Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef!

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So, the travels have finally begun! It only took 6 months of working but we're finally there and it feels sooooo good.



The first place we went was Airlie Beach. This is a fairly small town on the northern coast of Australia. Theres nothing too special about the town itself but its one of the best places to see the Great Barrier Reef. We considered going all the way up to Cairns but that would have involved either flying there and back or driving for almost 20 hours each way! As the reason we were going up the coast was the reef we decided to stay at Airlie and go on a trip from there. Charlotte had booked the accomodation and it was a permenant tent. I want to make it clear Charlotte booked this based on a very tight budget and on the little experience she had with camping. The main problem was we had driven north for 12 hours so we were well into the tropical region of australia, (thats 32 degrees and 80/90% humidity). These were not ideal conditions for camping but the tent itself was okay. It was a solid plastic "wig wam" with vents on the side and a light and plug (not real camping). The good thing was we felt safe in it and the open vents had netting to prevent insects getting in. I have a few photos to put up so they should be on facebook soon.



The drive itself was quite long and boring. We set off at 3am to make sure we would get to the site intime to check in. After about 3 hours of driving the satnav instructed us off the main road for a short cut. We foolishly thought this was a good idea and followed it. After another 45 minutes of driving the road turned in to a gravel/dirt road. We had to drive at about 20km/h to avoid breaking the car on the rough surface. It was a tense hour driving along feeling every bump and doing our best to avoid the huge pot holes! Eventually the road flattened out and we did our best to claw back some of the time lost on our "short cut". After this the journey was much easier apart from a few road works. Eventually we arrived at the campsite at 5pm and checked in. After this we watched a bit of TV on the laptop and went to bed shortly after as we knew we had to get up early again the next morning.



Then came the day of the reef trip. This was going to be the highlight of our trip and it didn't dissapoint! We had to get up nice and early at 6am and be driven to the ferry. Then the ferry had to sail all the way out to the reef. Incase you don't know the outer reef is the best and has all the interesting bits and is about 2 hours out to sea. After a fairly long journey with even less to see than the drive up to Airlie we arrived at a pontoon in the middle of the reef. The sea looked amazing with all the coral sitting just below the surface. From the top of the boat or pontoon you could see quite a way and the sea just seemed to be out of the guide books. We hurried on to the pontoon and changed to go snorkelling. You have to wear "stinger suits" as the water often has jellyfish that can sting and kill very quickly. We were lucky and nobody had any problems with the jellyfish. With our suits and snorkels on we took to the ocean. It was amazing how well you could see everything and how close to the surface everything was. When we first got in we were the second people in and as soon as we put our faces in the water we could see a huge grouper (fish) about 3 meters down. It must have been about 8/9 feet long and moved very slowly, until everyone came in and it quickly left. After this we explored the coral and smaller fish together. It was the first time Charlotte had really used flippers so it took a little getting used to. Once we were going we saw all kinds of fish and corals. I could list them all but it would be quite boring so we'll just say the highlights were clown fish and bright coloured parrot fish. After a bit of exploring we took a break and went on a ride in the semi submersible which is basically a boat the windows in the side of the hull to look out off. We watched to reef and were given a guided tour which was interesting. Unfortuantley we didn't see and turtles but this didn't ruin our spirits after the best day in Australia so far.



The second day was our last full day in Airlie and we felt we should explore the town a bit more and see what it had to offer. We walked in to town and found a nice man made lagoon which we had a little paddle in as the sea was off limits due to the same jellyfish as before. After a while we walked round a bit more and picked up some breakfast and then headed back to the tent. As it got hotter we decided to stay by the pool and enjoy a bit of quiet time which was nice. It did cause us to get hungry so we decided to drive in to town and get some lunch. We set off walking around town again looking for somewhere for lunch. Whilst looking at a menu someone tapped us on the shoulder and when we turned to look it was a couple of German guys who had worked with us on the onion farm! It was a real shock for us as we hadn't seen anyone since before we left. We chatted with them for a while about how the farm had been since we left. They said the day after we left the farmers had told them they would be getting 60 cents a meter! This would have worked out to be about $80 a day for both me and Charlotte combined! This wouldn't have even covered the rent and lights and scissors. Due to this most people had left on the next avaiable bus including the guys we met so we don't know what happened after that but it gave us a good feeling that we really dodged a bullet leaving when we did. They hadn't been put off farmwork though and had worked successfully on a walnut farm in Victoria so we think we just had a bad farm.



After meeting them we had lunch and headed back to the campsite where we had heard their was bird feeding in the afternoon. I was really looking forward to this as we had seen the lorequites in Brisbane but they were very timid. Here it was not the case as the guy feeds them every day. He gave me some food to hold in my hand. Very quickly 2 or 3 birds had flown onto my arm and were happily eating the food. They felt wierd as they had claws but didn't really use them. After a couple of minutes another flew down and landed on Charlottes head! Unfortuantley she had the camera so I couldn't get a picture of the panicked look on her face. A little later another flew onto my head whilst I was feeding the others which we did manage to get a photo of so that should be on facebook soon! This finished and we headed back to bed knowing we had to get up really again to drive back down the coast. However this was not the end of the fun here. In the night I went to the loo and on the way back to the tent I had to cross a little bridge. Whilst doing this I looked over into the stream and for the first time in Australia I saw a snake! It was too dark to tell what kind of snake but it still worried me a little. I told Charlotte when I got back to the tent. In hindsight this wasn't the best idea as it did worry her bit! Fortunatley we left about 5 hours later so the worrying didn't last too long.



On the way back down the coast it was pretty smooth and we made sure to avoid the dirt track! We had booked to stay on the Sunshine coast in a hostel called Mooloolaba Backpackers (Moobalooba as we called it). This was only an overnight stop to break up the journey down to Sydney so theres nothing really to say about this stop. However the next day was bit more interesting as we made our way to Sydney.



Before I start about this trip I should mention that the trip should normally take about 12 hours. We set off from the backpackers at 3am so we could have a few stops on the way and arrive in Sydney before it got too late. We had a good journey through Brisbane and after a little while we were travelling through the country. At one point we went round a corner to find a couple of wild kangeroos eating by the side of the road. There were steep banks on either side and as we approached in the car they started bouncing away. We followed them along the road for a little while but they found a path up the bank and jumped away. After this we always had the camera ready but there were no more experiences like this! All was going well until we got to about 4 hours out of Sydney. We had seen a sign a little way back along the road saying a motorway was closed as there had been flooding but we couldn't find the places the sign mentioned so we carried on, (I bet you can see where this is going)! Anyway we finally came to a service station where there was a road bloack just after and a few guys standing around. When we pulled up one approached and said the motorway was flooded. He then asked where we were going. When we said Sydney he looked awkwardly and said the only way to get there was to go 2 hours back up the same motorway, go inland 3 hours to the next motorway and then travel down that one to Sydney. As you can imagine we were not happy and I set about finding a shorter route. Now as Australia is so big there arn't many roads to go around things like this, but I did manage to find a route only half an hour back. We set off for this and after half an hour down this road met the same kind of road block! Great, next time we'll listen to the man when he gives us directions we wil make sure to listen. So we put the route into the Sat nav and it went from saying 4 hours to go to saying 12 hours to go! This did not make us feel happy. As there was no alternative we set off anyway but we were less than pleased. The route itself took us up a mountain and through a rainforest. We were lucky to follow a huge truck up here following the same detour as us. This didn't help our mood but we finally passed him. The rest of the journey was quite boring but we finally arrived in Sydney at half past midnight (8 hours later than planned). We had organised a short term stay with a family and fortunatley when we explained our situatiuon on the way up here Fiona agreed to have her phone with her and we rang just before arriving to be let in and almost went straight to bed. It had taken 21 hours of almost continous driving and 2 major detours but we had finally returned to Sydney!

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