Cairns to Brissie

Having dropped Ricardo back in Cairns we continued on the next leg of our journey using the Greyhound buses. We have about three weeks to get from Cairns to Brisbane. We’ve opted for Greyhound, ideal for stress free and budget travel. Most buses now also have WiFi and phone charging points,  what more could the seasoned traveller need? (Slightly better quality WiFi would be nice....but it has been vaguely useful.) I like the fact the number plates on most greyhounds are dog related...

I feel like I need to squeeze in the highlights now, I’m falling drastically behind on updates, mostly due to having too much fun. Today I am sitting inside catching up on a bit of administration,  mostly for the NZ leg of the trip, but also because I had a bit too much sun yesterday. It’s only takes about 15 minutes in Australia to feel dehydrated, and woozy, especially in the middle of the day, so this sun worshipper is staying indoors today!

Since departing Cairns we have stopped in Townsville, taking in the sights of the Aquarium and Magnetic Island. We hand fed Rock Wallabies and marvelled at the stunning scenery.....

We have been to Airlie beach, gateway to the Whitsundays where we sailed, snorkeled and drank some lovely wine, played Frisby in our stinger suits, and generally laped up a life in the sun on a boat. We saw Whitehaven beach with the whitest sands, and we had a barbecue and looked for nemo under the Sea, saw some mermaids, a perfect day out!

We went to Rockhampton where we ate beef (it is the centre of the Queensland cattle trade) saw some rodeo training, and went to the art gallery,

we went out to a farm in the middle of the outback to herd cattle, ride dirt bikes and cuddle baby kangaroos. I will give Myella farm a special post of its own when I have a chance, because the whole experience was very special, thanks to Lyn, and everyone on the farm!!

......next stop Hervey Bay. We could take a trip to Fraser Island the world’s largest sand island complete with sub tropical rainforest, Pedigree Dingoes, freshwater lakes and four wheel drive tours. Fantastic people on the tour and a great buffet in the hotel we stayed in!!

We are now chilling in Mooloolaba, try pronouncing that after a beer or two, before we hit Brisbane for Australia day. And despite all this time relaxing and enjoying myself I have no time for blog details......but I'm sure you get the picture...?  

No worries it's a rock not a croc......

We spent NYE in Cairns with Ricardo. He used to work with Emma at our favourite pub in Tooting, the Wheatsheaf. It was quite similar to Cheers, everyone knew our names! Ricardo is originally from Brazil, and has been in Australia for just over a year now so it was very exciting to catch up on the other side of the world.

We stayed in the Global Central Backpackers which confirmed that we are past our peak of lairy hostels and prefer the comfort of somewhere with a bit more comfort and some kind of facilities like a wi e glass or a cup of tea in the morning. However we  managed to blend in for the days we were there and drank enough booze so that we didn’t notice the constant noise from the communal areas and main corridor that our room was directly next to, and joked that our prison like room that contained two metal framed single beds, a stupidly noisy air conditioning unit, and no natural day light would simply make us appreciate our next accommodation more! New Year passed in a bit of a blur as we continued to blend in with the party lifestyle of cairns and joined a bar crawl for the evening, and wondering if 2016 will be the year I grow up?!!

Not being the greatest fans of Cairns we hired a car and took a road trip north to the rainforest and Cape Tribulation. What an epic couple of days!  Stop one was only an hour north of Cairns, at Hartley Crocodile Farm. We got there at lunchtime and had an amazing afternoon. They have a lagoon for boat rides, a crocodile breeding tour, snake handling show, crocodile attack show, koala feeding, wallabies, Cassawarys (a prehistoric bird that looks like a turkey with blue head).

We saw everything and had an incredible time. I had to leave the snake handling show when Jesse who was leading the show started to look nervous about a highly poisonous brown snake slithering up his arm with an evil glint I  his eye.... I have never liked snakes. I tried to enjoy the show, but didn’t so retired to the cafe. I enjoyed a half hour of watching crocus in the lagoon and listening to a couple from Barnsley decried why they loved Australia so much. They were highly disappointed that their children, who had lived in Brisbane for two years had returned to the foul weather of the UK, and now their poor grandchildren had to stay indoors from October through to April. I thought about suggesting they invest in some coats, but thought better of it and was distracted by an Iguana wandering across the floor of the cafe.

The pinacle of the day was the crocodile attack show where the croc farmers prove to you just how little water a Croc can hide in, and how powerful their jaws really are.....as if we weren’t frightened enough already. Trent one of the farmers stood in a pool that is about half a meter deep. There is a croc in there lurking about, and it is so hard to tell where he is until he is enticed out, lured by a chicken head dangling on a string. His jaw snapping with immense power as Trent dived behind the safety gate. We then had a boat ride around the lagoon watching crocs fight each other over morsels of food. They really are incredible creatures, and move through the water without causing a ripple because of the way the scales on their backs are aligned. I have learnt two things from this, number one I will only be swimming in pools in Australia, number two I don’t ever want to work in a crocodile farm.

As we continued our drive up to Cape Tribulation we stopped off at the Mossman gorge. A beautiful walk into the rainforest and we found ourselves constantly checking for nature and wildlife. We have been given strict warnings at every place we have stopped about the dangers of crocodiles, snakes, spiders, jelly fish, sharks, mosquitos.....and most things that move. It’s hard not to be a little frightened of all of these things.........As we walked by the side of the flowing water we were comforted by the fact it was mostly clear, and reassured each other constantly as we looked up stream confirming ‘No worries, that’s just a rock, not a Croc,’ or the slightly less catchy ‘It’s only a root, it’s not a snake’, which is often hard to distinguish on the rainforest floor until you’re standing on it! So far the worst we have seen have all been in captivity.....and long may it stay that way!

Dibley (and Morris) Down Under

I arrived at Kingsford Smith Airport imagining the welcome scene from Love Actually. As usual it did not work out like that for me and Miss Morri. I spent an hour getting through security because they wanted to check my walking boots. I walked out of arrivals B, and Emma was waiting for me at arrivals A. After a few messages we managed to locate each other for the joyful reuniting, and wandered round the airport for 20 minutes so engrossed in conversation we kept missing the arrows for the metro.

We spent the next few days in Sydney which I love. It is a stark contrast from India, which is now very dear to my heart, but a very refreshing change to be somewhere so clean, and peaceful, and organised. We spent hours walking round the harbour admiring the Harbour Bridge, and the tiling of the Opera House. We sauntered through the botanical gardens, took a ferry to Manly,  missed three ferries back because the gin and tonics were so delicious in the blazing sunshine.

We caught up with friends. Having Christmas Eve with friends of Emma from London. We had a lovely evening at Bondi beach drinking wine and for me eating beef for the first time in 3 months. That burger was amazing! Christmas in the sunshine was odd but lovely. With another day of wall to wall blue skies we took a bus out to Coogee and did a coastal walk round lots if the headlands through to Bondi again, which was packed with hundreds of people in bikinis, swimming shorts and Santa hats. We found one of a handful of open cafes and we’re warmly welcomed and tucked into a lunch of roasted pumpkin and halloumi salad, calamari and pinot grigio, perfect!

On Boxing day we checked out of our hotel to spend a few days with Sam, a friend we made at cookery school in Thailand 5 years ago, although when we tried to look for the photos of us together on the holiday non of us seem to have them so we did start to question if we really knew each other at all! We had a fabulous couple of days together, watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, my boat dropped out, Emma we’re not sure what happened and Samos won....she claimed she had no information when we were randomly picking them based on whether we liked the sales or not, but I think she might have been lying. We climbed one of the pylons of the Harbour Bridge for some amazing views, walked through the markets at the The Rocks, went to Sydney’s oldest pub,  but went in the bar next door for a drink because it was less busy, but mostly we had an amazing time making cocktails.

The finest creation saw Sams new Nutri-Bullet put to the test making a B59, aptly named whilst we were discussing if we should take the B59 on the drive up to the Blue Mountains and because it was probably the 59th cocktail we had consumed on Boxing Day. It contained, and don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, whisky, baileys, milk and Christmas Pudding, hence the need for the Nutri-Bullet. You’ll all be drinking the next boxing day, especially if I have anything to do with it!

After all that fun it was definitely time for a little bit of good and calm behaviour, before going wild for NYE, so we hired a car and retreated to the Blue Mountains for some fresh air, and a day or two with no booze! The blue Mountains are named such because of all the Eucalyptus trees. There are droplets of eucalyptus oil in the air from them, and  ease of the way the sunlight reflects through the oil gives the mountains a blue haze.

We hiked around Wentworth falls, and the Valley of the Waters. We went to scenic world and got the cable way over Katoomba falls. We got the sky rail over to the three sisters, named in Aboriginal culture, which are three sandstone outcrops as you look over the Jamieson valley. We went to the Carrington hotel, the oldest hotel in Kattomba,  we walked to Pulpit Rock in Mount Victoria, we saw Govetts Leap, and generally wore ourselves out seeing the sights and enjoying the fresh air.
On our second morning we packed up ready to head back to Sydney for our flight up to Cairns, on the drive back we spent a very interesting morning walking around the Norman Linda gallery on the edge of the mountains.  He is famed for his paintings of nude woman and caused a great deal,  of controversy in his local,  community during the 1930s. Well worth a visit, lively sculptures in the garden and we'll informed guide. But then it was time for the off,,and heading to cairns for the new year, woo hoo.