TravelStream™ news feed for member staffyandlyddy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/staffyandlyddy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:44:10 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1227940500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1227940500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1227940500/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:44:10 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas was really scenic and we got to the campsite late in the afternoon. Had a quick look at the beach which wasn't too impressive and the fact that it had no stinger net made it a no go area anyway. There are loads of box jellyfish around these coasts at this time of year and one sting can be fatal so we've seen loads of really nice beaches, but if they don't have a net you can't go for a swim.. We had a walk round the town and it's really nice, it's sort of a summer holiday retreat for rich people from Sydney and there was plenty of really expensive restaurants, boutiques and hotels. We got an early night in as we knew we'd to be up early the next day for the trip to the reef. We booked the trip with a company called Haba and we boarded the boat around 8am. There was free tea and muffins on arrival and we were sorted into groups, people doing introductory dives, certified divers and snorkellers. So Lydia went upstairs to get her briefing about the dives and I stayed with the snorkellers for our briefing. When I told one of the crew members that I couldn't swim he just said don't worry about it, you'll be fine, which worried me a bit coz the usual response is "we'll get you a lifejacket". But when the boat anchored at the reef the guide took me out to the reef, just the two of us and a floating thing to hold on to and it was an amazing experience. He told me loads about the reef, pointed out fish and told me the names of all the different speices, he dove down and picked up different pieces of coral for me to touch, we saw turtles and an unbelievable amount of fish including a Maouri Wraase, a huge fish about 4 feet long but really big all round that was the highlight of the reef for me. The lunch served aboard was really good then we went to our second sight which was just as good as the first and the guide took me out again for a 45 minute personal guided tour of the Great Barrier Reef. Really enjoyed the whole day and Lydia really enjoyed her dives. We hired an underwater camera for the day and Lydia took some really good pics with it. On the way back to Port Douglas we just sunbathed for most of the way home. But something I forgot to mention was, when we were booking the trip in Cairns, the girl who took the booking presumed it was our honeymoon for some reason and told us we could expect a bottle of champagne or something on board. We didn't get our hopes up and never did get any champagne or even a mention of our "honeymoon" until we were about to dock into Port Douglas and the captain made a special announcement over the speakers saying "Congratulations to Karl & Lydia from Ireland, AAARRRGGGHHH, (he actually said that, trying to be Irish), who are here in Australia on their honeymoon" then another crew member shouted out "POTATOES" in a bad irish accent, Lydia went red and everyone clapped at us! Bit of an embarrassing end to the trip but great fun anyway. That night we we went to see some Toad Races with Peter and Lisa, a Canadian couple who had their camper van parked next to ours on the campsite. It was the funniest thing ever! The guy hosting it should have been a stand up comedian. He made all the involuntary participants pick up a taod, kiss it, then place it in the starting bucket. Some of the women were really afraid to touch the toads and the host really made a show of them. Oh, and a certain Lisa from Canada didn't do too well either - check out the pics!. The next morning we had planned to leave Port Douglas but awoke to the heaviest rain we had ever heard at around 6am. Three weeks in Australia and only the second day we saw rain. It didn't ease off til around midday and we were told that the road we had planned to take would be flooded so we just sat around the campsite for the rest of the day and decided to leave the next morning instead. That night we tried to have a good night with the Canadians again, but the choice of entertainment was really poor. A band called the Hillbilly Goats was the highlight of the night and thats really not saying much!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1227940620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1227940620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1227940620/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:40:24 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia

After leaving Port Douglas we were heading north towards Cape Tibulation. We stopped off along the way to see Mossman Gorge which was quite scenic. There were people in swimming in the gorge and it would have been nice to get in to cool down but we didn't have swimwear with us so we just took a few pictures and got back on the road again. When we got to the Daintree River we had to cross it on a cable ferry and after we crossed it the scenery on the way to Cape Tribulation was beautiful. There was rainforest to the left and white sandy beaches with turquiose water to the right. There were signs all over the road to be care ful of the cassowaries. We never even heard of a cassowary until we went to the safari park in Bali. They are these huge birds, like osterich or emu's, they've loads of really thick black feathers and a weird thing like a black wig that sits on top of their heads and from their necks up they are a red and blue colour. They are a really endangered species and we tried to spot one for the whole drive up to no avail. When we got to Cape Tribulation we went for a walk on the beach. The beach there was really nice, but no stinger net so no swimming. We were thinking of doing a couple of activities while we were there like horseriding on the beach or a guided rainforest walk but everything seemed to be overpriced compared to other places we've seen. So we left the next morning taking in all the beautiful scenery along the way and about halfway to the Daintree River I spotted an elusive cassowary up a side road. I jammed on the breaks, not realising there was a car right behind me but luckily we were going quite slow and he reacted in time. We turned around and just watched the cassowary for five minutes or so then made our way to Hartleys Corcodile Adventures just north of Cairns. We got there at about 10am and started the day with a boat trip on the lagoon where the driver feeds the crocodiles pieces of meat and they jump up beside the boat to snap it from him. After that we went to see the crocoldiles being fed, satwater crocodiles first, then freshwater ones. The handlers were very good and full of stories and facts about the crocs. After the feeding we walked around the safari part of the centre. We saw, wallabies, koalas, lizards, more crocs and a cassowary (not as good as the one we saw in the wild earlier!). At lunchtime we ate some crocodile which was actually really tasty. Texture of chicken, taste of fish! Then we went on a tour of the crocodile farm which was really informative and then onto see a snake show where the handler had the most venomous snake in the world. They measure how venomous a snake is by taking one mililitre of venom and seeing how many mice it can kill, this one can kill 50,000 mice with a drop smaller than a raindrop! After the snake show it was the crocodile attack show which was similar to what Steve Irwin used to do, a bloke getting into the crocs enclosure and teasing it with food to make it do death rolls and head shakes and stuff. Overall we really enjoyed they day, good to see the animals and educational too. We stayed the night in a small town called Atherton in the middle of the Atherton Tablelands, an area just inland from Cairns full of mountains, hills, rainforest and rivers. First thing the next morning we set off for the Waterfall Circuit seeing four of the most beautiful waterfalls in Australia along the way and an old volcanic crater at Hypipamee National Park too. The best waterfall was probably Milaa Milaa falls and there were loads of people in swimming. We only went in knee deep though coz the water was freezing! We got to Mission Beach that evening.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228457160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228457160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228457160/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:38:26 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia

Mission Beach & Magnetic Island   We got to mission beach last Saturday afternoon and the campsite we had planned to go to turned out to be quite far from the town centre so we decided to stay in the state-run caravan park right on the beach. It was the cheapest van park we've stayed in yet but it was also the one with the worst facilities. Kitchen was non-existant, toilets were filthy and Lydia wouldn't use the showers they were so bad. One thing it had going for it though was its location. Between our van and the sea was just a few trees and some white sand, a nice scene to wake up to in the morning. There wasn't much to do in Mission Beach so, half out of boredom and half just to see Lydia's reaction I shaved off my beard and just left on a stupid looking handlebar moustache. The month of November in Australia is called Mo-vember to raise awareness for prostate cancer and all the blokes grow ridiculous moustaches to raise awareness. We had been looking at the moustaches since we got to Oz and commenting on how stupid they looked. Anyway Lydia was well impressed, said I looked like a cross between one of the village people and trailer thrash! That night we went into the town centre (moustache and all) and had a few drinks but there wasn't much happening so we were back at the van by 9pm. A couple of Welsh in the van next to us invited us down to the beach as they were gonna have a few drinks and light a fire. We went down with them for an hour or two and were joined by an English bloke and a local chap. Stayed there for an hour or so. Wasn't much craic so decided to move up to another campsite on Mission Beach the next day. Our plan up there was to rent a bicycle out for the day and cycle through the rainforests but it was one of the hottest days since we got to Oz so we quickly scrapped those plans. We didn't want to waste the day so we spent about 4 or 5 hours stripping out the van and cleaning it from top to bottom. Had a dip in the pool after that and razored off the tash and went out to Scottys Bar for the night. It was really good craic there, there was Irish everywhere and we spent the night with a couple called Ema and Dan, she's from Boston, England and he's from Sydney. Had a good laugh with them and arranged to meet them the next day in Magnetic Island. So the next morning we drove to Townsville and took the ferry across to Magnetic Island. The scenery from the ferry port to our campsite at Bungalow Bay was really nice. We met Dan and Ema as soon as we got there and we hopped straight into the pool as it was roasting. Me and Dan drove to the shops and got steaks, beer and wine and cooked dinner. As we were eating dinner the camp kitchen became surrounded by possums. I didn't even know what a possum looked like before then but I soon found out. They look like little kangaroos, but furry. Lydia didn't like them coz she thought they looked like rats. But after a while they were eating out of our hands and sitting on our laps. The same thing happened every night in the kitchen! It was another scorcher of a day the next day and we spotted a deal for a round of golf with clubs balls and tees included for only $20 so we decided to go for it. The four of us set off in the van and as we played golf we were looking for koala bears the whole time. Apparently Magnetic Island is one of the best places to spot koalas in the wild. Needless to say we didn't see one but when we got back to the pool at the campsite we decided we were going to go on a koala hunt that evening. So at about 4:30pm (the best time to spot them is dusk) we drove to Radical Bay on the island and started our walk looking for the koalas. It didn't take long before we spotted our first one and we had the added bonus that she had a baby koala holding onto her back. We stayed and watched her sleep and scratch for 10 minutes or so then continued on with the rest of the walk. Saw another two koalas on the walk and on the way back we stopped again to look at the mother and baby. This time they were both wide awake and it was clear that the mother was blind. She was climbing branches with no leaves looking for food, reaching out at empty spaces and her eyes were a grey/white colour instead of the usual dark colour. It was sad to see. When we got back to the camp site we mentioned to the receptionist about the blind koala and she told us that the park ranger knew about her for the last 8 months and is monitoring her situation, good to know. That evening there was a pub quiz on in the camp site, it was really good craic and we won a pitcher of beer for finishing second. Next morning we spent some time online and booked our trips to the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island. We tried to book a horseriding trip on the island for that afternoon but it was booked out so we booked it for the next day instead and spent the rest of the day in the pool with Dan and Ema drinking goon (4 litre bags of wine). Went on a wildlife tour the next morning and it was really good. It was in the wildlife conservation centre attached to the campsite and we got to hold a baby crocodile, a python and a koala. It was really good value for money and I'd definately recommend it. Towards the end of the tour it started lashing rain though, it was to be the start of three days of rain. The rain eased of by the time we went horseriding with Blueys Horseriding Adventures. There was a group of 12 of us and apart from Lydia we were all beginners. There were only 2 instructors for the 2 of us and this kind of ruined it. The other ten people doing the horseriding were 18 year olds celebrating having just finished school and they were all idiots. They thought they way to control a horse was to shout at it and just didn't listen when the instructors tried to give instructions. The whole thing was very badly organised though. They should have know that 2 instuctors wouldn't be able to handle 11 total beginners and one intermediate. It's something I wouldn't recommend! It could have been so much better with smaller group sizes. Spent the rest of the night drinking goon with Dan and Ema. Next morning it was totally hammering it down, never seen heavier rain in my life. The campsite was like a river. We learned later in the week that a cyclone hit the mainland not far from Magnetic Island and thats what caused it. By midday it had cleared up a bit and myself and Dan went to try to better our scores at golf from the last time. No such luck though, we both did worse and blamed the goon! Ema (who's a hairdresser) did Lydias hair in the afternoon and we went up to the town that evening. Had some food there but the bars were dead so we went back to the campsite and sat chatting with three Irish girls that night. Took the ferry back to Townsville the next morning and left towards Airlie Beach. We really enjoyed Magnetic Island despite the rain. Seeing koalas in the wild is something even most Australians never see so we are very lucky. The island was really scenic too and we had a great laugh with Dan and Ema.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228551180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228551180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228551180/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:35:41 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia

We took the ferry from Magnetic Island to Townsville on Saturday morning and drove to Airlie Beach. Airlie beach was a lot more touristy than I expected. Everything there seems to revolve around tourists and sending them on trips to the Whitsundays. We found a caravan park on the outskirts of the town and collected Dan and Ema from the greyhound bus as they were going to stay there too. We spent a quiet night on the campsite playing cards, very competitively, and got an early night. We were up the next morning at 6.30 to go sailing. We went on a racing boat called the Hammer. There were 22 passengers and 3 crew. Apparently the boat goes at an angle of 45 degrees when there is enough wind but it was very calm that morning so we just headed straight to White Haven Beach. We had seen postcards of the beach but we were trying not to expect too much but it was amazing. We walked up to the look out point and when we went around the corner all we could see were perfect white beaches and tourquoise water. We stayed up there for a while to have a look but it was too hot. We raced down the path to get into the water. Unfortunately we had to get into our sexy stinger suits first. Karl thought he was great in his suit (see pictures). Just standing in the shallow water we could see large sting rays and fish swimming around us. We had a few hours there before we had to go back to the boat. It is supposed to be one of the best beaches in the world and it was definitely the best we have seen so far on our travels. We got back on the boat and started sailing towards Pearl Bay where we would be anchoring for the night. We had a really nice dinner and a few drinks with the others on board. There were Canadians, Norwegians, Swiss and Germans who kept to themselves and then us and an English couple and a Liverpool girl going out with an Aussie. If it wasn't for the other two couples we would have been bored out of our tree. We were getting annoyed with the "foreigners" because they didn't like the rule that everyone should get some food before they should go for seconds and thirds and then they made us listen to a Cyprus Hill album for hours and one of the germans had the tighest most hideous swimming shorts on. The girl from Liverpool wanted to take his shorts that night and hang them out of the sail, he didn't take them off though. After drinking some more goon we headed off to bed. It was quite hot and cramped downstairs but managed to sleep ok. Think the goon helped. Most people slept up on deck because it was too hot downstairs. The next morning we had breakfast at around 7am and then went for a snorkel around Pearl Bay which is also known as the fish bowl. When we were having breakfast we noticed a lot of big fish around the boat and also a lot of jellyfish. So on went the lovely stinger suits again and we headed for the beach. Karl was told he could have pool noodles when he was snorkelling but some of the foreigners had decided to take them to relax with or something. We were liking them less and less. When Karl asked for them because they could swim and he wouldn't be able to snorkel without them they grudgingly handed them over with a big face on them. The snorkelling was amazing. there are so many fish there and a lot of coral. Some of the coral is dead which is really sad to see but there is still a lot of colourful beautiful coral there. We were told on the boat that there is a huge Maori Wrasse that lives in the area and we would be able to see him. His name is Elvis. We thought they were exageratting but when we saw it coming straight for us I got a bit of a fright. The thing is massive! It really is like swimming in an aquarium. After snorkelling for a few hours we headed back to Airlie Beach. The wind was still really light so it took a while to get back. I think Karl was relieved that we couldn't tilt 45 degrees cos he was afraid he would fall over board. It was a great trip and i'm glad we booked the 1 night trip. There are a lot of 2 or 3 night trips but 1 night on the uncomfortable boat was enough for us. We were supposed to meet everyone from the boat that night in one of the bars where a table was reserved but the Liverpool and Aussie couple were getting straight on a bus and we didn't want to hang around with the foreigners so we went to a different bar with the English couple. We had to say goodbye to Ema and Dan that evening too because they have to get to Sydney before us. We had such a a good laugh with them that it was sad to see them go.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228872420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228872420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228872420/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:28:47 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

After leaving Airlie Beach we made the short 150km journey to Mackey to meet Paul and Michelle, the Scottish couple we had spent a few nights with in Mount Isa when both our vans were broken down. I felt really crappy all day though and wasn't really up for a night out. Don't know if I was really dehydrated from the sailing trip or if I had caught some sort of flu or something. It was typical that the first day I've been sick since India fell on a day where we had plans to meet people and go on a big night out. Anyway, I gave it my best shot and we had a load of drink playing drinking games in their motel room before we hit a nightclub. But as soon as we got to the nightclub I went really downhill and had to go home. The Scots still managed to get fairly hammered though so I hope I didn't ruin the night for everyone. The next morning I was still feeling terrible and was just knocking back litres of water and popping paracetamol every few hours so we stayed in Mackey for the day even though there isn't anything to do. In the afternoon we went into the town centre and we set up Australian bank accounts, sent some CV's to recruitment agencies in Sydney and Lydia did some shopping. We went to a public swimming pool/lagoon for a while and then in the evening we went for dinner with the Scottish. It will show how bad I was feeling when, despite having not eaten all day, I could only eat half a burger for dinner, Lydia was shocked! We were supposed to go to the cinema after that but I was only fit for bed so we said goodbye to Paul and Michelle and had an early night. The next morning I felt a lot better, still not 100% but definitely good enough to leave Mackey. We decided to drive as far as Rockhampton that day as to drive as far as Hervey Bay would have been to much in one day. We're trying to limit the kilometres per day to about 400 both for the vans sake and our own. So along the way to Rockhampton we decided to stop off at the Capricorn Caves. We were glad we did as the guided tour was really interesting. They reckon the caves used to be part of the great Barrier Reef millions of years ago when they lay under water.Now they are above sea level and surrounded by rainforest. Some of the caves were spectacular and the photos don't do them justice, in particular the Cathedral Cave, which they have actually transformed into a church, with pews, an alter and a choir stand. Apparently the acoustics are perfect and they have loads of wedding there each year. That night we parked by the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton and after dinner we watched a bit of TV in the campsite. There was a news bulletin in the middle of a programme and the headline was "Large Croc Spotted in the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton". Its safe to say we didn't sleep well that night!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228872600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228872600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1228872600/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:27:30 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia

When we got to Hervey Bay we checked into a campsite where we turned out to be the only travellers. It was full of OAP's who lived there in their caravans. Some of the caravans had brick walls around them with gardens, flowers, trees and concrete extensions onto their vans, ridiculous!!! In the evening one of the "streets" in the van park was even having their annual street party and asked us to join them, we had to decline! Hervey Bay itself was a bit disappointing. There was no town centre as such and the whole place was really spread out. We were looking to have a bit of a good night out on the night we got there as we had nothing planned for the next day but the one nightclub that we heard about was closed for renovations and the other two bars in the town seemed to be just catering for Christmas parties (well it was the third last Friday night before Christmas so maybe we were just unlucky with the Christmas Party thing). So we ended up having an early night and the next day we changed campsites to one with other backpackers in it, it was still 90% full-time residents though. We spent most of the morning and afternoon strolling around shopping centres on the outskirts of the town. Later in the afternoon we lazed by the pool for an hour or so then in the evening we cooked in the camp kitchen while watching Back to the Future on TV (haven't seen that film since I was a kid - how cheesy can you get?) The next morning we were up at 6am to depart on the trip we had come to Hervey Bay for - a 3 day, 2 night self drive 4x4 safari around Fraser Island. We checked into the tour company and the first thing that surprised us was the amount of other people that were going on the trip. There were fifty of us in the room and we were put into groups. We had arranged to be put into the same groups the three Irish girls we met on Mission Beach but looking around the room, we knew a good few faces. Everyone seems to be travelling to Sydney for Christmas and everyone is making the same stops on the way so some faces become familiar. So we were all in this big room and we had to watch a couple of DVD's, one about Fraser Island and one about rules of the road in Australia and how to drive a 4x4. Something I couldn't believe was the safety warning on drink driving, it went something like this: "when driving in Australia you may only drink two beers in the first hour your are driving and one per hour after that, any more and you will be over the legal limit". It was the subject of a lot of jokes over the weekend but its true, you often see truck drivers and just people in general stopping off for petrol and sculling a can of beer in the process!!! So after we were put into our groups (ours was myself, Lydia, the 3 Irish girls - Clair, Marie & Edel, 3 English lads who were just finished college - Andy, Ollie & Martin and an English couple - James & Tracey) we set off in the jeep to Woolworths to buy beer, wine and food for the 3 days. It was a good group, 5 Irish, 5 English, 5 Blokes and 5 girls and everyone was up for a laugh. The 5 jeeps, with ten people in each one were all due to board the ferry to Fraser Island at 11am but only four of us turned up so we all had a good laugh on the ferry when we saw jeep number 5 pulling up to the terminal when we were about 10 metres out to sea!!! When we got to Fraser Island the weather was pretty crap, gloomy and grey. When we got to our first sight to see, a creek a Central Station, nobody was too impressed. Then when we finally made it to our second sight, Lake Wabby we could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance. The lake itself was absolutely beautiful and would have been even more beautiful if there were blue skies above. A few people got into the lake for a swim but most just dipped their feet in then we drove to our campsite for the night in the rain. The "roads" are really terrible on Fraser and thats why only 4x4's are allowed on the island. None of the roads are paved and they are all sand tracks, some with tree roots to contend with and others just with really soft sand. Riding in the back of the jeeps wasn't very comfortable. When we got to the campsite, spirits were down due to the rain. We put up our tents as quickly as we could and the girls got the dinner going. Jeep number 5 pulled up then and got a good slagging for missing the ferry (and all the days sights!). We were given three four man tents between the 10 of us but one was badly damaged and we could put it up so we were not happy with that. We had nice bar-be-qued burgers and corn on the cob for dinner and a few drinks, but with the rain pouring down nobody was really up for a big session and I think all fifty of us were tucked up in our sleeping bags by midnight. The next morning we were allowed to drive on the beach between 7am and 1pm so we drove up to the north of the islands as far as Indian Heads. It was still quite gloomy though and although it wasn't raining we were all eager to get back and set up camp again before it started raining. So we drove from Indian Heads to Mehena Camp Grounds stopping along the way to look at a sandstone rock formation called the Pinnacles and a really impressive looking shipwreck called the Mahena. It was probably the only thing on the island that looked impressive in the clouds and mist as it gave it a really eerie look. We met Mandy who we had met in Bali at Mahena shipwreck, she works in Fraser Island and it was great to see her again. We had planned to meet up with her and Alex in Hervey Bay but couldn't due to their work schedules so that was a pity. We had our campsite for the night set up before 2pm and we set up beside a jeep with a good crowd of Irish and English in it. We formed one big circle and started drinking early. Most of the lads had a game of ball on the beach later on which was good craic (English trying to play GAA!). The girls made dinner of pasta and sauce and we started playing drinking games early on. It was one of those nights where someone asked me what time it was and when I said 7:30 back they said no way, I thought it was about 11. Everyone just got really drunk really early and it was really good craic. Maybe it was a blessing from the heavens but at about 9:30 it started to bucket down and that called a halt to the drinking session as everyone had to but clothes and valueables etc into the jeep and make sure the sleeping bags and ground mats weren't getting wet. Next morning we packed up the tents and equipment again and went to Eli Creek a freezing cold crystal clear freshwater creek. It was really refreshing to get in to cool off. Oh, forgot to mention, the weather has resumed as normal, clear blue skies and mid 30's temperatures so we were delighted with a cold wash in the creek! After that we started on the long journey towards Lake McKenzie. Lydia was driving and when we were about half-way there we had a bit of a freak accident. When we went over a big bump, James, one of the English lads somehow managed to get his middle toe stuck under the seat across from him. It looked really nasty when he got it out so we had to scrap Lake McKenzie and saw a nurse at one of the big resorts. He told him to get straight back to the mainland and go straight to hospital. Lydia felt really bad as it happened when she was driving but nobody blamed her at all, it was just a freak accident. Anyway we managed to get an earlier ferry back to the mainland and James when straight to hospital where he was told he had a broken toe, which I think we all knew as soon as we saw it. It was a great trip anyway and I'd highly recommend it but don't think I'd recommend Palace Adventure Travels too quickly.
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Noosa, Queensland, Australia

We arrived in Tin Can Bay, a small place between Hervey Bay and Brisbane, at around 5pm. The first thing we did was showered and brushed our teeth, the first time in three days after the trip to Fraser Island and it felt good. When we were checking into the campsite the woman in charge told us to go to the fish restaurant nearby and said it was the best place for fresh fish. We were so exhausted after the Fraser Island trip we weren't in the mood to cook for ourselves again so we checked out the fish restaurant and it was the best meal we've had since coming to Australia. Lydia had grilled barramundi with chips and salad, and I had battered local fish with chips and salad. The two meals came to less than 10 Euro and the portions were huge. Neither of us could finish our dinners even though we were starving. Can't remember the name of the restaurant but it's beside Ace Caravan Park for anyone reading this and going to Tin Can Bay in the near future!!! The next morning we got up at 6am and were down at the boat ramp at 6:15am to try to spot some dolphins. There was a dolphin there when we got there and only four other people so we had a good look at the dolphin and took a few pictures. We were hoping we might be able to feed the dolphin but were told feeding time wouldn't be til 8am. We hung around for an hour and by 7:15am there must have been over 50 people there, all waiting for 8am so they could try to feed the dolphin. So we decided to leave and were glad we did because when we were pulling out of the car park we saw a tour bus of 50 Swedes who were on our campsite the night before and two other tour buses heading towards the boat ramp. So we made our way to Noosa and found it after we originally missed our turn and got lost. First time getting lost in Australia after 7 weeks driving around, not bad! Noosa looked really nice when we arrived there. The Lonely Planet guide book says you would think you were in Cannes in France when you walk down the main street and it's true. We found a nice campsite 2km outside of the town that was located on a beach in the river estuary. That afternoon we got in for a dip and spotted a stingray. Had a walk round the town later in the afternoon and it seems our first impressions were justified. Really clean, lovely beach, loads of shops, bars and restaurants and clear blue skies! We met the three Irish girls again that night and went to Koala Bar which was a bit mad but had really cheap drink, after that we carried the night on to Rolling Rock night-club where we caught the end of semi-final of the Miss Noosa 2009 beauty contest! Good craic though. Bumped into a few more people on the dancefloor that we met traveling down the coast too. The following morning we had planned to get surfing lessons but we were both a little bit hungover (especially Lydia!) so we said we'd just relax for the day. This turned out to be relaxing by shopping for Lydia, she went on another spree. Then we went to watch the Irish girls do their surf lessons and spent some time online. Went out with the girls again that night. Went to an Irish Bar that had a karaoke on, sang an old reliable, then when confidence was up I shot myself in the foot by attempting Things Can Only Get Better by D:Ream, I hadn't a clue how the lyrics went and it was met by a "Yes indeed, things can only get better" by the karaoke host when I got down off the stage!!! We hit the bed early that night as we didn't want to be hung over the next day. Got a great deal on surf lessons from Go Ride A Wave, $45 each for a 2 hour lesson and he threw in the surfboard and rashie for the rest of the day for free. Considering that the Irish girls paid $55 with a different company and didn't get a board to play with for the rest of the day we got a really good deal. The lessons were really good and our instructor, Brendan, knew his stuff. We were all standing up on the boards after just a few waves. We both really enjoyed it and stayed in the water from 10am to 3:30pm non-stop. We were wrecked going home, it might not seem like it but its a really physical sport and we were both aching for a few days afterwards. Went to a mexican restaurant with the girls that night then to the cinema to see Australia, muck! The next day we were too sore from the surfing to do anything meaningful, so we drove to a scenic lookout over the town, Lydia did some more shopping and I spent some time online. Had dinner in an Asian restaurant that night and back to the campsite after that for an early night. Noosa was good fun, recommend it to anyone traveling the east coast of Australia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1229732100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1229732100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1229732100/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:24:10 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

We drove from Noosa to Brisbane this morning. We had vouchers for free accommodation in Base Backpackers hostel in the city centre so we decided to use them.When we got into the city centre, however, we found out that parking was $18 per day which we weren't happy about. So we found a small car park beside a park in the city centre, left the van there and hoped for the best. We got to the hostel at 11am and were told our room wouldn't be ready until 2pm so Lydia seized the opportunity to go on a 3 hour shopping spree! In the afternoon we met Eddie (who we met in Nha Thrang, Vietnam), his mate Killian (who coincidentally was one of my drinking buddies in AIB, Dublin), Eddie's girlfriend Miriam and Killians mate Niall from Kerry. We went to our first "Sunday Session" which is a big thing in Australia but I think they're mostly in the big cities as we hadn't encountered one before this. Basically it's just live music from 3 or 4pm in some really big pubs, they get really packed and everyone gets really drunk and dances and sings til late! It was really good craic and we agreed to meet up again in Sydney. The next morning we walked to where we had parked the van with fingers crossed. Luckily there was no ticket on it so we were delighted and got out of there as soon as possible. Neither of us was feeling well but I was a lot better than Lydia so drove us to Surfers Paradise. Our first impression of Surfers was the huge skyscraper residences all along the coast. Haven't seen anything like that anywhere else in Australia. Didn't do much for the rest of the day apart from do a bit of research as to what we were gonna do in Surfers over the next couple of days. It was a bit of a waste of a day but we were too hung over to do anything else. We decided to do the combination of Dreamworld Theme Park and White Water World the next day. We got to Dreamworld at about 10am and couldn't believe the amount of cars and buses in the car park. All the kids have just got their summer holidays here and the place was packed. The first thing we queued for was their main attraction, the Cyclone rollercoaster. It was just ok, nothing special. We went on another 2 rides but the queues were getting ridiculously long (like 1 hour queue per ride) so we got a annoyed and went into the water world. Best decision ever! We had a great time there, short queues and great slides.In hindsight we should have just gone to the water world at $45 compared to $75 for the joint ticket. That night Eddie and Miriam drove down to Surfers Paradise and we were going to meet them but we weren't in the mood and either were they so we said we'd meet them bright and early for surfing the next day. We rented 4 boards the next morning but when we got to the beach and saw how rough it was I wasn't sure (a) if I'd be able to do it or (b) if I'd enjoy it. The sea was giving us a real bashing at the start, the waves were so powerful and after about 7 or 8 attempts to catch a wave and stand on the board with no joy I was starting to get a bit frustrated. Then I caught one and then I caught loads and really started to enjoy it. I think it just took time to get used to the different type of waves from Noosa to Surfers Paradise. Eddie was flying too, he was standing almost everytime from the word go but it was his eighth or ninth time doing it so hopefully we'll be like that after another few practices! We surfed for about four hours and were absolutely wrecked after it. We spent the rest of the day in the campsite recovering. I don't think we've mentioned anywhere in the blog, but we're really enjoying the camping/sleeping in the campervan. Waking up every morning to clear blue skies, the sound of birds singing and usually a view out the back of the van (which we leave open every night) of the sea, a lake or a forest. We usually cook in the camp kitchens which saves us money on eating out and spend at least an hour or two in the late evening just sitting outside the van reading or drinking beer or wine or both! We'll be glad to get to Sydney next week and finally unpack the rucksacks that we've been living from for the last 10 months but we'll miss the traveling too.   
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1230160320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1230160320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/staffyandlyddy/1/1230160320/tpod.html Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:23:10 -0400 Round the world trip - Asia, Oz, Pacific & South America!!

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Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

After arriving in Byron Bay we went down to the beach and met the three Irish girls again. We spent a while walking around the town and it kind of reminded me of Noosa a bit except not so upmarket. It was totally different from Surfers Paradise, the only high-rise in Byron is the lighthouse on the headland overlooking the bay. We cooked a lovely thai curry on the campsite for dinner then walked down to the girls apartment for a few drinks. Just as we got to their apartment it started raining and there was an amazing lightening storm. It passed over in about an hour though and we made for the Rails Bar in the town centre. The Irish girls introduced us to two Icelandic girls there, Brindice and Solve. The girls were good craic, a bit nuts, when we were queuing to try to get into a nightclub, they decided to rob the line, as in the steel poles with rope that you would see in a queue in a bank! They took a section of it and hid it around the corner. The next morning we drove to Byron Peak, the headland overlooking Byron Bay. The scenery from up there was really nice and in July and August it's supposed to be the best place on the planet to see whales from land. It is also the most easterly point of mainland Australia and has a nice lighthouse up there too. We hung around up there for a while and took a few photos then spent the rest of the afternoon either online or walking round the town. There's a real hippy vibe to the town and we felt that if your not tattooed, pierced, dreadlocked, walking around town bare foot and sleeping on the side of the street, people tended to look down on you or treat you as boring. Bumped into the Icelandic girls again that night as the Irish girls had moved on. They brought us to a good bar called the Beaches, or "the Bitches" as the Icelandic girls called it. There was a really good band on there and we stayed for a while. Brindice had us in stitches telling us that their campervan wouldn't start that morning and they were late for work (they work in a surf shop) so she got out to push it but she was only wearing her Wonderwoman (pronounced Woof the Woman) knickers and a t-shirt on. So she had to push the van uphill and she was getting beeped at in her Wonderwoman underpants, very funny at the time anyway! The following morning we had planned to go surfing but it was cloudy and gloomy when we woke up and we still had cuts and bruises from the last outing so we decided to give it a miss. We just had a lazy day, bumped into the Icelandic girls again who where skateboarding around the town with a bottle of beer each, funny girls! We ended up not doing anything for the day except in the evening when we went to see Quantum of Solace in the cinema. We drove a relatively long 350km the next morning to Coffs Harbour. We walked around the beach and harbour in the afternoon and it looked quite nice. The waves on the beach were huge though and we were glad we hadn't planned an extra night there to surf as we wouldn't have been able for it. Had an early night just watched a film in the TV room in the campsite. We made an even longer 400km trip from Coffs Harbour to Newcastle the next day. We saw our first forest fire along the way but apart from that it was pretty uneventful. Got to Newcastle at around 3pm and we weren't too impressed with it as it was very industrial and a lot of the buildings in the town centre were either boarded up or for sale. So we started out towards Sydney and stopped about 20km down the road in a place called Belmont. It was the last night in the campervan and we're really looking forward to getting to Sydney now. Lydia's friend from home, Tara, is living in Sydney but going on holiday for 3 weeks or so and is letting us have her apartment while she's away from the day we get there so we are thrilled about that. We've heard of people paying $99 (E50) a night to stay in a dorm room in a hostel over the Christmas and New Year period. As I said in the last blog, we've really enjoyed the camping part of our trip but at the same time, after 10 months living out of a rucksack or the back of a van, we're really looking forward to settling down for a few months.
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Another blog entry consisting of photo's, photo's and more photo's. Over the last few months we've both found full time work, me in a hospital and Lydia in an office and we're planning on staying in Sydney til December or January. Thats depending on 3 important things though 1. me getting a new job when my contract in the hospital expires in 3 weeks, 2. both of us being sucessful in applying for a second year visa and 3. getting an extension on the lease of our appartment.So enjoy the photo's for now, we've started to plan the rest of our trip, Oz, New Zealand and South America and I'll put an update up as soon as we've news on any of the three items above! 
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