Fraser Island

Thursday morning we were picked up bright and early for our ferry across to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. We had booked onto a 3 day 2 night tour, and opted to stay an extra night on our own at the end. As soon as we arrived, we were loaded up onto a 40 passenger 4WD bus, and headed off to the sandy "roads". Travelled to Basin Lake, a small lake with no rivers flowing in or out of it, then walked on through a rainforest. Even though the island is completely made of sand, there is enough decomposed organic matter on the floor to allow 40m tall eucalyptus and satinay trees to grow. A small river flowed through it that was so clear you could see the white sand perfectly on the bottom of it. Also managed to spot three goannas along the way. Back on the bus we drove in to Lake Mackenzie, a beautiful lake with pure white sand and again, crystal clear water. The sky reflected on it and you could see multiple shades of blue across the lake. Spent some time swimming before heading off to our lodge for the night.
Friday morning we went across the island to 75 Mile Beach, also known as the Great Sandy Highway, a legal roadway with road signs stuck into sand dunes. Pulled into Eli Creek, another freshwater stream that flows out into the ocean, and as narrow and shallow as it is, has a current strong enough to pull you along it. Up to the Maheno shipwreck, a passenger liner and later WWI hospital ship that eventually got washed into the beach and could not be rescued. It sits right on the edge of the beach, though now it is more than halfway covered with sand. Drove further along the beach up to the champagne pools where waves crash over a row of rocks in the water, and the sea foam gathers and feels like champagne bubbling up all around you. From there, on to Indian Head, a high point along the shore and one of only three actual rocks on the island. Spotted a stingray and several turtles in the ocean down below. From here, the water appeared to have taken on a green colour before fading to blue further out. Drove back down along the beach and eventually home, where $10 jugs of beer at happy hour awaited our return.
On our third day, we went out again through the dry deep sand of the island and came to Lake Wabby. It is flanked on one side by a giant sandblow that looks like a desert, and you can run down the side of it to jump into the lake. Crossing the sandblow wasn't so easy after our swim, but we made it out to the eastern beach and found our bus waiting. Had lunch at another resort, then due to some impassable roads making our planned destination unreachable, we went back to Lake Mackenzie for an afternoon of swimming. Driving home was an adventure in itself, as the bus got bogged down in deep sand, and eventually, after all the men on board had pushed it both forwards and backwards in attempts to get it out, the driver eventually was able to back the bus way down the road, then came barrelling across the soft section as we all stood on the side cheering him on. It made both of us quite happy to not be the ones doing the driving. Went for a guided night walk that night, found a golden trapdoor spider who is quite poisonous, and a 60cm red eel swimming in the lagoon.
On our last day, we did some hiking and found an old Z-Force Commando training site. It was used during WWII to train special forces and many ruins still remain. Spotted dingo tracks on our way back along the beach, but were never able to find a dingo itself. Eventually took the fastcat back to Hervey Bay, and were both so glad to have been able to get across to such a unique island.

Sailing...

Leaving Cairns, we continued our journey south. Our first stop of any interest was Magnetic Island, a 20 minute ferry ride from Townsville. From there, we booked a hostel for a few nights, found a home for Wally, then boarded the ferry across incredibly choppy waters, which made for a wet and interesting ride over. On the island, there were many beaches that seemed to have great coral and snorkelling, so we loaded up our gear and went walkabout. Much to our dismay, it was still quite windy out and after 15kms of walking through bush trails, we found not a single beach where it was calm enough to snorkel. Thankfully, it was a nice day and we at least were rewarded with some beautiful views. That night, we went for another walk up through old forts and gun placements from the Second World War. This walk is known for it's great koala spotting, and we were lucky enough to spot two on our travels. One way far up in a tree, and another was more mobile than either of us had ever seen - sliding down one tree, climbing out a branch, then hopping into another tree to eat. We even managed to get within 10 feet of this one.
A few nights later, we landed in Airlie Beach, a very popular backpackers town. We had booked a sailing trip for Jodi's birthday, and loaded onto our boat, Freight Train, on Friday morning to head into the Whitsundays. On Jodi's birthday the next day, she was lucky enough to visit Whitehaven Beach with incredibly white silica sand as far as they eye could see, drive the sailboat, do a scuba dive into a small coral reef, snorkel with a turtle and giant napoleon wrasse, and watch the sunset across the waters. She figures this was a birthday that will not be forgotten and probably never repeated again. We even managed to snorkel again the next day and find a huge potato cod along with scores of other tropical fish. All was good until the boat engine quit, and with no winds to sail by, we waited on the boat for three hours to have a repair crew come out and get us on our way back to shore.
We headed south some more along the coast, eventually reaching Rockhampton, the self proclaimed Beef Capital of Austraila. Went out for a terrific steak dinner for Jodi's Birthday in a 130 year old pub, and found their free zoo and botanic gardens.
From there, on to the sister towns of Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770, named after the historic landing of Captain James Cook. We did a day trip out to Lady Musgrave Island, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, and it was fantastic. Toured the island where Jodi managed to get herself pooped on by a Noddy Bird, and was assured it meant good luck. Snorkelled again, feeling so glad to have bought our own gear in Cairns, and found three green turtles at a "cleaning station" where fish come and clean their shells for them. Also saw more unicorn fish, clown fish, sea stars and cucumbers, and thousands of others all showing off their bright colours. Later, did a glass bottom boat tour, where we found a black tipped reef shark and a hawksbill turtle, which is apparently quite elusive.
Next up was a stop in Bundaberg, home of the Aussie famous Bundaberg Rum. We took a tour of the distillery, and learned how they turn molasses from the abundant local sugar cane into delicious rum. A few samples later and we were feeling just great. We even got in a game of mini golf and 10 pin bowling that night.
Currently in Hervey Bay, working out details for a 4 wheel drive tour to Fraser Island. Spent the afternoon in a pub celebrating the Melbourne Cup, known as the race that stops the nation. Entered a sweeps, and Jodi got the 2nd place horse, winning herself $14. Fancy hats and all, it was a fun day out.

Diving in the Great Barrier Reef

The PADI Open water dive course started with two full days of pool and classroom training. There we got to learn and practice the skills needed to become certified divers, as well as getting to know our classmates from all over the world. While visiting the dive shop to select our rental equipment, we convinced ourselves to invest in our own masks, snorkels and fins. After having tried the rental equipment in the pool, we decided to explore the reef in comfort.
We then boarded our boat at 7:00 am Thanksgiving morning for three days out on the Great Barrier Reef. After three hours of sailing, we reached our first dive site where we suited up and hopped in for our first of four training dives. Although these training dives required us to practice the skills we had learned in the pool, we were still surrounded by thousands of tropical fish, sea creatures and coral. Highlights included seeing reef sharks, sea turtles, cuttlefish, parrotfish, and of course, the clownfish. After a couple dives searching, we were able to find Nemo. After completing the fourth training dive we became certified divers, and were free to spend our next five dives on our own.
Over the course of three days, we dove in three different reefs at a total of five dive sites. Everywhere we went, the coral landscape stretched on forever, and was full of purples, pinks, greens, yellows, all sparkling in the sunlight from above. It was great fun to go off for our fifth dive, as we could do as we pleased and follow our own trail. There was some concern over getting lost, but a quick pop to the surface would reassure us that we really weren't that far from the boat. On these dives, we were also able to linger around spots that really interested us, play with coral that would retreat into itself if you got too close, and spend time watching fish as we pleased. We also got to go for a night dive - after they fed the sharks off the back of the boat, no less. Using flashlights, we discovered a different world, with sleeping fish under coral, little crabs skittering about, and Jodi even saw a turtle that was bigger than a kitchen table sleeping under a rock.
All in all, it was a phenomenal, if exhausting, experience. We saw a world so completely different from anything we'd seen before, and we can't wait to get back down there again.

Tropical North Queensland

From Mt. Isa, we traveled for several more days through flat, pretty much barren land with a few interesting stops. We drove north to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria and encountered some of the most colourful and iridescent insects either of us had ever seen, later to be discovered as Harlequin bugs. From there it was east to Cairns. A beautiful city on the water awaited us, and we happily checked into our hostel. Got our dive course and Barrier Reef trip booked for the earliest date possible, 5 days away. Spent a few days shopping and touring around Cairns, and enjoyed the lagoon built on the esplanade in 32C heat with a UV index of 12. Neither of us knew it existed, but we quickly learned just how hot it meant.

With a few days to spare before our course, we decided to drive north to the Daintree Rainforest. It's the oldest rainforest on earth, and the only place where the forest meets the reef. Along the way, we stopped at several beaches and realized that just about the entire North Queensland coast is white sandy beaches with palm trees and turquoise waters. Every beach is more stunning than the last.
After crossing the Daintree River on their very old ferry, we entered the unique environment and encountered many trees and plants that are millions of years old, and grow only in this area. We climbed walkways through the forest canopy and kept a constant watch out for cassowaries, a very large and endangered flightless bird. It was there that Jodi began her love affair with fan palms, a variety of the tree whose palm leaves are up to 2m diameter circles of accordion waxy leaf material. We also saw plenty of tree vines that were strong enough to swing from, and crisscrossed their way through branches and around trees to the top of the canopy.
Our campground was at Noah Beach, just south of Cape Tribulation, and we were only 20m from the beach, so a good bit of time was spent there reading with a beer, and watching the sun rise. We also tried jungle surfing, basically being strapped into a harness and flying down zip lines between ancient trees in the rainforest. It was a lot of fun, and great to see the forest from a different viewpoint. After three days in this fascinating world heritage area, it was time to head back down to Cairns and get ready to dive in another.

The Top End

As we continue heading further north along the Stuart hwy, the temperature and humidity climb as we reach the tropics. After a long hot drive, we pull into a caravan park in the town of Katherine and look up to see hundreds of bats flying overhead as dusk falls.
Traveled up the next day to Litchfield National Park to camp and to check out the waterfalls. We camped near Wangi Falls and enjoyed a late afternoon swim in the waterhole below. Made our way to Darwin on Thursday and stayed in a hostel near the central area of town. That night we went out to the Mindil Beach market, a few hundred tents setup selling food and handicrafts. I bought a didgeridoo, with which I will be entertaining fellow campers and hostelers for the next few months as I learn to play it. We took it easy on Friday, wandered around town and enjoyed an amazing seafood buffet on Cullen Bay. All the oysters, prawns and mussels I could eat, with plenty of beef and chicken options for Jodi.
Saturday was the day of the AFL (Aussie rules football) grand final, essentially the equivalent of Grey Cup or Super Bowl Sunday. Knowing that we had to be back at the hostel for gametime at 2:00, we took a short excursion out of town for the Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise. It's a one hour boat cruise where the guides hold porkchops of the end of sticks for wild saltwater crocodiles to jump up and grab. One of the crocs even got her hind legs out of the water.
After the required beer run on the way back, we enjoyed a close, hard-fought game with a dozen rowdy Australian drunks. The Geelong Cats defeated the St. Kilda Saints amid the chorus of many slurred shouts of 'Go the Saints!' and 'Go the Cats!'. Needing to slow things down we headed for the rest of the evening to the Deckchair Cinema, where we took in the double
feature of the early 70's Australian film 'Wake in Fright' and recent Hollywood blockbuster 'Public Enemies'.
Next day we went to the Territory Wildlife Park, but after only a half hour, were called in to the main building due to a bushfire across the road. Sat for a while, then were eventually told that we could either leave then, or wait up to three hours for the next safe time to go, so we
packed up and hit the road to Kakadu National Park. There, we saw several sites of aboriginal rock paintings that were up to 20 000 years old and were really impressive. They showed X-ray style paintings of animals, people drawn to represent teaching stories, and depictions of legendary creatures and beings. We also went on a boat cruise down the Yellow River
and saw a wide variety of wildlife, including Brolgas, Jabirus, and several more crocs.


After a minor setback of a flat tire needing to be patched, we're now in Queensland and on our way to the coast, Cairns, and the Great Barrier Reef.

The Middle

Started up north along the Stuart Highway, and made it to Coober Pedy, a little town a million miles from nowhere, with two claims to fame. Firstly, they mine the majority of the world's opal there, and secondly, half of the population lives underground to avoid the heat. Homes, and our hostel, are dug or blasted into the rock, and maintain a year round temperature of about 23C, regardless of the weather outside. Our room was so cool and comfy, though with no windows, midnight and midday are equally dark. Went for a tour through the area to see how opal is mined, and enjoyed seeing the grassless golf course. Also toured the underground home of Crocodile Harry, a real life croc hunter who was the inspiration for the movie "Crocodile Dundee."
From there, traveled further north to Uluru - Ayers Rock. It truly is a remarkable sight, and towers mightily over the flat surrounding landscape. Spent several days camped there, and in that time, rode a camel to watch the sun rise over Uluru, hiked the 9.4km trail around the base, and saw the sunset and sunrise with the mobs of tourists from every part of the world. It really does change from brown to bright red as the sun starts to beam down on it. Also went for a hike through Kata Tjuta - the Olgas. It is a group of rounded monoliths whose name means Many Heads, and is visible from Uluru, some 50 kms away. Walked to the Valley of the Winds, and were just about blown over by the gale force winds that rushed through the narrow end of the valley.
We next drove up to Kings Canyon, where a geological marvel houses a wide range of plants and animals in an otherwise dry and barren desert. Looking up 100m from the bottom, you see sheer face walls towering above you, from where rocks have fallen into piles at the base. Walking along the top, there are series of large beehive shaped rocks, weathered through time to get their shape, that used to be at the bottom of vast inland sea.
On to Alice Springs, where we had a bit of time to relax in a converted school bus that was our room at the hostel. Watched a game of footy at a bar one night, did some shopping, toured aboriginal art galleries and bought an original painting, and even managed to find a great show one night. The Alice Desert Festival was on, and we got to see some great bands, including the Barons of Tang, a klezmer-gypsy-punk band, similar to Gogol Bordello, who got the whole place dancing. It was our latest night of the trip so far, as we didn't get home until 2:30. We are two wild and crazy kids!!!
Last stop in the middle was a place called Devil's Marbles. It's a spot that is basically flat and boring like the last 500kms, except for the giant round rocks scattered around the ground, some piled up on others, and some seeming to defy gravity. The rocks ranged from 1 to 5 meters tall, and appear to have come from nowhere.
Next up, we continue to drive north towards Darwin and the Top End of Australia.

Mount Remarkable's Gorgeous Gorges

Leaving Merimbula, we headed out across the mountains on Snowy Mountain Highway. It was a steep climb, and the rain and thick fog made it that much more exciting, but Wally got us to our destination of Wagga Wagga. Picked up our last pieces of camping equipment, and traveled the next day into Victoria. Passed into a fruit fly exclusion zone along the way, and that meant we had to eat as much of our just bought fruit as possible in about 25 kms, and then throw out the rest at a dump zone. The drive was much easier and straighter, and we arrived in Mildura just before the sun set at 6:00.

The next days drive was much like the last, and another fruit fly zone coming into South Australia, except this time we had to dump our veggies as well. They actually had a manned station that everyone must pull into for inspection. Found the Mount Remarkable National Park, located at the southern end of Flinders Ranges, and a great campsite. Our evenings visitors included several kangaroos and emus roaming the campground. In the morning, we packed our packs and headed into the mountains for a hike to Alligator Gorge. It was a beautiful trail, following and continuously crossing a creek through a valley of red river gums and cypress trees. Then up a steep hill (ugghh), and across a plateau until we eventually reached our campsite. From there, we wandered to the Alligator Gorge and were quite impressed. Steep red walls lined the gorge, eroded majestically so many years ago by rushing waters. One section was only about two meters across, and we had to carefully maneuver along small rocks to keep our feet dry from the creek below. After a well deserved sleep in the cozy little tent, we made our way back in the morning (Jodi only got her foot wet once in the creek this time), and we found Wally waiting patiently for us with cold, cold beers.
* photos will come, out of internet time*