CAIRNS - BRISBANE

Hello there dear reader! How the devil are you? - good I hope! Well... put your feet up and relax as we try and recount our tales of adventuring from downunder!

Okay then....we got back from Cape Tribulation a bit damp and smelly (it's to be expected when you stay in a rainforest okay!) and arrived back in Cairns of which thankfully this time there were no pre-pubescent yoofs taking up the place! Yipee!

The best way of getting about Oz is by way of the greyhound bus, so we booked our ticket which enabled us to get on and off at any destination as we picked and choosed. First up, Townsville where we spent all of 15 minutes before catching the ferry over to Magnetic Island. So what 'attracted' us there then? (get it...attracted - magnetic?! he he!!) Anyway... Magnetic Island is a National Park, lots of wonderful wildlife and of course scenery. Walking through the forest and having literally thousands of butterflies flitting about was awesome, as well as patting koalas and holding another crocodile! Note to reader: we have found that on any tour we have embarked on in Oz, it will always include a part which takes you to see and or hold crocodiles....was good at first but think it's fast becoming a national obsession!

As time was of the essence we had to catch the ferry back to the mainland and continue onto Airlie Beach, which is one of the best places to catch a boat of any description and sail out to see the many islands which make up the Whitsundays. We had hoped to go out on a tall ship (basically looks like a pirate ship!), but they were either being fixed (well they are old you know) or way too expensive. In the end we settled for a 29 maxi-cruiser (meant nothing to me either!) called 'Hammer'. Sailing the Whitsundays was great, even when the boat did the whole tipping over 90 degree styley and we were all clinging on for dear life - James had to reassure me on more than one occasion that we weren't going to tip or sink and this was indeed proper sailing (sheer madness in my opinion!) We snorkeled, we saw bits of a tired looking barrier reef and peered at fish who were more than used to humans swimming about aimlessly taking photos of them and we ate and drank til the sun went down. Don't know what it is about boats, booze and younguns.....put the 3 together and come sun down the younguns (I call them this as James and myself were quite a lot older than the rest of our sailing companions!) just went mad on drink and lets just say more than one romantic entanglement occurred on that boat that night between them all, bet there parents are dead proud! James and myself on the other hand wished we were anywhere else but on that boat late into the night - not a lot you can do X amount of miles out to sea so we prayed for sun up so we could get off that damned boat and get to our next destination!

At this point dear reader we should mention the change in weather as we have moved down the coast. Obviously due to the size of the country there was going to be some change in weather as we went from north to south, but to get on the bus when it's sunny and warm and get off some 12 or so hours later when it's tipping down with rain and COLD is quite a shock. No dear reader we hadn't expected this sudden change, but that was what happened when we arrived in Hervey Bay. We thought that the town was deserted, moved up to the warmer climes of Darwin perhaps, but no they were all taking refuge in the local cafes - which we spent the whole day doing ourselves - come all this way for a change and what do we get? English weather - nothing more depressing I can tell you!

Another day, another tour, this time a short jaunt across the waves to Fraser Island, a world heritage listed area due to the unique environment. There are no real roads on Fraser island, so we spent the next 2 days being thrown about a 4WD van as it went up and down impossible looking roads and terrain. A fishing competition was going on as we drove along the beach front - well that's what they called it, come the afternoon when we drove back, many men were staggering about with beers in their hands.....Gone fishing? Yeah right!

Back on the bus and the open road again where we trundled along to Brisbane, the third biggest city in Oz (Sydney and Melbourne are the front runners). The bigger the city, the bigger the hostels become especially if you want to be at the centre of the action so to speak, so we booked our selves into Bunk, one of those mega hostels we had tried to avoid ever since our first encounter with them in Singapore (refer to our past blog for our thoughts on that matter!) We ended up in a 6 bed dorm this time and even though we were there some 3 nights we hardly ever saw our roomies as we all kept such different hours.

Having been on one tour after another so far, we decided to go on an unusual one where they wouldn't try and make us hold crocodiles for a change. This time we signed up to a haunted ghost tour of Brisbane!

"I hope the tour guide doesn't wear a sheet or dress up like the grim reaper" I said to James on our way to meet our group.

"Whose that in the white dress with the night cap on?" James asked as we got to the meeting place.

No it wasn't a ghostly apparition, it was our tour guide - wonderful! The night capped lass walked us about Brisbane, past full pubs and restaurants where drinkers would stop talking and stare at the funnily dressed lady and the group who tried so hard not to look like they were with her. But bad dressed up gimick aside, the tour was actually fun and informative, we learnt some local history, heard some spooky tales and most important of all we didn't see one crocodile the whole time - excellent!

Over to James…….

MELBOURNE - HUNTER VALLEY - SYDNEY

Dear reader.

So you're loyalty s remarkable. For many months now we have been away from you. For many months you have perused over our little pages, patiently awaiting news from us, and we both admire and love you for this. How can we ever repay this loyalty my friends? Well until we can think of something you'd really like, here's a little more info on where we've been, and what we've been up too. Now let us cast our minds back...... back to.....Brisbane.

Yes. Brisbane was the introduction to our little run through the biggies (citywise) in Aus. After the mostly sleepless night in Brissy (as the locals refer to it) airport we jumped on the plane dead (tired) excited to head down to 'the most European Australian city', Melbourne, and of course characters you may recall from earlier in our trip, Steve n Jo. For those of you that can't remember that far back, we met and shared about a months worth of travel with SnJ, right at the very start of our trip in India. A wonderful couple, who not only made India a more fun place, but they certainly helped us 'cut our teeth' travel-wise, as we shadowed their vastly more experienced moves throughout the month. Of course our original itinery hadn't included Melbourne (to our shame), the trip was going to end in Sydney. However upon getting to know Steve n Jo, and hearing more and more about the wonders of their home town, we decided that we couldn't not visit Melbourne.

After being picked up at the airport by Mr. Steve (yes dear reader picked up from the airport, on a Thursday morning no less - that's the kind of wonderful people we're talking about here!) and given a key to their home, a run down of what's hot in Melbourne and a mini car guided tour of the city we were let out to wander the streets. The tiredness soon kicked in, and if you had been in the Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne on that day you may have heard the snorey sounds of Mr. Beal having a quick nap on a lovely leather sofa in a quiet corner of the gallery!

The city of Melbourne is quite fantastic, certainly in the top 2 of this little travellers favourite cities visited so far. It's big without being too sprawling, it's cool without being too far up it's own bum, it's got great buildings, an easy to use extensive transport network, posh parts, artsy parts, kooky parts, seasidey parts, some great food (I mean GREAT food), parks, shopping, culture and plenty more to keep 2 little adventurers more than active for 4 days. Now I must say our opinion of Melbourne has probably been biased somewhat, as we had Steve n Jo in their uber guide mode making sure we got to see the very best of the place they call home, a job they did with aplomb, with the 2 of us really getting to see some of the best of a great city in a very short while. This humble writer must just give a quick mention to one of the highlights of the Oz experience which was a trip to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (the MCG or as it will now be called simply the G), a place seen many times on TV for the old cricket matches. We were there during the cricket low season, but the ever resourceful Australians keep their big grounds in action all year (a lesson to be learnt Wembley and Twickenham) by having several of Melbournes Australian Rules Football teams use the ground on a weekly basis. We saw Collingwood play Western Australia in an action packed (if one sided) game, having Steve on hand to explain the rules was a bonus, and though a relatively simple game, it's pretty gripping really, and the ground! Wow what a ground, spot on facilities (Farmer enjoyed the half time pie experience) in a world class venue, what more could you ask for.The rest of the long weekend we spent with Jo n Steve, chilling around Melbourne, we ate and drank a lot, laughed more, and recharged our batteries a bit, staying in someone's home is so different to hostel living, you can actually relax, as was proven by our lie ins every morning we struggled to get up before 9-10, where as in the hostels we'd always be up at 7-8! Plus having the use of a whooping great TV and DVD collection really eased the being away from a home blues!.

I've blabbed on far too long I'm sorry, and I haven't mentioned many of the other great things about that weekend (I'm sure I'll wax lyrical when I'm at home though, so fret not!) but suffice to say we left the New York of the southern hemisphere with yet again sad hearts.

But onwards back up north to Sydney, where we were very extravagant and hired a car to see the wonders of a wine region, the famous Hunter Valley.

But not just any car, no. We thought we were hiring a small nippy honda jazz or similar, but on arrival we were given a free upgrade to a Honda Prius. Wonderful. Very modern very eco friendly, but very confusing. I tell no lie when I say it took the both of us over half an hour to just turn the thing on!!!! Let alone drive away!!! Modern technology hey?

Anyway. The Hunter Valley was fantastic. We had 2 days there driving around the different Vineyards, jumping out at the little boutique celler doors drinking lots of free wine and even buying a bottle or 3. It rained a lot, I mean really a lot, at times we thought we might be simply carried away with the water on the road, but the wine called us, and we just had to battle on (it's a hard job reader, but somebody has to do it you know!). We were very well behaved, with one of us staying teetotal on each day to do the driving while the other got rather silly and banged about in the passenger seat!! For all those who want to know more. Audrey Wilkinson, Sobbels, and Peppertree Wines were our favourites, we highly recommend anything they make, and boy we should know, we tried quite a few!!

So blurrily onwards, via Newcastle, back to Sydney. The Biggy. We had ourselves booked into a uberhostel (Wake Up) as they were pretty cheap, and apparently the best hostel in the southern hemisphere don't you know! Sydney's pretty cool. However, you must remember, we had just had a super guided tour of Melbourne, and a self guided tour of the all but empty Hunter Valley where the wine flowed free. As we pulled into Sydney, I will not lie to you reader, this little traveller was a little underwhelmed! It's a great big city, with all the usual city trappings, parks, bars, food, but the weather was a little bit poop, and we were a little tired, and well, we didn't feel the vibe really. We spent 3 days in Sydney, and it worked it's charm a little bit. We found some lovely BYO restaurants in which to drink our Hunter Valley spoils in. We saw Sharks and all manner of amazing sea life close up in the Aquarium, we rode the ferry, we walked in the botanic gardens, waltzed around the galleries however, I just didn't feel it!

Until the fateful day where we found 'the rocks' well reader what a little treat. The rocks is the little part of Sydney under the bridge that has a history as long as you can get in Aus terms and most importantly a couple of excellent little pubs, not bars, pubs, in a very English style, a bit dank, a bit dark, a little bit slow but very warmly in the service, with a handful of great ales. Suddenly This little traveller felt this place a lot more!! From there things fell nicely into place. We managed to book ourselves on to a tour of the famed Opera house, and let me tell you, this little building lover lapped up every minute of that, the outside is nice, but we managed to get inside on a tour, and the inside (and the history of this place) makes the outside look like the Ivybridge housing estate, an amazing building, and one that has risen highly in the charts of 'Bealin's favourite buildings ever' league! We were also lucky enough to be in town for the Sydney Film Festival, being a lover of festivals and films, we were two happy campers indeed to have fluked that one! We only got to see one flick, that being The Japanese director Takeshi Miike's first English language effort 'Suriyaki Western Django'. Quality, I'll say no more, but if you get the chance, do!

So that was that. as quickly as it had begun, our Australian adventure was at a close. We'd gone from baking heat and lush, pre-historic rainforests in the North to barren deserts and Rocky outback in the middle to highly populated cultured cities in the south. We regret not being able to get out to the West were we had heard there are some wonderfully quiet pretty spots, but as with everywhere we've been, "it's always good to leave something to come back to".

A big hello and thank you to Australia, it's bonkers size, and fantastically friendly peoples. For 6 weeks we were looked after every single minute.

But as ever dear reader the road onwards beckoned, and we had to fly, fly to the neighbours of this wonderfully massive country, to the land of 2 Islands; New Zealand. We had a date with relations and we weren't going to break that.Til next time

More when there's more!

JnJ