Ta Ra Southern World

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Hobart to the Whitsunday Islands

Well, as we prepare to leave another continent and the hemisphere that has been our home now for the last 14 months, it has become so clear that Australia has been much kinder and beautiful since we finished that horrible nonsense that is work.

Actually, things had been pretty good long before we finally doffed the suits and ties (again) with the amazing hospitality of the family Kealy over Christmas. Surrounded by our wonderful surrogate family, Christmas day (as well as a good few either side!) was spent well and truly committing the cardinal sin of gluttony, ably provided by the experienced hands of Moss at the barbie. This was interspersed by some boules on the lawn, a good street cricket session (Jules and I certainly showing the fighting spirit that the English test team lacked!), and plenty of giggles in the pool, oh, and the odd beer. New Year also provided a pretty good show on the celebrations front, with Sydney seeming to know how to put on a decent firework display. We spent a good 14 hours on the bank of the harbour with a perfect view of the opera house and the coat hanger, armed with three or four eskys full of various bottles and cans of fun... and that's about all I can remember of that.

Anyhoo, we eventually finished work (sorry, have I already mentioned that??) and headed off for a few weeks more of being kindly welcomed into lovely people's houses up and down the east coast, and indulging in plenty more obsessive animal and wildlife spotting.

Our first stop after finishing work (sorry) was Melbourne, where Kylie and Martyn awaited to show us the night time delights of St Kilda and southern Melbourne, and Linda ready with Fitzroy and the north. Both were superb, and surprisingly very different as a city compared to Sydney. Melbourne has much more of a cafe / bar culture, so coupled with the 38 degree weekend we soon kicked back and enjoyed the relaxed, friendly Melbourne way of life. When our livers could take no more we picked up a car and galloped off down the infamous Great Ocean Road.

The spots of the road that actually clung to the ocean really were spectacular, with sweeping golden beaches, sparkling inviting sea, and not a soul there (as it was a Monday!) There were quite a few patches of non-ocean road as well through the surrounding forests. One such bit, on the banks and the surrounds of Sausage Gully actually took us through a stretch of Koala-infested eucalypt forest, which meant a long stop to get very excited, coo, laugh, point and enjoy the site of the dozing beauties.

The following morning we were up with the Kookaburra and balanced in a canoe at the very beautiful and silent Lake Elizabeth before the sun was even up, ready for a leisurely paddle. A bit of a random detour, but we wanted to catch a wee glimpse of another strange Australian wonder - the duck-billed platypus. These furry, beaked, egg-laying, venomous mammals hang around fresh water lakes feeding at dawn and dusk popping up for a spot of breathing and digesting every few minutes here and there. We actually saw most of this particular lake's population of these small, near mythical creatures that morning, superbly cute in a very small hippopotamus shaped way as they bobbed around on the surface for us.

After this additional opportunity to get very excited, coo, laugh, point and enjoy the site of critters we took the quick hop over the water to the island often missing from the backpacker itinerary, Tasmania, to visit Faye and Ben. They have set up home in Hobart, a tiny capital city like no other in Oz, with a real New Zealand feel to it. Of course the first thing we had to do was search out the endemic animals made famous by a naughty cartoon character to see if they really are as crazy as they are made out to be. The Tasmanian Devil population has been in serious trouble for the last decade with the spread of a facial tumour disease. A number of parks have been set up in the hope that they can breed a population with immunity to this disease which has infected in the region of 80% of the current wild population. Fortunately they are having some success and they are breeding very well in captivity. The park we visited had a couple of feeding sessions on whilst we were there, so we got to see the Yorkshire Terrier-sized marsupials devour chunks of possum with a chorus of grunting and crunching like we've never heard before. They literally eat the lot: bones, insides, fur, skin... Matt obviously very impressed at the lack of waste! As cute as they were we were glad they were behind a wall as I reckon that jaw could easily have taken limbs off (apparently their jaws have similar power to that of a fully grown crocodile!)

We also took a weekend camping trip over to Maria Island, to get a taste of the true Tasmanian outdoor lifestyle. The island is only accessible by boat and was refreshingly devoid of cars and public transport, yeay! Armed with enough stuff to last us a week we set up camp for the night. It wasn't too long before we realised we were in for a wildlife treat as we were literally camping amongst the wild kangaroos of the island. We started off on our first walk to an ensemble of bouncing as kangaroos, wallabies and the even smaller, cuter pademelons crossed our paths and checked us out. We wanted wildlife, but didn’t expect it to be laid on quite this thick!

On the most strenuous walk we've done this trip we trekked (and climbed!) to the top of the island for a brilliant view of the crystal clear sea and white beaches lapping at the island. On the way up we spotted a very sweet young echidna snuffling its long ant-eating nose in the leaves, much to our amusement. Later that evening whilst cooking our roast lamb, roast potatoes and squash (our luxury camping meal!) we had to fend off the pademelons, as they were intent on getting a taste of our dinner too! The night walk we embarked on brought even more animals to torch-light, with wombats slowly shuffling through the long grass, possums playing with anything they could get their hands on and a lone little blue penguin looking very lost on the hillside! We went to sleep to the sound of the snuffles and scrabbling of animals all around our tent, we loved it! Thanks Faye and Ben, Tasmania is a wonderful place, you picked well!

Leaving the cool climes of Tassie we scooted up the east coast and into a new time zone to Queensland where we suddenly felt like we were in a new country - the scent of summer filling the air and palm trees lining the streets (as well as possums literally dropping out of the trees throughout the city). We'd booked on a 4x4 trip to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world and home to a healthy population of dingoes, and a fair few spiders! The two days was spent hurtling round this island bouncing round the back of the van. Every now and then we'd stop for a swim in one of the beautiful lakes in the centre of the island. We did, however, choose not to venture into the seas surrounding the island though, as they are infested with box jellyfish and man-eating sharks. The rainforest through the middle of the island was home to stacks of huge golden orb and wolf spiders hanging between the trees, which made “walking” underneath them pretty interesting! Fortunately we were not treated to a visit from any snakes whilst in the camp here, but a cane toad and a goanna, a huge monitor lizard, did make their presence known.

After all this time in a car it was time to change transport, so we stopped off further up the Queensland coast at Airlie Beach to meet Rupert and Alex for what we hoped would be a leisurely and beautiful sail around the idyllic Whitsunday Islands... unfortunately the weather turned it into a hilarious rain-soaked rip-roaring crazy bounce through the Wetsundays! We had a fantastic time, but it wasn't exactly what we expected. Firstly there was the choice of boat, not really thinking we'd booked a maxi racing yacht, the Condor. This meant a sleek, empty top deck and a huge oven/dorm beneath. We spent most waking minutes sat perched along the high side, legs dangling, screaming with pure delight as the waves crashed overhead and the boat bounced its way between islands. I am sure we had the best time on this roller-coaster ride, as no one else was making as much noise! I don't think we spent a single minute dry, waking in the morning to put our wet swimmers and rain coats back on.

In between the sailing we stopped off for some snorkelling around the reefs that surrounded the islands. This meant donning the very attractive stinger suits modelled below, as the deadly and often fatal box and irukandji jellyfish were in season throughout the area. Armed with the news that the practically invisible stingers, some barely half an inch long, infested the water, and with our faces, feet and hands well and truly uncovered we cautiously jumped in. Within ten seconds we'd all seen various shaped pieces of scum float by, all of which looked distinctly like jellyfish, managing to seriously freak us all out. Although there was a distinct lack of suits that protected us from the 18 foot long great white sharks that also inhabit the area…! So, the snorkelling was definitely a little shorter than it could have been for some of us, but whilst in we were simply amazed by the vast array of pulsating coral of all shapes, sizes and colours as far as the eye could see, with brilliantly coloured fish swimming all around, weaving between us, the coral and anything else they could find.

To finish off our Australia experience we had one more stop, back in New South Wales at Avoca Beach, to see Cat and Jules tie the knot. In true Aussie, unconventional style they got married under pine trees along the beach with the crashing surf a background for their sun-soaked wedding. The reception was held in the surf club with plenty of Aussie beers and even some wedding stubby holders to take as momentos. We stayed on the beach for a few days to enjoy the last few days of summer before heading to the northern hemisphere to join in with the welcoming of spring and the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, where we write this from. We're now embarking on our extended return trip towards Blighty where we'll keep up the blogs a little more frequently... if anyone is still interested after so long! Thanks to all for your amazing Aussie hospitality, we’ll miss you all!

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Photos

Before the Fun Begins
NYE in Sydney

Lake Elizabeth at Dawn
Home to the Platypus

Kangaroo Corner
Maria Island

The Stinger Suits
Preparing for the Jellyfish in the Whitsundays