Summary of Australia

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Distance travelled: 12,832 km (8,347km by air, 4485km overland)

Snakes encountered: 1 (huge)

Crocodiles encountered: 2 (one stuffed, one eaten)

Koalas encountered: several

Wallabies/Kangaroos encountered: hundreds

Emus encountered: 4

Kookaburras encountered: 2

Modes of transport: aeroplane, bus, campervan, taxi, tram, car, sailing boat, ferry.

Favourite places: Kakadu, Uluru, Kings Canyon, Melbourne, Sydney, Whitsunday Islands.

Our Route:

Sydney (part 2)

05/03/13 to 11/03/13 -  Our flight from Mackay was pleasant and we circled above Sydney harbour before landing over the sea into Sydney airport.  We immediately went to Paddington to meet our friend Ashling, who kindly let us stay at her place for the week.  It was a nice place and conveniently located for both central Sydney and the eastern suburbs.

As we’d spent a day around the Harbour on our previous brief visit to Sydney, we decided to spend our first few days getting to know the eastern suburbs and the coast around Sydney a bit better.  We took a walk from Watson’s Bay along the coast to Bondi Beach, which also had some nice views back across the bay towards the city.  At Bondi we arrived quite late in the day, but the beach was still full of buff, bronzed bodies jogging up and down the beach or working out.  There were also plenty of surfers out and we promised ourselves we would have a go later in the week.  We had a quick swim in the sea to cool off and saw that the waves looked good (especially for beginners like us).

The next day we went on the popular ferry to Manly, leaving from Circular Quay to cross to the northern side of the bay.  We walked through the forest to a small cove where we had a quick swim before continuing through more forest before reaching the headland.  As we walked around the headland to Manly Beach, we saw a very nice lizard (or maybe a dragon) on the rocks.  We watched more surfers, before it suddenly turned very cool and we took the ferry back to Sydney as the sun was setting.

During the evenings we would make use of Ashling’s back yard, where we would chill out with a barbeque and catch up over a glass of wine.  Her housemate Ed was full of suggestions on what to go and see to make the most of our time.  Thanks to Ed and Johnny’s passion for sport (if not Ashling’s) they had all the sports channels, and so we were able to spend breakfast time watching the test match against New Zealand.

After a couple days out in the burbs we walked in the other direction from Paddington through Woolloomooloo and around Farm Cove to the Opera House.  Up close it looks very different, and the surface of the tiles resembles a snake skin.  We continued around the quay up to The Rocks, and visited the observatory.  The view from the garden was nice, the building itself was pretty, and inside were some interesting telescopes, metal models of the solar system and old pictures of nebular and galaxies.  The museum explained how they used to use the stars to tell the time and inform ships out in the harbour.

The next day we went to Paddington market on Oxford Street, and it was ‘all very Notting Hill darling’.  It was full of women selling scones for the price of a fry-up, girls selling designer clothes and men selling black and white pictures of Sydney icons.  Then it was time for us to go back to Bondi and catch some waves.  After a walk around the cliffs from Bronte to Bondi beach, we hired a long board for an hour and tried our luck.  It was hard work getting out past the breakers (without sliding off the board), and when we did we were frequently getting our weight all wrong when the good waves came.  We had trouble judging the right place to be as they were breaking at different distances from the sure.  Yes, those are our excuses for not being very good and only catching a couple of good waves before swiftly falling off (but falling off in style it must be said).  It did wet our appetite though, and we’ll definitely try it again (if not on this trip, then back in Cornwall or Lacanau in France).

On Sunday we chilled out a bit with Ashling and Shelley.  We walked along the coast and to the Botanic gardens again before stopping in The Rock’s for a beer and then we headed back for another barbie, and this time we cooked the local speciality ourselves.  Our kangaroo kebabs were slightly on the chewy side, but not bad for a first attempt.

That was our last night in Oz, we’d stayed longer than planned and it had surpassed our expectations.  We had great hosts in Kavi and Ashling and were made to feel very welcome by the locals too.  It was now time to leave the east, and go west, by travelling east, and flying 12 hours to land 4 hours before we had taken off (confused?).  Off to Sudamericano we flew.

Whitsunday Islands

29/02/13 to 04/03/13 -  It was time for us to say goodbye to Kavi so we took a cab to the airport for our flight to Queensland.  We realised in the cab that we had forgotten the nice sandwiches that Flora had spent an hour to make the night before.   We texted Kavi to let her know and we hope that she ate them or gave them to her workmates.

It was a 2 hour flight to Mackay and an extra 2 hours by bus to Airlie Beach.  When we arrived, the weather wasn’t so good, but we went to one of the tens of travel agencies to book ourselves a 3 day boat trip to explore the famous Whitsunday islands for the following day.


The Whitsunday islands are considered to have one of the best beaches in the world, Whitehaven Beach, with pure white sand and clear blue/green water.  The islands are also located right on the fringe of the Great Barrier Reef, and so the seas around them are teeming with marine life, with several good snorkelling and diving spots.

The next day, the weather was quite bad but we were off across the sea aboard a very nice 18 metre sailing boat called ‘SV Whitehaven’. There were 19 people in total, 16 tourists plus 3 crew (to drive the boat and prepare the food for us). We came from all over the world; Europe, North America, South America and Oceania. The group was very nice and friendly and we were all of similar age.

The first day was a bit tough, and after a long “voyage” with choppy water along the way, nobody was really talking to each other as we all felt a bit sea sick. We finally reached our first stop and moored up to have some lunch.

After lunch we left the boat and went by dingy to a small beach on Whitsunday Island, where we went on a short bushwalk to a lookout on top of a hill. We were blown away by what we saw and forgot about the long journey. The view was over Whitehaven Beach and the surrounding estuary, and we could see Stingrays swimming in the lagoon directly below us. On top of that, the weather had brightened up and we spent the afternoon down on the beach, resting and swimming. We also watched the baby Lemon sharks and the rays swimming past us in the shallow water.

In the evening we had few drinks and it was a good call as the boat was swaying a lot during the night and it probably helped us to sleep, although we still woke up a few times as it was like a sauna in our cabin with the window shut.  Flora woke up every couple of hours to shut the tiny window due to the rain, then would open and close it again as the weather kept changing. She also fixed couple of doors which were squeaking.




The next day, we took some kayaks to explore another bay on Hook Island and we did some snorkelling.   We saw some very nice corals and fish.  The highlight was swimming with an approximately 100 year-old turtle… that was quite magic. He was so peaceful as he swam.

In the afternoon we did some more snorkelling.  We also saw some very nice, and big, colourful fish, including the parrotfish, as well as some pretty giant clams.  We also saw some big jellyfish and Elvis.  Elvis is a giant lump-headed wrasse and is named this because he is the king of the area.  His wife is called Priscilla and Elvis used to be a female.  He had an amazing pattern on his body and was very friendly, swimming right with us and he looked like he wanted to kiss us.

We moved on again to Hayman Island and moored the boat for the evening.  We took an aperitif on the beach until the sunset and then went back to the boat.  As we returned, several huge bat fish were circling the boat and coming very close, they particularly liked Flora as she swam back.  As it grew dark we began to hear the predatory fish as they came looking for dinner, and we could hear sharks splashing around in the water a few metres from the boat.  We could also see plankton lighting up as fish swam into them and a few bright red squid swimming around.

The captain gave us a talk about what we had seen during the day, including the fish and the corals. It was fascinating and we have to say that we are not scared of sharks anymore but certain type of shelves and corals as well as Irkandju jellyfish (which is a deadly 2 cm long and transparent jellyfish).


The next morning we had one more snorkel before pulling up to a lagoon and doing short bushwalk up to see some aboriginal cave paintings before heading back to Airlie Beach.  We stayed one more day there to relax and catch up on some sleep before we headed back to Mackay airport the next morning.

Melbourne

23/02/13 to 28/02/13 – It was the weekend and we were able to spend some time with our friend Kavi.  We went on a tour of some wineries just outside Melbourne in the Yarra Valley.  We saw some very different countryside, with cows grazing in green fields and mountains in the distance.  The weather was much better now and we were glad to have our sunscreen on.  We spent the day tasting wines and had a nice lunch in the town of Healesville on recommendation from a very enthusiastic lady from one of the wineries (we think she was sober!).  Then that night we went out in Melbourne CBD, where there was an all-night ‘White Night’ festival taking place, with various performances, exhibitions and buildings lit up and animated with lasers.

We were glad of a good rest on the Sunday, and after a little lethargic sightseeing in the afternoon, we returned to Kavi’s to ‘throw a shrimp on the barbie’.  It was a nice warm evening and we ate so many prawns we didn’t really have room for the burgers.

On Monday we took a trip out to St Kilda, which is the nearest beach to Melbourne and has some nice cafes and small shops behind the beach.  It also has Luna Park, a theme park which has the world’s oldest working rollercoaster (all made out of wood!).  However, it was closed as it was Monday, so we made do with a walk down Neptune St (home to the ladies of the night!) and a sushi lunch before taking a swim.  The wind suddenly got very strong and sand was blowing in our faces.  This meant there were lots of kitesurfers who were doing their stuff in the harbour.  They were pretty good and were doing some pretty slick turns and big jumps, so we tried to pick up some tips to improve our technique.  Then we walked through Albert Park where the roads were being prepared for the forthcoming Australian Grand Prix.

We finished our sightseeing in central Melbourne, ticking off Fed Square, Flinders St Station and Queen Victoria Market before taking a nice walk along the Yarra river, with several schools taking part in rowing training in front of us and the Rod Laver Arena and the MCG in the background.  We met Kavi after her mammoth 8km run(?) for our penultimate night in Melbourne.  We went to Chinatown for Yum Cha (the Melbourne name for Dim Sum), before heading to Berliners, a bar divided and themed into West and East Berlin, which was pretty cool… but with a French waiter who, despite the stereotype, was not moody at all (unlike the Chinese staff who were practically throwing the food at us).  We had some interesting and very unusual cocktails, one tasting a bit like chicken korma and another like tea with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

For our last day we went to visit the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground).  We went to watch the final of the One Day Cup, where the home team Victoria were taking on Queensland.  The 100,000 capacity stadium was empty except for about 300 hundred cricket fans who’d come to brave the cold.  After a shocking start with the bat for Queensland the rain came down and we thought we might not see a proper match.  Later the game was reduced to 32 overs each, and Queensland continued to lose wickets for very few runs until Jason Floros came in and smashed a quick-fire 47 from the last few overs… this gave Queensland a chance, but Victoria only needed 5 runs an over to win.  Queensland got a couple of early wickets which made the game interesting and we were now supporting Queensland as they were the underdogs (sorry Kavi).

The run rate kept creeping up and got to 8 an over as Victoria lost more wickets.  The rain threatened to save Queensland on the Duckworth-Lewis method, but it didn’t come.  McKay came in to bat for Victoria and smashed a couple of sixes and fours to wrestle the game back in Victoria’s favour, and they needed just 4 runs from 7 balls.  Then, amazingly Queensland took another wicket to leave Victoria requiring 3 from 3 balls.  Fawad Ahmed came in and left England with nothing to fear in the Ashes as he got a golden duck, meaning Queensland had turned the game around for an unlikely victory and were jumping for joy in front of a now deserted MCG.

We enjoyed a great match in the end and went to pack our bags to leave Melbourne.  We’d enjoyed our stay and spending time with Kavi and we reckon we’ll be back one day (maybe for the Ashes or the tennis).

Great Ocean Road

18/02/13 to 22/02/13 –  We arrived in Melbourne and we could see bushfires just northwest of the city. They looked closer to the town than we had expected and more impressive than we’d seen on TV the day before.  We met our friend Kavi and stayed with her for the night. We just had time to catch up with her and get our bearings before hiring a car for a few days to explore the Great Ocean Road.  We stopped at some familiarly named places, including Torquay, Anglesey, London Bridge and Peterborough, of all places.

Our first stop was Torquay, where we had a quick walk on top of Fisherman’s Beach and saw an interesting sundial.  On the other side of Torquay was another beach, where surfers were catching some breaks and, as the wind was getting up, some kitesurfers were out on the water too.

We continued along the road to Aireys Inlet, where we walked to the headland to see a familiar lighthouse, which was famous from the TV series, “Round the Twist” which Dave used to watch as a kid.  The wind was getting stronger and it had started to cloud over by the time we reached Lorne a few miles along the coast.

We stopped at a few lookouts along the road, which gave some great views of the sea and coastline, but eventually it had begun to rain and the views were then obscured. We turned our focus to exploring some woodland walks along the way where there was some shelter from the wind and rain.  Some of the trees even started to creak in the now gale-force winds, so we decided to take shelter in a pub in Kennet River before calling it a night.

The next day the bad weather continued, but we were still able to stop and see some Koalas (mostly sleeping) in the trees.  They seemed pretty ‘relaxed’ (probably something to do with the eucalyptus diet), despite looking precariously balanced in the violently swaying branches.  We continued further to a second lighthouse (Australia’s oldest, so not that old) that was charging an extortionate fee to enter, so we skipped it and instead we went for another rainforest walk in Great Otway National Park before moving further along the coast towards the Twelve Apostles.  We were lucky as when we arrived the weather started to clear and we could get a good view from the various lookouts (several Helicopters were also flying overhead doing quick flyby tours).  We took a walk on the beach near two of the apostles, and then went back up the hill to view the rest from the clifftops.

Dave was keen to make it to the namesake of his birthplace (Peterborough) before we called it a night.  The light was now fading and we managed to avoid hitting a kangaroo on the road towards Port Campbell and eventually took a walk out to ‘London Bridge’, so called due to its former resemblance to Old London Bridge.  However, one of the arches collapsed a few years ago, comically leaving an adulterous couple stranded on the outer arch.  Just before sunset, we made it to Peterborough.  Unlike the UK version, Peterborough had a lovely sandy beach and links golf course, although the ‘high street’ was tiny with just a few shops (so no M&S like the one in the UK).

At this point we turned around and headed back along the Great Ocean Road and tried to get a few kilometres out of the way before stopping at Apollo Bay for the night.  On our final day we stopped off at a few places we’d skipped on the way through (mostly lookouts over the ocean, as the weather was now better).  We tried to spot a platypus at a small rainforest walk, but we didn’t see any.  However, we had more luck when we stopped at Lorne where we saw more koalas and parrots, before walking the pier and watching people fishing.  Then we finally stopped at Torquay for a quick swim before heading back to Kavi’s place in Melbourne.

Uluru to King's Canyon

15/02/13 to 18/02/13 –  A 150 km down ‘the track’ from Alice we took a short detour to the Henbury Meteorite Craters where 4000 years ago some meteorites had crashed into the desert.  As we looked around we couldn’t hear any noise and realised that we were probably the only people within 30 km or more.  We had a quick look (it was so hot we couldn’t stay out in the sun for long), and then got back on the highway for another 100 kilometres before turning off onto the main road to Uluru.

As we approached we noticed a change in the landscape again.  The last patches of yellow dried up grass began to disappear and were replaced with red sand which resembled red/orange powder paint.  The trees all had white trunks which had been charred black by fire and no leaves.  In the dusty dunes there was the odd burnt out car here and there.

Finally, after another 300 km we reached Uluru in the late afternoon, just in time to get a good position for the sunset.  From here we could see the colour of the rock and the desert around changing from light yellow/brown to dark orange/red and the sky from light to dark blue via some pink as the sun dropped.

The following morning we drove to Kata Tjuta (within the same national park as Uluru) and saw the sunrise … which was an amazing spectacle in itself, but add to this the amazing colours reflecting off the desert and the rocks of Kata Tjuta nearby, and the silhouette of Uluru in the distance, it was even better.   Soon after the sun was up, we did the 3 hour ‘Valley of the Winds’ walk.  We could quickly see why they named it this, as the wind blew strongly through and around the rocks from the desert.  We didn’t complain about this as it felt nice and cool. As the sun rose the winds got warmer, and we had to complete the walk before it got dangerously hot (the walk was closed after 9am as there were a few people had to be rescued due to heatstroke).  The walk was recommended to us, and we weren’t disappointed as it was very scenic and not busy at all.

Before moving on we had to take another look at Uluru.  We drove around the rock, and stopped halfway round for a closer look.  Up close the details of the rock are apparent, and it’s like looking at a completely different spectacle.  We could see some amazing gulleys and interesting patterns on the rock.  Yes, it is just a ‘big stone thing’, but seeing it here in person is really worth it.

It was now midday and the temperature was approaching 40C.  In this heat there was nothing else to do but drive in order to try and stay cool (and keep the flies at bay).  So we got back in the van, put the windows down and drove up to Kings Canyon.  It was so hot and we were feeling exhausted from the heat, but still trying to concentrate on driving.  Opening the windows only brought even warmer air into the van, and we were really ruing the lack of air-con and cursing the van company.  We finally arrived at Kings Canyon Resort campsite where we jumped straight into the pool to cool off.

           

Again, due to the extreme heat, the walk at Kings Canyon had to be finished before 11am, so we woke up early to start the 3.5 hour Ridge walk.  The Canyon was very different from previous gorges and rocks we’d seen and we loved the walk.  Halfway round there was a waterhole and we had a swim there.  The swim was such a treat and cooled us down (this was also the coolest water we had come across in 2 weeks).  Nearby was the ‘Garden of Eden’, a section of forest millions of years old which had survived due to the shade of the canyon and fresh groundwater.  It had some very old trees and plants, including some species that are now extinct in the rest of Australia.

We finished the walk, had another dip in the pool at the resort and then got back in the van for the last trip back to Alice Springs.  We decided to take a short cut.  There was an off-road track for 4x4 vehicles only.  We engaged the 4 wheel drive and after a hairy 10km we realised which driving style to apply to which colour of sand and gravel and it was a really fun blast through the desert passing some amazing scenery and seeing only 3 other cars on the 100km back to the highway.  We had to stop for some wild horses crossing at one point and we feared for the life of a really colourful green and blue lizard (chances are he didn’t make it).  

We arrived back in Alice with a perfectly estimated empty tank of diesel and after a delicious and typical outback meal of Kangaroo fillet, Crocodile goujons, Camel sausages and Barramundi fish, we went for a well-deserved beer in the Saloon.  Just one more night in the campervan before meeting our friend Kavi in Melbourne the next day.  The next morning, we got woken up at 6am by the rangers as we were parked in the town centre in front of the van rental shop.  The ranger who spoke to us was nice and told us it was forbidden to park there for the night and we had to move.  He also suggested we should park in the MacDonalds car park and get ourselves a coffee and that’s exactly what we did.  We also used the free internet and watched the news on the TV there.  One of the news stories was about this backpacker guy who’d been lost in the outback for 3 days, lost 15kg and almost died.  The thing that saved him was that he was drinking the fluid of his daily contact lenses (I looked at Dave, smiled and said “We would have been fine too then”.  Soon afterwards we saw the rangers that we’d met earlier with Mcmuffins meals sitting at the table next to us.  They recognised us, smiled and waved at us.

We dropped the van off and caught our bus to Santa Teresa airport bound for Melbourne.  On the flight with Quantas, a video of the Aussie Cricket team and Ricky Ponting showed us how to fasten our seatbelts and what to do in an emergency.

Katherine to Alice Springs

11/02/13 to 14/02/13 –  Our first stop on the long journey south was at Katherine.  We came here to see the gorge, and again were disappointed to hear that the main walks were closed (for refurbishment this time).  However, there was a longer trail open, so we decided to camp the night and get up early to do the trek the next morning.

At the campground we saw some huge bats flying around looking to perch in the trees. We later learned these were not bats, but rather flying foxes.   There must have been a hundred of them screeching and flapping around trying to find a space in the trees.  We took a swim in the pool on the campsite.   Suddenly several birds began squawking and flew out of one of the trees near the pool.  The next moment there was pandemonium when all the flying foxes broke from hanging upside down in silence to screeching and flying around frantically.  We realised that this was because there was a 2 metre long python in one of the trees and it was trying to take a bite at the flying foxes.

The next morning we did the walk on top of Katherine Gorge, where we were amused by some wallabies having a comical boxing match.  Then we hit the road.  We drove for about 200 kilometres before stopping for a rest and a drink at Daly Waters historic pub, which was a typical aussie roadhouse style bar (with underwear pinned to the ceiling and bank notes pinned to the walls).  There was also a pool which we had a quick dip in to cool off.  On we continued, at this point really beginning to miss the aircon as the mercury rose.

We drove another 300 kilometres, (only stopping for fuel and the odd rest) before making it to the Devil’s Marbles just in time for sunset.  We camped here for the night, admiring the rocks and thankful that the flies that had been bothering us whenever we stopped during the day had finally gone to sleep.  Luckily, as we were further inland and it was drier, there were less mosquitoes, meaning once it was dark it was comfortable to sit outside and watch the stars again.  We had our dinner but afterwards we couldn’t seem to find our block of cheese that we’d left on the table.  We can only assume that the dingo we saw minutes before the mysterious disappearance must had taken it without us noticing.

The next morning, now just 300 kilometres from Alice Springs, we set off again, stopping briefly at the Wycliffe Well UFO Centre.  Really, it was just a petrol station with some murals of aliens and a wooden cut-out of a spaceship, but it made us chuckle.  Apparently this area claims the most UFO sightings in all of Australia.

Finally around lunchtime we arrived in Alice Springs, slap bang in between the Macdonnell Ranges and the desert.  Alice is a small town of just 28,000 people, but is the biggest in the Outback.  For those interested in Australian TV series, it has a Flying Doctors base and a Lasseters.  It also has a dried up river, a solar power station and a Saloon, but not that much else.

We finished stocking up on supplies in Woolworth’s just in time to pop out to the East Macdonnells to have a quick walk around Emily’s Gap and then Jessie’s Gap where we had a chat with a friendly aboriginal man who first asked my permission to talk to Dave.  He told us that we should have a look at the impressive Trephina Gorge too, but the river had dried up completely (again we were disappointed we couldn’t swim as even the billabongs had dried up).  We still had a nice walk there along the top of the gorge and camped there for the night with a familiar face (and probably the only one for at least 20km around) from Devil’s Marbles and he lent us the use of his shower as well as filling us in on what not to miss around Alice.  He was going to be a tour guide at Uluru in a few days, and so told us which walks were best there too.  We went to bed and after a decent night’s sleep we began to think we could cope with life in the desert with no air-con after all as we were now getting used to the heat.