Cairns

27th April 2009

Made our way back to Carins and dropped the car off, making sure we thanked the guys for our free up grade.. even if it had cost us an afternoon with nothing to do in the smallest village on earth. No more wheelie fun for us for the next few days. Our bags seem to weigh a ton as we walked back to the hostel, the door to our 6 bed dorm awaits like the gates of hell. The sound of someone coughing up razor blades emanates from within. Nice.

Our stay in Cairns this time round was fine, however I do advise anyone thinking about a trip to Cairns to do it just the once. We visited a excellent art gallery which was showing a photographic exhibition on the history of Tasmania's Aboriginal community which was very powerful.

Not really much more to report on our stay in Carins apart from Kat's addiction to sushi rolls was seriously close to getting out of hand and I proved to be pretty rubbish at pool after a bottle of wine. But then what's new.

I fly back to Sydney on the 29th April in a cattle truck with wings.

Anyhow. Today is in fact the 12th June 2009.. just to confuse you even more. I've ben back in sydney that long and yes it has taken me this two months to actually post anything. But, hope you enjoyed my random recollections of joy and I'm sure if I remember anything substantial that I didn't add before I will post it up.

In the mean time bye bye! :)

Port Douglas

Port Douglas is situated 16 degrees south of the Equator and apparently shares the same latitude and climate as Tahiti! I've never ben to Tahiti.. but I'm seriously considering it. The weather was great so we took to the town in search of the famous Sunday market. The village is small but the area has a four mile beach, harbor and marina. Our hostel was really nice so we spent time by the pool, noses in books and in the evening decided to go to the adjoining restaurant for dinner and get a propper nosh-on.

Yummy.

We leave for Cairns the next day.

Cape Tribulation and The Great Barrier Reef

25th April 2009

There wasn't an immense amount to do up in the tropics, so we drove around and did a few walking trails which lead across boardwalks through dense mangroves which were fascinating.

We checked out the two hostels in the area and decided against the one plagued by enormous stripy spiders, instead, opting for the one full of debauched teenagers. In my opinion, the lesser of two evils. Turns out I'm a massive arachnophobe..Kat not so much.

It's low season and many of the small bars and restaurants which are hidden up in the area of Cape Trib where we are staying were closed. We found ourselves spending unhealthy amounts of time in the tiny grocery shop next to the hostel perusing the tinned food aisle time after time, to the extent that the poor guy working there is convinced we have some kind of disorder. He keeps smiling sweetly though, as the two crazies make their 10th visit of the morning.

My shredded hand is sticking it's self back together quite nicely so we decided to book a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef for the next day. 

We got chartered out to a small area called Mackay Reef with a few other people. The weather looked promising and the early afternoon sun soon revealed a horde of delights beneath the surface. Turtles, giant clams and parrot fish galore!

I went armed with one latex glove and a roll of masking tape and snorkeled until I turned into a one handed prune.

Very good day indeed. 

(Above Pictures from top to bottom: Mangroves in Cape Trib and Mackay Reef)

Daintree Village and Kimberly Beach

From Mossman Gorge we take the small car ferry across Daintree River into the national park, stopping off for lunch at a very deserted Kimberly Beach.

(Photos from top to bottom: The Daintree River crossing and Kimberly Beach)

Atherton Tablelands to Cape Tribulation

After Staying the night in Port Douglas, we headed up North of Cairns towards Cape Tribulation, taking a couple of detours to explore Mossman Gorge, a popular swimming hole and Daintree Village and National Park.

(Above pic: Mossman Gorge)

Atherton Tablelands

The morning of the 23rd April we took the car to check out the Millaa Millaa waterfall circuit and surrounding lakes. Pretty impressive.

(Pictures from top to bottom: Map of Atherton Table Lands, Lake Tinaroo, Lake Barrine, Lake Eacham and Millaa Millaa Falls).

Yungaburra

22nd April 2009

After our little mishap in Kuranda, we finally made it to our next destination. A small town called Yungaburra. It lies in the heart of an area called the Atherton Tablelands, just one hour up from Cairns into the Highlands, in Tropical North Queensland. Unchanged since 1910, the buildings sport wide verandahs, and historical shop fronts line the tranquil streets. We begin to wonder if anyone actually lives here. It supposedly has 18 heritage listed buildings (a term you come across very rarely in Australia), and it's apparently the largest National Trust village in Queensland.

Our hostel is called On the Wallaby and is very unique, offering platypus spotting tours and night canoeing expeditions. We wandered around the town and had a beer at Ye Olde Pub and planned our trip to see some lakes and waterfalls the next day.

Cairns to Yungaburra road trip

After busing it up to Carins our last stop on the Greyhound, we spent one night in the YHA there before deciding to hire another car to get off the beaten track for the last week before I flew back to sydney and Kat on another round the world voyage.

I was now fairly disabled, with only the use of one hand and dragging one leg behind me resembling semi conscious road kill. I had attempted to apply fresh Steri Strips to my hand and foot myself, but Kat clearly didn't think my dressing skills were up to much so persuaded me to go get them professionally done at a cost of $50.  This turned out to be worth every cent. We were after all heading into no mans land for a few days.

After much shopping around for a suitable hire car we settled for what we thought was a good deal.  A Toyota Corolla. What we weren't told was that they had actually managed to resurrect this one from an 80's car cemetery somewhere in the outback. (see above pic)

Off we went with a sense of impending doom looming all around, and it wasn't long before our worst fears came true...it broke.

Luckily we had stopped at this point in a small village called Kuranda roughly 8km away from Carins. As we waited for our replacement car, we wandered around, visited the information centre for some maps and hoped to God they wouldn't bring us another unreliable shitmobile.

Upgraded at last.. a normal car with functioning air con and power assisted steering...luxury.

It was then we decided we had been well and truly ripped off with the other one and in hindsight were glad we broke down when we did.

Dunk Island off Mission Beach

(Above: View to the mainland from Dunk Island)

The night before our excursion to Dunk Island we met Ian who suggested we go fishing on the island the next day. The weather forecast was looking good so we decided to go ahead and book the ferry. Our fishing equipment was rather primitive and consisted of a couple of reels, some line and a hook. We set off nonetheless, hoping we could get some form of bait when we got there.

When we arrived Kat went off to explore whilst myself, Ian and his friend.. who I can't remember the name of, set off on our search. There wasn't much in the way of bait, we even tried hacking off some mussels from the under the jetty, catching small minoes with our bare hands, even tried cutting the ear off a small child but to no avail. There was however a bar which was serving very cold and tasty beers. 

Eventually we spotted an All You Can Eat buffet in one of the hotels and decided our best bet was to buy one and then take a little extra squid and salmon to use to lure our fishies in with. Our plan was going very smoothly until we reached our designated fishing spot, which was over to the right of the beach across some jagged rocks and around some bushes (No warning bells were ringing so far). I had however by this point already managed to loose one of my flip flops somewhere between the jetty and the fishing spot.

By this time it was getting on a bit, so without further a do, balancing precariously on a rock covered in sharp broken mussel shells, I cast my line out into the water with great gusto.

....which in turn caused me to loose my balance completely and fall off the rock, onto another and into the water. "Ha ha ha" I joked, until I got up and realised there seemed to be quite a substantial amount of blood in the water and subsequently all over me. And, judging by the looks of terror on my companions faces, came to the conclusion it was infact coming out of me....great.

Turns out those Broken Mussel shells really are quite sharp, and I had just involuntarily stabbed myself into some and now my hand had a enormous canyon of doom in it and my foot a hole. Luckily I had some dry tissues so we used them and some fishing line to create a makeshift bandage and off I went to first Aid. :(

We later found out that our fishing spot had in fact been aptly named "Corner of death" by the aborigines who used to occupy the island long ago because of the sharp rocks and dangerous location. Thanks for the warning folk.

Fishing trip over, and not a friggin fish in sight. I did however find my other flip flop.

Thank God for that.

Mission Beach

17th April 2009.

Arrived in Mission beach and checked into an excellent YHA which was an Island-style, pole-framed timber building situated in a place called Bingil Bay a little way from Mission Beach town centre. The Hostel was quiet and relaxed and had great views of the rainforest so we spent the first day swinging around in Hammocks and planning our trip to Dunk Island the next day.

Magnetic Island

We caught the stupidly early Greyhound up to Townsville from where we would get the ferry over to the island.  Aside from the coach smelling of urine the sun was out and the journey went smoothly...(after we managed to swap seats and move away from the toilet with the broken door) 

Given we were still in the Tropics and judging by our recent soaking we couldn't help but be a little skeptical weather wise. However, the Townsville area is apparently in a rain shadow which makes it the sunniest city on the Queensland coast??  The book says Magnetic Island averages over 320 days of sunshine per year and this did actually hold some truth. We managed to have a rain free stay which I think was well deserved after our drenching at Airlie Beach.

The YHA was great. Small huts in the middle of a forested area. We decided to rent a tiny little car/golf buggies which was excellent fun. There were really only two roads you are allowed to drive on on the island but it meant we could explore more of it than we would have done on foot. We also saw some wild rock wallabies and kangaroos and I nearly passed out in a small corner shop.

I've just consulted my garbled diary entry for Magnetic Island incase I missed anything out and it just says:

"Sun shining, arrived 12.30am, had a beer. car thing = amazing, beaches = cool, weird man in our dorm we're a bit freaked out and also V.annoying young couple. Girl has serious bunny boiler potential.. save yourself "

Make of that how you will. 

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

Contary to popular belief, it does actually rain a considerable amount in the Whitsundays which was a bummer for us, even more for Kat who decided to take a sailing and snorkeling trip.. poor Kat :( 

I, on the other hand amused myself in the drive through bottle shop across the road, invested in some industrial strength mozzy repellant and purchased a box of wine for $12. Can't be good for you.. but it was raining.

We couldn't go in the sea as it was stinger season which means if you happen to go into the water, the likelihood of you being stung and dying is fairly high. (see above pic)

So over all.. pretty unlucky all round. Tomorrow we head north again to Townsville and Magnetic Island.

Great Keppel Island

Taking the ferry From Rockhampton over to Great Keppel takes roughly 30 mins. This turned out to be quite an exciting ride as it was blowing a hoolie and the sea was pretty rough. The island compromises of  a few great beaches, a hostel, a couple of cafes and a very vacant and dilapidated resort in desperate need of repair. There are a couple of great walking tracks which lead you up over the island and down to the different beaches on different sides of the island.

Another interesting fact we soon found out about the island was that it was home to some of the biggest and most vicious mosquitos on the planet.. and I may still have the scars to prove it. 

After hiking over the island on a trail called the Mt Windham Walk, we dropped steeply down to an stunning beach which was completely deserted. Our only provisions we had with us were two very over priced sandwiches and a packet of crisps. We also hired some snorkel and masks from the nearby cafe. 

Snorkeling was fairly successful but the clouds were out and visibility was a bit rubbish. Whilst bobbing about in the water I noticed a bit of a scuffle on the beach around the area where our bags were left. Turns out 10 disgusting crow-like birds were ripping open my bag and devouring my over-priced sandwich and the rest. I didn't even know Birds could open backpacks and packets of crisps but between them they did a pretty good job.

It was too late by the time I attempted to power snorkel back to shore and run screaming like a banshee up the beach towards the wreckage. The two other people who had just recently turned up on the beach found it mildly hilarious. 

But the greedy Crows of satan remained, perched in a nearby tree waiting, their beady little birdy eyes watching my every more..presumably on the off chance that I might miraculously produce a salmon and cream cheese bagel from out of my snorkel give them a taste. As if.

I spent the next good 20 minutes trying to stone the B*stards to death.

Rockhampton (beef capital of Australia)

Rockhampton, the Beef Capital of Australia, is located on the Tropic of Capricorn and is the gateway to the Coast and the Outback (Gateway being the key word here). The town it's self was deserted apart from the odd plastic statue of a bull which are dotted around the place paying homage to the largest stud-selling venue in the Southern Hemisphere. Interesting I know.

Wandering around the town was not dissimilar to that of the opening scene to 28 Days Later. Not a person or vehicle in sight, the only sign of life was the occasional Hells Angel riding past like a hairy zombie in search of it's next kebab. 

So it appeared there was only one real reason why anyone who's livelihood is something other than beef farming would ever venture to Rockhamton, and that, we found out is to visit Great Keppel Island. So we did...pronto.

Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

From Hervey bay we took a day trip over to Fraser Island. Unfortunately it was raining so we figured 1 day would suffice. After taking the ferry over we boarded a 4WD bus which bounced us through the small winding tracks in the forests and up and down the huge stretches of beach. 

Lake Mackenzie (pic above)  was our last stop where some were braving the wind and rain for a dip. We spent the time sheltering under a tree, trying to figure out what sort of animal lived in the nest in the tree next door and poking large hairy pine cones with sticks.

Noosa Heads, 2hrs North of Brisbane

Noosa is where we were to drop our lovely Hertz rental car off and wave goodbye to our four wheels of freedom for a while. However,  dropping the thing off proved to be slightly more dramatic than expected. Unfortunately the lovely folk at Byron failed to tell us that the rental place at our destination had in fact moved and was not two blocks from the hostel anymore but located outside Noosa on an industrial estate! 

After finding this place of secrets and lies, we then had to figure out how the hell we were supposed to get back to town. It was sunday which didn't help. So in the end we hitched back in a car with a smelly artist guy who was staying at a friends canoeing centre up a hill somewhere. We were quite reluctant to accept the lift, but it was dark and Kat was being bitten to death by mosquitos and the bus was in over an hour. 

I sat up front chatting away...at the same time planing our best exit strategy if all went tits up. I eventually came to the conclusion that this would probably be something along the lines of opening the doors and executing some sort of tuck and roll commando style escape. Kat all the while in the back had her fingered crossed preying to God we wouldn't be chopped up into small peices and dumped in a hedge. Turns out he was nice guy and we got delivered right to our hostel door in exchange for some arty banter. Bargain.

The hostel dorm had an uncanny resemblance to that of a prison cell.. which was nice.  It was raining so I suggested to Kat that I cut her hair to pass the time. She foolishly said yes.

Luckily for both of us no one got hurt in the process.

The next day we strolled around the town, hit the beach for an hour before we couldn't take the sand blasting anymore. Noosa is a fairly posh little town with boutiques and expensive restaurants...

So we went to Coles and brought Cuppa Soup for dinner. 

Australia Zoo

On the way from Brisbane to Noosa we stopped at Australia Zoo which was tres exciting indeed. Kangaroos, Koalas, Cassowaries, Elephants etc etc

Brisbane, on the other hand was rather disappointing. We were only there for a night but we had a stroll around and then left. I did manage to write the odd diary entry whilst traveling the east coast and seeing as I can't really think of anything to write on Brisbane I shall write here the entry I wrote at the time:

"Humid, Stayed at YHA backpackers, drank jugs of VB (Victoria Bitter), did washing. Bris City =  not great, had a crap imitation of London's South Bank. Brought new shorts and white flip flops"

So there you have it.

Nimbin to Brisbane

The drive to Brisbane was great. We followed the Rainforest Way, an inland road which wound through dense rainforest (funnily enough) with stunning views of rock formations, waterfalls and small remote villages. It was raining again though, but the car made every thing a little less traumatic. We took a little walk down through some fairly intense forest to see some crazy old trees and winding rivers and had a picnic out of the boot of the car...(Pickle and crumbs everywhere) Also joining us was a  scary looking bird-like creature who tried to distract me by hooting in my face whilst attempting to steal my sandwich. Rude bird.

Byron Bay to Nimbin

We decided to hire a car from Byron and drive inland to check out some more rainforests and walking trails, skipping out Surfers Paradise. Our first stop in the car was Nimbin. Stuck way back in the 60's, this small very unique town caters for those who seem actually to be the remnants of what was left after the party ended. 

Everything moves in slow motion in Nimbin and the reason why this is, is because every Man Woman and and Child is so ridiculously stoned off their faces that the pace of life has become near enough static.  No one hardly has any of their teeth left and look like they breath through a crack pipe.

Our hostel is hidden way up in a patch of rainforest. We entered our dormitory and were greeted by a rather "High" guy who was in fact sleeping with his eyes open. We met him later on that evening in pretty much the same state but this time in a horizontal position. Progress.

Nimbin is odd..very creative use of signage though we thought.

Coffs Harbour to Byron Bay

We arrive in Byron and the sun is shining..I think we managed to out run the clouds in the bus..for now. The place is awash with 17yr old drunken Brits even in the off season, so we decided to take a little hike up Cape Byron which lead us though lush rainforests with fantastic views of the beaches and coastline. We found an amazing cafe which made the most awesome bacon and egg sandwiches so I was content for the most part of our stay there.

Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour

After a couple of nights in Port Macquarie we started to make our way up to Byron Bay..via Coffs Harbour. It was at this point where our luck with the weather took a serious turn for the worst, and unbeknown to us, would last a good week and a half. Silly amounts of rain started to fall as soon as we arrived and within an afternoon the whole of Coffs was under water. Needless to say, we saw pretty much zero of the place in general apart from a mall, a corner shop and the hostel, which then flooded the afternoon we left..luckily for us. 

We did however take a stroll down to the harbour it's self one afternoon but judging by the size and ferociousness of the waves which were crashing relentlessly over the harbour wall, we figured the likelihood of dying was higher than that of having fun.. therefore we scampered back to the hostel, leaving the insane body boarder to frolick alone in the surf like a demented rubber duck with a death wish. (At this point we are begining to realise just how crazy some Aussies really are)

We only just managed to escape the next day and headed off in search of dry land.

Sydney to Port Macquarie

leaving Sydney 28th March on the Greyhound bound for Carins. We have just over a month to get to Carins, which is around 2700km (1700 miles)

Armed with my special Sciatica disarming cushion from the disability store in the UK..( yes I did fly my bum cushion over), we borded the death bus, our first stop is Port Macquarie. 

Port Macquarie is a large(ish) town on the mid-North Coast of New South, located about 390 km North of Sydney, and 570 km South of Brisbane. I'm traveling with my new travel buddy Kat..(who by the way has already written a very comprehensible and extensive blog on the east coast, so if I'm boring you for whatever reason.. or you just can't understand a word I'm saying, just have a peep at hers instead) She's Austrian.. but appeared to be considerably more literate in English than me..which is fairly worrying.

We headed toward the Koala reserve and low and behold, saw our first wild Koala! It was quite a way up so I've posted a picture of some hanging bats instead, as the picture of the koala turned out looking like a grey tennis ball stuck up a tree. 

We then visited a koala hospital on big orange push bikes we hired from the hostel. Poor poor koalas.. turns out the majority of them were actually suffering from "wet bottom" which roughly translates into Koala Chlamydia.(!)

Bad naughty bears!!

(Much hilarity ensued)..

Apart from Poorly Koalas with STDs, bats and push bikes, Port Macquarie has some amazing beaches and coastal walks which we explored on our new found two wheeled friends.

Foreword

Hi and sorry all for neglecting you for so long without even a picture or a whiff of a blog. But I have finally managed to set one up and I'm starting to sort through pictures, all the while trying desperately to recall what on earth has happened in the last 3 months since I left. I'm under the impression that quite a substantial amount has happened since my arrival in the land down under so therefore will do my very best to enlighten you with my many tales of hilarity and merriment. It only really became apparent to me how truly rubbish I have been keeping in contact with you all when my Dad kindly reminded me in his recent email.. and I quote: 

"You are going to have to fill in some detail because obviously a lot has been going on in your life but maybe you have forgotten that you haven't told us anything much about it yet"

This does happen to be a rather awful trait I have acquired over the years and which I believe has actually led some to believe that I had in fact dropped off the face of the planet for many months at a time.

As most of you know, I'm not much of a writer.. and so instead of boring you with unessential details.. for example what I had for breakfast that particular day (unless it happened to be something truly radical), my intention instead is to delight you with an array of pretty pictures.. and let them do the talking for the most part. I'll try to remember best I can the most interesting details of the trip while trying to abstain from the usual uncouth sarcastic drawl which does tend to hinder my story telling capabilities.

Enjoy! :)