Hi Everyone, Sara and I have been keeping very busy exploring Australia. I'm writing the blog from my sick bed (nothing serious- don't worry) while Sara is sunning herself at Noosa (Queensland) beach. Very unfair!
Sara's' last entry left you at the end of our Adelaide trip, and what a relief it was to leave. The city as a whole has very little to offer unless you aim becoming obese and bankrupt, though it's possible to live cheaply if you take the time to cook your own food. Which is exactly what we have in abundance- time that is.
We flew from Adelaide to Brisbane landing just before midnight and being the organised pair, we didn't bothered to book a hostel in advance. Bad idea. The hostels were either fully booked or asking for double the normal rate, due to the unsightly hour, leaving us with one option - sleeping at the airport. Our slumber was sporadic as the terminal announcer was set every fifteen minutes to warn travelers of the various dangers of flying with liquids etc. Thanks for the Advice!
Once dawn broke we packed up our camp and took the first sky train into Brisbane central, eventually finding a converted 5 tier town house directly opposite the station and only a few minutes walk from all the city attractions. The room was so basic it was boarding on jail house - but you know what they say - location, location, location. Barely spending anytime in our room we ventured out to one of Brisbane's main attraction the Australian National Zoo which is an hours train journey north of Brisbane. At the Zoo's entrance you were met with banners and posters of the late, great Steve Irwin proclaiming phrases such as "Crikey" and "Crocs Rule!". Riveting stuff. Once inside it became apparent just what a tremendous job the guy had done whilst he was alive, with wildlife ranging from massive Crocs (one named Acco is exactly 1 ton) to tiny, but deadly, snakes. There was a South East Asia wing housing Elephants and eight baby tigers. Free shows are available all day and you can happily hop along side Kangaroos and Wallabies without them batting an eyelid. Fantastic day out and highly recommended. I think Sara has uploaded the photos both on facebook and flickr so you can have a look at that too!
Our second and last day in Brisbane was spent at the city beach. Yep, city beach. A wonderful invention that only the barmy Aussies could conjure up. It's situated on the bank of the river running through the city, with cafes and cultural centres dotted on the outskirts it was apparently the epicentre for all the 'young things'. At night adjacent to the beach was an open air jazz concert performed by the University's band...... does it get much better?
from Brisbane we headed north by Greyhound (bus not mammal) to Fraser Island along the way passing some interesting town names. Whilst on the subject here are our top 3:
- Wollongong (Musical Instrument made from Cotton?)
- Mallacoota (Harmless Wildcat?)
- Wagga Wagga (Mamma, Mamma)
Anyway, far too easily distracted...
We arrived in Hervey Bay and we were quickly placed in groups to do the 'self drive tour' of Fraser Island. Groups are usually between seven or eight people, however our dyslexic organiser managed to make our group eleven people, making the 4x4 an extremely tight fit! Not to worry, they said, and gave us three tents that should accommodate eleven people. But the tents seemed to have been made during the second world war and used as bomb shelters. One of them wouldn't even stand and our group was now down to two tents. Joy. So two very cramped nights were spent camping on Fraser Island beaches - but that didn't matter - nor did the rain - or dingos eating all our steaks. bacon and muesli bars - nope, none of it mattered because its one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Once you throw in a good group of people, a little wine and some off roading 4x4 style you have a brilliant three days. Both Sara and I had a go driving the 4x4 and Sara managed to drive through some pretty rough paths only getting stuck once (by a tree on the road that she thought we could easily drive over, which resulted in some sore backs and a bogged 4x4)
After leaving Fraser Island we made our way down to Noosa which was just gorgeous in a VIP Miami sort of way! I fell ill whilst here so Sara spent two days kayaking by herself on the river and sunbathing in the (apparently) beautiful beach!
This is it for now, otherwise the post will be far too long and the next 2 weeks of Australia deserve to be well written about! We are currently in Melbourne so our next post will be from Singapore! Weeeee
Miss you all and keep in touch! XX
Tom and Sara
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Saying goodbye to Ralphie...
Hello fellow blog readers!
Today it's me (Sara) writing to you as Tom is busy reading his book and I have nothing to read at the moment! For the record I have read 13 books since starting this trip, 11 of which were whilst in South East Asia (not that I'm counting or keeping a star rating of every book!!)
First thing, we have uploaded loads of photos on our flickr account so you can go and have a look! http://www.flickr.com/photos/35491783@N03/
Tom and I are doing very well and today we reached the end of our campervan experience, which although it's sad, it's also nice to be back into a normal life of sleeping in a bed and carrying our bags around! It was loads of fun though and even with all the cold and rain we really enjoyed the experience!
As a quick update, for those of you who don't know, Tom and I changed our flights once again and we are now leaving Australia on the 26th May (2 days before my B-day!!) to go back into South East Asia- nothing against New Zealand and Australia but we just really (!!!) loved Asia and feel that there is still a lot for is to experience and see back there, in the warmth of the land of smiles! We even miss the people selling us loads of useless stuff and the tuk tuk drives everywhere!
Now back to Australia, we left you in Torquay- the land of surf- and a lot has happened since! Gemma, please go and check a photo on our Flickr account with the most amazing chocolate crepe ever!!
We started our journey on the Great Ocean Road which is just absolutely beautiful- just driving along with the sea and the massive cliffs hanging on your side is an unique experience! So we left Torquay and drove straight to the Ottway National Park- it took us a while as we stopped a lot to take in all the views! We managed to get to the national park in time to look for a free camping site to stay the night, this was probably one of the best nights we had camping! We arrived at the campsite and went for a short walk where we saw a family of Koalas eating on the trees literally only a few meters from us! We then got back and decided to make a fire for the night to we spent a few hours gathering wood and Tom destroyed a tree that we thought it was dead by snapping one of its branches in half. With a bit of help from one of the guys staying at the site we managed to gather enough wood to last us most of the night! And what a fire it was! You would all be so proud- it was roaring!! So tom and I spent the night keeping warm by the fire, sitting under the starts, which was really nice!
The next day we decided to explore Ottway national park and went to a really cool rainforest where they built this tree top thing 9basically its a 600 mts long, 25 mt high elevated tree top walk- kind of like bridges on top of the tress so you could walk around and see the rainforest at its best!). My camera ran out of battery at this point (typical) so the reat of the day doesn't have any photographic evidence, which is a shame, as we drove to the 12 Apostles next which was just stunning! It's basically a lookout with nothing between us and Antarctica but the amazing Southern Ocean -if you look south- but if you look West, across three oceans, you would be looking at the Argentinean coast line. In between you can contemplate the ruins of cliffs, scattered around the ocean, as a result of its erosion by the wind, rain and forceful waters. The day was sunny so the sights were just stunning!
We stayed in Warnambool that night which was pretty uneventful apart from the fact that we cooked like a fish stew with prawns (sim mae, eu comi camaroes!!) and sword shark and half way through the night I had to go and be sick (maybe the prawns?)...
From Warnambool we drove to Nelson which is the smallest town in the world (not a fact but felt that way!)and Tom and i spent a few hours down the local (and only) pub in town!
From Nelson we drove to Kingston (reminded us of you Gem Gems!!), where we stayed in another very quiet town where the highlight was going for an after dinner walk by the beach!
The last two days with Ralphie (for those of you not following that's our campervan) and went to Barossa valley! A lot of people would be soo jealous of us as this is the biggest wine region of Australia where all you can see is vineyard after vineyard including Jacobs Creek's! Tom and I went on the obligatory wine tour and tasted some very fine wines and fortified wines such as a 100 year old port! (I couldn't stop thinking about Strange and Jon B!! but I do have pictures!! The village here is gorgeous and really picturesque- we loved this place soo much!
So today we arrived in Adelaide and dropped Ralphie off! So sad... but we are staying at a very cool hostel where they give us free apple pie at 20h! Yummy!!! And tomorrow we are hiring some bikes (for free!!) from across the road to go and explore the city before leaving to Brisbane on Wednesday!
Uff....I guess I'm done! Jess, welcome back to England- I will reply to you next time I'm online!! Everyone else, miss you lots and hopefully speak soon! XXXX Muahhhh
Tom & Sara
Today it's me (Sara) writing to you as Tom is busy reading his book and I have nothing to read at the moment! For the record I have read 13 books since starting this trip, 11 of which were whilst in South East Asia (not that I'm counting or keeping a star rating of every book!!)
First thing, we have uploaded loads of photos on our flickr account so you can go and have a look! http://www.flickr.com/photos/35491783@N03/
Tom and I are doing very well and today we reached the end of our campervan experience, which although it's sad, it's also nice to be back into a normal life of sleeping in a bed and carrying our bags around! It was loads of fun though and even with all the cold and rain we really enjoyed the experience!
As a quick update, for those of you who don't know, Tom and I changed our flights once again and we are now leaving Australia on the 26th May (2 days before my B-day!!) to go back into South East Asia- nothing against New Zealand and Australia but we just really (!!!) loved Asia and feel that there is still a lot for is to experience and see back there, in the warmth of the land of smiles! We even miss the people selling us loads of useless stuff and the tuk tuk drives everywhere!
Now back to Australia, we left you in Torquay- the land of surf- and a lot has happened since! Gemma, please go and check a photo on our Flickr account with the most amazing chocolate crepe ever!!
We started our journey on the Great Ocean Road which is just absolutely beautiful- just driving along with the sea and the massive cliffs hanging on your side is an unique experience! So we left Torquay and drove straight to the Ottway National Park- it took us a while as we stopped a lot to take in all the views! We managed to get to the national park in time to look for a free camping site to stay the night, this was probably one of the best nights we had camping! We arrived at the campsite and went for a short walk where we saw a family of Koalas eating on the trees literally only a few meters from us! We then got back and decided to make a fire for the night to we spent a few hours gathering wood and Tom destroyed a tree that we thought it was dead by snapping one of its branches in half. With a bit of help from one of the guys staying at the site we managed to gather enough wood to last us most of the night! And what a fire it was! You would all be so proud- it was roaring!! So tom and I spent the night keeping warm by the fire, sitting under the starts, which was really nice!
The next day we decided to explore Ottway national park and went to a really cool rainforest where they built this tree top thing 9basically its a 600 mts long, 25 mt high elevated tree top walk- kind of like bridges on top of the tress so you could walk around and see the rainforest at its best!). My camera ran out of battery at this point (typical) so the reat of the day doesn't have any photographic evidence, which is a shame, as we drove to the 12 Apostles next which was just stunning! It's basically a lookout with nothing between us and Antarctica but the amazing Southern Ocean -if you look south- but if you look West, across three oceans, you would be looking at the Argentinean coast line. In between you can contemplate the ruins of cliffs, scattered around the ocean, as a result of its erosion by the wind, rain and forceful waters. The day was sunny so the sights were just stunning!
We stayed in Warnambool that night which was pretty uneventful apart from the fact that we cooked like a fish stew with prawns (sim mae, eu comi camaroes!!) and sword shark and half way through the night I had to go and be sick (maybe the prawns?)...
From Warnambool we drove to Nelson which is the smallest town in the world (not a fact but felt that way!)and Tom and i spent a few hours down the local (and only) pub in town!
From Nelson we drove to Kingston (reminded us of you Gem Gems!!), where we stayed in another very quiet town where the highlight was going for an after dinner walk by the beach!
The last two days with Ralphie (for those of you not following that's our campervan) and went to Barossa valley! A lot of people would be soo jealous of us as this is the biggest wine region of Australia where all you can see is vineyard after vineyard including Jacobs Creek's! Tom and I went on the obligatory wine tour and tasted some very fine wines and fortified wines such as a 100 year old port! (I couldn't stop thinking about Strange and Jon B!! but I do have pictures!! The village here is gorgeous and really picturesque- we loved this place soo much!
So today we arrived in Adelaide and dropped Ralphie off! So sad... but we are staying at a very cool hostel where they give us free apple pie at 20h! Yummy!!! And tomorrow we are hiring some bikes (for free!!) from across the road to go and explore the city before leaving to Brisbane on Wednesday!
Uff....I guess I'm done! Jess, welcome back to England- I will reply to you next time I'm online!! Everyone else, miss you lots and hopefully speak soon! XXXX Muahhhh
Tom & Sara
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Skipping Thailand and into Australia
First and foremost I need to apologise for the lack of blogs posted since leaving Thailand. Australia simply doesn't have the range of Internet places and it's fairly pricey too.
Anyhoo, we left Bangkok the day before the riots broke out which was extremely lucky as we know of a few people who had their flights delayed or couldn't get to the airport on time as the roads were blocked. Such a sad state of affairs for a beautiful country.
So we flew out to Sydney arriving on Easter Saturday, which meant little at the time but after a while it became apparent that every hostel and camper van had been fully booked. We spent 5 hours at the airport trying to come up with a solution which included a trip to McDonald's for the first time in months. This was our first realisation of how expensive Oz was going to be as two meals cost $18!
Eventually we got a bus into a suburb named Kings Cross which didn't have any trains but was instead filled drunks. The area is apparently renowned for its party and drinking culture, though it was still tame compared to London's hectic spots. The only hostel with space left in our price bracket was named Kanga and seemed to house French people only, or more specifically Parisians. It turned out that there were many nationality's staying there, for instance I managed to play 5-a-side football with an Israeli, Belgian, Mexican, Frenchman, German, Moroccan, Spaniard and an Irishman..... which turned out to be a very tight game, ending up with the Latin based team winning 10-9.
Whilst in Sydney we did the usual sight seeing, starting with the Botanic Gardens and ending with the Opera House, though the day was cut short by an almighty down pour. The day after we booked a campervan and ventured off to see what the rest of New South Wales has to offer. Our van (which we have named Ralfie) is a Hightop model with fridge - cooker - sink - eating area / sleeping area / and storage space for our luggage it does 0-60kpm in two hours and can be as flimsy as a sheet of A4 paper. But we love it. Our first night was spent in a coastal town called Coledale which has little to offer but stunning beaches and a quiet life - hard times eh. We have been going for 14 days now and have spent our time divided between the following:
Coledale - Saw some dolphins and was wonderfully hot. We stayed at the coolest campsite so far, right on the beach and Sara had her first swim in Australian waters.
Jervis Bay -Saw some Fairy Penguins and was wonderfully hot, with beaches of white sands and crystal clear freezing waters.
Canberra - Very surreal Capital city with lots to do if you enjoy politics and Museums.
Mallacoota - Favourite place to stay and the most Southern Eastern point of Australia. Saw some pelicans too and spent quite some time trying to take Ralfie out of our campsite as it was all muddy and on a steep hill!
Lakes Entrance - Very touristy spot with loads of different junk shops along its high street.
Phillips Island - Great place to stay with amazing views but very little happening at night. The sunset here was amazing and we also went to Maru national park and we handfed some adorable Kangaroos (although Sara was considerably scared), saw some Koalas and played a round of pirate crazy golf!
Melbourne - My favourite place in all of Oz thus far. Watched a 3-D movie (Monsters Vs Aliens) and ate some of the best steaks one can imagine. Also hit the casino and lost some money... but we got to see the city at night which is just stunning.
Geelong - The weather turned for the worst here, giving up gale force winds which were bitterly cold. Though Ralfie toughed it out and it turned out to be a warmish night in the cabin.
Torquay - Nothing like its English name sake as this is the capital of surf. Sara is due for a lesson but at the moment it's still too cold to even think about the water let along go in.
Sorry about the short and concise blog but now we are back on track I can fill you in with more detail next time. We're at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road drive and it's promising to be very beautiful few days.
On a different note, we have also decided to change our plans and not go to New Zealand for the last 2 months of our trip. We just can't bear spending 2 more months in the cold and need to go back to warmer places. So we are heading off back to South East Asia and doing instead Singapure, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines!
Hope all is well with you and please be better than us at keeping in touch as we do love to hear from everyone!
Love,
Tom & Sara
Anyhoo, we left Bangkok the day before the riots broke out which was extremely lucky as we know of a few people who had their flights delayed or couldn't get to the airport on time as the roads were blocked. Such a sad state of affairs for a beautiful country.
So we flew out to Sydney arriving on Easter Saturday, which meant little at the time but after a while it became apparent that every hostel and camper van had been fully booked. We spent 5 hours at the airport trying to come up with a solution which included a trip to McDonald's for the first time in months. This was our first realisation of how expensive Oz was going to be as two meals cost $18!
Eventually we got a bus into a suburb named Kings Cross which didn't have any trains but was instead filled drunks. The area is apparently renowned for its party and drinking culture, though it was still tame compared to London's hectic spots. The only hostel with space left in our price bracket was named Kanga and seemed to house French people only, or more specifically Parisians. It turned out that there were many nationality's staying there, for instance I managed to play 5-a-side football with an Israeli, Belgian, Mexican, Frenchman, German, Moroccan, Spaniard and an Irishman..... which turned out to be a very tight game, ending up with the Latin based team winning 10-9.
Whilst in Sydney we did the usual sight seeing, starting with the Botanic Gardens and ending with the Opera House, though the day was cut short by an almighty down pour. The day after we booked a campervan and ventured off to see what the rest of New South Wales has to offer. Our van (which we have named Ralfie) is a Hightop model with fridge - cooker - sink - eating area / sleeping area / and storage space for our luggage it does 0-60kpm in two hours and can be as flimsy as a sheet of A4 paper. But we love it. Our first night was spent in a coastal town called Coledale which has little to offer but stunning beaches and a quiet life - hard times eh. We have been going for 14 days now and have spent our time divided between the following:
Coledale - Saw some dolphins and was wonderfully hot. We stayed at the coolest campsite so far, right on the beach and Sara had her first swim in Australian waters.
Jervis Bay -Saw some Fairy Penguins and was wonderfully hot, with beaches of white sands and crystal clear freezing waters.
Canberra - Very surreal Capital city with lots to do if you enjoy politics and Museums.
Mallacoota - Favourite place to stay and the most Southern Eastern point of Australia. Saw some pelicans too and spent quite some time trying to take Ralfie out of our campsite as it was all muddy and on a steep hill!
Lakes Entrance - Very touristy spot with loads of different junk shops along its high street.
Phillips Island - Great place to stay with amazing views but very little happening at night. The sunset here was amazing and we also went to Maru national park and we handfed some adorable Kangaroos (although Sara was considerably scared), saw some Koalas and played a round of pirate crazy golf!
Melbourne - My favourite place in all of Oz thus far. Watched a 3-D movie (Monsters Vs Aliens) and ate some of the best steaks one can imagine. Also hit the casino and lost some money... but we got to see the city at night which is just stunning.
Geelong - The weather turned for the worst here, giving up gale force winds which were bitterly cold. Though Ralfie toughed it out and it turned out to be a warmish night in the cabin.
Torquay - Nothing like its English name sake as this is the capital of surf. Sara is due for a lesson but at the moment it's still too cold to even think about the water let along go in.
Sorry about the short and concise blog but now we are back on track I can fill you in with more detail next time. We're at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road drive and it's promising to be very beautiful few days.
On a different note, we have also decided to change our plans and not go to New Zealand for the last 2 months of our trip. We just can't bear spending 2 more months in the cold and need to go back to warmer places. So we are heading off back to South East Asia and doing instead Singapure, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines!
Hope all is well with you and please be better than us at keeping in touch as we do love to hear from everyone!
Love,
Tom & Sara
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