It's really big down under!!!

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After a considerable hiatus (largely due to laziness), I will try to catch up where I left off before - we went to feed the dolphins at Tin Can Bay. As we didn’t have our own transport, we were herded into a minibus with some excited young backpackers before being squeezed into a ferry for the 8am feeding. Apparently the dolphins are wild and have appeared each morning for generations after one was nursed back to health after a collision with a boat’s propeller. They seem to know a good thing when they find one. Smart creatures. I am sure that in the early days this experience was unbeatable but my “over-commercialised tourism” alarm went off as soon as we arrived in response to the 50 other tourists had been herded from elsewhere with the same intent. What followed was a bit of a scrum before an orderly queue was formed as all clambered to feed the two grateful but docile dolphins (who displayed a multitude of battle scars). Karen enjoyed her brief moment with Flipper but I was more amused by the 20 cormorants who had congregated on the quayside in eager anticipation of the production of fish and who were more than pushy if you tried to distract them.



Karen has asked me to make a special mention of our guesthouse in Rainbow Beach. For 2 nights we stayed at the very homely ‘Debbie’s Place’ and had a great time. Our host would regularly bring around freshly ground coffee and talk to me about her fishing exploits. What particularly tickled Karen however was the fact that Suzie, the resident 12 month old fluffy white handbag-dog was dressed daily in children’s disposable nappies with a hole cut for its tail! Apparently she hadn’t been house trained properly and she wasn’t allowed outside, so this was deemed the best option! We laughed but then found a very large snake in the street outside which had been killed by a car. Perhaps Suzie was safer inside after all and I am not sure if pythons can digest Huggies.



Our brief 6-hour bus trip to Brisbane went without a hitch, calling in at Australia Zoo en route. I noticed that the motorway around the zoo has been named Steve Irwin Highway, which I assumed was a posthumous reflection on a man who seems to be a true local hero. We never went to the zoo as we heard that another one was better and we didn’t have very long in the area. We arrived in Brisbane late on the Friday night and, after struggling to find a room for the night, ended up in a Youth Hostel. We had a nice Thai meal on the pavement whilst watching the Welsh play the English at rugby sevens on TV from the Suncorp stadium which was illuminated 200 yards behind us. The youth hostel was very functional but noisy overnight, a feature that we are finding common as we realise that we are no longer young enough to be plastered every weekend night.



We were greeted in the morning by my Geordie/Scottish cousin, Chris, who lives and works in Brisbane, wearing a Scotland rugby jersey. For those who don’t know Chris, he has mainly Scottish blood but his mouth is most definitely Geordie, a fate of geography, being reared just the wrong side of the border. Chris kindly collected us from backpackerville and brought us back into the land of thirtysomethings- his lovely suburban family home with his lovely Queenslander wife Julie, two beautiful daughters, Jessica 3 and Lucy, 1, and several other members of the extended family. We were made very welcome and, with young children around, we soon were soon mucking in with the family and feeling at home. We spent several fun days with the family doing Australian things such as barbequing, going to the lagoon, going to the beach and drinking beer. We were thoroughly spoilt for a long weekend, and when Chris had to return to work, they kindly lent us their spare car so that we could explore the Gold Coast just to the south of Brisbane. We had a great time in “Dezy” despite being subjected to renditions of the Blaydon Races and Fog on the Tyne from Chris’s CD collection. To give him credit, he had given some balance influences by including the Proclaimers and some INXS. We spent a night near Surfer’s Paradise and then a couple of nights in Byron Bay. After a day on the beach and playing in the waves at Surfer’s, we visited a wildlife sanctuary where we had the obligatory koala photos taken before feeding yet more kangaroos and photographing wombats, dingoes, tree kangaroos, cassowaries, etc. After we left, we felt that the fauna of Australia could now rest- we had seen, photographed and catalogued just about all of it! Surfer’s Paradise is a vast sprawling city of modern tower blocks jammed against a perfectly straight, white endless beach. Apparently very trendy and seems on the up but not quite what I was expecting. We did manage to experience a couple of visits to surf clubs on the Gold Coast which were warm, friendly and sold cheaper beer than pubs. Kinda like more accessible golf clubs with a dress code of Speedos rather than a jacket and tie! Byron Bay was much more what I pictured a surf town to be like. Plenty of hippies with long blonde dreadlocks and bongo drums smoking fragrant tobacco, mixed with trendy shops and café culture. This place would have been an ideal habitat for us to chill for a few days had our visit not coincided with half of Queensland’s “schoolies” who had booked out all the cheap accommodation and filled the streets and bars with all that annoying youthful excitement and alcohol. Fortunately the hostels couldn’t accommodate us, leaving us to stay in a relaxed garden flat with a lovely big garden. Despite enjoying our time on the Gold Coast (maybe judged the best place to stay in Australia??) we were keen to return to the family in Brisbane for one more night of Italian home-cooking and seeing the family.



The following day we flew to Sydney. We had struggled to book accommodation for the weekend and noticed that most hotels were quadrupling their rates. It transpired that Eminem and Elton John were both playing concerts in Sydney as well as the V8 Supercars were racing. Apparently, these events were proving popular so Sydney appeared full. We found one central hotel at a reasonable rate so booked it but feared the worst. Our fears were more than justified. It was essentially a hostel for recovering alcoholics or homeless. Our room was opposite a busy railway line and immediately above an Indian restaurant. The décor was circa 1970 and hadn’t seen a lick of paint since. It smelt musty. Karen was in tears within seconds of entering the room. We heard various other young couples remonstrating with the reception staff. In desperation, Karen asked around the surrounding hotels but found no rooms available. We were resigned to staying there but resolved to spend as little time as possible in the room. A steak and a few beers prepared us for the hotel. Other than the traffic noise, we slept pretty well there, the sheets were clean and the bathrooms were adequate. We spent the following 2 nights in a 4* hotel with a suite by way of consolation.



We got up early to escape the hotel and arranged to meet our Sydney tour guides- Karen’s university friend Sharon and her husband Mike, who have lived Sydney for the past few years. They were ably supported by Mike’s mum, Marion, and their new baby, Olivia. We took the ferry out to Watson Bay which allowed us spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and led us to the best Fish and chips in Sydney. We then had a walk around the botanic gardens where the eels were huge in the pond and the massive local fruit bat population was sleeping in the trees. We were kindly invited back to Mike & Sharon’s waterside apartment in Balmain to watch the sun set and were treated to a lovely meal. We even managed to use public transport to get ourselves back to our city centre doss house. We were sunburnt after a long, fun day in the sun. Sadly, the Sydney was experiencing the coldest start to summer for over 50 years so the remainder of our time there was spent dodging heavy rain showers and cold winds. We didn’t even get along to Bondi beach as there were no sunbathing lovelies to be ogled. Karen ventured off to Manly beach by pushbike but apparently needed wipers on her sunglasses and got soaked through. We had a great dinner one night in Chinatown. A huge bowl of homemade, thick noodles served in, tiny, frenetic, overcrowded room which resembled a dirty, work canteen. Food was awesome and only about £5- a rare bargain in Australia!



From Sydney, we caught an 11-hour overnight train to Melbourne. Karen enjoyed carrying her backpack for the 15 minute walk to the station so much that she demanded a couple of medicine glasses of sauvignon blanc in the railway station. We didn’t have a sleeper carriage but were pleasantly surprised by both the size and space of the seats, and the food on offer- perhaps British Rail could learn a thing or two. Despite our relatively comfortable surroundings, we didn’t sleep very well. I was keen to use this mode of transport to view the Australian countryside. I can’t really report anything too remarkable. Lots of flat land with grassy fields and trees interspersed with little towns which could just as well have been Milton Keynes for what I could see in the half-light. No red dusty roads. No kangaroos being hunted by indigenous tribesmen. No Dingoes chasing wombats. Next time we visit Australia, I think we will need to go to the Northern Territory!



The train eased its way into a mid-week rush-hour in Melbourne, whose vast skyscraping towers were visible from many miles. Even at the hub of the CBD, Melbourne seemed more relaxed than Sydney, with wider streets, and seemingly more air to breathe. We caught a very efficient tram (take note Edinburgh!!) to the suburb of St Kilda where we had booked a little boutique (another of Karen’s buzz words) hotel for a couple of nights. It transpired that St Kilda was the beach resort of Melbourne with a thriving café culture. We fitted in seamlessly with the locals. Haircuts were the order of the day. Karen spent 3 hours and half the GDP of Bolivia getting coiffured, whilst I found a Macedonian bloke who had once attended a sheep shearing contest and owned a pair of scissors. After the bleeding stopped, we took an evening stroll around the marina at the same time as 200 other tourists and 3 small penguins. The little birds were obviously used to the paparazzi as they seemed oblivious to the flashbulbs and stir that their presence was causing. We ventured into town the following day to find numerous colonial buildings and wide, open streets lined with designer shops. The weather was much better than Sydney but, at about 32C, was tiring. We climbed the 300 metre (90 storey) Eureka building by elevator in 30 seconds where we could view the cricket, tennis and Olympic stadia and the vast sprawling city. It reminded me of London, but was pretty.



Since our travels in Vietnam, we had met Aussies who raved about the Great Ocean Road, the road that runs from Melbourne to Adelaide. We felt obliged to investigate it further, and since we had a couple of days until we left Australia, we hired a car and headed off. Whilst rummaging around on the internet for a little Hyundai Getz or equivalent, I stumbled across a great deal for a big 4X4. So it was in style, that we spent the last 3 days cruising around Australia. We set off from the centre of Melbourne with enthusiasm and a sketchily drawn map from the hire company. Our first stop at a service station for locally grown fruit proved very fruitful indeed- a local tourist information lady gave us our complete itinerary for the next 3 days and maps to ensure that we got there! We enjoyed stop-offs in Geelong (famous for its Aussie Rules team), Lorne and Port Campbell, and enjoyed the stunning rugged coastline views with craggy outcrops and rock stacks, contrasted with wide beaches littered with surfers. It was nice to get out of town and regain some independence with the car. We flew later that night to Fiji and the next stage of our wonderful tour.



I feel the need at this point to reflect on the Australian leg of our travels. Although we spent 5 weeks there, I still feel that we barely scratched the surface of it and, with some regret, admit to not feeling that we saw ‘the real Australia’. We spent a long time in beachside towns and cities so didn’t have the time to venture into the heart of the country. I believe that it is over 32 times the size of the UK, which may at least partly explain our failings. We would have loved to have seen Uluru but it was going to mean a 5,000km round trip from almost everywhere that we were. What we did find was a friendly, liberal country with such a positive attitude to life where you feel anything is achievable. This could be partly due to the fact that the economy is still booming, based largely on the flourishing mining industry, and times seem good for Australians. As the pound has halved in value over the past 7 years, it was expensive for us to live there with British-earned money, but for Aussies with high wages, it must be great times for them to travel. By way of illustrating their wages, cleaners in Australia were striking as their wages were only $16.50 (£11) per hour and bar staff were earning up to £25 per hour! I think I might jack this stressful doctoring lark and start pouring pints. Or should I say ‘pots’ (half pints) and ‘schooners’ (about ¾ pint) as they serve over there for up to £6 a go!



Queensland is colossal and unbearably hot, at least in the north. The big cities are modern, clean and well run. Each has distinctly different characteristics. Brisbane- family-friendly, Sydney- sprawling with a chic, compact city centre with plentiful beaches and waterways, Melbourne- more cool, with a relaxed, classical feel to it. If I had to choose, for quality of life, I would probably want live in a large town on the Gold Coast or in Victoria. I wonder if they need any doctors there? Or bar staff? Or cleaners?? But it’s a hell of a commute from Dunfermline!!

PS - Happy Birthday to my gorgeous big sis for 22 December. Love you - we will get the cava in to celebrate as soon as I'm home, K xxx

PPS - Big congratulations to Joanne, Fraser and Tom on the safe arrival of beautiful baby Sally. I'll be round for cuddles as soon as I get home, K xxx

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Photos

Team Cuthbert
From L to R: Jessica, Chris, Nephew Benny, Karen, Dave, Lucy

Comments

[K & J]

We have memories of f&c at Watsons Bay. There was a huge storm but we were far enough inside to stay dry.Then the sun came out.2$ to £!!when we started going there.Melbourne definately our favorate.Not seen the Eureka view Janet wouldt go past 4th floor.Are there still 12 Janet thinks 1 has fallen over since she was there.A 5week \"girly\" hol on a farm outside Adelaide.Janet also managed a couple of nights in Geelong I dont like bats!!I was afraid 1 would fall off.Your summing up of Aus is spot on & overall we are glad Simon & his boys are growing up in such an environment even if Canberra is no Sydney or Melbourne. And New Zealand to a lesser extent is the same.Me, I would like to do the Gan Adelaide to Darwin by train.Our Aust.relatives are very envious of us Brits. because in the time they can fly across Aus we can get to 30-40 different countries & cultures.We are envious of the6* luxury you will no doubt try in Fiji.Rachael got married there. Looking forward to the next chapter.Love Keith & Janet xx