Nikchik

A short walk from our hostel to where we were picking up the rental car and there were no cars there. It was okay as we and another couple were collected and brought to the airport car rental place and worked out well for us as they had pool noodles to lend us for our trips to any of the springs and natural pools that were around (we were told to purchase them for this reason). A quick stop for breaky and food supplies and we were on our way to Katherine, a 3 + hour journey. Parts of the highway you can go 130 km/hr which at first seemed fast but by the end of the trip when we had to slow down to 100 felt normal and 100km slow as. We passed half a ... read more

Day 1 Virgin changed our flight from 1130 to 930 but this worked in our favour as when we arrived at the airport we asked if there was an earlier connecting flight from Sydney to Cairns and there was, so we were able to get to Cairnd in the daylight and get settled into our backpackers, Gilligans before headed out to get a drink by the pool and do shots, as one does. We headed out to one of the breweries to try the local beer at Sauce and Co, and ended up eating there enjoying some local trout. A brief walk around, we checked out the Cairns night markets that was full of the general stuff markets have, before heading back to Gilli's for cheap drinks; $4 base spirits and I may have had a ... read more

Day 7 Today was THE most exciting and bestest day we had. I guess it was the climax of such an epic trip. Today, we swam with Whale Sharks. We chose Ocean Eco Adventures, they seemed more eco friendly and onboard they had reusable everything and reef friendly sunscreen, They also used a flylite plane to ‘spot’ the whale sharks and this was handy in being able to have multiple swims with them. The morning started off with a nice continental breakfast and real coffee, followed by a safety and expectation brief. We were then taken out to a coral reef called Nudi Reef, known not for naked swimming but for the tiny nudibranches that hid amongst the corals. Due to the potential of stinging jelly fish, stinger suits or long sleeve rashies and leggings needed ... read more

Day 6 Today we were keen to leave early and head straight to Coral Bay, a two and half hour drive from where we were. The place was packed, an obvious popular tourist destination as the waters were clear, turquoise and bright blue with white beaches and a reef only 200 metres away. The little town had one side of caravan and tourist parks and the other had the small shopping precinct, including a couple of bottle shops, and IGA and a few speciality stores. Parking near the beach we waded into the ocean and by knee deep huge emperor fish were swimming between our legs. I couldn’t wait to get my goggles on and see the marine life and it didn’t disappoint. Even in the shallows, there were fish galore and when you headed into ... read more

Going with Option C, we slept in the back of the car and it did work well in keeping us dry. With the sets folded back the mattress pretty much fit in and although we couldn’t fully stretch out we were not too uncomfortable and during the night we could hear the rain come down in sheets. Our tent was slightly sideways in the morning with a small pool of water in one corner so we were grateful for making the decision to sleep in the car. It was still raining on an off when we adventured out of the car, our bladders calling us to get up more than anything else. Even though it was raining the weather forecast that by 11am it would pretty much clear up and we set out to buy a ... read more