Blogs from Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 5

So after a hectic Christmas and New Year, we headed up to the tropics in the North - starting with Cairns. We were picked up from the airport by a woman from the hostel we had booked who was from Sam's home town of Basildon and headed out to our retro/arty hostel, complete with tropical swimming pool, palm trees and hammocks. After having a little stroll around Cairns that evening, I was shocked that at how small Cairns was - i was expecting a small city...and Sam was chuffed that we were finally up to the 40C mark, although the Thai humidity was back again! Our first full day in Cairns we did was every backpacker does in Cairns and booked our trip to the Great Barrier Reef for the following day! The day started early! ... read more

Vi ankom tirsdag den 11. til Airlie Beach kl. 18. Vi blev sat af tæt på stranden og kunne hurtigt se at stedet var en lille by tæt på havet med én gennemgående gade. Som sædvandlig havde vi ikke booket noget hostel og gik derfor igennem hovedgaden og valgte et sted at være. Vi valgte Beaches Backpackers som lå midt i Airlie Beach og derfor havde direkte adgang til lagunen. Selve hostellet var ikke noget at prale af. Store dormrooms med 8 sovepladser som generelt var lidt snuskede og upersonlige. Men hvis det ikke havde været for vores roommates, havde vi måske valgt et andet sted. Da vi kom ind af døren kl. 18.30 var der fuld gang i værelset. Vi boede sammen med 4 drenge og 2 piger, som bestemt ikke var kedelige. Som sagt ... read more

From Byron Bay, we had a night on the Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise and then three nights at Tewantin. We caught up on all the Noosa things, Eumundi markets, the beach, the shops, and some nice time with Kenda and John. Now we are at Hervey Bay and today was magic. We were picked up after lunch and driven by bus to the boat to take us out to search for whales. We were taken about an hour out of the bay when we were told lunch was ready so we joined the queue to the food. I noticed that the lady about three in front of me seemed familiar .. it was schoolfriend and bridesmaid, Betty, doing the whalewatch tour with her Probus Club. What a surprise for us both. We spent the rest ... read more

A week before Lucy arrived to catch up on...Tom managed to survive his few days working although a wee reality check for both of us about how hard it is gonna be to go back to work for proper when all this gallivanting is out of our systems. I managed a few days of beach time while Tom was hard at work, I'd like to say I felt bad but...well didn't feel bad but it did feel weird being on my own for a day or two. We did also manage to hook up with Sasha and Olly again which was completely unexpected but really great, defiantly taking stalking to a new level entering Oz about a month early for just one more drink with Tom and Anna...bless!!! As you can see from the photos we ... read more

We left Brisbane after dropping Dad and Sophie at work at the transit centre and Fortitude Valley. We got onto the highway for the first part of the journey to get us out of the city and the suburbs. Once we were out of the city area, we dropped off the highway and started driving on the smaller back roads which go through the bush. We drove along a road (I use the term road loosely) which went through the rainforest which was lovely, it was a long and winding road, but a lovely one nevertheless. We didn't see any wildlife along this road to our disappointment, but our spirits were lifted when we got to the next gravel road and we saw kingfishers sitting in the trees and white egrets standing amongst the cattle in ... read more