Advertisement
Published: February 20th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Tigerbakers, Sydney
Amy does her best to feign working while Chris and I have coffee here on Victoria St. Hip, Cool Australia: Sydney (Jan. 15-21), Cairns, Port Douglas, Townsville, Airlie Beach, Byron Bay
The land of Oz has long been an enchanting destination- and the one furthest east along my route back to the US. After some initial struggles with the visa, I anxiously awaited the use of my native language in that funky accent we love and have come to enjoy a few new phrases- ‘good on ya’, ‘massive’ and ‘breakkie' to name a few (I have tried vegemite and still have to give it a thumbs down). And it turned out, with my best college friend in tow, we had the road trip of a lifetime- from Cairns to Sydney. It was a hilarious journey some 16 years after our initial introduction in freshman dorms, filled with sun, fun and reflection.
After catching up on some sleep for a few hours on arrival, I was anxious to catch up with my long lost travel friend, Amy, with whom I had started this adventure some 370 days before. So the first night we spent hopping around the stylish neighborhood Darlinghurst drinking wine and catching up on all the humorous/ sad/ interesting travel tales since splitting up in
Top of the bridge, Sydney
Great views from up here, a true architectural marvel. Africa. While we had zipped through 6 continents at different paces, it seemed like yesterday when we had cracked our first beer in Buenos Aires- so it was great to reflect on the year. But soon my other travel partner in crime, Chris, arrived, for his 3rd trip with me this year. Of course, he had not planned much so we had a long way to go to figure out how to spend his 3 weeks.
On his first night, we met up with another friend in Manly Beach to get a lay of the land and some tips on Australia- bars are actually called hotels, the country is ‘massive’, and not all Australians are the sons and daughters of convicts, to name a few. One of the things that hit me in the face right away was the price of things- much greater than Southeast Asia (almost US prices!). I hadn’t paid $3 for water, $4 for bananas and $70 for hotels in ages.. this was gonna hurt. And Chris got sick of hearing the price of things in Vietnam so I had to get over it quick. So those first few days, we did the classic Coogee-
Coastal trail, Bondi Beach
Is it Bondi Beach where all the topless women go? Where is it here? Bondi Beach walk (and took note of topless Australian beaches), ran around King’s Cross, had coffee and dinners in Darlinghurst and jogged through The Domain and Botanical Gardens at dusk. While we didn’t do the bridge climb, we did walk it and get to the top of the tower for a spectacular view of Sydney and the Opera House before hopping on a flight for Cairns in the northeast of the country. To my eye, Sydney felt like a fusion of London and California- fashionable and orderly fun with a sandy breeze from the urban beaches. How can you beat that?
We had chosen the classic Cairns- Sydney route to do with a car, allowing us to stop where we wanted and see the eastern coast. Because Cairns is the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, we booked a boat tour to get out to the reef early on and weren’t disappointed. We got out to snorkel along a secluded beach, filled with the thousands of colors and marine life that only this reef could provide. And I had the best scuba of my life there- spectacular visibility, an amazing array of fish and coral, excellent equipment and a
Ready for scuba, Cairnes
OK how do I do this again? personalized guide to go through it all; the type of day you dream about in Australia. And in proper Aussie fashion, we had a big night out in Cairns to make sure we missed the 10am check out. Our next destination was through Port Douglas (a reputed favorite of Bill Clinton) and Mossman to see the rainforest and aboriginal culture. After a small cultural gaffe, we hopped back in the wagon and headed to Townsville to catch a glimpe of ReefHQ- complete with IMAX theater and gigantic aquarium where we witnessed sharks, turtles and fish feed.
The road down to Airlie Beach was easy enough and we sampled the main thoroughfare of bars on the first night- Magnum’s, Juice Bar and Mama Africa- where the young European backpacker crowd mingled with the sophisticated Australian sailing crowd. As Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsundays- a string of 74 islands in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef- it is a huge draw for those on the Sydney- Cairns circuit, even if it is a rather small sailing town, it’s always fun. Friday, January 26th was the massive celebration of Australia Day and it was great to see all
Captain of the Whitsundays
Come on, I've sailed through Croatia and Turkey, give me the helm. the Aussies wrapped in their flags and jamming to AC/ DC and Men at Work. The real highlight was to begin the next morning, however, when we got on a sailing boat, the Freight Train, for a 3 day/ 2 night sailing cruise of the islands with 15 others, complete with crew. Over the next few days, we hit Whitehaven Beach, had sunset dinners on the boat, wine among the stars, scuba in the reef, rugby on land and an overall great time. Granted, it was a tight fit for 20 people in a confined space and personal comfort was limited (30 second showers and humid sleeping conditions) but both Chris and found it to be our Australian highlight and we got to know a whole new international troop. On our final night out on land in Airlie Beach, we made the circuit again with our boat group, complete with shoving matches, the ‘Haka’ (New Zealand rugby dance- awesome!) and too many jagerbombs to count. It made for a long drive to Hervey Bay the next day but was the perfect final night out.
After a short tour through Brisbane, we cruised through Surfer’s Paradise to pick up Beth
Australia Day, Airlie Beach
Friday, Jan 26 was a fun day as the Aussies celebrated their biggest holiday. and get in to Byron Bay, which was a promised little paradise by many people I had met. Byron Bay was a mixture of Boulder, CO meeting North County, San Diego- VW bugs with surfboards mixed with high end vegan cuisine, sprinkled with a tight community on the far eastern beaches of the Australian coast. It didn’t disappoint, with an innate natural beauty and a ton of charm. With 3 of us in tow now, it was high time to sample the night life of Byron, hopping from the Beach Hotel through the usual spots on the main avenue. We spent days on the beach, playing catch with the rugby ball, stumbling over topless European women and body-surfing in the ocean before cruising through town and trying to figure out if we should try some type of alternative hippie therapy that sounded new age and cool. We did get out to scuba the area and I nearly puked (as many on the trip did) from the strong current rocking me back and forth- but I did catch my first reef shark (massive!) so it was well worth the time. And no trip to Byron would be complete without checking out
Scuba in Whitsundays
Great visibility down to 20 meters. But not a great camera :( the light house and going down to the rocks furthest east on the continent to glimpse at dolphins.
Ahh, Byron was as hip and cool as promised, which made leaving difficult. So difficult we left late, drove until midnight (to find that NO hotels we open at that time) and slept in the wagon our final night before the return to Sydney. But we did make it back for kick-off of the Super Bowl in King’s Cross, where (in my grumpy sleepless mood) we got to witness a sloppy game but get a familiar flavor of America, where I would soon be returning. The trip with Chris was one that will always stay with me- a long journey of comraderie and laughter, bickering like brothers- in short, the road trip of a lifetime. But his departure meant I could also relax and recharge for a few days in Sydney before shoving off to Melbourne.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.109s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0452s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Onur
non-member comment
:)
Good to see Chris again on the blogs. Loved the cards...