Sydney to Cairns!
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2004
1
17
21
Trip End
Mar 30, 2005
Sydney,
Australia
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
I have to warn you that we have covered a lot of ground in the last eight weeks and that as a result this entry is far too long. Unfortunately we couldnˇ¦t cut it down any more without cutting out bits we wanted to tell you.
Where do I start! We arrived in Sydney on the 15th of October. You dont know how traumatic it was for us. We had just left lovely Thailand a few days earlier where the weather was beautiful and found ourselves in Sydney where the expected high was a mere 14C. For a brief moment I thought I was back in Dublin. However a look outside confirmed that it couldnt be as the sun was actually shining.
We swiftly made our way to the exclusive Kings Cross area of Sydney. Kings cross is where it all happens. There is an abundance of 24hr sport bars, brothels as well as junkies roaming the streets. I have to say my initial impression of the whole city was that it was fantastic. It was really clean and had a shocking amount of nice looking pubs and Kings Cross was similar in some ways to temple bar apart from the visible brothels.
The sunshine did not last however, and the temp dropped to freakishly low for the time of year.
On the first evening we took a walk in the freezing cold towards Sydney Harbour Bridge and opera house. I could see my own breath in front of me for the first time in six months. To make matters even more unpleasant the only thing we had with us where t-shirts. However we endured the harsh weather conditions (god love us, a mere 14 degrees, how did we survive?). Down by the opera house we got our compulsory pictures of ourselves with the opera house and bridge in the background.
Our hostel was filled with what looked like the UK Conservative Party youth division all on their character building gap year that mother and father had promised them before they entered tertiary education. What a fine bunch of young people. Ah the fun we had listening to them telling us how much better their trip was compared to anybody elses. Every one of them must have had the most heavenly unique experience. I bet you all wish you where there.
We had the luxury of a TV in our room in the hostel and we were lucky enough to catch a program about the backpacker serial killer that operated on the Australian East Coast for several years in the early 90s before his capture and imprisonment. This really gave us the lift that we needed.
On our second day in Sydney it started to rain. As all those in Sydney openly celebrated this great event as they really need the water Roisin and I took a rather more dim view of the rain as all we possessed were t-shirts and we got soaked to the skin. Up to now, my impression formed in Ireland of Australia was that it never rained but over the next few weeks of our visit this impression changed dramatically.
While in Sydney we went to the pub to watch the weekly highlights program of the soccer. A Danish guy sat down with us at the table to watch the football. He introduced himself as Martin and in the same sentence told us that he had just left Denmark in order to escapes a prison sentence, for a crime he did commit (not quite the A-Team). He just didnt feel that he should have got sent down for it. I appreciate people being open and honest but some things are better kept to yourself. He then told me about his plans to abscond to South America where he could set up a new life and live happily ever after. As my mother always taught me if you cant say anything nice dont say anything. So I wished him all the best with his new life and left the bar to return to the hostel and the relative safety of the gap year students.
As it continued to rain in Sydney we didnt do much touristy stuff over the next few days. On the Tuesday however we picked up our very own campervan. So we bid farewell to the city of Sydney and headed for the famous Blue Mountains and a small town called Katomba. Yippee the adventure had really begun. Ooooooops more technical problems. It was so cloudy and foggy that we saw nothing. Added to this was the fact that it was about 5C cooler than it was in Sydney. It was so cold that we seriously considered lighting the gas stove in order to heat up the cabin.
We figured that if we headed north up the coast then the weather would get better very quickly. It was then that we realised how big the place actually was, heading up the coast to somewhere warm was going to take more than a few hours, more like a few days! We ended up in a little place called Forster.
This is where we encountered our first real live Aussies. However they didnt match the stereotype. They were two of the most committed born again Christians that I had ever met. Unfortunately for us we must have been viewed as potential convertees. I made the mistake of going and saying hello to them. Two hours and many Scriptures, parables and life stories gone wrong later I returned to a very angry Roisin in the van (where the hell were you etc?). Dont get me wrong they were lovely people and everybody has their religion but they where just too full on. Especially when they tried to sell me the Jesus t-shirt. Luckily for me they accepted my excuse that my backpack was full already.
Anyhow we were getting ready for bed that night when I opened the door in the van. Yer man was just standing there two feet from the van, he scared the life out of me. He must have been listening to us chat. "Hello Martin he said I just popped around to say hello". We decided at this point to leave for pastures new very early the next morning. I had seen two many movies where the next scene played out involved my character losing what looks like 450 litres of blood after being stabbed several times with a crucifix by the madman.
So the next morning we left before the bloodbath could begin in earnest. We arrived in a place called Port Macquarie where the sun was finally shining and we saw our first dolphins swimming in the sea. It was a fantastic place and we ended up staying four nights, which was needed just to see all the beaches in the area. It was here that we encountered our first mullets. There is a real Aussie fixation with the mullet, which I have not been able to work out. There are simply millions of Shane Byrnes here of all shapes and sizes! We visited some Koalas in the in a local sanctuary and got to pet them. Yes they are cuddly and it is the only creature that I know that can sleep more that my old housemate Kim.
Next stop was Coffs Harbour, which is another beautiful place with miles of picture postcard beaches. We hooked up with Keith who we had met previously in China. It was great to see him once more and was a relief to discover that not all Aussies are the types to stand outside your van in the dead of night listening in to your every word. We spent a lovely day eating fish and chips at the marina and even had the bonus of getting to watch some whales swim by.
There is another fixation in the Aussie national psyche that I have to tell you about. Australians like big theme things. Let me explain, on our way up from Sydney we passed the big rock. This is a scaled down replica of Uluru (Ayers Rock) which houses a hotel and cafe. In Coffs harbour we had the Big Banana where there was a 30ft plastic banana at the front of a banana plantation. Visitors can do a tour of the plantation, buy bananas, and would you believe, go ice-skating or snow tubing. They a have a ski slope in a refrigerated shed with real snow where you can rent a tube and spend a couple of hours happily sliding down, while the sun is splitting the stones outside. Naturally we gave it a go, it was a bit bizarre to say the least, but great fun.
On our way up the coast we also passed such places as the big Prawn 45ft, big oyster, big crab and the big mango and big pineapple. This is all mad but very true. Do you think they are compensating for something!?
We moved further north to Byron Bay. This was one of my favourite places as it was just so relaxed and the campsite that we were on was just right by the sea. It was here that we booked our first big adventure, a trip to the infamous Fraser Island!
But before Fraser we had an appointment with a superstar! Well not quite but we decided to visit Steve Irwins Zoo. Steve and the wife were not there but we still got to see a crocodile show. We seen a 400 Kilo croc jump clean out of the water, this was something else. We have some pictures of it that we will post on the site soon. There was even a crocoseum - a stadium with a capacity of about 5000.
We headed for a place called Rainbow beach for our Fraser Island trip. At the hostel we were put into groups of 10 and given the 4-wheel drive and necessary equipment for our 3-day camping trip. Things looked good at the outset as our jeep had the most beer and goons (goon is like wine in the loosest possible sense, in fact it doesnt contain any grapes and is made from fish eggs and nuts). We had good fun over three days and there were some real characters in our group. We did have one 25yr Old Dutch guy on the trip that was a real grandad. He just thought he knew everything. He kept instructing everyone how to do everything from driving the jeep to how to wash a fork, cook rice, slice bread etc.
I have never had so much fun driving as I did with that jeep particularly when grandad was over the rear axle and we were going over really rough terrain. The sound of his head hitting of the roof was music to my ears.
After Fraser we headed for a place called 1770. Yes you got it right it is called 1770. This is where captain cook first landed in Queensland. It was a beautiful place with the by now usual beautiful beaches and clear blue sea with the added bonus of a captain cook museum which was about the size of a mobile classroom. We hung out with our new friends from Fraser Island and checked out some kite surfing on the beach.
The next day we left for Gladstone where we met another Aussie we met in China. Lydia and her husband Don really looked after us for a few days, they showed us the sights and sounds of Gladstone and its surrounds. Thanks very much Lydia and Don! Whilst there we visited the largest horse sale in the Southern Hemisphere. It lasted for three days and was impressive especially when nearly all those attending had their full cowboy outfits on. There was no danger of us blending into the background there, we stuck out like the proverbial thumb!
After bidding goodbye to Lydia and Don we made our way over the next few days north to the town of Airlie beach to do our Whitsunday trip. Our boat was an ex racing boat and was fantastic. We spent two fantastic days on board visiting such places as the world famous whitehaven beach. I also saw a fish the same size as me when we were snorkelling. When I first seen it I couldnˇ¦t believe it. I ended up feeding the fish bread from my hand. We have pictures but not with our digital camera, so you wont see them for a while.
Following Airlie beach we hit Townsville, which was a pleasant little town. We took a ferry over to Magnetic Island. We hired a moke, which is a mini cooper done up like a golf buggy and spent a lovely day exploring the Island. The Island was quite small, so this did not take long, and the remainder of the day was spent lying on the beach enjoying the sun and watching a wedding.
After we returned to the mainland we ventured on to Cairns. Whilst there we made our way up to Cape Tribulation which rates with Byron bay as my favourite places on the East Coast. I had neve seen proper rainforest and was simply amazed at the scenery in every direction. The rainforest came right down to the sea. I dont know if I will put these pictures on the web as I think they will only depress those at home at the moment.
Then we came to one of the saddest moments of our trip to date when we returned our campervan to her rightful home. It was a great way to travel the coast but we simply didnt have the time to continue our trip this way. From now on we would be flying!
Since then we have journeyed across the top of Australia, to Darwin and Broome, and then South to Perth. However, as we know you dont have all day to read this, We will add these to a separate travelpod shortly. Now you have something to look forward to!
Bye for now,
Martin and Roisin.
