Saturday, February 26, 2005

Evolving in Darwin...

I am so very, VERY annoyed and upset right now!

I've just been to pick up my 5 rolls of film that were being processed, and in an unapologetic way I was informed that the machine malfunctioned on 2 of my rolls, trapping the film and overexposing them to the developing fluid. So in short, they're TOTALLY ruined. Not even nearly salvageable. I'm absolutely distraught cos that's more than 50 photos - from Surfer's Paradise, Brisbane, Mooloolaba, Noosa, Hervey Bay, Airlie Beach and Magnetic Island. I could always substitute them with Claire's but it's hardly the same. I've lost my skydiving photos, the one of me with David and Linda, the one of us all in a circle looking down at the camera in Noosa, all of us on the beach at Noosa, my sunrise over Magnetic Island, and all the ones from our last night in Airlie. I"m SO annoyed! And to make matters worse, the ones that managed to survive the photo-eating monstrosity turned out blue. Which they blamed on my camera. Needless to say I refused to pay for them.

So to be honest I'm not in the best of spirits at present. But it would be unfair to not tell you what I've been up to just cos I'm in a bad mood.

On Thursday we had a mooch around the shops in Darwin, which didn't take long as it's a small city centre. We then strolled down to Bicenntenial Park on the esplanade, and nearly walked down to Lameroo Beach, until we heard the sound of Aborigines down there and got scared and ran off! Then after walking to the Cenotaph we walked back to the hostel through town, stopping at the book exchange, just in case we saw anything else to add to our mounting library. Which we did - "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Life of Pi". So we now have 6 books between us for the long journey down the middle! Then we did some much needed food shopping and spent the whole of the afternoon chilling at the hostel, in all of their 2 spas and 1 pool!

Yesterday we had a busy day. We went to get the bus to The Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory at about 9:30, to be told that you cannot buy a day ticket on the bus, but at the bus terminal only, which was "just down there". Well it wasn't "just down there" at all, it was a ten minute walk away, which is a long time in the heat! So after we finally got on the bus we made our way to the amusingly named Fannie Bay, where the museum was.

It was free entry, which was good, and they had a good display of Indigenous Art. They also had a stuffed crocodile on display, which was bigger than Gregory at Innisfail. It was aptly named 'Sweetheart', and was 5m long and 480kg. The story behind him was that in the 1970's he used to attack fishing boats, so in 1979 they decided to haul him out and ship him off to the nearby croc farm in Berrimah. However, the anaesthetic they used was nowhere near strong enough, and he ended up getting entangled with a log and drowned, since his underwater breathing systems had shut down. He was then sent off to the taxidermist at the museum and put on display as a part of Territory History.

They also had an unnerving display of 4 types of box jellyfish. I didn't even know there were 4 types. And one of them was tiny - the size of your thumbnail. Me and Claire have always been debating throughout this trip "But why does it need to be able to kill a human? How does it manage to kill you in 3 minutes???" Our questions were answered (or at least the latter one) at the museum. The long, stringy tentacles of the box jellyfish (probably about 15-20 inches on the biggest ones) are covered in stinging cells, and - get this - 1000 of these stinging cells would fit onto the head of a pin. So imagine how many cells are on a 15 inch long tentacle. Doesn't bare thinking about.

They also had exhibitions on landscape art and Australian Prisoners of War, but the most prominent was the exhibition on Australia's worst recorded natural disaster yet, Cyclone Tracy, which hit the city of Darwin during the night of Christmas Eve 1974. The cyclone had windspeeds so fast that they broke the windspeed measuring equipment at Darwin Airport (but they estimate they reached a high of 260km/h), and it left 48,000 people homeless - 26,000 having to be airlifted to the southern cities for relocation. They had a video of footage shot by an ABC reporter of the streets of Darwin on Christmas Day and it was a mess. There were houses just flattened and streets full of debris and sheets of corrugated iron scattered everywhere. It was horrid. They also had aerial photos of Darwin in November 1974, January 1974 and sometime in 1994. The difference was amazing. In the November one the streets, houses and trees had distinct outlines, whereas in the January one it just looked totally messy and flattened. The worst was a timeline thing that they had - like a walkaround Darwin through the ages. It was only small, just relaying the styles of the houses before and after the cyclone, but to get round you had to "walk through" the cyclone, which was a small, pitch black room with sounds of the cyclone playing loudly - recorded by a priest at the time. That was awful, I couldn't stay in for longer than a few seconds. You could hear the metal sheets scraping down the street and the people shouting. Not nice.

After that we walked back down to the bus stop to get the bus down to Casuarina Shopping Centre. That was an experience. A lot of Aborigines were on the bus and one guy looked like he was harrassing one of the women, but none of the locals let her sit next to them instead when she asked to. So we didn't dare ask her if she wanted our seat cos in a situation like that we felt we had to take our lead from the locals, and assume that whatever they display is socially acceptable. Plus the fact that we didn't want the guy to have a grudge against us. It was a funny situation and I was very relieved when the bus pulled into the mall.

After some shopping it was getting on for 3pm and we'd had no dinner, so we decided to come back. We wanted to go to Rapid Creek market that night but we were just so exhausted, we stayed and chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. You just can't do a lot in this heat or you end up totally drained. Instead we made a make-shift pasta carbonara dish out of a sauce meant for a potato bake, and it was very tasty! And feasted on rose wine and Three Wishes chocolate (Cadbury's Chocolate that has three layers - dairy milk, white chocolate and dark chocolate- yum!). The worst part was choosing to eat it outside and having to try and ignore the fact that we were sweating buckets!

Today we got up early to get the 8:35 bus to Parap Market, the Saturday Market here in Darwin. The stalls were predominantly food stalls, most of which were South-East Asian Takeaway food or fruit and vegetables. The smells were fantastic - fresh fruit and battered meat - yum! We came across a fruit stall selling something called 'Dragon Fruit'. It was about 4 inches long, pink/red and quite thick, and it had unusual, thin thorn-type things coming out of it. We tried some and the inside was like mushy kiwi-fruit, but pretty tasteless. They also had this other weird fruits called 'Rambutans' (I think), and this were like Lychees but had green thorny-type things coming out of them, like hairs. These had a hard shell and a flesh in the middle that surrounded a seed. The flesh was a bit like grape but harder and not juicy. We bought two of these cos we felt guilty for having free samples and not buying anything! Then after looking around the few clothes and craft stalls, and buying some fisherman pants (really baggy - good for covering up and keeping cool) and a long cotton top (for covering up down the middle), I fell victim to the temptation of the fried Thai food, and bought a chicken satay stick and a prawn dumpling stick. They were both delicious (maybe not as a mid-morning snack, but hey!) and I do not regret them one bit!

After we'd seen all we could, we moseyed on back to the road to find the bus stop, and had one guy offering us a lift (yeh right! I might look stupid...). Then we came back to town and my whole world was destroyed as soon as I walked in the photo shop!

So what now? Well, as far as the photos are concerned I can't really do much. I might see if some of the guys from the East Coast wouldn't mind emailing me some of theirs, but it's just not the same. I'm so annoyed. The only upside (and believe me - it's measly!) is that I have my blog, my journal, and the pictures in my head. And at least the blueness of the photos I have got make Lake Mackenzie look really good! It's just a shame that a massive fraction of my East Coast travels has been taken away from me and I can't show it to you guys. It's annoying as well cos all the photos Claire has on her digital camera are views rather than memories, and the ones she took on her disposable of our nights out are all of her! So even though I've got reprints of those they're still not my photos. I'm so gutted I can't even explain.

As far as the rest of today is concerned, we're going to phone Alice Springs to book our accommodation and our proposed Balloon Flight (gonna be going into my overdraft by Adelaide I reckon!), then just have a laze. We have to go to bed really early too as we have to be up at 5am tomorrow to catch the Adventure Tours bus. Tried ringing home again last night - second time I've done so and Mum's not been able to talk to me. Not spoken to anyone at home since before the Whitsundays, and won't be able to until Alice Springs if I don't tonight. So please be in!

Other than that, there's not much else to report! I'm gonna go and cry over my lost memories now and complain how Claire's are rubbish in comparison! *sob!*

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Unknown Territory of the Northern Kind

Hey Everyone!

Just posting to let you know we arrived safely in Darwin last night. Our flight actually included a stop in a place called Gove, and we weren't aware of this until we checked in. Gove is on the other side of the piece of land that sticks out at the top of Australia to Darwin, and we only saw the airport really - what there was of it! It was basically a corrugated metal shack; a temporary building until the new terminal is finished (due for completion end of 2004!). We sat in the shack for about 25 mins, thank goodness for the fans as it was unbelieveably hot and humid - even at 7:30 in the evening! Then we were back on the plane headed for Darwin.

Our last couple of hours in Cairns were good - after the internet we picked up our underwater photos. They're a bit murky but there's some good ones, and we got a shot of Little Nemo! We also sent a couple of things home (I'm not letting on cos it's a surprise, they should arrive within 10 days). Then we had a stroll down to the esplanade and took a couple of photos, but it was so darn hot we had to retreat to an air-conditioned cafe asap for lunch!

Afterwards we had a browse around the book shops and found some GREAT bargains! We got Angela's Ashes and Sickened (about the girl who's Mum had Munchausens by Proxy) for $8 each, and then whilst we were waiting for our taxi to the airport I had a quick look in the other bookshop down the road, and found Dan Brown's Deception Point for $9 and The Lovely Bones for $10! SO chuffed! Good job really - we're gonna need plenty of reading material for our long days travelling down the middle. We rang Oz Exp this morning to book our bus out of Darwin for Sunday, and discovered that it pick up is 5:25am! Dear me.

Anyway, our hostel is lovely - we got aircon as it was only $2 extra (only about 90p) and we get free breakfast every morning! Today the plan is to explore Darwin City this morning, do some much needed food shopping, then chill out by the pool this afternoon. We've done so much travelling and trips and things in the past few days I think a rest is in order. Plus there's always the fact that it's just too hot and humid to do anything else!

I'll post again before we leave, as once we're out of Darwin we're truly in the outback until we reach Alice Springs - there's no phones or internet down the middle! It's gonna be knackering cos it'll be like travelling from Cairns to Brisbane in 3 days. Ugh. Cheerio!

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Finding Nemo: A Reef Encounter...

Hello All!

Well our reef trip yesterday was fantastic! We got down to the jetty for 7:45am and boarded our Compass boat (which turned out to be the slowest of the lot - no wonder it was so cheap!). After filling in a medical form it became pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to scuba dive, and after asking one of the crew my suspicions were confirmed. They said that because I'd used my inhaler in the past two weeks (in Mackay - the place was so dusty) they didn't want to risk it. It was a bummer at first but in fairness I did save myself $55, and I was having second thoughts anyway cos it looks so constricting!

We first sailed to Hastings Reef, and Claire did her dive while I went snorkelling on my own for a while. It was really funny - the whole crew were fascinated by Claire's burns, couldn't stop staring at them and asked her to repeat the story over and over! She went in with a plastic bag tied around her bandaged hand, and she said it kept floating upwards due to the pressure and it was taking all of her effort to keep her hand down! Meanwhile I was having a blast with my underwater camera! The sea was incredibly choppy - it kept throwing you about everywhere - so I don't know how many of my photos are going to be focused! I saw loads though. The water was so much clearer than on the Whitsundays, and there was lots more variety of fish and coral to see. I saw parrotfish (rainbow coloured with bright green fins), butterflyfish (like angelfish but bigger and yellow, white and black), lots of little fish the colour of UV light, and loads of coral - braincoral, spaghetti coral, platecoral, anemomes... It was amazing. I had my eyes wide open the whole time. Then when I'd seen my fifth jellyfish I freaked out somewhat and got back on the boat to wait for Claire to finish and come in with me!

When Claire did come in with me, we saw pretty much what I saw earlier, and took some more photos. Just as we got in though, I spotted a little yellow fish with black stripes swimming around the crotch of the guy next to me in the water. I tried to get a picture but gave up and snorkelled off after realising how dodgy it looked! Then I noticed it was following us, but forgot about it. About ten minutes later it was swimming right in front of my goggles, then under my chin where I couldn't see! I had this fleeting anxiety that it had swam into my suit, so I asked Claire to see if she could see it swimming around me and she could. It followed us all the way around the reef - I would've taken him home if there wasn't a $10,000 fine! We named him 'Little Nemo', as we hadn't found Nemo yet so he was an adequate substitute!

After dinner we sailed on to Breaking Patches, where we did some more snorkelling. Unfortunately I didn't see a shark, turtle or a stingray (all of which apparently live in abundance here), but I did see a Nemo! (or Clownfish - whatever!). I was well chuffed! And gutted that we'd run out of film! We also saw Giant Clams, Sea Cucumbers and plenty more fish and coral here. Our underwater films from yesterday and the Whitsundays are being processed as I type - I really hope we got some good shots to show you guys, snorkelling on the reef really was one of the most amazing things I've done so far on my trip. And well worth the $60 for the boat trip!

Last night we investigated Cairns Night Market (they're being clever and holding their markets at night cos all the consumers are going to be on trips during the day!). I was hoping to maybe pick up a secondhand book as I finished the Da Vinci Code in Airlie Beach, and maybe find some nice chocolate or fudge, but the shops were ALL souvenir shops. It was quite amusing sifting through all the tat, but I only came away with a kangaroo keyring and a fridge magnet for Mum. Sometimes you can just have too many tat shops!
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First Leg of The Globetrotter's Australia Tour complete...

It is so weird to think that the first leg of our trip is over with. We have actually been in Australia for 6 weeks now, which is exactly half of our time, and the moment has come to say goodbye to the East Coast as we fly to Darwin and Northern Territory tonight. The East Coast has been like paradise on Earth - I've had so much fun, and even decided on places I would like to live if I was ever to move out here! But in a way I'm very excited about seeing Northern Territory and Southern Australia, because I've always regarded it (probably somewhat unfairly) as the real Australia. Whenever I pictured what I imagined Australia to look like before I came out here I always thought of the Outback. So now I'm torn between grief for leaving the lusicious East Coast and immense excitement at a new chapter of our trip. It's a strange feeling!

So I guess my next post will be from Darwin, NT! That's if I'm not too busy fending off all the flies that we're supposed to have to combat when we get there. Take care all!

Monday, February 21, 2005

The Highland Tropical Complexed Rainforest of the Atherton Tablelands!

Today has been pretty cool! We got up early to discover someone had nicked our cheese out of the fridge (that was NOT cool - it was a full, unopened block as well!), and set off with 'On The Wallaby' Tours at about ten to 8am. We found this company over the internet whilst we were in Noosa, and for a company that we'd not heard of, therefore had no recommendations for, it was pretty good! Feel like a proper tourist doing all these tours, and my excuse that we're too young to hire a car is wearing thin! But I guess it's the only way we're going to see anything really. Our driver was cool (with his moustache, sideburns and grey hair that was longer than mine!). His name was Bart and he was cracking jokes all the way which made it all the more fun!

We first drove through the Gillies Ranges, which became a World Heritage Listed site in 1988, 7 years after the Great Barrier Reef. There is actually only 6% of the original rainforest left, as the remaining 94% was cut down before 1988 for timber and to make room for dairy farming. Which is a bit of a shame. We stopped at Heales Lookout to take in the view of the valley below, and there was the same blue haze over it as there was in the Blue Mountains. We climbed up a 19km mountain road with a total of 237 bends, corners or curves, then visited the Cathedral Fig Tree. Why visit a tree? There's plenty of them! you may ask, but this one is very special. It's a tree which a fig seed has landed on, grown it's roots down, and suffocated til it rotted away, leaving just a mass of down-facing roots. The tree was over 500yrs old too, so it was pretty hefty - 40m in diameter. Oh, and I also fell over as I came out of the bus and sprained my ankle, which is not uncommon I guess.

Next we stopped at Lake Barrine, and me and Claire spotted a Ulysees Butterfly, which is a beautiful, bright blue and black butterfly, but it fluttered away before I managed to get my camera out. The Lake was a lovely blue, and I was surprised to see a couple of ducks on it! We took a walk through the surrounding bush and Bart pointed out different plants and wildlife, including two poisonous fruits and one stinging tree - the Gympie Gympie tree - like a nettle but bigger, much more painful, and with stings lasting up to 12 months! We also saw a musky rat, which is the smallest species of macropod (or kangaroo). It was fatter than I imagined but only 6 inches tall at the most. They're really timid though - I saw it from a distant but most people didn't even get to see it as it had hopped off. Then we saw a dragon (not a real one, just one of the lizards who pretend to be one!), and it jumped onto another branch to catch an insect, which was a bit unnerving!

We then stopped at the Lake Eacham roadhouse, where Bart picked up some dinner for us... and we strolled into the free wine-tasting venue next door! It was called Pacific Blue Winery, and they specialise in fruit wines - we tried a normal grape one first, then lime, mango, passionfruit, and lychee. Some were quite sweet but they were all really nice. The best one was the last one though - 'Midnight Magic' - gold medal winner of the Cairns Wine Festival (Sweet Fruit Wine category). Get this - it was a chocolate wine! And it was absolutely gorgeous! We nearly bought a bottle as it was only $25, but they have an outlet on the market next door to our hostel so we may investigate on Wednesday! There was also the option to try their Chilli and Lime Wine, and browsing the menu I spotted a Garlic Wine too. Funnily enough, neither sounded overly appealling!

We sat and ate dinner just behind the trees of Lake Eacham, and got chatting to 2 spanish airline crew members who work for JAL (who we fly with). They assured us that Japan is lovely and very tourist-friendly, and confirmed that Kyoto would be a much nicer place to stay than Osaka. So that was comforting! After lunch we walked down to the lake and spotted some turtles! They are the cutest little guys! They swim funny, like front right arm with back left leg and vice versa. It's well cute!

Then on the way to the edge of the lake I fell over... again! It really hurt that time too - I cut the bottom of my toe and my knee on the opposite leg to my by-now-very-swollen ankle, so getting into the lake wasn't all too easy. Especially when the fish started sucking my leg where it was cut! It freaked me out so much I had to get out after about ten minutes! We also saw a green tree snake here, only our second snake in 6 weeks.

Next we made our way to Millaa Millaa Falls, the most photographed waterfall in Australia. And I can see why - it was fantastic! I got in the plunge pool to swim underneath it, but I kept stubbing my poor toe, and it was absolutely freezing! - much more cold than the lake! So in short I didn't bother. Instead me and Claire opted for the dangerous walk behind the fall instead, but we didn't get all the way unfortunately. Then we visited Zillie Falls, which we viewed from the top and you could see a lovely rainbow in the spray. Lastly was Ellinjaa Falls, which was about four waterfalls in one as it was a cascading one. Very nice - got some good photos!

To end our trip we stopped at the On The Wallaby lodge - the tours actually run from a hostel - and had some tea and biscuits, before heading on back to Cairns.

So that's been my day! Other than nipping into Woolworths to get some more cheese (grr!) and a box of 8 camera films which should do me for the rest of the trip! I've gone though 7 films already and I'm on my eighth one. So I'll have plenty of photos to show you guys at home! (after, of course, I've omitted the drunken ones!). Speaking of which, I've finally emailed my skydiving exit photo (basically me hanging out of a plane with a strange guy strapped to my back at 12,000ft!) to most people on my contact list, so if you haven't got it and want me to send it to you just holler. Email me your address and it's done - all too easy!

Well, it's our reef trip tomorrow to the good ole Great Barrier Reef, so I'll let you know how that goes in due course. Take care!

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Busy Busy Day to Cairns!

My, what an interesting 24 hrs it has been!
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Hospital Trip Numero Uno, and let's hope Numero Only!
As soon as I left the internet last night I went looking for Claire, as I hadn't seen her for about 2 hours when she went to get some help with her hand. Turned out after much anxiety that she was actually behind the bar alternating between putting her hand in a jug of cold water and putting an ice bag on it. The conversation went something like this...
Christina: Bloody Hell Claire I've been looking for you everywhere!
Claire: Well I've been here! And look what they've given me! (shows me a flashing red cross - base backpackers logo - on a necklace) And a free pen! And that guy with the dreads who was on the ferry has been very nice!
Christina: Claire, is that a schooner of wine?
Claire: Yeh, they gave me free wine too!
Christina: Claire...? ....Are you pissed?
Claire: (laughs) .........Yeh!
Barman/Manager: Yeh, we thought it might take the pain away!
Christina: (to Claire, menacingly) And has it???
Claire: Not really!

Anyway, the long and short of it was that the management had offered to phone her an ambulance, but despite it not getting any better or any less painful she had refused. But as soon as she showed it to me I convinced her to take them up of it. It looked really bad! She has blisters on the tips of her fingers and across the top half of the palm of her hand. So the paramedic came out, then drove us in the ambulance over to the medical clinic where the on-call nurse came out to, and she put some industrial-strength pain-relief cream on it and dressed it properly. She gave us the rest of the cream and some more dressings and she says that as long as Claire doesn't break the blisters and allows them to heal naturally, she'll be fine. She'll really have to not break them if she's going to scuba dive on Tuesday, cos the ocean up here is full of nasties. But hey, there's always antibiotics!
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Travelling to Cairns

So what's happened today. Well it's been an incredibly long haul to be honest, but we've had plenty of stops so it's been ok. Got the ferry this morning at 7:10am, but not before managing to snap a picture of the sunrise over the sea from our dorm. Lovely! Once on the Oz Bus we stopped at McDonalds first for breakfast (oh the shame! But dry cheese toasties didn't really cut it!). Our driver was 'Gollum', and he kept doing Gollum impressions over the microphone and it cracked me up. He was really good actually, sounded just like him! Then we drove through Ingham (large Italian population) and Cardwell - home of the Giant Crab, and then we stopped in Tully to observe the Giant Gumboot (or Welly, if you prefer). It was quite impressive. The point of it is that Tully claims to be the wettest town in Australia, and the 7.9m tall golden boot (with a frog on the side) represents the total amount of rainfall in 1950 - a record-breaking amount I would imagine. Anyway, you can walk up the spiral staircase inside it and emerge at the top of the boot, so there was many a touristesque photo opportunity grasped here! After that we dropped a few people off in Mission Beach (where one of the missions to Christianise (word?) Aborigines was set up, but then blown away by a cyclone) and had some lunch.
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Feeding Time at the Crocodile Farm - Keep all Arms and Legs outside the fence!

After lunch we headed on up to Innisfail, to visit Johnstone River Crocodile Farm - the purpose of which is actually to farm crocs for their meat and skin, which is a bit gruesome. The resident pooch came aboard the bus to say hello, then we all piled in feeling rather nervous (or I was anyways!) It was $14 and that was on offer, so a bit pricey, but I guess they don't get much custom. Anyway it was a lot of fun! We saw them wake the crocs up by tapping a garden rake on their heads (rather aggressive, but I guess so are the dear creatures themselves!) and feed them dead chickens. One of them burped as it crunched - it was well minging! They showed us their only 2 freshwater ones which were a lot smaller than the saltwater ones, and then Gregory, the 5m long and extremely heavy crocodile that was so dolice the farmer actually sat on it! There was also a female one which hissed at us and stuff as we walked past, and one of the farmers explained that she was being protective over her nest, but little does she know that there are in fact no eggs in her nest as they've already taken them out. They also had kangaroos there (one of the farmers joked that they were actually selling them for $20 each as crocodile food, which Me and Claire believed with horror at first), and emus (which the dog chased until they started chasing him!) and cassowaries. There are only 1200 of these left in the wild so they said they were desperately looking for a female to breed them. It's a shame really cos they're amazing looking birds it would be a shame if they became extinct. Anyway, next they showed us the 1-2 yr old saltwater crocs (they were about 15 inches long) and they were sat in a water shed listening to 'Video Killed the Radio Star' on the radio, which I thought was hilarious, but it's actually so they can get used to having noise around them cos otherwise it stresses them out - they're not used to it in the wild. We got to hold one later on, and Claire took a picture of me with one. It felt really weird! I was expecting it's skin to feel rock hard but it didn't, it was kinda squishy! We held a small python as well, and then a 2-day-old croc! It fitted it the palm of your hand! If only they weren't so deadly they would be so cute!
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Certified Swinger! Tackling the Minjin Swing at AJ Hackett

After the Crocodile Farm we made our way up to Cairns, stopping in the suburb of Smithfield first to pay a visit to the AJ Hackett Bungy Site. For those few uncultured people who don't know ;o) AJ Hackett is a Kiwi who has bungy-jumped off pretty much every platform going, and has broken loads of records and won awards and stuff for his efforts. He now has loads of bungy sites all over the world, including in Cairns. As much as I'd love to do one, I really don't think I have the balls to do a bungy jump (and after climbing the tower and looking at the drop my suspicions were confirmed!) so I thought I'd tackle the Minjin Swing. This is what I thought was a 40ft but it's actually a 40m drop (so about 120ft!). They hoist yourself and your unwitting buddies (3 persons max) backwards and upwards into the trees, and you are hanging side by side, horizontally in harnesses. Then one of you has to pull a rope which lets you drop 120ft and swing back upwards. I'm rubbish at explaining it! I persuaded Claire to do it with me, but you could tell she was canning it as soon as she realised we were in harnesses and not a solid frame, and she admitted later she nearly backed out. It was absolutely fantastic! As we were being hoisted up I said "God this is high!" and we'd only gone about a third of the way up! By the time we got to the top you could see for miles over Cairns, so by now I was bricking it! Then the guy in the middle of us (we designated the task of pulling the rope to him as neither of us wanted to do it!) pulled the rope and for that first moment it was like nothing else! There was a split second where we were just suspended in mid-air with nothing holding us up and nothing below us. Then we started to drop down and swing forwards at once, and at speed too! It was the greatest rush. When we swung right back up on the other side we could see right over the trees, over Cairns and to the horizon, so we were pretty high up! Then we were swinging for about 5 mins before we slowed down enough for the guy to grab us. He took some photos for us but the sun was right in the way so I don't know how good they'll turn out. It was so good that I didn't feel the need to bungy-jump after that! Though I think I may be turning into a bit of an adrenalin junkie!
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So What Now?

Well now we're in Cairns, and we're staying in a really nice hostel! The room is only similar to what we've stayed in before, but the pool is really cool, with a waterfall and everything! And the rest of the place is very much what you'd expect of a hotel. Very nice! So tonight we're probably just gonna kick back and relax cos we have an early start tomorrow with our Atherton Tablelands waterfall trip. I'm really looking forward to that cos although we saw rainforest on Fraser Island, this has waterfalls. That you can swim in. Very exciting!

So yeah, that's about it! I'll post again tomorrow if I can and let you know how gorgeous the tablelands are!

Saturday, February 19, 2005

It's tough living the dream... I get hardly any sleep!

We didn't dive today :o(

We hung around Arcadia for a whole hour, then went back into the Dive Shack to be told it was too choppy to go out today, also the visibility was poor and we'd just end up getting washed up. At first I wasn't that bothered, as it meant we had an opportunity to head on back to the hostel and hire a couple of scooters, and spend the day exploring the island since we're leaving tomorrow. Besides, we could always dive in Cairns, right? Well, yes, we could, but it would mean paying an extra $50 as you can't dive off the shore - you have to go on a reef boat trip. So that was a bit of a bummer. But we both really want to do it so we didn't really have much of a choice. Besides, it's only 20 quid extra really, and we get to do a scuba dive on one part of the reef, snorkel on another, have a glass bottom boat tour, go boomnetting (riding inside a net off the back of the boat - rock on!) and our dinner is included, plus coffee, tea, wine and cheese. So I guess it's not all bad!

So now that's booked for Tuesday, we're gonna be having an action packed few days ahead! Tomorrow we have an early start to catch the ferry back to Townsville, to get the bus to Cairns. On the way to Cairns we stop at the AJ Hackett Bungy Site, and although I've not really got the balls - or the money! - to do a bungy, Me and Claire have said we'll tackle the Minjin Swing. It's basically a 40ft long piece of tarzan rope that yourself and two others can swing from horizontally in the middle of the Cairns rainforest. It sounds pretty cool anyway! And much less scary than a bungy. Hopefully.

Then on Monday we're going to the Atherton Tablelands on a waterfall tour with On The Wallaby Tours. It's an all day trip and we'll get to swim under waterfalls and see the real Queensland rainforest up close. And then on Tuesday, of course, we have our Reef Trip. And on Wednesday evening we fly to Darwin. So hopefully we'll have most of Wednesday daytime to explore Cairns, since we'll have been there 3 days and not seen any of it! That's if we're not totally knackered!

So what else have I done today. Well we got the bus back to the hostel to hire some scooters, which by now I'd had my heart set on, but of course, as luck would have it, they'd all been hired out. So we just hung around the beach and stuff until the next courtesy tour bus from the hostel was setting of at 3pm. We got on that with Lucy and Tracey from the boat, and rode over to Horseshoe Bay on the other side of the island (we're in Nelly Bay). We got off and had a bit of a mooch around the few shops, and went in the sea as they had a protective net. Not sure if I've mentioned it, but since it's stinger season (playtime for jellyfish) you cannot go in the sea north of Town of 1770 unless you want to risk being stung by some of the most lethal stingers in the world. Then we chilled out by the bar and waited for the next bus. And on the bus there were some Aussie fresher girls offering us loads of chips! You would never get that on a British bus!

Anyway, came back and made some tea, and Claire has burnt her hand really badly, by - get this - feeling the hob to see if it was on. I don't know. But the poor girl is in masses of pain now and neither of us know much about burns so any advice would be gratefully received.

Gotta dash, catching the bus to the ferry at 6:30am so I think an early night is in order really!

Magnetic Island... It's so attractive! Har har.

Hey Y'all!

Just a quick post as I've only 5mins left!

Well our last night in Airlie Beach was very naughty - I drank a lot. But luckily we managed to get the morning bus to Townsville on time! Wasn't feeling great, the ferry ride to Magnetic Island didn't help! The island is named so because when Captain Cook sailed past it in 1770 his compass went beserk, and it's never been explained. Just in case you're interested! We got here safe and sound though, and I slept for the majority of the afternoon. The hostel is really nice - sat right on the beach - and we've managed to swindle the 'Sanctuary' Dorms - girls only, with air-con and cosy bedding!

Anyway, at present we are in Arcadia, a small village on the island, waiting to hear the verdict on whether or not we'll be going out to do a scuba dive - it's a bit choppy so it may be cancelled :o(

Chances are I'll post again later on today!

ps. Saw Bolton playing Middlesborough at the Reebok on the telly in the bar on our last night in Airlie Beach - made me feel dead homesick! :o(

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Sailing around the Whitsundays!

Hey Ho Folks! Wow the Whitsundays were AMAZING!

But I get ahead of myself. What did we do on Monday. Well basically we hit the shops in Airlie Beach straight after breakfast! I found a wide-brim hat in a pharmacy, but then saw a nicer, cheaper one up the road in the khaki-green colour I wanted. So Claire took the first one back for me (cos I'm a wimp) and I bought the second one instead! We later came across the Aussie Adventure Sailing office (the company we're sailing with) so we decided to go in and announce our arrival, and to save us wasting time checking in the next day. And we discovered that our voucher for our trip had been mislaid! We then remembered that at Fraser Island when we handed our voucher in, the sailing one was attached to it. So the only explanation was that the check-in desk at Fraser kept both vouchers by accident. So Aussie Adventure Sailing had to ring Palace Backpackers in Brisbane to confirm our booking and have them fax a copy of our voucher over. Which took about an hour. And since me and Claire had already exhausted the shops we went to Subway instead to calm down! It all got sorted eventually. Thank God!

That afternoon we just chilled by the pool and then had an earlyish night, watching some ridiculous reality TV first. We also went on the internet and it crashed just as I was about to send an email! Well annoying! Anyway, at about 2am the girls in our room came back from a night out, making SO MUCH NOISE! I've never heard anything like it; I think we must have been lucky so far to have considerate room-mates!

Woke up on Tuesday morning feeling quite groggy, checked out and made breakfast, then after getting some last minute bits (ie. underwater disposable camera!) we headed down to the harbour at about 11:30am to meet our yacht for our Whitsunday Islands sailing trip! The Whitsundays are called so because when Captain Cook sailed past them he thought it was Whitsunday - a number of sundays after Easter - but it actually wasn't. He had got his dates wrong due to the crossing of the date line. So the Australians certainly started as they meant to go on! (Har Har!). The group on our boat were a really good bunch, mostly ranging from mid-late 20s to early 30s (so we were the 'young uns'!) and really friendly. We first went to Hook Island and anchored in Nara Inlet, and to get there took most of the afternoon. Then we all piled in the dingy and boated (word?) to the land to do a bush walk. The lookout was pretty picturesque, especially with the sun setting, so I got some good photos, but the caves were a bit disappointing as the 'aboriginal paintings' were in fact "representative samples", and you couldn't tell what they were of! Once back on the yacht we got chatting to the people on the trip, had a delicious tea of thai green curry, preceeded by chips and dips, care of our capable hostess, Maya. It was lush! During tea a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo came and perched on the back of the boat, and we fed him crackers! Even though he wasn't a parrot it made the whole thing terribly authentic! Then we indulged in a NEW drinking game called 21, and once that fizzled the deckhand, Brett (who turned out to be a bit of an arrogant ass) got us guessing lateral thinking questions. He was asking me to "share the drugs I was on" when I came out with my answers. I thought they were pretty reasonable!

Yesterday morning we were woken early by our skipper, Harley, with the promise of tea, coffee, and BACON up on deck, and that the sun was shining and the sky was blue. He lied to us! There was no bacon and it was cloudy! But at least it got us up. After brekkie we sailed off to Tongue Bay, where we took the dingy to the bay and walked the bush walk to the look out on the other side of the peninsula, which happened to overlook Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach (apparently the most beautiful beach in the world). Despite the cloud, it was clear and the views were fantastic. It looked so good, it was as if you could just take a spoon and eat it! Unfortunately, once we got down to Whitehaven Beach it had started raining. REALLY hard! We waited for it to pass but after 15 mins or so of getting drenched it became pretty clear that it wasn't going to happen any time soon. So we sadly trudged on back to the bay. Don't let anyone tell you the sun always shines on Whitehaven Beach! Anyway, me, Claire and a guy called Craig tried to wave to the yacht to send the dingy, but they ignored us until a few more people had given up and joined us. So by the time we got back to the yacht we were well and truly soaked! The worst was that my prized possession at the moment, my Da Vinci Code, had gotten wet. I was distraught!

After a dinner of hot dogs, cheese and onions we set sail for another inlet (the name of which I forget) where we were allowed to snorkel! I got the same canning-it feeling that I got in the plane before skydiving at this point, due to the proximity of killer marine creatures! Harley assured us that the only thing that was dangerous in the water here was a tiny jellyfish (half the size of your thumbnail) that was see-through, and it was only fatal to those with serious heart problems. Everything else was harmless. AND we were wearing stinger suits, so if we did get stung it would be on our hands or face. I still got the jeebies, especially when signing the waver! Once I was in though, I got a bit panicky at first cos I couldn't get used to the mask, but after a while it was fine. And anyway, I had lifeguard Claire to hand, and our other 'snorkel buddy' - a guy called Matt, who I could've sworn was about mid 20s but was actually 32! The coral and the fish were spectacular, it was like actually being in 'Finding Nemo'! But, sadly, we didn't find Nemo. Or any of his clownfish buddies :o( We did see oysters, brainesque coral, mushroomesque coral and loads of different colours and shapes and sizes of fish! (I apologise for my blatant lack of knowledge in the proper names of underwater flora and fauna!)

After 2 short hours of checking out the underwater civilisations and snapping pictures of a few fin-bearing critters, we were dragged out of the water kicking and screaming as we needed to sail to another inlet where we would stay the night. After arriving there, we had another tasty tea of spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. Once over with, the party began! We cranked up the music, played massive drinking games (which included a waterfall - shudder! - where you all drink in a circle and can't stop until the person to your right stops), and after much philosophical chat and consumption of wine, beer, and other mind-altering substances, most of us fell asleep about 2am on deck, under the stars. Not the most comfortable (or most quiet! - Craig the olympic snorer!) night's sleep I've ever had, but that's not the point, is it?

This morning, we woke up very groggy, and I woke up feeling extremely ill! Not willing to blame it on the beer, I'm actually pretty sure I've eaten or drank something dodgy cos my stomach is spasming and lurching like a crazy monkey with an accordion! So, unfortunately, I didn't join in the early morning snorkel, but I enjoyed yesterday so much I didn't feel like I needed to anyway! After breakfast (where I ate nothing and felt extremely 'fragile'!) we set sail back to Airlie Beach.

So what now? Well, today is actually Miss Snowball's birthday, so we planned on going on a massive booze-up tonight, but then the boat has actually organised a reunion (teehee - we only said goodbye this morning!) at our hostel's bistro for tea, and we're all going out afterwards anyway. So that should be tres coolio. I reckon that I'll be on orange juice at this rate but we'll see how it goes. I think if I just lay off the cheap wine and fosters I'll be reet!

Then it's back on el Oz Bus in the morning for Magnetic Island, where we've organised to do a proper scuba dive on Saturday! I'm extremely worried about it though, as Claire confided last night(falsely) that asthmatics' lungs can pop when scuba diving, but I've been much assured that it's not true. I'm still worried though!

I'm also actually glad that we're gonna be travelling with Adventure Tours rather than Oz Experience once we hit Darwin, as the company is changing hands in about a month, and since the drivers aren't too happy they're supposed to be going on strike next week, or so we've heard. But I think we'll miss it. Hopefully.

So... yeah. That's it for now. I'm gonna go and retrain my sea-legs!

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Mackay - the Looper Central, and Airlie No-Beach!

Hey everyone! Well what an interesting few days it's been!

We set to work on Saturday morning doing some much needed shopping, stopping off first at the market for some bargain fruit, then to the Canelands Shopping Mall! (aptly named due to the percentage of industry that is sugar-orientated in Mackay). We mostly window-shopped as we've not really enough money to spend on luxuries, the only thing I ended up buying was The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I've really got into it actually it's a great read.

Anyway, the hostel we were in was really friendly and cosy (it was family-run), but my, were there some nutjobs staying there! There was a Chinese guy who shouted in his sleep ("Wicked! Woo! Wicked! Yeah! Wicked!"); two German women, one of whom talked to herself and the other who starred a lot; one blonde woman who sang loudly above other peoples' conversations, and another woman who slurped water from the tap in the kitchen (and who did other unspeakable things which I cannot bear to mention here!). It was exhausting work trying to stay sane yourself.

Anyway, today we walked down to the Victoria Street Sunday Market where we spotted an even worse souvenir shop than Australia, the Gift, selling all sorts of touristy crap, but I didn't find a hat unfortunately. So we bought some fudge to comiserate. We also paid a visit to the art gallery, the only thing open with free entry - Artspace Mackay. They had a cool display of indigenous art, but the main event was, of course, the air conditioning!

We also arrived in Airlie Beach today (where there is, in fact, no beach, unless you like mud), where the sea looked a lovely shade of turquoise as we were driving in, despite the dingy, cloud-filled evening sky. We'll be setting sail for the Whitsunday Islands from here on Tuesday. In the meantime there looks to be some serious touristy-crap shopping to be done in the many shops that line Airlie's only street, so I think I'll like it here! We move out of here on Friday for Townsville, or to be honest, for Magnetic Island really (if you stay in Townsville you're classed as a geek, cos Maggie's where it's at!), so plenty of time to enjoy Airlie!

I'll post again after the Whitsundays and let you know how it all went!

Friday, February 11, 2005

"Go Hard or Go Home" - Roughing it at Raglan Tavern...

Wow what a weird few days it's been!

We set off for the small, coastal township of Bargara on Tuesday after chilling out in the hostel in the morning, only stopping briefly in Childers and Bundaberg. Once there we found we were staying in villas with about 7 other girls, but it was really cool as we had a TV, air-con and our own kitchen. The only bummer was that we had to pay loads for cutlery and plates, which you think they would've provided having provided a kitchen but whatever! We took a walk down to the beach too and then walked back along the road, where we finally saw a pelican as we walked across the river! Not seen one yet so very excited! As it was Pancake Day, Claire and me had absolutely no intention of participating in the hostel barbeque. We had, of course, bought some pancakes (yes, the packet ones, having deduced that we would not have the facilities to fashion our own) from the 24hr shop about a mile away from our hostel in Hervey Bay - well worth the walk, and procured (or pilfered, rather) some condiments from the buffet in Eurong Resort - well worth the guilt. So we had a delicious pancake tea and enjoyed it fully. I had three - one with vegemite, cheese and ham, one with jam and peanut butter, and one with sugar and lemon juice (we bought a lemon too). I was too busy shovelling it down to notice what Claire had. Anyway, that evening was spent being very lazy and taking advantage of the luxury of having a TV, namely watching The Simpsons and new episodes of The OC. Naturally.

We left Bargara pretty early on the Wednesday for the Town of 1770. I was feeling pretty rotten - possibly having something to do with the 4-5 glasses of wine I'd consumed during the TV fest the night before - I had a throbbing headache and a lurching stomach. Not good. Once we arrived, we found we were actually staying in the town of Agnes Waters, so we opted to get the daily shuttle to 1770. I thought it odd that there was only one shuttle per day, until I saw the form in which it took! It was a crazy nutter of a guy with, yet again, a handlebar moustache and a bandana round his head like some crazed biker, and his three jeeps, one of which he 'drove' (if you could define it as driving!) and the other two he let anyone drive, insured or not. So off we went along the main road, me and Claire sat in the front, and all of a sudden the guy goes swerving off the road onto a hidden track down to the beach, which invloved much tossing and throwing about of his poor passengers, including us. Let's say the ride didn't really do wonders for my 'illness' (aka. extreme hangover), and despite the lovely, deserted, main beach of Agnes Waters I felt decidedly worse.

After going back up another track (more tossing, tumbling and throwing about) we eventually got to 1770, which was nothing more than a street of houses and a one-shop marina. Which stunk sickeningly of fish and fish bait. That did it, I felt absolutely, horribly sick by this point, and I couldn't focus on anything but going to bed. Which I did. For the whole afternoon!

At around 4:30pm Claire woke me up and we had a walk down to the beach, where we had a swim for about 5mins until we spotted a HUGE jellyfish and did one back on to the sand! Just chilled out in the TV room in the evening and watched The Terminal.

Then yesterday morning we left 1770 and it was raining. In Dingo, it was raining torrentially, and had been doing so for the last 3 hours. The consequences of which meant that we couldn't stay at Dingo that night. MAJOR disappointment! To make it worse Helen, Jake, Jessy and Cat weren't on the coach either, they were still in Hervey Bay, meaning we were stuck on a coach full of people we didn't know, staying somewhere other than Dingo, party central. We eventually ended up in a tavern in Raglan, population of 50, with more houses than people, yet we could see no houses. Just the tavern.

Since it was raining, there was no going outside, so the whole afternoon was spent playing cards with some girls we met at dinner, then Monopoly, but I quit once one of the girls started getting really arsey and wouldn't pay me rent cos she'd already rolled again. Can't be bothered with people who can't have a laugh playing monopoly and take it far too seriously.

After tea our poor driver tried to organise some competitions as the southbound bus had turned up, but other than the climbing around the table thing, the pool thing, and the beer, crackers, and balloon thing he wasn't too successful, especially when the drunk Scottish guys completely stole his thunder by playing the bagpipes, much to the locals' delight! Anyway, once bedtime came along, that meant sleeping on airbeds in the lounge with everyone else in the room! It was like one massive slumber party, but a little less glamourous!

Anyway, that's about it really. We're now in Mackay, and we've already discovered the huge shopping mall just a couple of streets away from the YHA, which is like Disneyland for the backpacker who's been shopping-deprived for the last month! So we're going to devour that tomorrow to make ourselves feel better after a disappointing last couple of days, and just chill out this evening. Hope all is well at home, take care!

Monday, February 07, 2005

Cruisin' around Fraser

Well I really enjoyed Fraser Island! It just so happened that we were on a 4x4 coach instead of a jeep as we were on a tour, but I enjoyed it all the same!

We got up early again yesterday morning to greet our tour guide, a short man with a handlebar moustache who was aptly named 'Captain', and vaguely reminded me of Uncle Brian. After stopping at a few more hostels and parks for pick ups we made our way to the ferry terminal.

Once on the island I couldn't believe that the whole thing actually was sand! I still cannot fathom how so much vegetation grows on sand, or where all the flora and fauna came from for that matter, so if someone knows could you please explain it to me! All I do know is that instead of forming coal or oil, the vegetation forms 'coffee rock' over thousands of years, a very soft rock which looks like coffee when it crumbles. Funnily enough.

First we went for a walk in Pile Valley, (I forget the origins of the name) where there was a lovely creek (the name of which escapes me also) and the one of the oldest types of fern in the world, which dates back to the age of dinosaurs. It was huge too. Next we went to the resort where we were staying the night, Eurong Beach Resort, and we were delighted to see a decent-sized pool for once! After a hefty lunch we set off for Indian Head, one of the only three points on the island which are made of rock. We were promised we would see masses of marine wildlife here, but the only creatures we sighted was what Claire claims was a 'baby shark', and a platypus (We later found out that platypus' don't inhabit the island, so chances are it was merely a bird). However, the views were fantastic and the weather could not have been hotter nor sunnier.

We made our way back down the beach, which they use as a main highway for 4x4s and a landing strip for airplanes, AND a chicken spot for pedestrians. We stopped at the SS Maheno Shipwreck for a photo opportunity, The Pinnacles and Red Canyon, which are cliffs made of different colours of sand. The Aboriginal legend behind these state that the colour was caused by a rainbow man being shattered with a boomerang after the fiance of his beloved found out about her fascination with him. The girl apparently escaped unscathed, therefore the spot is a sacred site for Aboriginal women. Finally we stopped at Eli Creek, a creek which runs out into the sea. Claire and I walked up it - with great effort as the pressure of it was really strong! - and swam back down. One of the buses got stuck too so a group of lads had to push it out of it's rut, it was great fun to watch and cheer!

We went back to the resort for tea (with delicious breadcoated, cheesy tomatoey aubergine things!), which made me feel very bloated and very fat again, at which point the Swiss lady we had been talking to said to me; "So is your sunburn from today, or..." - all of a sudden I felt very stupid and very British! I have now vowed to be good from now on - always whack on more suncream than I need and buy some ryvitas on our next shopping trip!

This morning we got up early again to make our way to Lake Wabby. For breakfast I made a start on being good and ate the bacon, sausage, egg and only one hash brown. I should have had all the hash browns going for the walk we were about to do...

We parked on the beach and I stupidly decided to opt for flip-flops for the walk as it looked rather sandy. BIG mistake. I then realised that the walk was to be 1.8km, and my useless flip-flops kept slipping off my feet so I had to do the thing barefoot. Not the most comfortable thing I've ever done! Then just when we thought we'd got there we saw a sign: "Lake Wabby - 1km". I would've moaned if the massive sand dune ahead hadn't distracted me! Then I was quite glad that I was barefoot cos it was easier to walk the dune that way, but it still took forever! Eventually we got there, and it was amazingly... green. We hopped in for a swim, then I realised we were swimming with catfish and other little gill-bearing creatures! It was really weird they kept sucking our legs, apparently taking of sunburnt skin, eczema, psoriasis and the like. It was still weird though. Walking back 2.3km barefoot was no fun, I really should've opted for trainers!

After dinner (I tried to be healthy, I only had one bread roll and the breadcrumbs off the fish bits) and a swim, we went to Lake Mackenzie, the spot I was most looking forward to! It really did live up to it's reputation - the water was crystal clear up close and a turquoise-blue from a distance, and the sands were powdery white. It was beautiful. If only the loud, splashing, idiot crowds who can't appreciate a bit of tranquil paradise hadn't been there, it would've been perfect. I lay in the water for a good hour or so before getting out to dry off (and read some more of 'Rachel's Holiday' which I found in the book exchange box at the hostel to replace Michael Palin - yey!). Then it was back on the bus and back to the ferry and back to Hervey Bay.

It's funny to think that we've been here a whole month already - a third of our time is over - and when we were talking about doing Fraser Island whilst in Sydney it seemed like it was far off in the future. Now we've done it, it brings home just how quickly our time is going here. It really doesn't feel like a month at all, and when I think we've only got two months left it's quite sad and I wish we had more time. But hey ho.

Tomorrow we move on to Bagara as it's a compulsory Oz Bus stop, then we'll be spending Wednesday night in 1770 (the town, not the year!), then Thursday night in Dingo, an outback cattle station which is usually where the north- and southbound buses meet and throw a huge party! Can't wait for that! We're moving quite quickly now and it's annoying being on the road all the time as you can't settle anywhere, but we want to make Cairns in good time before our flight on the 23rd. So there you go.

I'll probably post again from 1770 as I get the feeling Bagara is at the back end of nowhere! Take care!

ps. Forgot to tell you - on our first night in Hervey Bay me and Claire went down to the beach around 6pm and the sea was SO warm it was like being in a bath! After a swim we got out to get dry and got chatting to a guy from Glebe, when all of a sudden thousands of fruit bats came flying overhead! It was like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, really spooky, and there was loads of them it was going on for about 10 mins. Weird!

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Quick Update from Hervey Bay

Hey Dudes!

Just letting you know we've arrived in Hervey Bay (pronounced "Harvey") - gateway to Fraser Island! Noosa was really nice and I could've easily stayed there a week. The hostel left much to be desired in the way of cleanliness and kitchen space - but as a backpacker you can't really complain! The beach was up and over a murderous hill but amazingly gorgeous, as have been all the beaches we've seen so far. And there was a courtesy bus from the hostel so no need to negotiate the giant hill after all, Ha Ha! The town was also quite quaint if a little tourist-orientated, and I was very pleased to find a top exactly like the one I've got oil all over but in a different colour for $10. Snapped that one up! I've also decided I'm going to get a hat like the ones that have the corks on, but without the corks cos, quite frankly, I'm not a gimp.

The evening in Noosa was much like all the others, spent in the bar, where one of the drunken locals did a "Matthew at Estelle and Gerard's Anniversary Party" (if anyone in the family remembers that) where he took the dancefloor by storm as soon as Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' came on, drawing the attention of the whole bar. It was hilarious - he was about 60 and he was breakdancing. Great fun. And we all got kicked out of the pool competition in the first round. I'm so out of practice!

Anyway, the globetrotter will be cruising round the world's largest sand sand island tomorrow, Fraser Island, in a 4x4. I'm really looking forward to it as, although the beach waters are swarming with sharks, there are nasty-free, swimmable freshwater lakes and rivers such as Lake Mackenzie and Eli Creek. Can't wait! We'll be spending two days and one night there, and we'll also be staying in a resort like wusses and not camping, but only because our tour won't let us! We figured we'd rather spend the extra money on having a guide who knows where to go and how to drive a 4x4, rather than doing a self-drive with some idiot who thinks he can drive one but never actually has done and doesn't know where he's going. Frankly!

So I guess I'll let you know how it goes when we come back!

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Funny stuff that has happened so far...

I just thought, I've been spending so much time telling you all what we've been up to I've forgotten to mention stuff that has happened. You probably won't find any of it funny, so really this is just for me to look back on later in life and laugh at.

  1. In Bingara when I went to the outside shower and forgot my shampoo, so I had to run back to the room in my tiny towel to grab it, much to my embarrassment
  2. In Byron Bay when me and Claire were walking past Woolworths and saw Todd from Coronation Street. We walked past in silence then spent the next 10 mins deciding whether or not it was him (it was decided that it was when we later found out the actor is travelling around Australia at present)
  3. Lycra Shorts guy. Say no more.
  4. Mitch doing an impression of Lycra Shorts Guy.
  5. Byron Bay's squeaky sand
  6. In Surfer's Paradise when I left my camera in a petrol station by accident when I was taking money out of the ATM, to discover I'd left my passport as well.
  7. Helen throwing weetabix at the fan in her room (with the smelly guy)
  8. Steve not being able to stop laughing as he was telling a really unfunny story and Kieran throwing cups at him
  9. Driving past a guy in a towel with Steve and Kieran, doing a u-turn and driving past him again and him flashing his ass at us
  10. Tony (the barrister) smoking pot outside the hostel in Byron and rambling on "I know my law... They can't get me for anything..."
  11. Gunther coming on to Cat on the beach in Byron
  12. Mike the "25 yr old virgin"
  13. That guy being sick over mine, Helen's and Jessy's feet in Shooters and me thinking he'd just spilt his beer as the others ran off to the loo
  14. Me doing 2 skydives in 24 hrs in Mooloolaba (though I don't reckon I'll forget that in a hurry!)
  15. Dave throwing his toddler strop when we wouldn't play Blackjack to his rules and taking his cards off us

I can't think of anything else right now. I'll make another list when I can!

Yep, I'm Still Alive!

Hello All!

Just a quick post (damn these $5 an hour net cafes!) to let you all know that I survived my second jump yesterday. To be honest, even though I was dreading it as we were flying up in the plane (you can tell from the video I'm absolutely canning it - it's really funny to watch now!) I actually enjoyed it far better than the first jump. I think it was because this time I knew exactly what to expect, then it didn't seem so bad. I had the best time; I just concentrated on enjoying it and I really did. It was amazing. If anybody's up for it I would advise to just take a massive gulp and just do it, cos you won't regret it. Take a look at the company's site where I did it, Sunshine Coast Skydivers, at www.jumpscs.com.

Anyway, we all went out last night to celebrate none of us having to be up early today, and I discovered that adrenalin and cheap vodka mixers create the perfect high! It was really stormy as well, the lightning was insane - forks spread across and lighting up the sky it was unreal. Today we woke up at 12:45pm, feeling very guilty as it was gorgeous outside, so we got ready as quick as possible and headed straight for the beach. Tonight's plans are jacket potatoes and the cinema I think.

Well that's all for now! Like I said before we're off to Fraser Island this weekend so not sure when I'll next be posting, will try before we go and let you know what's been happening in Noosa and what not. Take care!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Terminal Velocity - If you're not living on the EDGE, you're taking up too much space!

Man am I glad to be alive!

We arrived in Mooloolaba on Monday around 2pm, after dropping some people off at The Australia Zoo (Home of Crazy Steve Irwin - 'Crocodile Hunter') - I didn't fancy it after we'd already been to Currumbin and I thought the chances of the nutter being there were pretty slim anyway, and he wasn't after all. After settling into the hostel we found it to be, in all honesty, pretty ringful. The showers/toilets smell of egg, our room is hot and smells of sweat, and I've had run-ins with cockroaches, huntsman spiders and a lizard in the 2 nights we've been there. Oh and you can't have fun, go on the balconies or make any noise whatsoever after 10pm. You can't even laugh at the TV. It's pretty rubbish.

We had a look around the town and although there's a few more high-rise buildings than in Byron, it's extremely nice and the beach is gorgeous, I really could see myself living here. Me and Claire have been discussing coming back after university and do a two-year working visa (also to put off paying uni debts - hee hee!), and this is one of the places I will definitely put on my list of where I would like to stay.

Monday Night - Went to bed without a care in the world.
Tuesday Morning - Woke up and thought: "Oh @*#%$. I'm jumping out of a plane today! I'm gonna be freefalling for 45 secs at 12000ft at 120mph! Aaaaaaaaagh!"

I looked out of the window at 5am and was disheartened to see a thick layer of grey cloud completely covering the sky. We weren't gonna be diving this morning! We got to the office at about 8am, and didn't dive til 3pm due to the cloud. This is because they aren't going to just drop you anywhere when they're flying over the ocean, they need to be able to see the beach. Thank God. Anyway, by 3pm I'd kind of got used to the idea that it wasn't gonna be happening today, so it was a bit of a shock to see the first group getting rigged up. Forty minutes later it was us. I was terrified.

Going up in the plane was bad, then when we got to about 9000ft my tandem instructor John (who smelled faintly of roll ups - yak!) was strapping me to him, and I was a bit more nervous. Then all of a sudden the first jumper was getting up and walking towards the door. Then the second guy. I thought, "I didn't realise we were jumping out so quickly one after the other!". Then Claire went. That was horrible. I just saw her fall and it was like she was getting sucked out underneath the plane. I thought, "Aaaaaaaaaagh! That's me in 2 seconds!" Then it was a forced smile for the camera, and I went.

It's the most undescribable feeling. Personally I wasn't having fun, because all I could think about was the air rushing past me, my cheeks shaking like hell (which, apparently, is the sign of a relaxed diver - yeh right!), my ears hurting from the pressure... I didn't give any thought to the sensation or feeling of the whole thing. I was so relieved when the parachute went up, and it wasn't til then that I realised that, despite all the pain, I'd actually had the experience of a lifetime. Then it was plainsailing. The coastal views were amazing and the sky was so clear, you could see for miles. It was beautiful.

Anyway, just to rain on the parade, I got back to the office to find out that John's camera had malfunctioned, and all my video footage was lost. I cried I was so gutted. They offered me a free jump, but I thought a) I'm gonna be delaying everyone if I do it now, b) We're going to Noosa tomorrow so I can't do it then, and c) It wouldn't be the same anyway. So I settled for a free t-shirt, group DVD, exit photos, 4 bottles of champagne and a laminated certificate. But I had no real evidence for those at home who wouldn't believe I did it, and nothing really to help me share my experience.

Once we finally got back to the hostel, after being at the office for over 12hrs, there was a note on my door:

"Christine F303" (Christine - grr!)
"Dianne from skydivers called, you can do a free skydive and handycam. You need to call Jo before 7am."

So I thought.... Sod it.

So there I went again this morning, got there for 7:30am, rigged up by 8:30am, then we had to wait for air traffic control til 8:45am. By which time it had clouded over. So I'm now waiting for a call around 1pm to see if it's all go or not.

But to be honest, I'm a LOT more scared than I was yesterday, and I think it's because I know exactly what's involved, and the pure fear of the first 3 secs freefall from yesterday is still fresh. This time though I'm going to try my hardest to forget all the stuff going on around me during freefall and concentrate on enjoying it. At least I'll have a second chance to do that, and let's hope the video works this time!

So now we've changed plans and we're staying in Mooloolaba til Friday morning, when we'll move on to Noosa. We'll spend a day and a night there before trekking on to Hervey Bay, gateway to Fraser Island! Ooh, exciting!

So wish me luck, it's my 20th birthday 10 months today so let's hope I live to see it! I'm really quaking in my boots now I think I'd better go and lie down.

Speak to you all soon, take care - I'll try to!