Advertisement
Published: October 10th 2006
Due to popular demand (ok my mum asked me what we've been doing) it's time for another Blog!! Yippee i hear you shout. So hear we go.
You currently find us in Brisbane, the Queensland capital, and a sprawling city that seems to be running out of water... fast. And we're being pampered some by relatives before we set out on our next leg tomorrow morning to New Zealand.
The last update was post whale-watching in Hervey Bay (and no Sarah I don't think they're cute - they weigh over a ton when they are born!) from where we continued on our northward trek the next day. So after an 8 hour road-trip (something like the time it takes you to cross France) we set up camp in Mackay, via more koala watching at the botanical gardens in Rockhampton (Sarah likes koalas it may be becomming clear). Well there's not a lot to Mackay; apart from a fair amount of pikeys in their campsites anyway - we were surrounded by drunk teenagers (i would never have done that!), pregnant mothers and tattooed builders flexing their pecs (aka fat). Just as well it was just a stop off on our
way to Airlie Beach a further 2 hours north. Airlie Beach is the main route to the Whitsunday Islands and as we were also informed (although i can't guarantee the accuracy of my information) is the STI capital of Australia - happy days. We set up Fred (the tent) in a much nicer campsite and enjoyed a quiet evening in preparation for our trip the next day. We booked a 3 day, 2 night sail and dive trip around the Whitsunday Islands on a boat called Kiana. It was a nice boat actually, although we were expecting slightly larger sleeping arrangements: Sarah and I were in a double underneath a single bunk (3 feet above) and opposite another 3 beds all in a small room in the stern (back for you non-sailing types - tally-ho). In fact I ended up in the room with 5 girls and I can only imagine the trouble Sarah had beating them off whilst i was asleep. The boat had 14 plus 3 crew and wasn't really cramped (bar the sleeping arrangements). Anyway we started off with a trip to Whitehaven Beach - this really was stunning - amazing white sands and turquoise waters in
Ready for a dive
Oompah Loompah..... all together nowthis inlet make for real picture-postcard type views. The only shame i guess is the need for stinger suits in the sea (the little people killing bu**ers are coming into season) so you had to look like a bit of a goon when entering the water (better safe than sorry (aka dead) i guess). That night we moored up, had some dinner (the food was good on the trip) and watched the sun come down over the ocean.
The next day we did some diving around the islands: a lovely 5:30 start was followed by a dive in 22C waters - now this would sound warm, except for the fact that we'd been diving in 30C waters so far and found it very cold (poor us). We were due to head out to the Outer Barrier Reef in the afternoon but due to some fairly strong winds we stayed around the islands and dived here instead. Sarah this time donned 2 wetsuits plus stinger suit for the dive. Not sure if she was auditioning for the new Michelin Man but it might have been easier for us to roll her off the boat than for her to walk -
Milking Time
Get off my Teats!!! well at least she was warmer. The diving here was good actually, with some fantastic corals in particluar. That night we had dinner while a dolphin splashed around the boat (you know, i'm going to miss these things when i'm back). The following day we actually sailed back to Airlie Beach (it was a shame we hadn't done any sailing so far) which was a nice way of bringing her back. A good trip in a lovely location, not sure i would recommend the boat we were on (there may be better?) but for us it was still really good.
That night we ventured out to see a bit of Airlie Beach. It was fun - some good bars and good beer (and your usual Mcdonalds, KFC etc. etc.). The next day and having escaped the STIs we turned the car around and headed south again. Our next stop was 150kms south-west of Rockhampton and after 6 hours we arrived at our destination, Myella Farm Stay. To occupy some of the long drives we've been putting on some teach-yourself-Spanish CDs (in prep for South America) and Sarah's been doing the exercises alongside the CD. Sarah's been picking up a
few bits and i've learnt a couple of phrases. In fact I think i'm done; i've learnt how to order a beer and I can't think what else i might need. Quiero una cervesa...
We stayed at the Myella Farm Stay for 5 nights and 4 full days in the end. The farm came recommended (not least from brother and Vicky) and was a really good stop. Basically it's a really good B&B with the addition of daily activities and the opportunity to help out on the farm (which is basically a cattle station with some chickens and dairy cows).
One of the main activities is the morning 3 hour horse rides. These were interesting for Sarah and I as we were both basically novices (i sat on a fat pony once when i was 9) and after 2 mins of instruction we were on the horses and following the group out around the farm (i personally prefer this sort of training - the "in at the deep end approach"). They did actually give us some useful hints and tips, although i don't think that this type of riding is taught in "pony-club"! We both really enjoyed the
riding and by the end of the stay I had Amber (the little B*tch as she was known to the staff - should have told me something?!) going pretty well. In fact we were both up to a canter on our horses by the third day (how much control we had i'm not sure) and I even managed to let out a yee-hah and catch a pretend cow with my pretend lasso whilst doing it; not sure that "pony-club" would approve of that either! The rides were really good actually - saw a load of kangaroos and on a couple we also did some mustering of the cattle (not for any reason other than it was fun).
We also had motorbike lessons which were good fun and allowed us to take the bikes around the farm and off to watch the sunsets etc. I also went off to collect the horses in the mornings and bring them in for riding. This basically involved speeding around the massive horse paddocks and gathering the horses - great fun! Sarah at the same time milked the cows (you really have to yank them udders) or collected eggs. Other than that we were
Maheno Wreck, Fraser Island
Not a good place to park your boat driving around in 4x4s to feed the horses or messing in the pool. It was just a really relaxing (whilst being pretty busy) few days. The food was fantastic (big portions of homely food - steak and mash being a favourite!) and all made with own grown beef, milk and eggs; breakfast was made on the open fire and dinner was sometimes accompanied by music and always home brewed beer! The approach to vegetarians was classic: "we don't cater for them" and speaking to the owners they don't understand them either: "they're always the ones who look ill and whine a lot". When you grow up in the bush it's a way of life i guess.
Well unfortunately we had to leave and on the fifth day we headed off south. As we'd already done Hervey Bay, we decided to head to Rainbow Beach (5 hours) for our trip to Fraser Island where we headed the next day. We had ummed and ahhd about how to do Fraser Island, in the end as we only had the 2 days and not quite the money reserves to pay for a new hire 4x4 if we got ours stuck, broken etc.
Lake Mackenzie, Fraser Island
Angel of the North impressions! we decided to do a 2 day tour. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world at about 125kms in length and you definately need a 4wd to get around it. Most driving is on the beach (which is considered a national highway!?) or the inland tracks. We visited Indian Head which has great views over the island and apparently good views of Tiger Sharks feeding in the shallows off the headland. Unfortunately the Pacific Ocean had other ideas and we saw a lot of foam and stirred up sand instead! Oh well at least it wasn't raining as it had been here recently. We also saw some of the rainforest (yep some parts of this giant sandpit have been inhabited by rainforest plants) and 2 inland, freshwater lakes: Lake Wabbi (a green looking lake backing onto a massive sand dune) and the stunning Lake Mackenzie (fantastic blue coloured lake surrounded by white sand). There are also lots of freshwater creeks to see running though the island to the sea. Apparently the water takes about 60 years to come out of the sand (how they know this I have no idea) and it's crystal clear.
The following
day we explored the sand dunes and cliffs of Rainbow Beach. Sarah was a little disappointed that sand didn't come in all the colours of the rainbow as the name suggests (i think she was expecting blue, green, indigo etc. sand?!), but the different shades were impressive enough. We then continued our journey back to Brisbane with a stop at Caloundra - another beachside location. This was a good spot for our trip the next day to Australia Zoo. This, as you may well know, was the zoo set up by the now late Steve Irwin (croc hunter) and his image is everywhere. He really seemed to be the driving force behind the zoo and certainly behind a lot of the marketing. The zoo though, was impressive. Good facilities, large and clean enclosures and as you can imagine a good amount of evil looking crocodiles!! They had a crocodile show (plus a short tribute to Steve - it's still very recent) and generally loads of things to see to make a good fun day. Sarah had her photo taken holding a koala but I was much more interested in the flesh eating salt-water crocs I have to say (Venus and Mars, what can I say).
We stayed in a north Brisbane caravan park that night and in celebration of the last night sleeping on the rock hard ground, we had steak and a fair amount of wine to wash it down! A good thing with this country is that you can buy drinkable wine fairly cheaply - the 4 litre box for 11 dollars (just over 4 quid) is a definite winner! Since then we've been in Brisbane. We went up to Mt Coot-Tha, went to see a waterfall (which had no water, let alone any that was falling) and then yesterday had a trip around the city. Brisbane's a nice enough place but there's not a huge amount to see and today we've sorted ourselves out - got rid of tent, sleeping bags etc. - ready for our next leg: New Zealand!
We're just about to have our last supper (a BBQ!) on Aussie soil (the relatives are looking after us well!) and then we're up tomorrow at 4 for our next leg.
Hope all is well at home - keep up the comments.
Gracias
Jonny and Sarah
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0545s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
