Australia - Week Seven

Phew! Another week gone and yet again, I've crammed it all in again! Here's what I've been up to for the last seven days! Last Sunday, my new friend, Linus (Sweden), from Magnetic Island, was kind enough to let me borrow his laptop for the morning, so as I did a bit of laundry and killed some time before leaving the island, I was able to type away for free! Cheers Linus, you saved me a good $12 or so! At 1pm, we took the local bus shuttle back to Nelly Bay and then the ferry to Townsville, where I caught my tenth and final Greyhound bus to Cairns! It was late by the time I arrived, so I had time to check in a re-organise my stuff for my trip to Cape Tribulation the following day.

On Monday, I said bye to Lotte (who was staying in the same hostel again) and set off north on Australia Day! My guide, Mick, informed me that there would only be two more people joining me for the trip and soon we were at Port Douglas, taking snaps of the exclusive resort. Next stop was a guided walk through Mossman Gorge, followed by a nice cuppa and some Lamingtons - well, what else on January 26th??? After our tea break, we took a boat down the Daintree River to spot some local wildlife, i.e. CROCS!!! Due to the recent heavy rainfall (of which I was extremely thankful hadn't disrupted my journey up to Cairns the previous day), the water level was quite high, and so our guide informed us that most wildlife was likely to be harder to spot, especially the crocodiles as there were no exposed banks for them to lie on.We patiently scanned the riverbanks, eventually seeing some big white-lipped tree frogs whose camouflage is amazingly good!

Hard to spot!

Then, our guide saw a croc - a little baby titcher, but I was so excited, it didn't matter how small it was, I had seen my first live, wild snapper! Then another a little bigger... then a 2-metre one... and just before we had to head back to shore, a whopping 4-metre chap down a little side creek. We couldn't believe our luck! It was then time for lunch, the best buffet spread I've seen in a long time with hot and cold dishes, and amazing desserts. Mick insisted we eat as much as we wanted, so it would have been rude of me not to have eaten a slice of carrot cake AND a piece of lemon meringue pie, wouldn't it?!!

To round off the afternoon, we made to the Cape itself, where the rainforest meets the reef, and then it was time to drop me off at Crocodylus Village YHA for 2 nights in the jungle! The staff were extremely helpful and friendly and I hit the hay almost straight away, not emerging until 11am the following morning. Well, dear reader, you'll probably have noticed how many early starts I've been having for the last 4 months, so it was about time I had a lie-in! However, I think that I maybe got a little too much sleep as on Tuesday, I had no energy to make the 40 minute walk to the beach. So I did another jigsaw, again 750 pieces, but a much more intricate design. I didn't move from the table for 6 hours until it was completed.

That night, I joined some other guests from the hostel to take a guided night walk with our guide, Possum. He recommended that if we saw something, we should point it out so everyone could see it! As soon as he said "You get 2 points for everything you spot" I was in my element! "Oooh, what's this?", "Is that a huntsman?", "Look at this big cricket, surely that's worth 4 points?!!" Geek! Anyway, it was great fun, we didn't see as much due to the rains, but there was still a lot of bugs and beetles and things, a few lizards and we got a fleeting glimpse of a bandicoot! It was fleeting mainly because I yelped as something large flew up my poncho and so I scared it away!

"Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep here!"

The next day, I made my way back to Cairns via the Daintree Discovery Centre, where I climbed to the top of the Observation Tower by myself, yet another example of the fear-facing that has become an integral part of this trip. Back in Cairns, I had enough time to meet my new roommates and reorganise my backpack for the next exciting adventure - scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef! On Thursday morning, I was off on the ProDive minibus to collect my gear, leave my backpack and head out to my home for the next three days, ScubaPro III! Soon we set sail, met the crew, had some snacks and were briefed of the plans for the next eleven dives. Eleven dives, woohoo!!

I teamed up with Britta (Germany/US) as my buddy and it was a little unnerving at first to realise that on the liveaboard, we would be diving unguided, which of course, would be a first for me! Britta was a little concerned about her rusty navigation skills, so we opted to join a guide for the first dive, and then we would be on our own. Anyway, it all went well, we even stayed down longer than the others in the group as we both had good air consumption - admittedly, we did get completely lost and we surfaced a fair swim away from the boat... so we just had a bit of a swim to get back on board! We had three more dives that day, including a night dive and we became more confident with each.

Yesterday was a super day of diving, I saw my first shark and turtles whilst underwater! OK, it was a fairly small white-tip, but even so, it was a SHARK! In the afternoon, we dropped anchor at Gordon's Mooring, a lovely area that Britta and I explored for a full 60 mins, and we still had plenty of air left! I was especially pleased with myself that I could recognise all the landmarks that Oscar, our dive director, had drawn on the briefing plan - it was only when I got back to the boat that I realised that I'd got them all in the wrong place in my head! Anyway, we didn't get lost and I did my first "swim-through" - a small tunnel in the coral, and I didn't bash my tank!

I was really excited to be night-diving at that spot last night, but unfortunately, I couldn't equalise my ears and I just had to abandon the dive. I was gutted as I swam back to the boat's steps to remove my gear after only a few minutes. As I took off my fins, Oscar said "Look in the water, there's a shark right next to you!" So lo and behold, there he was, swimming around the large fish that had been attracted to the food scraps thrown out by the crew! "But I can't stay here, I'm getting bashed on the steps" I replied, thinking that he'd say I had to come out of the water... but he didn't he let me get in and stay at the surface with my gear on, so as everyone else went looking for a shy leatherback turtle, I had my own private night swim with three grey reef sharks, who I watched circle around me by torchlight! In the end, I think got the best deal and I was extremely grateful to Oscar for letting me stay in the water!

When I awoke this morning, the pain in my ears had faded but I knew I'd not be able to dive again today. It was a real shame knowing that I'd miss 3 dives, but when I saw the weather at 6am as everyone else was preparing to descend, at least I wasn't going to be missing great conditions! The sea was very choppy, the sky very grey and the boat had not been able to move in the night to a new site. In the end, the third dive was cancelled anyway, and we made our way back to Cairns early than usual due to the rough conditions! It was quite bizarre having breakfast at 7.30 am and then lunch at 10.30, but when in Rome... the food on the boat was so good, it didn't matter that the mealtimes were a little erratic!!! Back at the dive shop, we all arranged to meet up later tonight for a meal and drinks, but I was feeling really crap by this point, and I knew I wouldn't make it. Too much travelling and trips over the past few weeks was taking it's toll I think! Plus, I couldn't hear much in my right ear and it felt like water was trapped, although hopping around on on leg didn't seem to help at all. Clara and Penila (Denmark) thought I was hilarious though...

Australia - Week Six

I left Noosa last Sunday feeling a bit guilty – I hadn’t had chance to properly explore the town and National Park because I’d gone to Australia Zoo. I’d done the same in Brisbane and also didn’t really explore Coolie either as I was so exhausted from Murwillumbah. I wish I’d have gone to the zoo directly from Brisbane and then arrived in Noosa on Friday evening, so I could have had Saturday there instead. Damn hindsight, I’m having a fantastic trip, but it’s so annoying when you think how things could have been better had you done them differently. I could have easily have spent my original 6 weeks going up the East Coast, but never mind, I’ll get to see Western Australia in February and that will be another great adventure!

Anyway, I arrived in Hervey Bay on Sunday afternoon and greatly appreciated the shuttle bus that collected me from the Greyhound terminal, and the welcome drink and cake at check in! Shame the dorm that I was put in was like a furnace, with the tiny fan merely pushing the hot air around! Welcome to Queensland! It was a weird setup as well as there was a door leading to the outside and another on the opposite wall connecting to the kitchen, so it was a bit of a thoroughfare for many guests! Plus, I overhead a conversation about how 3 girls had been robbed in that room just a night or two before, probably as one of the guests had forgotten to lock one of the doors. So, I got all packed ready for Fraser Island that night and locked all my other belongings away in the hostel’s secure locker room!

On Monday morning, I was collected at 8am by The Fraser Island Tour Company and it was great to see a friendly face waving at me from the bus – it was Lotte (Denmark), who I had met in Noosa the day before! We were soon on the ferry on our way to the world’s largest sand island. We drove along the bumpy sandy tracks through the forests in Mog, the company’s trusty jeep-bus, then after a delicious buffet lunch, along Seventy-Five Mile Beach before trekking over the desert-like sandblows to Lake Wabby, an emerald lake coloured green from algae and nitrates. Then it was time to visit the wreck of the Maheno, washed up right at the water’s edge. We arrived at camp at about 4.30pm and I was delighted to find that inside my tent, was a wooden decking floor, two beds with crisp sheets and fluffy towels and an electric light, more luxurious than many of the places I had stayed in so far!

Lake Wabby, Fraser Island

Dinner was another delicious buffet cooked by our guide, Barry, consisting of steak, potatoes, salads, garlic bread, ice cream… wonderful! I really enjoyed the evening chatting with Lotte and some more new Danish friends, Mike and Stinne. Mike hates Manchester United, so we had a common interest right from the word go! They are also travelling on to New Zealand and parts of South America, but unfortunately, our paths won’t cross over there – although I’m hoping to bump into them up in Cairns at some point!

On Tuesday, it was an early start so that we could set out and see all the remaining sights in good time. The massive huntsman spider that I had spotted the night before in the dining area was still there, and everyone else was now enthralled with it. It was huge and you can imagine my screams of terror as it raised its rear end and squirted a jet of something out at me standing below. Not nice! Moving swiftly on… On our second day we went to Champagne Pools, Indian Head (saw lots of Manta rays but no sharks, damn it!), Eli Creek and Lake Garawongan (or something like that), this time a lake coloured brown from the tannins in the trees growing around it, with a low pH that made your skin feel soft and you could polish jewellery to a high shine in the fine silica sand!

It had been a great trip, and I was thoroughly worn out by the time I arrived back at Hervey Bay that evening. I retrieved my backpack from the locker and the staff kindly let me use the showers and facilities, even though I’d already checked out, as I waited to take the free shuttle back to the Greyhound stop. Unfortunately, the onward leg to Airlie Beach was the only one that I didn’t get my first choice of bus, the 8.25pm, arriving at 9.35 the following morning! As it turned out, Lotte, Mike, Stinne and myself were all in the same boat and had to take the half past midnight service, meaning it would only be mid afternoon by the time we arrived in Airlie Beach, wasting another day! But, we all met up at the Greyhound stop early, making the most of the free shuttles and at least having some friendly company for the 4 hour wait!

Now, Queensland is rather hot, but it decided to hammer it down whilst we waited and the temperature plummeted, so I bundled myself onto a bench, covered myself with my Jet Star blanket and shivered away as I waited for the bus to arrive, all the time praying that I wouldn’t catch a cold and therefore be unable to dive at the weekend! It was great relief when the bus arrived and we could finally board and head further north. It was glorious weather again when we arrived in Airlie and as it happened, if I had been on the earlier bus, I wouldn’t have been able to check in anyway until 1.30pm, so I didn’t lose much in the end. I then had to organize a day trip to the Whitsundays for Thursday and it was forecast heavy thunderstorms. So, I had a dilemma – should I go on that day, the only chance I had and get soaked and have not good photos of Whitehaven beach, or save the money and spend a day in Airlie?

I made the right choice in the end, as I went out on board the Mantaray, who had a great crew and by some miracle,the rain held off and there were glorious blue skies with fluffy white clouds over the beautiful sands of Whitehaven. It was truly a paradise, as featured in the Australian Tourism TV commercial, the one that got banned in the U.K. because the girl on the beach said “So where the bloody hell are ya?” LOL! Some trivia folks – NASA was granted permission by the Australian Government (in return for a huge grant) to take over 5 tons of sand from Whitehaven. It is 98% pure silica, the purest in the world and they used it to make the lens for the Hubble telescope. The sand is only found on Whitehaven and another island across the water from it and it comes from Fraser Island, being so pure and fine, it is carried hundreds of kilometers up the coast by the sea and deposited in the Whitsundays!

The World's Most Beautiful Beach?

That afternoon, I snorkeled on the reef and saw some cool fish, a huge Napoleon Maori Wrasse and big parrotfish, which could be clearly heard munching away at the coral. It was a fantastic day and I was glad I went on the one trip that I was least bothered about in terms of saving money! It was absolutely stunning over there, hopefully one day I'll be able to come back and spend more time sailing around all the islands!

There’s a pattern forming here – on Friday I had another early start to catch a Greyhound to Townsville, and I left Airlie Beach, not having had enough time to explore it properly! So that was the fourth place in a row that I had sped in and out of, feeling guiltier and guiltier every time. So I need to come back to Australia sometime in the future to do it again at a slower pace, which believe me, would be absolutely no hardship whatsoever! It was easy-peasy to get over to Magnetic Island from Townsville: the Greyhound stopped at the ferry terminal, and then once on the island, a bus took me straight over to my accommodation at Bungalow Bay Koala Village YHA.

I spent the afternoon chatting to my new roommates and I met Sophie (UK) just before the daily rainbow lorikeet feeding time! Well, I was in my element, I love these colourful little birds and I've fed them before at Paradise Park in Cornwall. "They like to nip, you know" I generously advised Sophie, "yes, they can give you quite a peck!" As it happened, lorikeets in the wild don't peck at you like the captive-bred ones in the UK do... oh no, they just have claws like needles instead and when ten are perched along your arms and they decide to fight amongst themselves, they grip on really hard for balance... OUCH! Most of the other guests left the feeding area after about ten minutes, but I was determined to spend as much time with the birds as possible, until all the soggy bread had gone! So although by the end of it, my arms were shredded and raw from their claws, I spent a good hour with them, I just love wildlife!

This morning, I was up early and back at Nelly Bay to go diving on the SS Yongala! The sea was reasonably calm and the rain was clearing up. After a couple of hours, we all geared up and buddied up and in we jumped. I turned round to the guys on the boat to signal them my OK sign (just as I had learned in Ko Tao) and they all screamed "GET TO THE LINE!!!" at me! The current was extremely strong, and we were in danger of being rapidly swept away. When I made it to the guide rope, I was incredibly out of breath and, for the first time whilst diving, I started to panic. I couldn't breathe enough through my regulator and I felt like the wetsuit was squashing my ribcage. Aron, or dive guide asked if we were ready to descend, and I had to stop him, I was quite scared about going down... I then thought about how much I'd spent to be there, and that soon got rid of that thought!!!

Luckily, I then realised that in the rush to swim to the rope, I had forgotten to inflate my BCD, so there I was, struggling away with 6kg in weights strapped around my waist, trying to catch my breath in a really strong current, doh! Once inflated, I started to calm down and we began our descent. Within a few moments, I was soon back in the zone and diving as normal! The wreck soon appeared and we were diving with huge wrasse, turtles, olive sea snakes and many more. Unfortunately, after only 20 minutes on the wreck, we had to turn back as some of the people in the group were low on air. It was really disappointing to get back on the boat after only half an hour with nearly half a tank of air left! Little did I realise, that if I'd had just two more dives under my belt, I wouldn't have needed to go with a guide and so would not have been put in a group with divers even less experienced than me! You live and learn, I guess.

We did get a little more time on the wreck that afternoon, but it was still quite a short dive. We did see some more amazing fish though and loads of barracuda. By the way, the olive sea snake is apparently the world's most venomous snake and I have swam with them. (Admittedly, they can't actually open their mouths wide enough to bite you, but that can be our little secret!) It was an amazing dive site, but due to the fact that I had such little time there and the low visibility today, it is another thing I have to come back to Australia for to do again! Really, I think I need to seriously work out how I can live here, where do I apply for a work visa?!!

Australia - Week Five

After scaling Mount Warning, I was thoroughly ruined on Sunday! I was meant to kayak on the Tweed River, just beside the hostel, but I could barely rouse myself from bed that morning! I also meant to have a wander around Murwillumbah, but there was no energy left for that either - so I spent the afternoon doing a 750 piece jigsaw, which of course, me being me, I couldn't stop until I had completed it and added the final piece!

Anyway, it was gone 6pm by that point and I felt bad that I hadn't been out kayaking, but Tassie found me and said that if I wanted, I still had a little time before sunset to have a bit of a paddle. So out I went, not far downstream and back, but it was a lovely time of evening to be out and I saw a tiny little kingfisher flit through the riverbank undergrowth, and a spoonbill, which I thought was only seen on the savannahs of Africa!!!

"How do I get out of this thing?!!"

It was a great wrench to have to leave Murwillumbah and Tassie as I had really enjoyed my time there and felt very much at home, but northward I had to continue to Coolangatta. I was at the bus stop nice and early for the Greyhound, as usual – shame it was 40 minutes late though! Especially as I missed the free shuttle pick-up in “Coolie” and had to take a public bus there with all my bags, which by this point were roughly 20kg (if not more) in total! Plus, the bus didn’t drop me off outside the YHA, so I had a bit of a trek there and I must have looked a sorry state as a local lady asked if I was OK and if I wanted to pop in for a swim to cool off!

By the time I’d checked in at Coolie, I was still exhausted from the surfing, walking, climbing and kayaking so I managed to do a big load of laundry and that was about it for the day! On Tuesday I headed down to the beach, from where I could see the high rises of Surfers Paradise in the distance. The sea was pretty choppy, so I spent most of the morning reading on the golden sands. I think I’ve read at least 8 books now since I’ve been away, shame the damn things are so bulky to carry! That afternoon, I took the free shuttle back into the main town to the local mall. I was quite amused to see signs in the windows saying that their opening hours were based on New South Wales time – especially as I had crossed the border into Queensland by this point, an hour behind NSW as they don’t have daylight savings time here. Funny old Aussies!

I decided that I’d leave my shopping and so on until 4.30, so I didn’t have to carry around all afternoon, which was plenty of time before the bus returned at 5pm. I was rather annoyed to find that the post office had shut when I returned… and then it hit me… all the shops closed at 4pm QLD time, because I wasn’t in Coolangatta anymore, I was in its twin town of Tweed Heads, in New South Wales!!! - hence the notices about the opening hours. What a pillock I was! Doh!

The next day, I was up early again to move on to Brisbane. My bus was due at 11 am, but the closest free shuttle from the YHA was at 8am! I didn’t fancy the public bus ride back again, loaded up like a pack horse, so I braced myself for the 3 hour wait! I got chatting to some other backpackers who were due to catch the 8.30 Greyhound and one suggested I asked their driver if he had space to take me early – which luckily he did! So I was off to Brisbane hours ahead of schedule without a boring wait in the blistering sunshine!

After trying to check into the wrong hostel in Brisbane (whoops!), I was soon in the YHA which was really friendly and pleasant. I spent the afternoon trying to work out a plan for the remaining fortnight along the East Coast, plus a tour for Ayers Rock, as I only had planned up to Noosa, the next port of call. I went into the YHA Travel shop and found out that all the tours for Ayers Rock start there but finish in ALICE SPRINGS or vice versa!!! I don’t need to go to Alice Springs; I need to fly in and out of Ayers Rock Airport and a transfer from Alice back there would be $100, completely negating any benefit of booking the flights in the U.K. rather than out here! Apparently, a lot of tourists make the same mistake; it’s a shame that AUStravel (note the AUS part) didn’t tell me this last June!

Luckily, I found one company that starts and ends their tour in Ayers Rock Resort, phew. Except they don’t go on Mondays… they only day I’d be able to start the tour. So, I had to phone my friends at Qantas AGAIN and shift the flights there and back one day forward, which they did with no problems at all! By this point, the YHA Travel branch had to close, so I pledged to return the next day and book the Rock tour and all my other bits and pieces up the coast, as everything had to work with military precision for the next two weeks if I was to fit in all the trips I had planned! Back I went at opening time on Thursday and it was 1pm before I left, $1500 lighter! I decided to throw caution to the wind and do Cape Tribulation, Fraser Island AND The Whitsundays, plus a really expensive dive trip to the SS Yongala wreck, Australia’s top dive site and the world’s best wreck dive according to National Geographic. Well, when in Rome…

So I didn’t really get to see Brisbane properly as I had only enough time to visit the South Bank briefly and go to “Game On”, an exhibition about the history of computer gaming, at the State Library. I was in my element, as was Hannah (UK), my Brisbane roommate who was similarly geeky enough to be enthralled with all the consoles and a chance to play Pac Man on an original arcade machine!!! I liked the South Bank including its fake beach as it was full of Brisbaners and their families have a great time in the pools and sunshine. It beats Bridge Street in Warrington any day. Hannah and I grabbed some food at one of the open air cafes there and I was greatly amused by the “DO NOT FEED THE IBIS” signs! Not pigeons or seagulls… IBIS!!!

Then off I went again to Noosa, at 6.30! Well, I thought I may as well get there nice and early to make the most of Friday there, before heading to Australia Zoo on Saturday. So when I arrived at 9.30, I was gutted to find that I could only check in at half past noon, so although I could store my luggage until then, I didn’t have a place to sort through my bags and take out what I needed for the day. By the time I did check in, it was so hot and humid that I had little energy for a walk in the national park. I decide to take advantage of the free surfboard hire instead, seeing as I had lessons and all.

Well, what a disaster! By the time I made it down to the beach and along to the surfing area, my arms had nearly fallen off with the weight and size of the board, plus it was fairly windy, so it took all my strength not to whack half of the people on the beach in the head with the damn thing! At last, I found a spot to surf, so off I went into the swell, only to find that even though the hostel’s board was big, it was tiny in comparison to the one I had learnt on and so I couldn’t even get my feet on it, never mind stand up! After about 20 minutes of flailing around like a Pommie prat on one of Australia’s smartest and surfiest beaches, I gave up in embarrassment and read some more books on the beach.

The Irwins

Today I finally went to Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter. It was hilarious watching old episodes of his show on the courtesy bus there, but also incredibly sad, knowing that the world has lost such a remarkable character. I’m glad everyone else on board seemed to be equally as engrossed in the programme, so as not to see the old tear or two roll down my cheeks! The zoo is great, I watched the Croc show in the Crocoseum, presented by Terri, Bindi and little Robert Irwin. He’s a little tyke, father like son! I spent plenty of time wandering around all the animals and I especially enjoyed feeding, stroking and just sitting with the kangaroos and wallabies. I still like eating them though!

Australia - Week Four

Well, phones aren't so bad after all, especially in Australia, as I must say, Aussies are quite possibly the friendliest and most helpful people in the world (at least those in the service industry anyway!) Good job really! The overnight bus to Ballina was again fine, and Len from the Ballina Traveller's Lodge came to collect me from the Greyhound stop in his shiny red 4x4! I was soon checked in to a tiny little YHA with immaculately clean facilities and a friendly, homely atmosphere. Ballina is a small, typical Australian suburban town and I fell in love with it from the start.

Michelle kindly spent time calling other YHAs trying to find me a room, as by now, Brisbane was fully booked! So, after Byron Bay, I'm off to Murwillumbah and Coolangatta for 5 days before Brisbane, and I can't wait as since leaving Sydney and hitting small-town Oz, I am really starting to enjoy it here! Anyway, after all that was sorted, I hired a bike and off I went along the coast, riding past beach after beautiful beach! Seriously, dear reader, if you ever make it to the East Coast, you must stop here and stay at the YHA - it's not a party town, but it's so beautiful and so friendly!

On Monday, I was off on the bike again to go Geocaching - it just so happened that I'd already ridden past most of the caches the day before, but never mind! I also stopped off at the Thursday Tea Tree Plantation, so now I know what the plant I rant and rave about actually looks like! It was good to get back to the hostel after a good 5 hours riding in the sun, (Mum, please note I was wearing factor 30 sunscreen and a hat all day!) That evening, I met Sophie from Denmark and I invited her to join me in my dinner preparations - barbecued kangaroo!!!

Well, I've been wanting to try it since I arrived in Oz, and I've not seen it anywhere, except a local kindly pointed out that Woolworths sell it, along with beef, chicken... doh!!! So, I purchased two large steaks, pre-marinaded in garlic and herbs for just over $5!!! That's miles cheaper than beef in the UK! I was also advised to cook it rare, as overdone roo (as it was listed on my shopping receipt, LOL) is incredibly tough! I was pleased that when Sophie and I woke up on Tuesday morning, we weren't ill with food poisoning as I swear, the kangaroo was raw!!! Next time, I'll perhaps not err on the side of caution quite so much and wait until it's not blue in the middle! It was delicious though and apparently very healthy and environmentally friendly. It is a lean meat with no cholesterol, and kangaroos take up less space than farmed cattle AND produce no methane. So there, skeptics!!!

Throw Another Roo On The Barbie!

It was quite a wrench to leave Ballina as I could quite easily had stayed there for much, much longer; that's the downside of booking onward accommodation but here at this time of year, you just have to or crash on the beach instead! So, Len kindly took me, Stina and Isabel (my Norwegian roomies), back to the Greyhound stop for the onward leg to Byron Bay. Yet again, I found myself at a small, friendly YHA with a pool and a great atmosphere! I was first to check into the room, so I bagged the only single bed in there, after spending the last 3 in bunk beds! HA! I then walked up to cape Byron Lighthouse and spotted my first wild dolphins far away in the surf below me! Of course, I also walked to the most easterly spot in Australia and logged it on my GPS! That's the furthest east I have ever been in my life... until New Zealand that is.

I had a lovely dinner of peanut butter sandwiches (again) that evening and met up with some great new people - Chris and James (Sydney), John (London), Lore (Italy) and Penny (Rotherham). It's hard to believe that in 12 nights in Sydney in a YHA with 500 people, I spoke to maybe only one or two other guests that weren't in my dorm! Yet here in Byron, within a few minutes of going to the kitchen, I was chatting away to a table full of new people! I really don't understand how people come to Oz for a year and never leave Sydney, what a waste!

On Wednesday, it was an early start as I had my first surfing lesson! Yes folks, I finally got a chance to wear the lovely turquoise and chocolate brown rash vest that I impulsively bought in Ko Tao! And I certainly looked the part. It was great fun, although I would spend about 5-10 mins struggling to get into the sea far enough, just to be knocked off the board again within about 5 seconds! I kind of stood up for a few seconds, sort of... I was just glad that I had booked two lessons! Luckily, Thursday's lesson went much better as I had more time in the water, although until I realised that I was trying to catch the waves before they had broken (and subsequently kept getting dumped), I was incredibly frustrated and smacked the board a few times! But eventually, I was riding the waves like a pro... sort of!!

The Mojosurf Crew, Lennox Head

That evening I was thoroughly knackered, especially as I'd walked back up to the lighthouse, before my surfing lesson, to go Geocaching. I met Lisa (Scotland), Pia (Switzerland) and Artur (Germany) and dinner and it transpired, through talking about going out, that we girls just preferred a quiet night in with good friends and a bottle of wine. "So why don't we stay here and get some wine, then?" was my retort and so ensued the best night I've had away so far, hilarious fun with three bottles of Semillion Sauvignon Blanc, nachos and salsa! The highlight of the night had to be when Lisa kindly topped up our glasses, and it was quite a while before we realised that we had finished our wine and she'd someone else's wine who had joined our table! Luckily, Riccardo (Brazil) was very magnanimous about it and a new friendship was formed (although Lisa was still apologising about an hour later!

On Friday, I had free time before my afternoon bus to Murwillumbah, so I spent an easy day perusing the shops with Pia. I bought myself an authentic boomerang, which I will (as soon as I find a nice open space big enough) will be trying out. The bus journey that afternoon was pleasant enough, as I was only going one stop north. The short walk to the hostel was less so, as now my bag is back to stupid proportions, there was not an iota of space left in it and barely five minutes of it on my back is torture. Plus, I've got an overflow shopping bag, so it is a far cry from the way I had got all my junk down to a neat 13kg in KL!

Anyway, the YHA at Murwillumbah has to be the most charming place I have stayed in so far, it reminded me of the dorms I used to stay in on Brownie camp. Tassie was a most welcoming host and after a quick trip to the supermarket, I was busy preparing a Greek salad and kangaroo kebabs in the little kitchen! Plus, I had to make chciken sandwiches ready for the next day's expedition to Mount Warning!

This morning, I set off with Tassie at 10am to the mountain, the highest caldera in the Southern Hemisphere, whereby I heard a fascinating commentary about the area on the way there, superbly pre-recorded onto tape by Tassie! At the car park, we arranged to meet there again at 3.30pm, which gave me 2 hours to get up the mountain, 2 hours doen with enough time for lunch at the top. The going was a little tough at first as I got used to the exercise, but soon I was making steady progress up the trail. The final 100m section was a challenge though - an almost sheer rockface with only a chain for support... but I couldn't get so far and not make it up the the peak!

So off I went, hanging on for dear life, wondering how on Earth would I be able to make it back down that stretch, but at last it was all worth it as the views from the summit were spectacular! Tassie had advised me to begin my descent at 1.30 to ensure i made it back to the car park on time. To be on the safe side, especially as the return down the chain was concerning me, I set of at 1.15, which was a good job as it took me an hour just to descend ¼ of the way down!!! That left just over an hour to make the remaining 75%, which by some miracle, I semi-sprinted down and was back with time to spare! I tell you what though, I am feeling it now. Goodness knows how stiff I will be tomorrow...

Australia - Week Three

Well, what a week! After I got back from Glebe last Saturday, I decided that I really needed to make a move and call Qantas to reorganise my flights. I'd spent the previous week trying to plan my route up the East Coast and so I couldn't set anything in stone until I'd definitely moved around my trip to Ayers Rock, etc. After procrastinating in front of the phone for about ten minutes, I finally dialled their number and sat on hold for a while, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. Yes, I may be able to make it across South East Asia on my own, and then into Australia, but I'm still terrified of the telephone!

Anyway, soon I was chatting to a lovely lady who was incredibly helpful. She kindly moved my flights to Ayers Rock, Sydney, Fiji and Christchurch forward with no problems at all. Wow, so that would give me 6 less weeks over here once I moved the flight from Auckland to Santiago from 28th April to 15th March. But there was no available flight on that day, not to worry, I'm flexible I say! None on the 16th, 17th, 18th... none a week earlier... So she says hang on a second...

"I have a free seat on 21st April?"

So at that point, my carefully laid plans unravel, one less week in NZ is not helpful and now that I've moved Ayers Rock and Fiji forward, I'd actually have extra time there. "OK, move the Santiago flight one week forward, but scrap the other changes" I croak, as there'd be no point getting there any earlier. She sounds really sorry and advises me to phone up on a regular basis just in case any cancellations come up.

Back to square one, except by now I am in a complete tizz about it, I just cannot handle the thought of being in Australasia until April, there'll be no money left for South America!!! I go over and over and over all alternative possibilities in my head:

1) Redo the plan up to Cairns and just take 2 weeks longer
2) Move all flights forward anyway and hope for a cancellation
3) Move only Ayers Rock forward and hang around in Sydney for 2 weeks more
4) Find a cheap flight back into Asia and kill a month doing the bits I missed

But there are problems:

1) I cannot see how to take more time doing the East Coast
2) I cannot risk being in NZ for nearly 3 months
3) I have already spent 12 nights in Sydney
4) There are no such things as cheap flights to Asia from Australia

After three sleepless nights and a few days of not getting anything productive done at all, I reach a decision. To cut a long story short, I call Qantas back and move Ayers Rock forward, leave Fiji as it is but add on a few more days and knock my Santiago flight forward to 19th April, saving two whole days!!! So I'm flying back to Sydney in February for 3 weeks, but during that time, I've booked myself a return flight to Perth for a fortnight!!!

Well, I have friends out there who have kindly offered to show me around Western Australia and put me up for a spell. Luckily, I got a very good deal on the flights and I'll see a part of the world that I didn't think I'd get the chance to visit on this trip. More boxes I can tick! Then, on Tuesday, I had another mini disaster as all the accommodation in Byron Bay for next weekend was already booked solid. I had a room, but in the time it took me to go to the ATM, it had gone, so I'm off to Ballina (where?) for 2 nights and then Byron Bay for 3. You can't just turn up in a town and get a room like you could in Asia, so I really need to be on the ball here. I did feel 300% better though, just having plans for the next 10 days!!!

Anyway, that's enough about that now... Happy New Year! On Tuesday, I made myself a pile of peanut butter sandwiches, pasta and packed a bag with suncream, Sprite and blankets, all ready for the following morning. At 6am on New Year's Eve, I got up, sneaked out of the dorm as quietly as possible, had breakfast, and made it up to Macquarie Point to get the best view of the NYE fireworks as possible. My friend Stacey, who has done the whole Sydney New Year thing, advised me that she arrived at 9am and only made it to the entrance gates at midday, the queue was that big.

Hence my early start. I got there at 7am and the queue was already quite large, but I was reasonably near the front, all I had to do was wait until 10am for the gates to open. I had a good book and sandwiches and a quilt to sit on - no problem. At 9.20, everyone stood up for some reason and surged forward, so hundreds of people pushed in at either side of the queue. I was then stood up until 11.30 in a huge crush of people, in blistering heat!

Top Spot!

Finally, I made it through into the gardens after 4½ hours and thought there would be no way that I was in the first 3,000 people - the magic number out of 20,000 who can get access to the restricted viewing area. Imagine my surprise as I sprint into the gardens, knowing that the best spot in the place (that I had spied out on a recce days before) would not be available by now, to find that there are armbands left for the restricted area and as I enter, there is a grassy slope right next to the harbour with a clear view of the Bridge, Opera House and lots of SKY!!! I decided to stop right there, not wanting to risk losing the spot on the off chance there might be something better ahead.

So, only 12 more hours to kill. I survived a stupid madam sitting on my feet, not taking the hint when I kicked her; I survived the idiot Chinese tourists with massive lenses and tripods camping right in my eyeline; I survived the incredibly hot sun, beaming down from a cloudless, cornflower blue sky... I made some great new friends and spent the hours chatting about travel, South America, Central America, idiot Chinese tourists...

So, it was actually great fun on the hill, waiting for the most famous fireworks in the world. Eventually midnight arrived...

Happy New Year 2009

Well, I want to be really positive here, but I will be honest instead! It was worth the wait as I had a great day and met some great people and I can tell my grandkids that I camped out in a great viewing spot for New Year's Eve in Sydney. But... 17 hours is a loooooong time to wait for a ten minute display firework display that didn't even start at the stroke of midnight! You'd think after 15 months of planning and several million dollars that the first bang would go off on zero in the countdown!! They were impressive, but everyone who had ever spoke about it seemed to make is sound a million times more impressive... I really need to start having no preconceptions about stuff on my travels, as invariably I am disappointed.

However, although I never need to do it again, I am chuffed that I did it, and did it properly, no swanning along at the last minute for a tiny glimpse. In fairness, I have watched a video for the display taken from a helicopter, and then it really was impressive, but I don't think that was a plausible way for me to see them. London's were better anyway apparently...

I've had a couple more lazy days in Sydney, no need to rush as I'll be back here again in February! I went to Coogee Beach again yesterday, and had my first swim in the Pacific! I'd been to Collaroy Beach on Monday, but a storm set in just as I arrived, so no sunbathing for me then. I've not had much luck with the weather and beaches - after only a few hours in Coogee yesterday, the clouds rolled back in and the wind chill made it positively wintry!

So tonight I will take the overnight Greyhound bus to Ballina. I checked out at 10am this morning and so I've had 12 hours to kill. I went to the cinema to watch Marley & Me - a film about a dog, so of course I cried my eyes out. Might go back in a bit to watch another movie, but we'll see. It's not cheap at $16 a pop! Ballina wasn't part of the original plan, but it is supposed to be a pretty little town, the staff at the YHA will even come to collect me from the bus stop...

...although I have to make a call to them when I get there in the morning.

Damn phones...