Sun, Sea and Plenty of Sand!!! (Australia 1)

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G'day folks! We made it to Australia. And what a place this is...Its feels so good to finally be in an English speaking country!!! We walked into a shopping mall on the first day and it was a huge culture shock, everyone spoke English, every conversation was in English...we were seriously overwhelmed! Everything is "too eazie" (a very famous Ozzie saying)!!! You might find in the Australia blogs that Jit will have a tendency to use a lot of aussie phrases, bear with him! The second thing that hits you hard is how expensive things are...ok compared to the UK, Australia is CHEAPPPP, especially meat but after spending 5 months in Asia, we felt the pinch. The food is cheap and in my mind that is all that matters...bring it on!

So we arrived safe and sound, and picked up our home for the next month...out Spaceship!!! The car has a name Jit, Boomer is our new driving buddy! Basically a 7-seater van converted into a camper with a surprisingly comfi bed, a fridge and a dvd player!!! The reason we hired this particular campervan was because Jit specifically demanded a DVD player, thank the lord he did. We were all set to get on the road. It felt weird to be driving again but me being Super Jit and all I had it all in hand, you make out you are driving solo across Oz...Kay and Jit had it all in hand!.

We headed up north first, to Cape Tribulation. Driving with the rain forest on your left and the deserted beaches on your right was stunning. Honestly the whole of the drive was paved with beaches, each as empty as each other. The drive is like something out of a Bond movie. Except you are not driving an Aston Martin but a Toyota named Boomer It was spectacular. The cape itself was beautiful, a massive beach, super hot weather and hardly any people.

We moved on from here to Atherton Tablelands which is more inland and mountainous. Again great driving...we stopped off at random spots along the way which was real nice...not having a plan and just taking things as they come. Not having a plan was a little hard for me, but sometimes it is the way to go...we saw some amazing views and stopped in the most randomess places ever. Kay tried some fruit wine tasting (at like 10 in the morning...what a piss head) It was 11 actually because you could not get out of bed! And i heavily recommend the Ginger wine and Lime Wine...but the Mangosteen and Mango wine were pretty good as well, but I couldn't partake as I WAS DRIVING! Oh sush it was my day off as i drove yesterday (just for the folks at home...we don't argue that much!) We stopped off at some amazing waterfalls along the way and this massive tree....Ok so I just read that back to myself and it doesn't really sound too amazing, but whatever, IT WAS so nuh! They were pretty impressive as each waterfall was different and bigger than the other, and honestly whilst driving we could not tell where these waterfalls were but then suddenly they appeared...crazy!

We returned back to Cairns and swapped out stoopid Spaceship Boomer for Draco as boomer's second battery didn't work.....yes thats right, they all have names...! See you have finally realised it is ok to call you car a name... We then booked ourselves onto a diving expedition on the Great Barrier Reef. We were so excited. Well i was stupidly nervous but still the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!! We had a day to kill before we could get onto the boat so we took the Skyrail up into the rain forest and the scenic railway down which was terrible for the amount of money we spent on it! Not worth it at all... So the day finally arrived for the diving. We were up bright and early, and onto the wicked boat which zoomed out to the reef. We both got suited up and jumped into the water and that's when Kay freaked out. If you guys have read our previous entrees you would know Kay had difficulties with the diving in Thailand, but seen as it has been 3 or so months since then, she panicked and decided she couldn't do it and I said it wouldn't be safe for her to go under so she snorkelled instead and I went for my 3 dive expedition. It was amazing....now I have to say, the diving in Thailand was more impressive and a lot warmer, but still it was amazing. I saw loads of fish and I even found NEMO! Fears are a powerful thing...I was kicking myself as i had overcome so much to get the diving certification in the first place...but if it was any consolation i was swimming above Jit all the time. The water is so clear and the reef is so close to the surface that you can see at least 10metres down. So basically i stalked Jit on the surface of the water, quite cool actually. We both even saw a huge puffy fish!!!

We blistered down the coast through Mission Beach and Townsville....even getting a police escort for around 5km at one point as the nice copper decided he would show us how to get out of town....great guy! Jit he wanted to kick us out of town, we were British! He did well and found ourselves in Airlie Beach. This place was kicking. Travellers everywhere, partying it up...wicked atmosphere. But Kay and I where here for the Whitsundays. We booked ourselves onto a luxury sailing boat (Alexander Stewart) and we were off. The Whitsundays lived up to every expectation we had. All of them! We chilled on the paradise beach of Whithaven with the 11 other people on it....its 7km long, so it gives you an idea how much sand we had between us. I could ran for ages without even invading anyone else's part of the beach...this truly was the best beach we had been on thus far. The sand it so pure, its used to polish jewellry and teeth...! Jit cleaned his earring in the snad and it was amazing...the earring had a new leash of life. We did a few bush walks and learnt about the Australian wildlfe, and got pissed under the stars. We walked pass this massive spider and i swear both Jit and I were palpating a million beats a minute. It was huge, ugly and disgusting...bugs out here have a new meaning. Now when I say stars I mean the milky way. You could clearly see the white band and billions of stars. We laid there for 5 minutes and saw 5 shooting stars....amazing. We got a special surprise too. The best and most unexpected moment throughout this trip We woke up early to see the sunrise, which was stunning, so everyone is just sitting, chilling having breakfast, and I'm sitting on the loo, Typically! when I had a rather excited Kay banging on the door shouting 'Whale!' I legged it up and there she blows not me!...a humpback whale about 300 meters from the boat. By law we are not allowed to get any closer, but if the whale chooses to do so, that is fine and that is exactly what he/she did. He (now it is a he and before it was a she...make up your mind) swam up about maybe 20metres away from the boat and swam down and breached out of the water....it was unbelievable. WOW. I have never been so amazed at an animal in my entire life, I mean a whale was jumping around our boat. Words cannot do this justice so I'll stop but everyone has to go whale watching at some point in their life. These beautiful animals/fish are such a rarity to see but you can obviously go on whale tours and stuff...but to see this baby whale just unexpectedly mucking around in the bay, infront of our boat and using the big blue ocean as a playground was truly mindblowing. We have seen and played with many animals on this trip...but by far this was the most majestic of them all. Whale watching should be on everyone's list of 'things to do before you die' lists

With the Whitsundays behind us, we made out way to Hervey Bay, but we made a quick stop in Rockhampton....Australia Beef Capital. It had to be done We found a pub and went for a pub lunch where I decided to go for the 600 gram steak. This thing was a beast, and juicy as....they did have a 1 KG steak, but I really was feeling up to being sick for a few days with all that beef messing up my system, so stayed "safe" with a 600 grammer. No that was not the reason...i did not want to be wheelbarrowing you out of the pub because i could guarantee that you would have fallen asleep at the table after the final bite! Lets just say I was a right off for the rest of the day, imagine what you would have been like if you ate the 1kg one then...but it was good driving afterwards, Jit was sleeping and i had a very peaceful drive to Hervey Bay...though i took a little detour by accident!

Hervey bay, the jetty point for Frasier Island, the world's biggest sand island...!There is more sand on this island than in the Sahara Desert...if that is even possible! We had booked ourselves onto a 3 day 2 night self drive 4x4 adventure.....we couldn't wait...we had our briefing the day before...safety nonsense but considering we would be driving a 3 and half ton beast with 9 others I think is was warranted. I could not wait to do 4x4 driving on sand, as well as drive on a beach...it was going to be wicked Kay and I were assigned to get the food for the 3 days Never a good idea sending us two to the supermarket! and as per usual we smashed the budget and came back with way too much food. We woke up bright and early the next day to begin our adventure.....but to see how we got on, tune in next time on the Jit and Kay show.....until then, G'day folks! We are not a freak show Jit!

Love to all! And a big congratulations to Nick & Aarti on their wedding day, Arvi and Charan on your engagement (oh my god Arvi you are a fiance!!!) and finally a pre-congratulations to Vicky and Mike for August 2nd...love you guys so much!

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Comments

[Andy]

maddy's - must've been good!!
heya guys!!! awesome photos!! i'm so jealous of the whale you have no idea!!! is wicked to see you in some of our favourite places on earth - and it looks like the weather had been a lot nicer to you guys so far too. and hey that coffee lounge must've been damn good with a name like that!!! ;-) can't wait to hear about your fraser antics!! keep having a blast - Andy x

[Vicky]

we love you guys too :o) only 7 more sleeps to go!!!!!!!!! hey, how come you both spoke in bold for that last bit? - i got all confused!! xx