TravelStream™ news feed for member jimandmargarida on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jimandmargarida en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:35:06 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205334000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205334000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205334000/tpod.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:35:06 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Queensland, Australia

After four great days in Cairns we headed off to collect our new Campervan - 'The Hipster' for our road trip along the East coast. This time we had a fridge and an awning - very flash!

We started our trip by heading North to check out Daintree and Cape Tribulation in the far North of Queensland. We visited a number of beaches along the coast on our way including Palm Cove and stopped for lunch at the luxurious Port Douglas.

Daintree was the location of Daintree National Park a World Heritage Site, a beautiful protected rainforest area with the Rainforest Discovery Center which had boardwalks running through the rainforest along with an abundance of wildlife. The Discovery center also had some excellent tree top lookouts with great views.

From Daintree we continued North and headed up to Cape Tribulation via the Daintree River Cable Ferry - no bridge over the river as yet....Once over the river our journey was slightly delayed as the only access road up to the Cape was flooded by Cooper's Creek! After heeding local advice we decided not to attempt to cross the Creek until low tide the following morning when water levels should have receeded to approx 20cm - they were currently 50cm! So, we checked into a campsite in the early afternoon (South of the flooded road) and took full advantage of the BBQ!

We did pop back to the creek later in the afternoon to check the water levels and a local entrepeneur was taking full advantage of the situation - "Fair dincome!" (Check out the pictures!)

Cape Tribultation was beautiful, a stunning setting, where the Rainforest meets the sea. We went as far as the road would take us - the sealed road finished just North of the Cape, Cooktown was a further 60km North but only acessable via the Bloomfield Track which is 4WD only - that one would have to be for another trip...

We saw our first Aus crocodiles on a boat trip along Daintree River, we spotted a total of 6 crocodiles in the space of an hour, some 5-6ft + (small apparently), we started to wish we had got a bigger boat....However we felt safe in the knowledge that we had received some excellent wildlife advice from one Iain 'Irwin' Johnstone back in the UK - "If we should be in the situation of being chased by a crocodile, one should run in zig zag lines away from the pursuing creature", we hoped we wouldn't need to put the theory into practise anytime soon......

From our short time in Queensland so far, the state was already living upto Australia's reputation as harbouring some of the worlds's most deadly creatures. We had already spotted a number of crocodiles, pythons, seen insects as big as birds and being warned not to go swimming in the sea due to the 'Stingers' (If you didn't know box jellyfish have the most deadly venom in the animal kingdom!)

Not to mention we had already spotted our first Cassowary, a 1.5 meter tall flightless bird, capable of running 50km/h, tripled toed with sharp claws, the middle claw being 5 inches long and extremly sharp -which if cornered could leap at you and disembowl its enemy in a single blow of the claw, Bruce Lee style.........Fortunately for us the Cassowaries are very shy creatures........but we would be keeping our eyes peeled!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206455760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206455760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206455760/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:50:19 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Whitsunday Islands, Australia

After a good days driving we pulled into Arlie Beach, the gateway to the 74 Whitsunday Islands at around 8pm and made Flametree Tourist Village located in a bird filled ecological sanctuary bordering a National Park our home for the next few days.

Being only a couple of days after the Easter Bank holiday, trips to the Whitsunday Islands were fairly busy, but we managed to find a couple of spots for a 3 days/2 nights cruise on 'Enid' a Classic 21 meter sailing ship, setting sail in a couple of days - perfect!

We set sail for the Whitsunday Islands early Thursday moring. Enid was a beautiful old classic sailing ship which won the Sydney to Hobart Race in 1963, 65, 67. We had a cracking group of people on board, about 19 of us in total and 3 crew.

The first day we cruised around the Whitsunday's and headed for Whitsunday Island - Whitehaven Beach. The weather was beautiful, a superb day to be stuck on a yacht!! We arrived at Whitehaven Beach in the afternoon. With crystal clear waters and 95% Silica sands (only NASA are allowed to remove any sand!) stretching for over 7 Km, you could see why Whitehaven was the most photographed beach in Australia it was surely one of the most stunning. We also had the 'misfortune' of having to camp on the beach for the night with 2 others from the ship - not sure how we were going to cope!

The following day saw more cruising around the Whitsunday's whilst sooaking up the rays. We stopped to visit the Hill Inlet, a stunning cove at the Northern end of Whitehaven Beach, followed by a couple of superb snorkelling stop offs including one at the back of Hammon Island. Here we swam with some huge and amazing fish, including Batfish and some masive Maori Wrasse, one names Elvis - he was 4-5ft long! A tad intimidating at times!!

That night on the yacht saw more drinking and debauchary, the goon juice was a' flowing! We made camp for the night on Hook Island.

We visited a couple of other excellent snorkelling spots on the final day. The sun disappeared but the wind increased to 25 knots which was perfect for the sail back to Arlie Beach - the 'Iron Spinnacker' aka the engine was put to bed and we managed a modest 9 knots on the home leg, not to mention a good 45 degree tilt on the ship, excellent stuff, great to see Enid in all her glory on the home leg.

Saturday night saw Enid and crew meet for final farewell drinks in the town, however, not before we had put the Arlie Beach Locksmith services to the test - somebody managed to lock the keys in the camper van!! After being given a crash course into breaking and entering vehicles (v impressive!), we made it out to to the farewell drinks which involved yet more alcohol abuse and some serious dancing as the night went on.

We made some great friends on Enid and both had a cracking 3 days and would no doubt be staying in touch with a few of the usual suspects....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205771400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205771400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205771400/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:37:01 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Atherton Tablelands, Queensland, Australia

From Cairns we headed West to the Atherton Tablelands - the 'highlands' of Queensland, a cool tropical plateau 600-1100 metres above sea level where temperatures and humidity are lower than on the coast.

For the first few days we stayed at Lake Tinaroo campsite, a great location alongside the Lake. Lake Tinaroo holds the World Record for the largest Barramundi ever caught, a whopping 37Kg!!!! massive! Definately time for the rod and reel to make an appearance! Although the World Record was quite safe, Jim managed to land his largest fish to date, a Sooty Grunter weighing in at 2.1Kg - not bad and not bad eating either, big enough to make several dinners for both of us....

We visited a number of stunning waterfalls in the Atherton Tablelands on the 'Waterfalls circuit'. The most spectacular was probably the infamous Milaa Milaa Falls, one of the most photographed falls in Australia - you may recognise it from the Timotei adverts.

We also visited a number of Crater Lakes including Lake Eacham, an extinct volcanic crater lake  surrounded by 1200acres of lush tropical  rainforest. The lake is sixty metres deep  filled with  clean, crystal clear water, we couldn't resist we had to take a dip! Luckily there were no croc's around.....

Lake Barrine  is another extinct volcanic crater lake we visited, surrounded by lush tropical rainforest. From here we took a short walk to see Twin Kauri Pine trees over 1000 years old.... There was also a restaurant  and tearooms famous for its scones and Devonshire tea, of course we had to have some.

Lake Tinaroo and the Atherton Tablelands were superb, a great place to chill out relax and take in the lush green landscapes....a beautiful area.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206289800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206289800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206289800/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:24:11 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Continuing our journey South along the coast, we made a few small detours inland along the way. A short 1.5 hour detour, 50Km West of Ingham led us to the Girringun National Park and the Wallaman Falls. The falls have the longest single drop of any in Australia at 278 meters - not to be missed! The falls were spectacular, particuarly impressive as it is the wet season. After a sunny picnic at the falls we headed to Crystal Creek Caravan Park with a 'must-do' stop on the way at Frosty Mango - a roadside ice-creamery serving 33 flavors including mango - yum!

The following day we ventured into Paluma Range National Park (62Km North of Townsville) to explore Little Crystal Creek and Big Crystal Creek. Little CC was a great swimming spot with waterfalls and a couple of deep rock pools, as the day was 'scorchio' we didn't waste any time and dived right in.

Big Crystal Creek, as you can expect was a larger version! It was a popular choice of venue for a Bank holiday Monday afternoon. It became apparent it was the locals solution to cooling down in the heat as the coast is some distance away....

Following the National Park we continued our road trip South only pausing for a break at the 'Reef HQ aquarium' in Townsville - the world's largest living coral reef aquarium which showcases many of the creatures that inhabit the Great Barrier Reef, worth a visit.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205532000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205532000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1205532000/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:19:11 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Cairns, Queensland, Australia

After a few great days exploring Cape Tribulation and Daintree we headed South, back to Cairns. Based on a local reccommendation, we headed to Wonga Beach camp for the night. Wonga campsite was in a superb location, smack bang on the beach and one of the few council campsites remaining, so cheap as chips at only $17 AUD a night, bargain!

After stocking up on Tropical Strength Aeoroguard in the local town (we got attacked by mossies in the rainforest on the Cape!) we headed on to Mossman Gorge which was farely spectacular due to the recent heavy rainfalls.

We headed back to Cairns to dive and snorkel on the Great Barier Reef, we were planning on holding out for fairer weather before heading out to sea, but we thought it could be a long time coming, it was the rainy season after all......

One of the seven wonders of the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef is larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing visible from space, spanning a length of 2,300km and 80km wide at its broadest, estimated to be between 600,000 and 18 million years old! Farely impressive...we thought so!

From Cairns the GBR was approx 60km off the coast, we had a very bumpy ride out there with a 2-3 meter swell. Of the 25 people on the boat there were a number of casualties due to sea sickness but fortunately not us!
Luckily once we got out to the reef the weather was fairly calm and clear...We visited 3 different dive/snorkel sites including the 'Fishbowl', Jim was snorkelling and Margarida diving.

The coral was spectacular very stunning and colourful, we also saw a huge variety of fish including Clown Fish (Nemo), Butterfly fish, Giant Squirrel fish, Purple Spotted Rockcod and Box fish to name a few. A great trip, conditions could have been better, a definate must do to any visit to Queensland. Having said that we still rated our snorkelling experience on the Ningaloo Reef on the West Coast of Aus above the GBR - less people, less touristy, more fish (we swam with sharks and turtles on the Ningaloo also!) and the reef was only 50 meters from the coast. However experieces of the GBR can vary hugely from day to day, depending upon the fish and the weather - that's mother nature for you.......it would be good to visit the GBR again for another go.......
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206032400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206032400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1206032400/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:18:43 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Mission Beach, Queensland, Australia

Mission Beach, a small beach town where two World Heritage areas, The Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics Rainforest meet to form a tropical paradise! Mission Beach definately had a tropical feel about it, a small town with a small number of shops and restaurants.

We made Mission Beach campsite our home for the next few days, another council owned place with a cracking location right on the beach, basic facilities but at $15.50 a night you can't complain and the view across the beach and ocean was superb, another bargain. Managed by Robin and Hannah (his dog) who were really welcoming....

We made Mission Beach our home for 4 days but it could have easily been 4 months! It was great to chill out by the beach for a few days, take it easy and soak up the rays!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1193753400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1193753400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1193753400/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:18:04 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

When we first arrived this place looked like it was the day after some massive party...rubbish everywhere but not a soul around...turns out the previous 3 nights had been a huge festival celebrating the end of the rainy season...that explains the feeling like the city was suffering from a massive hangover...it was!

It is a lovely capital city...very calm and none of the usual busy-ness of a capital city. It sits on the Mekong river and we saw a lovely sunset sat in a great bar along the river here.

Our stay here was pretty short and mainly to sort out our Thai visa's at the Thai embassy but we did do a fair bit of walking around the city and it's numerous Wat's (temples) and restaurants!

The local currency in Laos is the Kip with 19,000 to the 1 GBP. Laos's lager is also 'BeerLaos' an excellent Lager, one of our favourites on the trip so far, and also cheap as chips!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204970400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204970400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204970400/tpod.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:42:49 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Following a late night flight from Perth, WA, we arrived at the East Coast in Cairns in the early hours of Saturday morning. In true backpacker style we opted to crash at the airport for the remainder of the morning rather than shell out for a room for only a few hours - we weren't alone, there were about a dozen backpackers doing similar....

Our free lift from Travellers Oasis hostel arrived at 8am and our room was ready early when we arrived so we were able to check and crash to catch up on sleep - and no charge for a room that night - bonus.

Cairns (population 120,000) was a great little city right on the waters edge. It had a very laid back and friendly, relaxed feel to the whole town, our hostel was also superb - it even had a swimming pool - it lived upto its name 'Travellers Oasis'!

There was a huge saltwater lagoon right along the promenade in the centre of Cairns along with the typical 'free to use' Aussie Barbies everywhere, not bad a for a town centre!

Whilst in Cairns we also headed upto Kuranda via the Skyrail over the rainforest - at 7.5km it's one of the world's longest gondola rides. The views over the rainforest and Barron Falls were stunning. We returned from Kuranda via the Kurunda Scenic Railway through the mountains another superb picteresque jouney...an excellent trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204701600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204701600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204701600/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:47:47 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Cervantes, Western Australia, Australia

We drove up here from Perth to see the marvels of Mother Nature which are The Pinnalces. These are rock formations which have been erroded over the years by the wind and leave behind a stunning and slightly eerie landscape especially at sunset.

The following day we headed to the beach at Lancelin to hit the surf. Margarida was a bit too chicken to get in the cold water and so watched from the side as Jim tackled the waves!

On Friday we headed back to Perth to return 'Rising Sun'. We had clocked up a total of 3850Kms in the van...not bad for 4 weeks travelling eh!? An excellent first road trip. Definately the best way to see WA!

We also learnt the true meaning of the Japanese on the side of the van...but it's too rude to mention on here!! Let's just say we wouldn't be too popular with the Japanese tourists who drove by!!! Sorry everyone!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204394400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204394400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimandmargarida/world_trip_07/1204394400/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:47:22 -0400 Jim and Margarida's Travels

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Arrived back in Perth to meet up with a long lost pal who Margarida had gone to primary school with out in HK. Thanks to the marvels of Facebook, Sam and Margarida got back in touch after about 23 yrs!!! We all drank far too much and chatted long into the night catching up on the past and were all nursing sore heads in the morning. We were introduced to a new way of drinking Gin and Tonic's with a slice of orange rather than lemon with 'South' - a New Zealand gin. Yummy! Sam, Gareth and Neo the cat very kindly put us up for 4 days in Perth and showed us the sights from a locals point of view - and we had a top time!

We saw some lovely areas around Perth and outside the main city. We also drove down to Freemantle to go to the harbourside restaurant/ bar of Little Creatures Brewery...if you ever find yourself with a few hours to kill in Freemantle then you have to go to this lively little place. (Little Creatures Pale Ale is highly recommended!)

Jim and I also went to a music festival with The Chemical Brothers headlineing and Evil 9, Shapeshifters, John Digweed and Roger Sanchez and saw a few fashion disasters that were the Aussie teenagers! Flourescent everything!!! Not a good look on any age!!!

Jim also met up with Raoul (fishing buddy from Shark's Bay) at Hillary's Boat Harbour for an evening of fishing. They caught a total of 2 large Tailor and 3 Herrings and a Blue Swimmer Crab! (Well Jim caught one Herring and let's just say, Raoul is extrememly generous with his catch!!)

Was fantastic to catch up with such good friends after such a long time...
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