The Road Trip, Day Five, Paradise Water Hole

Although we knocked up a lot of miles (or kilometres as the oozes say!!) getting to Airlie Beach for the Whitsundays, the day stop over meant that we still had a fair few kms to go. So me and Nat got up earlier again (5am) to get a head start and give us some time at our next destination, Mission Beach.

On the way we stopped over at Paradise Water Hole, as recommended by the people at Lonely Planet. When we first rocked up, I thought 'yuk' just another boring campsite with loads of Mosquitos!! So we ate a quick lunch of what ever we had left over (bread, philli, cheese, tomatoes...) to avoid getting eaten alive!

I then went for a walk on my lone some and found the water hole it self (pretty well sign posted) and it was lovely. Very tranquil (no one else was there), relaxing and I just sat there for over an hour, not really thinking about anything.

Anyway have a look at the photos: well worth the visit!!!!

Paradise Water Hole Pictures

Location:Paridise Water Hole, Australia

The Road Trip, Day Four, Whitsundays

So today is our 'day off driving', thanks to the 9.5hrs we clocked up yesterday. Airlie beach, despite it's name, doesn't have a beach. Well least not one that is up to the Gold or Sunshine coast level. It is simply a 'go between' for the Whitsunday island trips, of which there are loads of boats and trips leaving every day.

Me, Nat and Lucy picked a day tour that wasn't the cheapest (that was $99) but looked quite good. As always with these things the brochure made the boat look a lot nicer than it actually was, but then I guess that is the same with most touristy things.

We had quite a heavy drinking session on the night before, which made the early start today (7.00am) quite hard. But least we weren't driving and I didn't have to worry or stress about having an accident and the insurance excess.

The boat ride out to the Whitsunday's was quite nice: the weather was ok and there was some very nice islands. Our first stop was a nice walk across one island and to a nice view point (pictures 12-20). The panoramic photos worked really well at this place, even if the weather was a bit cloudy.

The next stop was the Whitsunday beach, which was beautiful as pictures 22+ show. There was even some small fish just off the beach, swimming around without a care in the world. I made the mistake of lying down on the beach after going for a long walk, and as usual with me I ended up falling asleep!! Luckily when I woke up the shuttle boat (rib) was just coming back for it's last run: hopefully they wouldn't have left without me but this is Australia and scarier things have happened!!!

We then proceeded to the top of the Whitsunday's for the reef area where everyone would be diving or snorkelling. The weather was starting to darken and it looked like we would be in for rain.

I do have a PADI diving certificate but I didn't fancy diving this time and instead opted for the snorkel option. Prior to this I had never really snorkelled before and so was a little nervous about it. But as with most things in life, my worries were ill founded: the snorkelling was amazing. There were huge schools of fishes, from the mundane silver type to the brightly coloured and even a huge 'mammoth' one that looked like the offspring of jaws and an elephant!!! It was amazingly fun and relaxing to just gaze under the water at the fish and coral, whilst just floating there in a wet suit. The water wasn't cold enough to need a wet suit, but it was stinger season and you don't want to be getting stung: it hurts like hell!!!!

The weather finally broke about 5 mins after we started snorkelling and rained lightly for a few hours. As we were in the water anyway, a bit more rain wouldn't make any difference but what I did expect is the Josie it generates. When I was staring down at the fish/coral I could her the faint pitter patter of the rain on the surface of the sea: it was quite relaxing and intriguing at the same time.

The weather turned worse on the way home, creating quite large swells and some quite heavy/misty rain. You can see this in Pictures 28+ but especially in the video.


Whitsunday Pictures

Location:Whitsundays, Queensland

The Road Trip, Day Three, 1770 to Airlie Beach

We decided last night to make Tuesday (day three) a driving day, so that we could spend two nights at Airlie Beach: a much reputed place for backpackers and fun. In theory this plan is fine, in practice though it is a boring long day: 720kms in one day means about 9hrs on the road.

So me and Natalie got up at 5am, prepped Bessy and then left at 5.20am, to get a early start. Whilst this was going on, we left the others in bed to rest and it seemed pointless that all of us loose sleep when only two had to get up. And the theory was that they would take over later on in the day and me and Nat could then catch up on some sleep. Of course this didn't quite happen because after the antics of and 'experiences' of driving yesterday, neither me or Nat was very interested in them driving, so we each did about 4.5hrs each. I did the first shift and the first few hours were hard, but after that the mixture of company, random conversations and my music made the time fly by!!

We were hoping to arrive at Airlie Beach around 3.30pm, so we could at least enjoy the weather and beach before thinking about dinner/drinks. We got in about 4.30pm which was quite good and especially as we had manage to stay on the left hand side of the road this time!!!!

The only interesting thing we came across during the day was when the road was close due to a wide load. Now in most countries this would be a slightly oversized wide load: but not in Australia....they are bloody huge....!!!!!

Big Truck Picture

Location:Airlie Beach, Queensland

The Road Trip, Day Two, Tin Can Bay To 1770

So, the second day of the trip and all seems to be going quiet well. Everyone seems to be getting on well enough, even though there has been a few 'spanglish' language problems (wrong beds, cushions, dinner).

Speaking of food, one thing hay I did not even consider was the different 'food times' we would be one: us Brits are on the usual Breky (8am), lunch (1pm) and dinner (7pm), but of course the Spanish are on their normal routine of Breky (9am), a late lunch (3pm) and a very late dinner (10pm)!!!! It was quiet a surprise when this came up, as the camper is no way big enough to have people sleeping and others trying to sleep. But we sorted out a compromise (brining dinner forwards to 9pm) and all should be fine in the future.

On the matter of driving, let's say it is interesting. Natalie drove yesterday and was fine, once she got over the nerves. Lucy drove this morning and altho she was a lot more nervous (and so was I!!) she got the hang of it quickly enough. Antonio managed to get used to the size of the vehicle, but at his first junction turning right (90deg) he took it at almost 50 km/h AND then went on to the wrong side of the road (right) and proceeded to go head first towards oncoming traffic!!!! It was scary enough going that quick round a corner (his missus flew of the chair into the door!!) but to then look straight on at an oncoming 4x4 ute.....that was scary.

Still, I don't think he will do that again, I hope!!!!

On the way to 1770 we stopped at Bundaberg the town, but only for the rum distillery. The rum is very well known throughout Australia and is very much loved as a 'Australian' drink. Personally I think it is good, but their Ginger Beer and Sarsaparilla bottle pops are brilliant and remind me of living up north in Jordie land (Sunderland/Newcastle area) with my nana.

Bundy Pictures

Location:The Town of 1770

The Road Trip, Day One, Brisbane to Tin Can Bay

I should probably give a bit of background to this road trip: My original plan was to spend time with my cousin Gracey after the wedding and then head off to Fiji, but unfortunately I forgot that newly weds have a honeymoon straight after the wedding. Grace promptly legged it to Thailand and so I decided to visit her in Cairns when she got back. I was checking out flights to Cairns and I happened to come across a camper rental website, that had 'relocations' from Brisbane to Cairns. Relocations are where the hire company needs a vehicle moving to a certain location, usually 'against' the popular routes as it were, and they had loads of vehicles from $1 a day!!

So I then did a load of research and thought into this, and decided that it could be workable if I could find 3-4 people to share the driving and cost of big 6 berth motor home. This would cost more to hire but at least I could share the driving and it would come with a kitchen, air con, toilet and a shower. So I left a few notices in backpackers asking for 'company' on this trip: it took me two days to find 4 suitable people but unfortunately by this time all the relocation deals had gone.

I then reverted back to the 'fly' option, until I randomly met Lucy and Natalie in the reception area and turns out they wanted to travel to Cairns too. Coincidently the hire company had six motor homes on new relocation deals, so I got over my nerves and the risk, and booked it. I then met a lovely Spanish couple the next day, who wanted to join in as well and that is how this whole road trip started.

With a distance of 1,701kms and needing to do this in 6 days, this was never going to be an epic 'see everything' trip, but it would be an experience and should be fun.


So the first day, picked up the vehicle that we would all be living in for 6 days and wow, its bloody huge!!! (see pic)

I was expecting a large van, but Big Bessy (my nick name for it) is huge.... like 7m long, 3.5m tall and weighs like 3.5T. Driving it feels very similar to my old work pick up truck, the ever lasting and fun Mitzu Triton: very light on the steering and quite 'jelly' like in it's responses but the fact it is an auto makes it very easy to drive.

The ever kind and helpful Erin shuttled me around Brisbane to get Bessy and sort stuff out (mucho grasicis!!!!!) then at 9am I drove through central Brisbane to pick up what is best described as a random collection of backpackers:

Natalie and Lucy: two English lass's from up north, who only left England a week and a half ago, for the usual backpacker dreams.
Antonio and Christina: a Spanish couple, traveling around Australia looking for work and doing the backpacker thing.


The first day was a quite an easy day, just 3.5hrs (218km) to Tin Can bay. We got the first introductions out of the way and just hit the road, whilst trying to work out where to go, how the sat nav works, how the iPod thingy works and who's doing what. Quite fun really....

The bay it self looked ok, it didn't have a beach within walking distance but it did have the option of feeding dolphins by hand just off the point. The dolphins (pics) looked like they had a bad argument with a cheese grater, apparently they were signs of shark attacks. Anyway it was pretty cool to see them up close and watch them gobble down the $5 fish that all the tourists were buying for them.

And I went for a walk at like 10pm, which wasn't very picturesk but was very interesting to hear the sounds of the Australian wild life without seeing them. I even thought I was being followed a few times........

General Road Trip Pictures

Tin Can Bay Pictures

Location:Tin Can Bay

Brisbane - Random Room 307 Dorm Parties

Location: 27°28'1.18"S 153° 1'31.49"E

I arranged to meet up with my Australian mate Nick; who had been in the UK studying and I used to live with. We arranged to meet up for a quick drink.....and unfortunately as generally with me, the quick drink turned into 4-5 pints by 7pm!!! After he had to go (job interview the next day!) I went and got some dinner and decided to watch a movie on my iPad (Chronicles of Riddick; IMDB Entry). After all of this it was about midnight, so I headed up to my 10 bed dorm to crash; unfortunately when I got there I found 11 people (for a 10 bed dorm, that is quite impressive!!) sitting on the floor drinking Goon (cheap, harsh Australian wine'ish). So I got washed/brushed and made it plainly obvious that I was going to sleep, so that they got the hint and did the same.

But they didn't. I was lying in the bed unable to get to sleep as the main room light was on, they were talking shit loads and had an iPod playing music through some speakers!!!! Safe to say I was not impressed. :-(

So then I gave up: I got up, put a shirt on, sat beside them on he floor and said 'so, got any spare booze?'. We then proceed to drink over 16 ltrs of Goon till 3am in the morning and I found a whole new bunch of 'random backpacker friends'.

The 11 people were made up of: 8 French, 1 Dutch, 1 German and 1 English Guy (me). It was amazing fun with these guys and I am really glad I just joined in.

After the first party, when then proceeded to have several more: all of them in the Dorm, all including the every harsh Goon and all up until the silly hours of the morning. Check out the photo's.

Great Fun!

Photo's on Picasa (1)
Photo's on Picasa (2)

Location:Central Brisbane

The Beach and Dog Walking

Location:

I went up to the Sunshine Coast on the weekend to visit some 'friends of friends' and have a few drinks.

The night out was only supposed to be a quiet meal but the restaurant we went to did a '$30 Food & Movie' combo deal. And as most mains were $20-25 each, we all bought the combo and decided to go to the movies on the Sunday (24th October).

During the drinks at the local pub (can't remember what it was called) we met up with 5 other people (loose friends). Now the 5th person was a quite man sitting at the end, who didn't even introduce him self, which I thought was a bit weird. About 5 mins after I got there, th '5th guy' apparently asked my friend if I was gay.....at which point she burst out laughing..!!!! When I was told this story, I was partly insulted (i.e. thinking I was gay when I am not) but mostly took it as a compliment!!

The next day (Sunday) we went to see Despicable Me (IMDB Entry) which wasn't quite up to the standards of Pixar, but was a good movie.

Photo's on Picasa

South Bank and Culture

Location:  27°28'24.83"S 153° 1'10.52"E

I decided a little while ago that I would try and be more 'cultured' in general; by going to those things that I would normally note even consider. Like Art exhibitions, museums and the like. Most people that know me well will know that this is very unlike me, but thanks to a certain friend, my eyes were opened to the 'arts'.

So I went to South Bank and visited the:

Queensland Museum
Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art

All three were very interesting, but I found the Art Gallery most rewarding. I think I spent like 3 hours slowly walking round the various rooms, pictures, pieces and exhibits.

When I get back to the UK, I am certain to do more of this 'culture' stuff; After all I have never done any of the 'London Must Do' things, like the Tate etc..

Photo's on Picasa

Casuanina Beach

Location:  28°15'58.68"S 153°34'59.11"E

I decided that I would get out of the house, go do some wandering on my own and do a lot of thinking. Even though I am traveling and you would assume is care free, I have a lot on my plate at the moment and the best way I can deal with is some good solitude and thinking time.

So I went for a walk down Casuanina Beach for a few hours; the weather wasn't brilliant as you can see from he photo's but it was nice all the same.

Photo's on Picasa

Nimbin - An Experience

Location:  28°35'44.81"S 153°13'22.58"E

On my last Australian trip (4-5 years ago) I never got the chance of visiting Nimbin, a very infamous place for laid back life, backpackers and weed (Wikipedia Entry). We only visited the place in the afternoon, to get some supplies and quickly view the place, but I was disappointed that we didn't get offered Weed as this is a common occurrence to tourists!

The place also hosts the MardiGrass festival (Wikipedia Entry) which is a wicked event which I would have loved to go to, but unfortunately isn't on till next year.

Photo's on Picasa

Kings Cliff, The Gold Coast

Location:  28°15'3.06"S 153°34'25.38"E

So as a short day trip, we (Me, Adam and Rozzi) decided to make the short walk to the beach, near Kings Cliff. As with most beaches on the Gold Coast, it was lovely if a little hot in the sun.

When we got back, Rozzi then cooked us home made falafels, with wraps, tomato/onion thingy and salad. Was quite simply Lush!!

Photo's on Picasa

Awesome Adam and Rozzi, and the Gold Coast

Location: 28:15.15S 153:34.07E 


(Background Picture is from this Trip, Near Nimbin)

I met Adam and Rozzi about 2 months ago, thought our mutual friend Renee in London, where we proceeded to have one of the best weekends in a long time. When they found out I was coming to Australia, they insisted that I visit them for a few days. Given that we had so much fun in London, and that we got on very well, I thought, why not!

The Saturday day was quite quiet, as I needed to catch up on some WiFi and sleep, as well as Rozzi having a Sunday shift. On Sunday me and Adam explored the nearby beach (5mins walk from their house!!) which was lovely, as most Australian beaches are. The Gold Coast beach is a measly 535 miles long.........

After a quick game or two on Fifa 2010 (I am not very good), we went down the local pub for a beer or two. This then turned into a slightly drunken night, having 4 beers and 3 vodka Lime and Soda's in the pub, followed by a Thai takeaway, which was scrummy. But we then proceeded to drink 1.5ltrs of white wine and a shot of Drambeu (and yes, I have no idea why we did, just seemed like a good idea at the time). Safe to say we were wasted.

We then got to that drunken state, we had the classic drunken thought of 'needing more', so Adam called Rozzi and asked her to bring back some Vodka and soda (for Vodka lime and soda). We then proceeded to play god knowns how many games of drunken Fifa: England vs France. There were times when I couldn't even see the screen....!!!

To my amazement, Rozzi did bring back the Vodka and soda even thought she had just done a long horrible shift, and Adam sounded right drunk on the phone. 


Unfortunately this is where everything gets a bit hazy......Adam proceeded to put his head in the cat 'box' (see pictures), my vodka lime and soda got knocked over three times (once was me, once was Adam, not sure who did the third time) and the kind Rozzi replaced it every time! 


Safe to say Monday was a complete right off: Adam looked like shit and felt terrible. But was a good night and the photos are brilliant. 

Mark, Thyri, The West Wing and THE Sofa

Location: 27:29.50S 152:58.51E

So after the fun experience of the wedding, I thought I would head off to my old friend Mark (Geek/Tree house days, English guy) for some chillin and fun. What I didn't realise is that Mark still had THE sofa: this sofa is what I slept on for the first two weeks of my original backpacking Australia trip four years ago and helped me get settled into traveling around on my own. And it just so happens that it is the most comfortable sofa I have ever known.....!!!

Mark is also the person that got me started on The West Wing, of which I bought the 'All Seasons' Special box set in August but never had a chance to watch it. So it was kinda ironic and fitting, that we sit down to watch a few episodes whilst chomping on take away pizza!! Yummy and fun.

The Wedding

Location: 27:43.01S 152:28.02E

So, my cousin Grace (mum's side) decided to get married on the 10th of the 10th 2010. Now I think many people did this or similar as it is quite a special number. However Grace and Riki (hubby to be) liked this date as it was in Binary format (computer speak)!!!! Weirdly it means 42 in Binary (or Base-2 Number System), which in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the answer to the 'Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. 


Quite a geeky thing, but appropriate I think. 

The venue for the wedding was 'Spicers Hidden Vale', to which I am still unsure where it is but you may be able to see on the attached map (or just Google the above location). The setting was wonderful: ranch type setting, lovely buildings, stunning views and all was missing was the weather. There had been flash floods in Brisbane on the Saturday, and the weather was looking decidedly iffy for the day of the wedding. The weather didn't turn out too bad in the end, but the venue was moved inside just in case. 


Grace looked stunning in her dress and the wedding started with her (and her brides maid) almost tripping up and falling flat on their faces: quite appropriate and funny! The good thing was that this really took the 'edge' off the stress and made things much more relaxed. 
Wedding went exceptionally well and was entirely fitting to Grace and Riki. It was quite interesting/intriguing seeing so many Wyatt's or relations of Wyatt's in close proximity, probably for the first time ever. I won't bore you with the explanation of what was/wasn't going on, but safe to say we were all surprised it went so well and that the world didn't end!!

Redbank and Family

Location: 27:37.14S 152.51.17E

I never really had any plans for Saturday, as I assumed I would be sorting out how to get my arse to the wedding venue. But of course after the 'quick drink' of the previous night, I had to get back to my hostel before 10am when check out occurs. Scooting half way across Brisbane when you are hung over and only had 3hrs sleep is very interesting..!!!!

I had forgotten about my Aunt, Joy, and her fanatical organisation skills: she kindly arranged for me to get a lift with John; would have helped if she had told me though!!

So as Joy left for the wedding early (to help I guess) that just left me, Uncle John and the kids: safe to say dinner was not going to involve cooking!! We grab some fish and chips, and watched some crap tv. I had forgotten how good Australian fish was: annoyingly better than the British version. 

It was quite an uneventful day really, but as I remembered to take a GPS readng, I thought I might as well write some words....!! 

A Drink, Darra station and Magic

Location: 27:33.59S 152:57.11E

I heard that Nick (Aussie, studying in Southampton) was meeting up with Riki (groom to be) for a quick drink in central Brisbane. So I tagged along for a wee drink to say hello and it turned in to one of those 'quick drinks' that the british is famous for. We went back to Adam's, drank some fine Scottish Whisky, watch a DVD (latest Star Trek) and then they wanted to play magic. Now I had never came across Magic before, but apparently loads and loads of people play it. Anyway after 15mins of training, 4 whiskeys and watching one game, we played magic. 

Best way I can describe Magic is that it is a cross between the old Pokemon card game, Warhammer and Poker. It was quiet enjoyable, even if I only won one out of the three games. We finished about 4.30am and I crashed on the sofa, and whistle lying there I thought...quiet drink? My arse.......!!!

:-) 

Hostel and oh the memories

Location: 27:28.01S 153:00.41E

It was quite weird landing in Brisbane, didn't really feel like I had travelled half way round the world but more just went to a local holiday destination, guess that is the familiarity of it all and how long I spent here last time. 

I did manage to spend 25mims checking into a hostel, happily chatting away to the people on the desk who were very sorry that they couldn't find my booking. That is until I realised I wasn't in the right hostel.... turns out mine was next door!! Ooops..... Felt like a bit of a numpty. :-)

Ah hostels, they bring back memories.....I booked into the YHA as from experience they are always clean, safe and reliable. The YHA on Roma street had lovely staff and was good, but was a little out the way (15mins walk to city centre). In normal situations a 15mins walk is no problem, but when you have a 22kg backpack it quickly starts to grate......

As for the memories, hostels are great for meeting people, having a laugh and cheap, but man I had forgotten how many people snore!!!!! There have been viscous rumours that I snore or 'breath deeply' from a few people, but wholly crap of the three other people in my dorm, two people snored so loudly the bed bunk vibrated!!!!! Thank god I bought ear plugs and had ear phones..... 

Pig and Whistle

Location: 27:28.08S 153:01.33E

I decided to have a wonder around the city centre, buy some shampoo/shower gel (some how managed to completely forget this....!!) and came across the Pig and Whistle on Queens street. So decided to have a schooner (think half pint) of Tooheys Extra Dry (think Asahi) but my accent must have given me away as a pome as I got a pint instead. Safe to say I was gutted....... ;-)

Then I just spend an hour watching the world go by, wondering what people back home are doing and thinking 'mmmm, wonder what I will do next...'. Lush. 

Hong Kong Airport

Location: 22:18.33N 113:54.52E

Hay, 

I have only just managed to get around to sorting out the blog stuff, setting it up and learning the best way to do it. I am still not sure if this is the best way, but I guess we shall see. This system should plot my location/progress on a google earth map (which you can even import into google earth) and you can even track this via RSS. But do ignore the Date stamps for the time being as they are all squiffy.... 

Firstly this blog system is intended for sailing use, hence the use of GPS locations and its general design. I would have liked to use Facebook, but I couldn't see any easy way of emailing blog updates that included photos, text and locational data (gps): mind you if anyone knows of any, do let me know. 

Right, so leaving the UK was very hard this time: knowing you aren't going to see your loved ones for like 3 months is quite tough, much tougher than I thought it would be. Last time I travelled (4 yrs ago, for 1.5yrs) the same sensation/thought didn't surface for like 4 weeks, I guess I didn't appreciate the scale of what I was doing. 

But on the flip side, leaving work and traveling for a little while is a great chance to review everything, get my head sorted and do something different. I am sure that once I get back, I will get back into the work routine but hopefully doing some new and exciting stuff. 

Anyway, I thought Hong Kong was quite small because after 20 mins I thought I had seen the whole place. Then I turned the corner and found what was basically a shopping mall (think cribs)!!! Bloody huge. Was quite interesting to see the difference in culture just from the change in shops and food outlets: although was a shame I couldn't explore the city it self (only had 6hrs). 

Anyway, onward and upward.