andrea's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member andrea on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/andrea en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 12 May 2009 11:58:47 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Teaching English! — Galapagos Islands, Ecuador http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/s_america_2006/1150848180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/s_america_2006/1150848180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/s_america_2006/1150848180/tpod.html Tue, 12 May 2009 11:58:47 -0400 Our South American sabbatical - Sun, Spanish,and Swimming with Sealions!!
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

We´ve slowed down our travelling to spend nine days on Santa Cruz, the principle island in Galapagos. We had heard about an English school here run by Chris and Katy, respectively a Canadian and a Brit, and we were happy to volunteer in their school teaching English. Luc and I taught small groups of students ranging from 5 years old to adult. It was fun to meet some local kids and have a different sort of experience than most tourists have on the islands. I have to admit it was a bit difficult to get into the work mode after having virtually no responsibilities for five months!



Galapagos is a great place to have some free time! Just walking around near the water, we have seen a turtle, tonnes of bright red crabs, sleepy sea lions, various sizes of lizards and iguanas, and huge flying pelicans. I love to go down to the water where large groups of awkwardly moving sea lions are sprawled out on one another on the dock. It´s funny to watch them flop their fat bodies into the water. Once they get there though, are they ever graceful!



On the weekend, a small group of us went biking up in the highlands. We visited several farms where we sampled the plethora of fruits growing on the trees. It was fun to pluck fresh bananas, oranges, grapefruits, papayas and other exotic fruits whose names I don´t even know right off the tree. One tasty one looked like a mini squash, and the orange flesh inside was really sweet! At another farm we shoved long, heavy sticks of sugarcane into a press and enjoyed the sweet, refreshing juice. This was much deserved after way too many uphill stretches!



Several days we have rented snorkeling equipment and have taken advantage of our close proximity to such amazing wildlife. Even on the days when the visibility was less than ideal, we had a great time swimming around. We have been lucky to see many brightly colored fish and a couple of manta rays. On particular day I was lucky enough to see five rays, one of them wider than my arm span! Luc also thinks he MAY have seen a shark! ;)



The wildlife viewing should be even better for the next week. We are about to board a sailboat, the Angelique, for 8 days of sailing around the islands. I am so excited to write about swimming with sea lions!
]]> Getting ready to head out — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/8/1242141704/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/8/1242141704/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/8/1242141704/tpod.html Tue, 12 May 2009 11:22:18 -0400 Andrea's Amazing Adventure
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Getting my stuff ready to go!
]]> Montevideo — Montevideo, Uruguay http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/s_america_2006/1141741080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/s_america_2006/1141741080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/s_america_2006/1141741080/tpod.html Tue, 12 May 2009 11:12:56 -0400 Our South American sabbatical - Sun, Spanish,and Swimming with Sealions!!
Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo is said to be South America´s slowest capital, and I can definitely vouch for that!



A very long 20 hour bus ride deposited us into Urugauy, and I pray that will be the last long distance bus for a while!






Our slow pace continued here as we rented bikes and cruised along the waterfront. It would have been a lot more enjoyable had the seat not been rock hard, if the brakes actually worked when we applied pressure and if the handle bars did not threaten to fall off at any given moment. Ah well, it was a nice way to see the city and what can we expect from free hostel bikes?



Montevideo had some beautiful markets selling interesting antiques, and some amazing artisans selling their finest wares. Of course I couldn´t resist and got myself an awesome necklace, which at $7 was a steal compared to what it would cost at home. I also got myself some natural perfume, sold in a tiny little bottle, which is applied using the apple stem which is attached to the lid and floats inside the bottle. Very cool!



]]> The Ghan Railway — Adelaide, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1031069640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1031069640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1031069640/tpod.html Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:17:06 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Adelaide, Australia

From Alice I took the Ghan Railway 1500 kms south to Adeleide, a journey that took 20 hours. I met a friend, Ionie, in Adeleide for a nice visit before her and her fiance Jared dropped me off at the airport for my flight to Melbourne.
]]> A big red rock — Alice Springs, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1030723860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1030723860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1030723860/tpod.html Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:14:25 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Alice Springs, Australia

From Alice, I did a three day tour of beautiful Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Kings Canyon. We slept in swags under the stars, which was a brilliant experience. We camped in the middle of nowhere and one night we had a dingo walk right past us and then a heard of brumbies (wild horses) stampeded past!
]]> Northern Territory — Darwin, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1030288620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1030288620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1030288620/tpod.html Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:10:30 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Darwin, Australia

Leaving Broome we cut inland, heading directly east, through the area called the Kimblerley. It is known as the most outback, middle of nowhere place in Australia, and after driving 1500 kms through it, we couldn't agree more! We drove and drove and drove a nd rarely saw anything but a lonely roadhouse every 300 kms or so.

The highlight of our drive across this area was our helicopter ride over the Bungle Bungles, or Purnululu National Park. Poor Winston was only two wheel drive so we would not be able to see the park any other way. I had never been in a helicopter before and it was quite an experience how the pilot maneuvered us incredibly close to rocks and gorges. The highlight of the park are the beehive formations which are striped like tigers. In the 45 minute flight, I took an entire roll of film!

One thing I will not miss about the Australian north are the flies. Oh my good God I was soooo close to being declared criminally insane on so many occasions. They coat you like a blanket, persistently trying to get into your eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Bat them away as many times as you want but they always return. AHHHHH!!!!

Our next major stop was Nitmiluk National Park outside of Katherine, Northern Territory. The major feature is Katherine Gorge through which flows beautiful, fresh water. Generally you can't swim anywhere in the north of Australia because of the certainty that you would be eaten by a salt water croc (a 'saltie' which doesn't actually mean they they live in salt water...) However, they monitor the water here to keep them out and set traps in case one comes in, so it is totally safe to swim. "Freshies" or fresh water crocs inhabit this water but they do not attack humans. We had a wonderful time swimming and one day we hired a canoe and spent the entire day exploring the gorge from the water. This park is definitely on my top three places in Oz.

From here we continued north to the world renowned Kakadu National Park. We did enjoy our time here but we both felt it was overrated. We were a bit jaded of course because by the time we had driven about 5500 kms and seen a heck of a lot of parks. It was hot, we were coated in flies and we couldn't swim because we preferred not to feed our limbs to to the crocks which inhabit all of the waterways. We did a few hikes, saw some aboriginal art and went on a really great boat cruise where we saw kazillions of birds and heaps of huge salties. Again, I was very camera happy.

We continued north to Litchfield National Park. I'm sure it's a beautiful place but I have nothing to report from it. We spent one night there but as we only had a few days left we wanted to enjoy ourselves as much as possible so we spontaneously packed up and started driving... south - completely in the opposite direction of Darwin - our final destination. We wanted more of Nitmiluk, the park we became so endeared to. So, we added another 600 kms to our trip so we could backtrack and spend a few more days there.

There was some great excitement occurring when we arrived there. We could see dark clouds of smoke quite far away, and we feared that they were coming from exactly where we were headed. Sure enough, all the forest surrounding Edith Falls, exactly where we were going, were on fire! We camped there anyways - it's a strange feeling to camp 100 metres from where you can see the flames licking at the dry grass. There were only three firefighters so Gooitzen and I and a couple of other campers joined in to help fight the flames to save the campground! We used shovels, sticks, our feet.... anything to help cover sand on top of the flames. That night as we layed down to sleep under the stars, we could see the red glow of the flames all around us - what an adventure!

From here is was on to Darwin, right on the top end of Australia, where we spent our last week. After 6500 kms of trouble free driving (thanks Winston!) we finally arrived. Luckily, we had no trouble selling our trusty car (for more than we paid!) We partied a lot and caught up with a friend from Fremantle, Dan.

After a week there, Gooitzen and I said a sad "boh boh" which is aboriginal for goodbye -which comfortingly means "the beginning, not the end." Gooitzen flew off to go home to Holland and I flew 1500 kms to Alice Springs, right in the red centre of Australia.
]]> The Outback — Broome, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1028573700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1028573700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1028573700/tpod.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:17:18 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Broome, Australia

We have been having a phenomenal time driving up the west coast. We are so completely relaxed - our feet have rarely touched shoes and we never wear watches. We eat when we are hungry, sleep when we are tired, and get up when we are not. Ahhh.. the life!

From Coral Bay, we drove up the coast to Cape Range National Park near Exmouth where we camped out facing the beautiful blue surf and were surrounded by big, soft, white sand dunes. The sun was scorching and there was little shade... so we created our own! It took two hours to set up our elaborate structure which we constructed out of a sheet, some rope, a metal pole, a foam mattress, a few pins, and a boogie board. Of course, we got burnt in the process but once it was finally erect we enjoyed relaxing in the shade. The park was stunning and we enjoyed some hiking and swimming, as well as some beautiful sunsets.

From this point, we drove inland 400 kms - into the outback - to go to Karinjini National Park which we had heard a lot about. Red dust covered EVERYTHING - I don't think my clothes will EVER come clean! The landscape was fairly monotonous- mostly flat plains covered with low lying bush. And absolutely NOTHING else for miles. The main features of this park are the spectacular gorges which cut through the rock. Gooitzen and I spent two days exploring the gorge system which turned out to be quite the adventure. There were sections where we had to wade through neck deep, absolutely freezing water and there were a lot of cliffs to scale. In one of the gorges we had to traverse a 10 cm wide ledge - never before had this much adrenaline ever rushed through my veins! It wasn't too far after this point that we decided to turn back as we had to climb down a very high cliff which was completely sheer and perpendicular to the ground. We decided this was a bit more risk than we were willing to take. Regardless, it was great fun!

The most beautiful thing about the outback is the complete darkness at night. The clear skies allowed us to explore every inch of the southern sky and we enjoyed trying to learn the constellations.

It was in the park where we experienced our first problem with Winston - a flat tire caused from driving so many kms on gravel. Neither of us had ever changed a flat! I got out our brand new sparkling jack (along with the instructions!!) and we set off for our challenge. Lucky for us, we are good at team work and had a new tire on poor Winston within 5 minutes!

We continued to drive north and camped at random places along the way. How peaceful it was to pull off the road, build a fire and spend the evening chatting by the fire, enjoying our cheap cask wine!

Broome, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, with it's sparkling blue water and white sandy beaches that stretch into infinity, was our next stop. We camped in a caravan park with a site right on the water - we couldn't ask for more. Instead of staying in the big, cramped, dusty field with the rest of the backpackers, we decided to pay a few extra bucks and camp in the beautiful spot amongst all the retirees, which was known among the young people as "God's waiting room!"

It was easy for us to slip into what they call "Broometime" and we spent our time laying on the beach and boogie boarding. Every night we watched the beautiful orange orb we call the sun sink quietly into the Indian Ocean, leaving the sky a beautiful orange-rose colour. Cable Beach is known for these sunsets.
]]> Sleeping on the beach — Coral Bay, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1027362540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1027362540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1027362540/tpod.html Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:53:02 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Coral Bay, Australia

We have driven 1000 kms since we left Perth a little over a week ago and have another 4000 to go before we reach Darwin, our final destination. We both worked a lot in Perth so this journey is a wonderful, relaxing adventure for us!

On our way north, we stopped at the Pinnacles Desert, which is a desert filled with these haunting looking limestone structures, ranging in size from anthills to towers taller than I am. Very spectacular and fascinating. We live out of our car and spend time in between caravan parks (so we can shower basically!) and the other nights in between we find free places to go such as beaches. How wonderful it is to sleep at the beach beside the Indian Ocean - to watch an amazing bright orange ball of sun sink slowly into the sea, and then to fall asleep listening to the crash of waves on the sand. Unbelievable! I Will never forget this experience and I am so excited to have a whole other month to go!

We definitely have to get creative sometimes (luckily I am traveling with an engineer!) We rig up tarps to cook under with any trees or sticks or rocks we can find, and just yesterday Gooitzen took my swiss army knife to our foam mattress as it wasn't fitting properly in our car!

We spent a wonderful few days in the seaside town of Kalbarri where we spent most of our days in the national park, hiking along the cliffs over a river. The striated sandstone which compose these cliffs was stunning and we of course were mesmerized once again at the cute kangaroos which came out to feed at dusk.

We are now in the small town of Coral Bay (pop: 100!) which is absolutely beautiful. It is definitely a tourist trap but I know why people flock here. Ningaloo Reef (a world heritage site) begins literally just metres from the beach. We spend a few hours in the water every day - we enter the water from the beach and swim as far as we can with our heads in the water - marveling at the coral and brightly coloured fish which survive just a few feet beneath us. This place has the most relaxed atmosphere - I haven't worn shoes since we've arrived! At first it was because there was so much mud from all the Rain we had (only the 2nd rain in 20 months!) Luckily, that has passed and we've had nothing but sunshine! We got up this morning, went snorkeling for a few hours, layed on the beach for a bit, back at noon to eat something, more of the same for the rest of the day. And for tomorrow? A repeat of today.What a life!

Yesterday morning we boarded a boat for the outer reefs where we did two scuba dives. The highlight of the day was the pod of migrating humpback whales that passed us while we were in the water! Talk about excitement and adrenaline to be so close to these huge, incredibly beautiful creatures. On our dives, we were also very close to a huge manta ray, not to mention all of the incredibly beautiful and curious fish which like to check out these big bubbly neoprene species!
]]> Goodbye Freo! — Fremantle, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1026143280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1026143280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1026143280/tpod.html Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:29:10 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Fremantle, Australia

I have finally left Fremantly after two very busy months. I was completely skint when I got to WA in the beginning of May so work was my first priority. I ended up landing three jobs - 70 hours a week started to get to me so I quit my cleaning job which reduced my workload to a mere 60 hours a week - much more manageable! :) I had a day job working for an internet company in Perth at at night I waitressed at a restaraunt in Fremantle.

Because of my schedule, I wasn't able to tour around much of the Perth area. No worries however as it is winter here and it was cold and rainy nearly every day. As I was able to save a bit of money, I am leaving the area in search of pure heat and sunshine!

I, along with my dutch friend Gooitzen, am the proud owner of a beat up, rusty (but loveable!) 1986 Ford Falcon station wagon which we have named Winston! The plan: drive 5000 kms to Darwin, NT, exploring the beautiful country along the way!
]]> Swimming with dolphins — Baird Bay, Australia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1020973140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1020973140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/andrea/australia/1020973140/tpod.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:44:28 -0500 My first solo adventure - Independence, here I come!
Baird Bay, Australia

From Adeleide I embarked on a bus trip with 6 other travellers. The mission: to cross the Nullarbor, 3800 kms to Perth!

Day One: We stopped in the Flinders Ranges where we did some hiking. There were outhouses there and the driver warned us to check under the seat as we were now in "Redback" spider country - a small but deadly spider that likes to lurk in dark places. Yipes! We had lunch there and I had never seen so many flies in my life (ok, well, maybe at the sheep station!) They were swarming everywhere and they tried to crawl up my nose, in my eyes, and in my mouth. Lovely. They could drive a woman crazy!

As we continued to drive west, the landscape began to change from wheat fields to scrub land. We were entering the desert!

The first night we pulled of the road in the middle of nowhere and set up our tents in the bush - a real bush camp! It was phenomenal! We cooked over the fire and admired the starts- there were no lights for miles (and miles!) to dim them!

The second day I got to experience the most incredible thing - something that I will truly never forget! We boarded a boat in Baird Bay, went out into the ocean and snorkeled with dolphins and sea lions! When we got to where the dolphins were they immediately swam to the boat, waiting for us to get in! The couple that run the company have been doing this for years and the dolphins know them very well. The water was very murky and they told us we would not be able to get with them. We were in Great White Shark territory so it is too dangerous when you cannot see what else is in the water!! Someone generally stands on the deck to keep a lookout and the lady who goes in with you wears a shark belt. We were disappointed (but it was obviously not worth the risk!) so they took us to another area where the sea lions were. We got in with them and swam around and played with them. With both of these species, you have to play with them and entertain them or else they get bored and will swim away! We were diving around and somersaulting under water, literally face to face with the cutest, most graceful swimming sea lions! Some of them were huge - males grow to 350 Kilos! We had driven away from the main boat in a small one and the driver noticed that all the dolphins were swimming around the main boat. We drove back and were able to get in the water - what a phenomenal experience! There is no way I can even begin to describe what is was like to swim literally within inches of these beautiful animals. We stayed in the water until the sun started to set and they made us get out -again for safety. We were in the water for hours and it was soooo cold but there was no way I was getting out before I absolutely had to. I am still floating on cloud nine after this experience - wow! The dolphins accompanied us back to shore, riding in the bow wave. I stood on the outermost part of the boat and admired them.

The next day we crossed into the the true nullarbor. All we could see for miles was scrub- bluebush, saltbush,and sand. The land was completely flat and the soil a reddy-brown colour.

We camped outside a "town" called Fowlers Bay, and I use the quotes because there were about three very rundown houses, each with their own litle water towers to collect rain for water - it is very dry there! The whole area is sand dunes and we spent the afternoon sandboarding! What great fun! I spent a lot of time just wandering around the huge dunes, admiring the contours of the land and the sun setting over it. What a wonderful landscape - I've never seen anything like it! When you look out at the horizon, all you can see are rolling sand dunes.

We crossed the border into Western Australia and went to the small town of Eucla. There is an old section of town nearer the water where the settlement used to be, but it has been covered by sand dunes, obviously forcing them to relocate the town. We walked among them and saw some areas where you can just see the tops of buildings poking out of the sand!

We also visited Cocklebiddy Cave which is 100 metres below the desert surface. I found a lot of shell fossils on the way down as the area used to be part of the sea. Deep inside the cave we swam in a lake. We turned our torches off and were in complete darkness. Considering this water is never touched by the sun, it was very cold! There are extensive tunnel systems in this lake - divers have so far explored about 5 kms worth!

We stopped at the Diamond Tree outside of Manjimup where my courage was put to the test again. It is a 52 metre tall tree which is used for fire spotting. Metal spikes are stuck in the side of it, and anyone can climb up. I began the climb and got very chicken and thought I would turn back, but there was no way I could do that so I continued to climb, heart pounding in my chest the whole way.
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