Reefs and Rainforests- Northern Queensland

5 hours further on and our first Greyhound trip is over, we have arrived in Townsville. The town is very quiet, many shops still closed after the owners locked up and fled in fear of the Cyclone. We take a short ferry to Magnetic Island and then a bus journey through to our hostel. It is on this Bus trip where we see most of the damage caused by Yasi, trees lay right across the road or piled high up on the side where volunteers have been working tirelessly to tidy up. Fences have been ripped up and dropped in next doors gardens and driving alongside the sea there is as much sand on the road as there is on the beach. The hostel, like the rest of Magnetic island was very quiet with many choosing to stay away from the area. The swimming pool was out of order, due to Cyclone damage, and the sea full of stingers... so no where to cool down from the super hot sun! Bikes seemed like a good mode of transport to take in the sights of the 10km island... this was a bad idea! 38 degrees heat, no shade and some monstrous hills, oh, and rubbish bikes (1 with jammed breaks, the other with high gears only!) Despite the searing heat and the pain we managed to cool off in an enclosed cove and then got to see the local wildlife, a family of five rock Wallabies who wanted to say hello, very cute! Next day we bused it all the way round the island! We went the the Koala village which had reopened for the first day after Yasi. This place was great, we got to hold lizards, kiss tropical birds, entangle ourselves with snakes but best of all wrestle a croc! It may have only been young but it was a croc all the same, one of natures greatest killing machines! Magnetic Island was clearly a beautiful place with much wildlife but it will take a while to restore itself after the damage of Yasi.

Next stop Mission beach... oh no this place was completely destroyed by the Cyclone! A great shame, and at the time we passed we were unable to stay even as a helping volunteer as it was still too dangerous. So we had to head all the way to Cairns, passing many destroyed banana plantations, which will be the reason for a price hike on bananas! Cairns is truly tropical, very hot, humid with the heavy rain! A city with a very holiday feel, just a shame that once again the beaches are out of action due to stinger season and the rogue salt water crocs! They do have a beautiful lagoon overlooking the sea which is great for a cool down though! First trip here had to be the Great Barrier Reef and what better day to do it on than Charlies Birthday! On this trip we would take our first ever Scuba dive and do some snorkelling on the worlds most famous reef. On the way out we received all our Scuba instructions and before we knew it we were kitted out with what felt like lead weights on our backs and plunging down to the depths below. To be honest, this was pretty scary and not all that enjoyable, breathing underwater is bizarre and the pain your ears go through is at times just silly! But we were both glad we did it and the experience will certainly stay with us unfortunately we didn't see anything we hadn't seen before. After some lunch we went to our second point and decided that we would just snorkel here. This was more like the the Barrier reef we had been expecting, crystal clear water, colourful coral and millions of fish, like being in a giant fish bowl. On top of all the brightly coloured tropical fish we managed to glimpse a couple of Stingrays (this spot was not more than 100m from where Steve Irwin had died), many giant clams and a Shovel nose shark, memories to last a life time.

All aboard the Wallaby, as we went up to the tablelands rain forest with Cousin Rowhan. Cus was an exceptional tour guide giving us plenty of information about the rain forest in particular, never wipe your bum with a stinging plant.... it will kill you! We took in some awesome sites, in particular the Millaa Millaa falls (so good they names it twice) and if you've never heard of them check out the Mysterious Girl video by the Aussie legend Peter Andre. We took in quite a few different waterholes which were super chilled which is always appreciated after a sweaty bush trek. We also managed to see the most dangerous bird in the world, the Cassowary, an amazing site especially as these giant birds are close to extinction.

Cape Tribulation was our next adventure, a rain forest that spans out onto the northern beaches. We took a cruise down the Daintree river in search of Crocs, we managed to spot two but both were only young uns probably 1yr old. We managed to spot a couple of snakes and a dragon lizard later on when we were further into the rain forest. We also took a dip in a creek that was probably 200m from a supposed croc nest, but still no wild crocodiles. A truly beautiful part of the world and people shouldn't believe everything they hear, the wildlife is only dangerous if you don't respect it!

Next stop for us is back to the Tablelands, but this time we are in search of the country working life!

On the road again - Central and North East Australia

Palya! (Said: 'Pal-e-a' - means hello in the Aboriginal language!)

Day 221: Work is finished; all packed up ready for room inspection and said goodbyes to some forever friends. To avoid things all weather hazardous, we decided to go to the middle of Australia – guaranteed sunshine! We booked to go with The Rock Tour company, 5 days on total. On the 1st Feb, we flew directly into Ayers Rock to miss out a 6 hour drive from Alice Springs. We chose correctly, the flight in and over Ayers Rock was amazing, like a private tour. Ayers Rock has a purpose built resort in the middle of the desert. It has 4 hotels, a few shops and one supermarket. A wierd place.

It was in the high 30 degrees to start and continued at around 40 degrees for the most of the trip. On walks, the shade brought a cooler relief at around 32. It was perfect weather to camp and that’s what we did! Our tour guide is a rustic fella and made us, every night, camp under the stars in swags huddled together. No complaint, it was a great experience.

The 1^st day we head out to Kata Kjuta. A gorge walk through a sacred part of the national park. Here we saw zebra finches, a good sign (to the Aboriginal people) that there is water nearby. We know a few tips how to survive in the Northern Territory desert including bush tucker. I wouldn’t count my chickens though. The air gets trapped in the gorge making the temperature nearly 50 degrees (no lie!) in the sun. It was the hottest we have been in our life, ever!! Slow movements made the sweat pour out – a lovely image. The tour guide made sure we carried 3 liters of water on walks. We then head to the magnificent Uluru (Ayers Rock) for the sunset and dinner.

Next morning we were awoken at 5am. Quick toilet break, brush teeth and head to Uluru for sunrise - yawn! The sunrise was much more spectacular making green, yellow and orange colours. We had a camp breakfast then off to explore Uluru. It was a 7km walk around the base, very flat and so quite easy. Half of the rock is scared so no pics. There is an Aboriginal tribe that still uses Uluru for ceremonies and meetings. There are cave paintings which the adults use to teach the young about the religion and stories. In the evening we had a camp fire (made of the wood we had to scavenge in the desert earlier), had bush bread, played games and gazed at the Southern Hemisphere constellations.

Day 3 we started early to take on the Kings Canyon. I understand now why it is named King, it was huge! We both agreed it was the most spectacular experience. I nearly fainted on the way up the mammoth canyon but Jon (with his dedicated sport mentality) just kept saying "positive mental attitude" and it got me up! We walked around the edge and made our way to the Garden of Eden. Wow. It was strange to see the oasis in the desert. An experience we will treasure forever.

We had to take a quick overnight pit stop in Sydney before making our way up the North East Coast.

On the 6th Feb we flew to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. This was just like flying over Fiji again. Crystal clear blue waters, dotted islands and sands banks. Beautiful. Upon arriving into Hamilton we had the most bizarre greeting. Hamilton is a luxury island, everyone drives golf buggies. A lady with microphone welcomed us and directed the small crowd to the luggage area and ferry terminal. A service we are not used to! The ferry trip to the mainland (Airlie Beach) took an hour. We settled into our hostels for a few days. In the North East waters there are box jellyfish, deadly creatures! So there is a purpose built lagoon next to the beach. No one goes on the beach or in the sea.
We were excited for our 2 night Whitsunday boat trip. We had pre-booked this 3 week trip through my work in Sydney so everything had been relaxing so far. Until the Whitsunday boat company called and cancelled our trip because cyclone Yasi had happened the week before and most roads were closed = no backpackers. There was no enough people on the boat to run the trip. So we called work and got a refund. Luckily (when in a internet cafe close to our hostel) the lady behind the counter shouted that she had a great deal. It turned out to be really great. Cheap and a bigger boat. We had to pack up and check-in within the hour!
It was called the SV Whithaven.
We helped with the masts and relaxed a lot. Snorkelling, eating and drinking was the itinerary, bliss. We visited many islands over the 2 days and visited the famous Whithaven Beach. White pure sands, bush walk and stingrays. It hurt our eyes because the sun reflected off the white sand. Saw a couple of huge spiders too. The crew were great and made our trip loads of fun. 2 days after the boat trip we still had land sickness with the feeling we were still at sea.

Out of Airlie Beach we caught the Greyhound Bus, this was our first experience. It was actually not bad. I wasn't expecting very much but the seats were comfy and a movie was played for us too! We headed to Townsville to visit Magnetic Island.

More on Magnetic Island and the rest of our 3 week holiday coming up soon! .....


xx

Sydney Australia - Part 3

With only 3 weeks to go, we have had an absolute blast in Broadway, Coogee, East Balmain, Bronte, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Darling Harbour, New Town, Marrickville, Kings Cross, Bondi and many other little places that make up Sydney. Each suburb has tonnes to offer, even now we have not been to the lovely burger and Spanish places we always say 'we will go there next time!'. It is going to be hard to leave behind our tiny apartment which we have made very homely, work friends and housemates but we look forward to our adventures up the East Coast. We are waiting for the floods to clear around the Rockhampton and Frasier Island area. The rain in Sydney is still on and off so our break along the coast may be a wash out. We have only a week or 2 to get things booked but I guess we have to wait. Watch this space!

Since our last update, 3 main events have occurred:
Christmas
New Year
Cricket

Christmas was the most peculiar event. We made Christmas as special and different as possible. With the constant White Christmas updates from back home, it was tough to compete but we did it. Despite the absence of our family, home traditions and friends it was joyful. We decorated the room with lots of cheap and tacky treats from Hot Dollar, hung stockings, played Christmas tunes most evenings and lit advent candles to count down the 12 days before. Jonny came back from the West Coast and spent the holiday with us, it was nice to have a familiar face around. On Christmas Eve both of us had to work til 4 and then we headed to the local St. Andrews Cathedral with our Canadian and Swedish friends.The Cathedral presented a beautiful service with a choir singing carols, an organ and prayers. It was covered in wreaths, lights and many trees against the stained glass windows. It was a moving service making us both think and feel deeply about the family and how we wished they were here. After the service we went to Newtown and met with a Dutch, Swedish and Kiwi friend and enjoyed a delicious Nepalese banquet and plenty of wine.

The next morning we woke as early as the hangover would allow. Opened the gifts wrapped inside the stockings and threw 'snow' around the apartment, very festive! We woke Jonny sprinkling the snow over his head - I don't think he appreciated it much!We all chipped in and made a delicious Christmas full English breakfast.

Us and 10 other house mates head over to Bronte Beach. This is inbetween Bondi and Coogee and so guaranteed to be less busy. At Bondi there was 50,000 on one strip of sand, at Bronte there was around 2,000 giving us plenty of space to lay a towel. We played in the water or should I say the water played with us with the huge waves battering down on us, made balloon animals, had a picnic and took group photos. It was a perfect day at 30 degrees and it was forecast rain too so we were lucky!

In the evening, we put together with friends a huge group Christmas dinner in the house. It was a bit of a shambles with not enough spaces to sit, no cutlery and sparse brocolli but we have enough of a fill from the Canadians whole ham contribution, drank more wine. We finished Christmas day listening to our Swedish housemate play guitar and having a laugh.

New Years Eve was also forecast to rain and it ended up being another fine day. We had made plans with the Swedish and Canadian housemates to head to a place called East Balmain. This is East of Sydney Harbour and is right on the water edge. It has perfectly clear views of the bridge. We went on the bus and found a shopping trolley to push all our goods to the coastline - very classy! We had plenty of food, water, blankets and wine and found a perfect spot at 12pm. So it was a full 12 hours before the celebration but it still went fast! We sunbathed, ate and played cards during the day. As night fall came, we sang and played guitar again and everyone around was really excited. The atmosphere was electric, I have never felt anything like it. Everytime a ferry or yacht went by the whole park would wave, whistle and cheer. There was even a marriage proposal in the sky. 9pm came and there was a kids display. I thought it was incredible and so it made everyone even more excited for the big bang. At home, there is a midnight countdown from 10 - 1, not in Australia! We were all sat around chatting then the fireworks suddenly went off! We jumped to our feet and the whole sky was in lights. Further down the harbour there was 4 more displays virtually the same as the bridge and they were all in perfect sync. It was a sight that is very difficult to describe! WOW, is all I can think of.

The Ashes one of the worlds greatest sporting rivalries, Australia vs England, Convicts vs The Pommies! The final test of the series hit Sydney and despite England leading 2-1 and thereby already retaining the Urn, England were desperate to beat the Aussies on their turf for the first time in almost 20 years. The 2 Jonny's rocked up at the impressive SCG and took our seats around 10.30 on day 4 of the test. The morning saw us rack up the runs quickly and gave us Englands highest ever score on Australian territory much to the delight of the Barmy Army which we were right amongst! The afternoon saw us sipping ice cold beer in the searing heat as our superb bowling attack tried to knock off the stubborn Aussie batsmen. We had them on the brink as the 7 wicket went down but despite an extra 30 minutes of play we couldnt finish them off. The next day the cricket was free seeing as though it wouldnt take long for us Pommes to beat the Convicts down to size, unfortunately we couldnt get seats with the Barmy Army, the area was completely packed so we sat up above them with a birds-eye view and watched with delight and pride as we took less than 1hr to finish the job and convincingly win the series 3-1. The atmosphere was brilliant, unless you were an Aussie, songs were bellowed out and the England players took there photos with the Barmy Army, if only we had had the same seats again we would of got a pic with the full squad! What a day for the English, what a great day to be in Australia!

Soon we will leave Sydney, but we have many great memories from this super city!