10/04/10 - 20/06/10
It seems like yesterday when I boarded the plane to Australia, but it was over 3months ago.. I can’t believe where the time has gone. I will give you a brief encounter of my time in Manly and then I’ll move on to the adventure trips up and down the East Coast of Australia. (I really thought it was time to write a blog as I have left it for too long now and I want these memories to remain and to share them with you guys).
I arrived in Sydney on the 10th April and I was met at the airport by the driver ready to take me to my cousin Simons. He was an oldish chap who kept saying to me "don’t worry darling you’re in safe hands". All I kept thinking about was wolf creek, but I got to Sydney fine without taking a detour of the outback. I stayed with Simon before heading to the crazy hostel called The Bunkhouse! I met some amazing people there and it was hard to get away.. So I was there for two months. I ended up cleaning the hostel for free rent so that saved me some dollars! It was getting pretty cold down there, so on those wet cold days and evenings we’d watch movies.. the scarier the better - we even watched Jaws.. not the best movie to watch whilst being out here!
Getting a job in Manly proved to be a lot more difficult than I had first anticipated, it took a month of traipsing around the Corso and going into Sydney handing out Cv’s for me to finally get a job in a small restaurant/café on the beach front in Manly and boy what a job! It was the worst job ever... i couldn't do anything right - i'd sweep the floor at night and my manager would grab the broom off me and say 'this is how you do it'. I mean as long as I got the bits up it didn't really matter which method i used did it? I had to ask every customer how there starter, main and dessert was.. if I didn't I would get a right telling off, everytime I went to state my opinion my boss would tell me to "shhhh". I just couldn't wait to get a way, but I found it highly amusing the way he talked down to me (or should that be up - with him being 5'4).
I made the most awesome friends in Manly and many I will meet again along the way down the East coast. Everyone is so friendly and laid back, I felt so at home. It really is like a vortex and I can see why people get trapped and don’t go anywhere else. But I left the nest and booked myself a ticket to Cairns where my adventure really began. Staying in Caravella’s on The Esplanade was fun, especially Gloria, she’s a lady who has been working there since its opened, so about 30 years, everyone knows her.. she’s hilarious! I never saw her without a 'fag' in her mouth.
I am now working my way down the coast, towards Sydney and then Melbourne and my plan is to cram in as many exciting and adventurous things as possible… so here goes…
Uncle Brian's Tour of the Tablelands:
23/06/10
On Thursday myself and Mary jumped on Uncle Brian's tour bus. It was the most bizarre day I have had in Australia so far. We were greeted by "Cousin Rohan" and "Gus" The Bus and these names we had to adhere to for the duration of the trip. Although a little bonkers, especially Cousin Rohans jokes and ability to communicate with Gus, it was a brilliant day filled with amazing people and beautiful scenery and not forgetting the best bread and butter pudding I think I have ever tasted (sorry mom).
We were driven to a number of waterfalls. Josephine Falls being my favourite. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t in our favour the whole day. Each time we sat on the bus the sun would come out, but the moment we stepped out to see the falls the heavens would open. It didn’t matter too much, we were going to get wet anyway, it just helped with the process of getting into the water… who am I kidding the water was freezing!!
A natural slide was formed in Josephine Falls and we spent a good hour sliding down it. My bikini took a hacking to and sadly it is now covered in a mossy substance but it was well worth it.. And as Tom (Nicholls) commented its pretty ancient so I guess its about time I bought a new one! Lol.
Our third visit was Mira Mira falls (aboriginal for lots of water) and this is where Peter Andre shot his video "Mysterious Girl". I have no idea how he managed to stand up in the waterfall let alone dance (or prance) around flexing his six pack as it was so powerful.
Our final stop of the day was to search for the Platypus. We were asked to switch our camera flashes off as they are sensitive little creatures and the flash could blind them. The Platypus surfaced a few times, I didn’t realise how small it was (about 30cm in length). I haven’t put these pictures on Facebook as it looks like a log floating in the water.. or as others commented something worse..
Whitewater Rafting down The Tully River:
28/06/10
Ok this was one of the scariest experiences in Oz so far, you will notice this by how pale I look in the photos. Our instructor ‘Macca’ wanted to make our time on the Tully River as exciting and adrenalin filled as possible and to achieve this he deflated our rafts and not just a little bit; we were bouncing all over the place. Stories were told and I’m not sure how true they were, but they didn’t fill me with great confidence. We had to jump out of our raft and swim in the river (so we were used to the temperature if we were to fall in later) the rapids were strong! Tom, bless him had put on the wrong size life jacket and the moment we got in the water it rose above him, both his head and high rised jacket were bobbing down the rapids. What a job it was to try and lift ourselves back into the raft, the more I laughed the harder it became. We got wedged between the rocks a few times and had to be nudged out by the other rafts (that’s if we weren’t having a water fight with them).
The names of the waterfalls and different rapids were pretty bizarre, but again I don’t know how true they were, or whether Macca made them up… me being the gullible person that I am. We went through a waterfall called.. the orgasm. It was so ferocious, that ferocious it pushed one of my contacts out. I managed to put it back in, but neither contact lasted the duration of the day.
Not only were we rafting, we were also jumping off tall rocks (about 20 odd feet). Also, there was a natural slide which had formed in the river and the majority of groups were going down it in their raft in different positions. Instead of using our raft and doing it the safe way, Macca got us to form a line (like a train) and slide down it as a group. It took us about 10 seconds to surface, but it felt like we were under for about a minute.. It was scary. Its on a DVD which I have just sent home, but I will put it on Facebook eventually if the files not too big.
It was an awesome day and I had an amazing bunch of people in my raft! Also I don’t think it would have been the same without Macca - what a thrill seeker, but an absolute legend!!
Finding Nemo in The Great Barrier Reef
29/06/10
I can’t tell you how excited I was for this trip, I have seen amazing pictures of the Reef and I couldn’t wait to both snorkel and scuba dive in it to see whether it really was quite as beautiful. I got on the boat and I was greeted by lovely staff. I sat down holding this huge black case.. I was getting strange looks as people were wondering what was inside, I had hired an underwater camera for the day. When I paid for it I was told that if I lost it or broke it I would have to pay $600.. I had to guard it with my life and I was so afraid of anything happening to it, being the calamity that I am.
I sat by two lovely girls, Jo from England and Corissa from America. We sat outside on the front of the boat whilst travelling to the reef.. A little windy and choppy but a laugh all the same and when we got there we were second to scuba dive. Once the oxygen tank was attached to my back I could barely move, I had no idea how I was going to get down the stairs with my gigantic flippers and dead weight on my back, let alone into the water. Breathing wasn’t easy, it took a lot of getting used to and going deeper into the water was petrifying! Thankfully I could see what was below me, I think I would have been even more scared if it was murky! We descended with our instructor and it was incredible, there were some amazing fish down there and I even got to see Nemo. There was one pretty huge fish with big lips and a grumpy face, it moved so slowly in the water, but it made me smile. There are lots of photos from the reef on Facebook. Some cloudy ones of the coral, and some pretty good ones even though I say myself. There’s one I use as my desktop background on my net book but no one believes I have taken it.. I have honest!
The dive affected my ears so much and each time we went deeper I had to equalise as my ears were killing.. but it was worth it! We had lunch which was like a banquet, I went up twice and piled my plate and could easily have fitted more in, but we were snorkelling after and I didn’t want to sink. The island we were taken to was lovely, but it was completely inhabited by birds and my gosh did it smell! There was no hesitancy to get into the water, I just wanted to face plant it and not lift my head until we were ready to go as the smell was putrid. There were some gorgeous fish, a bright blue one which I was trying to follow to get a good photo of. I also saw a stingray and a starfish.. No turtles though.
We spent an hour or so on the island and then it was time to sail back to Cairns, it was an amazing day and the Reef was everything and more that it is cracked up to be. Scuba diving was immense, I just wish my ears weren’t given me so much grief.. and I wasn’t aware how ill it would make me feel for the next two days.. but I could put up with the loss of balance for seeing incredible sea creatures any day!
Cape Tribulation and Sleeping in a Rainforest
30/06/10 - 1/07/10
The tour bus came early in the morning and we headed north of Cairns to Cape Tribulation - A very large Rainforest. We were taken on a tour by our guide and he discussed the dangerous plants and trees to avoid. The “stinger” and the “wait a while” (or creeping Mary). The stinger plant, looks just like nettles we have in England, however if you touch one or it wipes against your flesh it releases thousands of tiny needles that imbed in your skin and the only way (and safest) to remove them is by wax strips (not good if you’re a guy). However, each of the needles contain hundreds and hundreds of toxins that get released into your body and its meant to be tremendously painful. This pain can last up to a year. Our guide was telling us that one tourist put her hand on one (accidentally) and she was in so much pain, this pain continued for months and whenever she put her hand in water (being hot or cold) the severe pain would come back and it would feel as bad as when the needles first went in. When walking through forests or grassy lands I am constantly looking everywhere for the beast of a plant! The “wait a while” are tree branches with thousands of thorns and if you just brush past them they latch on you and they are incredibly difficult to remove, if you move another of the branches may latch onto you and you have to “wait a while” before getting free. (so there we go a little bit information of the annoyances in the rainforest).
We later headed on a crocodile cruise, the boat was pretty narrow and if one had been below us it wouldn’t have taken much for us to be pushed into the water. I have a few photos of the crocs on the bank. Because I zoomed in on one and took a photo, my mom thought I was right beside it when I took the pic (I’m not too afraid of the wildlife here.. but I’m not that crazy)
In the afternoon we were each taken to our Hostels. Where I was staying was called the Beach house. There were lovely cabins in the Rainforest and it was about a 5 minute walk onto a secluded beach. I met some great people and on the evening a few people made a camp fire and we sat on the beach and chilled.. Until.. The heavens opened!! The Rainforest certainly lived up to its name! I decided to head back, and it was a lonely walk up to the cabin. There were lights dotted around the windy path but they needn’t have been on, they gave off barely any light. I could hear the rainforest coming to life. Right in front of me I could make out the silhouette of a toad.. and by golly was it big! I made a dash for it as I was pretty sure it was a cane toad (and they’re poisonous) I could still hear it ribbeting behind me. (I take back the comment about not being afraid of much in oz).
Cape Tribulation was amazing, but I didn’t appreciate it quite as much as I should have, as I felt absolutely dreadful. The scuba dive had really affected my ears, in turn caused my balance to be all over the place. I was constantly feeling drunk; spins included! It took a good 2 days to feel normal again, so that meant I was wavering again in Port Douglas, which was our next stop after Cape Trib, but it was a really lovely place, very picturesque. (picture two)
