First off, we've updated our blog a bit... Beyond the slew of new posts recently, we've also updated our banner image as we're now out of Australia and in Europe...and we've posted a new map at the bottom of the blog homepage. Last - we added a neat new photo feature that lets us share more than only a few photos with you per post. Click on the image or hover over the bottom of the image in a post to view other images...
Also, it's important to note we've hit a big travel milestone...40,000 kilometers. We've crossed that point now, which in terms of sheer distance puts us beyond a trip around the earth! We've yet to fly over the Atlantic to complete our around the world travels, but we've already come so far!
Cheers for now - more to come about the fun in Dublin and the rest of Ireland.
We’re writing some blog posts from aboard our Virgin Train from London to Holy Head. And...the high speed train in cool. When we got to our platform the train was packed and so we were coming to terms with sitting apart from each other in a crammed car. However, as luck would have it, we were pleasantly surprised to find that one first class car is used for standard class travel in the summertime and we figured that out first! Our seats here are great - we have a table in front of us for the laptop, power, and a cool view as we travel along. Turns out this train is overbooked - but we got lucky in our plush seats. Actually, in the end we got tickets London to Dublin in First Class seats for only 27 quid each (quid is another term for pounds).
So, as we sit here now traveling along England by train - passing by a lot of sheep and some picturesque contrysides, we’re planning out our time in Ireland a bit more and getting excited to explore more of Europe.
We’ll be to Holy Head in just over an hour, where we board our ferry to Dublin Ferryport. Woohoo!
We found a company who could book us train and ferry tickets from London to Dublin so we were excited to take care of this transportation and booked that as well as a hostel for two nights in Dublin. We set out for the day in London and spent most of our time in the Tower of London.
The Tower was neat and showed how it had changed through the years. We saw the Bloody Tower inside where people were imprisoned and could still see carvings on the walls left by these captives. Several people were hung, drawn, and quartered in the square. London has some gruesome stories... Also in the Tower (which is cool because it had a draw bridge and moat) are the Crown Jewels. We saw so many crowns, gowns, and scepters but the Crown Jewels were the most stunning and priceless. We chatted with beefeaters dressed up in their garb and learned about the ravens that they keep on the grounds.
We took a cruise down the River Thames. The river itself is pretty brown and ugly but that’s only because of the mud kicked up as a result of the constant, quick river flow - the river is actually pretty clean they tell us - the cleanest in a city anywhere in the world. The bells from Westminster were ringing loudly when we got off the boat and a flag was flying in Parliament which was peculiar. Parliament takes a 12 week break and had been on it for two weeks but the flag signifies that parliament is in session. We asked an officer and he told us that the flag will also fly if it is a significant day and we were lucky to listen to bell music celebrating Princess Anne’s birthday.
We thought we would go to Kings Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4 where Harry Potter and his friends passed through the wall to get to Hogwarts. Next adventure: while there, we thought we’d fast print our tickets for the train/ferry to Dublin for the next day. The tickets printed with the wrong date! We called the company and the man could not help us. Trying to find internet to use skype was difficult and we ended up having to wait a while to call back so the company could replay our booking conversation to see if it was their fault or ours. We went to church at the Westminster Cathedral and continued to call this company only to hear the busy sound.
Unfairly, the company kept their phone on “busy” until they closed and we were screwed. We went to the train help desk for a second time to try to get their help but we didn’t go through them to book so there wasn’t much they could do. We went back to our new hostel and arranged to stay their an extra night. Luckily our accommodation in Dublin was able to switch our dates as well. So an extra day in London... it’s so expensive that British Pound!
On our extra day we walked all around the city and visited The National Gallery. We saw Van Gogh’s sunflowers and some of Monet’s finest artworks. The British Museum was enormous as well. They are lucky to have pieces from the Parthenon and a large Egyption exhibit. We walked through their special exhibit on Hadrian and his Roman Empire. Matt enjoyed learning about the Roman Empire under Hadrian - mostly because we’ll be in Rome in just over a week :-)!
Overall, London was great - just expensive. Off to Ireland next!
The morning after our interesting journey to beautiful London, Kristen woke up extra early to wash Matt’s clothes so he would feel clean for our first day out in the city.
We bought tickets using our UK pounds for the double decker bus tour and to get in to the Tower of London (which is next to the famous bridge, the Tower Bridge). Walking to our tour bus we saw so many cool vehicles: the taxis look like ones we’ve seen in old movies and there were smart cars everywhere.
Yes, we took photos in the red phone booths... they are on every corner!
A large chunk of our afternoon was spent finding internet since we have no phone and calling baggage claim reps...each time finding out that there was no update on where Matt’s bag was. However, we made the most of our day. The amount of history in London is overwhelming, but we did our best to soak in as much as possible. Here’s our attempt so list as much as we can remember from the tour:
We saw a filming site from Mary Poppins, Lewis Carroll and Elton John’s homes, Alice’s home who inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland, we saw a brick building that was built the year that our country was being established, we saw embassies - including Australia’s which was used for filming of Harry Potter. (breath) We saw Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Trafalger Square with a massive statue of Admiral Lord Nelson, and The London Eye (a ferris wheel) built by British Airways that makes them 10,000 pounds each revolution.
We also saw the numerous statues of famous folks all over the city - funny story: they have statues of Abe Lincoln and George Washington - and apparently George Washington once said before he died that he would never set foot on British soil again, so the statue sits atop soil brought over from America. Neat.
The Marble Arch was cool as it had been at Buckingham a long time ago but the Queen did not like it so she requested her coach to be constructed too large to fit through the archway... so the arch was relocated. We saw the building where passengers bought their tickets to board the Titanic. Piccadilly Circus is a smaller version of our Times Square and it was neat to see all the broadway shows playing in this area.
We got off the bus to walk to Buckingham Palace. The long road we walked down reminded us of where Princess Diana’s funeral ceremony was because people lined the street we were on. Arriving at the Palace we were in a mob of people pushing against the gate to watch the changing of the guards. With their tall black hats, red uniforms, and riffles, they must have been hot! Two sets of guards walked from different places accompanied by a band playing regal queenish music. It was neat to watch and then we were back on the bus to check out Parliament.
Parliament and Westminster Abbey are near each other and attached is Big Ben. We learned that Big Ben is named because of the bell inside of it - the tower is not actually called Big Ben. But it’s huge. Also, the man who designed the bell was very short and stout and his nickname was Big Ben - hence the name of the bell.
That night we walked up to the ticket booth in Piccadilly and got wicked cheap tickets to see a broadway show! We sat 4th row from the front (we could see them spit - we were that close) and laughed out loud watching Avenue Q. After the show, we saw the city lit up at night, had some dinner, and noticed that at all of the pubs people would get their drink and stand outside the pub to socialize. Weird, but kinda cool.
When we returned to scouting central, and Matt’s bag had arrived!! Our second night in London just got way better.
We checked in our bags with Qantas and hopped on our plane in Melbourne, our first leg, to Singapore. We were nicely surprised to find that we would not have to collect our bags and then check in again in Singapore, rather, our bags would be checked through right to London. What a nice start.
The flight was complete with complimentary champagne and strawberries for the married couple and even came with a side of crying baby right in front of us. The flight was long, but eased by anxiety medication provided by local vineyards and breweries. Thanks to the Hunter Valley wine region, again. 7.5 hours later, we landed in Singapore .
That was a cool airport. It was simply massive. There were orchid filled waterfall displays in the middle of the terminal hallways, every flavour of shop and food you could ask for, and we had no idea where we were going. We landed at 9 or 10 pm local time (though our bodies were at 12-1 am), so there were still a few things open. We particularly enjoyed the contrast between people in the airport: from guards armed with fully automatic weapons walking around to a man playing the grand piano at 11pm.
We fell asleep for a few hours in the terminal as our next flight was not due out until 3:30 am (5-6 am body time, hooray) - this stunk. We both felt off as we were exhausted and still had 15 hours of flying ahead of us. Qatar Airways checked us in and we boarded for the next 8 hour leg of our journey, which would take us to Doha, Qatar.
The flight was uneventful, minus the crying baby which somehow followed us from the last flight (I think it might of been a different angry child, but it still proved to be obnoxious). We landed in the middle of the desert (Doha) at 7 am local time or so, still exhausted, but this time in a crappy little airport. Our plane parked in the middle of the tarmac and we walked down a set of stairs to get on a bus that took us into the terminal. The bus ride was almost 15 minutes - so we have no idea where our plane actually parked - but it was nowhere near all the other planes.
We only had another 2 hour layover until the last leg of our journey began. We spent it waiting in lines: security lines, lines for food, lines for security again to checkin, lines to wait for the bus to take us to our plane in East-Jebrew (Qatar), and lines to climb up the stairs to the plane again (in 110 degrees).
We finally got onboard this third and final leg of our journey - which was once again just over seven hours. This flight came with the angriest toddler we had yet to encounter. He or she cried like it was going out of style - most of the way.
The flight seemed to go on forever, but we finally made it - 1:30 pm local time in London. By Kristen’s count our bodies had been awake for weeks. Heathrow was once again a massive airport - but we diligently followed the signs for the baggage claim. Upon arriving at this lovely place, we waited for an hour and only got Kristen’s bag. Great.
After 30 hours of time in airplanes and airports, we only wanted to get to our accommodation and shower then sleep. This, of course, required clothing and toiletries, most of which were lost in ye ole reliable baggage system.
It took forever to file the baggage report - and after that we were referred up to the Qatar airways desk - which upon arriving, had no one working at the desk. Nearly four hours after arriving in London we finally gave up and headed towards the tube (the London Underground), where we we sure to “Mind the Gap.”
We arrived at the Meininger Youth Hostel in the Baden Powell House in Kensington (a part of London). (Apparently we were the only people who did not know that Baden-Powell founded boy scouts so our first morning at breakfast we dined with numerous little boy and girl scouts!)
Woo hoo - we were finally in London! Our first destination - bed.
It’s 6:40pm on August 12th. We’ve finished our Connections Trip, said goodbye to a few of our new friends, and spent the day doing a last Australia shopping run and other errands like Matt getting his hair cut. Now, we’re back in our hotel, waiting to go out for a last dinner with some of the Connections crew staying in Cairnes for an extra night. Matt’s checking his email while we wait.
Alright, there’s the backstory. The funny part starts when Matt reads a “Flight Reminder” email from Virgin Blue -- the airline we’re flying on tomorrow to get us to Melbourne. Somehow, though, this reminder says we’re flying out August 12th at 8:30pm. This can’t be right, there must be some kind of mistake. Matt checks the trip itinerary we’ve been living off of since we left - which says August 13th as suspected.
But...
That didn’t account for the International Date Line (or as we now like to call it, the International-Scramble-to-Catch-Your-Flight-Because-You’re-Leaving-Today-Not-Tomorrow Line).
Matt laughed hysterically, Kristen held her breath (and cried a bit on the inside).
We didn’t have much time - so we ran up to our room and packed up all of our stuff with the awesome help of Amy and Ashley (our Canadian friends), then ran downstairs to catch a cab to Cairnes airport. On the way we said goodbye to everyone who were waiting for us to come down to go out to dinner, not packed and heading to the airport.
Long story short, we made it to the airport, checked in, got through security and made it onto the plane successfully. Thanks again to Amy and Ashley for your help!
We arrived in Melbourne at midnight or just before - and had to find a place to stay for under $300, which we did - but it was craptastic. Kristen and I both agree that this hostel has been our worst yet. I don’t even remember what it was called as I write this on a train in England - but it was bad. There was no heat and Melbourne is close to Antarctica Kristen reminds me.
The next day we awoke disease free, got packed up for the long haul to London, and headed back to Melbourne’s airport.
We’ll save the juicy stories about our flights for the next post.
The next morning (also our last morning.... tear...) we headed out for the last group outing - which was up the the village of Kuranda, in the hills above Cairnes. To get there we took a skyrail (think Gondola) ride up the side of mountain and over the rainforest above. It took almost forty minutes - but it also showed us a lot of the rainforest and gave us a chance to take some really great photos.
In Kuranda we got the chance to eat lunch, explore some shops, and see a butterfly sanctuary that had thousands of butterflies. We got to see some really brilliant colors and take some equally brilliant photos of the butterflies.
On the way down from Kuranda, we stopped at a little roadside pullover to take our final group photo before heading to the airport to drop some of our group off. Then we headed back into town and said goodbye to Adam, Hewen, and Eliza.
We weren’t too bummed though, because most people were staying in Cairnes at least one extra night before heading out. So we planned to all get together on our own for a last dinner and night out, which we were all looking forward too. Once more night in Cairnes....
We had a pretty neat night ahead of us - which we were pretty excited about given we’d already had a really exciting day. Our group went to an aboriginal cultural show right in Cairnes, the name of which we can’t recall or spell. It was something like Tjapuki Adventure. Anyways, we first walked into this room with aboriginal artwork and three aboriginies who belonged to this tribe face painted each of us. Once we all looked the part we got a history of this particular tribe while drinking champagne. Matt sported his new hat along with the crocodile dundee outfit, as Kristen likes to call it.
We then walked outside to a spot where we were given clapping sticks made from special trees in Australia and played along with the beats to the tunes one man was playing on his digeridoo (a long hollow wooden piece brightly decorated). We were participating in a song and dance to make fire. And we all got to blow on the hay and watch then spin special sticks and eventually we made fire! The man lit the end of his spear and through it across the river to some other tribal men and this was quite a sight to see. Flaming spears flying through the air... The men caught the flame and canoed back to where we were and then we were escorted inside to a dining area for an aboriginal dinner.
The dinner was great and as we ate a ton of food we watched six aboriginies dance, sing, play the digeridoo and tell us folk stories from long ago. It was fun and one of our friends John and Matt got chosen to go up on the stage and dance along with them. They were a hoot to watch!
After this night we drove back to our hotel in the center of Cairnes and washed our faces... it was time to go out!
We went to a dive and it was a blast. We hung out with each other for the last time, had some drinks, and danced on the tables all night long!
After shedding a small tear about being at our last stop and no longer having rides on Eliza (our bus) ahead of us, our group got ready to experience Cairnes and it’s awesome weather for our last 2 nights.
We arrived late in Cairnes the first night, so we just went straight to our hotel - which was right in the city center (sweet!). We headed to bed early as we had a big day in Cairnes ahead of us...
We didn’t get to do anything real exciting for our day in Cairnes...except head out to the Great Barrier Reef to swim, snorkel and scuba dive! This was amazing. We headed out from Cairnes Harbour early in the morning, hopped on a catamaran with a whole bunch of other people and headed our for about a two hour ride to the reef itself. Once there, we got the chance to dive at two different locations - the first in a relatively shallow reef along side a sand island that had formed in the middle of the ocean. We got dropped off on the beach and were able to dive as we pleased for almost two hours, exploring the reefs and marine life (mostly exotic fish).
Kristen was a bit nervous to snorkel, so she started our time at the first stop with a glass bottom boat tour that took her over giant clams and Nemo the clownfish. She also got to see sea cucumbers, parrot fish, mini barracuda, and some super bright blue coral. After the glass bottom boat, and an amazing lesson and bit of calming, Matt took Kristen out for a snorkel. Kristen, naturally, did great - we got to see a bunch of parts of the reef and even ended swimming a couple hundred meters from the beach out to where the boat had anchored. Kristen’s favorite part was swimming through a school of brightly colored parrot fish.
We hopped back aboard the boat for a great buffet lunch as we headed to the second dive location - which was at the edge of the reef. This was also amazing, but quite a bit different from the first dive - both in terms of sights and the waves.
We both enjoyed more snorkeling here - including getting to see where the reefs end and the seabed dives straight down...into the abyss... We also got to see Dory, the blue angel fish, and some more reefs. Some of the fish we saw here were a couple feet long - including the Great White Shark that attacked the group but Matt beat up (therefore saving numerous lives)... Okay, that last part was a bit exaggerated, but the fish were large.
Later on we got back on the boat to head back into Cairnes...where we had an exciting last night as a group ahead of us.
As we crossed over the mountains into the outback the roads became less than par. Bus driver Hewen had to keep pulling over for the freight trains that take up the one lane road. The roads seemed to stretch on for miles and we frequently saw kanga road kill on the side of the road. We were still waiting to see LIVE kangaroos in their natural habitat since we had only seen them in a reservation habitat so far.
Adam had a play some silly games before arriving at our national park. A few highlights were Carol from Paris who sang her national anthem and poor Emily who had to look like a mouse all the way to our destination. As we drove into the park we saw kangas hopping in the grass and laying in some shade under the trees. We were now in the grassy savannah and it was a sight to see. Every few feet were small and large termite mounds. Adam told us that some mounds can get to be about 3 meters high.
So... swag tents. What are these, you ask? We wanted to know as well but found out soon enough. Kristen and Francesca stayed together in this tent-like hut. It is about 2 feet off the ground and has a basin so no snakes can crawl up into it. The two checked ever corner and slept with the light on for fear the spider at the top would crawl down! Matt and Paul stayed just across the way but didn’t seem as worried about creepy crawlies.
After we dropped our things in the swag tents we jumped in vans and took a sun set tour. We saw kangaroos, wallabies, and wallaroos everywhere we looked. Our guide let us get out and walk down to a waterhole so we can be up close with them. We hopped back in the van and continued up to the top of a mountain where we sat on the rocks, ate cheese and drank champagne as we watched the sun set. It was amazing! Just as the sun set we went to a special cave to see another spectacular sight.
After our guide checked the cave opening for snakes....yes, it’s true... we stood in the opening and watched as millions of fruit bats left their sleeping area to explore the night sky. They flew all around us but surprisingly used their radar to navigate around us and not touch us at all. Apparently we came during their colder season so the snakes aren’t hanging from the trees ready to catch some bats flying out of the cave. Thank God! As we drove back to our camping area we watched some more Olympics in a room and ate some dinner as a group. We enjoyed our tents that night (not really) and the next morning was fun.
It was like we had traveled back in time because we had to walk a while to a clearing in the woods for breakfast. When we finally got there we sat on tree stumps and ate on others. We used metal hanger looking things to toast or bread over the open fire and the crew at the campsite cooked a traditional Aussie breakfast on another open fire.
We all headed back to the bus and got ready ready for our last bus ride - to Cairnes.
Airlie Beach is a small strip with some shops and hotels overlooking the most spectacular crystal blue waters we’ve ever seen. Sine we had the afternoon free before a big night out we rented scooters with a friend Matt from Newcastle, England. Both Matt’s drove and Matt Chep had the new Mrs. on the back. Check out our silly pictures - we had a great time touring the beach area like paparazzi on our little mopeds and deciding which gorgeous mansion we’d like to live in.
That night we went to The Beaches bar and restaurant with the whole Connections gang. Matt tried kangaroo! So now he has seen it, worn it, and now eaten it. After some dinner and drinks we went to a few other bars on the strip with our friends. However, we were sidetracked since the Olympic Opening Ceremony was commencing and so we pretty much watched the tvs while Team China did a fantastic job with all their technical show and flying singing little girl.
The next morning we said goodbye to a few of our friends as we got back in Eliza and trekked on to Undara. A full day of traveling is needed to cross over the mountain range and into the Australian outback complete with spectacular caves, red rock and sand, and some of the most deadliest spiders and snakes in the world. AHH!
We arrived in Airlie Beach ready to board our ship around 4pm or so. After getting sized up with stinger suits (they were just wetsuits) we carried our small bags over to our ship, the Boomerang. (Read about the Boomerang) This ship was a world cup champion back in the 1970’s, though it sailed under a different name, but had been recently converted into a passenger vessel for sailing around the Whitsundays. It was pretty neat.
After meeting the crew (the skipper Kane, deckie Lacky, and host Marie), we sailed out of the harbour at Airlie Beach around 5pm or so, and on the way out to our mooring for the night we got to see a pretty great sunset. We used the head sail as we motored out, but didn’t get to see the boat with all it’s sails up that night. We did, however, get a taste of sailing as 6 of us including Matt helped raise the head sail. We all got comfortable on deck and ate some snacks and dinner.
After mooring off of Black Island we split up the group and some of us went over to the Ragamuffin to sleep. Kristen and Matt stayed on the Boomerang where we tried to get some rest in our small bunk below deck. It was interesting sleeping with the swaying motion of the boat - but we loved it.
The next morning we got our first chance to do some snorkeling near Black Island. Lacky gave us our intro to the area and got us all off the ship and into the water. The water was pretty warm - after you were in it for a bit - and we got our first taste of the reefs which was really cool.
After snorkeling for a couple hours we sailed over to Luncheon Bay - which is right off of Hook Island where we got to snorkel again and...go figure...eat lunch. The snorkeling here was the best. We brought along some food to feed the fish as we snorkeled which made them all flock around us. This part of the Whitsundays is home to over 250 species of fish (which we got to see a lot of) and calamari.
After lunch we got ready for a proper bit of sailing. Kane and Lacky were busy rigging the ship and they kept a bunch of us busy raising sails and doing the grunt work :-), but it was neat to learn about sailing as we went. The group all moved to the “high” side of the ship as we were ready to start sailing. Once we caught the wind and started moving the ship rolled almost 30-40 degrees (one side dipped in the water and the other rose up high) which made Kristen a bit nervous. The group served as the counterweight as we all hung off the high side. Kane let Kristen behind the wheel while we sailed along which made her even more nervous (as this made her see the low side dipping in the water, as sea snakes swam by). Kane told us that the Boomerang was built to handle a 110 degree tilt - which would put the mast in the water and still allow the ship to right itself. He also told us that it could handle 30 meter waves - which was about the height of the mast. This made our sailing look like childs play he said, but also allowed most of us to relax a bit as we headed towards Tongue Bay.
Tongue Bay was close to Whitsunday Island - which we got to see once we dropped anchor. Lacky brought us over to a beach on the island via Zodiac where we did a little bush walk up to the top of the island. At the top we got the famous view of Whitehaven Beach which was absolutely amazing. Blue waters, white sand beaches, tropical islands, we wish we were back there right now. After pictures we hiked down to the beach itself which we got to enjoy and relax on for a while. The sand is almost pure silica (like Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island but purer). In fact, the mirror or lens in the Hubble Space Telescope were made from the sand here. There you go, fact for the day.
We headed back to the beach and Lacky picked us up to head back to the Boomerang where we sailed once more to our mooring for the second night. As the Zodiac took us back to the ship we got to see a bunch of sea turtles up close too. Back on the Boomerang we sailed over to the Nara Inlet off of Hook Island. On the way we saw a couple of humpback whales - including one that kept breaching (jumping out of the water) right off our bow. It was really impressive - one breach brought almost the whole whale’s body out of the water. After that we saw another whale who was most likely about to give birth Kane told us. He knew that because it was hovering on the top of the water upside down.
Nara Inlet was a nicely protected inlet which made for calm seas and only a bit of rocking for the night. We split up again for the night and a group of us hung around topside for some games, Boons (sp? Aussies mean boxed wine) and stargazing. The skies were once again ridiculously amazing.
Our second morning we all woke up to a great breakfast and one more sail back to Airlie Beach. Once again we got to help raise the sails and set the rigging. It was relaxing as we sailed back in to the harbour, but I think we all wished we had more time out sailing - we all had a blast.
After docking we said goodbye to Kane, Lacky, and Marie and met up again with our tour guide Adam and bus driver Hewen (and of course Eliza our bus). We were quite excited about getting to a hotel (and more importantly, a shower) that night. Adam told us we all smelled special and he was quite excited for us all to shower as well.
It was now August 5th, and once again, we were stopping at a place that was really just a midpoint between our last and next stop: Rockhampton. On the way, and aside from the normal little stops we take every 2 hours or so, we did get to stop at the Tropic of Capricorn for some photos and to check it out. I think we were most excited that now we were officially crossing into tropical parts of Australia - which meant great weather! Goodbye temperate zone...
Basically, we just went out to a Rodeo/restaurant that night - but the Rodeo was not on. So while we were hoping for bulls and entertainment, all we got was BS and a sub-par meal. We had fun though - and once again were excited for the Whitsunday Islands where we would be off to the next morning. (One other quick note - at the rodeo it rained harder than we’ve ever seen which was cool - perhaps that explains just how exciting the rodeo was).
The next morning we headed out early towards the Whitsundays. Anticipation and excitement filled the bus (which, by the way, we called Eliza), as well all knew soon we’d be getting on a sailboat. We had learned the day before that while normally we’d all be on a tall ship (think Pirate ship) as the tour normally is, we were in fact getting 2 racing maxis (which are nicer and cooler we’re told). Interestingly, the reason we weren’t going to be on the tall ship was because it was on fire a few weeks ago. That got us excited -- not the fire, but the fact we’d be aboard a former World Cup racing yacht (okay, I suppose the fire therefore made us happy)..
We’ve gotta run for now, so you’ll have to wait to hear about the blasty-blast of a time we had sailing for the next post.
Our ferry ride to Fraser Island was pretty neat. It was 7 or 8pm when we left - so the ride was in the dark under a pretty neat sky - full of stars. We ate dinner that night at the Dingo Bar - which is just a funny name for a bar. Dingos inhabit the island and are some of Australia’s purest blood wild Dingos. Also, I suppose we should tell you about Fraser Island - it’s an entirely sand Island. I think it’s the largest sand island in the world. Somehow, plants have adapted to the sand soil and thrive on the island - so until you get towards the ocean you really can’t tell the whole island is sand. It’s 20-30km wide and over 100km long - so it’s big.
Our accommodations that night were basically little buildings in the middle of the woods. There were snake and spider caution signs in the building - which made Kristen feel comfortable and right at home :-). They also told us to check under the toilet seats for snakes - more comforting words.
Adam continued to be great in helping swap things around when possible to get Kristen and I our own room - which was super nice. He was able to at Fraser Island. That night we didn’t do too much - just hung around with our cabin mates and headed to bed.
The next morning we ate breakfast again at the Dingo Bar. That was a pretty good breakfast. For the day, we had a choice to either do a 4WD tour of the island or head out with Adam on a small walk to Lake MacKenzie - which is a crystal clear blue lake with some of the purest silica sand in the world (99+%).
We opted for the walk...which turned out to be a 12k trek up and down hill through sand, dirt, and jungle to the lake. Needless to say, we were thrilled when we finally arrived. We went for a swim in the nippy water and relaxed on the beach for a couple hours - chucking a disc and playing some cards...mostly in an attempt to delay the inevitable 12k walk back (we figure it was about 4 hours total and 16-18 miles).
We entertained ourselves during the walk back though. Kristen, Amy, and Ashley led the group back while marching along in synch with their iPods. Behind was Matt, the other Matt from Newcastle, England, Helen, and John (also both from England) who all kept busy playing games that England Matt taught us. The results of the games on the walk back led to some owed drinks at the Dingo Bar later that night as drinking games don’t work well when walking 9 miles through the jungle.
Once back - we relaxed ourselves, cleaned up, and headed out to dinner with everyone. We later visited our favorite canine bar (the Dingo Bar of course) and spent the rest of the night there hanging out with everyone. The bar that night came complete with 80’s music and $10 cocktail pitchers...It was a lot of fun.
The next morning we grabbed the ferry back towards the mainland - and caught a glimpse of a Dingo from the pier right before we boarded! Last minute we finally got our shot of the elusive Dingo!
The ride back to the mainland and bus wasn’t as cool as it had been at night - but we we’re excited to be continuing on our way to Rockhampton - which was one stop closer to the Whitsundays!
Moving on: Surfers Paradise was our next stop as it was basically halfway between Byron Bay and Fraser Island. It was a neat place though. We arrived before we could check in at that night’s accommodation - so we went straight to the beach. Finally - the beach - and warmer weather now that we’re way north of Sydney!
Matt didn’t burn himself too bad and Kristen worked on her tan. The waves were large too - the bigger ones were 2-3 meters. So Matt dove in with the other lunatics and swam around for several hours playing in the big waves.
Kristen also got a bit of Aussie shopping in - between tanning of course. She picked up the boomerang that we’ll put somewhere in our apt/house when we’re back home. It’s neat looking. You’ll have to wait until you come over to visit us in the future when we’re back to see what it looks like. One housewarming gift gets you one look at it. Just kidding - but gifts are always accepted :-).
That night we went out for a group dinner. The next morning we were back on the bus towards Brisbane, our tour guide Adam’s home city.
Arriving in Brisbane we got to see some neat views overlooking the city and river from Kangaroo Point. Then we headed down into the city where Adam took us on a walking tour through the city to show us all that Brisbane has to offer. Along the way we found a fig tree and Frank. Let me explain: the fig tree was just neat looking so we took a group photo there, and Frank was a man who joined our walking tour and stayed with us almost all day long. He did not talk, just followed. Kind of weird.
Departing from Brisbane and lunch, we kept on trudging towards Fraser Island. Aside from the stops we always take to get off for toilets and leg stretching, we made one other neat stop - a place called the Wild Horse Mountain Lookout. This had some really great views, but also came with the prerequisite that we climb a 700m steeply pitched path to the top. Kristen just chimed in as I type this bit that she thinks it was about a 65 degree slope - I’m just glad she doesn’t teach angles to her fourth graders. Wait, she just said she did...they’re in trouble.
One lovely look and I now move on: after our scenic stop and a bit more driving (which included the women on the bus choosing our movie for the ride to be Sex and the City - the men were not happy) we got to Fraser Island - or, rather, the mainland port side.
We spent 2 awesome nights in Byron Bay. There was a massive musical festival in town (Splendor in the Grass), so there was no shortage of crowds in town while we were there.
After Myall Lakes we spent the next full day driving to Byron Bay - so by the time we got there we were ready to do anything but sit somewhere any longer! Along the way though, we got to see some of Australia's large roadside attractions - including a huge banana and massive prawn atop a building outside of Byron Bay. They were...nice...
Anyway, after settling into our trailer park style accommodations for the night, we had pizza and card night and learned another card game which we called Sombrero. Oh, and Francesca broke the door to Amy and Ashley's eco cabin, that was hilarious.
The next morning we got to spend some time seeing Byron Bay and doing any optional activities. It's awesome. Some of our group jumped out of a plane and others learned to surf. This is the best place to learn to surf because the bay is so protected from wind and sharks.
Still others in the group chose to learn ocean kayaking - which included us - and seemed like a grand idea. It was quite the day. We were able to kayak pretty far out but the day we went the waves were so huge that it was very exhausting and we had quite the work out. It was fun - but we didn't get to see the dolphins or anything we were hoping to see. Thankfully after our trip out in the ocean we went out to one of Bryon’s clubs “The Beach” where Matt and I danced with Amy and Ashley, Matt, Francesca and Andrea. It was a good time.
The next morning we stopped at the most easterly point in Australia on Cape Byron. We saw some whales off in the ocean (as Cape Byron is up on a cliff) which was neat. Turns out this time of the year the Pacific humpbacks are all around Australia. We got to see the Cape Byron lighthouse too which was neat. (Right on the way to Cape Byron there is a little inset valley where a bunch of houses look out over the bay and ocean - and for any Jack Johnson fans out there, he has a house in there.)
Byron Bay was a great time - next up we headed North to Surfer's Paradise (that's a city).
Myall Lakes was in the middle of nowhere. It was on a lake and we stayed in Eco Cabins. Hooray! They were nice though.
We (Kristen) were initially a little nervous to stay in the eco cabins that our new tour leader described. However, it turned out that they weren’t that bad and we even had our own room. We shared our cabin with Paul and Emily from England and that night we had Francesca and Andrea from Italy and Katy and Lisa from Boston over to play some card games while enjoying our purchases from the Hunter Valley Wine Region. Eco Cabins came with tannin in the water… needless to say, we waited to shower so we didn’t turn brown… I wish all of you back home could be with us to meet some of the people on our tour. Francesca and Andrea from Italy seem amazing. Francesca speaks more English then Andrea but they are such a great couple and she translates for him all the time. It was neat to have Katy and Lisa there too - they were from so close to home and could appreciate Matt’s attempts at the occasional Boston accent. Playing cards with everyone took a bit to explain American directions, however, Paul and Emily from England taught us a card game from their home. I am starting to get excited to meet people from different places and cultures.
One of the neat perks to staying in the middle of nowhere Australia-ville was the night sky. It was fantastical. There wasn’t any of the ambient city light that drowned out most of the stars - it was so clear that we could see the milky way and tons of constellations including the Southern Cross. That was neat.
Next up we headed to Byron Bay - but we’ll save that for the next post.
Okay, sorry to our millions of loyal readers :-) for not posting more about our time in Australia along the way. We’re going to backtrack a bit and post about our time down under now...to catch you all up! So back to July 30th we go:
Ending our time in Sydney we stayed two nights at WakeUp! Sydney - which was a neat hostel. We met Dee from England and hung out at the bar with her for the last night before the trip began. Drinks are pretty much the same as in the US - but the Aussie’s have their own rum called Bundaberg or Bundy for short. Kristen is not a fan of it intruding her normal rum and diet coke drink as it was quite bitter. Anywho, that was fun and was a cool way to end our time in Sydney. (Dee was born in Mauritus - island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean - which she told us all about - so that’s another place we’ve added to our list of places we want to go)
The next morning we got up early and met our tour guide Adam out in front of WakeUp. We drove around a bit in Sydney to pick everyone up and then headed North out of the city over the coathanger (that’s what the Aussie’s call the Sydney Harbour bridge). We met the people sitting around us on the bus as we drove to our first stop, the Hunter Valley wine region. Kristen was happy to meet Amy and Ashley from Canada who are also fourth grade teachers. We also met Paul and Emily from England who were travelling on holiday.
After sampling some great Aussie wines and cheeses we got back on the bus to headed North. On the way there we did introductions and got to meet the full 28 or so people on the bus. There weer almost 10 teachers in all - apparently Australia is a popular holiday destination for teachers from around the world in summertime. I think about half of the group was from England too - so we had a respectable bit of Team Britain with us for the trip too (we’re of course okay with that!).
We ended up in Myall Lakes for our first night with the group - which we’ll get to next.
We're alive and kicking! We just enjoyed 3 awesome days sailing the Whitsundays, and then went to check out Airlie Beach and the outback the past 2 nights. We just got to Cairns where we also found an internet connection (there wasn't even cell service where we were the past 2 days) - and we're heading out to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef today!
We'll post more pictures and a better blog in the next day or two.
Long time no...blog. We've been busy travelers the past week and haven't really had a break to search out some an internet connection and blog...until now. Actually, I just finished adding 68 new pictures - so be sure to check those out.
The last week we've enjoyed a bit of time at Myall Lakes, exploring Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise (that's a city), and Fraser Island. As I type this we're in Rockhampton - which is a stopping point before we go sailing in the Whitsundays for the next two nights (just google the Whitsundays...its...yeah....)!! Our trip is outlined here: http://www.connections.travel/content.asp?Document_ID=17771 -- we're beginning day 8 right now.
We're having a blast - we've made some great new friends on the trip who are a blast to hang out with - and the warmest bit is still to come! We'll post again as soon as we can - hopefully with some great pics and stories from the days to come aboard the racing yachts awaiting us.
Welcome to Track the Newlyweds! Matt and Kristen got married on July 11, 2008 and started a four month trip days later. Tune in for updates on shennanagins and vagabonding!
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