The Whitsundays

Kate & I headed to Airlie Beach to do a 3 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. Due to an admin error on the part of the sailing company, we had an extra day relaxing in Airlie Beach before we boarded Eureka II - a racing yacht. There were 16 of us plus two staff so it was a little crowded in the cabin but we had plenty of space to relax up on deck!

Our first role was to assist in getting the main sail up - which Kate & I volunteered for!! We were only pulling the excess rope in and not having to pull up the actual sail but it still took a bit of effort!

We were then coasting along using just the wind and our skipper Shannon decided to give Kate a go at driving (if that's the right phrase) the boat. He sat by for the next hour as she did a pretty good job and even managed to get the yacht tipping (we had to hold on for dear life!!)

We moor up in front of Whitehaven Beach which is glowing in the moonlight and have dinner as it begins to rain a little. We all manage to cram into tiny bunks (that I'm sure are only meant for one person but somehow has to fit 2!) and try to sleep despite the rocking of the boat!

The next morning we awake to a glorious day and, after breakfast, head over to Whitehaven Beach. It is beautiful - fine white sand and this is probably as close to paradise as there is! Am I making anyone jealous??!! We sunbathed for a bit before putting on the delightful stinger suits (that made us look like superheros in a low budget production!) and cool down in the amazingly turquoise coloured sea.

We go back on board and head around the headland to Turtle Bay where we go for a short walk to get a great view of the beach. We also get to see a turtle or two swimming near the boat.

We head off to a quieter area and jump in the water for some snorkeling. It is just as impressive here as anywhere else I've been in Australia. We then head further round the islands and moor for the night and sit on the deck with our wine watching the sun go down!

The final morning, Kate & I are up scrubbing the deck. It seems that some red wine has been spilt in several places and, as we were the only ones drinking red wine, it has to be us! Its not our fault that the boat was rocking! Anyway, we're on our hands and knees making the deck look white again!

We then jump in the water again for our final snorkeling of the trip. This time, it seems that all the fish have gathered here as you can't move for them! It was the only time that I didn't take my camera in (typical) but had a great time swimming in and out of shoals!

We then say goodbye to the Whitsundays and head back to port. It was such an amazing trip (not to mention one of the most beautiful places I've seen!)

Finding Nemo!

The main tourist attraction in Cairns is the Great Barrier Reef and we couldn't visit here without going to see it!

We jump on our boat and head out, just as it begins to rain! It takes about an hour to get there, during which time Kate goes and has an introductory talk about scuba diving (I'm just snorkeling so they don't need to tell me much!)

We arrive at the dive site and get in the water with Kate joining me for a bit a snorkeling before her dive. The reef was really close and we begin to see fish almost immediately! And the hunt for Nemo begins!

We managed to find him (and a relative) poking out from an anemone as well as some other multi-coloured fish. We had lunch on the boat and headed out to another site and saw many other fish (but no turtles or reef sharks).

It was a pretty impressive day and saw some really cool fish (spent most of my time chasing them around trying to get a picture of them!)

Back in Cairns, Kate & I got soaked to the bone as the heavens open and mucked around like children jumping in all the puddles!

Cape Tribulation

Kate and I decided to do a trip up to the rain forest and go to Cape Tribulation for the day. Our first stop was at Mossman Gorge where we wandered through the forest next to the river until we came across a swing bridge. We had great fun jumping up and down on it!!

Next we went to Daintree Wildlife Park and were given a tour seeing wallabies, kangaroos, crocodiles and a number of birds. The best bit came at the end though, when we were able to hold a joey! So cute!

We got the ferry across the river and arrived at Cape Tribulation - shame the weather wasn't nicer for our time on the beach (but there was a warning about stingers so we wouldn't have gone in the sea anyway!) A large Water Monitor tried to join us for lunch but he was shoo-ed away! We also saw a very large Giant Orb spider by the toilets - I managed to get a photo of it by standing on a ledge in the men's loos (there was no-one in there!!)

We then tried various flavours of Daintree Ice Cream before we headed into the rain forest where it began to rain (well you would expect it in a rain forest!!) We had a botany lesson from our guide who showed us many types of trees and vines which was really interesting.

We then had a crocodile cruise along the river and managed to see one or two (but they were keeping themselves close to the bank and pretty well hidden!) We also had a stowaway - a little green Tree Frog who posed quite nicely for photos! We then headed back to Cairns.

Darwin, Kakadu & the Jumping Crocs!

We arrived into Darwin late at night after spending 27 hours on a Greyhound Bus (never again!!!). The next day we explored the city and went to the Aquascene where the fish come right up to steps leading into the sea and you can feed them. There were Mullet, Catfish, Moonfish, Barramundi and even some small rays. Some of the fish mistook my fingers for the bread and tried to nibble them!!

The next day we began a 3 day adventure into Kakadu National Park with Wilderness Adventures. We were collected at 6.30am and met the rest of our group - Christine from Austria, Franziska from Germany and David from Canada. Our driver was Luke and he had brought along Dan who was being trained as a guide.

Our first stop was the Adelaide River Pub, where Charlie the Buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee movies now lives after he died and was stuffed! We (of course) had to re-enact the seen from the film!!

We stopped off at the Margaret River Roadhouse as Luke had forgotten to pack some of the food - namely all the dry stuff. He said it was the most expensive mistake he had made!

Then we we entered the park (after having a chat about the wildlife here and been told about the infamous Cain Toads). We drove straight to a waterhole for our first swim of the day and Luke volunteered to go in first - which was a relief as every waterhole has a crocodile warning and many people have been eaten here! The water was beautiful and clear and it had a waterfall at one end. We all survived (no crocs around!) and made our way to the Gunlom Escarpement.

Luke decided to take us on a walk up a steep hill and had told us not to look around us until we got to the top - and the view from there was amazing! The park stretched as far as the eye could see and the walk was worth it.

To cool down, we took another swim. As the wet season has only just finished here, the place is still green and all the waterfalls are still flowing and water holes are full. We swam in pool and sat at the edge near the Gunlom waterfall - there was another pool below us so there was no chance that we would fall over the edge! We walked back down and swam in the pool at the base of the waterfall and saw lots of fish, including Archer Fish.

As the sun began to set, we climbed up on the roof of the 4WD and sat there with a beer in hand. Its definitely the best way to see a sunset!

That night, we joined a couple of other groups round a camp fire and tried our hand at playing a didgeridoo. Some of the people were really good (they had been practising with their guide) and all I managed was some random noise! Oh well - it was great fun! Went to sleep in our swags under the stars!

We were woken by the light rain on the second day but it was time to get up anyway (even though it was still dark and only just gone 5am!) We headed over to a cultural camp to learn about Aboriginal ways from Johnny and Jennifer. We were told some of their creation stories and shown how they weave using the Pandenis Spiralis plant. They had dyed strands of it and we made bracelets!

We saw a green bottomed ant while while we were sitting on the floor - the Aboriginals use them to make tea or to eat them and we had been told by Meril on the Planet Perth trip that you like its bottom! So we managed to catch it (after about 5 minutes of it desperately trying to get away) and lick it! It was quite tangy like lime! Very strange!

Next we were taught how to throw spears! We had some animal cutouts to aim for and javelin lessons at school certainly helped! I managed to hit the cutouts but I would have gone hungry if I had to actually kill an animal! Then we learnt how to play the didgeridoo - took a couple of attempts but I finally got a noise out of it!

Our next stop was the Anbangbang gallery where we looked at the Rock Art. It was really amazing - it is so clear and its a great way of telling a story. It was still in such a great condition.

That afternoon we went to another cultural centre to see a dvd about the park. The first part was really interesting but I missed the end due to falling asleep (as did most of the group)!! I am blaming the air conditioning and it being dark!!

We stopped at Cahill's Crossing, which separates Kadaku from Arnheim Land. Its an area that quite a few crocs live in so we decided to try and spot one. Despite staying there for a while, we left without seeing one!

Then we headed up to Ubirr with Johnny from the Aboriginal camp this morning. He told us various stories as we headed through the park and pointed out the Rock Wallabies. This is the place where Croc Dundee goes to make his "phone call". We sat here and saw the best sunset yet over the wetlands - it was amazing!

On the final day, we are up before dawn again and head over to "The Castle". We begin with a gentle walk along an area that would not go amiss on the plains of Africa and then the fun begins! We had to climb up some pretty big rocks, using our arms to pull ourselves up and finally climbing up a steep rock with not much to hold onto!

But once we were on the top, it was worth it! Once again, we had one of the best views of Kakadu! We just sat there in the silence taking it in all in. Pure bliss!

We had our final swim in the Garden of Eden before leaving the park and going to the Corroboree Billabong for a cruise in an attempt to find crocodiles! We were held up for a bit - by the van overheating - but made it just in time to make the boat! We managed to see a couple of crocodiles - freshwater and saltwater - and I'm glad that I was in the boat far enough away from them - they were huge and they weren't even full grown!!!

We headed back to Darwin after having an amazing 3 days - Kakadu is definitely one of my favourite spots in Australia!

Back in Darwin, we have a couple of days before flying to Cairns so we head to the Mindil Market. Its full of funky little stalls and lots of Asian foods. There are also a couple of bands playing, including one where the guys is playing 4 didgeridoos that are tied together - it was pretty cool!

The next day we hired a car and drove out to the Adelaide River to see the jumping crocodiles. They entice them with bits of meat and they manage to leap right out of the water to get it! It was pretty impressive watching them!

There were also some kites flying around and they were thrown meat as well so that we could see how they catch their "prey" mid air!

On our last night, we went to the Deckchair Cinema - an open air cinema with deckchairs(!). They give you some cushions and mossie repellent and provide food and beer for you (not free though!) to have during the film! We saw Marie Antoinette.

We fly to Cairns tomorrow and begin the final leg of our time in Australia.

The West Coast of Oz

We then began a 10 day tour of the west coast of Australia with Planet Perth. We met our tour group at 7am and boarded our bus that would take us the 2200 or so kilometres from Perth to Broome (so glad I'm not driving - that's Simon's job!) We have a group of 19 people including Kate & I - Kat, Row, Tom, Cathal, Magdelana, Merel, Hayley, Michelle, Makiko, Brandan, Zara, Linda, Scott, Martin, Johanna, Neven and Julia.

Our first stop was in the Nambing National Park to view the Pinnacles Desert. Simon gave us a brief geology lesson on how they were formed then we wandered around them for a while.

We then went to Hangover Bay to have lunch and found out how the place got its name - a ship had run aground here and everyone swam to shore. The only thing that survived from the boat was the rum so they decided to have a drink and woke up with bad hangovers! We then went to a near by beach and did some sand boarding, although this was a lot harder than when I did it in Peru - we had to climb up the hill (which took an effort!!). At the top, Simon sat us on the board and then pushed us down the hill. It was great fun, especially when the boys tried to 'snow board' down the hill - only to get shown up by Linda!

We then went into the Kalbarri National Park and did a couple of walks and some hanging around on rocks!!

The next day was spent mostly in the national park - we did a couple of walks - along the river and down into the canyon where we got to see some rock climbers practising emergency rescues (but I think that 20 people watching and laughing put them off a bit!)

The end of the day was spent visiting Shell Beach - its 110km long and made up purely of small shells. Its really beautiful and the sea was clear blue water which was very tempting for a swim, until we saw a jellyfish!!!

We stayed the night in Monkey Mia - and arrived just in time to see the sunset - which was pretty amazing especially when the pelicans swam by. There were also dolphins swimming in the shallow water.

After dinner, Kate, Simon and I went on an Aboriginal cultural tour where were we told some of the creation stories, listened to the didgeridoo and ate fish that had been cooked on an open fire. It was a really interesting tour.
The next morning we were up early and down on the beach to watch the feeding of the dolphins. Its a scheme that they've set up to help with the conservation of the dolphins and to prevent visitors from overfeeding them and making them rely on humans for food rather than catch it themselves. The group of dolphin mothers and babies came right up to the shallow water and members of the crowd were picked to feed them - Kate and I weren't chosen but lots of our group were. Couldn't' believe how close they came to the shore!

We carried on our trek north (with Kate & I being the DJ's for the day) and stopped off in Hamelin Bay to view the Stromatolites - breathing rocks! Kate & I were really interested in seeing these as we'd read about them in Bill Brysons' book "Down Under". Tom was also excited about seeing them as he was a geologist!! They're not much to look at but are pretty much responsible for helping oxygenate the earth millions of years ago!

We then went to make lunch - which is a bit of a task cooking for 20 people but today's' lunch was bacon and egg sandwiches with potato wedges! It was my job to crack the eggs onto the 'frying pan'!

Just as it became night time, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Everyone got out and decided to lie on the road (as you do!) where they had painted a white line to represent where the Tropic of Capricorn was.

We then arrived in Coral Bay, our stop for the next couple of days. After dinner, we decided to take over the pool tables and play doubles - Scott and I teemed up - which was a great plan as he is good at pool! We ended the party down at the beach!

The next day most of the group went off to swim with Mantra Rays. The boat took us out to the reef and then, by help of a plane, we were able to spot a couple. We were split into groups and each group took its turn in the water. By the time we got in, the rays were swimming really fast and we struggled to keep up! So we went back onto the boat and went to find some more. This time we were more lucky - we got into the water and a ray was just below us, swimming round and round catching food! It was an amazing sight!!! After lunch, we were back in the water to snorkel around the reef and in amongst the very big fish! We had to say our first set of goodbyes - Brandan and Zara are staying here another day. It was a shame because we got on with them so well!

We headed off to Exmouth and stopped on the way at some beautiful beaches - Sandy Bay and Turquoise Bay - where we were able to swim in amazingly blue and clear waters. The we headed over and snorkelled on the Ningaloo Reef, which was only 100 meters off the beach. We used the current to take us along the reef so we didn't have to do any work! We saw a great variety of fish and a massive turtle! Some of the group even saw a reef shark but I wasn't that lucky!

That afternoon, Simon took us out on a walk in Cape Range National Park out along a ridge with steep drops either side. It was a fun walk and the sun was setting as we headed back. We had to say goodbye to Makiko but picked up Ian, Andreas, Markus, Gemma and Julia.

The next day we spent most of the time driving before arriving at Karijini National Park where we will be camping for the next couple of nights. We began by putting up our tents before beginning dinner and checking out the facilities - a toilet which had two friendly occupants - Redback Spiders! It made us all wary each time we went there!

The next day was spent exploring the park and did lots of treks and swimming in waterholes beginning with a trek to Kermit's Pool. We walked along the Spider's Walk which was a narrow gap in the rock which was very slippery due to the rushing water at the bottom. Just before the end, Kate slipped on a rock and plunged into the pool, fully clothed, camera in hand! She was alright but it made all of us wary! We ended up going for a dip in the pool which was very refreshing.

We then went to Handrail Pool - the route to it was similar to the Spider's Walk and we had to climb down a rock using a rope for assistance before we were able to get to the pool. Our final pool of the day was the Circular Pool - which had warmer waterfalls flowing into it. By the end of that, we were quite exhausted & went back to camp.

The next day, Simon decides to amuse himself by waking us up by playing Rolf Harris! It gets us all laughing as well!! Most of this day was also spent driving and we ended up at the 80 Mile Beach. We grabbed our beers and headed to the beach for sunset before setting up camp. Kate & I had the fun task of trying to find punctures in the inflatable mattresses. We ended up getting soaked through but we found all the holes!

We then drove up to Broome and headed to Cable beach to see the sunset before going out to the Oasis Club to celebrate the end of our tour together - it was an open air club and we had such a laugh.

The last day was a free day and we headed out to see the Japanese cemetery before heading to Loggers for a music festival of local artists, mainly women. We were only able to stay for a short time before we went to see our final sunset at Gantheaume Point before going to have a delicious roast dinner.

We then had to say goodbye to the group - it was pretty sad as we'd had such a great time and it was pretty impressive that a group of this size all got on! Thanks for the great memories guys!!

Perth, Fremantle and Witchetty Grubs

We flew from Alice to Perth and stayed with Kate's dad's cousin, Geoff.

We did the bus tour of the city and ended up in King's Park. We strolled around the park and along the 'tree top walk' to see the city from the tops of the trees.

We went to see John, a guy who Geoff helps look after a few times a week. He showed us his train set and where Geoff is going to build one round his garden.

We did a day trip to Fremantle and got on the 'tram tour' which was pretty interesting. We stopped off at the prison which was built by the prisoners that we sent over by the British and was used up until the late 1980's when the prisoners rioted because of the poor conditions and set the roof alight!

We had lunch at the Little Creatures Brewery (Little Creatures is a beer that is brewed in Western Australia) before heading into the main area of the town to explore the markets before getting the ferry back to Perth.

We decided to go down to Margaret River for a couple of days - to do a Bushtucker Tour and to try our hand at surfing! The weather was not the best but it didn't dampen our spirits!

We began with the Bushtucker Tour - we met our group at the Margaret River mouth and collected our canoes. There were 8 of us including our guide so Kate & I were in a boat with a couple - Anne & Vern. We had to paddle out to various sites along the river but since Vern had no experience of directing the canoe, we ended up all over the place!

We stopped for lunch and were able to try a variety of bush tucker - including a selection of berries and meats like Bush Turkey, Emu & Kangaroo. The highlight of the food was the Witchetty Grub - which Kate had been wanting to try ever since we got to Oz! Unfortunately she was left with the head part!!

We did a brief walk around the headland and then rowed back to the river mouth, going backwards at one stage as Anne decided not to row until Vern could steer properly and Vern thought Anne should row rather than tell him off for his steering!! We got there in the end!

Our surf lesson unfortunately got cancelled as, due to the bad weather, the waves were getting up to 10 foot and it wasn't the best conditions for beginners! So we headed back up to Perth.

On our last day in Perth, we got the ferry over to Rottnest Island. We hired bikes and set off round the island. We got a bit lost at first (the map wasn't clear!) but eventually we were on the right road! There were several gorgeous bays and we stopped at various points to take in the view (& to catch our breath!) Nobody had told us how steep some of the roads were!

We went up to the lighthouse for lunch and met the local inhabitants - Quokka's - from which the Dutch named the island after (they thought that they were giant rats but they're a bit like kangaroos!) We found this friendly Quokka who tried to climb on me as I was taking his photo. Later on, he tried to climb into Kate's bag! They are certainly used to humans being around!

We got the ferry back to Perth and packed our bags as our trip up the west coast begins tomorrow!