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Published: January 11th 2011
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CAIRNS - THE GREAT BARRIER REEF A 3h flight took us north to Cairns. We were delighted to feel the heat as we stepped off the plane and within 10 mins we were back in shorts, 'sunnies' and 'thongs'.
Cairns is basically a hub to visit a whole host of surrounding areas - from rainforests to the Great Barrier Reef. We booked a daytrip out to the Reef. We spent ages snorkelling, the fish were unbelievable - crazy colours/shapes etc I wish we had bought an underwater camera, they swam right up to you. The coral itself was exactly what we had seen on nature programmes back home. Amazing colours - all different shapes and sizes. With the sun shining through the blue, blue, blue sea - a really beautiful sight.
THE WHITSUNDAYS An overnight Greyhound bus (a SIGNIFICANT improvement to the Asian overnight buses!) took us to Airlie Beach which is the stepping stone for the Whitsunday Islands. We were on a 12 man racing yacht plus deckhand (Bjorn from Quebec who was the double of Owen Wilson) and Foxy - the skipper. This was definitely our best experience in Oz (obviously ranking after our time with Becs &
Colin!). The other 10 'shipmates' were a great bunch - from Italy, Belgium, India, England, Scotland - United Nations! Obviously we all bonded over a lot of beer and wine. We stayed 2 nights on the boat which was a great laugh. You really got to know everyone on board and Bjorn made some decent meals for us all. The views were outstanding - including the sky! The night sky is so, so different to the northern hemisphere - so much clearer and thousands of more stars. We did a couple of walks around Nara Inlet and of course walked along Whitehaven Beach - the most photgraphed beach in the world!! Apparently the sand is so white and pure (98% silica) you can polish your gold jewellrey in the grains! The sea was every shade of blue. Breathtaking - when you see it you understand what the fuss is all about. The photos speak for themselves.
We made some good friends on the boat - we ended up travelling with Louisa (from Somerset - cider country) for the next 2 weeks! After a sad farewell to the 'Silent Night' crew another overnight bus took us to Hervey Bay - the
Cairns Likely Lads
Read the green badge - classic stepping stone for Fraser island.
FRASER ISLAND Aside from the magical trip to the Whitsundays, we were slowly realising that the Cairns-Sydney trail is a well-trodden path...mainly by teenagers/early 20's. Not that it mattered too much, but the majority of hostels/bars seemed to be geared towards the 18-30 'scene'. After cool, laid-back Asia this was a shock to the system and pretty irritating at times. Clearly we were a tad old for this malarkey! This was particulary the case for our trip to Fraser Island.
After experiencing the different cultures/languages on board the Silent Night we were disappointed to be packaged up into an 18-30 style trip to Fraser Island. It was all about the 'Goon' (4 litres of boxed 'wine' for GBP 7! Concerning?!) and getting absolutely and totally out of your box pissed.
That all aside we gave the 'kids' a good run for their money at night around the campfire and still met some great people and characters. We also won the pub quiz which really pissed 'the kids' off as 1st prize was a pitcher of lager....we were very smug with the result.
Fraser Island is another beautiful part of Queensland, a proper mix of
everything! It is the biggest sand island in the world and because of some special funghi present in the sand the island has: rainforests, huge freshwater lakes, eucalyptus woodland, coastal heaths as well as massive sand dunes of course! The attraction of Fraser Island is the 4x4 driving across all these terrains. This was fantastic - hard work but FANTASTIC - especially across the beaches - whale fins pushing out the sea, dingoes in the dunes - another great memory!
NOOSA, BYRON BAY,COFFS HARBOUR After the whirlwind of organised tours we were delighted to arrive in cool, chilled, laid-back Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. It is a beautiful, small beach resort popular with surfers - but not so 'in your face'. We decided to arrange a 2h surf lesson, our French instructor 'Stefan' was mental! Gina spent most of the time under the waves and Darren eventually managed to stand towards the end of the class..thought he was Bodi from Point Break....
We walked through the National Park - the views across the coast were fantastic as was the wildlife within the Park - koalas asleep in the trees, kookaburras singing and LOADS of wild bush turkeys. In fact
they walk all through Noosa - across the main roads, on the beach, shopping centres, car parks etc. They are a protected species and they are EVERYWHERE! Weird watching a turkey cross a road... We also enjoyed The Best Ice Cream in the World on Hastings St - tasty stuff!!!
After 3 days in Noosa we took a 3h bus journey south to the infamous Byron Bay. It is everything you would expect it to be - full of hippie surfers still surfing on a 70's wave in their head somewhere. It is a very, very VERY laid back place - a lot of random, bohemian characters floating around. We took a lovely long walk along the beaches and surfers up to Cape Byron - the most easterly point of the Australian mainland where the lighthouse is located.
We also enjoyed your 'average' Saturday night in Byron - a Guinness world record attempt at fire twirling/poi spinning which was amazing to watch. Place stank of petrol though....
We did enjoy Byron but unless you are a) just too kool for skool, b) a Hare Krishna or c) aged 18-23, two nights is enough...next stop with the Greyhound - Coffs Harbour.
The complete opposite to Byron Bay - Coffs Harbour is a very quiet harbour funnily enough..We did another walk through some Botanical Gardens and along the beach to Muttonbird Island where we searched in vain for whales/dophins/seals etc but to no avail. We were told in Cairns that there was plenty of sealife to spot all down the East coast............. we were convinced the dolphins and whales were avoiding us.....so we took ourselves to the 'Pet Porpoise Pool'! Never mind scuba-diving, skydiving etc, this was actually the Num 1 attraction in the area! It is basically a conservation marine park which houses dolphins, penguins and seals. Before each 'show' everyone in the audience receives a kiss from a seal and a dolphin. V weird but v cute at the same time! As it was low season we were able to spend loads of time with the seals and dolphins (all of which have been rescued from nasty circumstances) which was great, the staff encouraged the interactive element of it all = another great day out!
Our last Greyhound and hopefully our last overnight bus took us back to The Best Hostel in Australia - Becs and Colin, Balmain! We
spent the last few days drinking beer and red wine and eating from Colin's BBQ (his pride and joy) - including kangaroo burgers which Gina made with her own fair hands - seriously! (no gut rot the next day either!) All good stuff! We also had a great night with another mate from the UK - Lynsey and her fiance Chris who also live in Sydney...which resulted in a funny, boozy night around the dodgy Kings Cross area!
Our last day in Oz was spent in Manly, one of Sydney's beach resorts which sits on a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific and Sydney Harbour. All good intentions of visting the aquarium went to pot when we crossed the threshold of the Bavarian Bier Cafe!! Drinking steins of excellent German lager with your mates in the Australian Winter sunshine - talking crap - can it get any better!!! It was THE Best way to end a wonderful 5 weeks in Australia.....next stop New Zealand!
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