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Can you spot the bear?
Somewhere in this picture is a very cute koala.....can you spot him? So, something i forgot to mention in the last blog (Jo thinks on purpose) was our slight mishap on the first day of the road trip. We turned up early to pick up Percy the campervan, and got the credit card out to pay the not insubstantial amount of cash to hire it for two months. It was bumped up a lot by deciding to take out full insurance with no excess, peace of mind and all that. Before taking the payment the lady asked "Would you like roof and floor cover for $50?". "No need" said i smiling "we have paid for full insurance". "Yes" she replies, in obviously a well practised retort "but it doesn't cover your roof and floor". I kind of stared at her for a while, while a thousand sarcastic, vitriolic replies sorted themselves out in my head. I settled on "What?". "You have no excess," she said roboticaly "but it doesnt cover the roof and floor. Would you like to pay the extra $50?". I struggled briefly as the vein at my temple throbbed, before nodding quickly, muttering something along the lines of "Seems pretty stupid anyway...what's gonna happen to the roof anyways?". Can anyone
Aboard the Kiana
Our very own Titanic moment....though obviously with less sinking involved see where this is going yet?
We left the hire company in the van, and went straight to the supermarket to stock up. Park on the roof thought I, bound to be most space for our new big, tall van. 2.8 meters tall to be precise. How do i know? Well the height warning steel bar suspended across the entrance that was dragged screeching across the roof was 2.1m, thats how. Im not sure what was more embarrasing, the looks of fellow shoppers as they heard the banging and scraping as we drove in (While I was busy saying to Jo 'Can you hear something?") or having to get the shopping centre maintenance staff to climb up and lift the bar so we could get out again.
So we left you last time on Magnetic Island, pretty much at the start of our trip around Oz. The island was great, with a real small community feel. We saw a few koala bears in the wild, and a huuuge spider literally above our heads. We asked a nearby Ozzie what it was. 'Thats a beaut of a Golden Orb' he said. 'Dangerous?' I enquired. "Well it wont kill ya
The Whitsundays
The beaches were nearly empty too. Something to do with it being Autumn....28 degrees felt warm enough to us brits! mate" he replied. That seems to be most Ozzies rating of dangerous beasts, either deadly or not. Back home in England we would rate our dangerous beasts from itchy bite to unpleasant sting.....maybe even a nasty nip from someones 'dangerous' dog. Not in Australia, oh no, they simply say deadly or not. I suppose with so many (luckily often rare) dangerous beasts, going any further than this would simply get complicated. By the way, I hasten to add for the benefit of our parents reading this and now fearing for our very lives, dangerous beasties are generally really, really rare and fatalities even more so. Saying that, read below for our first encounter with sharks!
We went from Magnetic island back to Townsville, where a couple of friends of Jos from University have emigrated to. Julie and James made us feel really welcome, barbecued a few 'snags' for us and it was nice to sleep the night in a home again. We then drove down the next day to Airlie beach, ready for a 3 day sailing trip we'd booked around the Whitsunday Islands. This was something Jo had really been looking forward to, though I have to say
Scuba Dave
Trouble was, smiling like this underwater my mask kept leaking anyone whose ever heard of my last chartered boat trip on my honeymoon would understand my reticence (Jo fishing and catching a 26lb Tuna, me going green and loosing a stone in weight). In the end though we were blessed with amazing weather, including very calm seas, a great boat and crew, a fun bunch of fellow passengers (12 of them) and the chance to do 5 really cool dives at the great barrier reef. We saw an amazing diversity of fish and coral, with the highlight being a 4 foot Giant Turtle. We were really up close with him, and he then swam around us for a while...pretty amazing stuff. Alongside the diving there was time on the main beach there (the kind you see in those 'paradise' shots, all palm trees and pure white sands) and some great food. Oh, yeah, it was also pretty cool to see sharks feeding off the side of the boat at night, knowing we were diving in the same waters the next day.....they werent maneaters though mum, so dont worry.
We were really sad for that bit to end, to be honest, but we had to push on, this time heading
Walking in Carnarvon
The river conditions were treacherous, especially when carrying this much weight inland to Carnarvon National Park. Its gorge is described as Queenslands Grand Canyon, but I think that a bit unfair as its not really on the same scale, but was pretty unique in its own right. We walked the whole length of it and back in a day, 25 kilometres in all. Its pretty much in the middle of the desert outback but its depth and narrowness means its a unique microclimate, kind of like a canyon rainforest.
Next day we drove back to the coast, this time aiming for Fraser Island. This is basicaly the biggest sand island in the world, with a 75k beach amongst other attractions. Its a world heritage listed island, and though we only had a day we got to see some of the things that make it famous (wild dingos, a shipwreck, fab forests). The water surrounding the island although looked inviting is in fact shark infested and this time not just the nice ones so we opted for a dip in in one of the fresh water lakes in the middle of the island instead!
That was two days ago. We drove yesterday to get here, Brisbane, where we're having a
The Moss Garden
Suprisingly, there was a lot of moss day of city life again before heading on to the gold coast, Australias most developed stretch of tourist coastline. Personally, Im looking forward to a place called 'Wet 'n Wild' (No, its not what you are thinking Jason, its a water park)
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Jason Collins
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You make me sick!
Yeah, yeah lovely time. Great scenery, diving etc but you don't have the great British Climate, the cheeky cockney discourse and our great cuisine. You ruined the premiership for me. I messaged you to mock your pathetic Man U attempt on the blue title rush and you leisurely text me back that you had missed it by sailing around the Islands. I hate you now. My only consolation is that my golf game would improve out of sight whilst you had gone however this is going backwards and you will emerge as the ultimate victor. My only hope now is that you are putting on weight. Eat more Snags, Eat more snags. eat more Snags.