11th December
A long long drive down to Rockhampton. No particular reason for staying here other than to break up the journey. It's actually the steak capital of Australia, which can only mean one thing - Steak for me for dinner (and tomato and pasta for Joey). Went to see james bond in the evening - Casino Royale. Pretty good and a fair debut for Daniel Craig. But really, why does he pout so much?
12th December
Another mammoth drive in order to get to Hervey bay - access point to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. Except we didn't get that far. We ended up in the world's crappiest little camp site near a town called Bagara. How crap? No fresh water, you had to mop the showers after you were done, and the toilets were closed for cleaning between 8 and 10am - checkout being at 10. But we were there for a reason. By 6:30pm we were at the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Services office at Mon Repos beach next door. Why? To watch giant turtles lay eggs on the beach. Quite selfishly, the turtles didn't arrive til about 9:30 (some people kept asking what time they were due - fools) and we didn't get home til about 1am, but it was pretty cool. Our turtle laid her eggs below the tide mark so we had to help move the nest further up shore. Not something you do every day...
13th December
Due to tight deadlines, we could either spend two days on a Fraser Island trip or two days relaxing in Queensland's sunshine coast. Decision? Drop the big island and save bucks by going to the beachey bit instead. Drove to the delightful if slightly pretentious town of Noosa Heads. Ambled around town. This was the first civilisation we'd seen for a while so we were sad to crack on down, but the whole of that coast is similar. Our campsite was just outside maroochydoor. Can you believe that the sites had en-suite bathrooms? What a novelty! Can you believe that they hadn't been decorated since the 70's? They were clean, but finished in a tropical yellow that i've not seen in a bog for a long time... Didn't seem to put joey off her pot routine though!
14th December
Crikey! Isn't she a beauty! The sunshine coast is the home of the late (Sir) Steve Irwin's zoo - Australia Zoo! And we had a ripper day mate! The place is still adorned with pictures and films of him in action. Still a legend... Watched croc feeding (in the crocoseum), hand fed 'roos and ephelants (particularly cool), saw snakes and koalas and possums and many many more... Crocs rule. There is a tribute to Steve-o being put together and the main road is called Steve Irwin Way.
After all the zoo action we checked out mooloolooba beach. Looked nice...
Later that evening... I took my book to the out-house (as you do) for a bit of me-time and who should I see sitting behind the pot, but a bloody great spider. I don't like them. Irrational I know, and this chap was only 2 inches across. At the zoo we'd been tought how crocs and snakes were our friends. Nobody said anything about spiders though, and this little fellow meant business. I referred to andy pipkin's law - they're only trouble if they're bigger than the soul of your shoe. This guy was not bigger than my shoe, however he was behind a toilet. Pipkin's rule should be amended to - they're only trouble if they're bigger than the soul of your shoe or you can't get your foot to him (ie behind the pan). Time to bring in the big guns. Joey... She gave me a giant can of Rid insect spray. Now, after my day at the zoo, I should've been picking the little guy up and releasing him outside. Animals are my friend and all that. But, I also read a story in the local rag about how the Sydney Funnel Web is making a death march north into queensland, so it was either him or me. Well, him or me-and-a-giant-can-of-spider-neutraliser. One of us was going to get the toilet to ourselves. Man versus arachnid. Two legs versus eight. Giant brain versus tiny brain (you choose which way round). Venomous poisonous bite versus slightly sour breath. Fifteen stone versus a few grams. Ding-ding. Round one. I hit him with a long spray and he hid behind the pipes. Nice defensive move. At this point I wasn't sure whether he'd gone to his underground lair to call up his buddies. But I wasn't scared. I had Rid. A 100% owned and operated Aussie company. He stuck his head out and I zapped him again. This went on for a few minutes. He was a worthy opponent. Eventually he pushed his luck and found himself in no mans land. My crushing flip-flop came down. All over. Hill wins by knock-out. After the glory of victory came the bitterness of guilt. I felt really bad. I've learnt my lesson. If I find myself in a similar situation with a deadly killer, i'll call joey in...
15th December
Went back to Mooloolooba beach to relax for the day. Nice lunch and more sunbathing and reading and sunbathing and relaxing. Well, that was jo. I just arsed around in the sea. Then we hit the highway and found us some more civilisation - Brisbane. Queensland's state capital. Despite the general improvement in weather as we've headed south (less humid), when we got in to Brisbane (or as the locals call it brizzie or briz-o) it poured down. We had dinner outside the camp kitchen under the veranda watching the thunder and lightning through the palm trees. The trees were shaking a little too much for the verocity of the storm (an earlier severe weather warning had been cancelled), so we were a little confused. It turned out that a possum (cat like tree dweller) was eyeing up our dinner from his palm tree base, moving between trees with a dexterity last seen in joey's gymnastics class eighteen years ago. It was the first wild wildlife we've seen that can't kill us. We've still yet to see a wild 'roo. Roadkill doesn't count...
16th December
Finally, some big smoke. Got the bus in to brizzie from the campsite. Excellent transport infrastructure. Busways. Bus only roads. No traffic lights. No pedestrians. No delays. Dirt cheap too. Brisbane is a nice town. Old buildings and new buildings. Old shops and new shops. And shops and more shops. And shops. Mrs. H hasn't shopped since LA (Auckland wasn't memorable for it's shopping unless you wanted to buy a boat). So she did what comes naturally. She browsed. After a couple of hours I checked in at the creche and watched some ashes action. Day three of the perth test. Not too clever. When jo collected me I think my mood was worse than when I went in. My mood must have been pretty bad, as joey has acquired a significant amount of contempt for ricky "punter" ponting. If he's on the radio I have to switch him off. Arrogant chap.
After the shopping/cricket session we ambled round the city's south bank, the arty bit, and hopped on the ferry back up the river.
Brisbane. Nice place.
17th December
From the sunshine coast to brisbane and then the gold coast. Australia's number 1 domestic tourist destination. In particular Surfers Paradise. Strange name for a place. A bit presumptious really. What would a surfer consider paradise? Waves for a start. Check. Surf shops. Check. Chicks. Check. Food and drink. Check. So far so good. But there's more to Surfers than that. Incredibly expensive property (including the worlds tallest residential tower at 80 storeys). Millions of tourists. Thousands of drunk tourists. Hundreds of drunk tourists acting like pillocks. Sunburn (mainly on said pillocks).
After examining Surfers, we moved on down the gold coast and set up camp in the more pleasant burleigh heads. Enough cafes and shops and pristine beaches to entertain us. Not too much to entice the pillocks.
Since we've been away we've seen many things which we have described as surreal. Rock formations, mountains, fjords, parks, glaciers, even people. But this takes first place. We're in burleigh heads on south east queensland's gold coast. We're in a caravan park near a beautiful beach and it's 25-30 degrees. Towering over the campsite, and in particular our neighbour's caravan, is a 12 foot inflatable glow in the dark santa. If this wasn't freaky enough, all of the campers have their own nativity play scenes and gaudy lights. Plus there's christmas carols being sung on the beach. It can't be christmas. It's too warm. Where's the snow? Where are the thick winter coats? Why are people on the beach wearing reindeer ears? Why is there a giant inflatable santa hovering near our van? One large gust of wind and santa could knock our van out of the park...
Joey's musings:- following on from Matt's very descriptive description of our daily events, I will just give a brief synopsis of our last few days!
1. Another night with blow up santa in Burleigh Heads.
2. Byron Bay.....well, what can I say, Matt and I were the only people with no dreads, good personal hygeine and both hands free from carrying either a set of bongo's or digeredoo's.....you could almost smell the lentils - in fact there was no almost about it, you actually could smell the lentils in the camp amenities if you know what I mean!! As we settled down for the night to the sound of drumming circles, we pondered on how unalternative the masses were whilst trying to be alternative in the hope of "finding themselves!". What philistines we are!
3. Day 2 in Byron - as we awoke to the smell of joss sticks and the sight of tie die bikini's hanging in the warm morning sun we got our gear together and made our way to the local dive shop for a spot on snorkelling at the Julian Rocks Marine Park....TBC.
Lots of love,
Joey xxxx
21 December 2006
More Photos of our Adventures!
Matt and Roo at Brizzie Zoo
In the words of Mattie's hero Mr Irwin "Crocs Rule"
Australia Zoo, Brisbane - Home of the late great Steve Irwin
In the words of Mattie's hero Mr Irwin "Crocs Rule"
Australia Zoo, Brisbane - Home of the late great Steve Irwin
Photos - The land of Oz!
Giant Loggerhead turtle nesting - Mon Repos Beach - Queensland
Front Path to our rainforest hut - Mission Beach - Queensland
Our Rainforest Hideaway - Mission Beach - Queensland
Whitsunday Island from the air - Queensland
Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays - Paradise (even in the rain!)
Front Path to our rainforest hut - Mission Beach - Queensland
Our Rainforest Hideaway - Mission Beach - Queensland
Whitsunday Island from the air - Queensland
Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays - Paradise (even in the rain!)
11 December 2006
Queensland - but no queens!
4th December
Well, here we are in tropical queensland, australia. And it is hot. More than that, it is humid. So humid. I don't think that either of us have been anywhere like this. It's above the tropic of capricorn and so the humidity at this time of the year is obscene - it is cloudy and overcast, doesn't drop below 23°c yet doesn't rain... 'til january when it doesn't stop raining!
We arrived here really late last night after a few delays - the plane had to divert to brisbane and it was a bumpy ol' ride! In total we're here for four nights, and the main reason for coming here is the reef and the rainforests. Both of which we plan to get a little sneak of before we leave.
I think joey summarised the end of new zealand. A spot of underground rafting/tubing in glowworm filled caves and some surfing at raglan. The tubing was fun but tamer than the plans we'd made for the previous day. Still, if the caves get flooded, the caves get flooded... Raglan was pretty cool. It's a global surfing hotspot. The waves at manu bay were around 15ft high and way out of my league, but fortunately there was a more suitable bay with 4-6ft waves. As joey said, it wasn't a beginners beach. We were out for an hour, but it was seriously hard work with some interesting currents.
In summary, we loved new zealand. The towns weren't too clever, in many ways it's a bit backward. Technologically it's like england was 20 years ago. It's also extremely remote - 4 million people and 20 million sheep. But what sets the country apart is it's incredible scenery - it's geography and geology. The mountains, the geothermal areas, the fjords, volcanic landscape, stunning beaches, wildlife, and beautiful rivers. So much variety in such a small country. I think we'd like to go back to see more, but it's a long way to go for a holiday! The other thing worth mentioning is the UV. The country is so close to the hole in the ozone layer that you can get burnt in ten minutes on a cold cloudy day. Quite frightening.
So new zealand has come to an end, now starts the aussie adventure. At least we won't be struggling in the cold nights anymore. Even though it gets up to 40°c here we (I) shouldn't burn as much...
5th December
Spiders. That's why I don't like it here. We were having dinner in the Cairns yacht club (not as posh as it sounds) when jo told me she saw a spider cross the floor behind me that was bigger than her hand. As you can imagine, I didn't enjoy the rest of my dinner. I'm not a spider fan, but i'd rather be able to see them than know that they're running around wildly behind me. Especially when they're the size of a hand. We ate up quick and split. All I can think about now is spiders. They're all over me!
6th December
What a great day. Got up at 6:30 and left the hotel at 7:30. By 8am we were lying on the sun deck on the front of a 70ft catamaran. Two hours to michealmas cay in the great barrier reef. The cat dropped anchor about 250m off shore and we pontooned to the cay (sand island). Flippers, goggles, snorkles, and stinger suits on. Within minutes we'd seen a baby black tipped reef shark, blue spotted ray, giant clams and all manner of tropical reef fish including the usually shy joey-fish. I even got a couple of pictures of that beauty! Swam back to the boat and had lunch. The reef itself is brightly coloured and alive! However, large sections are clearly dead or dying. They are grey and lifeless. Apparently this is due to sun bleaching and pollution, plus the occasional cyclone!
Buffet lunch - I think I may have eaten enough to pay for the trip - and then on to the forbidden reef. Not as daunting as it sounds, but another section of reef a few miles away. Another hour of snorkelling and duck-diving. This time we saw some little squid type things and some bigger fish in all manner of colours.
This was followed up by two hours sailing back to the mainland with the sun on our backs. A fantastically fantastic day all together!
And then we had curry for dinner...
7th December
After checking out of our nice hotel we got our underwater photos developed and collected the van. Campervan mark II is smaller than his neanderthal cousin. Much smaller. No toilet, but more storage and more manageable. It's also a lot newer so we're hoping this brute won't give us half as much grief.
After stocking up on tucker we drove down to mission beach. Mission beach is a string of ramshackle communities set in deep thick rainforest about 200km south of Cairns. We felt like we were out in the outback, deep in jungle... Neither of us slept particularly well. The humidity was so intense and the insects make a hell of a racket...
8th December
What was I thinking. Every now and then we do something that I really want to do (surfing or sailing) or something joey might want to do (rollerblading, eating veggie food etc). Well, joey read up on this place called The Sanctury (in mission beach). They do yoga escapes, organic food and all that crap. And you can stay in a deluxe en-suite cabin or a rudimentary hut. We've been in campsites for nearly two months so reckoned we could make do with the hut. We drove into thick rainforest to a small clearing/car park. From there a half mile trek uphill. Now, a half mile walk doesn't seem bad but at 30+ degrees and extreme humidity surrounded by dense rainforest, lizards and toads, we were exhausted when we arrived. Shown to our hut, we discovered it was little more than a mosquito net with a tarpaulin roof and a sliding door. The branches of the trees and palms were right up against the side. My morale was declining...
We went down to mission beach on the sand. A beautiful view of dunk island and the pacific. Unfortunately you can't swim on the beaches at the moment due to the stingers (they kill). So we killed time crocodile hunting (to no avail) and then renewed our wedding vows on the desserted beach, sharing a snack size twix instead of wedding rings. It was jo's twix, so I didn't think she'd be too impressed if I'd just eaten it...
Back to "the sanctury" for a really nice dinner. Lots of yoga and all that going on. It was full of strong powerful women empowering themselves and finding themselves. After dinner we were shown some of the locals. Rhinoceros beetle. Giant stick insect. What about snakes? Oh, you won't see a snake. They're more scared of you... Ever get the impression you're being paid lip service? So mowgli (joey) and baloo (myself) ambled down the narrow path, and who should be blocking our path other than shear kahn (a bloody snake). He was about three feet long and lay across the width of the path. No climbing over him. They're supposed to be shy, so I stamped my foot near him but he didn't budge. You could smell my fear... Reversing slowly we went back to the main hut and informed the guy working there. His response? Oh, it must be the rain that's brought them all out, someone else has just seen one too. Great thanks. Queensland has 8 of the 10 most poisonous snakes including the Taipan. The worlds deadliest. We went back and sammy the snake had gone. We went to bed, but I didn't sleep at all. Maybe the fear of snakes. That and the huntsman spiders (who should also leave you alone) and the bats and the mossies... I think I had maybe one hours sleep. I was just too alert. Somehow princess mowgli slept pretty well and she was frightened of the cane toads...
9th December
...we showered and split pretty quick thinking it would only be a matter of time til I got savaged by a croc. Before we left, we had time to rummage through their wet-tropic animal encyclopedia. It was either a brown tree snake or, yup, a taipan! The brown tree snake is mildly venomous but timid, so should have done a bunk when I stamped my foot. The taipan is aggressive and very poisonous. I dread to think which it was that we saw...
We hit the road. 450km to Airlie Beach. An access town to the Whitsundays which we planned to nail the following day. After the sufferings of the prior night we got in some beers and had a nice dinner. Dinner done, we headed back to the van and what do I see? A huge spider on the van. I scuttled near, hoping to scare him away, but I inadvertently shooed him into the crack between the doors. Meaning? We couldn't open the door without the risk of him being in the van, and I needed some sleep after the prior night... If you'd listened closely, you may have heard murmerings of "i've had enough wildlife" and even "I want to go back to new zealand". After half an hour or so it left of it's own accord, but i'm not sure I can get use to this...
10th December (joey) - well, what can I say....what an amazing morning! Woke up and thought..."what shall we do today?, I know, lets get our own helicopter, fly low over all the Whitsundays and then land on our own section of Whitehaven Beach"....so we did! The Whitsundays are 74 small islands off the coast of tropical Queensland. Whitsunday Island (the biggest) is home to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world..Whitehaven Beach. We're talking the whitest sand ever! (photos to follow!). The flight out there was amazing, you could see everything, forests, beaches, sea etc. Matt and I have now decided to give up our respective careers in favour of becoming helicopter pilots!
(Matt) - yes, whitehaven beach was pretty awesome. The weather wasn't perfect, so few boats or planes went out, thus the need to charter a helicopter (not as dear as you might think). It did mean that the islands were all really quiet and we had the most amazing beach to ourselves.
After that we visited the town centre only to find it's a stop on the east coast backpacker pub crawl. The place was full of soap-dodging 18yr olds finding themselves and wearing homemade clothes, all getting drunk. They could have done it in ibiza for less...
Joey's musings:- Queensland is a weird place, I have never been as near to the tropic of capricorn and all it brings with it....wild parrotts in trees, giant stick insects, spiders and gecko's everywhere! Wildlife is not for the fainthearted....."Matt"!
I am slowly getting used to the heat here, everyday is spent outdoors as the van gets too hot so there is no getting away from it! It has turned into a bit of a whistlestop tour down the coast in a race to reach Sydney by Christmas....we are having a great time through. The night in the rainforest and private ride to The Whitsundays were certainly highlights for me..."oh what a hard life"!
Love to you all,
Joey xxxx
Well, here we are in tropical queensland, australia. And it is hot. More than that, it is humid. So humid. I don't think that either of us have been anywhere like this. It's above the tropic of capricorn and so the humidity at this time of the year is obscene - it is cloudy and overcast, doesn't drop below 23°c yet doesn't rain... 'til january when it doesn't stop raining!
We arrived here really late last night after a few delays - the plane had to divert to brisbane and it was a bumpy ol' ride! In total we're here for four nights, and the main reason for coming here is the reef and the rainforests. Both of which we plan to get a little sneak of before we leave.
I think joey summarised the end of new zealand. A spot of underground rafting/tubing in glowworm filled caves and some surfing at raglan. The tubing was fun but tamer than the plans we'd made for the previous day. Still, if the caves get flooded, the caves get flooded... Raglan was pretty cool. It's a global surfing hotspot. The waves at manu bay were around 15ft high and way out of my league, but fortunately there was a more suitable bay with 4-6ft waves. As joey said, it wasn't a beginners beach. We were out for an hour, but it was seriously hard work with some interesting currents.
In summary, we loved new zealand. The towns weren't too clever, in many ways it's a bit backward. Technologically it's like england was 20 years ago. It's also extremely remote - 4 million people and 20 million sheep. But what sets the country apart is it's incredible scenery - it's geography and geology. The mountains, the geothermal areas, the fjords, volcanic landscape, stunning beaches, wildlife, and beautiful rivers. So much variety in such a small country. I think we'd like to go back to see more, but it's a long way to go for a holiday! The other thing worth mentioning is the UV. The country is so close to the hole in the ozone layer that you can get burnt in ten minutes on a cold cloudy day. Quite frightening.
So new zealand has come to an end, now starts the aussie adventure. At least we won't be struggling in the cold nights anymore. Even though it gets up to 40°c here we (I) shouldn't burn as much...
5th December
Spiders. That's why I don't like it here. We were having dinner in the Cairns yacht club (not as posh as it sounds) when jo told me she saw a spider cross the floor behind me that was bigger than her hand. As you can imagine, I didn't enjoy the rest of my dinner. I'm not a spider fan, but i'd rather be able to see them than know that they're running around wildly behind me. Especially when they're the size of a hand. We ate up quick and split. All I can think about now is spiders. They're all over me!
6th December
What a great day. Got up at 6:30 and left the hotel at 7:30. By 8am we were lying on the sun deck on the front of a 70ft catamaran. Two hours to michealmas cay in the great barrier reef. The cat dropped anchor about 250m off shore and we pontooned to the cay (sand island). Flippers, goggles, snorkles, and stinger suits on. Within minutes we'd seen a baby black tipped reef shark, blue spotted ray, giant clams and all manner of tropical reef fish including the usually shy joey-fish. I even got a couple of pictures of that beauty! Swam back to the boat and had lunch. The reef itself is brightly coloured and alive! However, large sections are clearly dead or dying. They are grey and lifeless. Apparently this is due to sun bleaching and pollution, plus the occasional cyclone!
Buffet lunch - I think I may have eaten enough to pay for the trip - and then on to the forbidden reef. Not as daunting as it sounds, but another section of reef a few miles away. Another hour of snorkelling and duck-diving. This time we saw some little squid type things and some bigger fish in all manner of colours.
This was followed up by two hours sailing back to the mainland with the sun on our backs. A fantastically fantastic day all together!
And then we had curry for dinner...
7th December
After checking out of our nice hotel we got our underwater photos developed and collected the van. Campervan mark II is smaller than his neanderthal cousin. Much smaller. No toilet, but more storage and more manageable. It's also a lot newer so we're hoping this brute won't give us half as much grief.
After stocking up on tucker we drove down to mission beach. Mission beach is a string of ramshackle communities set in deep thick rainforest about 200km south of Cairns. We felt like we were out in the outback, deep in jungle... Neither of us slept particularly well. The humidity was so intense and the insects make a hell of a racket...
8th December
What was I thinking. Every now and then we do something that I really want to do (surfing or sailing) or something joey might want to do (rollerblading, eating veggie food etc). Well, joey read up on this place called The Sanctury (in mission beach). They do yoga escapes, organic food and all that crap. And you can stay in a deluxe en-suite cabin or a rudimentary hut. We've been in campsites for nearly two months so reckoned we could make do with the hut. We drove into thick rainforest to a small clearing/car park. From there a half mile trek uphill. Now, a half mile walk doesn't seem bad but at 30+ degrees and extreme humidity surrounded by dense rainforest, lizards and toads, we were exhausted when we arrived. Shown to our hut, we discovered it was little more than a mosquito net with a tarpaulin roof and a sliding door. The branches of the trees and palms were right up against the side. My morale was declining...
We went down to mission beach on the sand. A beautiful view of dunk island and the pacific. Unfortunately you can't swim on the beaches at the moment due to the stingers (they kill). So we killed time crocodile hunting (to no avail) and then renewed our wedding vows on the desserted beach, sharing a snack size twix instead of wedding rings. It was jo's twix, so I didn't think she'd be too impressed if I'd just eaten it...
Back to "the sanctury" for a really nice dinner. Lots of yoga and all that going on. It was full of strong powerful women empowering themselves and finding themselves. After dinner we were shown some of the locals. Rhinoceros beetle. Giant stick insect. What about snakes? Oh, you won't see a snake. They're more scared of you... Ever get the impression you're being paid lip service? So mowgli (joey) and baloo (myself) ambled down the narrow path, and who should be blocking our path other than shear kahn (a bloody snake). He was about three feet long and lay across the width of the path. No climbing over him. They're supposed to be shy, so I stamped my foot near him but he didn't budge. You could smell my fear... Reversing slowly we went back to the main hut and informed the guy working there. His response? Oh, it must be the rain that's brought them all out, someone else has just seen one too. Great thanks. Queensland has 8 of the 10 most poisonous snakes including the Taipan. The worlds deadliest. We went back and sammy the snake had gone. We went to bed, but I didn't sleep at all. Maybe the fear of snakes. That and the huntsman spiders (who should also leave you alone) and the bats and the mossies... I think I had maybe one hours sleep. I was just too alert. Somehow princess mowgli slept pretty well and she was frightened of the cane toads...
9th December
...we showered and split pretty quick thinking it would only be a matter of time til I got savaged by a croc. Before we left, we had time to rummage through their wet-tropic animal encyclopedia. It was either a brown tree snake or, yup, a taipan! The brown tree snake is mildly venomous but timid, so should have done a bunk when I stamped my foot. The taipan is aggressive and very poisonous. I dread to think which it was that we saw...
We hit the road. 450km to Airlie Beach. An access town to the Whitsundays which we planned to nail the following day. After the sufferings of the prior night we got in some beers and had a nice dinner. Dinner done, we headed back to the van and what do I see? A huge spider on the van. I scuttled near, hoping to scare him away, but I inadvertently shooed him into the crack between the doors. Meaning? We couldn't open the door without the risk of him being in the van, and I needed some sleep after the prior night... If you'd listened closely, you may have heard murmerings of "i've had enough wildlife" and even "I want to go back to new zealand". After half an hour or so it left of it's own accord, but i'm not sure I can get use to this...
10th December (joey) - well, what can I say....what an amazing morning! Woke up and thought..."what shall we do today?, I know, lets get our own helicopter, fly low over all the Whitsundays and then land on our own section of Whitehaven Beach"....so we did! The Whitsundays are 74 small islands off the coast of tropical Queensland. Whitsunday Island (the biggest) is home to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world..Whitehaven Beach. We're talking the whitest sand ever! (photos to follow!). The flight out there was amazing, you could see everything, forests, beaches, sea etc. Matt and I have now decided to give up our respective careers in favour of becoming helicopter pilots!
(Matt) - yes, whitehaven beach was pretty awesome. The weather wasn't perfect, so few boats or planes went out, thus the need to charter a helicopter (not as dear as you might think). It did mean that the islands were all really quiet and we had the most amazing beach to ourselves.
After that we visited the town centre only to find it's a stop on the east coast backpacker pub crawl. The place was full of soap-dodging 18yr olds finding themselves and wearing homemade clothes, all getting drunk. They could have done it in ibiza for less...
Joey's musings:- Queensland is a weird place, I have never been as near to the tropic of capricorn and all it brings with it....wild parrotts in trees, giant stick insects, spiders and gecko's everywhere! Wildlife is not for the fainthearted....."Matt"!
I am slowly getting used to the heat here, everyday is spent outdoors as the van gets too hot so there is no getting away from it! It has turned into a bit of a whistlestop tour down the coast in a race to reach Sydney by Christmas....we are having a great time through. The night in the rainforest and private ride to The Whitsundays were certainly highlights for me..."oh what a hard life"!
Love to you all,
Joey xxxx
05 December 2006
Waitomo Caving Expedition (2nd time lucky - no flooding this time!!)
All tooled up for blackwater tubing - (4th and 5th from left)
2nd and 3rd from left - best cheek forward!
Don't look down!!
2nd and 3rd from left - best cheek forward!
Don't look down!!
More Photo's - Last few days in New Zealand
The Shearing Shed - Waitomo (yes, that's a rabbit!)
The Bridge to Nowhere - Wanganui River
Matt Surfing at Raglan!! (Mmmmm)
Marokopa Falls - near Waitomo
Wanganui River - North Island (13k in 2hrs 10!)
The Bridge to Nowhere - Wanganui River
Matt Surfing at Raglan!! (Mmmmm)
Marokopa Falls - near Waitomo
Wanganui River - North Island (13k in 2hrs 10!)
03 December 2006
Last Days in New Zealand
Well - as I (joey) write our last entry from New Zealand I reflect on our last few days here.........when Matt last spoke to you I believe that we had just been flooded out of the caves in Waitomo! All tooled up and ready to go but it was not to be. It rains hard here and the possibility of being stuck in a flooded cave with the water levels rising was not something I wished to contemplate. Nevermind - the next day (our last in Waitomo) yielded less rain and the chance to go caving/ blackwater rafting in a different cave that doesn't get flooded.....bring it on!
We decided to go on the "black magic" expedition with Cave World. This involved wearing wetsuits and carrying a large rubber ring for 2 hours, swimming through dark underground rivers and jumping off underground waterfalls - much fun indeed. Luckily both Matt and I found out that we were neither claustraphobic or scared of the dark.....lucky that hey! The caves are filled with glow worms which is quite eirie but pretty spectacular and the water is filled with eels which is neither eirie or spectacular......just horrible! The Maori believe that the caves are sacred and a source of spirits, the fact that the natural landscape in NZ has so many stories and significance attached to it is something I love.
Following our little jaunt underground - we spent the rest of the day above ground - in fact in the sea! We drove up to Raglan, NZ's hottest surf spot with supposedly the best left hand break in the world (looked pretty scary to me!). For the second time that day we donned a wetsuit and got stuck in - some of us better than others I hasten to add! (the waves were pretty big so I asked for a stable board - the 9ft beast that I got given was both impossible to carry and control in the water - hence alot of swimming and splashing around on my part!). Matt however was in his element - bring on the Gold Coast!
Following the surfing we drove back up to Auckland to spend our last night in the van......we were quite sad as have loved it. Spend last night in a hotel that looked surprisingly like a very posh hotel in New York but only cost 21 GBP (bargin!)
Bye Bye New Zealand and Thanks for a fantastic trip.........Sweet!
Love to you all,
Joey xxx
We decided to go on the "black magic" expedition with Cave World. This involved wearing wetsuits and carrying a large rubber ring for 2 hours, swimming through dark underground rivers and jumping off underground waterfalls - much fun indeed. Luckily both Matt and I found out that we were neither claustraphobic or scared of the dark.....lucky that hey! The caves are filled with glow worms which is quite eirie but pretty spectacular and the water is filled with eels which is neither eirie or spectacular......just horrible! The Maori believe that the caves are sacred and a source of spirits, the fact that the natural landscape in NZ has so many stories and significance attached to it is something I love.
Following our little jaunt underground - we spent the rest of the day above ground - in fact in the sea! We drove up to Raglan, NZ's hottest surf spot with supposedly the best left hand break in the world (looked pretty scary to me!). For the second time that day we donned a wetsuit and got stuck in - some of us better than others I hasten to add! (the waves were pretty big so I asked for a stable board - the 9ft beast that I got given was both impossible to carry and control in the water - hence alot of swimming and splashing around on my part!). Matt however was in his element - bring on the Gold Coast!
Following the surfing we drove back up to Auckland to spend our last night in the van......we were quite sad as have loved it. Spend last night in a hotel that looked surprisingly like a very posh hotel in New York but only cost 21 GBP (bargin!)
Bye Bye New Zealand and Thanks for a fantastic trip.........Sweet!
Love to you all,
Joey xxx
02 December 2006
Kiwiland - heading North again...
21st november
Drove from timaru to christchurch. Now, considering Timaru was a bit odd/dull, we had high expectations for Christchurch. Named after the college in Cambridge and one of the older towns in NZ. When we arrived at the campsite it was actually sunny, so we did what any good traveller does - make hay when the sun shines. Van doors open, books out, read in the sun. The culture can wait. It's not often the sun shines in the south island. I also went for a haircut... No, not like last time. This girl was an ex brummy who'd been in NZ for 30 odd years.
22nd November
After lounging around on the prior day, it was time to explore Christchurch. Now, we've been to some great cities in the world: London, Paris, Munich, NY, Chicago, LA, Portslade... New Zealand just doesn't do cities well, and whilst Christchurch is probably the nicest this country has to offer, it didn't amuse us for long. The highlight of the day came at dinner time. We'd not eaten out for a while, so decided to treat ourselves and respond to some cravings. We went to Pizza Hut and bought 2 large slab pizzas, garlic bread, wings and diet coke. $22. £7.50. £3.75 each for a stupid amount of food. Each pizza was almost 2 sq ft. I almost nailed mine and jo cleared three quarters of hers. I think it may have tasted better because it was so obscenely cheap...
23rd November
We spent a lot of time on the west coast of the south island which means we haven't had too much time on the east coast. But that's okay. There's bugger all there. As such, another day on the road driving to Kaikoura.
The only notable stop on the drive up was Gore bay. An absoloutely stunning bay with excellent surf and beautiful rocky cliffs...
Kaikoura is one of the world's marine life hotspots. One km out from the coast is a one km drop in the ocean floor which effectively means that you have all manner of whales, sharks and dolphins very near the coast. We walked down the beach and actually watched a couple of sperm whales arsing around from the beach. Pretty cool i'm sure you'll agree. We could have sat there longer and waited for more, but as it was day 1 of test 1 at the Gabba, we spent the afternoon watching the aussies knock seven shades out of our bowlers in a pub...
The whale watching trips are heavily weather dependent and so we had to decide whether to book one for the next day (with supposedly deteriorating weather) or make alternate plans. We made alternate plans and...
24th November
...got up very early to catch the morning surf. Drove in to town to collect a couple of boards and wetsuits and headed 20km up the coast to an excellent surf beach. Where it wasn't at all excellent. The swell was very very poor. A strong off shore was keeping the waves down. Absoloutely gutted, but we didn't give up. We continued up the coast looking for another beach, but it was no better. We returned to the shop with our heads hung low and somewhat dejected. Our plan of surfing in every country is looking at risk. Fortunately, we still have Raglan to visit. Considered one of the best spots in the world... For the rest of the day, we just drove up to Picton where we would get the ferry on the following day. Got there at a reasonable time, so watched the last session of day 2. Poxy aussies...
25th November
Earlyish start for the three and a half hour boat to wellington. Fairly uneventful. Waves up to 5 metres, but the big boat handled them well... The campsite is in Lower Hutt. Home of star wars' "jabba" perhaps? Appropriate as Jo thinks she's a bit of a princess Leah character and i've always fancied myself as a bit of a Han Solo hero type. It has since been suggested that I could play Jabba myself. Not funny. After dinner we went to the cinema and watched "Borat". Amusing enough...
26th November
Knocked about wellington for the day. Wello' is the capital of NZ (or Un Zud as it's pronounced here). As it's capital it contains the national museum Te papa. And it's free. Sweet. We spent about 4 hours in that bad boy learning about the history of it's geography and it's habitants. All very interesting. Joey excelled with bacon and pasta and a couple of beers for dinner.
27th November
Got up early to leave Wellington and crack on back up north. Oh, jo's lost her sunglasses and it's sunny so we divert to a shopping centre. Jo buys new sunglasses. Jo finds old sunglasses. My fault apparently. From here we drive to palmerston north - Student City! Maybe seven or eight students. It held our attention just long enough to nail lunch. One panini and one burger (no prizes for guessing who had which). From there, back on up the highway on the look out for the town of wanganui and the chance of some sort of water based activity on the wanganui river. NZ's longest navigable river. In the town of wanganui we managed to book a little excursion for the following day from pipiriki - 79km up the road. This would mean getting up at 7am to meet at ten. Too early for the slumbersome Hills. So, despite it being late, we got the miles under our belt early doors and spent the night in Ohakune only 25km from pipriki. A special mention to the random couple who knocked up a full roast in the campsite kitchen and managed to put a couple of roasties my way. Top drawer.
28th November
Out the door at nine to get to pipiriki by 10 for some Wanganui river excitement. Basically you jetboat 32km up the river through the wanganui national park to the bridge to nowhere. The river is flanked by the steep walls of gorges up to 80m high. These are draped in rain forest. Amazing waterfalls and rock formations everywhere. The bridge to nowhere is a roadbridge over the river but the connecting roads have long since erroded. After lunch we jetboated 19km back. I know what you're thinking, what about the other 13km? How did you get back? We paddled a canadian canoe through 13km and three sets of rapids. Joey upfront navigating and directing. Me in the engine room at the back. It was supposed to take three hours, but we shocked ourselves by doing it in 2hrs 10min. A combination of hard work and surprisingly good teamwork. Navigating the rapids was awesome fun as we both got soaked and even ran aground at one point. With all the excitement beforehand, the directors of "Hill & Hill Day Trippers Ltd" forgot to charge the battery on the camera and so only managed a few photos on a fantastic day out. In a press release later that day the directors blamed one another. An internal enquiry follows... Anyway, we rewarded ourselves with a delightful dinner of beef stir-fry. Veery-Niice as Borat would say.
29th November
The plan was to drive up leisurely to Waitomo for an adventure thing the following day. However on the previous night we'd been informed by another couple in the campsite kitchen (the ultimate meeting place) of another activity which occurred in Waitomo every day at 12:45. So with a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us, we left at 10:45 looking to beat the clock. I've never seen joey so excited. We got there at 1. Boo. However, the owner of the establishment saw the dissapointment in joey's eyes and put on a special demonstration of... Rabbit Shearing!!! It is perhaps the funniest thing ever. They are angora rabbits and their fur is extremely valuable. If they're not sheared every two months they die of heat exhaustion. I've never seen joey so happy as when she was stroking the little pup! I won't go into detail about the shearing as it looked a little unpleasant. They call it the bunny barbeque. Not nice. After relaxing at the campsite we took a quick trip out to Mangapohue Natural Bridge and Marokopa Falls. The former is all that remains of a collapsed cave. A huge limestone arch. The latter was one of the north islands largest waterfalls. With the limestone rocks, the falls had huge variety and character. It's funny, we've seen more falls in the last month than at any time of my life but I still don't tire of them.
30th November
The real reason that people visit Waitomo is caving. In particular glowworm caves. Us? We came here for black water rafting in glowworm caves. We are the gnarliest of dudes. Abseil. Walk. Swim. Climb. Waterfall jump. Waterfall climb. Tube. Climb. All in rivers through the gloworm caves. Awesome. Except due to 18 hours solid rain the caves flooded. We were tooled up. Wet suits. Harnesses. Helmet. Boots. Absailing training done. Half the group already absailed down in to the cave, when it was called off because the water levels were rising too fast. We were absoloutely gutted. We were looking forward to it since joey booked it a few days ago. We went to the cave museum and the "dry" caves for a half hour walk and then booked a slightly milder adventure for the following morning in caves that don't flood. It'll be at the expense of the surfing, but it'll be worth it as you can't do it anywhere else in the world. Whilst there has been a lot of rain in general, we've been really lucky that whenever we've done activities things have worked out. We were one of the few helicopter loads that made it up the glacier in that week, so we can't moan too much. Early night, ready for caving at 9!
Joey's musings:- well....in precisely 3 days time our work here will be done! As i'm sure Matt will agree we have had an amazing time here. We have braved the roaring 40s (latitude as opposed to age!) and subsequent weather to wholeheartedly embrace the outdoor lifestyle.....Hang on I hear you all say "Jo doesn't like fun!", "what did she do without Topshop", "where is the nearest Mac?", well if you'd have seen me trekking on the glacier, canoeing up rivers and riding the Shotover jet you would think I'd had a personality change (or too much valium!). I am sad to leave NZ and would love to come back - it's paradise....and a rainy, windy one at that!
Matt and I have had a great time together, despite being in a small van with no "cudboard under the wheels" to escape to. The campervan has been a good experience after all, communal camp facilities have enabled us to meet so many nice people from all over the world - and yielded a spot of food envy on my part too! Until now I have never slept outside or in a van so am pleased to tick that off before i'm 30!
Hope all is well with everyone....
lots of love, Joey xxx
P.S. My phone appears to be somewhat unreliable at times but Matt's is still fully functioning.....
Drove from timaru to christchurch. Now, considering Timaru was a bit odd/dull, we had high expectations for Christchurch. Named after the college in Cambridge and one of the older towns in NZ. When we arrived at the campsite it was actually sunny, so we did what any good traveller does - make hay when the sun shines. Van doors open, books out, read in the sun. The culture can wait. It's not often the sun shines in the south island. I also went for a haircut... No, not like last time. This girl was an ex brummy who'd been in NZ for 30 odd years.
22nd November
After lounging around on the prior day, it was time to explore Christchurch. Now, we've been to some great cities in the world: London, Paris, Munich, NY, Chicago, LA, Portslade... New Zealand just doesn't do cities well, and whilst Christchurch is probably the nicest this country has to offer, it didn't amuse us for long. The highlight of the day came at dinner time. We'd not eaten out for a while, so decided to treat ourselves and respond to some cravings. We went to Pizza Hut and bought 2 large slab pizzas, garlic bread, wings and diet coke. $22. £7.50. £3.75 each for a stupid amount of food. Each pizza was almost 2 sq ft. I almost nailed mine and jo cleared three quarters of hers. I think it may have tasted better because it was so obscenely cheap...
23rd November
We spent a lot of time on the west coast of the south island which means we haven't had too much time on the east coast. But that's okay. There's bugger all there. As such, another day on the road driving to Kaikoura.
The only notable stop on the drive up was Gore bay. An absoloutely stunning bay with excellent surf and beautiful rocky cliffs...
Kaikoura is one of the world's marine life hotspots. One km out from the coast is a one km drop in the ocean floor which effectively means that you have all manner of whales, sharks and dolphins very near the coast. We walked down the beach and actually watched a couple of sperm whales arsing around from the beach. Pretty cool i'm sure you'll agree. We could have sat there longer and waited for more, but as it was day 1 of test 1 at the Gabba, we spent the afternoon watching the aussies knock seven shades out of our bowlers in a pub...
The whale watching trips are heavily weather dependent and so we had to decide whether to book one for the next day (with supposedly deteriorating weather) or make alternate plans. We made alternate plans and...
24th November
...got up very early to catch the morning surf. Drove in to town to collect a couple of boards and wetsuits and headed 20km up the coast to an excellent surf beach. Where it wasn't at all excellent. The swell was very very poor. A strong off shore was keeping the waves down. Absoloutely gutted, but we didn't give up. We continued up the coast looking for another beach, but it was no better. We returned to the shop with our heads hung low and somewhat dejected. Our plan of surfing in every country is looking at risk. Fortunately, we still have Raglan to visit. Considered one of the best spots in the world... For the rest of the day, we just drove up to Picton where we would get the ferry on the following day. Got there at a reasonable time, so watched the last session of day 2. Poxy aussies...
25th November
Earlyish start for the three and a half hour boat to wellington. Fairly uneventful. Waves up to 5 metres, but the big boat handled them well... The campsite is in Lower Hutt. Home of star wars' "jabba" perhaps? Appropriate as Jo thinks she's a bit of a princess Leah character and i've always fancied myself as a bit of a Han Solo hero type. It has since been suggested that I could play Jabba myself. Not funny. After dinner we went to the cinema and watched "Borat". Amusing enough...
26th November
Knocked about wellington for the day. Wello' is the capital of NZ (or Un Zud as it's pronounced here). As it's capital it contains the national museum Te papa. And it's free. Sweet. We spent about 4 hours in that bad boy learning about the history of it's geography and it's habitants. All very interesting. Joey excelled with bacon and pasta and a couple of beers for dinner.
27th November
Got up early to leave Wellington and crack on back up north. Oh, jo's lost her sunglasses and it's sunny so we divert to a shopping centre. Jo buys new sunglasses. Jo finds old sunglasses. My fault apparently. From here we drive to palmerston north - Student City! Maybe seven or eight students. It held our attention just long enough to nail lunch. One panini and one burger (no prizes for guessing who had which). From there, back on up the highway on the look out for the town of wanganui and the chance of some sort of water based activity on the wanganui river. NZ's longest navigable river. In the town of wanganui we managed to book a little excursion for the following day from pipiriki - 79km up the road. This would mean getting up at 7am to meet at ten. Too early for the slumbersome Hills. So, despite it being late, we got the miles under our belt early doors and spent the night in Ohakune only 25km from pipriki. A special mention to the random couple who knocked up a full roast in the campsite kitchen and managed to put a couple of roasties my way. Top drawer.
28th November
Out the door at nine to get to pipiriki by 10 for some Wanganui river excitement. Basically you jetboat 32km up the river through the wanganui national park to the bridge to nowhere. The river is flanked by the steep walls of gorges up to 80m high. These are draped in rain forest. Amazing waterfalls and rock formations everywhere. The bridge to nowhere is a roadbridge over the river but the connecting roads have long since erroded. After lunch we jetboated 19km back. I know what you're thinking, what about the other 13km? How did you get back? We paddled a canadian canoe through 13km and three sets of rapids. Joey upfront navigating and directing. Me in the engine room at the back. It was supposed to take three hours, but we shocked ourselves by doing it in 2hrs 10min. A combination of hard work and surprisingly good teamwork. Navigating the rapids was awesome fun as we both got soaked and even ran aground at one point. With all the excitement beforehand, the directors of "Hill & Hill Day Trippers Ltd" forgot to charge the battery on the camera and so only managed a few photos on a fantastic day out. In a press release later that day the directors blamed one another. An internal enquiry follows... Anyway, we rewarded ourselves with a delightful dinner of beef stir-fry. Veery-Niice as Borat would say.
29th November
The plan was to drive up leisurely to Waitomo for an adventure thing the following day. However on the previous night we'd been informed by another couple in the campsite kitchen (the ultimate meeting place) of another activity which occurred in Waitomo every day at 12:45. So with a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us, we left at 10:45 looking to beat the clock. I've never seen joey so excited. We got there at 1. Boo. However, the owner of the establishment saw the dissapointment in joey's eyes and put on a special demonstration of... Rabbit Shearing!!! It is perhaps the funniest thing ever. They are angora rabbits and their fur is extremely valuable. If they're not sheared every two months they die of heat exhaustion. I've never seen joey so happy as when she was stroking the little pup! I won't go into detail about the shearing as it looked a little unpleasant. They call it the bunny barbeque. Not nice. After relaxing at the campsite we took a quick trip out to Mangapohue Natural Bridge and Marokopa Falls. The former is all that remains of a collapsed cave. A huge limestone arch. The latter was one of the north islands largest waterfalls. With the limestone rocks, the falls had huge variety and character. It's funny, we've seen more falls in the last month than at any time of my life but I still don't tire of them.
30th November
The real reason that people visit Waitomo is caving. In particular glowworm caves. Us? We came here for black water rafting in glowworm caves. We are the gnarliest of dudes. Abseil. Walk. Swim. Climb. Waterfall jump. Waterfall climb. Tube. Climb. All in rivers through the gloworm caves. Awesome. Except due to 18 hours solid rain the caves flooded. We were tooled up. Wet suits. Harnesses. Helmet. Boots. Absailing training done. Half the group already absailed down in to the cave, when it was called off because the water levels were rising too fast. We were absoloutely gutted. We were looking forward to it since joey booked it a few days ago. We went to the cave museum and the "dry" caves for a half hour walk and then booked a slightly milder adventure for the following morning in caves that don't flood. It'll be at the expense of the surfing, but it'll be worth it as you can't do it anywhere else in the world. Whilst there has been a lot of rain in general, we've been really lucky that whenever we've done activities things have worked out. We were one of the few helicopter loads that made it up the glacier in that week, so we can't moan too much. Early night, ready for caving at 9!
Joey's musings:- well....in precisely 3 days time our work here will be done! As i'm sure Matt will agree we have had an amazing time here. We have braved the roaring 40s (latitude as opposed to age!) and subsequent weather to wholeheartedly embrace the outdoor lifestyle.....Hang on I hear you all say "Jo doesn't like fun!", "what did she do without Topshop", "where is the nearest Mac?", well if you'd have seen me trekking on the glacier, canoeing up rivers and riding the Shotover jet you would think I'd had a personality change (or too much valium!). I am sad to leave NZ and would love to come back - it's paradise....and a rainy, windy one at that!
Matt and I have had a great time together, despite being in a small van with no "cudboard under the wheels" to escape to. The campervan has been a good experience after all, communal camp facilities have enabled us to meet so many nice people from all over the world - and yielded a spot of food envy on my part too! Until now I have never slept outside or in a van so am pleased to tick that off before i'm 30!
Hope all is well with everyone....
lots of love, Joey xxx
P.S. My phone appears to be somewhat unreliable at times but Matt's is still fully functioning.....
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