Sunday 22nd
Today has been fairly lazy due to the fact it is boiling hot and super humid. We took a stroll up to macdonalds to do some online job/flight research as we still have yet to decide whether to head to NZ or Perth or both before flying home. After a frustrating hour of poor connection and shitty ice cream we walked back and had a long chat with Darren the manager of the park which ended up with some free ice pops, a list of the local hotels, bars, and who runs them, and an offer of free rent at the campsite in exchange for doing a bit of gardening every day. A successful conversation! I've found that with aussies, once you get them chatting it can be hours before they can be stopped. Its awesome.
Monday 23rd
Today we found jobs! Got up early (for us. It was more like 8.45) to go into town and follow Darrens advice to look for work in the hotels and bars in town. Turns out they are not at all busy or only open at 10am, so we ended up at the library looking on Gumtree for jobs. Great shout as it turns out - after about 5 emails to various people we got a reply from a vinyard that is handily located between Sydney and Tamworth (which is where we will be rocking out with The Hillbilly Goats for 11 days woohoo!)
We are now relaxing in the kitchen, joined by some serious germans who have just cooked themselves a delicious meal of rice, fried ham and fried bananas. Mmmm?
Christmas Day!
We had a roast! In a tiny oven! And it rained all day, it felt just like home. Don't be fooled by those pictures of people having fun on bondi beach, because it was raining there, too.
It was nice to Skype our families today though, even if Dad did tell my my hair looked like a train crash. cheers.
26th
It's boxing day!
What does Baba want to do when we have not much money? Why, go to the nearest large shopping centre for the sales, of course!
We did stop off at the beach near Woollongong to make a sandsnowman though.
And a bar/brewery to have some beer of course, so my day was not a complete bust.
27th, 28th
We have mostly been hanging around the campsite, trimming bushes occasionally and also going down to the library to take advantage of the wifi that they leave switched on 24/7.
We have made big plans for new years (watch the fireworks, go to a party on NYD) so we are just realaxing right now, as we go north straight after that to pick grapes and then be professional roadies for the one and only Hillbilly Goats, then who knows what will happen after that. The end of January is where our plans have come to a grinding halt. Something will probably come up..
Monday, 30 December 2013
Saturday, 28 December 2013
Sydney!
Sunday 15th
Sydney Baby!
After parking the van outside the train station in Campbelltown we got the train into the city, where we immediately found the closest tourist info stand and loaded up on maps, before walking to the hotel Annie was staying at (and, most kindly, letting us also crash in). We then walked around a bit (ie; we immediately went in search of the gay quarter) and found an awesome bar called the Beresford Hotel, where we started drinking and didnt stop until rather late. I dont remember what time we got back to the hotel, or any of the journey. Needless to say, we all felt rather delicate the next morning
Monday 16th
More of Sydney! Today we decided to do the tourist thing, and went to the Barracks Museum, Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and looked at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We also met up with some friends of Annie who forced us to go out drinking again... hard life we lead.
Tuesday 17th
Faffed in the morning, finally left the hotel for breakfast around 1030, then walked up to the ferry to Manly (where a shark was spotted about 3 days after we were there. eek!). Got a great view of the opera house and harbour bridge before reaching our destination, where we immediately headed for the nicest beach and caught some rays for the next hour or so, then met up with an old friend (The Lady, The Legend, Ella Kenny) who Annie and I (mostly Annie; my time spent playing at county level was limited) played hockey with about 10 years ago which meant we spent about 4 hours talking about hockey (much to barbaras delight). We stayed in Manly till about midnight then took the ferry back to circular harbour; going past the opera house and the bridge all lit up and pretty; got some excellent pictures which will eventually be posted on FB.
Wednesday 18th
Today was supposed to be alcohol free. That lasted until about 2pm, when we went to Ella's place of work to say hi (The Bavarian Bier Cafe) where she shouted us a couple of free drinks which was super nice of her! We also spent a large portion of our time staring at the very attractive and muscular Argentinian man working at the bar we were sat at. We've found that Sydney is just full of very good looking people. We obviously felt right at home.
We went back to the hotel after that to get ready for a trip to Newtown; this is where we ended up drinking a lot more beer (happy hour!), meeting some lovely people, watching some serious jelly wrestling and then barbara seemed to be suddenly very tired* and we had to escort her home. The Zanzibar club was pretty amazing. The bars and clubs in this place are all so so much better than Ipswich.
*drunk
Thursday 19th
With Annies time here coming to an end, it was up to her what we did today,and she chose to spend most of it at Darling Harbour, chilling out in the sun, chatting about everything and watching life go past.
Annie had booked a hotel near the airport so it would be easier the next day. We had to get a taxi to get there, and it ended up being the weirdest taxi ride I have ever taken. It started off pretty normal, until we got into a tunnel and the driver asked annie to hold her phone for her and dial some numbers then started making weird phonecalls to the Fiji police about how her sister-in-law had murdered her nephew. After 20mins of that she turned into a normal taxi driver again and told Annie that the hotel she had booked into was awful. Brilliant.
Turns out the room wasnt so bad, if you dont mind having no separate bathroom and a toilet and shower within touching distance from the bed. We immediately got ready to go out and took a train back into the city.
That evening we followed advice given to us by Ella and found some nice bars to have a few drinks in. We ended up going down creepy alleys and through unmarked doors down into a cellar where we found an awesome bar called Baxters, and on the other side of the block The Barber Shop which is an actual barber shop by day and pub by night. It was interesting enough to not be all the way pretentious, and they sold actual Aspall Cyder, from actual Suffolk. Awesome!
Friday 20th
Annies last day! :(
Tearful goodbyes etc.
We took the train back to Campbelltown and went to the nearest library to commence the jobsearch...
...a few hours later...
*ringring*
"Hello?"
"Hi, its Annie. Um. I havent left yet. I'm actually in the hospital?"
One dodgy sandwich and 6 hours later, Annie is still in Sydney, now in a fancy pants hotel paid for by the airline and a flight rescheduled for the next day. So she called one of the new friends she made when we went out on thursday night.
What happened in the next 24 hours is an adventure that you should really ask Annie about, but needless to say, her last day in Australia sounds like it shaped up quite well.
The next day she finally got on a plane. We had a fantastic 3 weeks together, and though good times always come to an end, it will live on in our memories... and more importantly, on facebook.
Sydney Baby!
After parking the van outside the train station in Campbelltown we got the train into the city, where we immediately found the closest tourist info stand and loaded up on maps, before walking to the hotel Annie was staying at (and, most kindly, letting us also crash in). We then walked around a bit (ie; we immediately went in search of the gay quarter) and found an awesome bar called the Beresford Hotel, where we started drinking and didnt stop until rather late. I dont remember what time we got back to the hotel, or any of the journey. Needless to say, we all felt rather delicate the next morning
Monday 16th
More of Sydney! Today we decided to do the tourist thing, and went to the Barracks Museum, Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and looked at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We also met up with some friends of Annie who forced us to go out drinking again... hard life we lead.
Tuesday 17th
Faffed in the morning, finally left the hotel for breakfast around 1030, then walked up to the ferry to Manly (where a shark was spotted about 3 days after we were there. eek!). Got a great view of the opera house and harbour bridge before reaching our destination, where we immediately headed for the nicest beach and caught some rays for the next hour or so, then met up with an old friend (The Lady, The Legend, Ella Kenny) who Annie and I (mostly Annie; my time spent playing at county level was limited) played hockey with about 10 years ago which meant we spent about 4 hours talking about hockey (much to barbaras delight). We stayed in Manly till about midnight then took the ferry back to circular harbour; going past the opera house and the bridge all lit up and pretty; got some excellent pictures which will eventually be posted on FB.
Wednesday 18th
Today was supposed to be alcohol free. That lasted until about 2pm, when we went to Ella's place of work to say hi (The Bavarian Bier Cafe) where she shouted us a couple of free drinks which was super nice of her! We also spent a large portion of our time staring at the very attractive and muscular Argentinian man working at the bar we were sat at. We've found that Sydney is just full of very good looking people. We obviously felt right at home.
We went back to the hotel after that to get ready for a trip to Newtown; this is where we ended up drinking a lot more beer (happy hour!), meeting some lovely people, watching some serious jelly wrestling and then barbara seemed to be suddenly very tired* and we had to escort her home. The Zanzibar club was pretty amazing. The bars and clubs in this place are all so so much better than Ipswich.
*drunk
Thursday 19th
With Annies time here coming to an end, it was up to her what we did today,and she chose to spend most of it at Darling Harbour, chilling out in the sun, chatting about everything and watching life go past.
Annie had booked a hotel near the airport so it would be easier the next day. We had to get a taxi to get there, and it ended up being the weirdest taxi ride I have ever taken. It started off pretty normal, until we got into a tunnel and the driver asked annie to hold her phone for her and dial some numbers then started making weird phonecalls to the Fiji police about how her sister-in-law had murdered her nephew. After 20mins of that she turned into a normal taxi driver again and told Annie that the hotel she had booked into was awful. Brilliant.
Turns out the room wasnt so bad, if you dont mind having no separate bathroom and a toilet and shower within touching distance from the bed. We immediately got ready to go out and took a train back into the city.
That evening we followed advice given to us by Ella and found some nice bars to have a few drinks in. We ended up going down creepy alleys and through unmarked doors down into a cellar where we found an awesome bar called Baxters, and on the other side of the block The Barber Shop which is an actual barber shop by day and pub by night. It was interesting enough to not be all the way pretentious, and they sold actual Aspall Cyder, from actual Suffolk. Awesome!
Friday 20th
Annies last day! :(
Tearful goodbyes etc.
We took the train back to Campbelltown and went to the nearest library to commence the jobsearch...
...a few hours later...
*ringring*
"Hello?"
"Hi, its Annie. Um. I havent left yet. I'm actually in the hospital?"
One dodgy sandwich and 6 hours later, Annie is still in Sydney, now in a fancy pants hotel paid for by the airline and a flight rescheduled for the next day. So she called one of the new friends she made when we went out on thursday night.
What happened in the next 24 hours is an adventure that you should really ask Annie about, but needless to say, her last day in Australia sounds like it shaped up quite well.
The next day she finally got on a plane. We had a fantastic 3 weeks together, and though good times always come to an end, it will live on in our memories... and more importantly, on facebook.
Sunday, 22 December 2013
New South Wales Coast!
I've terrible blogger for the last couple of weeks, please accept my apologies! Its probably a good thing we are halfway through now, just another 6 months to go, it seems to have gone by so bloody quickly. So my last update appears to be Byron Bay, which is all the way up at the top of NSW... right now I'm in Camden, a small town just south of Sydney, so I have a lot of catching up to do. We'll do it in stages - byron to Newcastle first... I'm sure you have better things to do than read about our travels in this stupidly hot country.
Tuesday 10th
We had planned to take a detour off the main coastal route to drive along The Waterfall Way, but after a closer look at the map we realised a 6hr detour for a couple of waterfalls and big hills might not be worth it, so we stayed the night near a golf course in Urunga. We were then rudely awoken in the morning by a ranger who told us to move, as we were camping in a no camping area.
Driving to Port Macquarie, too late to go to zoo so we stayed at campsite. Pretty shitty day, mostly it rained.
Wednesday 11th
Billabong Zoo in Port Macquarie!
Stroked a koala, fed kangaroos and wallabies, saw snakes, wombats, meercats, snow leopard, red panda, lots of birds and a couple of spider monkeys. Barbara LOVED IT. We also saw an enourmous Estuarine Crocodile which looked large enough to eat a person whole. It had very big teeth.
Thursday 12th
Nelson Bay!
Sand Dunes! Lakes! Views! Home of the largest moving sand dunes in the southern Hemisphere! We considered going sandboarding, but it was decided that we'd had enough of sand, and inviting it into even more of our clothing would be uncomfortable to say the least. We did climb up to a lighthouse to get some exercise and admire the spectacular views though.
Friday 13th
Went to Newcastle!
Newcastle is a bit bigger than all the other towns we've been stopping at along the way, and its actually nice towalk around and has the added bonusof a nice beach.
There is a fairly old pool next to the sea that was made in the 40's or something, a bit like Broomhill in Ipswich, except its bigger, full of seawater, has a dramatic view of sea bashing against the nearby rocks and sandy beaches, and its full of fit young australians. So really, its nothing like Broomhill.
Watched some people getting ready for the ironman/woman competition the next day. We were interested purely for scientific and professional reasons of course.
After a few hours of science based people observation, we went back to the campsite in Stockton to get ready before hitching a ride on the ferry backto the City for a night out in a place that actually has a gay club! Unfortunately Friday is not a busy night in the city of Newcastle but we still had a good time - Barbara and Annie tried a number of interesting dance moves that ended up on the floor, and we somehow didnt get kicked out after they nearly took out a number of bystanders. (this was entirely the fault ofsome slightly pervy men who insisted on trying to get us to do the 'dirty dancing lift' repeatedly, with varying degrees of success) A fairly good night!
Saturday 14th
This morning, annie learned how to put the tent away without help! And on a hangover! We all felt pretty awful this morning so it was a quiet drive down to Sydney. We are currently staying at a campsite on the southern side of the city, as the sites in the actual city are super expensive. Its only a $6 train ride into the city from here so much easier than wrestling the van through the busy streets of Sydney and then paying $40 for parking all day.
Sydney is pretty amazing, I'll finish writing all about it in a couple of days and post it later on.
Peace out!
Tuesday 10th
We had planned to take a detour off the main coastal route to drive along The Waterfall Way, but after a closer look at the map we realised a 6hr detour for a couple of waterfalls and big hills might not be worth it, so we stayed the night near a golf course in Urunga. We were then rudely awoken in the morning by a ranger who told us to move, as we were camping in a no camping area.
Driving to Port Macquarie, too late to go to zoo so we stayed at campsite. Pretty shitty day, mostly it rained.
Wednesday 11th
Billabong Zoo in Port Macquarie!
Stroked a koala, fed kangaroos and wallabies, saw snakes, wombats, meercats, snow leopard, red panda, lots of birds and a couple of spider monkeys. Barbara LOVED IT. We also saw an enourmous Estuarine Crocodile which looked large enough to eat a person whole. It had very big teeth.
Thursday 12th
Nelson Bay!
Sand Dunes! Lakes! Views! Home of the largest moving sand dunes in the southern Hemisphere! We considered going sandboarding, but it was decided that we'd had enough of sand, and inviting it into even more of our clothing would be uncomfortable to say the least. We did climb up to a lighthouse to get some exercise and admire the spectacular views though.
Friday 13th
Went to Newcastle!
Newcastle is a bit bigger than all the other towns we've been stopping at along the way, and its actually nice towalk around and has the added bonusof a nice beach.
There is a fairly old pool next to the sea that was made in the 40's or something, a bit like Broomhill in Ipswich, except its bigger, full of seawater, has a dramatic view of sea bashing against the nearby rocks and sandy beaches, and its full of fit young australians. So really, its nothing like Broomhill.
Watched some people getting ready for the ironman/woman competition the next day. We were interested purely for scientific and professional reasons of course.
After a few hours of science based people observation, we went back to the campsite in Stockton to get ready before hitching a ride on the ferry backto the City for a night out in a place that actually has a gay club! Unfortunately Friday is not a busy night in the city of Newcastle but we still had a good time - Barbara and Annie tried a number of interesting dance moves that ended up on the floor, and we somehow didnt get kicked out after they nearly took out a number of bystanders. (this was entirely the fault ofsome slightly pervy men who insisted on trying to get us to do the 'dirty dancing lift' repeatedly, with varying degrees of success) A fairly good night!
Saturday 14th
This morning, annie learned how to put the tent away without help! And on a hangover! We all felt pretty awful this morning so it was a quiet drive down to Sydney. We are currently staying at a campsite on the southern side of the city, as the sites in the actual city are super expensive. Its only a $6 train ride into the city from here so much easier than wrestling the van through the busy streets of Sydney and then paying $40 for parking all day.
Sydney is pretty amazing, I'll finish writing all about it in a couple of days and post it later on.
Peace out!
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Byron Bay!
Its been a bit longer than I intended since I last updated this due to us being super busy having the time of our bloody lives. So right now at this very minute I am sat having breakfast at The Arts Factory backpackers hostel in Byron Bay, reflecting on the last few amazing days here and trying to remember what we did last week.
Tuesday 3rd - We did some walks around Mount Tambourine; which, incidentally, is not at all shaped like a tambourine. We visited some glowworm caves, which was super weird, glowworms arent even actual worms they are fly larvae. Who knew?
We also walked to top of a huge waterfall (cameron falls) and looked over the edge of the cliff in a very responsible and not at all risky manner. After some more time spent looking at things we then drove to surfers paradise, realised it was a lot bigger than we anticipated and spent a stressful 45mins driving in circles, arguing about parking and finally locating and checking into a campsite.
Wednesday 4th - Today was the day we would learn to surf! It turns out (shockingly) that surfing is harder than it looks. Quote of the day goes to our world champion surf instructer: "Stop fucking the waves Annie!"
After an afternoon spent battling with the undertow and trying not to drown whilst also trying to stand up on a large bit of foambaord, Annie decided it was a great idea for us to go for a run, as well as do some press ups and pull ups in front of japanese tourists. As far as ideas go, I've heard better ones, especially since I cant remember the last time I ran for longer than 10 minutes. As expected, my body felt spectaluar the next day.
Thursday 5th
We walked around Surfers Paradise for a bit, got a bit sick and tired of the commercialism and sheer number of people, then drove to Springbrook National Park. It was great drive along the super high, super steep cliff edges; there were amazing panoramic views that Annie completely missed as she nestled in Barbara's bosom like a scared baby Koala.
We eventually found the campsite, and later that night got visited by some possums creeping around the van and tent, making enough noise to freak Annie out completely.
Friday 6th
Woke up fairly early, and found the easiest walk with the best views (the twin falls circuit - 4km and 5 waterfalls); it was a great walk actually - the waterfalls were enormous and the walk was just long enough to feel like we were getting good exercise, but not so long we collapsed from heat exhaustion. You would expect a place like that to be peaceful and quiet,and some of it was, but as soon as we got to a heavily wooded area we were assaulted by the noise of a thousand angry birds. It was deafening.
After a brief stop at the 'Best of All Lookout' where we could see all the way into New South Wales and Byron Bay we continued on to Nimbin, a small hippy town where you can see what happens to people when they smoke copious amounts of drugs everyday. We had a coffee in a cafe full of extremely chilled out people then we swiftly moved on, going towards....
BYRON BAY!!!!!!!!!!
...Where we have spent the last two days, and we all love it here. We surfed, sat on the beach, bumped into some Fraser Island friends, Annie bumped into someone she went to uni with, I got stalked by a chef who gave me his number (he actually left it under our windscreen wiper, in a bold, romantic and slightly creepy way, bless him), we've had a couple of really good nights out, and also had the best nachos I've ever tasted at the mexican cantina. We have also spent a good portion of our time people-watching, as Byron Bay is full of beautiful weirdos. We dont really want to leave, but there is still a lot to see. Later today we will head down the coast again, and see where we end up.
Tuesday 3rd - We did some walks around Mount Tambourine; which, incidentally, is not at all shaped like a tambourine. We visited some glowworm caves, which was super weird, glowworms arent even actual worms they are fly larvae. Who knew?
We also walked to top of a huge waterfall (cameron falls) and looked over the edge of the cliff in a very responsible and not at all risky manner. After some more time spent looking at things we then drove to surfers paradise, realised it was a lot bigger than we anticipated and spent a stressful 45mins driving in circles, arguing about parking and finally locating and checking into a campsite.
Wednesday 4th - Today was the day we would learn to surf! It turns out (shockingly) that surfing is harder than it looks. Quote of the day goes to our world champion surf instructer: "Stop fucking the waves Annie!"
After an afternoon spent battling with the undertow and trying not to drown whilst also trying to stand up on a large bit of foambaord, Annie decided it was a great idea for us to go for a run, as well as do some press ups and pull ups in front of japanese tourists. As far as ideas go, I've heard better ones, especially since I cant remember the last time I ran for longer than 10 minutes. As expected, my body felt spectaluar the next day.
Thursday 5th
We walked around Surfers Paradise for a bit, got a bit sick and tired of the commercialism and sheer number of people, then drove to Springbrook National Park. It was great drive along the super high, super steep cliff edges; there were amazing panoramic views that Annie completely missed as she nestled in Barbara's bosom like a scared baby Koala.
We eventually found the campsite, and later that night got visited by some possums creeping around the van and tent, making enough noise to freak Annie out completely.
Friday 6th
Woke up fairly early, and found the easiest walk with the best views (the twin falls circuit - 4km and 5 waterfalls); it was a great walk actually - the waterfalls were enormous and the walk was just long enough to feel like we were getting good exercise, but not so long we collapsed from heat exhaustion. You would expect a place like that to be peaceful and quiet,and some of it was, but as soon as we got to a heavily wooded area we were assaulted by the noise of a thousand angry birds. It was deafening.
After a brief stop at the 'Best of All Lookout' where we could see all the way into New South Wales and Byron Bay we continued on to Nimbin, a small hippy town where you can see what happens to people when they smoke copious amounts of drugs everyday. We had a coffee in a cafe full of extremely chilled out people then we swiftly moved on, going towards....
BYRON BAY!!!!!!!!!!
...Where we have spent the last two days, and we all love it here. We surfed, sat on the beach, bumped into some Fraser Island friends, Annie bumped into someone she went to uni with, I got stalked by a chef who gave me his number (he actually left it under our windscreen wiper, in a bold, romantic and slightly creepy way, bless him), we've had a couple of really good nights out, and also had the best nachos I've ever tasted at the mexican cantina. We have also spent a good portion of our time people-watching, as Byron Bay is full of beautiful weirdos. We dont really want to leave, but there is still a lot to see. Later today we will head down the coast again, and see where we end up.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Annie!
ANNIE HAS ARRIVED! For anyone reading this who doesnt know me personally or is not friends with me on facebok (in which case, who are you, and why the hell are you reading this??) Annie is one of my oldest and bestest friends and she once drank a pint of snakebite out of my sweaty just-used hockey trainer when we were on hockey tour.
We picked her up from the airport at 1am Sunday morning, which was actually pretty convenient for us as it meant there were not many cars on the road to witness or get in the way of our navigational difficulties. We've totally forgotten how to drive in cities, and the satnav on Babas phone is a bit slow. Needless to say, there have been some tense moments in the van. ("You were supposed to turn there!" "Well you didnt fucking tell me soon enough! Fuck!")
We managed to pick up a tent for free along the way (its one of those pop up ones, which meant it took about half an hour and 4 people to figure out how to put it away), which is Annies home for the next 3 weeks, and even though the zip is a bit broken, as long as it doesnt rain she will be fine. Hope shes ok with large spiders!
So far we have been staying in campsites which has made it fairly easy, when we start travelling down the coast and sleeping on the side of the road we may have to have all three of us in the van. Mmm, nice and sweaty.
So since the last blog, here is a tedious day by day update of what we have been doing for the benefit of my mother, who is the only one who cares.
Thurs - Met up with Perri, took free ferry across river, walked around, looked at big ugly bridge. Perris mum took us on brief driving tour of brisbane (turns out *all* aussies have a very aggressive driving technique) and took us up to a mountain for a romantic veiw of city before taking us all out for a meal that was super nice despite continually being referred to as 'the young man' by the waiter during the meal.
Friday - Met up with Kirstin ("I'll meet you at the beer garden!" "What beer garden, there's like a thousand of them?!" "<no reply>") , had a few drinks
Sat - woke up outside Perri's house, (not like in the garden or anything, we were sleeping in the van outside the house) walked around city again, next day was raining so went to DFO (huge shopping centre) with everyone else sheltering from the rain, found a campsite to stay at that was super close to middle of the city then picked up annie from airport, went to bed around 3ish
Sunday - Went into town showed a slightly delerius and jet-lagged Annie the markets etc then home where we hung out with Perri's mum and had dinner and a couple of beers then went to bed
Monday - Last day in Brissy :( Said goodbye to Kirstin and Perri and her mum then left the city to head towards Tambourine Mountain! Camped out - we have finally figured out how to get the tent up and down without spending 30mins wrestling with it, bonus!
We picked her up from the airport at 1am Sunday morning, which was actually pretty convenient for us as it meant there were not many cars on the road to witness or get in the way of our navigational difficulties. We've totally forgotten how to drive in cities, and the satnav on Babas phone is a bit slow. Needless to say, there have been some tense moments in the van. ("You were supposed to turn there!" "Well you didnt fucking tell me soon enough! Fuck!")
We managed to pick up a tent for free along the way (its one of those pop up ones, which meant it took about half an hour and 4 people to figure out how to put it away), which is Annies home for the next 3 weeks, and even though the zip is a bit broken, as long as it doesnt rain she will be fine. Hope shes ok with large spiders!
So far we have been staying in campsites which has made it fairly easy, when we start travelling down the coast and sleeping on the side of the road we may have to have all three of us in the van. Mmm, nice and sweaty.
So since the last blog, here is a tedious day by day update of what we have been doing for the benefit of my mother, who is the only one who cares.
Thurs - Met up with Perri, took free ferry across river, walked around, looked at big ugly bridge. Perris mum took us on brief driving tour of brisbane (turns out *all* aussies have a very aggressive driving technique) and took us up to a mountain for a romantic veiw of city before taking us all out for a meal that was super nice despite continually being referred to as 'the young man' by the waiter during the meal.
Friday - Met up with Kirstin ("I'll meet you at the beer garden!" "What beer garden, there's like a thousand of them?!" "<no reply>") , had a few drinks
Sat - woke up outside Perri's house, (not like in the garden or anything, we were sleeping in the van outside the house) walked around city again, next day was raining so went to DFO (huge shopping centre) with everyone else sheltering from the rain, found a campsite to stay at that was super close to middle of the city then picked up annie from airport, went to bed around 3ish
Sunday - Went into town showed a slightly delerius and jet-lagged Annie the markets etc then home where we hung out with Perri's mum and had dinner and a couple of beers then went to bed
Monday - Last day in Brissy :( Said goodbye to Kirstin and Perri and her mum then left the city to head towards Tambourine Mountain! Camped out - we have finally figured out how to get the tent up and down without spending 30mins wrestling with it, bonus!
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Brissy!
Thursday 28th November, 9:45am
We're finally in Brisbane! We are currently sitting in a tiny hipster coffee shop trying to de-clench our butts after a slightly terrifying drive into the City. Barbara continues to be awful at navigation, despite being aided by satnav this time. I think I will like this city, as I have already seen 3 men with beards, and I suspect at least one of them had wax in his moustache to make it pointy at the ends.
The last few days have been super chilled - the bush camp at Noosa was really nice - we did sleep in our van instead of the tents, but it was nice to chill out on the sofas and watch films after our canoeing adventures. My birthday was also quite relaxed, Baba got me an awesome hat, and we had cake. And she also made dinner which was super nice.
We stayed at the camp for three nights before moving driving south again - we spent a day at the Glass House Mountains which had awesome veiws. They used to be volcanoes or something? After a brief argument over which way was the southbound carrigeway on the Bruce Highway (there were no signs, and I was right) we headed towards Brisbane, staying the night in a carpark at Redcliffe.
So here we are!
We're finally in Brisbane! We are currently sitting in a tiny hipster coffee shop trying to de-clench our butts after a slightly terrifying drive into the City. Barbara continues to be awful at navigation, despite being aided by satnav this time. I think I will like this city, as I have already seen 3 men with beards, and I suspect at least one of them had wax in his moustache to make it pointy at the ends.
The last few days have been super chilled - the bush camp at Noosa was really nice - we did sleep in our van instead of the tents, but it was nice to chill out on the sofas and watch films after our canoeing adventures. My birthday was also quite relaxed, Baba got me an awesome hat, and we had cake. And she also made dinner which was super nice.
We stayed at the camp for three nights before moving driving south again - we spent a day at the Glass House Mountains which had awesome veiws. They used to be volcanoes or something? After a brief argument over which way was the southbound carrigeway on the Bruce Highway (there were no signs, and I was right) we headed towards Brisbane, staying the night in a carpark at Redcliffe.
So here we are!
Monday, 25 November 2013
Fraiser Island!
Sunday 10th Nov. Or Sunday. Someday.
From Agnes Water we headed down to Bundaburg, home of the Bundaburg Rum distillery,australia's most popular beverage! We went on a tour and learned all about how to make rum, then we drank some rum, it was delicious.
After that i ended up driving us (I was sober, by the way mum, dont worry) through a tropical storm - the van coped very well except for the fact my feet somehow got wet... after driving along a desserted track to a creepy isolated clearing in the woods we made it to our chosen camp spot alive, which was a relief. We also woke the next morning having not been murdered in the night, which was also a relief, and a bit of a surprise.
The next day we headed to Hervey Bay, one of the two towns where the ferry to Fraiser Island leaves from. We stayed at a Hostel for a couple of nights before the trip, where we ended up sharing a room with our new friend Kirstin who is from Felixstowe and who I have definitely played hockey against! Small world!
The tour we took was a 4WD tag along - so there was one tour guide, 4 cars and people took turns driving. We made a group of 8 people and went shopping for supplies the day before which mostly consisted of 150 cans of beer, about 60 sandwiches, and enough sausages to feed a small army. What more could you need? (A significant number of those beers remain undrunk and stashed in our van)
We left at 7am the next morning. When we got to the island we had one last breifing on how to drive a 4WD and then we just went for it.
Fraiser Island is the worlds largest sand island, which means the roads are all just dry, sandy, hilly and sometimes quite difficult to get through. Fun to drive though! On the first day we stopped at a couple of lakes - one of which had a huge sand dune right next to it and a really nice walk to get to it. All the lakes on Fraiser are freshwater and really clean - the water is filtered through all the sand which makes it super pure. The rainforest are about 700,000 years old (according to Jarrod, our wise owl-like tour guide) which is what made it a world heritage listed area.
We also stopped at the wreck of the Mareno - a cruise ship made in 1905(?) (Maybe?) that was also used as a hostpital ship during WW1 and then after it was decommissioned, sold to Japan for scrap but on the way there it broke from the towing rope and ended up drifting to shore on Fraiser. It was then used as target practice by the Australian Navy who managed to hit it twice with torpedos (2 direct hits out of like 200 attempts. I can see why they need some target practice). It's essentially just a big broken rusty boat on a beach.
We bush camped. There were no toilets, but we did have shovels and Dingo sticks. The Dingoes on the island have learned to get pretty good at scavenging food, so the sticks were a necessity in case we were forced to "defend ourselves aggressively" as instructed by the 20 minute safety briefing which many people slept through on the first morning.
The next day our group all got a chance to drive - at this point we were on the east side of the island (Seventy Five Mile Beach) so it was mostly flat, hard sand with the occasional large ditch. Easy. When it was my turn we went inland which involved a run up and then plough through super soft sand; i was going great until someone stopped in front of me then i got stuck but managed to get out by myself with my pride mostly intact. I do like driving, and this sort of driving is really fun, but it does start to get a bit stressful when you have to do it with 7 people shouting at you. On the second day we went to another lake, a cliff lookout (we saw a turtle! And a Manteray? Mantaray? Big flat fish!) And we sat in the Champagne Pools next to the sea. Also stopped off at a creek on the way back to rinse the seawater off. No showers for us - we spent the last couple of days stinking, and unable to remove the fine layer of sand from everything we wore or touched (the first shower we had back on the mainland was like a glorious rebirth; definitely in my top ten shower experiences). We spent another night at the bushcamp (sausages and pasta with salad for dinner,yum) and the next day stopped at one more lake before etting the ferry back to Hervey Bay.
Then we all went out drinking together. Hooray!
We are now down the road in Maryborough - we had a cuppa with our new awesome friend Sam who we first met at Airlie Beach (hello, you!) and now we are planning our next bush camp adventure in the Noosa Everglades.
LATER THAT SAME DAY.....
We were going to crash at new friend Sam's house last night while she played a gig at a private party somewhere, but plans change and we ended up getting invited along instead... the party was a housewarming in this super swanky house owned by two lovely drunk Aussies who fed us and gave us beer. The house was ridiculous. It was a huge open plan thing with a jacuzzi inside big enough to fit 20 people (it also has a pole fitted to the side), as well as having a snooker table, a huge entertainment system and a pool just outside the back door. It looked like a film set for a porno. Or at least the local swingers headquarters. We left early just in case.
From Agnes Water we headed down to Bundaburg, home of the Bundaburg Rum distillery,australia's most popular beverage! We went on a tour and learned all about how to make rum, then we drank some rum, it was delicious.
After that i ended up driving us (I was sober, by the way mum, dont worry) through a tropical storm - the van coped very well except for the fact my feet somehow got wet... after driving along a desserted track to a creepy isolated clearing in the woods we made it to our chosen camp spot alive, which was a relief. We also woke the next morning having not been murdered in the night, which was also a relief, and a bit of a surprise.
The next day we headed to Hervey Bay, one of the two towns where the ferry to Fraiser Island leaves from. We stayed at a Hostel for a couple of nights before the trip, where we ended up sharing a room with our new friend Kirstin who is from Felixstowe and who I have definitely played hockey against! Small world!
The tour we took was a 4WD tag along - so there was one tour guide, 4 cars and people took turns driving. We made a group of 8 people and went shopping for supplies the day before which mostly consisted of 150 cans of beer, about 60 sandwiches, and enough sausages to feed a small army. What more could you need? (A significant number of those beers remain undrunk and stashed in our van)
We left at 7am the next morning. When we got to the island we had one last breifing on how to drive a 4WD and then we just went for it.
Fraiser Island is the worlds largest sand island, which means the roads are all just dry, sandy, hilly and sometimes quite difficult to get through. Fun to drive though! On the first day we stopped at a couple of lakes - one of which had a huge sand dune right next to it and a really nice walk to get to it. All the lakes on Fraiser are freshwater and really clean - the water is filtered through all the sand which makes it super pure. The rainforest are about 700,000 years old (according to Jarrod, our wise owl-like tour guide) which is what made it a world heritage listed area.
We also stopped at the wreck of the Mareno - a cruise ship made in 1905(?) (Maybe?) that was also used as a hostpital ship during WW1 and then after it was decommissioned, sold to Japan for scrap but on the way there it broke from the towing rope and ended up drifting to shore on Fraiser. It was then used as target practice by the Australian Navy who managed to hit it twice with torpedos (2 direct hits out of like 200 attempts. I can see why they need some target practice). It's essentially just a big broken rusty boat on a beach.
We bush camped. There were no toilets, but we did have shovels and Dingo sticks. The Dingoes on the island have learned to get pretty good at scavenging food, so the sticks were a necessity in case we were forced to "defend ourselves aggressively" as instructed by the 20 minute safety briefing which many people slept through on the first morning.
The next day our group all got a chance to drive - at this point we were on the east side of the island (Seventy Five Mile Beach) so it was mostly flat, hard sand with the occasional large ditch. Easy. When it was my turn we went inland which involved a run up and then plough through super soft sand; i was going great until someone stopped in front of me then i got stuck but managed to get out by myself with my pride mostly intact. I do like driving, and this sort of driving is really fun, but it does start to get a bit stressful when you have to do it with 7 people shouting at you. On the second day we went to another lake, a cliff lookout (we saw a turtle! And a Manteray? Mantaray? Big flat fish!) And we sat in the Champagne Pools next to the sea. Also stopped off at a creek on the way back to rinse the seawater off. No showers for us - we spent the last couple of days stinking, and unable to remove the fine layer of sand from everything we wore or touched (the first shower we had back on the mainland was like a glorious rebirth; definitely in my top ten shower experiences). We spent another night at the bushcamp (sausages and pasta with salad for dinner,yum) and the next day stopped at one more lake before etting the ferry back to Hervey Bay.
Then we all went out drinking together. Hooray!
We are now down the road in Maryborough - we had a cuppa with our new awesome friend Sam who we first met at Airlie Beach (hello, you!) and now we are planning our next bush camp adventure in the Noosa Everglades.
LATER THAT SAME DAY.....
We were going to crash at new friend Sam's house last night while she played a gig at a private party somewhere, but plans change and we ended up getting invited along instead... the party was a housewarming in this super swanky house owned by two lovely drunk Aussies who fed us and gave us beer. The house was ridiculous. It was a huge open plan thing with a jacuzzi inside big enough to fit 20 people (it also has a pole fitted to the side), as well as having a snooker table, a huge entertainment system and a pool just outside the back door. It looked like a film set for a porno. Or at least the local swingers headquarters. We left early just in case.
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Buckle up for a long boring blogpost
Sat 9th Nov
Day trip to Airlie Beach! Its only a 40 minute drive here anyway, so even though we don't need to be here till Tuesday, we thought we would have a look anyway... And what an excellent decision it was. Airlie Beach is in the middle of a 3 day music festival featuring about 75 bands, most of which are playing at different bars and pubs all day where you can seethem for free! We caught The Hillbilly Goats playing again (I say that like it was by accident. Not so. I hunted them down and got to the bar early to get a good seat right in front of them), and their set was awesome! My excitable flailing was obviously memorable as after their set one of them saw us as she walked past and:
Hillbilly Goat: "oh hey, wern't you girls at Wallaby Creek?"
Me: "Er... yes. Im not stalking you. Honest."
After that we left for the next bar, where we watched an unmemorable band play some unmemorable songs, and as we were leaving that bar a group of 4 drunk middle aged ladies jumped into the back of the van demanding a lift home, and then they took us backto their hotel and offered us beer and drugs. I just had a cup of tea and then we moved on.
After spending the night back in our campsite in Bowen, next day we went back to Airlie Beach to see some more bands, and who do we bump into? The group of cougars we met the day before, this time mercifully less drunk. But just as rowdy. We also saw a really good band called Wanita and the Honky Tonk Bar Dwellers and a lady called Nadine something who we got chatting to for ages; she gave us two Vip passes so wecould get into the main tent later on (free food and booze in the VIP area, yay!). So at this bar, after the bands had left some dude (who we saw playing at the bar at Wallaby Creek festival) somehow summoned a pa system and two guitars into existence and invited anyone to come up and play. By this time we had already consumed a couple of jugs of cider, which made me think that getting up and singing was a great idea; anyone who saw my atrocious falling-off-the-stage incident during my tenure as VP at UCS Union would be able to tell you that this was a mistake, but there was fortunately no raised platform for me to fall off of this time.
The best thing to come out of this experience was of course the excellent new friends we made (Trent and Sam, holllaaa) who we hung out with the rest of the evening; not only in the vip tent but we also had some drinks at another bar where an awesonme band were playing and they had a guitarist who LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE MY FRIEND JAMES JENINNGS except a bit less ginger. And then The Hillbilly Goats were suddenly there dancing with us and now they probably think I'm stalking them.
Monday 11th
Barbara is hungover. Don't even bother. My body failed to siphon the alcohol from my bloodstream, so I spend this time in a haze of being still drunk but completely sober.
Tuesday 12th
BOAT DAY! WHITSUNDAYS! We started our 2 day and 2 night boat trip in glorious sunshine, with Barbara still horrifically hungover. We were on a (Trimaran? Trimeran? Trymaran?) big boat with a big floaty bit on each side, with 23 other people and a crew of three. It was pretty sweet. On the first day we snorkelled in two different places, saw a ton of nice coral and loads of fishes, also one very large friendly fish called Elvis who was like the big daddy of the bay. Barbara couldnt bring herself to sumersault off the boat like I did, so the skipper ended up pushing her in. She screamed loud enough for other people to think she had seen a shark or something.
The next day we cruised around somewhere else to look for turtles, but couldnt find any. We then went to Whitehaven Beach, officially the second most beautiful beach in the world, and there we played around in the super soft super white silica sand, saw a hoard of tiny crabs, a few stingraysand a lot of tourists. We took a ton of stupid pictures (we have to ruin it for everyone, always) and then went back to the boat, where we finally saw some turtles! They were apparently coming up for air as the bay we were stoppedin is a popular mating ground for them. On the way to the next stop we also saw a few Ospreys - one of the crew had a load of meat and he chucked it up for them to catch which looked pretty awesome. Spent the night in a sheltered bay where everyone drank copiously, played drinking games and got to know each other a bit too well. We sailed back to the harbour early the next morning, it was nice and cloudy so we could give our skin a little break after two days of hardcore sunburn.
We are now in the Town of 1770/Agnes Water, cooking lunch and contemplating our next movements. Its pretty here. The menu is... fried vegetable wraps. Again. Nom.
Day trip to Airlie Beach! Its only a 40 minute drive here anyway, so even though we don't need to be here till Tuesday, we thought we would have a look anyway... And what an excellent decision it was. Airlie Beach is in the middle of a 3 day music festival featuring about 75 bands, most of which are playing at different bars and pubs all day where you can seethem for free! We caught The Hillbilly Goats playing again (I say that like it was by accident. Not so. I hunted them down and got to the bar early to get a good seat right in front of them), and their set was awesome! My excitable flailing was obviously memorable as after their set one of them saw us as she walked past and:
Hillbilly Goat: "oh hey, wern't you girls at Wallaby Creek?"
Me: "Er... yes. Im not stalking you. Honest."
After that we left for the next bar, where we watched an unmemorable band play some unmemorable songs, and as we were leaving that bar a group of 4 drunk middle aged ladies jumped into the back of the van demanding a lift home, and then they took us backto their hotel and offered us beer and drugs. I just had a cup of tea and then we moved on.
After spending the night back in our campsite in Bowen, next day we went back to Airlie Beach to see some more bands, and who do we bump into? The group of cougars we met the day before, this time mercifully less drunk. But just as rowdy. We also saw a really good band called Wanita and the Honky Tonk Bar Dwellers and a lady called Nadine something who we got chatting to for ages; she gave us two Vip passes so wecould get into the main tent later on (free food and booze in the VIP area, yay!). So at this bar, after the bands had left some dude (who we saw playing at the bar at Wallaby Creek festival) somehow summoned a pa system and two guitars into existence and invited anyone to come up and play. By this time we had already consumed a couple of jugs of cider, which made me think that getting up and singing was a great idea; anyone who saw my atrocious falling-off-the-stage incident during my tenure as VP at UCS Union would be able to tell you that this was a mistake, but there was fortunately no raised platform for me to fall off of this time.
The best thing to come out of this experience was of course the excellent new friends we made (Trent and Sam, holllaaa) who we hung out with the rest of the evening; not only in the vip tent but we also had some drinks at another bar where an awesonme band were playing and they had a guitarist who LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE MY FRIEND JAMES JENINNGS except a bit less ginger. And then The Hillbilly Goats were suddenly there dancing with us and now they probably think I'm stalking them.
Monday 11th
Barbara is hungover. Don't even bother. My body failed to siphon the alcohol from my bloodstream, so I spend this time in a haze of being still drunk but completely sober.
Tuesday 12th
BOAT DAY! WHITSUNDAYS! We started our 2 day and 2 night boat trip in glorious sunshine, with Barbara still horrifically hungover. We were on a (Trimaran? Trimeran? Trymaran?) big boat with a big floaty bit on each side, with 23 other people and a crew of three. It was pretty sweet. On the first day we snorkelled in two different places, saw a ton of nice coral and loads of fishes, also one very large friendly fish called Elvis who was like the big daddy of the bay. Barbara couldnt bring herself to sumersault off the boat like I did, so the skipper ended up pushing her in. She screamed loud enough for other people to think she had seen a shark or something.
The next day we cruised around somewhere else to look for turtles, but couldnt find any. We then went to Whitehaven Beach, officially the second most beautiful beach in the world, and there we played around in the super soft super white silica sand, saw a hoard of tiny crabs, a few stingraysand a lot of tourists. We took a ton of stupid pictures (we have to ruin it for everyone, always) and then went back to the boat, where we finally saw some turtles! They were apparently coming up for air as the bay we were stoppedin is a popular mating ground for them. On the way to the next stop we also saw a few Ospreys - one of the crew had a load of meat and he chucked it up for them to catch which looked pretty awesome. Spent the night in a sheltered bay where everyone drank copiously, played drinking games and got to know each other a bit too well. We sailed back to the harbour early the next morning, it was nice and cloudy so we could give our skin a little break after two days of hardcore sunburn.
We are now in the Town of 1770/Agnes Water, cooking lunch and contemplating our next movements. Its pretty here. The menu is... fried vegetable wraps. Again. Nom.
Saturday, 2 November 2013
stuck in Townsville
The most difficult thing we have had to do on this trip has definitely been the planning we have done recently. It is so much easier to just get in the van with a vague idea of what want to do and see, but now we have a deadline. Its a deadline for an awesome reason (one of my very bestest friends will be flying into Brisbane at the end of the month!!!YAY!!), but as anyone who has ever worked or studied with me knows - I dont cope all that well with deadlines. Having Babas OCD personality looking over my shoulder has been both a great help and enourmous annoyance. But we got it done... we planned our movements to the day for the next month, figured out when we wanted to book our trips to the Whitsundays and Frasier Island, and visits to all the weird little towns and awesome beaches on the way. So OF COURSE the schedule got all buggered up due to REASONS and now we have to wait around till November 12th before we go to the Whitsundays and then squish everything else in between there and Brisbane. It will be fine, but no more faffing. The age of Faffage is OVER.
So we have been hanging around Townsville for the last week or so. There has been a lot of sitting by the actually quite lovely lagoon that also boasts free public showers and BBQs so it has become our second home. Also we spent a few more days hanging around Crystal Creek and Balgal Beach, which was lovely and relaxing. Baba even finished her book(!).
Yesterday, our van started making some rather harrowing noises. Im usually ok with very basic car care, as before I was even old enough to drive a car, my Dad showed me how to change a car tyre, check the oil, check the coolant, refill the water, clean and wax a car to a glorious shine. Unfortunately, he failed to show me how to replace a clutch on a Toyota Hiace, and so I am about to spend uneccessary money on garage labour. Thanks a lot, Dad.
It also turns out that heavy rain + open doors = EVERYTHING wet, and a possible confrontation with the local security company who have recieved complaints of two english backpackers putting up laundry lines wherever the hell they feel like it.
So we have been hanging around Townsville for the last week or so. There has been a lot of sitting by the actually quite lovely lagoon that also boasts free public showers and BBQs so it has become our second home. Also we spent a few more days hanging around Crystal Creek and Balgal Beach, which was lovely and relaxing. Baba even finished her book(!).
Yesterday, our van started making some rather harrowing noises. Im usually ok with very basic car care, as before I was even old enough to drive a car, my Dad showed me how to change a car tyre, check the oil, check the coolant, refill the water, clean and wax a car to a glorious shine. Unfortunately, he failed to show me how to replace a clutch on a Toyota Hiace, and so I am about to spend uneccessary money on garage labour. Thanks a lot, Dad.
It also turns out that heavy rain + open doors = EVERYTHING wet, and a possible confrontation with the local security company who have recieved complaints of two english backpackers putting up laundry lines wherever the hell they feel like it.
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Maggie
Wednesday 23rd October
Our last night on Magnetic Island. Its been pretty wild, there was skinny dipping, heavy drinking, sitting round a fire on the beach with a guitar and boys who could actually play and sing really well... and that was all just last night. It's the first time we actually stayed in a hostel since being in Oz, as we left the van in Townsville and took a passenger ferry here. We're sharing a dorm with 4 other people and we have been meeting a lot of young, excited people many of whom are here for the full moon party this weekend which is highly likely to get rather messy. Today we did some snorkelling and went round the island on the bus, so its not all been an alcoholic haze.
The best thing about the last few days though is the news from home - on Oct 18th not only was it my big brothers birthday (hope you had a good one, bro!xx), but also the birth of my cousins second child and Babas new nephew/godchild. Happy days! (THANK GOD for skype, baba has been an emotional wreck)
After this we head towards Arlie beach and the Whitsundays!!
Our last night on Magnetic Island. Its been pretty wild, there was skinny dipping, heavy drinking, sitting round a fire on the beach with a guitar and boys who could actually play and sing really well... and that was all just last night. It's the first time we actually stayed in a hostel since being in Oz, as we left the van in Townsville and took a passenger ferry here. We're sharing a dorm with 4 other people and we have been meeting a lot of young, excited people many of whom are here for the full moon party this weekend which is highly likely to get rather messy. Today we did some snorkelling and went round the island on the bus, so its not all been an alcoholic haze.
The best thing about the last few days though is the news from home - on Oct 18th not only was it my big brothers birthday (hope you had a good one, bro!xx), but also the birth of my cousins second child and Babas new nephew/godchild. Happy days! (THANK GOD for skype, baba has been an emotional wreck)
After this we head towards Arlie beach and the Whitsundays!!
Monday, 14 October 2013
Yeehaaw!
Oct 12th - The Rodeo.
The first time I sat on a bull, I knew I had probably made a terrible decision that would end in tears. The pro rider was next to me, telling me what would happen (the ride of my life), how I should sit (feet in front of the rope), and not to worry. I worried. I regretted signing the piece of paper that contained the phrase "may result in serious injury or death", and hoped barbara wouldnt get too annoyed when I inevitably would get kicked in the face and horribly disfigured.
Twenty minutes later I was back on a bull, this time wearing a helmet and padded vest, and the nice man was attaching my right hand to the bull while all his previous instructions vacated my brain. Before I knew it, the gate was opened, some arsehole slapped the bull and I was suddenly on top of an honest to god rodeo bull, and it was awesome. For a few brief seconds I felt I was getting it, but like everyone else I didn't last all that long. What a rush though! Apparently I stayed on longest out of the novices (aka backpacker idiots) but there really wasnt much difference. We were looked after so well by the pros - they made sure we were as prepared as could be and were super friendly and welcoming; my only regret is that baba had to work that evening so missed my shining monents of glory.
The event itself was really chilled and cool - a ring was set up in the back of the local pub and there was some spear throwing, a tug of war and music playing before the bull riding, as well as the outside bar. It was mostly locals, so fairly small, and our group were the only tourists there. Best day ever! Got some wicked pictures and videos, hopefully will get them up on facebook soon.
Oct 14th
Last full day in Lakeland. Mostly spend doing laundry, washing the van, cleaning the inside, and melting in the blistering heat. After the boys finished work I took a couple of them to Cooktown so they could shop at the IGA and we stopped off at the Lions Den on the way back. A storm also started rolling in and we were treated to a pretty epic light show before nearly perishing on the road courtesy of a fallen tree. Fortunately the brakes were working and I managed not to lose control on the wet roads, but i did nearly wet my pants in the process. A truck driver had already driven back the other way to get some help so a couple of minutes after we got there they rocked up with a chainsaw and we cleared it all up. Im very happy I didn't die though, especially on Mums birthday! Happy birthday old lady! Sorry I couldnt email you today, Courtneys internet wifi thingy has lost power and the cable has gone walkabout so you will probably only get an email from me when we drive down to Cairns tomorrow.
The first time I sat on a bull, I knew I had probably made a terrible decision that would end in tears. The pro rider was next to me, telling me what would happen (the ride of my life), how I should sit (feet in front of the rope), and not to worry. I worried. I regretted signing the piece of paper that contained the phrase "may result in serious injury or death", and hoped barbara wouldnt get too annoyed when I inevitably would get kicked in the face and horribly disfigured.
 |
| Feeling pretty confident here... |
Twenty minutes later I was back on a bull, this time wearing a helmet and padded vest, and the nice man was attaching my right hand to the bull while all his previous instructions vacated my brain. Before I knew it, the gate was opened, some arsehole slapped the bull and I was suddenly on top of an honest to god rodeo bull, and it was awesome. For a few brief seconds I felt I was getting it, but like everyone else I didn't last all that long. What a rush though! Apparently I stayed on longest out of the novices (aka backpacker idiots) but there really wasnt much difference. We were looked after so well by the pros - they made sure we were as prepared as could be and were super friendly and welcoming; my only regret is that baba had to work that evening so missed my shining monents of glory.
 |
| ...3 seconds later |
Oct 14th
Last full day in Lakeland. Mostly spend doing laundry, washing the van, cleaning the inside, and melting in the blistering heat. After the boys finished work I took a couple of them to Cooktown so they could shop at the IGA and we stopped off at the Lions Den on the way back. A storm also started rolling in and we were treated to a pretty epic light show before nearly perishing on the road courtesy of a fallen tree. Fortunately the brakes were working and I managed not to lose control on the wet roads, but i did nearly wet my pants in the process. A truck driver had already driven back the other way to get some help so a couple of minutes after we got there they rocked up with a chainsaw and we cleared it all up. Im very happy I didn't die though, especially on Mums birthday! Happy birthday old lady! Sorry I couldnt email you today, Courtneys internet wifi thingy has lost power and the cable has gone walkabout so you will probably only get an email from me when we drive down to Cairns tomorrow.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Still in Lakeland
So despite being in the middle of nowhere, we never run out of things to do. I've been doing a bit of work at on some passion fruit at a nearby farm, (and got to ride a horse and pretend to be a cowboy), we've been fixing up flynet in the van so we can sleepwith the doors open and not get eaten by bugs, and theres always our sporadic fitness regime to continue when we cant think of anything better to do. Also, jumping off dead trees into a nearby dam.
Wallaby Creek Festival happened last weekend, and we went along for Baba's birthday - there were some awesome bands (The Hillbilly Goats, Lily and King) and a ton of mental hippies. Awseome day.
Work continues at the roadhouse. Temperature is in the mid 30s, I still have yet to develop a tan. I have, however, killed my first marsupial with the aid of my trusty van. The worst part of the scenario wasnt the awful crunching sound, but the ear splitting, morbid celebratory cheering from a number of drunken idiots that I was less-than-legally driving back from the pub in our 3 seater van.
Wallaby Creek Festival happened last weekend, and we went along for Baba's birthday - there were some awesome bands (The Hillbilly Goats, Lily and King) and a ton of mental hippies. Awseome day.
 |
| The Hillbilly Goats! My new fave band with Goats in the name. |
Monday, 23 September 2013
(Lack of) Lakeland
We got jobs! yay! Found it on Gumtree while were in Cairns and droveup two days later.
So here we are in Lakeland, Far North Queensland. There are no lakes here. Just miles and miles of cow pastures, occasionally interuppted by a large banana farm, teak plantation, or cattle station. The town is mostly full of farm workers, most of which keep to themselves and arent allowed to go to the pub. We're staying at the Lakeland Caravan Park where we there are some more workers, some of which we have made really good friends with. Yay!
Lakeland is one of the very few stops on the way to Cape York, so we get a lot of people stopping off for diesel and petrol for their boats, so the Roadhouse where we work is sometimes pretty busy. Not often though. Its usually fairly dead.
The weather is super duper hot right now, but yesterday we went to a local farm that has a dam so we could have a little swim and play on a boat. It was awesome, we're definitely going to head up there again.
We're quite isolated up here - the closest supermarket is in cooktown, an hour away, but since we have a van its easy to get around and see stuff. There are some aboriginal cave paintings up the road, another smalltown called Laura, an awesome bush pub called the Lions Den, and some creeks you can swim in that are free of crocs. Its just hardtoget the energy to do antything when the temperature is in the 30s all the time.
We've been lucky in that wehave met so many awesome people to hang out with. A few of the banana farm workers are from the UK, as well as a couple of the girlsin the pub, so we made friends here really easily. The good thing about working here isthat there are not much opportunities to spend the money we are earning. The bad thing is that the pub is one of those places.
So here we are in Lakeland, Far North Queensland. There are no lakes here. Just miles and miles of cow pastures, occasionally interuppted by a large banana farm, teak plantation, or cattle station. The town is mostly full of farm workers, most of which keep to themselves and arent allowed to go to the pub. We're staying at the Lakeland Caravan Park where we there are some more workers, some of which we have made really good friends with. Yay!
Lakeland is one of the very few stops on the way to Cape York, so we get a lot of people stopping off for diesel and petrol for their boats, so the Roadhouse where we work is sometimes pretty busy. Not often though. Its usually fairly dead.
The weather is super duper hot right now, but yesterday we went to a local farm that has a dam so we could have a little swim and play on a boat. It was awesome, we're definitely going to head up there again.
We're quite isolated up here - the closest supermarket is in cooktown, an hour away, but since we have a van its easy to get around and see stuff. There are some aboriginal cave paintings up the road, another smalltown called Laura, an awesome bush pub called the Lions Den, and some creeks you can swim in that are free of crocs. Its just hardtoget the energy to do antything when the temperature is in the 30s all the time.
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| Cook Point. Or hill. or something with Cook in the name, anyway. |
We've been lucky in that wehave met so many awesome people to hang out with. A few of the banana farm workers are from the UK, as well as a couple of the girlsin the pub, so we made friends here really easily. The good thing about working here isthat there are not much opportunities to spend the money we are earning. The bad thing is that the pub is one of those places.
 |
| Bushfire!!! |
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Wetlands
Sun 1st
Drove up the road to Palm Beach. Expected postcard type views of sandy beaches with palm trees gently waving in the breeze. What we got was driving winds, sand in our eyes and sea the colour of Felixstowe docks. So we fucked off up the coast some more until we got to Port Douglas. Slightly better. More of a town so there was a bar in which we could drown our sorrows. We actually paid for a campsite this time so we enjoyed a nice hot shower and finally did some laundry so we smell like ROSES.
Monday 2nd
Drove into town at 10:30, walked all the way through, did some food shopping then headed up to Mossman Gorge, which I had high hopes was going to be awesome. Turns out the carpark was 2km away from the gorge, so instead of taking the $6 shuttle we all walked, then when we got there it was less than spectacular. Its more of a cultural heritage experience, which you can really only fully appreciate if you pay $70 for a guided tour or actually do some research, which I tend to avoid unless the information can be given to me in a short leaflet with accompanying pictures. It was a nice walk though.
After we left we went straight up and after a brief wrong turn situation we made it to the Daintree River where it turns out you have to pay to cross the ferry. Had I been paying attention to the glance I took at the Lonely Planet book I would have known about it but I guess my attention to detail is about as good as Baba's navigation skills.
Once we crossed the river on the unnecessary ferry (honestly, they could just build a bridge) we nearly met our maker courtesy of a 100m "passing lane", 2 impatient drivers and a cliff face. After 16km of twisting, narrow, harrowing roads we got to the campsite which gave us a chance to change our soiled underwear and for me to loosen my grip on the steering wheel. It was a lovely drive...
Tuesday 3rd
Went all the way up to Cape Tribulation, via some pretty boardwalks in the rainforest. The beach was beautiful, but the weather was shit. We got chatting to a weird old man who lives in a hut near the beach, and he let us park on his land for the night which was nice of him. He also gave us some tea, showed us how to crack open coconuts, and told us that the next world war would be breaking out in November, but we will be ok if we stay in Australia. Reassuring.
Wednesday 3rd
Did a bit more walking, took some ridiculous pictures then drove back down to Cairns. Found out that the Wicked Travel shop just let you use computers and internet for free so we will be taking full advantage over the next few days.
We're done with rain now, we would like some sunshine please.
Drove up the road to Palm Beach. Expected postcard type views of sandy beaches with palm trees gently waving in the breeze. What we got was driving winds, sand in our eyes and sea the colour of Felixstowe docks. So we fucked off up the coast some more until we got to Port Douglas. Slightly better. More of a town so there was a bar in which we could drown our sorrows. We actually paid for a campsite this time so we enjoyed a nice hot shower and finally did some laundry so we smell like ROSES.
Monday 2nd
Drove into town at 10:30, walked all the way through, did some food shopping then headed up to Mossman Gorge, which I had high hopes was going to be awesome. Turns out the carpark was 2km away from the gorge, so instead of taking the $6 shuttle we all walked, then when we got there it was less than spectacular. Its more of a cultural heritage experience, which you can really only fully appreciate if you pay $70 for a guided tour or actually do some research, which I tend to avoid unless the information can be given to me in a short leaflet with accompanying pictures. It was a nice walk though.
After we left we went straight up and after a brief wrong turn situation we made it to the Daintree River where it turns out you have to pay to cross the ferry. Had I been paying attention to the glance I took at the Lonely Planet book I would have known about it but I guess my attention to detail is about as good as Baba's navigation skills.
Once we crossed the river on the unnecessary ferry (honestly, they could just build a bridge) we nearly met our maker courtesy of a 100m "passing lane", 2 impatient drivers and a cliff face. After 16km of twisting, narrow, harrowing roads we got to the campsite which gave us a chance to change our soiled underwear and for me to loosen my grip on the steering wheel. It was a lovely drive...
Tuesday 3rd
Went all the way up to Cape Tribulation, via some pretty boardwalks in the rainforest. The beach was beautiful, but the weather was shit. We got chatting to a weird old man who lives in a hut near the beach, and he let us park on his land for the night which was nice of him. He also gave us some tea, showed us how to crack open coconuts, and told us that the next world war would be breaking out in November, but we will be ok if we stay in Australia. Reassuring.
Wednesday 3rd
Did a bit more walking, took some ridiculous pictures then drove back down to Cairns. Found out that the Wicked Travel shop just let you use computers and internet for free so we will be taking full advantage over the next few days.
We're done with rain now, we would like some sunshine please.
Friday, 30 August 2013
Cairns, BABY!
Tuesday 27th August
After a minimal amount of faffage (due to aquiring a creepy old neighbour who was weird and wouldnt leave us alone) we headed back down to Atherton and then out east to explore the Tablelands. First stop was the Curtain Fig Tree, an immense strangler fig that over the period of 1000 had eaten three trees and now has the footprint of a large house. Next stop was Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine, which we walked about 5.5km around. They both were surroundedby jungle, and I nearly soiled myself after a near miss with a snake on the path. We also saw a Drake Eel while we had afternoon tea - it was the size of a small child. After the Lakes we drove by The Cathedral Fig, another enourmous tree that looked like something out of lord of the rings. This one we could even go inside it a bit and hang off the roots. We drove on through some mountains on the twistiest and hilliest road I have ever driven to get to the coast again, and stopped for the night at a free campspot 20mins down the road from Cairns, which we will probably stay at all week instead of paying through the nose forthe privilege of parking outside a hostel in the City centre. It looks like quite a few other people are doing the same.
Wednesday 28th August
Drove into Cairns for the first time, checked out the Esplanade and Lagoon (free showers! Yay!) Theres no beach here so the city council provide this huge out door swimming area and park thats free to use. Currently the Cairns Festival is on as well so theres loads of entertainment going on here as well. Theres also night markets (where babs FINALLY found the pirate earrings she has been looking for for months) and I found a bush hat that I cant afford and barbara thinks makes me look ridiculous.
On the lookout for jobs we found a possibility for work at the next big eventhere so we called up the agency and got a job interview for tomorrow.
Thursday 29th
Faffed all morning, got into town with just enought time to get a shower, our CVs printed at the library, and get to the interveiw. We got taken on for Hospitality work at hotels so we need to practise our hospital corners.
Also booked a trip to go snorkelling on the outer reef for the next day! Very exciting!
Friday 30th
We left the campsite far far too late. Needed to be on the boat by 8, and ONLY JUST made it... I made the schoolboy error of forgetting that most people have to work for a living and there would be a considerable amount of traffic. Who knew?
We went out to two reef locations, Saxon reefand Hastings Reef. The trip out was super choppy and quite a few people were sick, the first of which was a german girl in the middle of the 'what to do if you feel seasick' briefing. Perri also vomited a lot. No one was fine, but baba and I managed not to chunder.
The actual snorkeling was brilliant. Also went on a glass bottomed boat and saw some 1000yo giant clams. They were big. And pretty. Google it.
I managed not to drown, which was nice, and Babs went into the water without complaining about the cold which was even nicer. Admittedly, we both hit the reef a couple of times, but im pretty sure that was just in dead bits.
All in all it was a great day. Except the sunburn. When we got back to Cairns we saw some fire spinning, a really good band, some silent films accompanied by live music and some Aboriginal-y singing group that was really really good.
Saturday 31st Aug
We are all pretty tired. Loads of markets are on in Cairns and we walkedaround a bit but now sitting at the lagoon in the shade, watching a number of pale English backpackers get more and more sunburnt. Ahhhh.
After a minimal amount of faffage (due to aquiring a creepy old neighbour who was weird and wouldnt leave us alone) we headed back down to Atherton and then out east to explore the Tablelands. First stop was the Curtain Fig Tree, an immense strangler fig that over the period of 1000 had eaten three trees and now has the footprint of a large house. Next stop was Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine, which we walked about 5.5km around. They both were surroundedby jungle, and I nearly soiled myself after a near miss with a snake on the path. We also saw a Drake Eel while we had afternoon tea - it was the size of a small child. After the Lakes we drove by The Cathedral Fig, another enourmous tree that looked like something out of lord of the rings. This one we could even go inside it a bit and hang off the roots. We drove on through some mountains on the twistiest and hilliest road I have ever driven to get to the coast again, and stopped for the night at a free campspot 20mins down the road from Cairns, which we will probably stay at all week instead of paying through the nose forthe privilege of parking outside a hostel in the City centre. It looks like quite a few other people are doing the same.
Wednesday 28th August
Drove into Cairns for the first time, checked out the Esplanade and Lagoon (free showers! Yay!) Theres no beach here so the city council provide this huge out door swimming area and park thats free to use. Currently the Cairns Festival is on as well so theres loads of entertainment going on here as well. Theres also night markets (where babs FINALLY found the pirate earrings she has been looking for for months) and I found a bush hat that I cant afford and barbara thinks makes me look ridiculous.
On the lookout for jobs we found a possibility for work at the next big eventhere so we called up the agency and got a job interview for tomorrow.
Thursday 29th
Faffed all morning, got into town with just enought time to get a shower, our CVs printed at the library, and get to the interveiw. We got taken on for Hospitality work at hotels so we need to practise our hospital corners.
Also booked a trip to go snorkelling on the outer reef for the next day! Very exciting!
Friday 30th
We left the campsite far far too late. Needed to be on the boat by 8, and ONLY JUST made it... I made the schoolboy error of forgetting that most people have to work for a living and there would be a considerable amount of traffic. Who knew?
We went out to two reef locations, Saxon reefand Hastings Reef. The trip out was super choppy and quite a few people were sick, the first of which was a german girl in the middle of the 'what to do if you feel seasick' briefing. Perri also vomited a lot. No one was fine, but baba and I managed not to chunder.
The actual snorkeling was brilliant. Also went on a glass bottomed boat and saw some 1000yo giant clams. They were big. And pretty. Google it.
I managed not to drown, which was nice, and Babs went into the water without complaining about the cold which was even nicer. Admittedly, we both hit the reef a couple of times, but im pretty sure that was just in dead bits.
All in all it was a great day. Except the sunburn. When we got back to Cairns we saw some fire spinning, a really good band, some silent films accompanied by live music and some Aboriginal-y singing group that was really really good.
Saturday 31st Aug
We are all pretty tired. Loads of markets are on in Cairns and we walkedaround a bit but now sitting at the lagoon in the shade, watching a number of pale English backpackers get more and more sunburnt. Ahhhh.
Atherton Tablelands
Sunday 25th
Our last few hours at the Sanctuary were spent having an enourmous breakfast and trying not to leave anyofour stuff there. We drove north out of Mission Beach to Innisfail, where we turned west and headed along the Palmerston Hwy towards Millaa Millaa to see some waterfalls. The drive was beautifull, as we got higher up into the tablelands there was a lot of rolling green hills and it started to look very similar to the Peak District or somewhere like that. We went all the way to Ravenshoe and stayed at an old Steam Railway station for the night - the caretaker of the campsite lived in an actual railway carriage. She gave us a half price discount because we asked nicely so $5 par van was pretty good. Shower was super hot which was really good as it got quite cold here by the morning.
Monday 26th
After an heroic amount of faffing we got on the road for approx 40sec before stopping off for brunch at a local Cafe, where we met a nice dutch lady who chatted with us for ages in dutch so I have no idea what it was about. We then drove from Ravenshoe to Little Mill Stream falls and Big Mill Stream Falls.They were pretty, but the weather was all rainy and crap so we didnt spend much time there which was probably more of a blessing as we managed to get our arses into gear and see a lot of things. After a quick look at the pretty water falls we then drove up the road a bit to The Crater at Mt Hypipamee Nt Park. It was basically a HUGE hole in the ground but it looked pretty cool. We threw some rocks in it. Standard.
Carried on up to Atherton where we stayed the night in a large free campsite up the road a bit.
Our last few hours at the Sanctuary were spent having an enourmous breakfast and trying not to leave anyofour stuff there. We drove north out of Mission Beach to Innisfail, where we turned west and headed along the Palmerston Hwy towards Millaa Millaa to see some waterfalls. The drive was beautifull, as we got higher up into the tablelands there was a lot of rolling green hills and it started to look very similar to the Peak District or somewhere like that. We went all the way to Ravenshoe and stayed at an old Steam Railway station for the night - the caretaker of the campsite lived in an actual railway carriage. She gave us a half price discount because we asked nicely so $5 par van was pretty good. Shower was super hot which was really good as it got quite cold here by the morning.
Monday 26th
After an heroic amount of faffing we got on the road for approx 40sec before stopping off for brunch at a local Cafe, where we met a nice dutch lady who chatted with us for ages in dutch so I have no idea what it was about. We then drove from Ravenshoe to Little Mill Stream falls and Big Mill Stream Falls.They were pretty, but the weather was all rainy and crap so we didnt spend much time there which was probably more of a blessing as we managed to get our arses into gear and see a lot of things. After a quick look at the pretty water falls we then drove up the road a bit to The Crater at Mt Hypipamee Nt Park. It was basically a HUGE hole in the ground but it looked pretty cool. We threw some rocks in it. Standard.
Carried on up to Atherton where we stayed the night in a large free campsite up the road a bit.
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Last night at Mission Beach
We've now spent a week and a half at The Sanctuary, working 5hrs a day for food and accommodation. We're basically at the top of a hill, surrounded by rainforest and next to the sea. The buildings are only accessable by 4WD or a 600m stomp up a steep track through mozzie, spider and lizard infested wilderness, so it feels fairly isolated, despite still being close to town.
We've been working in the kitchen (barefoot, a real delight; health and safety is of top priority here), as well as sweeping leaves from all the paths, mopping and general scut work. Its fairly easy, and there are plenty of opportunities for nap time, disguised as 'cleaning the staff toilets'. Speaking of which, the staff accommodation is right underneath the yoga room, so we are woken up nearly every morning between 6 and 8 by thumping banging and scraping right above our heads. We have no idea what they're doing up there but it sounds quite strenuous.
Last night we decided to watch Paranormal Activity 3 before bed. A horror film. While we are miles away from civilisation, in full knowledge that our doors dont lock and we could be attacked by serial killers at any moment. Outstanding plan...
There are more spiders here than I am comfortable with. Huge ones, usually in our new friend Liams room. Huntsmans, Wolf Spiders and Golden Orbs apparently. All I know is that they are the size of my hand, their legs are too thick, and if their eyes are big enough for me to know what direction they are looking in then I don't want them anywhere within 25 metres of me. Our method of dealing with these issues consists of 5 of us chasing the large spider with a bucket, while trying not to scream like little girls. Once the spider is in the bucket, it gets released on the other side of the hill, or we feed it to the monster spider down the road.
We also got our first bit of paid work since entering Oz; toilet cleaning at a nearby caravan park on weekends, $45 each for 3 hours work, not too bad!
Tomorrowwe move out- heading north again on a ponderously slow journey towards Cairns, stopping at every National Park and waterfall on the way. Its 2hours from here to Cairns, but it will probably take us 4 days.
We've been working in the kitchen (barefoot, a real delight; health and safety is of top priority here), as well as sweeping leaves from all the paths, mopping and general scut work. Its fairly easy, and there are plenty of opportunities for nap time, disguised as 'cleaning the staff toilets'. Speaking of which, the staff accommodation is right underneath the yoga room, so we are woken up nearly every morning between 6 and 8 by thumping banging and scraping right above our heads. We have no idea what they're doing up there but it sounds quite strenuous.
Last night we decided to watch Paranormal Activity 3 before bed. A horror film. While we are miles away from civilisation, in full knowledge that our doors dont lock and we could be attacked by serial killers at any moment. Outstanding plan...
There are more spiders here than I am comfortable with. Huge ones, usually in our new friend Liams room. Huntsmans, Wolf Spiders and Golden Orbs apparently. All I know is that they are the size of my hand, their legs are too thick, and if their eyes are big enough for me to know what direction they are looking in then I don't want them anywhere within 25 metres of me. Our method of dealing with these issues consists of 5 of us chasing the large spider with a bucket, while trying not to scream like little girls. Once the spider is in the bucket, it gets released on the other side of the hill, or we feed it to the monster spider down the road.
We also got our first bit of paid work since entering Oz; toilet cleaning at a nearby caravan park on weekends, $45 each for 3 hours work, not too bad!
Tomorrowwe move out- heading north again on a ponderously slow journey towards Cairns, stopping at every National Park and waterfall on the way. Its 2hours from here to Cairns, but it will probably take us 4 days.
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Mission Beach
So we are currently in Paradise.
Mission Beach is where the rainfrest meets the Reef - 14km of sand and palm trees, and it's pretty spectacular. Our new friends Perri and Richard are WWOOFing (working for free in exchange for accommodation and food) at The Sanctuary which is a super nice yoga retreat up a hill surrounded by beautiful veiws and confused looking Cassowaries (google it, they look like ostriches crossed with giant turkeys). We managed to blag a place there to start work on Wednesday for two weeks so that will be a nice chance to save some money and chill out for a while. After that, we found a hostel where they send you to work on a banana farm during the week but they charge you $200 for the privelege. Take home pay is $400 after that though so we are considering it for after 2 weeks WOOFing.
We're in croc territory currently, as well as stinger and shark infested waters, so we're being slightly more careful about where we camp.
We've also been trying to be a bit more social and meeting new people. This morning I saw a french girl trimming her boyfriends armpit hair whilst making monkey noises at him. The french really are the most romantic people I've ever met. Also - Barbara cut my hair and it looks pretty good - I cut Barbaras hair and she got really upset until the next day when she decided it was ok.
Mission Beach is where the rainfrest meets the Reef - 14km of sand and palm trees, and it's pretty spectacular. Our new friends Perri and Richard are WWOOFing (working for free in exchange for accommodation and food) at The Sanctuary which is a super nice yoga retreat up a hill surrounded by beautiful veiws and confused looking Cassowaries (google it, they look like ostriches crossed with giant turkeys). We managed to blag a place there to start work on Wednesday for two weeks so that will be a nice chance to save some money and chill out for a while. After that, we found a hostel where they send you to work on a banana farm during the week but they charge you $200 for the privelege. Take home pay is $400 after that though so we are considering it for after 2 weeks WOOFing.
We're in croc territory currently, as well as stinger and shark infested waters, so we're being slightly more careful about where we camp.
We've also been trying to be a bit more social and meeting new people. This morning I saw a french girl trimming her boyfriends armpit hair whilst making monkey noises at him. The french really are the most romantic people I've ever met. Also - Barbara cut my hair and it looks pretty good - I cut Barbaras hair and she got really upset until the next day when she decided it was ok.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Jourama Falls nr Ingham
Rock Pools!
The last few days we've been travelling with some new friends, who are awesome - Richard from Holland and Perry from Brisbane. We met at Saunders Beach free campground and since we were travelling in the same direction we decided to hang out. We went to Paluma National Park to see Little Crystal Creek and Big Crystal Creek; beautiful spots for swimming and sunbathing; then the next day found another creek at Jourama Falls. Richard has a quadcopter and Go-Pro camera that he attaches to it and he got some great videos flying it through the valley of all the little water falls.
The last few days we've been travelling with some new friends, who are awesome - Richard from Holland and Perry from Brisbane. We met at Saunders Beach free campground and since we were travelling in the same direction we decided to hang out. We went to Paluma National Park to see Little Crystal Creek and Big Crystal Creek; beautiful spots for swimming and sunbathing; then the next day found another creek at Jourama Falls. Richard has a quadcopter and Go-Pro camera that he attaches to it and he got some great videos flying it through the valley of all the little water falls.
Barbara failed to completely submerge herself. Chicken.
There was a bushfire nearby but we're pretty sure it was a controlled burn.
Today (Wednesday 7th) we're at Ingham, definitely staying at a caravan park tonight as we all smell and need to do laundry. Richard and Perry use their quadcopter to get aerial shots of the campsites they want to stay at and trade them for free accommodation. Nice plan, eventually they'll save enough to pay off the equipment I guess!
Thursday, 1 August 2013
Carnavorn Gorge!
Monday 29th
Meant to get up early, but only managed to get on the road about 10ish dueto epic faffage by both barbara and myself. (Despite turning to back to collect food we left at the campsite fridge, we still managed to leave the showergel behind). Drove 157km to Carnavorn Gorge, the last 30 of which was pretty epic gravelly unsealed road which was fun in a 2wd van which is very heavy in the front...
The gorge was amazing though, totally worth it. We walked about 14km altogether, back and forth across the creek on stepping stones and looking at the sights. Moss Garden was beautiful, the huge cliffs made of sandstone soak up loads of water and it leaks through the rock until it hits a layer of shale, where it then just squshes out the side and falls out of the wall. It ends up with an area full of really green moss and a little water fall.
The Amphitheatre was just a massive space that echoed a lot, it was so huge. Wards Canyon contained these massive king ferns that were apparently around when dinosuars roamed the earth. The Art Gallery was where loads of Aboriginal paintings were - there were loads of stencilled handprints and outlines of tools and boomerangs, carvings of emu and kangaroo tracks, paintings of grids (that meant a burial site was nearby) and a whole load of carvings of human vulvas. Like a huge amount. Maybe the local tribes were mega feminists or something. There were vaginas *everywhere*.
We walked for about 5 hours in total, it was proper rainforesty, and you could hear loads of birds making a right racket. Fortunately we got back to the car just before the sunset, but the drive out of the park was a little hairy - some cows decided to have a middle-of-the-road party in complete darkness. The vans brakes turned out to be pretty effective so no disasters.
Tuesday 30th
Drove up to a nice little town called Emerald, and used the Library's free wifi to look for harvest jobs nearby, but we are are still not all that successful. Spent the night in a very badly chosen free campsite spot, the freight train morning wake up was not appreciated at 5.30am.
Wednesday 31st
After a vaguely successful attempt to make pancakes on a camping stove, we headed an hour east to see the gem fields at Rubyvale and Sapphire. Literally every hous has their own mine in the backyard. They did have a very nice pub though. We spend the night at another free roadside campspot, and someone gave us some leftover chips from the local chippy which was really welcomed as we were cooking instant noodles to have with our leftover slightly dodgy stirfry. Thats the second time we've been fed by our elderly fellow travellers - probably the best aspect of sharing the road with so many 'Grey Nomads'.
Thursday 1st
Im currently writing this in a little cafe in the town of Capella, which contains not a whole lot by the looks of it. We're heading up to Charters Towers today - we will definitely without question be staying at a campsite tonight, as we have now gone for an uncomfortably long period of time since our last shower. (We have been washing in cold water btw, we're not completely abandoning our personal hygene.)
The caravan parks here are generally really good - unpowered sites are between $10 and $25 per night, the kitchens have everything you need and they also usually have free wi fi. The showers have all been really nice too. Despite all that though, I do really like just pulling up somewhere with a toilet and camping for free. While we've been here on the edge of the outback theres no light pollution nearby so at night you can see so many stars, including the milky way, which is super pretty.
Update; Its now 4.25 and we made it to Charters Towers, after driving 573.2km on one tank of fuel. The last 30kms the petrol light was on and in my panic to get to a petrol station I took a corner fast enough for everything in the back to fall over. We made it to a caravan park though - cant wait to get a shower...
Meant to get up early, but only managed to get on the road about 10ish dueto epic faffage by both barbara and myself. (Despite turning to back to collect food we left at the campsite fridge, we still managed to leave the showergel behind). Drove 157km to Carnavorn Gorge, the last 30 of which was pretty epic gravelly unsealed road which was fun in a 2wd van which is very heavy in the front...
The gorge was amazing though, totally worth it. We walked about 14km altogether, back and forth across the creek on stepping stones and looking at the sights. Moss Garden was beautiful, the huge cliffs made of sandstone soak up loads of water and it leaks through the rock until it hits a layer of shale, where it then just squshes out the side and falls out of the wall. It ends up with an area full of really green moss and a little water fall.
The Amphitheatre was just a massive space that echoed a lot, it was so huge. Wards Canyon contained these massive king ferns that were apparently around when dinosuars roamed the earth. The Art Gallery was where loads of Aboriginal paintings were - there were loads of stencilled handprints and outlines of tools and boomerangs, carvings of emu and kangaroo tracks, paintings of grids (that meant a burial site was nearby) and a whole load of carvings of human vulvas. Like a huge amount. Maybe the local tribes were mega feminists or something. There were vaginas *everywhere*.
Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgh!!!
Tuesday 30th
Drove up to a nice little town called Emerald, and used the Library's free wifi to look for harvest jobs nearby, but we are are still not all that successful. Spent the night in a very badly chosen free campsite spot, the freight train morning wake up was not appreciated at 5.30am.
Wednesday 31st
After a vaguely successful attempt to make pancakes on a camping stove, we headed an hour east to see the gem fields at Rubyvale and Sapphire. Literally every hous has their own mine in the backyard. They did have a very nice pub though. We spend the night at another free roadside campspot, and someone gave us some leftover chips from the local chippy which was really welcomed as we were cooking instant noodles to have with our leftover slightly dodgy stirfry. Thats the second time we've been fed by our elderly fellow travellers - probably the best aspect of sharing the road with so many 'Grey Nomads'.
Thursday 1st
Im currently writing this in a little cafe in the town of Capella, which contains not a whole lot by the looks of it. We're heading up to Charters Towers today - we will definitely without question be staying at a campsite tonight, as we have now gone for an uncomfortably long period of time since our last shower. (We have been washing in cold water btw, we're not completely abandoning our personal hygene.)
The caravan parks here are generally really good - unpowered sites are between $10 and $25 per night, the kitchens have everything you need and they also usually have free wi fi. The showers have all been really nice too. Despite all that though, I do really like just pulling up somewhere with a toilet and camping for free. While we've been here on the edge of the outback theres no light pollution nearby so at night you can see so many stars, including the milky way, which is super pretty.
Update; Its now 4.25 and we made it to Charters Towers, after driving 573.2km on one tank of fuel. The last 30kms the petrol light was on and in my panic to get to a petrol station I took a corner fast enough for everything in the back to fall over. We made it to a caravan park though - cant wait to get a shower...
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Queensland!
Friday 26th July
Drove out from Narrambi to Mt. Kaputar National Park see the Sawn Rocks. Which looked really cool. We hiked (walked over rocks. Not a real hike) upstream a bitand sat on some rocks for a while, letting our lilly white, delecate british skin get burnt in the winter sun.
Carried on driving up the Newell Hwy after that, to Moree, where we spent a relaxing few hours at the Artesian Hot Baths, which helped the muscle ache and burnt skin. Barbaras legs really cant cope with the strain of pulling her bum up a mountain it seems. Shes still complaining.
Saturday 27th
Went straight up to Goonwindie, right on the border of Queensland and NSW, had lunch ad buggered straight off to St.George, stopping off at the Nindigully pub, a bush pub where they filmed some paperback thing with Hugh Jackman a few years ago. Pub was awesome, full of cool stuff and nice beer. Carried on up to Surat, where we stayed at a free campsite and made friends with some more elderly ozzies with massive caravans. These things arelike mobile palaces, for reals.
Sunday 28th
On the Carnavorn Highway, stopped at a town called Roma at middayish, we're relaxing here for a while then plan to getup early tomorrow and drive up to the Carnavorn Gorge for some more touristing. We were going to camp up there but its $46 for a patch of grass to park on so screw that. We're spending this afternoon catching up on relaxing and napping.
Drove out from Narrambi to Mt. Kaputar National Park see the Sawn Rocks. Which looked really cool. We hiked (walked over rocks. Not a real hike) upstream a bitand sat on some rocks for a while, letting our lilly white, delecate british skin get burnt in the winter sun.
Sawn Rocks
Carried on driving up the Newell Hwy after that, to Moree, where we spent a relaxing few hours at the Artesian Hot Baths, which helped the muscle ache and burnt skin. Barbaras legs really cant cope with the strain of pulling her bum up a mountain it seems. Shes still complaining.
Saturday 27th
Went straight up to Goonwindie, right on the border of Queensland and NSW, had lunch ad buggered straight off to St.George, stopping off at the Nindigully pub, a bush pub where they filmed some paperback thing with Hugh Jackman a few years ago. Pub was awesome, full of cool stuff and nice beer. Carried on up to Surat, where we stayed at a free campsite and made friends with some more elderly ozzies with massive caravans. These things arelike mobile palaces, for reals.
Sunday 28th
On the Carnavorn Highway, stopped at a town called Roma at middayish, we're relaxing here for a while then plan to getup early tomorrow and drive up to the Carnavorn Gorge for some more touristing. We were going to camp up there but its $46 for a patch of grass to park on so screw that. We're spending this afternoon catching up on relaxing and napping.
Thursday, 25 July 2013
The Newell Highway
Thursday 25th July
Yesterday we woke up next to a main road after a bad nights sleep next to a refridgerated lorry. Lesson learned; no more highway lay-bys. We stopped off at the Parkes radio telescope (theres a film about it called The Dish) and got some awesome pictures of it in the fog. We then carried on up the newell highway through Peak Hill and Dubbo, and spent last night in a campsite at the Warrumbungle National park; where barbara spent at least 45mins trying to light a fire while i cooked some amazing chicken and rice.
We woke up pretty early (like - 8.30) and then went for a hike - a few hours all the way to the top of a split peak. Barbara only complained a little bit, but stopped after we passed two couples who were over the age of 50 on the same trail. Awesome views, ill put some pictures on facebook. We left after midday and drove up our first unsealed road in the van (a little bumpy,nothing horrendous) to Pillaga, where we chilled out in a natural heated spring pool with some more elderly people. (We are defnitely on the retirement holiday route through Australia.) We're now stopped for the night at a campsite in Narrabri, where we can (finally) shower and do some laundry, and get rid of the rotten egg smell from the hot spring.
Yesterday we woke up next to a main road after a bad nights sleep next to a refridgerated lorry. Lesson learned; no more highway lay-bys. We stopped off at the Parkes radio telescope (theres a film about it called The Dish) and got some awesome pictures of it in the fog. We then carried on up the newell highway through Peak Hill and Dubbo, and spent last night in a campsite at the Warrumbungle National park; where barbara spent at least 45mins trying to light a fire while i cooked some amazing chicken and rice.
We woke up pretty early (like - 8.30) and then went for a hike - a few hours all the way to the top of a split peak. Barbara only complained a little bit, but stopped after we passed two couples who were over the age of 50 on the same trail. Awesome views, ill put some pictures on facebook. We left after midday and drove up our first unsealed road in the van (a little bumpy,nothing horrendous) to Pillaga, where we chilled out in a natural heated spring pool with some more elderly people. (We are defnitely on the retirement holiday route through Australia.) We're now stopped for the night at a campsite in Narrabri, where we can (finally) shower and do some laundry, and get rid of the rotten egg smell from the hot spring.
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
new south wales
23rd July.
Change of plan. Theres no work to be found and the weather is shit. It's like camping in the north of england during a particularly shitty Easter holiday. I have a delightful cold that is preventing me from sleeping well, and Barbara has to cope withe me snoring and drooling and sneezing and snorting my way through Oz.
She still loves me though. I checked.
We decided to skip the farm areas and just get to Townsville/Cairns, where we will use our feminine wiles and land a couple of bar jobs. Or threaten people until they employ us.
But depite the above complaints, we are still having a really good time. I love the long roads; the scenery keeps changing, wild animals over the place and really pretty birds. Also the occasional weird sight and odd town that we have taken pictures of. The long roads give me and babs the chance to have deep and meaningful conversations; like how our vegetable diet has mutually affected our gastrointestinal system. Sharing is caring...
Change of plan. Theres no work to be found and the weather is shit. It's like camping in the north of england during a particularly shitty Easter holiday. I have a delightful cold that is preventing me from sleeping well, and Barbara has to cope withe me snoring and drooling and sneezing and snorting my way through Oz.
She still loves me though. I checked.
We decided to skip the farm areas and just get to Townsville/Cairns, where we will use our feminine wiles and land a couple of bar jobs. Or threaten people until they employ us.
But depite the above complaints, we are still having a really good time. I love the long roads; the scenery keeps changing, wild animals over the place and really pretty birds. Also the occasional weird sight and odd town that we have taken pictures of. The long roads give me and babs the chance to have deep and meaningful conversations; like how our vegetable diet has mutually affected our gastrointestinal system. Sharing is caring...
leaving adelaide
21st July
Our last night in Adelaide was spent dancing with our awesome couchsurfing hosts in a tiny underground nightclub that was full of hipsters who were the worst dancers ive ever seen (we felt right at home). We eventually got on the road on Saturday around half 12, and did a solid 6hr drive all the way out of the state to Broken Hill in New South Wales.
This morning we did a load of touristy things ('big bench', mining memorial, living desert, rock sculptures) and went out to Silverton, a really weird little ghost town where theyfilmed Mad Max 2. There was a look out point where you could see the curvature of the earth. Pretty cool, if a little bleak. We're now back on the road, heading down to Mildurawhich sits on the River Murray, so hopefully there might be some citrus fruit picking work.
Our last night in Adelaide was spent dancing with our awesome couchsurfing hosts in a tiny underground nightclub that was full of hipsters who were the worst dancers ive ever seen (we felt right at home). We eventually got on the road on Saturday around half 12, and did a solid 6hr drive all the way out of the state to Broken Hill in New South Wales.
This morning we did a load of touristy things ('big bench', mining memorial, living desert, rock sculptures) and went out to Silverton, a really weird little ghost town where theyfilmed Mad Max 2. There was a look out point where you could see the curvature of the earth. Pretty cool, if a little bleak. We're now back on the road, heading down to Mildurawhich sits on the River Murray, so hopefully there might be some citrus fruit picking work.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
koalas LOVE eucalyptus
Couchsurfing update; new hosts are not psychopaths! Hooray! They are actually super cool and we are getting along really well. They cooked vegan curry for us on the first night and we managed to return the favour with a vegan lasagne which blew their minds. We've also met some more locals who are awesome.
So here are some specifics about Adelaide for anyone who plans to visit. In winter.
Places to go....
Central Market in chinatown - Awesome. Huge. Lots of fresh fruit and veg thats pretty cheap, loads of places to get really nice food, and plenty of stuff to look at.
Henley Beach; Its pretty. You might see some seagulls fighting pelicans.
Barossa Valley; Bit of a drive out, but its where ALL OF THE WINE is from. And they let you taste it for free.
Grove Wildlife Park; Great drive out, you wind your way through a load of pretty scenery and its beautiful. $15 to get in and theres a load of animals and koalas waiting to be hugged.
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Fluerieu peninsula; Rapid Bay and Victor Harbour are really nice, you can camp on the beach for $6 and do some whale watching. If you have time and money you can get a ferry to Kangaroo Island. We didnt bother.
Bars and stuff;
Adelaidians are pretty serious about having good food and drink. The city is full of nice places to eat that are relatively inexpensive (and plenty of places that are really expensive). The Deli, opposite The Wheatsheaf Hotel has the best pizza I have ever consumed, and the Wheatsheaf itself is an awesome place for a drink - lots of beers and a super nice atmosphere. There are loads of thai and chinese places throughout the city, and also burrito vans that make tasty food too. For cheap beers, The Crown and Anchor (Cranchor) is the best with $2 beers. Yum.
Speaking of beer, there is no Fosters.
So we are now making plans to travel north. We want to skip right past Victoria, and go through New South Wales looking for farm jobs and visiting places that are inland, away from the coast. We will take our time going up to Cairns, then once we've earned some more cash up there working for a while; drive all the way back down the east coast in the summer season and go to all the amazing beaches and learn to surf, come back to the south, sell the van, then go to either New Zealand or Perth. Thats the plan anyway.
So here are some specifics about Adelaide for anyone who plans to visit. In winter.
Places to go....
Central Market in chinatown - Awesome. Huge. Lots of fresh fruit and veg thats pretty cheap, loads of places to get really nice food, and plenty of stuff to look at.
Henley Beach; Its pretty. You might see some seagulls fighting pelicans.
Pier at Henley Beach
Grove Wildlife Park; Great drive out, you wind your way through a load of pretty scenery and its beautiful. $15 to get in and theres a load of animals and koalas waiting to be hugged.
Fluerieu peninsula; Rapid Bay and Victor Harbour are really nice, you can camp on the beach for $6 and do some whale watching. If you have time and money you can get a ferry to Kangaroo Island. We didnt bother.
Campsite. Beach. One and the same.
Adelaidians are pretty serious about having good food and drink. The city is full of nice places to eat that are relatively inexpensive (and plenty of places that are really expensive). The Deli, opposite The Wheatsheaf Hotel has the best pizza I have ever consumed, and the Wheatsheaf itself is an awesome place for a drink - lots of beers and a super nice atmosphere. There are loads of thai and chinese places throughout the city, and also burrito vans that make tasty food too. For cheap beers, The Crown and Anchor (Cranchor) is the best with $2 beers. Yum.
Speaking of beer, there is no Fosters.
So we are now making plans to travel north. We want to skip right past Victoria, and go through New South Wales looking for farm jobs and visiting places that are inland, away from the coast. We will take our time going up to Cairns, then once we've earned some more cash up there working for a while; drive all the way back down the east coast in the summer season and go to all the amazing beaches and learn to surf, come back to the south, sell the van, then go to either New Zealand or Perth. Thats the plan anyway.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
I joined the RAA
The van is called Doris. Its now fully loaded (courtesy of K-mart) and we are in the middle of a camping trip to the Fleurieu Peninsula. Last night we were at Rapid Bay, at a no frills campsite that was basically on the beach; and tonight we are at Victor Harbor, in a fancier campsite with hot water, showers, wifi and loads of other stuff. We are mostly surrounded by families and and old people, we have yet to meet any other backpackers. Apparently they all head to Alice Springs around this time of year.
Australians are so cute in the 'winter'. Today they were walking around in coats and scarves while Barbara and I were sat on a terrace in the sunshine probably getting sunburn. We went looking for Whales today from the top of the Bluff (Rosetta Head) but couldnt see any. We did get a great view of the bay and Granite Island though, there might be some pictures on fb at some point. We also had our first Aussie BBQ, consisting of chicken and an alarming amount of vegetables.
Australians are so cute in the 'winter'. Today they were walking around in coats and scarves while Barbara and I were sat on a terrace in the sunshine probably getting sunburn. We went looking for Whales today from the top of the Bluff (Rosetta Head) but couldnt see any. We did get a great view of the bay and Granite Island though, there might be some pictures on fb at some point. We also had our first Aussie BBQ, consisting of chicken and an alarming amount of vegetables.
Monday, 8 July 2013
still jet-lagged. need sleep.
After a rocky start yesterday with lack of sleep and a breakfast that reallyonly consisted of meat we headed out to the city on Monday. We went around a load of hostels looking on their notice boards for vans, then we ended up going to The Campervan Man and fell in love with a Toyota Hiace that looks as though it has a fairly good chance of coping with travelling to Cairns and back. It doesnt have a ton of camping gear like some of the ones other backpackers are selling, but its been checked by a mechanic we can trust (hes also supercute and reminds Barbara of Maarten her pet boy who fixes her car back home). We got the price down from 5500 to 5000, and we're going back today to pick it up and sort out the registration papers etc.
So its been pretty busy! Adelaide is a nice city, actual centre part is quite small, but the suburbs are fucking immense because everyone has a huge amount ofland around their houses. We're looking forward to seeing a bit more of the surrounding areas once we get more mobile, like the beaches and mountains and pretty shit like that. Also, wineries.
So its been pretty busy! Adelaide is a nice city, actual centre part is quite small, but the suburbs are fucking immense because everyone has a huge amount ofland around their houses. We're looking forward to seeing a bit more of the surrounding areas once we get more mobile, like the beaches and mountains and pretty shit like that. Also, wineries.
Saturday, 6 July 2013
Things we have learned so far #1
Tea quality varies greatly from place to place.
It turns out that a shitty cup of tea combined with a 12hr flight and a 5hr wait in a sub tropical airport makes me a bit grumpy.
Sorry Barbara.
In other news, MalaysiaAirlines LOVE their fish based snacks, and the processed dried fish fillet strips that Babs dared me to eat was surprisingly good; a combination of crab sticks and shoe insoles (mmm my favourite).
We made a new friend on the flight, (Amir from Cardiff) who was lovely, but in true british style we only started talking to him about 30mins before landing so it was a brief, albeit beautiful friendship.
Next flight is in 2hrs. Then we meet our new friend Bob!
It turns out that a shitty cup of tea combined with a 12hr flight and a 5hr wait in a sub tropical airport makes me a bit grumpy.
Sorry Barbara.
In other news, MalaysiaAirlines LOVE their fish based snacks, and the processed dried fish fillet strips that Babs dared me to eat was surprisingly good; a combination of crab sticks and shoe insoles (mmm my favourite).
We made a new friend on the flight, (Amir from Cardiff) who was lovely, but in true british style we only started talking to him about 30mins before landing so it was a brief, albeit beautiful friendship.
Next flight is in 2hrs. Then we meet our new friend Bob!
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
3 days to go
We've finally had a go at packing our bags. Barbara's is still twice the height and weight of mine, but is still insisting that everything is fine and knows that I will NOT be carrying any of her stuff when she eventually collapses, sweating, in a puddle of belgian flesh outside some rural bus station with no hostel in sight.
The house is mostly packed now, the only thing im really nervous about is getting to Heathrow on time, making sure I havent forgotten anything VITALLY IMPORTANT, hoping my money has transferred ok, whether or not we'll be murdered in our sleep... so everything really.
I'll try to keep this updated on the regular, but who knows how that will end.
Sam
The house is mostly packed now, the only thing im really nervous about is getting to Heathrow on time, making sure I havent forgotten anything VITALLY IMPORTANT, hoping my money has transferred ok, whether or not we'll be murdered in our sleep... so everything really.
I'll try to keep this updated on the regular, but who knows how that will end.
Sam
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