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....
Sunday, July 06, 2003
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.
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
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)
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
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!!
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...
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...
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...
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
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!)
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.
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...
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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...
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.
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...
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...