"Rain, rain go away"
a entry by Work is for Suckers! from a trip to Cape Tribulation, Queensland.
Hello again from us!
Last time we wrote I think we had just arrived in Cairns???.we have had some interesting times since! We are now back in Cairns and have just finished off a sumptuous feast of cold cooked prawns, salad and yummy fresh bread ??? has to be my all time favourite treat and seafood is cheap up here comparatively so we though what the hell!
So???we spent a few days around Cairns when were here the first time???.twas a very busy time with Nathan looking for work (ahhh that time is coming all too quickly!), planning our wedding, and generally re-stocking on supplies and ...
a entry by Traveling Nomad from a trip to Ayers Rock, Australia.
Flying into Uluru (Ayers Rock and Resort) was like flying over an Aboriginal dot painting. After being in green, humid Cairns, the landscape in the Outback was stark and beautiful and full of color and contrasts and shadows. My pictures from the plane did not turn out because the atmosphere was hazy, for which I was disappointed because the views were stunning and could be the inspiration for great prints and collages.
I arrived in Yulara, the name of the town outside of which lies Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta (both World Heritage sites), in the middle of the day and went directly to the ...
a entry by Traveling Nomad from a trip to Cairns, Australia.
As a city, Cairns is small and very tourist oriented with at least three pubs per block, but it is the perfect launching off spot for access to the Great Barrier Reef. The scenery around Cairns is very beautiful, with mountains hugging the shore and hectares and hectares of sugar cane fields and tropical foliage reminiscent of Hawaii.
I went to Cairns to experience snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage Site, and I have to say that it was one of the major highlights of my life, along with my own wedding, being in Peter and Patti's, Frannie's and Sherry's weddings, my ...
a entry by Traveling Nomad from a trip to Sydney, New South Wales.
Arriving in Sydney after being in Bali for nine days was like re-entering the western world after being in paradise. However, my hotel was on the edge of Chinatown so I was surrounded by South East Asians and therefore felt at home. I was staying in the perfect location - a Starbucks next door on one side, the Capital Square Theater with the play, Billy Elliot, being performed on the other side, a super-inexpensive internet cafe called Global Gossip two blocks away that was right next to the Sydney Youth Hostel Association, an ATM across the street, and a convenience store and the best Thai ...
"The lake was absolutely beautiful with white sandy beaches surrounding the pure, deep blue freshwater lake."
a entry by Hollie & Richard from a trip to Hervey Bay, Australia.
We set off just before the sunrise from Sarina and managed to drive 500km by lunchtime, which made it possible to take a detour to Town of 1770 where James Cook landed in the year 1770. The 'town' is tiny, consisting of a small beach and marina, a cafe and a small residential area overlooking the ocean. It was really beautiful and we were glad to have made it there. We had lunch in the cafe before setting off for Hervey Bay, arriving at dusk. We settled into the Coconut Grove Caravan Park, where there seemed to be more permanent residents than tourists, but it was cheap so we didn't care!
a entry by Traveling Nomad from a trip to Kakadu National Park, Australia.
This was my first experience driving internationally, and on the left hand side of the road, too!!! It turned out to be a piece of cake for me. But of course, after I got out of the town of Darwin and onto highway, I saw another car every twenty kilometers, maybe. So, the challenge wasn't great. I wasn't thrown by passing cars, driving around traffic circles or turning into traffic. However, I understood that there are only 200,000 people total in the entirety of the Northern Territory with 100,000 being in Darwin, so we were not talking density here. I read that the Northern Territory is ...
a entry by dungroovin from a trip to Broome, Australia.
It's a long haul to Broome and we stop off in Karatha where we meet Jay who's traveling up and down the coast looking fior work sleeping in a roll under his trailer. The campsite is like something from deliverance so we set out early next morning and start ploughing through the great sandy desert stopping shortly at beautiful (but flyblown) Port Samson. We stop for a lunch break at the DeGrey river crossing and heed the crocodile warning!
On the road we pass a number of dead cows horribly bloated by the heat they have a perpetual surprised look frozen on their faces that can only be ...
a entry by dungroovin from a trip to Coral Bay, Western Australia.
We roll into Coral bay quite late and check into the nicest site. Coral bay is every bit as beautiful as it sounds. Lovely turquoise water white sand and reef within an easy swim of the shore and at last we're clear of the bloody flies. Sitting outside the van with an icy beer after a long hot days driving is just such a pleasure and we start to feel we could get used to this. Things get even better, as we walk along the shore we notice a local bar has a happy hour, and a very good one at that. the place is packed with locals and some real characters, at last it feels like we're meeting ...
"Total pictures of beauty upon arrival."
a entry by The Ryans from a trip to Sydney, New South Wales.
Sean's mom and Aunt Carol visited for nearly 3 weeks at the end of January. They explored in and around Hobart, then vacationed with us to New South Wales, which included visits to Sydney, the Hunter Valley Wine Region, and the Blue Mountains.
We invited Carol to write the blog which she graciously accepted as follows:
After a long trip across the pond, a delay in Fiji resulting in a missed connection in Sydney, and some new, unplanned-for connections, we arrived in Hobart on Jan 16 to the excited greetings of Avani & Sean at the airport, and the "Angel of Mercy" Indira, greeting ...
"some of the oldest living trees on earth."
a entry by The Ryans from a trip to Strahan, Australia.
At last we had a weekend to check out Tasmania's wild west coast. Strahan is the largest town on the west coast and is TINY. Most of the area is now national park.
The drive from Hobart is not far, but is long because the roads are small and windey. Our first stop was at Lake St. Clair, the largest lake in Tassie that feeds many of the states rivers and runs some of it's most important power plants. Although pretty, the weather was a little cold so we ate lunch and moved on.
We next stopped at the famous Franklin-Gordon river. It was here where there were large, eventually-successf ...
a entry by KJ30 from a trip to Coral Bay, Western Australia.
Spent a few days in Coral Bay now snorkelling off the beach, a big storm came on Saturday night so there's no access into Coral Bay now cos the road is flooded. The water is clearing a little but still extremely cloudy unless diving down to view the fish.
Alice found bed bugs so we had to move rooms, this is a bonus as we now get rid of the Flash coming in at 5am drunk & gettin in the wrong bed upsetting the Danish & also the young Dutch couple who have sex in top bunk squeaking away everynight. Poor Alice doesn't see this upside at the moment though she's covered head to toe in itchy ...
"a capital way out of the way"
a entry by Roland from a trip to Canberra, Australia.
Sydney is definitely the first city of Australia when it comes to international perception. When arriving in Melbourne I soon realised - and was told - that there's some sort of rivalry between those two cities going back almost to the time when the first settlers arrived... And it continues among the tourists. You either love Sydney OR Melbourne - I definitely belong to the Melbourne supporters.
That is where Canberra comes in. When the colonies (now the states) became the federation Australia neither Sydney nor Melbourne would allow the other city to become the capital and each wanted ...
a entry by dungroovin from a trip to Carnarvon, Western Australia.
Lots and lots of rain that we passed through our way up the sharks bay peninsular has flooded out the road at a number of places and under the clear blue sky and intense sun it's tough to tell the real water from the mirages which turn the whole road into an apparent river.
The water turns the color of the land after a while and we pass landscapes flooded with deep red , orange and even purple water. With trees silhouetted against the bright sky standing out of this odd colored water it's a pretty bizare landscape at times. Now the weather has turned clear we pass aquamarine ocean ...
a entry by Shona from a trip to Airlie Beach, Australia.
I was supposed to go to the Whitsunday Islands last Tuesday, right after I got back from Fraser Island...but two hours before I was about to go to the airport, I realized that the ticket was for three days later, on Friday. After confirming that I booked the wrong day with the travel agent person, I unpacked my bag and did homework in my apartment until Friday morning.
My hostel was in Airlie Beach, which is on the mainland. To get off the mainland, you have to either take a ferry ($50 or more) or go on a day trip ($50-100). Once I got there, I was kind of glad I'd only be spending three ...
a entry by Travelbibi from a trip to Kununurra, Australia.
HEISS . SONNIG . 29 - 37 GRAD (8 - 18h)
'The Kimberleys': Derby (220 km noerdlich von Broome) und Kununurra liegen am Eingang. Die 'Kimberleys' sind eine extrem abgelegene Gegend mit grossen Fluessen, tiefen Erdspalten und seltsamen 'Boab'-Baeumen (eine Art Flaschenbaeume). Unser Plan war eigentlich in die 'Kimberleys' zu fahren und im Zelt zu campen, die Strassen sind aber noch von den Ueberflutungen der Regensaison gesperrt.In Kununurra haben wir fuer zwei Naechte im Garten von Graham, einem Freund von Johnos Bruder, gecampt. Graham begradigt Strassen und wohnt mit hier mit seiner ...
a entry by Ivy from a trip to Byron Bay, Australia.
Another recommendation by fellow travellers and local Aussies, Byron Bay definitely gets the thumbs up from me.
After the disappointment of Surfers Paradise, I was glad to be back surrounded by natural beauty and no high rises or designer shopping malls!
Instead, Byron Bay is this nice little town surrounded by...yep, you've guessed it.....rainforests and beautiful beaches...haha..notice a familiar theme going on with Australia?!
In fact, both travellers and local Aussies alike all name this as one of their favourite places to visit on the East Coast and I can see ...
a entry by Ian and Magda from a trip to Sydney, New South Wales.
I have lapsed a little on my blog updates, sorry folks, but it doesn???t mean we aren???t still having adventures, they just haven???t recently been much more than the garden variety New City Exploring kind, and since Sydney is like just about any big city in the States, cleaner perhaps, it hasn???t put up much in the way of exotic adventure. We have been in Sydney for almost 7 days now, Couchsurfing at our new friend Davey???s house far outside of the center of town. The commute to the city is a small adventure in itself I guess, one has to walk through neatly managed wetlands and past a ...
"chocolate muffin, chocolate biscuit, chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream, and of course, 2 chocolates"
a entry by alex f from a trip to Melbourne, Australia.
First thing to do in Melbourne was of course to track down Ramsey Street. They still film all of the street scenes in Neighbours in a little cul-de-sac in a suburb about 20kms from Melbourne city centre, so we drove up there, took a few photos, tried to work out who's house was who's, and then dodged the security guard to get away.
'It's a lot smaller than it looks on the TV'
Got into Melbourne and had a walk around the trendy shops, which was a shame as we still didn't have any money, or any thing we wanted to buy. But had dinner with Dom and Toni, who we knew from Brighton. ...
"Thinking that it was the middle of summer, Belinda and I both put on our boardies and t-shirts.. It was freezing!."
a entry by Tonya from a trip to Kangaroo Island, Australia.
Belinda and I were up really early for our trip to Kangaroo Island. It was about an hour drive to the ferry. Thinking that it was the middle of summer, Belinda and I both put on our boardies and t-shirts. I even packed my jumper in my bag. When we got to the ferry I had to get my jumper out of my bag. It was freezing! I also took my dramamine because I was told that it was going to be rough seas. great.
I did fine on the ferry and we got to Penneshaw, repacked our bus and were off. We stopped at a Eucalyptus distillery and then headed off for lunch. The place where we stopped was covered ...
a entry by Elzep from a trip to Cairns, Australia.
Who wants to learn how to throw a boomerang and how to use a spear? Who wants to hear the story about aboriginal medicine or how to play a didgeridoo? How about seeing an aboriginal performance illustrated with legends and fire initiation? Well, it's all about visiting aboriginal centre in Tjapukai, just a stone throw north of Cairns.
You can get all these things for just AU$26 while watching one of the few performances during a 2-3 hour visit in aboriginal centre in Tjapukai. It's just a short trip from Cairns with a huge possibility of hanging out on one of several beaches nearby to ...
"Scuba, sharks, turtles, crocs -- a fantastic ending!!"
a entry by Scott & Nancy from a trip to Port Douglas, Queensland.
You cannot go to the Reef without trying the introductory scuba dive. I had never tried it before and Scott had just once about 15 years ago in Mexico. I was a little nervous about it, but the managers of our accommodation recommended a very good boat (Poseidon) so we signed ourselves up. The boat took us to a portion of the outer reef called the Agincourt Ribbon Reef. The day included visits to three separate dive sites. We originally signed up for two dives just in case it didn???t go that well and knew that we???d have the option to snorkel at the other site. Of course, we found the diving to ...
a entry by Ethereal Wanderer from a trip to Halls Gap, Australia.
I continued out of town at about 60km-70km/h in an 80km/h zone.
As the sun rose it allowed me to see the beautiful Australian country side. And even two emus. Which I thought was weird. I wonder if they were farmed. I can't say I've ever seen emus in the wild.
Nearing Halls Gap, a sign for Lake Fayan caught my eye. It's not worth going to. It kind of ...
"That a country could have Koalas, Kangaroos AND penguins seems a little unfair"
a entry by Ian and Magda from a trip to St. kilda, Australia.
Ah Melbourne. It sometimes reminds me so much of Seattle that my head does a little Matrix like blip and I'm standing suddenly on the corners of 1st and Madison, looking up towards Pike Place Market. When we arrived here it was finally 'bloody hot' and we spent the first few days exploring beaches and air conditioned places. We arrived on the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix, which is apparently a big deal, and was also being held two blocks away from Gary and Bojana's. As we sat around the dinner table, drinking wine and sharing stories from our mutual travels the roar of qualifying ...
"A giant robotic flat-faced kangaroo surprised us by lurching to life"
a entry by Ian and Magda from a trip to Naracoorte, Australia.
We were picked up early in the morning by the Goin' South tour company, along with six other travelers. All were backpackers save for an older Australian lady named Rose who was traveling to see her family in a small town along the coast. It seemed like a good group, important as we would be in each other's presence day and night for the next three days. The tour guide was a funny and relaxed Australian named Dave who also seemed to be the owner of the company.
We stopped in a cute little town outside of Adelaide for coffee, rolled through the winelands and stopped at a winery for ...
"Best rainbow ever!"
a entry by Scott & Nancy from a trip to Whitsunday Islands, Australia.
What better way to experience the Whitsundays than take a two day cruise. Snorkeling and sailing by day, then finding a quiet cove to be rocked to sleep like a baby. We boarded the Whitsunday Blue ??? a snazzy catamaran made to hold eight passengers and two crew. However we were quite worried as the winds were strong and the skies pretty dark. As we sailed out of the harbor, it began to rain off in the distance but as it turned out, this gave us one of the most stunning rainbows that we have ever seen. It was quite special. After that initial scare with the weather, the remainder of our time was ...