Gap Summarr: Turtles, Rice, and Beans.
I thought it was time that I paid this blog a bit of attention. [Editors notes: This post is the accumulation of 6 weeks of activities - incredibly long, not for the faint hearted!]
For those of you who don't know I have spent the last 6 weeks in Central America. I have been told by the trip leader that I'm not allowed to call this 'expedition' a holiday - however by my definition a holiday is a period away from home (usually abroad) that is enjoyable. Granted I can't imagine that this definition is of Cambridge or Oxford standard, but I think it sounds about right and therefore, I think it's completely fair to say that I've had an amazing holiday.
The trip is a university ran trip. Every year Durham University Charity's Kommittee (Committee spelt with a K is obviously to create the acronym DUCK) run almost a dozen trips to countries all over the world on a voluntary capacity. This year there are trips to the likes of Columbia, Peru, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro and of course, Costa Rica. This is the first year that there's been a trip to this part of the World and unlike the expeditions to the aforementioned, we had very little information as to what we were actually doing. All I knew was that we were spending 4 weeks in very limited accommodation, volunteering with the conservation of sea turtles and then spending 9 days travelling through Costa Rica and Panama.
There were 11 of us in total, and all of us apart from 2 were very close to complete strangers. Despite all of us going to same University we all live in different colleges and locations and beforehand it's fair to say that there was a fair bit of worry as to whether it's possible to live with 10 other randomers for a prolonged period of time... Typing that sentence out it sounds very childish and relatively stupid - but I guess that's hindsight for you. The people I've met on this trip have been so like minded and genuinely amazing human beings. After a 3 hour layover in Atlanta between Heathrow and San Jose, it was clear that the group dynamic was really impressive and all sense of worry soon disappeared.
When we arrived in San Jose we had a couple of days of free time before we headed to the West Coast near a small town called Samara. I think it is fair to say that San Jose didn't set the World alight. Not in a negative way by any means and it was an interesting place to wonder around for a couple of days but having looked into what the rest of the country had to offer, I think it's fair to say that as a group we were far more excited for what was to come. Either way we had a pleasant few days getting to know each other and getting to know the local bars and a couple of games of Monopoly stick in the mind as an unbelievable group bonding activity. Our second day in San Jose saw a group of four of us head to a park that was thought to a 10 minute walk away from our hostel but turned out to be a solid hour or so. Either way the walk was worth it. We (mainly I) were attracted by the national football stadium located at the far side of this one time national airport (although you would never have known it's original purpose) and got so much more than we bargained for. On our arrival we found some sort of Pokemon tour - costumes and all it seemed that the tour guide would take their group around the park, showing them the best spots for certain kind of Pokemon. From there we found two very very low level football games where we may have pretended to be football scouts from England and we are adamant to this day that we were the cause of a couple of inspired performances. The park was also home to a rollerskating rink and a lake suitable for pedalo. We naturally obliged and had a great laugh rolling back the years on what was essentially a raft with seats on it.
San Jose was also the introduction of Fines Committee. This is something that I picked up from cricket tours over the years and something that I thought would be really good fun. Essentially there is a different chairman every week who is responsible for noting 'fine worthy' things from throughout the week. We then create a trial like setting where the prosecutor will describe these finable acts (usually acts of stupidity etc). A relatively tough process to describe but the whole occasion has actually been a really important part of our trip and therefore I think it's important to be in this blog and shouldn't be forgotten. Usually the punishment of fines is a cash payment depending on the severity of the fine - the money is then collected at the end and put towards the first round of drinks in the next bar. We however, are students and so we decided to skip the idea of paying and instead use the idea of forfeits as payments - these ranged massively from wearing women's clothing all day to having a turtle shaved into the back of someone's head - luckily I avoided both of these.
After our short time in San Jose we took a 5 hour bus to the town of Samara. The first impression of our accommodation was the feeling of 'what have we got ourselves into?' We arrived at a river and the first sign we see says 'WARNING: CROCODILES IN THE ESTUARY!' Cool. This river was about neck height and required all eleven of us to be carried forward and backwards in a single kayak. We get to the other side of the river and we are on a 2km stretch of beach, we briefly take it in before embarking on a humongous walk to our new home (it took 15 minutes but felt a lot more when carrying somebodies suitcase - yes, suitcase - for them). We then arrive at this accommodation which, to put it simply is a hut that was built 12 years ago by hand. It has no electricity, no walls and very basic facilities. There are also a list of rules on the board stating that there must be quiet after 19:30pm - this is the real worry... Where the hell are we??
Again, hindsight is a beautiful thing and it took just 15 minutes or so of reflection and taking in the beauty and sheer awesomeness of where we were. By lunchtime I was straight up excited about living away from normal society with a great group of people and the hut was just so impressive. The work was perfect for me. I had said to the guys beforehand that I would love the work to be easy - yet feels like you're making a difference, a fair bit of it - yet spread out throughout the day, and variety so we weren't doing the same things all the time. This is exactly what we got. Essentially, the project aided turtle conservation by patrolling the beach every night and finding nests that have been dug by turtles. If left alone, they have a huge risk of being eaten by raccoons, being stolen by poachers, or even being dug up by birds. Apparently the survival rate for turtle hatchlings left on their own is about 1 in a few thousand - it's not hard to see why extinction is such a threat. We would find this nests (always in the middle of the night) and dig a hole as similar to a turtles as we can on our camp (we had a grid structure in a secure enclosure of sand) before placing a net over the nest to catch the hatchlings as they make their way to the surface 45 days later. This means that every night 2 groups of 3 or 4 would patrol the beach for a couple of hours, as well as this the turtle hatchlings are monitored every 15 minutes 24 hours a day. We would be split into pairs and take 2 hours at a time performing these checks. If you have turtles then you place them in a bucket and carry them back to where they were found and watch them make their cute way back into the ocean. Other than that our work would include 2 hours of camp work in the morning between 6am and 8am (I know - up at 5:45 every day!) which more often than not meant digging up the holes of nests that had finished hatching and replacing the sand to make the process as natural as we possibly could. As well as this there would be certain days where would have an odd job every now and again, for example once a week we would have to pick up groceries from the river or clean the camp.
It's hard to say how much work we did per day because your workload depends on how many people are living on the project. When the eleven of us arrived there were already 12 other people staying on the project so we would only be required to do 1 hatchery shift (the checking of the turtles) per day and the 2 hours work in the morning. As these people left however, there was more and more work to do. There was one night where I had a shift between 12am and 2am as well as a 4am till 6am before doing the group work between 6am and 8am but this was by no means a common occurrence. I would say that in general, we would do about 4 hours work in the night and 4 hour work during the day - a good balance.
What this meant was that we had loads of free time during the day. I think it's a fair assumption that when you're spending 13 or 14 hours with the same group of people day in day out for 4 weeks with no electricity, it's going to be a challenge. Somehow that didn't happen. Whether it be copious amount of card games, going for a swim in the sea (a daily activity that somehow didn't get boring), playing ultimate frisbee, reading, making a new shelter for the camp (suitably named the DUCK hut where I really put to good use my 'supervisor' credentials) or just chatting - there always seemed to be something to do. As well as these activities we also had Thursday's and Sunday's free to go into town which if the tide was low wasn't a challenging experience because the river was now only knee height - otherwise it would take an hour or so to kayak everybody across and make the 45 minute walk into town, where we would find wifi and eat meat, something that was well and truly missed when you're having rice and beans 3 times a day!
As is always the case of travelling we met some amazing people. People came and went from all over the world ranging from America to Scotland to Germany to Spain and of course from Costa Rica so it was nice to be able to get the thoughts and views of those in other countries and generally just embrace other cultures.
In total, I personally was responsible for releasing 189 turtles and rehoused about 500 eggs into a safer environment. As a group I think we've released well over 1000 hatchlings and buried probably double that and together all but one of us managed to see an adult turtle lay it's eggs which was a sight to behold.
4 weeks really did just disappear in the blink of an eye. Whilst it felt like I'd been away from home for absolutely ages, the project itself seem to absolutely fly by which for me is a sign of having an amazing time. By the end of the project we had grown very close with those that ran the project and fellow volunteers so when it came to leaving there were a few tears and sad goodbyes but I couldn't help be excited to explore what more this beautiful country had to offer.
Days and dates really do seem mythical out here, especially when you're on project and days all just merge into one somehow. I believe we left Samara on Saturday - I'm pretty sure there was some football on! From there we had a very long travelling day which included the return trip to San Jose before a public bus to Puerto Viejo - we literally travelled from the Pacific coast to the Caribbean coast in a day. We arrived in the early evening, about 7 o'clock but our body clocks were telling us that 7pm was bed time - that was a relatively late night on project as we slept as the sun went down and woke up with it - however we battled through, checked into our hostel and battled it into town to explore the restaurants and bars that the town was known for and ended up on a beach with some local beer from the supermarket into the early hours of the morning - talk about the travellers life.
The hostel we were staying in was probably one of the favourites I've ever stayed. Called Rockin' J's it was capable of homing a fair few hundred people (as it apparently did during high party season - luckily we missed this!) despite the building not being particularly big. It's a hard place to describe but it was by far and away the most hippy place I've ever stayed. The rooms of 60 odd hammocks lined up next to each other (which was our bed for the next couple of nights) as well as indoor facilities for tents and some private rooms up some rickety stairs. Everywhere you look there was some form of hippy artwork whether it be tiles on the floor, the toilets, the walls - everywhere!
The second day here a few of us decided to hire some bikes and cycle down the road to explore some more beaches (we obviously hadn't had enough of these when we were living on one for 4 weeks) and even hired some snorkelling equipment for a couple of dollars. The beaches were very impressive and the bike ride was, thankfully, very even and easy to ride. Snorkelling was fun, despite only being able to find about a 5x5 metre bit of ocean that was actually swimmable and didn't have huge waves crashing around or coral that cut you everytime we went near it. A nice dinner out and a postponed night out because people were falling asleep at the dinner table followed and we were all fresh and ready to make our way into Panama.
Bocas Del Toro is located on an island very close to the Costa Rican boarder. It is also one of the first times that I've ever travelled directly south, only to find when I check my phone a couple of hours later that time has managed to go forward. This is because Panama is such an odd shape, and after looking at a map it's incredibly obvious that this makes sense, I just don't think I realised that Panama is a really long strip of land that goes from west to east, there isn't really a north or south. In order to get to our island (Colon Island) we needed to get a river taxi. Now, I've never got a river taxi before as best my memory serves, but to me, a river taxi sounds like a boat taking people and their belongings across a body of water... And I was right. What I wasn't expecting, was this boat to be so old school and rickety, yet have a 350 horsepower engine attached to the back of it that can only be likened to the in fashion speed boats that you see nowadays on the Thames! We must have been going about 40 knots in what seemed to be an old fishing boat which was a huge experience in itself!
We arrived in Bocas, made our way to our hostel and relaxed in yet more hammocks on the roof before heading out to find some dinner. This was a bit of strange dinner that may take a bit of explaining. The place was called 'The Kraken' and was located on stilts in the sea... As we were approaching it we saw water splashing quite violently onto the pavement and assumed that it was some kind of special effects to draw us in, we were wrong. We were also wrong to think that we would be able to read the menu outside in a safe and secure manner, instead we were splashed even more by the waves crashing against the restaurant and getting soaked in the process. None of this has yet put us off and we get inside to find that the whole place is pirate themed, chefs and waiters were dressed up with a skeleton sitting by the bar and a pirate ship wheel overlooking the ocean. The strangest decoration of the lot has to be the Tyrannosaurus Rex sitting in the corner for absolutely no valid reason and to top it all off there was a power cut just to make the whole evening better. Having reread this I've made the whole evening sound very disappointing, in reality it was the complete opposite and one of the favourite restaurants I've ever been in!
The day after this we went on what was labelled as a snorkelling tour, but I can assure you that that does not do it justice in the slightest. We got on another of these speed boats and started off by going to Dolphin Bay - you can probably guess what we saw here. We sat in the boat for half an hour where dozens of dolphins all over the place popped up for air all around us - they weren't the most playful dolphins I've ever seen but I always manage to forget how elegant these creatures are and it impresses me every time I see them. From there we headed to a marine park, formed mainly of an island (sounds strange I know). Think crystal clear water and perfectly coloured sand, not a bad place to be left for a couple of hours by any means! We were then picked up and taken for lunch (via a half an hour session of snorkelling) on a floating restaurant (I was savvy enough to bring a packed lunch which I was thankful for when I saw the prices) before passing by Sloth Island on the way home - once again no prizes for guessing what we saw and I'm really starting to question the people of Panama for their lack of imagination.
That night was probably my favourite night of the whole trip (since my openings paragraph I have now been retold off about calling it a holiday!) A really fun fines committee led to a unanimous decision to head out and just like that with some wine in us (I didn't think I would miss wine as much as I did!) we headed to a bar/hostel like none other I have been to before. The bar and seating were normal enough but at the back we found the sea - and what was basically a step leading into the sea with a trapeze floating from the ceiling. I can't quite believe that a bar is allowed to actively encourage its patrons to swim in the sea whilst intoxicated but I can confidently say that it was one of the best nights out I've ever been on. What started out to be dangling our legs in the sea with a beer or so and lovely conversation turned out to be diving and swimming into a lovely and refreshing Caribbean sea - something that I can't imagine replicating any time soon.
Our final day in Bocas saw yet another action packed day, this time in the form of zip lining. We were whisked away to another island, this time a private island by the name of Red Frog Island - It has genuinely just hit as to how unimaginative the people of Panama truly are!! (This island was home to Red Frogs!) We were suited up in some of the most high tech harnessing I've ever seen - nothing particularly special but it just seemed to be so much more harness than I've seen and I felt a lot safer for it - and transported to the zip line for a safety talk. On our way we saw my first ever big snake out in the wild whilst it crossed the road and whilst we had found a baby Boa Constrictor on project, this still manage to send fear into me, especially when the guide said that it wasn't too uncommon to find them on the zip lines themselves every now and again which would end in having two halves of a snake instead! The zip lining was great fun, there were 7 individual lines along with a Tarzan swing and a rope drop and other kinds of obstacles. The longest (and best) line had to be the one 150 feet in the air, 1000 feet long with speeds of almost 45 miles per hour - really good fun and the right amount of adrenaline. The rest of the night was spent trying to stay awake as to not ruin our recently recovered sleeping patterns and so it was a swift stop at a local sports bar (obviously) before an early night.
The following day was a nice and easy travel day to the adventure town of Boquete. Our sole reason to head here was because of its label of being one of the best white water rafting rivers in the world. Despite my experience of 1 previous white water rafting trip, I think I can vouch for it being one of the best in the world for sure. The guides were absolutely amazing, as if it wasn't good enough that the waves were a variety of difficulties and was so much fun itself, the guides actively encouraged competition between the boats (we had 2 boats of 4 because 3 of our originals had left towards the end of projects due to other commitments) that stretched to such an extent that eventually ended in people being pulled in off the other boat and others being taken captive etc - such good fun that ended in a well deserved beer sitting in the river talking about the previous 3 hours that had just flown by.
Our stay in Panama only lasted 5 days and it has definitely led me desperate to go back one day. Our time there was full of adventure and this may be one of the reasons I see it in such a good light, but as well as that there is plenty to see all over the country - namely Panama City and the Panama Canal (yet another lack of innovation with names!) But as well as this the country just seems to be in a perfect place of development, obviously there is a lot of American influence but this is mixed with the Caribbean culture that truly is like nothing else in the World.
Alas, our five days was over and it was time for yet another travel day back over the boarder to Costa Rica, or more specifically, Peurto Jiminez. This journey was made up of three public busses and a boat - probably the first time we had taken proper public transport of a classic American School bus. The journey, surprisingly, went without hindrance, mainly because our leader is fluent in Spanish and once again, I had no input which does tend to aid these kinds of situations! We did, however, manage to break a bit of a major law by accident on our journey... Our second bus dropped us at the border between Panama and Costa Rica, but it wasn't a border that any of us were used to. We were given rough directions as to where we were meant to be going and so we followed them through a tat market. When we came out the other side though we noticed that adverts were no longer selling things in dollars, but instead in Colones before seeing that suddenly, there were actually Costa Rican flags everywhere - we had managed to cross the border illegally! There was a simple fix of simply heading to passport control but it's definitely something I can say I've done!
By the time we arrived in Peurto Jiminez we were now 6 weeks into the trip and fatigue (not to mention money) were kicking in. We only had one full day in the very quiet but lovely little town located in a gulf and so we decided to go for a gentle kayak into a nearby river and mangroves where we were told we would see some lovely birds, maybe a turtle... And a crocodile. It took me about half an hour of being in this kayak before I realised that I wasn't actually sure I wanted to see a crocodile! Another 15 minutes later however we saw the tiniest baby crocodile and that was enough for me! The kayaking was very gentle and it was nice to play around in a kayak and see some lovely scenery.
We left Port Jiminez on Monday morning and we saw this as the start of a long journey home - for a variety of reasons we didn't get home until Midday Thursday - talk about a long journey!! We got another public bus, this time it was the 10 hour trip back into San Jose where our flight was due to be leaving on Tuesday morning. After a relatively rough journey (the first of which half was full of a consistent worry of vomiting) we arrived in the early afternoon and decided that we had all put off buying our tat for long enough - a spending spree occurred that I'm not proud of, but I'm not willing to say I regretted it either! The evening was one spent waiting 2 hours for food, being surprised by one of our camp directors who turned out to be in San Jose and presenting the Coscars (The Costa Rican Oscars - something a friend and I had planned for the last couple of weeks of the trip) which was a really nice way to spend the evening. Oh, amidst all the fun of buying tat we were criticising the city of San Jose for being so dusty and smoggy - it was genuinely a challenge to walk down the street without some kind of dust getting into our eyes it was horrible.... It was only later that evening that we found out that this was a result of a nearby volcano erupting four times that day... Our flight was in 16 hours - double oh.
We arrived to the airport expecting delays, we were there for about three hours before finding out that the flight had been cancelled which was followed by another couple of hours trying to find out what we were entitled to (nothing) and sort out what we were going to do for the next 22 hours before our next flight. We opted for the obvious - spend the left over group money on going to a lovely hotel where we all got our own double bed for the first time in 6 weeks... What was that about the travelling life?! Our last night take II was much more relaxed and consisted of getting a great nights sleep in a lovely lovely bed.
The following day saw yet more delays, the panic of knowing that we were going to miss our connection flight, the rebooking of our connecting flight, panicking that we may not even get the last flight of the day, a relatively nice plane journey and a run through Atlanta airport that resulted us FINALLY being on the right plane home - as I'm sat somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean I'm still not convinced we've left Costa Rica!
Despite the last couple of days of hecticness, there is no taking away from what has been, without a shadow of a doubt an unbelievable trip so I guess I better shout out all of the people that made it all possible and provided so much entertainment. Finally, a congratulations if you made it this far, it genuinely took about three hours to recall and create! Snaps X
Friday, 23 September 2016
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Fraser Island/Whitsunday Islands/Cairns
This is the end of Australia.
It has literally just sink in. After getting back from my last tour of a hectic 3 weeks I suppose tomorrow really is the time I leave Australia. Everyone always asks you when you're close to leaving whether or not you're 'ready' to go home and I still don't know the answer. Of course I miss everyone at home and of course I want to see more of the World and so the answer has to be somewhere in between I suppose. Either way, I'm 100% confident that this won't be the last time I travel and so maybe that's why it hasn't seemed to hit me yet.
Anyway... Why focus on the negative (the end of the trip), and focus on the positives. The last week, or however long it's been I truly have no idea, has been full of tours, starting with Fraser Island.
I won't lie to you, before the tour I had no idea what was happening due to the blur that the trips been but I'd spoken to a few people and knew that 4x4's and camping were involved with a few lakes in between. Despite that being my response since the event to fellow travelers who have asked me the same question - it is so much more than that somehow.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the World and our 3 day/2 night tour saw us self drive through the sandy beaches and bumps to several crystal clear lakes, 96% silicon sand, waterfalls, creeks, lookouts and springs, featuring the odd dingo, stingray and shark (maybe).
This all included 7am wake-up calls and a fair bit of driving which, admittedly, I was lucky to do considering you had to have held your licence for a year and I've been driving for 13 months now.
The trip itself was just incredibly well done. Not alone do you have time to see all the sights but due to the fact you are thrust in a car with 7 other people, no tour-guide's in the car, forced to cook for each other and share the snacks etc it just made for a tight family-style environment, made even better by the fact that I was the only guy which meant I never did any of the cooking - touch.
I was, again, very lucky in that the people in my car were a pretty awesome group to be fair, and featured its fair share of Europe. I think the final tally was 2 English, 3 Finnish, 1 Danish and 2 Irish - probably the only ever group not to have a majority of either English and German people. My theory is that 90% of all travelers are from either Germany or England and that's not even an exaggeration.
After an amazing 3 days which ended in a pub quiz back on the main land (which once again, I didn't win.) we had actually a semi-relaxing couple of days which mainly included a 17 all-round coach journey up the coast and yes, this does count as relaxing in my book.
This culminated in another tour - the 3 day/2 night tour of the Whitsunday Islands... It was absolute luxury. The weather finally decided that it was going to get rid of all the clouds and be simply beautiful - ideal conditions for a boat.
To sum up the trip simply - we snorkeled 5 times over the 3 days and went to arguably the best beach in the world. In between we chilled out, drunk some goon and sunbathed on a boat - this is what Australia is all about. I genuinely don't think I need to explain this trip anymore... It was as simple as that with awesome food and some amazing marine life featuring spending half an hour snorkeling with a turtle.
It's also pretty impossible to put into words just how stunning Whitehaven beach is, I'd recommend Googling it to save me the embarrassment of failing to do it justice - simply amazing.
After another awesome 3 days and meeting more amazing people it was time to part ways with Tayla and make my last coach trip up the coast solo. Time boundaries were starting to come into play even more than usual and so this meant that I ended up getting back from the boat at midday, chilling until 8pm to get my overnight bus that arrived in Cairns (my last stop) at 6am - before skuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef at 7am.
Even though I ended up falling asleep on the boat a couple of times there was nothing that could stop me from enjoying such a fantastic experience. This day, surprise surprise, was another long day and included spending about 9 hours out on the reef itself and included another couple of snorkeling trips and a glass boat tour so despite my lack of sleep I still took the most of my opportunities and it's definitely another thing ticked off my bucket list and is the second of seven natural wonders of the World that I intend to see.
This brings me to today and yet another fantastic tour, this time to the rain forest region about an hour east of Cairns. It was yet another 7am wake-up call (I'd like to point out that I haven't woken up before 8 for at least a week and a half now so pity me???) that included stunning waterfalls with natural slip-slides, as well as being the home of the famous herbal essence adverts several years ago now which, of course, prompted an attempted hair flick from yours truly. Other stops included stunning rivers, lovely rainforest walks, volcanic-created creators, and huge lakes.
This trip was, not for the first time, made even better by a fantastic tour guide (probably my favourite in Australia - shoutout Jim) and meeting even more great people. It was a tour that I wasn't expecting huge things of but it really put the cherry on top of a fantastic trip and I couldn't be more thankful.
Even writing about how much I've done in the last x amount of days is making me ridiculously tired and I now look forward to a lay-in tomorrow!!!! Although this does mean checking-out of my hostel at 10am - bad times. I then have a few hours to kill which will give me time to actually explore Cairns a bit before flying over to Brisbane in the evening which has the luxury of being my home for the night (the airport that is) and then catching a 6am flight to Auckland where I will start my 2 week holiday - I cannot wait.
I hate saying goodbye's, more out of awkwardness than anything, but it has to be done unfortunately so I would like to say goodbye to the following...
It has literally just sink in. After getting back from my last tour of a hectic 3 weeks I suppose tomorrow really is the time I leave Australia. Everyone always asks you when you're close to leaving whether or not you're 'ready' to go home and I still don't know the answer. Of course I miss everyone at home and of course I want to see more of the World and so the answer has to be somewhere in between I suppose. Either way, I'm 100% confident that this won't be the last time I travel and so maybe that's why it hasn't seemed to hit me yet.
Anyway... Why focus on the negative (the end of the trip), and focus on the positives. The last week, or however long it's been I truly have no idea, has been full of tours, starting with Fraser Island.
I won't lie to you, before the tour I had no idea what was happening due to the blur that the trips been but I'd spoken to a few people and knew that 4x4's and camping were involved with a few lakes in between. Despite that being my response since the event to fellow travelers who have asked me the same question - it is so much more than that somehow.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the World and our 3 day/2 night tour saw us self drive through the sandy beaches and bumps to several crystal clear lakes, 96% silicon sand, waterfalls, creeks, lookouts and springs, featuring the odd dingo, stingray and shark (maybe).
This all included 7am wake-up calls and a fair bit of driving which, admittedly, I was lucky to do considering you had to have held your licence for a year and I've been driving for 13 months now.
The trip itself was just incredibly well done. Not alone do you have time to see all the sights but due to the fact you are thrust in a car with 7 other people, no tour-guide's in the car, forced to cook for each other and share the snacks etc it just made for a tight family-style environment, made even better by the fact that I was the only guy which meant I never did any of the cooking - touch.
I was, again, very lucky in that the people in my car were a pretty awesome group to be fair, and featured its fair share of Europe. I think the final tally was 2 English, 3 Finnish, 1 Danish and 2 Irish - probably the only ever group not to have a majority of either English and German people. My theory is that 90% of all travelers are from either Germany or England and that's not even an exaggeration.
After an amazing 3 days which ended in a pub quiz back on the main land (which once again, I didn't win.) we had actually a semi-relaxing couple of days which mainly included a 17 all-round coach journey up the coast and yes, this does count as relaxing in my book.
This culminated in another tour - the 3 day/2 night tour of the Whitsunday Islands... It was absolute luxury. The weather finally decided that it was going to get rid of all the clouds and be simply beautiful - ideal conditions for a boat.
To sum up the trip simply - we snorkeled 5 times over the 3 days and went to arguably the best beach in the world. In between we chilled out, drunk some goon and sunbathed on a boat - this is what Australia is all about. I genuinely don't think I need to explain this trip anymore... It was as simple as that with awesome food and some amazing marine life featuring spending half an hour snorkeling with a turtle.
It's also pretty impossible to put into words just how stunning Whitehaven beach is, I'd recommend Googling it to save me the embarrassment of failing to do it justice - simply amazing.
After another awesome 3 days and meeting more amazing people it was time to part ways with Tayla and make my last coach trip up the coast solo. Time boundaries were starting to come into play even more than usual and so this meant that I ended up getting back from the boat at midday, chilling until 8pm to get my overnight bus that arrived in Cairns (my last stop) at 6am - before skuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef at 7am.
Even though I ended up falling asleep on the boat a couple of times there was nothing that could stop me from enjoying such a fantastic experience. This day, surprise surprise, was another long day and included spending about 9 hours out on the reef itself and included another couple of snorkeling trips and a glass boat tour so despite my lack of sleep I still took the most of my opportunities and it's definitely another thing ticked off my bucket list and is the second of seven natural wonders of the World that I intend to see.
This brings me to today and yet another fantastic tour, this time to the rain forest region about an hour east of Cairns. It was yet another 7am wake-up call (I'd like to point out that I haven't woken up before 8 for at least a week and a half now so pity me???) that included stunning waterfalls with natural slip-slides, as well as being the home of the famous herbal essence adverts several years ago now which, of course, prompted an attempted hair flick from yours truly. Other stops included stunning rivers, lovely rainforest walks, volcanic-created creators, and huge lakes.
This trip was, not for the first time, made even better by a fantastic tour guide (probably my favourite in Australia - shoutout Jim) and meeting even more great people. It was a tour that I wasn't expecting huge things of but it really put the cherry on top of a fantastic trip and I couldn't be more thankful.
Even writing about how much I've done in the last x amount of days is making me ridiculously tired and I now look forward to a lay-in tomorrow!!!! Although this does mean checking-out of my hostel at 10am - bad times. I then have a few hours to kill which will give me time to actually explore Cairns a bit before flying over to Brisbane in the evening which has the luxury of being my home for the night (the airport that is) and then catching a 6am flight to Auckland where I will start my 2 week holiday - I cannot wait.
I hate saying goodbye's, more out of awkwardness than anything, but it has to be done unfortunately so I would like to say goodbye to the following...
- My last remaining hoody (my fault - left on a boat)
- My GoPro (my fault - took into water with the wrong case on - was absolutely gutted, sorry guys!)
- My laptop charger (Gunna put this one down to travelling taking its toll - not my fault - yes!)
Not long to go now guys - I guess I'll see most of you all June time.
Sunday, 3 May 2015
Sydney/Byron Bay/Surfers Paradise/Brisbane/Noosa
I didn't think it rained in Australia?
As you can probably assume from the title of this post, the past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic to say the least. Since I last wrote two weeks ago I've been in five cities/towns, two flash floods, had two surf lessons, seen over 20 dolphins, and walked 500 miles(maybe), and I'd walk 500 more.
I apologise for two things: 1) not writing in so long. As you can tell already its all been rather hectic and so in the very few periods I've had to sit down and write has always coincided with a lack of WiFi (which seems to be pretty common up the east coast for some reason - it's like they actually want people to talk to each other?) and 2) the length of this blog.
I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. It was a long long time ago and we'd just touched down in Sydney at the very inconvenient time of 8am. After yet another 4am wake-up call (the third in the space of two weeks) and a pretty bumpy flight meaning no sleep it was a fight to stay awake and take in Sydney - not that I'm complaining.
Being the pro-active type it took 5 minutes of checking in at the hostel before I'd decided to head to the standard tourist destination of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house, two things that, despite being the thing to do in Sydney, didn't excite me all that much, after all once you've seen it in a photo it's not too much different in person right? Now I don't pretend to be knowledgeable in the slightest when it comes to architecture but I think it's safe to say that you don't appreciate the quality of the Opera house until you're there first hand. Maybe its because I wasn't expecting much but either way I was in awe in both of the famous landmarks and it was certainly a great way to start the week in Sydney.
I then found myself on a free walking tour once again which was essentially wondering around the city for four hours and getting my bearings which was largely beneficial after a few hours of walking around the suburb of Newtown which features my favourite tree in the world - genuinely.
The day after this saw a 2 hour train journey (which costs $2.50 because it was a Sunday) to the Blue Mountains. To travellers they are a must do and they have nowhere near the international recognition they deserve as they are simply stunning. It's tough to put into words how stunning the views were so I'm not going to even try - it was just awesome.
It was around this time that the rain started to fall, and I mean seriously fall. After confidently strolling out into the apocalyptic rain (whilst telling everyone how much I love the rain), and being wetter than I found myself after the shower that morning, I was at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It has arguably the most history surrounding it than any other ground and was one of the more interesting tours I've been on whilst also including a trip into the neighbouring football/rugby stadium which was basically brand new and featured the two largest 'big screens' in the Southern Hemisphere behind both goals. Unfortunately there was no game on while we were there although in reality any game that would have been held there would have been cancelled because of the rain anyway - it was that bad.
After my first attempt of braving the rain I retired and found myself playing far too many card games (and maybe drinking far too much) and meeting some really great people who were in the same situation as ourselves. We did find a few indoor activities around the city though, my favourite of which being called SkyZone. It is essentially trampolines everywhere. I'm talking on the walls, on the floor and everywhere in-between and it was great to roll back the years and act like a child - not for the first time believe it or not.
With two days left the rain finally cleared up after three solid days of downfall so we could finally do all of the outdoor activities that Sydney has to offer. The Thursday saw a day trip to Manley beach and the Friday was the day we finally went to the famous Bondi Beach. Unfortunately the beach itself had been pretty wrecked by the storms and so had entered rescue mode, featuring lots of diggers, but it didn't stop the scenery from being stunning and the walk to Coogee beach is probably the best coastal walk I've ever been on so all was good.
In conclusion Sydney was great. Not great as Melbourne but I feel like it's hard to say this with complete certainty when I spent two and a half months in one place and a week in the other. I've had this conversation with far too many people and have argued my point into the early hours of many mornings and have finally come to the conclusion that everyone falls in love with the city that they spend more time in. Sydney is probably better for tourists and Melbourne is better to live in - at least that's the compromise that I tend to come too and I can deal with that.
Coaches are now the main form of transport and due to tight deadlines, I have three weeks to get from Sydney to Cairns via a lot of places - hence the tight schedule.
The trip up the East Coast started in Byron Bay, the set of the Inbetweeners 2 and generally just an incredibly hippy place. The three days that we spent in Byron consisted of two surf lessons and a day of kayaking with dolphins and turtles. Unfortunately I didn't get out and see the town as much as I would have liked due to the physical toll that all of the activities take - however I don't think I was missing out that much. There was just about time to hire some bikes (which had no brakes) and do another coastal walk, culminating in a lighthouse that overlooked the whole of the town and more.
Surfers Paradise, where believe it or not the surf was awful (apparently), was the next destination. Surfers is essentially a holiday destination and was labled as a mini Miami because of what seems like out of proportion sky scrapers that just seem to pop up out of nowhere by the sea. All of the sky scrapers seemed to be residential or tourist based, along with the ridiculous amount of bars/restaurants and it was just in general a really weird place.
We thought we'd take the tourist option here and spent another day at the beach where it was ridiculously windy and caused far too much pain than going to the beach should endure before spending a day at the obligatory water park and Movie World located around the corner. I appear to forget that I'm 18 years of age sometimes.
We then spent a night in Brisbane. Having heard generally negative reviews about the place before hand from both travellers and locals alike we went into the place with low expectations. This, combined with the start of yet another storm which eventually saw a further two days of flash floods meant that I should of had a horrible time. However it ended up being the complete opposite. I found it really similar to Melbourne in both its lay-out and its culture and whilst there may have been a lack of tourist activities I found it a really beautiful little city. I also managed to find myself at the cricket stadium to take the tally up to 5 for the trip.
It was around this time that the flood water really started to take their toll. What was meant to be a two hour journey from Brisbane to Noosa eventually turned out to be a ten hour trip due to both traffic and closed roads. After spending 2 hours getting out of the city in ridiculous traffic along roads that may well have flooded most cars (we saw at least 3 submerged cars along the way) we finally ground to a halt with the news that we couldn't go forward because the road was flooded and we couldn't turn back because the road was about to flood. We had to wait it out. It was a shame considering we were on such a tight schedule but we didn't miss anything particular - it just meant that we had less time to explore.
This brings me to my current destination - Noosa. Noosa is another town which is based around its beach and river but it really is a lovely place for a bit of downtime. After yet another stunning walk through a national park and along the coast we had a riverboat tour to the Everglades lake - one of two fully reflective lakes in the world apparently, although I'm not sure I quite buy that stat. It was however a beautiful trip, filled with a lovely barbecue, and even though the return leg of canoeing was cancelled due to those pesky floods, it was still a lovely day out.
Sitting down and writing these things really does put into perspective how much I've been doing. With both time and money starting to run low I'm really trying to do as much as I can. I know it looks like I've been to every beach under the sun but it seems like that's what the East coast is about - it really is a stark contrast after being in major cities for so long.
Anyway, 1640 words later and I will let everyone get back to their days, until next time....
As you can probably assume from the title of this post, the past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic to say the least. Since I last wrote two weeks ago I've been in five cities/towns, two flash floods, had two surf lessons, seen over 20 dolphins, and walked 500 miles(maybe), and I'd walk 500 more.
I apologise for two things: 1) not writing in so long. As you can tell already its all been rather hectic and so in the very few periods I've had to sit down and write has always coincided with a lack of WiFi (which seems to be pretty common up the east coast for some reason - it's like they actually want people to talk to each other?) and 2) the length of this blog.
I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. It was a long long time ago and we'd just touched down in Sydney at the very inconvenient time of 8am. After yet another 4am wake-up call (the third in the space of two weeks) and a pretty bumpy flight meaning no sleep it was a fight to stay awake and take in Sydney - not that I'm complaining.
Being the pro-active type it took 5 minutes of checking in at the hostel before I'd decided to head to the standard tourist destination of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house, two things that, despite being the thing to do in Sydney, didn't excite me all that much, after all once you've seen it in a photo it's not too much different in person right? Now I don't pretend to be knowledgeable in the slightest when it comes to architecture but I think it's safe to say that you don't appreciate the quality of the Opera house until you're there first hand. Maybe its because I wasn't expecting much but either way I was in awe in both of the famous landmarks and it was certainly a great way to start the week in Sydney.
I then found myself on a free walking tour once again which was essentially wondering around the city for four hours and getting my bearings which was largely beneficial after a few hours of walking around the suburb of Newtown which features my favourite tree in the world - genuinely.
The day after this saw a 2 hour train journey (which costs $2.50 because it was a Sunday) to the Blue Mountains. To travellers they are a must do and they have nowhere near the international recognition they deserve as they are simply stunning. It's tough to put into words how stunning the views were so I'm not going to even try - it was just awesome.
It was around this time that the rain started to fall, and I mean seriously fall. After confidently strolling out into the apocalyptic rain (whilst telling everyone how much I love the rain), and being wetter than I found myself after the shower that morning, I was at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It has arguably the most history surrounding it than any other ground and was one of the more interesting tours I've been on whilst also including a trip into the neighbouring football/rugby stadium which was basically brand new and featured the two largest 'big screens' in the Southern Hemisphere behind both goals. Unfortunately there was no game on while we were there although in reality any game that would have been held there would have been cancelled because of the rain anyway - it was that bad.
After my first attempt of braving the rain I retired and found myself playing far too many card games (and maybe drinking far too much) and meeting some really great people who were in the same situation as ourselves. We did find a few indoor activities around the city though, my favourite of which being called SkyZone. It is essentially trampolines everywhere. I'm talking on the walls, on the floor and everywhere in-between and it was great to roll back the years and act like a child - not for the first time believe it or not.
With two days left the rain finally cleared up after three solid days of downfall so we could finally do all of the outdoor activities that Sydney has to offer. The Thursday saw a day trip to Manley beach and the Friday was the day we finally went to the famous Bondi Beach. Unfortunately the beach itself had been pretty wrecked by the storms and so had entered rescue mode, featuring lots of diggers, but it didn't stop the scenery from being stunning and the walk to Coogee beach is probably the best coastal walk I've ever been on so all was good.
In conclusion Sydney was great. Not great as Melbourne but I feel like it's hard to say this with complete certainty when I spent two and a half months in one place and a week in the other. I've had this conversation with far too many people and have argued my point into the early hours of many mornings and have finally come to the conclusion that everyone falls in love with the city that they spend more time in. Sydney is probably better for tourists and Melbourne is better to live in - at least that's the compromise that I tend to come too and I can deal with that.
Coaches are now the main form of transport and due to tight deadlines, I have three weeks to get from Sydney to Cairns via a lot of places - hence the tight schedule.
The trip up the East Coast started in Byron Bay, the set of the Inbetweeners 2 and generally just an incredibly hippy place. The three days that we spent in Byron consisted of two surf lessons and a day of kayaking with dolphins and turtles. Unfortunately I didn't get out and see the town as much as I would have liked due to the physical toll that all of the activities take - however I don't think I was missing out that much. There was just about time to hire some bikes (which had no brakes) and do another coastal walk, culminating in a lighthouse that overlooked the whole of the town and more.
Surfers Paradise, where believe it or not the surf was awful (apparently), was the next destination. Surfers is essentially a holiday destination and was labled as a mini Miami because of what seems like out of proportion sky scrapers that just seem to pop up out of nowhere by the sea. All of the sky scrapers seemed to be residential or tourist based, along with the ridiculous amount of bars/restaurants and it was just in general a really weird place.
We thought we'd take the tourist option here and spent another day at the beach where it was ridiculously windy and caused far too much pain than going to the beach should endure before spending a day at the obligatory water park and Movie World located around the corner. I appear to forget that I'm 18 years of age sometimes.
We then spent a night in Brisbane. Having heard generally negative reviews about the place before hand from both travellers and locals alike we went into the place with low expectations. This, combined with the start of yet another storm which eventually saw a further two days of flash floods meant that I should of had a horrible time. However it ended up being the complete opposite. I found it really similar to Melbourne in both its lay-out and its culture and whilst there may have been a lack of tourist activities I found it a really beautiful little city. I also managed to find myself at the cricket stadium to take the tally up to 5 for the trip.
It was around this time that the flood water really started to take their toll. What was meant to be a two hour journey from Brisbane to Noosa eventually turned out to be a ten hour trip due to both traffic and closed roads. After spending 2 hours getting out of the city in ridiculous traffic along roads that may well have flooded most cars (we saw at least 3 submerged cars along the way) we finally ground to a halt with the news that we couldn't go forward because the road was flooded and we couldn't turn back because the road was about to flood. We had to wait it out. It was a shame considering we were on such a tight schedule but we didn't miss anything particular - it just meant that we had less time to explore.
This brings me to my current destination - Noosa. Noosa is another town which is based around its beach and river but it really is a lovely place for a bit of downtime. After yet another stunning walk through a national park and along the coast we had a riverboat tour to the Everglades lake - one of two fully reflective lakes in the world apparently, although I'm not sure I quite buy that stat. It was however a beautiful trip, filled with a lovely barbecue, and even though the return leg of canoeing was cancelled due to those pesky floods, it was still a lovely day out.
Sitting down and writing these things really does put into perspective how much I've been doing. With both time and money starting to run low I'm really trying to do as much as I can. I know it looks like I've been to every beach under the sun but it seems like that's what the East coast is about - it really is a stark contrast after being in major cities for so long.
Anyway, 1640 words later and I will let everyone get back to their days, until next time....
Thursday, 16 April 2015
Tasmania
Fun fact: 21% of Tasmania's land mass is made up of national parks.
A day later than planed, a really early morning and after a cancelled flight we found ourselves (Ian, Tayla and myself) in Tasmania. Launceston to be precise, Tasmania's second town that took us 3 days to learn how to say [Lawn-ses-ton/Lawny if you're lazy like us] and was where we picked up our small little Hyundai i20.
We started off with an exploration day which involved a drive to Contaract Gorge, a trip to a Vineyard and a beach. It didn't take long for the inner child to come out of us and after 10 hours or so of being in Tasmania we had already booked a quad bike session for the next day.
Neither Ian or I had ever actually driven these things before and watching Ian get the thing on two wheels next to a lake going about 50 kph was a personal highlight - even if he pretended he didn't realise he'd even done it.
We then decided to head towards the East Coast via a 90 metre waterfall which, although we fully intended to go there, seem to come out of nowhere. Even if it was just a single plume of water it was still a great sight, although the 11km of dirt road to get both to it and out of the site wasn't as much fun.
Via Pyengana we then saw Russell Falls (A small little waterfall - one of many!) on the way to St Helen's on the East coast which was home to Binalong Bay - I'll resist the urge to say it had binalong Day up to that point... Reluctantly.
Binalong Bay is home to a 'bay of fire' that features up the coastline - named for the orange colour that can be seen on and around the rocks and despite it being cold, overcast and windy I still managed to spend an hour and a half climbing the rocks and watching the waves roll in (philosophical I know) and this included getting sprayed a couple of times by the violent sea... Worth it.
We then travelled South along the East Coast to Freycinet National Park, home primarily to Wineglass Bay which, much to my frustration, doesn't look like a Wineglass and no one was able to tell us where the name even came from. The views where nice all the same though so my frustrations didn't last too long.
The following day before we made the drive down to Hobart to swap our tiny car for a big camper we fancied a couple of short walks, still in Freycinet and we happened to come across some friends I spent a fair bit of time with in Melbourne - I knew they were campervaning Tasmania but the odd's are still pretty impressive.
It didn't take us long to realise once we got the camper van that Ian's first experience of driving something that big and with a dodgy handbrake shouldn't be in a pretty major city. Let's just say that hill starts weren't fun.
We decided to head to what was essentially the most southern point of the island to explore some not-so-hot thermal springs (c'mon does 28 degrees count as a hot spring??) and some pretty impressive caves which were shown to us with a cave-fanatic tour guide who didn't hesitate to tell us how much he cleaned the place - interesting. In all seriousness they were quite cool actually.
We then treated ourselves to a National Park weekend, starting off in Mount Field where we saw probably my personal highlight of the trip - Russell Falls. It was essentially a four-tier waterfall that looked absolutely stunning. The weather in Tasmania decided to be really cold at the start of our National Park weekend and whilst we intended to go for a decent sized walk a brisk 15 minute walk soon told us that it was too cold so we headed back to the car!
The second National Park we went to was arguably Tasmania's most famous - Cradle Mountain and despite it only being about 150km from Mt Field, it took over 4 hours to get to because of the windy roads which can't have had more than 5 cars on it. It was worth the drive though (I assume - I didn't actually drive) as the walks and scenery was incredibly varied and scenic. The first 2 and a half hour trek took us through a small forest, a couple of waterfalls, a lake and several rocky 'trails' which were just fallen rocks that you had to clamber across which was right up Ian and I's street. The second 2 and a half hour walk saw us climb to the very top and pretty much the very bottom of a pretty huge gorge through a track that hadn't been maintained for a fair old while. It was fun.
After a nights stay in Devonport we drove from the North-West of the island to the South-East which made very little sense but we fancied a bit of history for a change. Port Arthur was the home of of the main prison which contributed heavily to the convict heritage that Tasmania has and so a pretty fascinating walk around the rebuilt grounds was had, making us feel very mature.
All that time then allowed us was a day and a half in hilly Hobart and we decided that because we'd been to a National heritage site the day before we could be kids for the day. This meant we played minigolf (the best minigolf course I've ever played on the be fair), went to the Cadbury's chocolate factory, went bowling and spent the night playing arcade games and playing pool in a pub. I loved every minute.
We decided to be our normal adult selves on leaving day and were very cultural going to the very exotic sounding MONA art gallery. In reality MONA stands for the Museum of Old and New Art which disappointed me a bit, but I moved on. The best bit about the gallery in my eyes is probably a bit PC for this blog and is available on request... It involves a toilet and mirrors though so be careful.
The intended plan was to get on a 4 o'clock plane, get to Melbourne for 6 and get to the Frank Turner gig for 8:30pm. Unfortunately after boarding and unboarding thanks to 'breaking problems' we didn't leave Hobart until 10:30pm that night and it's safe to say that we missed Frank Turner - gutted isn't the word.
After saying my goodbye's to the Melbournians yesterday I now find myself in Sydney with Tayla. A 4:15am wake-up call means that at 3:30pm I am struggling to keep my mind and body awake and it looks like I'm fighting a losing battle. The plan is to stay in Sydney for a week or so before starting the West coast journey that should last me a month or so, ending up in Cairns.
I'll keep in touch when I can - I hope that you're all enjoying the sun that you have stolen from Australia. I had to see the Sydney Opera house in the rain today and I blame you all.
Lot's of love x
A day later than planed, a really early morning and after a cancelled flight we found ourselves (Ian, Tayla and myself) in Tasmania. Launceston to be precise, Tasmania's second town that took us 3 days to learn how to say [Lawn-ses-ton/Lawny if you're lazy like us] and was where we picked up our small little Hyundai i20.
We started off with an exploration day which involved a drive to Contaract Gorge, a trip to a Vineyard and a beach. It didn't take long for the inner child to come out of us and after 10 hours or so of being in Tasmania we had already booked a quad bike session for the next day.
Neither Ian or I had ever actually driven these things before and watching Ian get the thing on two wheels next to a lake going about 50 kph was a personal highlight - even if he pretended he didn't realise he'd even done it.
We then decided to head towards the East Coast via a 90 metre waterfall which, although we fully intended to go there, seem to come out of nowhere. Even if it was just a single plume of water it was still a great sight, although the 11km of dirt road to get both to it and out of the site wasn't as much fun.
Via Pyengana we then saw Russell Falls (A small little waterfall - one of many!) on the way to St Helen's on the East coast which was home to Binalong Bay - I'll resist the urge to say it had binalong Day up to that point... Reluctantly.
Binalong Bay is home to a 'bay of fire' that features up the coastline - named for the orange colour that can be seen on and around the rocks and despite it being cold, overcast and windy I still managed to spend an hour and a half climbing the rocks and watching the waves roll in (philosophical I know) and this included getting sprayed a couple of times by the violent sea... Worth it.
We then travelled South along the East Coast to Freycinet National Park, home primarily to Wineglass Bay which, much to my frustration, doesn't look like a Wineglass and no one was able to tell us where the name even came from. The views where nice all the same though so my frustrations didn't last too long.
The following day before we made the drive down to Hobart to swap our tiny car for a big camper we fancied a couple of short walks, still in Freycinet and we happened to come across some friends I spent a fair bit of time with in Melbourne - I knew they were campervaning Tasmania but the odd's are still pretty impressive.
It didn't take us long to realise once we got the camper van that Ian's first experience of driving something that big and with a dodgy handbrake shouldn't be in a pretty major city. Let's just say that hill starts weren't fun.
We decided to head to what was essentially the most southern point of the island to explore some not-so-hot thermal springs (c'mon does 28 degrees count as a hot spring??) and some pretty impressive caves which were shown to us with a cave-fanatic tour guide who didn't hesitate to tell us how much he cleaned the place - interesting. In all seriousness they were quite cool actually.
We then treated ourselves to a National Park weekend, starting off in Mount Field where we saw probably my personal highlight of the trip - Russell Falls. It was essentially a four-tier waterfall that looked absolutely stunning. The weather in Tasmania decided to be really cold at the start of our National Park weekend and whilst we intended to go for a decent sized walk a brisk 15 minute walk soon told us that it was too cold so we headed back to the car!
The second National Park we went to was arguably Tasmania's most famous - Cradle Mountain and despite it only being about 150km from Mt Field, it took over 4 hours to get to because of the windy roads which can't have had more than 5 cars on it. It was worth the drive though (I assume - I didn't actually drive) as the walks and scenery was incredibly varied and scenic. The first 2 and a half hour trek took us through a small forest, a couple of waterfalls, a lake and several rocky 'trails' which were just fallen rocks that you had to clamber across which was right up Ian and I's street. The second 2 and a half hour walk saw us climb to the very top and pretty much the very bottom of a pretty huge gorge through a track that hadn't been maintained for a fair old while. It was fun.
After a nights stay in Devonport we drove from the North-West of the island to the South-East which made very little sense but we fancied a bit of history for a change. Port Arthur was the home of of the main prison which contributed heavily to the convict heritage that Tasmania has and so a pretty fascinating walk around the rebuilt grounds was had, making us feel very mature.
All that time then allowed us was a day and a half in hilly Hobart and we decided that because we'd been to a National heritage site the day before we could be kids for the day. This meant we played minigolf (the best minigolf course I've ever played on the be fair), went to the Cadbury's chocolate factory, went bowling and spent the night playing arcade games and playing pool in a pub. I loved every minute.
We decided to be our normal adult selves on leaving day and were very cultural going to the very exotic sounding MONA art gallery. In reality MONA stands for the Museum of Old and New Art which disappointed me a bit, but I moved on. The best bit about the gallery in my eyes is probably a bit PC for this blog and is available on request... It involves a toilet and mirrors though so be careful.
The intended plan was to get on a 4 o'clock plane, get to Melbourne for 6 and get to the Frank Turner gig for 8:30pm. Unfortunately after boarding and unboarding thanks to 'breaking problems' we didn't leave Hobart until 10:30pm that night and it's safe to say that we missed Frank Turner - gutted isn't the word.
After saying my goodbye's to the Melbournians yesterday I now find myself in Sydney with Tayla. A 4:15am wake-up call means that at 3:30pm I am struggling to keep my mind and body awake and it looks like I'm fighting a losing battle. The plan is to stay in Sydney for a week or so before starting the West coast journey that should last me a month or so, ending up in Cairns.
I'll keep in touch when I can - I hope that you're all enjoying the sun that you have stolen from Australia. I had to see the Sydney Opera house in the rain today and I blame you all.
Lot's of love x
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
It's been a busy week
It's mad how you lose track of time when you're travelling. Apparently the last time I blogged was 8 days ago and every time I write one of these things I struggle to remember anything I did within the last week.
With Tuesday and Thursday being the cricket semi-finals I found myself at my usual spot by the river in the CBD to watch two games that I couldn't call in the slightest. Unfortunately both days were English-type weather at its finest so I've had to buy another hoody because the other one was getting too much use.
The first semi-final, New Zealand Vs South Africa, was one of the best games of cricket I've ever seen with no exaggeration. It's pretty unbelievable that after watching a game for 8 hours you still cannot tell who's going to win. The former finally managed to bring it home and with Australia winning their game against India pretty easily in the end it meant that I'd get to watch the two home nations play at one of the best stadiums in the World - I kinda like this whole travelling thing yanno.
In between all the cricket was a trip to the moonlight cinema in the Botanic Gardens. It's a really well run event which see's an inflatable screen blown up and a projector every night during March and showing a variety of films. Kate will be jealous to hear that Mean Girls was the film of choice - a personal favourite of mine and being one of the many chick flicks that I embarrassingly love. It was a really great atmosphere even if I was ridiculously cold and I still loved the film despite having seen it dozens of times (again without exaggeration).
Friday saw a few drinks at a friends apartment as they had only moved in a few days prior. As its mainly family members who read this I shan't go into much detail.
Saturday saw a friend from back home (It hurts to call Dartford 'back home' but in context I suppose it's close enough) touch down in Australia. This meant that I used the walking tour that I went on over 2 months ago and showed her all the sights around the city along with 1 or 2 facts that have stuck with me - I rate my abilities as a tour guide I won't lie. It was nice seeing all the sights again and it amazes me that I haven't got bored of seeing all the sights and I'm still as in love with Melbourne as I was when I first got here.
I also see my free tour as giving me good karma. It turned out that my friend is staying with family friends in the city and so we headed there and it was an unbelievably nice building with views of Albert Park (where the Grand Prix was) and the sea. As if the lovely apartment wasn't enough, it then turned out that the roof had a jacuzzi with a phenomenal view of the city and it's sights. We got a cheap bottle of champagne/fizzy wine and had a barbecue while the sun sets - one of my favourite nights in Australia yet.
Sunday was the World Cup final, something I can tick off my bucket list and I will guarantee that it will not be my last. The anticipation and atmosphere was spectacular - even if I did have Stan moaning the whole time about how he wasn't included in the attendance figure which was a World record for a One day game in Australia (93,000). The happiness of the Australian fans and players was so special and I'm so glad I was part of it all. With the rugby World Cup in England this year, the European football championships in France next year and the Cricket World Cup in England in 2019 I think it's safe to say that I'm going to have to start saving.
Monday was a long and hard day which all came good in the end. After buying tickets to see Ed Sheeran (a music artist) a couple of weeks ago, I messed up with my address details due to moving in and out of hostels etc and so to cut a long story short: the tickets didn't arrive. After begging the ticket office etc and ringing the company there was nothing that could be done. Eventually we got a refund and so, not being deterred, we hung around the Rod Laver Arena for 2 and a half hours trying to find some going spare. 10 minute's before it was all due to start we ended up getting tickets that were much cheaper than what we had paid originally (I'm going to try and claim that this is my good karma again) and I think the whole scenario made me enjoy the gig even more than I would have originally. Ed Sheeran really is great live - I'd strongly recommend it.
This brings us back to the present. Today saw a sharp improvement in the weather so of course I went running back to the beach while I still can.
Unfortunately my time in Melbourne is starting to run out and I think it's safe to say that it is the best city that I've visited in my life so far. Its the perfect size for me and as I've said before there is always something to do. The thought of living here has seriously crossed my mind - but it's something that would require far more thought than I've already put in. Tasmania is the next stop and so the next couple of days will probably spent trying to sort plans out and get myself back into the mindset of travelling.
It's nice to have so much to write about again after a slight lull over the last couple of weeks - well done if you've managed to finish this without falling asleep!
Happy Easter!
With Tuesday and Thursday being the cricket semi-finals I found myself at my usual spot by the river in the CBD to watch two games that I couldn't call in the slightest. Unfortunately both days were English-type weather at its finest so I've had to buy another hoody because the other one was getting too much use.
The first semi-final, New Zealand Vs South Africa, was one of the best games of cricket I've ever seen with no exaggeration. It's pretty unbelievable that after watching a game for 8 hours you still cannot tell who's going to win. The former finally managed to bring it home and with Australia winning their game against India pretty easily in the end it meant that I'd get to watch the two home nations play at one of the best stadiums in the World - I kinda like this whole travelling thing yanno.
In between all the cricket was a trip to the moonlight cinema in the Botanic Gardens. It's a really well run event which see's an inflatable screen blown up and a projector every night during March and showing a variety of films. Kate will be jealous to hear that Mean Girls was the film of choice - a personal favourite of mine and being one of the many chick flicks that I embarrassingly love. It was a really great atmosphere even if I was ridiculously cold and I still loved the film despite having seen it dozens of times (again without exaggeration).
Friday saw a few drinks at a friends apartment as they had only moved in a few days prior. As its mainly family members who read this I shan't go into much detail.
Saturday saw a friend from back home (It hurts to call Dartford 'back home' but in context I suppose it's close enough) touch down in Australia. This meant that I used the walking tour that I went on over 2 months ago and showed her all the sights around the city along with 1 or 2 facts that have stuck with me - I rate my abilities as a tour guide I won't lie. It was nice seeing all the sights again and it amazes me that I haven't got bored of seeing all the sights and I'm still as in love with Melbourne as I was when I first got here.
I also see my free tour as giving me good karma. It turned out that my friend is staying with family friends in the city and so we headed there and it was an unbelievably nice building with views of Albert Park (where the Grand Prix was) and the sea. As if the lovely apartment wasn't enough, it then turned out that the roof had a jacuzzi with a phenomenal view of the city and it's sights. We got a cheap bottle of champagne/fizzy wine and had a barbecue while the sun sets - one of my favourite nights in Australia yet.
Sunday was the World Cup final, something I can tick off my bucket list and I will guarantee that it will not be my last. The anticipation and atmosphere was spectacular - even if I did have Stan moaning the whole time about how he wasn't included in the attendance figure which was a World record for a One day game in Australia (93,000). The happiness of the Australian fans and players was so special and I'm so glad I was part of it all. With the rugby World Cup in England this year, the European football championships in France next year and the Cricket World Cup in England in 2019 I think it's safe to say that I'm going to have to start saving.
Monday was a long and hard day which all came good in the end. After buying tickets to see Ed Sheeran (a music artist) a couple of weeks ago, I messed up with my address details due to moving in and out of hostels etc and so to cut a long story short: the tickets didn't arrive. After begging the ticket office etc and ringing the company there was nothing that could be done. Eventually we got a refund and so, not being deterred, we hung around the Rod Laver Arena for 2 and a half hours trying to find some going spare. 10 minute's before it was all due to start we ended up getting tickets that were much cheaper than what we had paid originally (I'm going to try and claim that this is my good karma again) and I think the whole scenario made me enjoy the gig even more than I would have originally. Ed Sheeran really is great live - I'd strongly recommend it.
This brings us back to the present. Today saw a sharp improvement in the weather so of course I went running back to the beach while I still can.
Unfortunately my time in Melbourne is starting to run out and I think it's safe to say that it is the best city that I've visited in my life so far. Its the perfect size for me and as I've said before there is always something to do. The thought of living here has seriously crossed my mind - but it's something that would require far more thought than I've already put in. Tasmania is the next stop and so the next couple of days will probably spent trying to sort plans out and get myself back into the mindset of travelling.
It's nice to have so much to write about again after a slight lull over the last couple of weeks - well done if you've managed to finish this without falling asleep!
Happy Easter!
Monday, 23 March 2015
Beaches and Cricket
It's been a while so I thought I'd update you all on how chilled out I've been recently.
After another (and eventually last) week of work I didn't find too much time to socialise or do anything of particular interest apart from a pub quiz and a few beers here and there etc. However I did have the pleasure of having Mr Karl Kennedy from Neighbours (real name unknown/forgotten to me) perform with his band in my hostel bar which is always going to be a good story to tell.
The next major event was the Grand Prix in Melbourne which has create much envy from a lot of people and an event that was a really great spectacle to be apart of. Despite the cars being ridiculously fast and having to endure what felt like minor whiplash at the end of 52 laps it was a really great day out. Of course, Lewis Hamilton winning was a huge bonus but having a car break down in front of me on the warm-up lap was a particular highlight of mine. The only problem I found was after 20-odd laps or so when everyone started pitting it was impossible to tell who was in what position and who had/hadn't pitted etc - even with big screens and live commentary it only fell into place for me with 10 laps to go, by which time Hamilton was at least 3 seconds clear of second and 30 seconds clear of 3rd. Would strongly recommend anyone to try and get to one of these though, especially a street circuit - I personally would love to go to Monaco one day.
After letting my boss know that I wanted to spend time travelling again instead of working, I found that I had time to spend again, who'd have thought it?!
The week consisted of lot's of sun essentially. I think the people of Australia genuinely believe that 25 degree's is cold and so everyone seems to have the attitude that every day of sun is going to be it's last and this has translated to the travellers - obviously.
A day at Brighton beach (a 10 minute tram away, not a flight back to England) was as laid back and relaxed as you can expect with great views of the city from a distance and walking past a wedding spot in which we saw 3 ceremonies taking place.
The rest of the week saw the celebration of St Patrick's day, something that I, or any other of the English guys, had never celebrated before but it seems like every Australian and their friend were out somehow - even if it was a Tuesday night, amongst another beach trip and somehow more cricket.
The cricket is a bit more acceptable now as it's the business end of the tournament, so with 4 quarter-finals came 4 days of sitting in the sun and watching it. This included my 4th and penultimate trip to the MCG to see India destroy Bangladesh, the team that knocked England out so their loss didn't sadden me in the slightest. The Semi-finals are on Tuesday and Thursday before the final on Sunday and with the best 4 teams still in it, it's anyone's tournament which is exciting, but means I can only spend 3 more days watching cricket - bad times.
With the end of the World Cup fastly approaching it's that time again where I'm having to look into moving on and it looks like the next stop is Tasmania. While no plans are concrete, by the next time I've submitted a blog I might have a special guest for you - stay tuned.
After another (and eventually last) week of work I didn't find too much time to socialise or do anything of particular interest apart from a pub quiz and a few beers here and there etc. However I did have the pleasure of having Mr Karl Kennedy from Neighbours (real name unknown/forgotten to me) perform with his band in my hostel bar which is always going to be a good story to tell.
The next major event was the Grand Prix in Melbourne which has create much envy from a lot of people and an event that was a really great spectacle to be apart of. Despite the cars being ridiculously fast and having to endure what felt like minor whiplash at the end of 52 laps it was a really great day out. Of course, Lewis Hamilton winning was a huge bonus but having a car break down in front of me on the warm-up lap was a particular highlight of mine. The only problem I found was after 20-odd laps or so when everyone started pitting it was impossible to tell who was in what position and who had/hadn't pitted etc - even with big screens and live commentary it only fell into place for me with 10 laps to go, by which time Hamilton was at least 3 seconds clear of second and 30 seconds clear of 3rd. Would strongly recommend anyone to try and get to one of these though, especially a street circuit - I personally would love to go to Monaco one day.
After letting my boss know that I wanted to spend time travelling again instead of working, I found that I had time to spend again, who'd have thought it?!
The week consisted of lot's of sun essentially. I think the people of Australia genuinely believe that 25 degree's is cold and so everyone seems to have the attitude that every day of sun is going to be it's last and this has translated to the travellers - obviously.
A day at Brighton beach (a 10 minute tram away, not a flight back to England) was as laid back and relaxed as you can expect with great views of the city from a distance and walking past a wedding spot in which we saw 3 ceremonies taking place.
The rest of the week saw the celebration of St Patrick's day, something that I, or any other of the English guys, had never celebrated before but it seems like every Australian and their friend were out somehow - even if it was a Tuesday night, amongst another beach trip and somehow more cricket.
The cricket is a bit more acceptable now as it's the business end of the tournament, so with 4 quarter-finals came 4 days of sitting in the sun and watching it. This included my 4th and penultimate trip to the MCG to see India destroy Bangladesh, the team that knocked England out so their loss didn't sadden me in the slightest. The Semi-finals are on Tuesday and Thursday before the final on Sunday and with the best 4 teams still in it, it's anyone's tournament which is exciting, but means I can only spend 3 more days watching cricket - bad times.
With the end of the World Cup fastly approaching it's that time again where I'm having to look into moving on and it looks like the next stop is Tasmania. While no plans are concrete, by the next time I've submitted a blog I might have a special guest for you - stay tuned.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Working Week
It's been another quiet one.
Apparently it's been getting hot back home, and being on the other side of the world means that the opposite is happening here. Don't get me wrong I'm still able to go out in shorts and a t-shirt, so I'm not complaining by any means.
As I say it's been another quiet one this week, mainly down to trying to adapt my body clock to allow me to wake up at 7:30 everyday without feeling like death. Work is tough and I'm struggling to keep motivation all day when I'm out in the middle of nowhere but the people are awesome which makes it worth it.
I'm starting to know how the Proclaimers must have felt after walking 500 miles after this week - my poor legs don't even know what it's like to sit down any more after walking around all day everyday, but it gives me chance to walk off all of the McDonald's I suppose so it's not all bad.
The people though really do make it worth it. Thursday night was team night and consisted of a night of beer and dumplings (paid for by the boss, lovely) and Friday pub night turned into a reasonably heavy session in the town of Melbourne and so this week does have some positives and hasn't stopped me loving Melbourne by any means.
Despite plans to hire bikes and go to China Town on Saturday we had all been out the night before and after realising that Harry Potter was on the TV that night we decided to have a much needed quiet one.
After a ridiculous amount of ridicule from the guys about my unhealthy diet I agreed (it didn't take much persuasion) to let them cook me a meal which meant that my night consisted of a steak, jacket potato, cheese and baked beans followed by a stupid amount of snacks and sweets in front of Monsters Inc and Harry Potter - I am 18 believe it or not.... and I loved it.
Sunday was Future Music Festival - one of my best days in Oz so far. Despite spending 2 hours on dodgy WiFi trying to find a ticket I finally managed to get online and sort it out and a day of (responsible) drinking and music commenced in the 25 degree heat. Amidst the odd foam party and food we saw the likes of Example, Aviici and Sigma (I expect none of you to know what I'm talking about here!).
This brings me to Labour day - yet another national holiday - meaning I get a day off to watch England play a must win game in the World Cup later... We'll see...
Apparently it's been getting hot back home, and being on the other side of the world means that the opposite is happening here. Don't get me wrong I'm still able to go out in shorts and a t-shirt, so I'm not complaining by any means.
As I say it's been another quiet one this week, mainly down to trying to adapt my body clock to allow me to wake up at 7:30 everyday without feeling like death. Work is tough and I'm struggling to keep motivation all day when I'm out in the middle of nowhere but the people are awesome which makes it worth it.
I'm starting to know how the Proclaimers must have felt after walking 500 miles after this week - my poor legs don't even know what it's like to sit down any more after walking around all day everyday, but it gives me chance to walk off all of the McDonald's I suppose so it's not all bad.
The people though really do make it worth it. Thursday night was team night and consisted of a night of beer and dumplings (paid for by the boss, lovely) and Friday pub night turned into a reasonably heavy session in the town of Melbourne and so this week does have some positives and hasn't stopped me loving Melbourne by any means.
Despite plans to hire bikes and go to China Town on Saturday we had all been out the night before and after realising that Harry Potter was on the TV that night we decided to have a much needed quiet one.
After a ridiculous amount of ridicule from the guys about my unhealthy diet I agreed (it didn't take much persuasion) to let them cook me a meal which meant that my night consisted of a steak, jacket potato, cheese and baked beans followed by a stupid amount of snacks and sweets in front of Monsters Inc and Harry Potter - I am 18 believe it or not.... and I loved it.
Sunday was Future Music Festival - one of my best days in Oz so far. Despite spending 2 hours on dodgy WiFi trying to find a ticket I finally managed to get online and sort it out and a day of (responsible) drinking and music commenced in the 25 degree heat. Amidst the odd foam party and food we saw the likes of Example, Aviici and Sigma (I expect none of you to know what I'm talking about here!).
This brings me to Labour day - yet another national holiday - meaning I get a day off to watch England play a must win game in the World Cup later... We'll see...
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