The only update I give to you is that we arrived in Cairns and are due to leave it for Alice Springs in the morning. We're doing a 6 day tour down to Adelaide from here but the bad news is that we're being collected at 5.10. Ouch. Back to Cairns. It's a big enough place and the pubs are very good craic here. Maybe a little too much. We arrived in here late and the next morning we hit off for the Cape Tribulation tour which we were doing over 2 days and 1 night. The driver Troy with Jungle Tours was really good. We hit Port Douglas on the way up which is a yuppie tourist town. It has a local population of 9000 yet it doesn't have a hospital or a school while a smaller town of 4000 up the road has both. We also did a river cruise where we saw crocodiles and flying foxes. We stayed in the Beach House in Cape Tribulation which was fairly dull but on the plus side it did allow us to see the beach and the lookout the following day. The tour had 2 Mayo girls, Ann and Majella who we ended up going out with when we arrived back to Cairns. Nursing a hangover today we manged to do the Kuranda skyway and the train return. Lovely scenery and the Barron falls were amazing. It's the most spectacular waterfall I've seen on the trip yet. The photos will do more justice than my description. It's probably more amazing at the moment as there's a huge amount of rain.
I also added more photos into that same folder as below.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tully, Mission Beach
It must have been all the rain in Aerlie Beach that had me in bad form. Queenslanders aren't a bad aul sort although the majority of hostel owners are thieving gypsies. The hostel banana barracks in Tully is a dive and they do have the fruitpickers there over a barrel as it's the only backpackers in the town. The backpackers who want to stay on do this as if you work for a 3 month stint on a farm you get another year on your visa. Having said that we were delighted to have it to go for a drink as the other bar in the town in the Hotel Tully was closing as 7.22 PM. The next day we were doing the white water rafting with Raging Thunder. This was excellent. Any of the lads reading this will be pleased to know that I managed to stay in the boat but just about. I half fell out but managed to hold onto the ropes. John Tobin has my other fallout on general release as I assume most of you have seen. They've stopped doing DVDs so you'll have to depend on my own version of events. We went back to Mission Beach after this and we're still there but are due to leave for Cairns this evening.
I couldn't see anything about the croc in Mission beach but I came across this. Gives a new meaning to Water hazards:
"A CROCODILE that has taken a preferred lie in a water hazard on The Willows Golf Club course at Townsville in north Queensland golf course is to be allowed to stay. The metre-long freshwater crocodile was found following recent floods in a lake on the 14th hole at the Willows Golf Club at Kirwan, near Townsville. As he poses no threat, Queensland Parks and Wildlife decided he could stay until he chooses to move."
Here's a story about the yacht that was wrecked on Aerlie beach:
Romance
We had trouble getting up from Aerlie to Tully and there were no buses operating due to the floods one of the days. When we did get up we couldn't see what the fuss was all about. An area Mackay further south was declared a natural disaster zone though. See:
Mackay
Here's some pictures anyway:
I'll have to get some cheerier news for next time. It's starting to sound liker naturaldisasters.com.
I couldn't see anything about the croc in Mission beach but I came across this. Gives a new meaning to Water hazards:
"A CROCODILE that has taken a preferred lie in a water hazard on The Willows Golf Club course at Townsville in north Queensland golf course is to be allowed to stay. The metre-long freshwater crocodile was found following recent floods in a lake on the 14th hole at the Willows Golf Club at Kirwan, near Townsville. As he poses no threat, Queensland Parks and Wildlife decided he could stay until he chooses to move."
Here's a story about the yacht that was wrecked on Aerlie beach:
Romance
We had trouble getting up from Aerlie to Tully and there were no buses operating due to the floods one of the days. When we did get up we couldn't see what the fuss was all about. An area Mackay further south was declared a natural disaster zone though. See:
Mackay
Here's some pictures anyway:
 |
| Whitsunday |
I'll have to get some cheerier news for next time. It's starting to sound liker naturaldisasters.com.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Koala's, Westpac
This is only of interest for anyone travelling Australia. I'd avoid the Koala's like the plague. The hostels in Noosa and Hervey Bay were terrible. The kitchens were tiny and it was like fight club trying to get yourself dinner. In Noosa the only knife was stuck in between a cooker and the microwave so to cut anything you were constantly on the move. In these places it's like they're trying to make conditions so bad that you have to buy dinner in the bar. Also their trip to Fraser Island is terrible with both the vehicles and the equipment substandard. They don't seem to service the vehicles at all. Our clutch was wrecked by the second day and when you pressed it down you had to have a piece of string to pull it back up. Also when we rang from the port to get their assistance with the car which was basically unroadworthy we were told they couldn't collect it. We also heard that another Koalas vehicle had the same problem while we were there. As part of the equipment we were given a rusty shovel that cracked the first time we used it. They also had the cheek to charge the group beside us for a knife that fell apart when they were cutting vegetables for dinner. The lads that run this are most arrogant group of people. They have a $60 bond from each person so that you can't complain about the abuse/insults you get or they keep part of your bond. They asked the girls in our group to demonstrate French kissing. I'm emailing this to lonely planet so that hopefully they can take out any reference to these in the next issue. I think the place in Aerlie Beach is already taken out of it.
While I'm at it avoid Westpac. They try to charge you for any international transactions and they tried to charge me twice for the same transaction.
While I'm at it avoid Westpac. They try to charge you for any international transactions and they tried to charge me twice for the same transaction.
Noosa, Frasier Island, Whitsundays
Noosa was a great spot. Lovely place to have a look around. Really enjoyed the surf here.
Our next stop was Hervey Bay. There's not much happening here bar people either going to Fraser Island or coming back. The Aboriginal name of this island K'gari means paradise which I think it should really be known as. The name Fraser comes from the widow of Captain Fraser who is meant to have told exaggerated tales of how her husband was killed/died. The island itself is amazing. It's the largest sand island in the world. Lake MacKenzie and Lake Wabby are 2 freshwater lakes which are amazing. The view from Indian Head is fantastic. Champagne Pools is a rock pool that gets filled by the breaking surf of the sea outside. We spent 3 days and 2 nights here with 7 other people who were really sound. Was great to see again. I've been to all the places north of here on the east coast but if they're anything like Fraser it'll be great to see them again.
We arrived in Aerlie beach on Tuesday after a 15 hour journey which should have been 12. The floods here are fairly bad. We just about got through. At some places we had just under the 0.3 metres of water. If it's above this it's not allowed to drive. There are boats washed up on the beach here and one boat Romance was actually wrecked the day before we were due to go out but the weather had calmed considerably by the next morning. It has been rumoured that the crew of this boat were actually drinking so that could have had an effect. We got poxy lucky with the weather and had great weather for 2 of the 3 days. Also the crowd we went with were sound out with 2 from Glasgow, 2 from Nottingham, A Melbourne lad and a Danish girl and 1 German. We got 3 snorkels in over the 3 days and also saw Whitehaven beach in the sunshine which helped. The fish were amazing here but I think there was better on the Ningaloo reef in WA. Is that a bit too much namedropping? The food on board was really good as well. Last night just as we headed for bed it started lashing and it's only really stopped recently. In Mackay which is about 50 km from us they've had 348 mm in the last 24 hours. Also Queensland has had double their usual February rainfall in 15 days. This is worse than normal but having said that we were told on the boat that this is normal for monsoon season which is November till March and they couldn't believe that the tourist operators would hide this from us. We're used to this by now as Eastern Australians either have their heads up their own arses or are just out and out liars. For instance when we visited the shark show in Hervey Bay the guy running this was basically saying that alot of the shark attacks here are covered up by the government unless there's an actual eye witness. There was one in Mission Beach a couple of days ago and it was never reported in the media.
Because of the weather we're going to skip Magnetic Island and head straight for Tully tomorrow assuming the bus is going north. At the moment it's very touch and go.
More photos here:
Our next stop was Hervey Bay. There's not much happening here bar people either going to Fraser Island or coming back. The Aboriginal name of this island K'gari means paradise which I think it should really be known as. The name Fraser comes from the widow of Captain Fraser who is meant to have told exaggerated tales of how her husband was killed/died. The island itself is amazing. It's the largest sand island in the world. Lake MacKenzie and Lake Wabby are 2 freshwater lakes which are amazing. The view from Indian Head is fantastic. Champagne Pools is a rock pool that gets filled by the breaking surf of the sea outside. We spent 3 days and 2 nights here with 7 other people who were really sound. Was great to see again. I've been to all the places north of here on the east coast but if they're anything like Fraser it'll be great to see them again.
We arrived in Aerlie beach on Tuesday after a 15 hour journey which should have been 12. The floods here are fairly bad. We just about got through. At some places we had just under the 0.3 metres of water. If it's above this it's not allowed to drive. There are boats washed up on the beach here and one boat Romance was actually wrecked the day before we were due to go out but the weather had calmed considerably by the next morning. It has been rumoured that the crew of this boat were actually drinking so that could have had an effect. We got poxy lucky with the weather and had great weather for 2 of the 3 days. Also the crowd we went with were sound out with 2 from Glasgow, 2 from Nottingham, A Melbourne lad and a Danish girl and 1 German. We got 3 snorkels in over the 3 days and also saw Whitehaven beach in the sunshine which helped. The fish were amazing here but I think there was better on the Ningaloo reef in WA. Is that a bit too much namedropping? The food on board was really good as well. Last night just as we headed for bed it started lashing and it's only really stopped recently. In Mackay which is about 50 km from us they've had 348 mm in the last 24 hours. Also Queensland has had double their usual February rainfall in 15 days. This is worse than normal but having said that we were told on the boat that this is normal for monsoon season which is November till March and they couldn't believe that the tourist operators would hide this from us. We're used to this by now as Eastern Australians either have their heads up their own arses or are just out and out liars. For instance when we visited the shark show in Hervey Bay the guy running this was basically saying that alot of the shark attacks here are covered up by the government unless there's an actual eye witness. There was one in Mission Beach a couple of days ago and it was never reported in the media.
Because of the weather we're going to skip Magnetic Island and head straight for Tully tomorrow assuming the bus is going north. At the moment it's very touch and go.
More photos here:
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| Auckland, Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Noosa, Fraser Island |
Monday, February 4, 2008
Byron Bay, Surfers anti-Paradise, Brisbane
Auckland was very very quiet. It's a city of 1.5 million people but they must be all tee-totallers. We were there on the Monday of the bank holiday weekend and there wasn't a sinner. A table quiz in one of the Irish pubs was as lively as it got. Also had a pint in a pub called father teds here. Great name but the craic was lacking. The following morning we headed for Auckland Skytower. Was very good. Glad I was on the inside of the glass though as there were lads doing vertical drops onto this circle painted in red and white stripes. I'll add the photo when I get a chance.
We flew to the gold coast that afternoon to begin the East Coast adventure. We passed Coolangatta en route on the bus where the world surfing champion, Mick Fanning is from. We finally reached our destination Byron Bay that night. Byron is a good spot but the nightlife outside the hostel was quiet enough. The surf here is the best that I've experienced. The speed of it is amazing. You really fly. Alot of what we did was beach and surfing. Sure how bad. We also did a tour that brought us to Nimbin. This is a drug haven which was interesting to see but I wouldn't like to spend more than an afternoon here. The tour was more interesting for the bus tour and the history lesson of the area we got. The locals here stand up for the community against these multinationals that would make this little town into another surfers paradise which is just skyscrapers all over the place. Subway backhandedly got into the town by going in under another name as they knew there would be protests if they went in under their real name.
We spent 3 nights here before we headed for Surfers. Surfers Paradise is the opposite of what a surfer would call paradise. It's highrise everywhere and the nightlife is very like what the resorts are like in Ayia Napa or how I imagine Ibiza would be like. There's a heap of Irish pubs here but they're not much craic. The first night the nightclubs looked fairly dead.
We headed to the Wet N Wild water park the following day which was brilliant craic. We spent the whole day there even missing the last direct bus back to surfers. The Tornado ride was the best here which has a really steep drop into a funnel shaped tube. Have a look here for more details:
Wet N Wild
That night we headed on a pub crawl of 4 of the nightclubs. Was alright craic with people from 8 of the hostels in Surfers there. It was only $30 and you got a free drink in each of the nightclubs.
With a brutal hangover we headed up the q1 for a view of Surfers to get the mandatory shot of the skyscrapers with the sea in the background. If they're looking for a solution to the water problems in Australia I'd be open to bulldozing this place and putting in a resorvoir here.
We headed onto Brisbane in the afternoon. Nothing really planned here. Just lazing around the city. We met Aisling O Mahony last night for a couple of drinks in her local the Paddo.
We'll head for Australia Zoo tomorrow en route to Noosa. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin became famous from. After that we'll head for Hervey Bay - Frasier Island - Aerlie Beach -Whitsundays - Townsville- Magnetic Island - Tully - Mission Beach - Cairns - Cape Tribulation.
Slan for now.
We flew to the gold coast that afternoon to begin the East Coast adventure. We passed Coolangatta en route on the bus where the world surfing champion, Mick Fanning is from. We finally reached our destination Byron Bay that night. Byron is a good spot but the nightlife outside the hostel was quiet enough. The surf here is the best that I've experienced. The speed of it is amazing. You really fly. Alot of what we did was beach and surfing. Sure how bad. We also did a tour that brought us to Nimbin. This is a drug haven which was interesting to see but I wouldn't like to spend more than an afternoon here. The tour was more interesting for the bus tour and the history lesson of the area we got. The locals here stand up for the community against these multinationals that would make this little town into another surfers paradise which is just skyscrapers all over the place. Subway backhandedly got into the town by going in under another name as they knew there would be protests if they went in under their real name.
We spent 3 nights here before we headed for Surfers. Surfers Paradise is the opposite of what a surfer would call paradise. It's highrise everywhere and the nightlife is very like what the resorts are like in Ayia Napa or how I imagine Ibiza would be like. There's a heap of Irish pubs here but they're not much craic. The first night the nightclubs looked fairly dead.
We headed to the Wet N Wild water park the following day which was brilliant craic. We spent the whole day there even missing the last direct bus back to surfers. The Tornado ride was the best here which has a really steep drop into a funnel shaped tube. Have a look here for more details:
Wet N Wild
That night we headed on a pub crawl of 4 of the nightclubs. Was alright craic with people from 8 of the hostels in Surfers there. It was only $30 and you got a free drink in each of the nightclubs.
With a brutal hangover we headed up the q1 for a view of Surfers to get the mandatory shot of the skyscrapers with the sea in the background. If they're looking for a solution to the water problems in Australia I'd be open to bulldozing this place and putting in a resorvoir here.
We headed onto Brisbane in the afternoon. Nothing really planned here. Just lazing around the city. We met Aisling O Mahony last night for a couple of drinks in her local the Paddo.
We'll head for Australia Zoo tomorrow en route to Noosa. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin became famous from. After that we'll head for Hervey Bay - Frasier Island - Aerlie Beach -Whitsundays - Townsville- Magnetic Island - Tully - Mission Beach - Cairns - Cape Tribulation.
Slan for now.
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