course where for the second time this holiday I got 'spanked by my wife' - she beat me by one shot. Revenge will be mine...I did distinguish myself by hitting one ball into a lake which cost me two shots, and thus the match...

After our rude awakening by the Avon couple at around 6.30(am) we evenutally surfaced at round 8ish before heading out to the Eumundi market - a local institution. As markets go (avid readers will know they are the bane of my life) it was good and we found at least one decent stall which sold framed photos (all taken by the stall-holder) from the Barrier Reef and around. He's putting together a couple of pictures in a frame for us and posting them home. We chatted with him about various divesites, and had a wonderfully hot 'hot dog' before heading north to Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach. To liven things up a little Jen did her 'that scenic route road looks nice' routine and we thus went via Aberdeen (even saw seagulls the size of dogs...) At Tin Can Bay we successfully saw none of the dolphins it is famous for and at Rainbow Beach we saw very little of the famous multi-coloured sand as by the time we got there it was almost time to get back (d'oh!) and it was at least a 3 mile walk along the beach, dodging high-tide, 4x4 trucks and kids with ominous looking buckets and spades. So, here we are back in Noosa, which is definitely turning into one of our fave places in Aus. We're going to give it one more go with Mr & Mrs Vain this evening before giving them up as a lost cause (in case you're thinking 'well isn't there a possibility they just don't like you...?' we have thought that too but then realised we haven't even spent enough time with them for them to hate us...) Tomorrow is a designated beach day (our last for a long long while probably) whilst we should arrive in Brisbane around lunchtime on Monday.

In other news I have had a great idea what to do when I return to the UK - one which I am going to explore but I can't say what it is here so you'll just have to wait - it is a corker though!!

Thursday, July 10, 2003

We have bade farewell to Charlotte & Chris, and although our paths don't cross again on this trip (they're off to Northern Aus then China next, then home in about 6-7 weeks) I feel sure we'll meet up when we're all back home...they only live in Chester for godssakes!! We whiled away yesterday with a series of videos - first 'See Spot Run' (2 out of 10) which was perhaps the worst film (barring Chain Reaction) we've ever seen but we loved it nonetheless as it featured Bullmastiffs...We followed this up with 'Blood Work' - Clint Eastwood, 5 1/2 out of 10, 'Crackerjack' - about lawn bowls (for those that didn't know my Dad played bowls for England and also was president of the EIBA when he died - indeed their headquarters is named after him), very very funny in an irreverant Aussies taking the piss out of themselves kind of way, 7 1/2 out of 10. We followed that up with 'Bowling for Columbine' - Michael Moore's controversial docu-film about the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999, and the reasons behind it with regard to American gun culture. Although very biased (isn't all journalism in one way or another) it is an exceptional, thought-provoking piece of film - one we were all shocked by but thoroughly 'enjoyed' - if that's the right word. 9/10.

Today we've had a brief look around Noosa Heads - where all the big knobs hang out apparently. Very nice in a developed and expensive sort of way. We are trying to hire a car for tomorrow for a couple of days to enable us to get up to Rainbow Beach and the local pitch 'n' putt golf course...but it's school holidays and everything is booked out...watch this space.

We've booked our campervan for Perth from 28/7-16/8 and also in New Zealand for the 44 days we are there, we've also booked a flight from Christchurch to Auckland for 30/9 - the day before we fly to Chile. Charlotte & Chris have both done the Southern Cone in South America and New Zealand so they gave us loads of hints and tips - if you read this thanks guys!

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

We've arrived in Noosa where we've seen more expensive apartments, luxury cars (even saw a Ferrari yesterday), and more arrogant looking ****ers than anywhere else. That last notion may be a tad unfair we'll just have to see. There are an inordinate number of 'surfer dudes' (to use their parlance) who all look either really hard or about 12...or more menacingly, both. On a serious note Noosa looks much more developed than all the other resort towns on the East Coast and seemingly caters for the well-heeled (not sure what we're doing here...). Avril Levigne (whoever she is) spent a couple of days here last month cavorting on the beach by all accounts, and what's OK for an un-talented 17-year old Canadian that can't sing should be more than OK for us. (Whilst we're talking about Canadian songstresses it's a shame Alanis wasn't here - what fun we could have with the lyrics to 'Ironic' - the irony being of course that in a song called 'Ironic' none of the 'ironic' observations are 'ironic'...oh the irony!!!) but I digress...

We arrived yesterday afternoon after a fairly uneventful bus journey only enlived by a bus driver that knew everything about every small town/village/house en route and peppered us with facts along the lines of 'You can fit seven and a half UK's into Queensland and it's not even the biggest state...' Arriving at our hostel we found we were sharing a kind of maisonette (a bit like my brothers flat but on two levels and without all the gadgets) with another couple (who were out). Charlotte and Chris (both 23, although he born in 1979 her in 1980 - very crucial bit of info this) sauntered in at about 5.30, and it appears they were having the same thoughts as us all along - namely: what will these other people be like, will they steal stuff, are they tidy (whoops!) etc etc... Our fears (and hopefully theirs) were allayed - they are a great couple - he's a sports mad Alan Partridge fanatic (and frankly who isn't?) and she's a really down to earth bright bubbly sort. We all got on really well and after a few beers I even helped her fill in a job application form and told her how to manipulate the client and, more importantly, the recruitment consultant. God I hope my advice works... Today is a 'let's look around our new home' type day so we probably won't do a great deal. We're here until next Monday and may learn to surf at some point (yes they do make boards big enough...) and possibly take a trip up to Rainbow Beach. We may bring our trip to Brisbane forward by a few days if we don't like this place...

Monday, July 07, 2003

Well we've messed up a bit...it's the school holidays (how could we forget) and, thus, most, if not all, of the accomodation in Noosa is booked out - we've managed to find one place with doubles but we have to share the aprtment with 2 other strangers. It'll either be wonderful or awful - these things always are...

So - a 3 hour trip to Noosa tomorrow and then 5-6 days there before we head off to Brisbane. We're probably going to hire a car and visit one of the national parks and also take a trip to Rainbow Beach. It is interesting that the 3-hour trip just feels like 10 minutes to us now when, if in England, it would be the equivalent of Glossop to Cambridge...

Meanwhile, the Blogger stats just get more and more bizarre - will whoever typed "farm animals and girls pictures" please own up - this is getting disturbing now.

Sunday, July 06, 2003

Picies time....

Mick and our intrepid green travelling thingy; Jen at the Champagne Pools



A turtle's head; Us in Eli Creek



Us at the Maheno Wreck; Me with my big rod.



D-I-N-G-O; some bloke in the desert....



On Friday morning we were picked up on cue and were greeted by Mick, a genial Englishman who emigrated to Aus about 5 years ago. He married an Aussie and they now have a kid together. Mick was to be our guide, and his first words to us were 'They did tell you it was school holidays...?' Well no they didn't actually. The pertinance of that question was obvious in seconds as we were greeted by 11 adults...and 5 kids. Now 12 y.o. Bridget was really well behaved, as were Harrison, Caleb, and Harmen (not anagrams folks these are there real names) but Abby...oh my God... If you think of the archaetypal 'I'll scweam and scweam and scweam' kid you're not far off. If you throw in a mother who gave into her every demand (and I mean DEMAND), little habits like crying (for an hour and a half) to get attention when in bed, and repeating words and phrases around 10 times each time anyone said anything (at FULL volume)...then there's your girl. She is, without doubt, the spawn of Satan.

However it wasn't all bad, the other kids were really well behaved, and the adults attempted to make polite conversation despite us having little in common. There were other backpackers - Emma and Paul, doing a smililar trip to us. They are both librarians (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!) and despite us having opposite opinions on just about everything (monarchy - I want to keep and think they're OK in the main, they hate, want to dissolve and would prefer a republic; music - they like RADIOHEAD and PJ Harvey ('nuff said)) we seemed to get on OK. There was also Rebecca, from Georgia (USA) who was really level headed and had some great stories about how messed up the US is. For example in her state you can only have sex in one position (missionary presumably - didn't probe her on that one...), can't drink until you're 21 and can be arrested for either offence, but you can own a gun (in fact you have the right to bear arms as per the constitution) and can drive a car at the age of 16. She also told us a fantastic story about her room-mate called Prea who called herself 'Princess' and made all her friends do the same. I could go into more detail but suffice to say it just confirms even more of my opinions of our 'friends' from across the pond. She also had many more serious and worrying stories about the recent war and people and things being branded 'Un-American'. For example The Dixie Chicks having a go at Bush in an interview and subsequently having an amendment passed that banned them in certain States; and the 'French Fries' Vs 'Freedom Fries' name change. I guess you could say eclectic would be a far description of the group...

We arrived on the World's biggest sand island (Fraser Island!) early on Friday morning and our first stop was Lake Allom where we saw some incredibly cute little turtles who swam around for a bit and breathed. No juggling, magic tricks or anything - inconsiderate sods. We then went for a swim in Eli Creek, a fantastic slow running little clearwater creek. Jen fell in incredibly specatcularly but didn't hurt herself, as Vic Reeves might say...'Ooooh I'm in pain Bob, it's me pride, me pride really hurts...' After this we travelled up the island to Knifeblade Sandblow - a kind of huge solid dune that has taken thousands of years to form, it looked a bit like you imagine the Sahara to look... without the sand blowing across it ironically...Next up on day 1 was a trip to the Maheno shipwreck - a luxury liner that ran aground during a cyclone in 1935 whilst being towed to Japan. Much of the structure now lies below the sand but it was still a spectacular sight, you can only wonder at how much more so it would have been some 70 years ago. When it washed up 68 years ago this week it had all it's contents still on board and people came from miles around to buy souvenirs. The Aussie taxmen, not missing a trick, set up a couple of tax officers on board and charged everyone VAT...nice to know nothing changes over 70 years...

Our campsite at the Cathedral Beach resort (so named beacuse of the Cathedral Rocks - formed by weathering of sandstone on the beach -which we viewed last on day 1) was an excellend place to stay - we were all in tents, but ones with beds in, housed in a covered shed. Excellent. We were soon tucking into Mick's fine Thai beef curry and Abby was preparing her lungs for the screaming fits (9.30pm, 2am, 6.30am - all times approximate - I was too bleary eyed to check my bloody watch...) to follow.

The glorious weather of Friday had disapated somewhat by Saturday morning and, thus, the view of the ocean at Indian Head was not as we'd hoped. Usually you get to see sharks, whales, dolphins...we saw a couple of stingrays in the bay. However we did get to see a Brumbie in the afternoon - this is what Yanks would call a Mustang - a wild horse. There are now less that 20 on the island as they culled about 2,000 a few years back as they were basically eating everything. In the afternoon I had a quick go at fishing and kept my proud 28-year record in tact of never having caught anyhting on a fishing trip, although I did 'catch' a big log that tore the hook, weights and some line off. It was too damn cold by the time we reached the Champagne Pools - a set of rocks where the sea bubbles gently over the top giving off the effect of champagne bubbles. We watched from afar as a couple of the hardy Aussies ventured in - our reward was the first 'whale spot' of our trip, albeit from about 1km away...We had a really early night (I was asleep by 8.30) and Abby didn't wake us this time (lucky for her that one trust me...) until about 6ish. So, to our last day (today) where we (in no real order) did about 9kms of walking, though rainforest and to and from Lake Wabby, saw a dingo (that then looked as though he was about to attck a fisherman), and had a great lunch at the 'Happy Valley' restaurant, where we had (not Chinese) but a smorgasboard (Mick's word not mine) dinner. We arrived back at the hostel a couple of hours ago and have had a decent shower for the first time in a couple of days.

Fraser Island is a wonderful place and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We are glad we did it guided and not as part of the hideously cramped 'backpacker' 11-seater landrovers. Yes, our group was not as we expected (it was a bit like going away with your Mum, Dad, irritating cousins, and a couple of socialist workers (only joking Emma and Paul)), but we still had a great time and crammed so much in. The company we went with were 'The Fraser Island Company' (no ambiguity with the name then...) - click here for their website. I'm glad we've booked a recovery day in Hervey Bay (that rhymes) tomorrow before heading South to Noosa on Tuesday.

My hard drive seems to be playing up a bit but I should be able to add some pictures to the site tomorrow.


Thursday, July 03, 2003

No email for a few days - off to Fraser Island to wrestle with some dingos....
It's that time you all look forward to...piccies - this time all from the Whitsunday's. Thanks to Pat's picture changing program I should be able to add a few every couple of weeks now...

Me doing captain's pose; us on the Iluka



Me doing the 'I'm on top of the world' Leanardo thingy; Jen and Iluka.



The stunning Whitehaven Beach;...and 2 tourists



The angle we sailed at; us at sunset at the Captain's wheel.



Finally, 2 group shots. One at Whitehaven Beach lookout and one at the end of the trip.

(l-r - piccy 1 - Gizmo, Gertia, Ella, Nuala, Me, Jen, Annik, Louise, Roma, Josephine, Andy)

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

I clearly have far too much time on my hands, as, since this whole plan was conceived (1st Nov last year) I have written over 61,000 words in this diary. If this continues by the end of the year I'll have enough for half a Harry Potter, well a book/novel of approx. 400 pages!! Amazing stuff!
OK just to clear one matter up - all our posts used to get published at a time and date we had no control over - i.e. about 5/6 hours behind GMT - some American time I think. This, however, has now been resolved by the wonderful people at Blogger who have now made it possible for you to change your time stamp. Therefore from now on every entry will be done (in theory) at the actual time I post it wherever we are. At the mo we are 9 hours ahead of UK time. So I'm writing this at about 11.30pm yesterday...
We haven't done an overnight bus so far this trip...nearly six months in, and no overnight bus trip which are a bit of a rites of passage thing for travellers. The worst bus trips we've done were the 2 9-hour ones in Laos, the biggest danger there was getting shot at - here it was that we didn't get back on the bus after each (enforced) break, or maybe getting attacked by the massive beetles and cockraoches at Rockhampton. Ironically this was where they cleaned the bus! Only one moment of any interest really as it was one of the best night's sleep I've had in weeks - there were 4 seats to each person so you could really spread out - I woke up just after a pitstop to find Jen not in her seat and not behind me or, anywhere to be honest. I had a brief look around and then, presuming she'd forgotten to re-board at the petrol station, or was stuck in the loo, proceded to tell the driver of my predicament. His response (Oh bugger!) was then followed up by muffled laughter as a fellow traveller pointed out Jen had simply moved seats and I was clearly the biggest idiot on the planet...ho hum!

We arrived in Hervey Bay on time and not too tired but saw fit to have a mid-afternoon kip anyhow before going out and booking our trip to Fraser Island. We're not going for the self-drive option but we're doing a 3-day 2-night trip with a max of 16 people. Should be great fun. Incidentally I was quite looking forward to the body-boarding into the lake scenario that Rich of Helen & Rich fame enjoyed but 2 people have quadraspazzed on a life-glug (c Brasseye/Chris Morris) over the last month - nice!

Catching up slowly on emails and the like and another chilling out day tomorrow before we leave for FI on Friday morning.

We have got pictures from the Whitsunday's trip and they should be up on there at some point tomorrow providing I can find an internet cafe that takes our camera.

By the way we fly home 6 months today...still not half way through this thing yet!!

Tuesday, July 01, 2003

Well here we are back on dry land, and this time, thankfully, the weather was glorious and there was not even a hint of sickness. We arrived at Iluka a little bleary eyed but after finding out that there would only be 10 of us (plus 2 crew), which meant we got a cabin - and that cabin hand the only electric-pump toilet - talked about spoilt! Myself and a jocular Cetic supporting Glaswegian (Andy) were the only two blokes on the passenger list although 2 of the crew (Skipper - Pete, and dive specialist Matt) were also of the less fair sex. We were accompanied by Andy's other half - trainee solicitor Jo(sephine), 2 Dutch girls (Gerthia, and Gizmo (!)), 2 English girls (Roma - it was her 25th b-day and Louise), A Red-haired Irish girl (Nuala - Pat you went home 2 days too early!!!), and a (French) Canadian (Annik). On day one we managed to get a dive in - beautiful coral but very shallow - which meant we managed to surface after 50 mins with 90 bar of air left - they wouldn't let us do any more - the spoilsports. All the others that hadn't dived before did an intro dive and really enjoyed it. So off to our first overnight stop - Tongue Bay, from where we walked to the lookout for Whitehaven Beach.

Whitehaven Beach is the 'picture postcard' beach that everyone thinks of when you say 'Whitsundays' and we were not disappointed with tthe view - spellbounding. On that note I've finished Harry Potter by the way and a jolly good read it is too, although I couldn't believe they killed off Ron and Hermione at the end...what a shocker! (Only kidding JK and lawyers...) It was decided that we'd all play cricket on the beach and, unbelieveably, the top scorer was the Scot - they don't even bloody play it up there...There were a couple of pools where there were (supposedly) Stingrays, but despite us having a good look we couldn't see any...despite this though it truely is a fantastic beach which even I enjoyed. Just time for a quick snorkel before another night of wine, talking about football and Championship Manager (me and Andy) and shooting star gazing. We were hopeful of spotting some whales at some point but the best we got were turtles and dolphins...apparently you can spot whales regularly at Hervey Bay (where we head on the overnight bus tonight...). So to the final day - Jen did a 4.4km walk to the top of the lookout where she and the rest of the group saw (apart from the amazing view) a snake although Pete said from the photo it was harmless. Myself and Andy relaxed on the 9-hole golf course where Scotland gained a moral victory as although it finished all square at 47 shots each (we managed one par - mine at the last hole) he beat me by one hole at matchplay. Even though a great hour and a half. Jen managed to get some fantastic photos too so we're all happy!

On the way back there was one last chance to get the sails out and go with the wind and that we did until reaching our final destination at about 4pm. One last group photo before the bus back to the hostel. We're now going to shower and change before the horror of the overnight bus...

Overall we had a fantastic time - we had another great group where everyone got on well (as always getting on with some better than others) and the food, crew, sailing and sights were all outstanding. I would thoroughly recommend them, despite having quite possibly the rudest Scotsman on earth (and that is an achievement!!!) working in their sales office. A fantastic 3 days - we now feel sooo relaxed and chilled (I am sure Mr McCafferty and Mrs Greyhound will shake us out of that tonight...)

So, onto Hervey Bay, and Fraser Island. We want to do it ourselves (not in a group) but we're not sure if that'll be safe and/or affordable with all the dingos on the island and lack of money in our pockets! Either way we're going to have a couple of days in Hervey Bay first before deciding what to do. Unfortunately Andy and Jo aren't arriving in HB until Sunday and we need to have left by Tuesday so we can't share any more footy stories...