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Published: March 4th 2007
Cairns
On the way up to Cape Tribulation (Kate, Helen and Sam)Well we're back in Sydney now and neither of us can believe that our 2 months travel is over....thanks for all the sympathetic messages we've received about having to find work again!!!!
Anyway here's the final update covering the last leg of our journey from Cairns and Ayres Rock.....
What can I say about Cairns?!? Humid humid humid...oh and it rained quite a bit, now there's a shocker! Helen and I are going to start renting ourselves out as official rain makers! But we did get a couple of lovely sunny days in so we managed to rent a car out and drive up the the Daintree Rain Forest and Cape Tribulation (that would be the place where Captain Cook ran aground on the great barrier reef).
We had met up with Helen's sister Kate and her friend Kerry and it quickly became apparent that none of us were exactly the raintree sort...lots of squealing and running away from crawling/flying/biting type things. You also had to be on the look out for Cassowary's - a large bird about the size of an emu but a mad vicious b*gger. Its also interesting (to say the least) using the public
Cairns
On the way up to Cape Tribulation...Kate and Kerry this time! toilet in the middle of the rain forest...you find you're amazingly quick. And again there's lots of squealing! God they have big spiders. Its going to take me months to get out of the habit of checking under the toilet seat before I sit down....
Right enough of toilets (although there is more of that later!)....what else did we do? Well we did a bungy swing whilst in Cairns. Its a vaguely less scary version of a bungy jump which none of us could bring ourselves to do....if there isn't a strapping bloke attached to my back I'm NOT jumping! I'll try to get the video uploaded on the blog so you can see the swing! After the bundy swing we spent the afternoon at the 'Blazing Saddles Ranch' where we did a bit of horse riding....a bit slow and ploddy for me but it was fun watching the others trot for the first time...remember Kate its up down up down....not down up down up!!!! :-)
On the last day we went out to the great barrier reef where we got to do lots of snorkelling amongst the coral. Unfortunately it was a massively choppy day (we all
Cairns
On the way up to Cape Tribulation...pretty look out point had to have about 6 sea sickness tablets...nice!) so not the best conditions but thanks to the snorkelling guides we got to see some amazing fish...including a HUGE Napolean Wrasse fish which can grow up to about 2m long (google it and you can see what it looks like...a face only a mother can love). We snorkelled in an area renowned for reef sharks...and yes I did go in!! And I didn't see any...phew!!! The day before they'd seen an 8ft one... :-(
After 5 days at Cairns we parted ways with Kerry and Kate...they went off to Sydney and we flew off to Alice Springs/Ayres Rock.
So what can I say about Alice Spring/Ayres Rock??! OH MY GOD ITS HOT!!! You haven't felt hot until you visit there. And the flies. Aggghhh! Its enough to drive you mental and that's with a fly net. We arrived in Alice Springs in the evening, checked into our little hostel's cell-type room...and then immediately hot tailed it to the resort around the corner to see if we could book into there after our Ayres Rock trip! They had a bar in the pool.....what more can I say...
Anyway we
got picked up at 6am the following morning from the hostel by our bush trecker guide called Ash...who it turned out came from Northampton...what's that all about?!?! I was expecting a Steve Irwin type not a slightly skinny vegetarian from Blighty. He assured us he'd been heavily trained in bush trecking ways. Hmm. After much pressing he admitted he'd only been doing the job since October and back at home he was a recruitment consultant. Says it all really.
However seeing as Ayres Rock is about a 5 hour drive across arid desert we didn't get much choice but to stay on the van (or as the brochure described it 'a tour bus, air conditioned for your comfort". Yeah right) and go with the flow.
Our first stop was at a place called Kings Canyon where the plan was we did a 3 hour hike through the sandstone domes of the Lost City. We honestly thought Ash was kidding...I mean by the time we got there is was midday and 43 degrees centigrade (about 109!). Oh no siree. We hiked 3 hours UP ROCKS! To be fair we got to see some amazing sites and views including an
Amphitheatre (where various bands have done videos including Bon Jovi and part of Priscilla Queen of the Desert was filmed) and swam in the Garden of Eden (a small slightly mucky looking watering hole so not exactly paradise....but when you're THAT hot it really doesn't matter and we all jumped in pretty much fully clothed..!).
After our hike we travelled to a place called Curtin Springs to set up our bush camp. So imagine...you've been up since about 5.30am, you've travelled 5 hours in a hot van, you've hiked 3 hours up hill, you've battled with swarms of flies crawling all over you the entire time and then you arrive in the middle of nowhere as the sun is setting...no toilets, no showers, NOTHING. I'm sure all my friends can imagine exactly what I was thinking by this stage!!! V-festival camping is 5 star accomodation compared to this! And then you get your first lesson in bush camping toilet etiquette. Pretty easy really....shovel and a torch. Digging a hole at 3am with Helen holding the torch has to be one of the most memorable experiences of the whole trip....! Not exactly the prettiest but the most memorable....
So
we make dinner and then we get given our swag bags and sleeping bags - its still so hot at night that you just have to lie on top of them and hope nothing crawls over you (oh first of all you shake them out in case anything is inside them). As far as I'm aware nothing did crawl over us!....I imagine it may well of been the lack of a shower that drove anything with any sense of smell away.
Just as we're finally getting to sleep Ash wakes us all up at 4.30am....you have to make breakfast before the flies come out at about 6am. Fab. We then drive over to our new camp site which thank god has showers and proper toilets...whey hey!!!! After the shower from heaven we head off to the Valley of the Winds where we do another 8km hike up hill for a few hours. So back to a sweaty mess again! But the highlight of the day was early evening where we saw the sunset over Ayres Rock...lovely colours and nearly (nearly!) makes up for everything so far!
Back to the camp site for another night under the star in
our swag bags (and another shower....ahhh bliss)....and during the night there's a big storm and it rains...in the middle of the desert (see we're rain makers!)! So this means everyone is up at 3am huddling under the only shelter in the place! We were supposed to be up at 4am anyway so I guess what's the lack of another hour?!? At 4.30am we head off to Ayres Rock to see the sun rise which was also lovely.
Following the sun rise we got an hours guided walk around part of the base of Ayres Rock...we were told various Aboriginal stories and saw lots of cave paintings. You then get the choice of walking the entire way around Ayres Rock....and Helen being the 'can't sit still' person set off with the rest of the group. Me? I sat on the van and slept. I just couldn't cope with the flies or heat anymore. If I never see another fly again....
We arrive back to Alice Springs about 5pm and get just enough time to do the laundry - the desert is a DIRTY place! We didn't even get enough time to sit in the bar in the pool...boo!. Then
its off out for a night of partying with the group....and this time I beat Helen who gives up at 1am. Me? I make it to the last 4 in the group and roll into the hotel at 4am!
Then its up at 9am for a flight back to Sydney!!! Boy was I tired....
And so here we are....2 months of travel done and dusted....lots of fun and lots of fantastic memories along the way. Neither of us is entirely sure of the plan now or how long we expect to stay over here. We're going to start job and flat hunting again tomorrow and see what comes up so no doubt we'll be emailing our repsective group of mates with the news as we make decisions!
Hope you all enjoyed the blog, thanks for all your comments! Feel free to make the last few....
Love Sam & Helen
xx
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Jeannie Brice
non-member comment
Recruitment?
good to hear there's alternative careers for failed recruitment consultants - although that does seem a bit extreme -isn't HR just as scary? did you actually PAY for that experience? pictures look AMAZING.. back to job hunting, eh? Having read what you've written, may just need to review that reference i wrote...?!!