The Tropics

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Just before I start I would like to make it clear that if anyone has been reading Becky's blogs then you will have noticed that my edited versions are far more interesting!! Anyway now I have cleared that one up I shall begin.

I finished the last blog the day before going to Australia Zoo, anyway that evening in a bid to find somewhere to watch the football we joined an RSL a kind of ex-servicemans club (I think). Although once inside (after changing my thongs) there didnt apppear to be many. Ex-servicman that was. Anyway the real reason I mention this is just really to mention the fact that we then watched Utd comprehensively batter Liverpool. So to any of you scouse fans out there Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HaHa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HaHa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HaHa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Well anyway the next day as previously mentioned we stared our true animal geek type adventure and went to Australia Zoo. It was kind of sad as there was a big shrine to Steve Irwin with his safari shirts hanging everywhere covered with touching tributes. But to lighten the mood as we came away from the shrine to go and watch the Crocodile show I met Wes, which obviously was very exciting (well it was for me anyway). For those who do not watch the discovery channel or the Crocodile Hunter Diaries, or have no life Wes was Steve Irwins best friend. I was also lucky (or not looking at how stupid I look, but I dont care, cause your all at work and I'm not so ha!) to get my picture taken with him, both of us in full on "Crikey" poses. The Crocodile shows were cool and I now have lots more interesting facts to amaze you all with upon my return, I bet you cant wait!!

After the zoo we headed to Rainbow Beach as we had been told this would be a good place to get to Fraser Island from. However, the person who advised us of this failed to mention that there was nothing in Rainbow beach. When we arrived it was like a ghost town. However we couldn't be arsed to drive up to Hervey Bay that night so we stayed in a campsite and left this pretty but dull place early in the morning. We booked the tour we wanted and spent the day looking around the Bay and packing ready for Fraser Island. Up early on the Wednesday and got the catamaran over to Fraser Island. It is largest sand island in the world and is basically just rainforest and beaches. Once on the island we went in a massive 4x4 truck (only 4x4's can go on the island as it is all sand) and there was a group of about 24 of us, we spent the day going through the rainforests where we got to go on 2 walks and visited a couple of freshwater lakes in the middle of the island. The biggest of which was Lake McKenzie, which is an amazing blue surrounded by pure white sand and rainforest. The lake is so pure that it is unable to support much life. This is because of the lack of minerals and nutrients in the water.

The truck was good fun as very bumpy and had to wear seatbelts the whole time as thrown from side to side abit like a rollercoster ride. In the evening we headed back to the resort we were staying in and got drunk with the rest of the group. The next day we drove up 74 mile beach which in fact is only 69 miles long. We stopped at Indian Head Point where the view was spectacular, if not slightly scary. From here we saw a Humpback Whale, a real fluke! (excuse the whale related pun, I couldn't help myself), Turtles and Dolphins. We then had the chance to go up in a 8 seater plane which landed and took off from the beach, taking us all over the island and then low enough over the sea to see more dolphins and large stingrays.

That evening we were supposed to depart back to the mainland but we decided to book an extra night as fancied spending a day lying by the pool. It is very tiring travelling around and we had driven miles so we deserved a break. Our cabin was tucked nicely in the rainforest and surrounded by streams and lakes teaming with life, so when dusk came I donned my head torch and dragged an un-enthusiastic Becky out exploring the forest in search of snakes. After a shoortwhile I escorted Becky back to the safe confines of our cabin so I could continue the hunt on my own. Sadly I did not find any snakes this time although I did find hundreds of frogs and toads, a million bugs, an eel, lizards and a possum. Upon my return to the cabin I went out to the balcony in a last bid to see if I could find a snake in the trees opposite, when I was joined by a small furry friend on the screen door. After ten minutes of whispering "Becky" in an attempt to draw her attention away from the TV (it was the first we had seen of a TV for a while) I yelled at her to get the camera. Eventually she obliged and as I took a picture of the bat on our screen it flew straight into me, causing me to react in a most un-manly way.

The next day we spent lazing round the pool and swimming and sitting in the jacuzzi and by the end of the day we were exhausted. We arrived back on the mainland that evening and decided to drive a bit as had a relaxing day and we were keen to get to Airlie Beach. Anyway after a few hours we were still miles away and it was pitch black, over here it gets dark very early (about 6.30pm) compared with summer back home, obviously as you are all now in the depths of winter it is probably dark at about 4pm.After drving through the end oof a forest fire which was pretty amazing we eventually found a campsite and crashed out. When we woke up we were next to a huge dam (unfortunately for you Ruth we were on the dry side) which was pretty amazing so went for a walk around and then headed off again. That day (Saturday) we got as far as MacKay which was a pretty little town and again just spent the night there before heading off again.

After about another three hour drive we arrived in Rockhampton and this is where the Tropic of Capricorn runs through. The change in temperature and humidity hit us the instant we stepped out of the camper. I stood with my feet either side of the line, one being the Tropics, the other the Temperate Zone as you all would have done!! I then hopped back over the line into the Temperate Zone to try to cool down, but it didn't seem to work!!! When we drove through the next town which I cant remember the name of and, we knew we were in the Tropics as the air was filled with Flying Foxes and Parrots (that and it was very hot and humid). We found a campsite and I immedeatly headed off with my torch to explore. This time I had much more success finding a small snake (keep it clean people), several Possums and a couple of Huntsman spiders along with the mandatory few hundred frogs, toads and lizards!

We arrived in Airlie Beach on Sunday - hooray, this was the longest bit of driving we had done in one go but there was nothing we really wanted to see in between Fraser Island and and Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach was a typical backpackers place and very touristy and very cheap which was good. The beaches are not great here as it has just just come into stinger season which is when all the jelly fish are around so you are advised either not to swim in the sea or to wear a stinger suit. However Airlie Beach has a huge mand made lagoon on the beach front to solve this problem which was pretty cool.

From Airlie beach we had decided to go to the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef as had been advised that this was the best place to go from. Most of the tours involve spending a few days on board a boat which cruises round the islands and you live on board, however as I have no sea legs we binned that idea and decided to check into one of the island resorts. There are 74 Whitsunday Islands so we had a good choice! We chose Daydream Island as the nearest one to the mainland and it was a 4 and a half star resort (not sure why a half though) Being backpackers and as it was last minute we got a great deal so we booked in for two nights. The next morning went on the catamaran to get there which was great as sailed past some of the islands and the scenery was amazing. The resort was split into two sections at opposite ends of the island and seperated by rainforest. The north which had all the rooms, restaurants and a few swimming pools and then the South which had cafes, bakery, mini golf, swimming pools and an outdoor cinema with a backdrop of the Coral Sea and neighbouring islands. Also at either ends of the island were man made coral lagoons ful of sharks (one even had a Bull shark!), rays and other fish including Nemo and Dory. Also on the island there was every water sport you could imagine so at least we new we wouldn't get bored. The first day (Monday) we spent looking round and swimming and that evening we had dinner whilst watching a film in the outdoor cinema. It was great a huge 44ft screen with the ocean as the backdrop and then tables and chairs all in front, a laggon and the bar right behind for drinks.

On the Tuesday we got picked up from the island for our day at the Great Barrier Reef. We managed to find a trip where the boat had stabilisers which reduces seasickness by 70% so I would only be 30% ill. It took about 2 hours to sail to the Reef past the Whitsundays and we arrived at a huge pontoon which the boat moored too and from here all the diving, snorkelling etc took place. They were offering an introductory scuba dive and after a long talk by the Dive instructor explaining that there would be no big sharks we signed up. It was amazing, the second we went below the water there was so much to see that there was no time to be nervous, I even hoped to see a big shark. We had just over 40 minutes under the water but the time flew by, we even saw a small shark. Once we got out we woindered why we hadn't tried diving before and hope to do our Open Water course at some point on the trip. The rest of the time on the pontoon we snorkelled and chilled out and then it was time to go back to the island. When we got back to the Island we decided to book another night and so spent another 2 nights on Daydream Island spending most of that at the pool with the swim up bar as too hot to lay in the sun for any length of time.


We left the island on Thursday afternoon and went back to claim our camper van which is great up until about 8 am when you wake up melting in the heat. We arrived in Cairns yesterday (Friday) and it seems huge after all the little towns we have visited along the way. We still have a week left in the camper van so that gives us plenty of time to go up to Cape Tribulation and back down as we drop the van back here in Cairns. We have found a nice central camp site here and went to the night market last night and sat and watched fire dancers on the beach. Very beautiful here and far too much to do, we have millions of brochures which we are about to go through to decide what we want to do. Time is flying, it's weird seeing all the Christmas decorations appearing in the shops here as it's soooooooo hot its hard to believe it will be Xmas soon. I guess back in the cold and gloomy UK it seems so much more real.

Look if you were all here you would be gloating to0, so get over it and get back to work!!


Anyway hope all is well and will update you again soon.

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Comments

[kayhan]

lack of comments
why only nic has got somthing 2 say. wattsy is now known as the hoff