Australia
The four of us wasted no time arriving in Oz. We went straight to the Cairns Wicked Van
rental shop and got ourselves a camper van! A Chuck Norris camper at that!! It
was great to be back in western civilization again.
Our plan was to drive from Cairns to Sydney. We got off to a late start as we hadn’t slept
a wink on the red eye flight. The first
night we made it to Townsville, and stayed in a remote camp site just out of
town. The washrooms were absolutely chockas (full in Ozzy) of spiders and
frogs. Bright green humungous frogs. They were really quite cool, but pretty much
everything in Oz is poisonous so we left them all well alone.
Not sure how many days we took to get to Airlie Beach, but
after hearing about how much fun my little sister Karli had there we had to
make a stop. Along the way we drove through a lot of areas that had been hit
hard by the cyclones and floods. It was quite a sight. Entire forests along the
coast were stripped of bark and leaves, just the skeletons left standing.
Devestating.
We arranged a SCUBA trip at the Great Barrier Reef for the
next day. Due to fairly inclement weather the experience wasn’t amazing. The
visibility was fairly poor but diving is still a great feeling, and I saw a
shark!! And just being at the Barrier Reef is something in itself. We were all very proud of Vanessa who
conquered a fear and dove for the first time ever. Good for her. That night, after a very choppy
ride home, we went for a drink and a free pizza at Phoenix, where Karli worked
for some time. We met some of her old friends and co workers, which was nice,
they all spoke fondly of her. That night
we all decided that we definitely did not have time to drive all the way to
Sydney if we wanted to have any time to see anything. So we arranged to drop
off the van in Brisbane instead.
On the road again. Southbound we eventually made it to
Bundaberg, home of the famous Bundaberg Rum, the distillery being on our list
of stops. Arriving too late we checked in to a hotel for the evening to hit the
distillery in the a.m. As we drove into town, I should mention, as we crossed
the bridge we noticed thousands of giant fruit bats hanging in the trees. Later
at the hotel we were outside (not smoking, Mum!!) when the dusk sky all of a
sudden was completely full of these giant bats, heading to the fields for an
evening feed. It was an absolute spectacle. It took a good twenty minutes for
them to all fly over head. Just staggering. The next morn we did the tour at
the rum distillery. It was pretty good, although it is not my favourite rum.
Interesting tour though. The merch shop was ridiculously expensive too, but we
still got some souvenirs.
We arrived in Brisbane a few days before we had to dump the
van and fly to Sydney. We toured all around the area, spending a day at Surfers
Paradise, which was lovely for a day, but I can see how you could get trapped
there. Seems like a fun place. We spent a day in Byron Bay as well, but again,
due to crummy weather it wasn’t supreme. A great dinner at one of Jays business
colleagues made up for it. He and his wife gave us a tonne of great info for
our upcoming trip to New Zealand. Good people. The drive from Cairns to Brisbane was a great
load of fun. The only thing I wanted to see was a kangaroo. We saw plenty but
they were all dead on the side of the road. “There is no theory of evolution,
just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.”
Arriving in Sydney we had a few hours to kill before our
friends from home who now live there, got off work. So a trip to the Opera
House was in the cards. Touring the area and the downtown area was sweet. I
could live in Sydney. A great place. We joined Jane, Shannon, Anna and Alex
that evening for Thai food and a few brews. Really nice to see them again and
meet Janes beau Shannon. Such great and accommodating people. We spent 2 or 3
nights at Janes and then 2 or 3 nights at Annas. Very kind of them all. The
next day being Friday we still had to entertain ourselves so J&V and
B&B, the four of us went out to Bondi beach and toured the cliffs for
hours, stretching from one beach to the other. Later that night, being J and
Vanessas last we went for pizza again. Sad saying bye to them after a great
month of travelling with them, but we will be seeing them soon enough. Thanks a
lot you guys, a great experience with you two.
That weekend we spent seeing more of Sydney with our tour
guides. We enjoyed a lovely sushi dinner. We went to a rock n roll gig night
(which was well needed), saw lots of Sydney night life...even went out for
3a.m. Chinese food!! Hahaha, crazy. A lazy Sunday trip to “The Secret Garden”
for a lovely cheese and wine picnic. That’s all I am permitted to say about
that. These guys sure have a beautiful place they call home. Again, I could live
here. Our flight was early evening to Melbourne, so on Monday after everyone
went to work and we all said our goodbyes, Britt and I went to the fair!! Rides
and cotton candy and all!!! So much fun to be 13 again!!
Another flight landed us in Melbourne for the last stop of
our shotgun Oz trip. We checked into our hostel and soon realized that this was
more of a College dorm. So many rooms, so many floors, and soooo many young
kids. It was a bit much, but hey, we survived China, we can survive Frat week!!
During our time there the Comedy Festival was in full swing. We took full
advantage of that. 2 or 3 shows that we saw were amazing. I got a cold in
Melbourne, which would soon turn into Strep throat and a Glandular virus, so
layed low watching movies for a few days. The day before we left I forced
myself up for a stroll down AC/DC Lane. A cool little alley street with a tonne
of little bars and clubs and the entire street is decorated with graffiti. And
it is named after the greatest rock band EVER!!!!
Off to Christchurch......
