Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
It's a real shame my time in Aus suddenly seems to be drawing to a close, as over the past 2 weeks I've done some great stuff and met some cool people, who it would have been nice to keep travelling with.
The fraser island tour was great fun despite being pretty tiring, spending 2 nights under canvas in a mixture of intense heat and humidity plus post-cyclone winds. Driving around in a pink 4x4 was good fun - we were given a tight schedule by the tour organisers which at times had us scrambling to be off the beach in time before high tide. The cyclone in previous weeks had done some damage to the beaches and roads, in fact groups from other tour operators were greatly restricted as to where they were allowed to drive. There was no restriction for us, just some pretty bumpy journeys as we bounced over exposed rocks on the beach and greatly eroded inland tracks.
The activities over the past fortnight have been very much on the beaten track - infact I met people all along the way that I had paddled the noosa rivers with. This included on arrival in Airlie beach, ready to sail around the whitsunday islands. I joined a group of nineteen spending 3 days on a retired racing yacht, sailing round the islands and stopping off to snorkel the reef. It was quite amazing how blue the water was and the island beaches, particularly whiitehaven beach on whitsunday island, had the finest sand I've ever seen. Each time we entered the water though, it was necessary to wear full-length wetsuits due to the number of jellyfish in the water.
Aside from visiting the islands etc, life on the boat was a real laugh. We had good food (on the night of the barbecue I ate 2 steaks, 6 sausages and 4 servings of pasta!) and spent both evenings sipping the odd beer on the deck with the crew. Snorkelling the next morning after finally hitting the deck at 4am was slightly painful.
So a great 3 days was wrapped up with a full-speed-ahead sail back to the mainland, with full sails up and the deck lying almost perpendicular to the waves, great fun despite getting drenched!
The next step was Townsville in order to visit Magnetic Island - so named by captain Cook, as when he sailed past it was thought that his compass was disturbed and so he presumed the island musst have some magnetic field (bit of history for you there!). There wasn't alot to see on the island but equally it was a good opportunity to take stock after a busy few weeks. The island is thought to be one of the most densely populated places in Australia for Koalas, however as always I didn't see a single one!
So as my time in Aus draws to a close, I'm spending a couple of days in Cairns before flying back to Sydney. Tomorrow I am booked to scuba dive and snorkel the great barrier reef so I'm hoping that will be as amazing as it should be. Then a few final days with good friends in Sydney before the final step - flying to New Zealand.
- comments