Cape Tribulation & Cairns

Cairns, Australia, 26, 28-30 April 2008

Cape Tribulation, Australia, 27 April 2008

In Cairns Peter Pan's had booked us accommodation in the Bohemia Resort. Another good choice on their part. In keeping with our hectic Ozzy schedule we were up early next morning for our overnight trip to Cape Tribulation (C.T.), so named because it was here in 1770 that Captain Cook ran his ship onto a reef and this was the beginnings of his tribulations. A good man for naming stuff was old Captain Cook. On our way to C.T. we saw a few Kangaroo's in the wild and we stopped off to do a little salt water crocodile spotting on the Daintree River. Our guide was excellent and it wasn't long before we were looking at a healthy 4 meter long specimen. One girl on the boat dropped her camera in the water and actually wanted to dive in to get it. Now let's be clear, the camera wasn't floating, it had sunk immediately into these crocodile infested waters. I think we have a new contestant for the Darwin Awards.

Unfortunately our guide wouldn't let her out of the boat. Pity, it would have made for great video footage. C.T. is an area of lush thick rain forest that runs right down to the coastline where it meets beautiful sandy beaches. It is like a little piece of paradise hidden away in the north east corner of Australia. We enjoyed walking along the beaches and generally taking it easy, all the while keeping our eyes open for the elusive cassowary bird. We never did see one but there were lots of other birds along with spiders and ants to keep us amused. I, Dave, even licked a green ants bum and got a tangy shot of citrus. Great in the olden days to keep the scurvy at bay.

This spider was outside our room!!!!
Next day we watched the sunrise then had a walk on the beach & were collected at 1.15pm, by a clearly hungover "guide", and had a leisurely trip back to Cairns stopping off at Alexandra lookout, Mossman Gorge and Port Douglas.

As there were a few indigenous animals that we did not have the good fortune to spot in the wild we decided that a trip to Cairns zoo was in order. It was a great day out and again taken at a nice relaxed pace. We fed kangaroo's, patted cuddly koala's, held baby crocodiles and shook the hand of a rather large wombat. Good wholesome fun for all the family.

Whitsunday Islands

Whitsunday Islands, Australia, 22-24 April 2008
Airlie Beach, Australia, 25 April 2008

When we booked with Peter Pan we really gave them free rein with regards to the excursions and accommodation they booked for us....well almost free rein. The one thing that was non-negotiable was that we wanted to sail on the Solway Lass whilst out in the Whitsunday Islands. Claire's friend Ciara, my sister Kate, and my cousin Una had all been on the Solway Lass and couldn't seem to praise it highly enough. So, having taken the overnight bus from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach we hung around town for the day before boarding the Solway Lass (henceforth called the SL) at 7pm. We would have 3 nights/3 days onboard. The SL is a beautiful tall ship with tons of history. It is over 100 years old and served, in one capacity or another, in both world wars. It has transported goods around the world and more recently was a floating restaurant in Sydney Harbour before making the journey north up the coast to Airlie Beach and The Whitsunday Islands.


Our room was small in the extreme. Put it this way - I had to go outside to change my mind (boom, boom). Seriously though, the room was almost exactly the same size as the bed with just enough room to stand inside the door. Having acquainted ourselves with the ship and its 6 crew members we retired for an early night as we were still tired from the previous nights bus journey....and that's when our troubles really started. The following morning we overheard a French guy telling the captain that there were bugs in his bed. Almost immediately Claire started noticing little red bites at the top of her arms. That's right folks, the ship was infested with bedbugs (BB's). Eeek!! Our worst nightmare had come true, after 10 months on the road, here we were in 1st world Australia and we were on a boat infested with BB's. When we informed the captain he said he would change our linen and fumigate our room. Meanwhile we took a morning excursion onto Whitsunday Island and enjoyed flicking a frisbee in the shimmering sunshine on its startlingly white sandy beaches. Almost pure silica apparently - great for polishing up your silver and gold (like we would know).


That afternoon all the sails were raised onboard the SL and we made our way to the north of the Whitsundays in a most eco-friendly manner. We all lounged around on deck soaking up the rays. That evening all was not well however. After a close inspection of our sleeping quarters our "friends" the BB's were again detected. Yarg! We killed those that we could see and Claire covered herself from head to toe (pj's tucked into socks). Next morning and yes, there were more bites. The French guy had even taken to sleeping up on deck in an effort to avoid these little biting critters. This situation really did take the good out of the trip for Claire and the bite marks around her body were really beginning to mount up. That said we spent the day snorkeling at three different sites and conditions were excellent. It was like swimming in a well stocked fish tank. We saw all manner of little fishies, including some not so little. One Maori Wrasse was about 1 meter long by 2 feet high (apologies for mixing my units of length - 2 feet = 60cm). Pretty big when he is right in your face. That night again we killed several BB's before, reluctantly, hopping into bed. We had considered sleeping on deck but people tended to party up there in to the wee hours so not really an option. There was no clean linen left on board and we also discovered that what the crew used to fumigate the rooms with was a can of fly spray...which was clearly ineffective. So after another bad nights sleep Claire had a grand total of....wait for it....150+ bites!! Some people don't react to BB bites (4 out of 5)and thankfully I, Dave, am one of those people, although I think it would have comforted Claire if I was in the same boat (pardon the pun).

Our last day - Alleluia - saw us snorkeling at Langford Island before cruising back into Airlie Beach. 7 people (ourselves included) stopped off at the office in town to complain about the condition of the boat. We knew this wasn't an isolated incident as we had read an entry in the SL guestbook (in Irish) stating that there had been BB's two trips previous to ours. So synopsis: Whitsunday Islands - beautiful, weather - glorious, Solway Lass - bug infested. The ship should be condemned. What we have learnt since is if you are going to the Whitsunday Islands do not book with a Southern Cross boat (of which SL is one), book a Suncrest boat instead. We did ultimately get 100 dollars refund each. Moving on.

Fraser Island

Fraser Island, Australia, 17, 19, 20 April 2008
Hervey Bay, Australia, 18 April 2008

We took the Greyhound bus from Brisbane to Hervey Bay, the jumping off point for our Fraser Island excursion. Our guide Peter picked us up at 7.30am... 10 minutes early! Blast, two cups of tea down the drain. We boarded his large 4x4-bus and, as we were the first, occupied the front two seats. It wasn't long before the bus was full (approx 15 passengers) and we were on the ferry to Fraser Island. We didn't really know what to expect other than the fact that it's a must do when travelling up the east coast of Australia. So, here's the scoop. Fraser Island is the worlds largest sand island. But it doesn't look like one large sand dune, there is plenty of vegetation on the island - it just happens to all be growing in the sand. You are only allowed to take registered vehicles over so no Quad, dirt bikes or beach buggies. All vehicles must be 4 wheel drive but you are allowed to take your street legal motorbike over. We started by driving to the centre of the island and then doing a hike along the road through the Yidney Rainforrest. afterwards we drove on to Happy Valley for some lunch and were very pleasantly surprised. We had a notion that we'd be eating food from our laps whilst swatting away the bugs. No, this was a proper restaurant & there was a full buffet at our disposal.

Then it was on to Lake Wabby before heading north along the beach stopping off periodically, before reaching our final destination of the day - Cathedral Beach. We were staying in tents but really they were more like cabins than tents - Queen size bed, lots space, bedside locker with lamp - most luxurious. It was also here that we spotted a couple of dingos, I'm not sure what we were expecting really but they were a little underwhelming - they looked like dogs (which of course is what they are). All the time Peter, our guide, was telling us about the flora, the fauna, the logging history, the inhabitants and regaling us with his witty anecdotes. He was a really nice fella. There were four Dubs on the trip so we enjoyed sharing the craic with them. Dinner was another huge success and we were beginning to realise we'd landed on our feet with this trip. Later we got stuck into the lagers (like true backpackers do) and played a few hands of cards. We all slept well apart from when the dingos weer making a racket outside the tents.

Day Two and we headed north past the coloured sands to Indian Head and the Champagne Pools. There had been a few showers on Day 1 but Day 2 was perfect. Finally it was time to turn our 4x4 around and start heading back over to the west coast pick up spot at Moon Point. We took some time out at Lake Allom to view the cute little turtles and walk around the lake. It was a top notch 2 day tour made all the better by our knowledgeable & charismatic guide Peter, the sunshine & the bit of auld craic with the Irish lads.


Champagne Pools

Shipwreck SS Maheno

Lake Whabby

Indian Head

our tent!

Coloured Sand - Red Canyon

sunset at Hervey Bay

Brisbane

Brisbane, Australia, 14-16 April 2008



Not too much to say about Brisbane other than the fact that it is a more attractive city than we had been led to believe. The river twists around the CBD (central business district) and like Sydney the ferries are part of the public transport system so we enjoyed a leisurely cruise in both directions. There are also some alluring green spaces where the students can be seen studying or more often resting their brains.












All around the city are Traffic Signal Boxes which have been converted from dull, lifeless, pieces of visual pollution into fascinating and varied works of art.








Classy area in Brisbane

Blue Mountains

Sunday 13 April 2008



Tired, but not willing to slow the momentum we struck off early for the Blue Mountains, chauffeured by Ian & Emma. As we arrived there were some loud claps of thunder and some spectacular flashes of lightening out over the mountains. We thought there would surly be a downpour but again the luck of the Irish (?!!) held and we passed a very pleasant afternoon walking around Echo Point, the Three Sisters, Devils Staircase and over to the worlds steepest railway.. which of course we had to ride (it must be said Oz & NZ love their superlatives). We stopped off for Vietnamese takeaway on the way home before curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea.








Dave with two lovely Sheilas

Emma makes a new friend

Handels Hits at the Opera House

Saturday 12 April 2008

We had sat down at the beginning of February and looked at what would be playing at the Opera House during our visit. Feeling that a proper cultural performance was the order of the day we booked two tickets to Handels Hits in the main concert hall. So, with our best garb on (not easy when you're a backpacker, however Claire was delighted that Emma helped dress her up from her own wardrobe). We sashayed up the steps of the Opera House and into our primo seats. The performance consisted of a conductor (Brett Weymark), a 30 piece orchestra & 300 person choir (Sydney Philharmonia Festival Orchestra and Chorus) and 3 operatic singers. Impressive, very impressive. We had pre booked our interval drinks and so quickly made our way out onto the balcony to enjoy the 360 degrees nigh time views. Again, most surreal. Then it was back for the second half. The conductor would pick up the microphone from time to time to tell us about the life and times of Handel and to put the performance into context.

City lights stretched out before us