29/05/08

Wow. Just wow. There's no other way to describe it. As our guide on the boat kept saying, "It's not the 'Okay' Barrier Reef; it's not the 'Pretty Good' Barrier Reef. It's The Great Barrier Reef". We snorkelled it today and it was nothing short of an incredible experience. We swam with parrot fish, predator fish and numerous other beautiful marine creatures. We saw colourful coral, bright blue starfish, and we even found Nemo, much to Laura's delight! The most amazing part of the day for me was right near the end when Laura and I were swimming back to the boat. We spotted a sea turtle and tracked it for a bit. He was quite shallow so after getting a photo I dived down and swam alongside him, he was so graceful. We followed him for quite a while into much deeper water, and he eventually surfaced for air… within arms reach of Laura! He then dived down into the deeper water and we lost sight, it was then we realised we'd followed him way too far from the boat, and everyone else was waiting for us! Oops, at least they waited though!

A lot has happened since the last blog, I know we often say that but a lot of changes really have taken place this time. For example; Charlie is no longer with us: he went to live with some other UK backpackers on Monday, but we're not too upset as they gave us a tidy sum for him.

Let's see; we left you in Bundaberg, where we had just finished our stint of fruit picking and were ready to move on. From there we plotted a course to Airlie Beach, where Helen and Dani were working. Our route took us to 'The Town of 1770', where Captain Cook famously landed to fix his boat. From there we carried on up to Rockhampton where we turned inland and headed west, then north to a town called Nebo. From there we hit unsealed road, aiming for Eungella Rainforest and whatever adventures might lie in wait.

We found ourselves ahead of schedule so turned off the track to a ghost mining town called Mt Britton. The road seemed pretty rough and there were numerous parts we thought were strange to see on a 2wd track, especially when we dropped down a steep bank and through a stream at the entrance to the town. It was after this point that I looked at my map (rather than just relying on road signs) and saw that the road we had taken was meant only for 4x4's! 'Speaks volumes for Charlie. The ghost town itself was pretty interesting, and worth having a look around considering we had the time. Heading back out of town we came across a Toyota Hilux doing some off roading close by, the driver looked slightly surprised to see a 2wd van on the track..

We carried on to Eungella, and when turning into a side road came across a huge herd of bulls gathered across the road. They just stared at us and didn't move a muscle. We had to edge forward and gently move them out of the way with the van (Charlie's horn hasn't worked since we bought him). It was almost eerie.

Just before entering the rainforest we passed Eungella Dam, and a really cool looking camping ground. We pulled in for lunch and had a look around, making a mental note to go back for a night if we got the chance. We were only 200kms from Airlie Beach at this point, so still ahead of schedule we started looking for other activities. We passed through the rainforest, which wasn't overly impressive (walking tracks took you deeper in but the track sort of skirted around it), and arrived at Eungella. The visitor's information there recommended visiting 'Finch-Hatton Gorge', which was only a short detour from our route. The road there was crazy. From Eungella we dropped down a steep winding rainforest-covered mountain (read: cliff-face) road with waterfalls running all around, into a plateau of sugarcane fields. Then we turned off onto a dirt track which took us back into the rainforest, through several fords, down rutted track and finally into a gravel car park for gorge visitors, where we saw a Nissan Skyline sports car! God only knows how they got that there! A short walk took us to a waterfall and a large lagoon, where Laura had a dip and I looked on, shivering for her. It was a beautiful setting, right in the middle of the rainforest, and we got some great photos.

We arrived in Airlie Beach just before it got dark. The next few days are a bit of a blur for a number of reasons. We were still recovering from the fruit picking, or rather the stupid hours we worked while fruit picking, and the fact that Airlie Beach is backpacker party central for most of Australia. We met one guy who made a living out of looking after a luxury holiday villa for some Sydney multi-millionaire. This guy was 21, so naturally every night was a party at his place.

I can't remember what days they were but on one day Helen had a day off from the convenience store she was working at so we took her to the campground at Eungella Dam and spent the night there, visiting Finch-Hatton Gorge again on the way. Another day we hired a boat and went on a voyage around the Whitsunday Islands. The boat we had was much like Mike's, a 5.2m half-cabin fishing boat but with a lowly 25hp outboard motor. This was so I didn't need an Australian boat licence to hire it. We saw Daydream Island, landed on South Molle Island, looked around the coast of North Molle Island, had lunch on the mainland on a coral beach, then viewed Long Island and landed on White Rock before heading back in. The sea conditions got quite heavy just before lunch and we all got very wet, it was good fun though. The boat owner said he wished all his customers were like us, with a bit of experience and a bit of confidence, which was nice to hear.

The day we planned to leave Airlie was the day we got a phone call about the van. An English couple had seen a poster back in Bundaberg and were very interested. We hadn't heard any interest in the van in a while so agreed to drive the 700kms back down for them to view. We arrived the next day (last Saturday) and 'Chris' viewed Charlie after he got back from work, then left us in suspense by telling us he'd be in touch before the weekend was out. Sunday afternoon we got a phone call with a good offer, and I accepted on the condition that we kept the surfboard, to which he agreed.

With cash in our pockets we decided we could now lay out a plan that would see us through to landing in Manchester in a few short weeks. We both wanted to spend longer in Australia so we could definitely see Cairns and The Great Barrier Reef, so we changed our flights out to a week later, sacrificing some time in Thailand knowing that from what we'd heard it'd be worth it. We then got some bus tickets to Cairns and organised a relocation van from Cairns to Sydney in my name.

We arrived in Cairns on Tuesday night after a 20hour bus ride and checked into a backpackers for much needed showers and a comfortable bed. We explored the city a bit before bed, and from what we saw it seemed really nice.

We picked up our relocation van yesterday. All the relocation vans are the same cheap price regardless of what model you take. I got my name down for a '2 berth Euro Tourer', which is based on a large transit van. It has all the luxuries inside including hot and cold water, a shower, toilet, a proper air conditioning unit, fridge/freezer, microwave, etc, etc. We could have had an 8 berth Winnebago but I figured this was far more space and luxury than we needed in a vehicle that was an easily manageable size. I can't imagine taking a Winnebago down some of the roads we've travelled, so I don't intend to!

We drove up to Cape Tribulation yesterday. It's situated in the Daintree Rainforest north of Cairns, the oldest rainforest in the world at approximately 120 million years. It's a world heritage listed site, as is The Great Barrier Reef. The two world heritage sites actually join at this point, which is pretty impressive. We caught a boat called Rum Runner to the reef from Cape Tribulation beach this morning, and found ourselves off a picturesque sand desert island called Mackay Island (although we're nowhere near Mackay), which is surrounded by a plethora of beautiful coral reef. It was incredible, I recommend it to everyone.

30/05/08

Today was quite a busy day. Last night we drove down to Port Douglas so we spent this morning there. It's a really pretty town, and reminded us both of a larger version of Margaret River in WA. From there we headed to Kuranda in the tablelands behind Cairns. There's a tiny place in New South Wales called Nimbin, which is regarded as Australia's mini answer to Amsterdam. If that's true then Kuranda would be north Queensland's answer to Nimbin. There was a huge hippie culture, an ultra laid back atmosphere and lots of references to marijuana. We had a walk around the markets then got back on the road heading for Atherton, and the famous "Curtain Fig" tree. I'll let the photo's do the explaining.

The tablelands are famous for their numerous spectacular waterfalls. We picked out 4 and gave them all a visit on our way through to Innisfail (where we're staying tonight). All were equally beautiful, and we got some great photos.

From here we keep heading south. We have the van until the day of our flight on the 8th, then a week in Thailand and a few days in Singapore before we fly back into Manchester. This may be the last blog but hopefully we'll get another one up in Sydney and maybe even again in Thailand or Singapore.

Hope you're all well. Until next time, adios amigos.

Laura and James xx

*Sorry guys, the internet we're on isn't great so we can't upload any photos at the moment. Will try and get them up tommorrow though!