Australia - 1770 to Cairns
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2008
1
7
13
Trip End
Jul 17, 2009
Cairns,
Australia
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Lois was disappointed that we didn't have time to do a surf lesson as 1770 is the last place you can go in the sea without a stinger suit nd the possibility of being snaffled by a saltwater croc. She was really looking forward to it but there was just no time. After saying goodbye to the friendliest and cleanest hostel we have encountered so far 'Cool Bananas' we caught the night bus to Airlie Beach ready for our sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands.
Arrived in Airlie Beach at 6am on Thursday and it was boiling hot already and we had to wait until 10am to check in to our dorm. We decided to get some washing done in preparation for our sailing trip. Lois went to investigate the laundry equipment and had a run in with a bulldog of a cleaner lady who said she couldn't use the dryers until after 2pm ...she was not impressed as you can imagine after a 10 hour night bus and no sleep. Eventually we got into our room which was less than clean, especially for a girls dorm!
After a short rest that afternoon we took a walk around Airlie Beach. To be honest there is not much there and it is very touristy. There is a man-made lagoon where people swim and sunbathe ... just like an outdoor swimming pool so not our cup of tea. Knowing we had to check out of the hostel and go to the Anaconda 3 tour operator office the next day we opted for an early night in our skanky 8 girl dorm.
Friday morning we woke early as we were excited about our sailing trip. We arrived at the tour operators' office around lunchtime and were informed we couldn't take bags with zips as the crew on the boat think the zips carry bed bugs. We also discovered we would not board the boat until 7pm so we returned to the scruffy hostel and hung out there all day in the Internet room ... the only room with air-con!
After dumping our backpacks in storage we took a walk to the marina where we were due to board the boat. At first glance it appeared that our fellow passengers were going to be a good group as not too many youngsters which was a nice change. Eventually the crew ushered us towards the boat after being given our stinger suits (to protect us from the deadly jellies) and considering we were sold 'luxury' by the travel agent it wasn't quite what we were expecting. Nonetheless we took our free glass of bubbly and hopped aboard.
After a lengthy briefing about the do's and don'ts on the Anaconda 3 we set sail into the darkness. As we mingled with the other passengers and crew we admired the millions of stars above us. When we booked the trip we had requested a girls dorm however we were put in with 2 guys (1 Indian and 1 French) but as far as guys go they were pretty clean and not too much trouble. We were a little surprised to see the size of our room but I guess with 32 passengers everything has to be compact.
Saturday morning the breakfast bell rang at 7am so we all gathered in the saloon hoping for bacon and eggs ... no such luck! Cereal and toast and full fat milk URGH!!! Not a piece of fruit in sight ... so much for luxury!
It was a lovely sunny morning so we were all keen to get to Whitehaven Beach. We had taken a selection of fruit with us for the trip as we weren't sure how often we would get fed so we packed a couple of bananas to take over to the beach. As we were about to get into the 'tender' (small speed boat) one of the crew noticed the bananas and had a fit ... apparently it's bad luck to take bananas on boats. They wanted us to get rid of them but we refused as we had paid $8 for them. After a bit of an argument they agreed to let us take them on the small boat over to the beach as long as we got rid of the skins before we returned. When asked if we had any more in our cabin I looked at Lois and chuckled as I heard the porky roll off her tongue ... we had 4 more in our cabin ha ha! We spent the rest of the weekend dodging the 'Banana Police' and we felt happily naughty while we savored our forbidden fruit in secret. To be fair to them ... their superstition does make some sense ... apparently it dates back to when there was scurvy on ships and they used fruit to treat it but the bananas made all the other fruit go bad ... but move with the times you pirates there's no scurvy in 2009!!!
Over at the beach the sand was like walking on flour ... it kinda squelched beneath our feet ... very unusual and it was cool to walk on as it reflects the sun. The sun was in the mood for burning white skin so we donned our 'sexy' stinger suits (Lois put hers on back to front DOH!!) and we hit the water. Although we weren't intending diving in Australia (as it's cheaper in Asia) we agreed to do the free scuba experience. We got all of the kit on and the dive instructor started quickly running through some skills (as he had 20 people to get through) and to be honest he didn't fill us with confidence. We both felt rushed and didn't grasp the skills as easily as we had imagined. We both found breathing under water ok but Lois struggled when trying to take out and recover her regulator (thing you breathe through) and kept getting lung fulls of water and I couldn't empty my mask of water by breathing out through my nose at the same time as having the regulator in my mouth. The likelihood of actually using these skills on a dive is minimal but we both felt we would have liked more time (thankfully we will get this on a proper dive course in Asia).
Back on the boat it became apparent that what we thought was a sailing trip (with some snorkeling) was actually a dive boat and the main objective of the crew was to get everyone to pay for dives. They tried to persuade us to do an 8m dive later that afternoon even though we told them we were not confident using the equipment. $65 each per dive ... no thanks!!! Especially with instructors like them. Nonetheless we grabbed our snorkels and flippers and jumped in to see what the Great Barrier Reef is all about. We saw lots of pretty fish and lots of not so colourful coral at Luncheon Bay ... at this point we both thought the Red Sea, Egypt was better for snorkeling.
It was Saturday night on Anaconda 3 and at 5pm Lois was looking at her watch wondering if it was too early for a beer. N.B. Mum, we hadn't had a drink for a full week since Fraser Island plus we waited until 6pm so no grief ha ha!!!
Others followed suit and we got chatting to some other passengers. It started to rain heavily so we all left the deck but it was very cramped and hot with everyone in the saloon so we went to our air-conditioned cabin for a breather. As we sat on our top bunk nattering, water started pouring in from the ceiling over Lois' bed. I dashed out to find one of the deckhands who was busy playing games in the saloon. Eventually I attracted his attention and he came to our cabin to have a look. He left us with a bowl to catch the water and said he would fix it. An hour or so passed and nobody had been in to check if it had stopped. We were not impressed and no longer felt in the party mood. After having to go out and ask one of the girls for some dry linen we called it a night.
Sunday morning we were awoken by nearly being tossed from our beds as it was very choppy and raining heavily. We made it to the saloon and somehow managed to make breakfast even though we were being flung from one side to the other and banging into each other. There were bowls and cups flying all over. Even with Stano's sea legs we felt a bit queasy so headed for the rear deck for some air and found some unfortunate fellow passengers hurling over the side. Thankfully the 4m swell didn't claim our breakfast that day.
A couple of hours later we made it to Bait Reef (outer reef) which was where we would stay until the following morning. This day was really for the divers and as it poured with rain all day we took advantage of some relaxation time in our snug cabin until the leak started again. Most of the crew were busy with the divers so I went to get a couple of bowls to catch the water. Even though the water was still dripping that evening the crew were less than helpful and advised us they were too busy with the night divers so again we were not too impressed ... and this was meant to be a luxury boat!!!
Monday morning the weather was even worse, but after breakfast we went snorkeling in the pouring rain and the guy in the 'tender' was feeding bread to the fish so they would come up near us. We met 'Elvis' a huge Maori Wrasse and he happily let us pat him and swam around with us.
We got back to Airlie Beach at around 2pm and were quite pleased to get off the boat. Although we enjoyed the snorkeling we could have seen and done what we did on a day trip. We were sold a 'sailing' trip and we were expecting to get involved and hoist the sails etc and see a lot more in 3 days. This boat is great if you are a certified diver and get to choose the dives you do but if you are a beginner it can work out very expensive for dives. Non divers are found sitting around a lot of the time. If the weather had been better it would have been more pleasant to sit on the deck but even then 3 days was too much. Lesson learned!!
Back on dry land we got chatting to a guy who works on the Anaconda 3 (but wasn't on our trip) and he advised us that the leak in cabin 5 was an ongoing problem which fueled our complaint.
Back in town Lois phoned Tribal Travel to confront our agent on mis-selling the trip and also the leak. He wasn't there so we sent a strongly worded email. Over the next couple of days Lois had a few heated conversations with them and thankfully they have agreed to refund us $600 (300 quid) which we are more than pleased with ... we paid for the trip as part of a package deal with Fraser Island and hostels etc so with this refund it works out we only paid about 60 quid for the 3 day 3 night trip and they sell it individually for 300 quid each. Happy days!!!
I knew Lois' sharp tongue would come in handy!!!
That night we endured our final Greyhound bus overnight to Cairns. I was exhausted and fell pretty much straight to sleep but Lois (the insomniac) struggled to get any rest and woke me in the early hours as it was torrential rain and the bus was aquaplaning all over the road and she wanted to check I had my seat belt fastened. Thankfully we made it to Cairns in one piece and the rain had stopped.
Annoyingly we couldn't check into our hostel until 12 noon so we dumped our bags and encountered our first Aboriginals on a stroll around the city centerer. Cairns has a relaxed cafe culture feel and it was the best place we have visited in our eyes.
Eventually we checked in and had a little snooze. Later that evening we went for a stroll down by the water looking out for crocodiles ... we didn't see any ... BOO!!! We were asked out for drinks by a couple of Canadian guys but as we looked terrible and we were knacker ed we gracefully declined!!
Next morning we checked into a nicer hostel for our last night in Australia ... we got a private room for the same price as the dorm the previous night. It was so nice to have a bit of privacy after 3 weeks of dorms so we took advantage and chilled out. After a bit of backpack reorganisation we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out being our last night.
Lois had been dying to try some Aussie animals!!!
We arrived at the Raw Prawn on the waterfront and were given the best table in the house ... great spot for people watching. I ordered a seafood dish as usual (Pacific Fusion) which consisted of fish, prawns, calamari, mussels and crab served on a bed of rice with coconut milk and bok choy ... yummy!!!
Lois being a carnivore went for the Game Duo ... Kangaroo and Crocodile!
She enjoyed the experience but said next time she would just have a whole kangaroo.
I even tried the crocodile and actually enjoyed it ... who'd have thought. Not sure if I could stomach a full one though!
We were both pretty knackered but Lois being Lois reminded me that it was our last night in Australia and suggested we had a beer ... I didn't take much persuading!
After being tortured by a couple of divvy guys we managed to shake them off and got chatting to a couple of engineers who were also leaving the next morning to go back to work on ships up North.
John was the hippest 66 year old we have ever come across ... he is still a party animal so him and Lois were partners in crime mixing it up on the dance floor!
Scott was much younger and had just won $20k at the casino so after buying in rounds and some reluctance on our part (we like to buy our own drinks) we let him buy us a few as he had his winnings in his pocket. They were both perfect gentlemen and we had a fantastic time partying with them.
Thursday morning was an early rise and we kinda wished we hadn't stayed out drinking vodka until 5am but hey ho it was a great night. After a fry up we headed for the airport to get our domestic flight to Brisbane. We then had over 9 hours to kill in the airport before our flight to Singapore ... a further 8 hours ... then 3 hours to wait in Singapore Airport before our flight to Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say we arrived in Kuala Lumpur completely exhausted and were irritated by the hotel and taxi touts. Thankfully we had purchased a Lonely Planet - South East Asia on a Shoestring guide in Brisbane Airport so we called a recommended hostel and got a taxi. We didn't realise it was an hours taxi ride into Kuala Lumpur so for the RM70 (14 quid) we paid we got a good deal.
We pretty much slept all afternoon and night so nothing to report about Malaysia as yet apart from the fact that we have a private room in Central Kuala Lumpur for 14 quid per night and a bottle of water cost us 20p ... hooray!!!
We are in Kuala Lumpur until Monday and then heading North to Penang Island for a few days of relaxation before reaching Thailand.
We will update you when we have more to report.
Lots of love to you all x x x
P.S. Photos to follow as we can't upload them from this computer for some reason. Hope the suspense doesn't kill you all!
