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Published: March 29th 2006
Koala
A very lazy bear!Sorry folks this has been a long time coming! Although we really enjoyed Oz we found it very expensive (as we had to fly so much) and fairly similar to the UK. We began our Austrialian adventure with a couple of nights in Brisbane to sort out our bus tickets up the Gold Coast, and to visit Austrialia Zoo, unfortunately we didn't see Steve, but managed to spot many lookalikes!
From Brisbane we caught the bus to Noosa, an upmarket seaside town, then to Rainbow Beach to see the coloured sands, and then onto Hervey Bay to visit Fraiser Island. Frasier Island was just as beautiful as Rachel remembered and brought back fond memories of her trip with Jo and Penni. We did a little walking in the rainforest and lots of swimming, but not in the sea as it is full of sharks! After two days on Fraiser Island we caught a really uncomfortable overnight bus to Townsville and from there caught a boat straight to Magnetic Island with the plan of camping for a night or two.
By the time we arrived we were very sweaty and tied from spending alot of time on buses so we
decided to have three nights in a air-conditioned cabin/shed. After three days of swimmimg in the pool and looking for Koalas we both felt much better and caught another bus to Cairns for a snorcelling trip on the Barrier Reef. A little tip here for anyone planning do do this...don't take the cheapest, we watched as every other boat wizzed past us, and the vast majority of people on the boat spent the whole three hour trip out to the reef being as sick as dogs! However, when we arrived the journey was well worth it as we managed to see an amazing variety of fish and corals, Guy also did a half hour scuba trip which he throughly enjoyed.
From Cairns we flew to Sydney for a week with the intention of sorting out our Indian and/or Chinese visas, only to find we couldn't do either! So we spent a week seeing the sights and very importantly not camping. After a week in Sydney we where both ready for the great outdoors again so flew to Hobart in Tasmiana. We hired a car and spent a very enjoyable week exploring some of the National Parks. Tasmania was fantastic
Snappy
Croc action at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo for animal spoting, without trying to hard we saw wombats, possoms, wallabies, kangaroos and even a couple of platypusses.
After Tasmania we flew to Melbourne with the intention of hiring a car and driving to Adelade, things did not quite go to plan here as our trip coinsided with the Commonwealth Games! but with much perserverence and a little sweet talking Guy managed to sort out a car and change our flight so that we could still drive the Great Ocean Road without bankrupting ourselves.
The Great Ocean road was beautiful, if a little crowded due to the Labour Day weekend. We spent a week stopping off at camp sites, walking on the beach and spotting koala bears of which there must be hundreds. As we had time to spare we drove from The Great Ocean Road to the Grampions, an area which had been badly burnt in bush fires in January. The Grampions was one of our favourite places in Australia, green and mountainous in places and burnt and erie in others. It was also a fantastic place from kangaroo spoting as they congrigated on a paddock right by where we pitched our tent. The number of
Guy
at Australia Zoo kangaroos in the Grampions also made for interesting driving!!
Our final destination in Austrialia was Ayers Rock, which was just as awe inspring as Rachel had remembered, however we both agreed that we prefered The Olgas as they where much quieter. After several very early mornings, it gets too hot after about 10am to do much until the evenings, we flew to Perth where we bid fairwell to our faithful tent by ceremoniously leaving on the baggage carousel....Rachel did try to give it away but no one was interested!
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Freddy Pettit
non-member comment
BEAUTY!!
Hope you two are well. Sounds like you're both making the absalute most of every possible opportunity. Looking at your photo's and reading your diary entries has made me feel sick with envy however also very happy as it brings back memory's that you simply cannot put down in writing. Take care! lots of love Freddyx