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Published: January 31st 2009
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Great Barrier Reef...
...from the air (obviously) Hello again you lucky lucky blog readers and you've guessed it, it's time for yet another blog! I'm now in my 3rd week in New Zealand but I know you'd all be gutted if I skipped the rest of the 'Oz leg' of my trip and that is something I don't want on my conscience, ummmm really..... plus I am legally bound by Travelblog not to miss anything out (not true)....so strap yourselves in (not like that) while I take you on the white knuckle ride that starts in Cairns....
Cairns After some early starts great to see friendly face of Fi at Cairns airport along with hubby Kevin.. They would be playing host to me for the next 4-5 days where my immediate priorities were to: (a) catch up with my sleep. (b) recover from my cold (brought on by lack of sleep), and (c) yep, more sleep (3am starts are bad for your health, well mine anyway)....
First up came the inland stuff in the shape of Daintree's finest World heritage listing - Cape Tribulation, then Mossman Gorge. The scenery at these places was great and bizarre seeing a rainforest right up to the
beach. We also did cool towns of Palm Cove and Yorkey's nob (and with this pic I feel a healthy lead ahead of Lee-roy now) and also the 'Discovery Walk'...the what?
The Discovery walk was interesting, it was part of the rainforest that had a series of walkways along which you listened to an audio machine (actually looked like a mobile phone from the 80s) for a running commentary. So what did I learn then?... well the fern is the oldest plant in the world, Daintree is the oldest rainforest in the world and at the end of each comment on the audio machine I could press '#' for the Aboriginal viewpoint on the place. After a couple of these it appeared that it was just a subtle way of having a dig at Westerners.. first went something like this......'the rainforest is rich with natural food ......but didn't stop Westerners from starving when they came here' oh, ok. The second, something like this 'working closely with the environment is importnant and has now been called 'environmental sustainability', however we have always just called it 'common sense'. It felt like 'press hash for abuse' would have been more accurate an
instruction.
Diving next and there were a host of companies all offering the best diving on the great barrier reef, inner reef, outer reef, mid reef, i'm not listening anymore reef blah blah but we had insider knowledge and went with Quicksilver and set off from Port Douglas. After a short ride on almost flat water we reached the pontoon where we could snorkel, dive, eat (Reevesie) or go for a....Helicopter ride. So I thought 'when in Rome' and hopped in. It was excellent and was made better as I got to go in the front (altho I didn't get a go a driving the thing).. We saw an amazing myriad of colours, also saw turtles, a school of parrot fish, no sharks tho...hmmmm nor any moons of sticks. After lunch it was time to throw on a stinger suit and go diving.
A few days later it was diving again with Quicksilver this time on boat called 'Silversonic' - a bit smaller and more for the diver as it went to 3 dive sites as opposed to a pontoon (but still had the all you can eat buffet - Reevesie). Dives along with DM Mark and Mel
were fantastic saw great coral, caves, lion fish, cuttle fish, large box fish, rays, and finally a.....wait for it (well I had to as this was my 16th dive) a shark....well 3 actually. Woo.
On my last night it was time to see an invention which seemed native to Australia: the bottle-o (aka the drive thro off license). 'Man, why don't we have these in the UK' I thought as we rocked up at the counter. I confused them by asking for European lager tho.
After 9 days in Cairns I bid farewell to Fi and Kevin (and thanks again if you are reading this) as it was time for me to experience the greyhound for the first time on the way to Mission Beach.
Mission Beach This was gonna be a brief stop over with a white water rafting adventure thrown in on what is supposed to be the best river in Oz , the Tully river. Having done a grade 3-4 in Thai I was interested in knowing how it would compare. It was after the first rapid when I had been headbutted by the girl behind me (when the raft got
squashed into a u-shape, I hadn't called her fat or anything) and also been smacked in the chin by the butt of my oar when it got caught in a waterfall, that I realised it would be a bit tougher. .
Great views, great rapids and by the end of it had: been flipped once, swallowed two mouthfuls of water, bruised shins and a cut knee (the latter was nothing to do with the rapids tho it was due to me getting my foot caught in the raft when jumping out). Successful day all round by anyone's standards.
Marie, Niamh, Lidia and Michelle arrived in Mission Beach the following morning but luckily for me I had already left, meaning I was one step ahead of them in the all important 'race to Sydney for Xmas'.
Airlie Beach/Whitsundays Next up the 9 hour ride to Airlie. On arrival I found that the 3 day trips to the Whitsundays were booked so I opted for a one dayer. Ended up being cool. The lookout point over Whitehaven beach has to be one of the best natural views I have ever seen (when I say 'natural' this
Fraser Island
Lake Mackenzie of course rules out Julian Alsop bundling in Cheltenham's 3rd against Rushden in the playoff final at the Milennium Stadium). The colours of the sea combined with the finest of fine white sand make this place a must for anyone travelling down the east coast of Oz. And judging by the fact that the tours were fully booked when I got to Airlie, it appears that most people were already aware of this.
Hervey Bay/Fraser Island On the Greyhound, 14 hours separated Airlie and Hervey Bay so this would be the longest journey yet. I calculated that if we had 2 films on the 9 hr journey on the previous leg we should get at least 3 on this one. Wrong.....not long after we pulled away the driver told us that the dvd player was broken..... hmmmm.....13.52 mins to go then..
Hervey Bay is pretty quiet altho I did find a comedy hotel called 'Torquay' to entertain Fordy, altho I lied , their dog isn't really called 'Plainmoor'. Other than that it was pretty much a place where most tourists base themselves on the way to Fraser Island. Where?
Fraser Island is an unusual
place - a huge island made of sand. When I say huge I mean the beach is around 75km long. And due to the climate there is an amazing ecosytem of plants which of course helps to bind the soil together.
You get round on this place in 4x4s and as the 3 day self drive tours were booked (didn't learn lesson from Whitsundays then) so I went for a 2 day tour.
Our 4x4 was a mean beast and as the slopes were pretty steep we were told to strap in and not have head close to window....and that our driver was a learner driver. We laughed. At times like being on funicular railway altho one which rocks from side to side. Only when we took a corner too tight and a few people banged their heads on the window that a few of us looked at each other in realisation that Dave the driver (not really his name) was in fact, a learner driver.
After a few facts about the ecosystems there (wild dingoes are dangerous, some trees have holes all way thro, lots of natural water and biggest sand island in the world.....and another
World Heritage site) it was time to chill at lake Mackenzie. It was idyllic however like most of the island it was like a series of 4x4 doing the same circuit.
The following morning we did a host more sights includng a shipwreck, indian hill, champagne pools, a lookout point 80 metres up (forgotten name) and even time for a beach kickaround at the last tea break on the way back...
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anonymous
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Yorkey's Nob - I need to see the hard evidence.. Be scared... be very scared ! I am going to unleash all the tricks on my amsterdam visit..