http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jay-and-Alex/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jay and Alex en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:40:13 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:40:13 +0000 We made a last minute decision to do the Blue Mountains first instead of heading straight to Sydney and it turned out to be amazing We didn't realize we would have to take a cable ferry to get accross a river along the way and as we pulled up we were worried because we didn't have much cash on us. I was particularly pleased when we discovered it was free. We stopped for a picnic lunch just after http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Katoomba/blog-412759.html Big driving day as we had to make it to the Hunter Valley. We followed the Pacific Highway all the way from Nambucca Heads to Maitland the biggest city near the valley. We found a caravan site in Cessnock nicely situated amidst the 150 wineries in the Hunter. We got to bed early so we could start the free wine fiesta early the next day.Janis must not like wine much because she decided to die aga http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Hunter-Valley/blog-412751.html Yamba was a pretty cool little fishing town. In the morning we walked up the hill to check out the beaches and despite the foul weather there were a few people out for a surf. We left Yamba with no plans other than south. The Pacific Highway still resembled a lake so we headed inland towards Maclean. Maclean has a strong scottish heritage and still looks like a scottish country town. We wished we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Yamba/blog-412742.html Byron is a super relaxed hippy town with money. There aren't really many folks left from the good 'ol days most of them seem like yuppies with surf boards and Volkswagen vans. But the aura is there and we loved it. We spent the first night at an isolated campervan site and decided to move the next day to something better. We tried to stay at the Arts Factory... a fairly famous hostel that actually http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-412453.html We headed south after Hervey Bay and stopped in Eumundi to check out the huge market. Alex loves markets and we had heard from all sorts while we were working in Mooloolaba that the Eumundi Market was great. So we stopped there to not spend any money and ended up with no cash. The stuff we bought was great. First we grabbed a giant Bavarian style bratwurst that brought back Oktoberfest to my uppe http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Noosa-Heads/blog-412447.html It poured down the entire night we spent in Hervey Bay and we were starting to dread this camping trip to Fraser Island the largest sand island in the world. In the morning some of our group slept in past the meeting time of 630 thanks to some confusing directions on when everybody needed to wake up. The grumpy old men that ran the show took offense to this and continuously threatened to cancel http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-411763.html The next few days after the Tablelands can really be summed up as driving punctuated by interesting little towns. After Kurrimine Beach we continued south stopping in Mission Beach to take photos in Ingham to buy Pia Colada ingredients and Taylor's Beach to drink our Pia Coladas. Taylor's Beach was really just a caravan park so we grabbed our lawn chairs and supplies gathered in Ingham and hea http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/1770/blog-411711.html Still feeling damp from the rainforest we drove southwest into the Atherton Tablelands to Lake Eacham National Park. The sun decided to come out slightly so we could see into the clear deep lake that was once the site of a massive volcanic eruption. All geographic formations in Australia are super old so it isn't often very easy to see how some land formations are formed. This lake isn't one of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Atherton-Tablelands/blog-411693.html The drive up to Daintree National park wasn't a long one... but it certainly was interesting. Once we cleared the gazillion roundabouts leaving Cairns the road stuck to the ocean like white on rice. The sun decided to come out a bit and the views were spectacular even when driving. But the sun only lasted for three quarters of an hour so that as soon as we crossed the cable ferry to the National http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Daintree/blog-406658.html We've finally made it to Cairns after 10 days of driving from Brisbane. After we left Eungella National Park we returned to the coast for the rest of the trip. We were sort of in a hurry to get north so we skipped past some of the good places to stop knowing that we'd be returning down the coast along this route anyway. We passed through Proserpine and Bowen looking for grocery stores but this be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-405982.html After leaving Carnarvon National Park there wasn't much to see other than huge coal mines and multitudes of dead 'roos by the side of the road. So really we just drove for a couple of days taking to heart how huge this country is. We thought about heading for a town called Emerald where they let you dig for buried treasure and pan for rare stones but it reminded us a bit of Barkerville so we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Eungella/blog-405967.html Brisbane to Carnarvon National ParkWe woke up Monday the 27th excited to start our great Aussie adventure. We took the train to the outskirts of Brisbane and picked up our van. The rental people were great carefully explaining all the ways they will screw us if we crash their van. Finally on our way we got onto the M1 highway the main highway north before quickly realizing we'd already made a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Carnarvon-NP/blog-406067.html We'd booked into one of the main hostels in Brisbane a week ahead of time as it was Anzac day on Saturday and the city was packed. We were disapointed with the hostel but that was to be expected after leaving our home away from home among friends in Mooloolaba.Anzac day was pretty interesting. They held a parade downtown and we grabbed a spot amongst all the other Aussies honouring their war vets. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/Fortitude-Valley/blog-401556.html The time has come for us to leave Mooloolaba and keep travelling. It's been a fun 3 months and we'll miss the friends we've made here but we've only got 2 months left in Australia and there's plenty to see. We've decided to rent a campervan in Brisbane and drive it up to Cairns then all the way down to Melbourne. First we'll spend a long weekend in Brisbane before hitting the road. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Sunshine-Coast/Mooloolaba/blog-401555.html We've settled in Mooloolaba for some time now. I am still doing night security and Jay has had a few promotions from day cleaner to night cleaner and from that to receptionist. She now works 35 paid hours a week so we've been able to save up some cash. It's been nice to stay in one spot for awhile and form lasting friendships with the rest of the longtermers. We really love it here despite the u http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Sunshine-Coast/Mooloolaba/blog-393133.html The biggest tourist thing to do on the Sunshine Coast is Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Usually we're not too supportive of zoos expecially some of the ones in Europe recall the bear pits in Switzerland but they've done a great job in conservation and none of the animals seemed 'caged in'. It's amazing how worshipped Steve Irwin is in Queensland. In Canada we thought of him as a novelty act but http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Australia-Zoo/blog-401557.html After getting our cash for 2 weeks work on the farm we were out of there and excited to be headed for the coast. Chris and Ferdy aka Munich Boys had the day off so we borrowed a car and all drove down to the Gold Coast. We stopped at a beach just south of Surfers Paradise for our first Australia beach experience and boy was it ever glorious The sand was bright white and very fine and the waves http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Sunshine-Coast/Mooloolaba/blog-387089.html Alex and I were super excited to stop traveling for a bit and settle into one place. We emailed a bunch of horse farms while in Europe looking for work and a fellow named Ulrich Klatte emailed us and told us he could employ us both. We took the overgound train from Brisbane to Beenleigh and called Uli from the station. We had never actually talked to him on the phone before. He had a strange Ger http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Beaudesert/Biddaddaba/blog-377429.html We made it to the land down under.The flights were surprisingly comfortable. We flew with Thai Air from Athens to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Brisbane. Thai Air is one of the cheaper airlines yet their planes were really nice and their service included free drinks. The food was reasonable not spectacular to be expected and they just kept it coming. It was an endless supply of meals and sna http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-378033.html Everybody has now left us and returned to Canada. This is a time for mixed emotions on one hand the visit from our family which we had been looking forward to for so long is now over but on the other hand we are 1 day away from embarking on our next adventure.Our last night together was spent in the airport hotel which was quite nice. Mom's bags finally arrived on the last day of their trip http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-372314.html