Around the World in 180 days

Time for a road trip. So checking out the map, we decided to go to Pemberton so Chris could get a taste of rural Oz. The drive there was pretty uneventful, stopping on the way to take in a tree top wire bridge walk and a few photo stops. We arrived in Pemberton about tea time. The place was very small with a couple of restaurants and a drive in off licence. Bizzare?

The following day we took a local tourist train following the route of the logging trains used to take. The afternoon was spent trying local wines and ciders ( there's a lot of wineries around here)

That night, we decided to try a different town for a meal, as their wasn't much choice in Pemberton. The nearest town was Manjimup About 20 minutes away. Driving in to town, it was noticable that it was larger, but, even quiter that Pemberton. As we approached the town centre. We slowed down in search of somewhere to eat. What we saw made us lose our appetite. How can i say it. There are Dog lovers in this world and there are DOG LOVERS. The man outside the bar, was one of the latter. Suffice to say, we sped off pretty damm quick back to Pemberton. Not to return to Manjimup again. I've seen some crazy S*** on my travels but nothing will top that.

Like Sydney, I had been here before But since this is one of the best cities in the world to live, i was still looking forward to it. To compare Sydney and Melbourne is what people do alot in OZ. The way i see it, is that Sydney focuses on buisness and Melbourne focuses on People. The city is geared up to being people and tourism friendly. There are free trams. One circles around the central core of Melbourne, whilst the other is a tour tram, taking in the major sights.

On Saturday I arranged to meet an old friend at Belgian Beer Garden. He's been in Melbourne for a number of years. So i was looking forward to catch up and find out what was the best places to go to from an insider. Shame he didn't turn up. Still, the Belgian Beer garden (St Kilda Road) is a pretty damm good place to spend the afternoon lot of different beers and mainly European. Later, I was fortunate to get tickets to the War of the Worlds concert. The show has an amazing Holographic computer generated image of a young Richard Burton narrating the story. Its not long before you actually start believing it is him. It's strange, that the hologram recieved a larger applause than any of the cast (including Jeff Wayne himself).

The following day, Sunday, i took the short tram ride to St Kilda. This is where i stopped last time i was in Melbourne. Thankfully it hasn't lost its charm, although it is more busy. The main street is still lined with cafe bars which were all packed. The previously closed Luna Amusment Park, which is a 60's style looking amusment park was now open and rammed. Also being Sunday (best day to go to St Kilda), the local art and craft market were strung along the prominade. Most of the stalls were pretty good and different to the usual tat you'd expect from a sunday market.

Monday was a chill out walking day, taking in a few parks, the massive war memorial, a view from the tallest building in Melbourne and a couple of exhibitions.

On tuesday I travelled on a tour down the Great Ocean Road. this is a long day trip,(about 15 hrs) but some of the best coast line you would see in all in the world, the hightlights being the Appostles and London bridge. Whislt travelling down the road if you have a keen eye you can see Koalas in their natural habitat.

Wednesday was another packing day, and another flight this time to Perth, where i am meeting up with friends Chris and Anna for a couple of weeks.

Melbourne has changed a bit, from when i visited last time. But it hasn't lost its cosmopolitan image. The restaurants (especally the ones within the Crown casino) are exceptional and the side streets lined with cafe bars are a great place to hang out. I can't say a bad thing about the place. (OK the weathers not as hot as Brisbane or Cairns).

I decided to break up the journey from Sydney to Melbourne with a stopover in Wagga Wagga. Why? "I remember when i was a lad" (about 5 or so) looking at a map of the world and seeing Wagga Wagga, alongside Sydney, melbourne and the other major cities. I remember wondering what that place would be like. Well now i have been there.(still, i'm still not sure why it was on the map).

Wagga means crows, so Wagga Wagga means lots of crows (although i dont remember seeing any). The town is low key, it reminds me of Hamilton in New Zealand, with a main street for shopping, a picturesque rail station, a small shopping centre and a river with a decent park alongside. Like the larger cities, Wagga has numerous war memorials with an eternal flame burning in the park. The most impressive memorial being a scupture showing the route of the Sandakan - Ranau Death March in the second world war.

It's commendable how the Aussies embrace their history and achievements. If i looked around Grimsby, where would i find any sence of history and respect of the past? A cenotaph at Nuns Corner, tooked out of the way, is that it? Sad.

Yes, even Wagga Wagga has pride in their towns history and their achievements .They've immortilised them with bronze plates embedded in the pavements. I only been a day here but supprisingly learnt alot (plus they have a beach!)

I've been to Sydney before, but it didn't stop be looking forward to going there again. Darling Harbour is one of those places that you can never get bored of. There's always something going on.

This time around i moved further affield. taking in the Rock ( the oldest part of Sydney), a few of the Parks and their famous Fish market? This comprises of a large unloading area with about a half a dozen fish stalls, a bakery and a deli. Thousands flock here, especially the chinese who demand that the fish they buy is live fresh. A couple of the fish stalls have a cafe attached so customers can have there produced cooked on the spot, it is always packed. It just shows, it doesn't take much to be become a tourist trap (take note NELC)

I took a wine tour around the Hunter Valley. (thats about as much as i can tell you). I also remember the tour guide saying not to drink all the wine, but to spit the wine out. I remember thinking sod that. Funny, that's all i remember.
I learn't whilst tasting wine, i could disitintivly taste difference between still wine, sparkling wine and vinegar. My pallet is not refinded, i just know not to pour it on fish!

The last day in Sydney i climbed the Harbour bridge. I figured that if it's good enough for Kylie. Yes, i have stood where Kylie has stood ( it doesn't get better than that). The climb is not scrary at all, unless you don't like heights, then it may be. You are strapped to an harness, which is hooked on to a continous wire sytem along the whole of the journey. so it's totally safe and a spectacular view especially at dusk when the lights start coming on (you have to pay extra for a dusk climb, but it's worth it).

Byron Bay reminds me of how a spanish resorts used to be in the 70's, A chilled, relaxing place. Livley at night but not as in youre face like Surfers. Ok no topless women like Spain but you can't have everything

Byron is famous for the large amount of hippies that moved in years ago before it became trendy. The influence can be seen in the shops around with models of VWs and loads of flower power souveners. I didnt see full Hippies only a few wannabees (chilling out this week, back to the office next week)

Byron is also a great place for Surfing, and particular para-surfing?,( a cross between pargliding and surfing), and tricycle bikes being pulled the wind via a sail attached, great fun.

There's a great cliffside walk around the bay to the lighthouse, (which can be seen from the beach) and back to the town. Whilst at the cliff top, you can watch the whales heading south from the view that is the most easterly part of Austrailia,

Byron is another great place to chill out away from the stress of city life. Relax, have a coffee, read a book and watch the day go....zzzzz

Surfers Paridise has a bit of and identity crisis. By day, it looks like a Marbella, loads of luxury yachts, moored up in numerous quays running parallel with a long fantastic beach. By night, it turns in to Benidorm. Livley but with traits that follow a steriotypical resort. Its worth visiting for a night, but move on after that, there are much better places to go to down the gold coast.

Surfers is a victim of its own success and had been somewhat ruined by the High rise apartments and hotels. They are so tall, the shaddow from them eclipses the beach by three in the afternoon, which is a shame because it is a great beach.

I wasn't sure what to expect for Brisbane and talking to some locals on the way to the city i wasn't expecting too much. Every seem to have a downer on the place and call it dull.

But as Dirty Harry says "Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone has one." So, Firstly the bad points. Actually i'm struggling to think of anything too bad. Its not a great place for shopping, if you compare to Melbourne or Sydney. The bars and restaurants are very good, especially sea food. The transport is getting in to a bit of a mess, but at least they had the nonce to relocate the bus routes underground. If anything you could say it lacks sparkle, but on the other hand the gold coast is only a couple of hours away, the reef isn't too far and the weathers pretty good all year round.

On the plus side, the the South Bank Riverside, is a revalation. It's a great place to relax and spend the day or two. They are renovating the swimming pool complex at the moment, which is massive (and free) and will be amazing when completed. The swimming pool is connected to the paddling pool which links in to the waterway meandering around the complex. The waterways are shared by the local Ibis, which are seen to be pests by the locals but look facinating to any visitors. Surrounding the pool is a multitude of cafes, restaurants, an outside arena (where there is always a local band playing at lunchtime, great idea) and numerous childens play areas (including a giant wall for chalk art). All of this is linked by a walkway with floral covered steel steel structures, all different and contorting their way through the complex like a giant caterpillar, the effect is creatively stunning.

Also whilst in Brisbane, i took the chance to visit Austraila Zoo, (Steve Irwins Place), which is only and hour or so away from the city. I havn't been to a zoo since probably when Cleethorpes zoo was around. (so not a good yardstick to measure by). However, you couldn't help leaving being impressed with the size, dedication, and care that the staff at the zoo put in to help and conserve the wildlife. Nowadays, attractions are treated totally as money making schemes.
In this place the money goes back in to the welfair of animals, and it shows. They now have the adjoining land to expand the zoo (not that it isn't big already). So in a few years time it will be even better.

I never really liked Steve Irwin when he was alive (always thought he was mad and a bit of a prat). Having been to the Zoo my opinions have changed. I still think he was mad, but looking what he had achieved and tried to do. You can't help but admire his commiment and dedcation.

Anyway the rugby world cup started this week, so i've been avoiding as many rugby conversations as possible. The word cat and hells chance does come to mind. Having seen the All Blacks and the Aussies earlier in the tri nations, I cant help see anything but us getting completely stuffed, thats of coarse assuming we get out of the group stage. But at least we have beaten the Yanks.

All in all, i liked Brisbane, the pubs, restaurants are great and livley and the people are friendly, even though most of them like country music, but everyone has their flaws!!

Another 13 hour bus trip, this one overnight. A little ferry journey over from Hevey Bay and i landed on Fraser island about 9am. For 2 fantastic ECO friendly nights.

Fraser Island is the largest sand based island in the world, stretching well over a 100 miles long the coast. I was expecting an extra large sand pit. But the island is almost covered with rainforest and Flora, untouched for millions of years. The place is incredible and is one of the places you are likely to see a dingo in the wild as there are quite a number on the island ( i've no idea how they got there).

There is 2 choices of accomodation on the island. Either go camping (which means you have to stay in Hevey Bay for a day for induction) or go to the Kingfisher Resort, which can be expensive. Fortunatly i got a good deal on the net. (this also turned out to be a good idea. 2 girls i met that went camping, got soaked and the rest of the party didnt tidy up after themselves so thay got invaded by starving dingos and then got fined for not obeying the rules.

My hotel room a was an ajoined cabin on stilts out in the forest which is a 4 minute walk from the main hotel through very dimmly lit forest. At night time it's a bloody long 4 minutes, especially after being told that there are numerous poisonous snakes and spiders on the island. The 5 five mile bush walk i took was equally intimidating. (not quite Blair Which, more Deliverance - cue the banjos)

The resort is Amazing and has great ECO tours including a 4 wheel drive tour around the island and a loads of hikes through the forest. The resort also had bush tucker tasting and cooking which is great fun. Fortunatly no grubs to eat on this occasion

I wish i could have stayed for a couple of more days and gone further north on the island. But its best to leave wanting more, so i've been told

A short thirteen hour bus ride south from Cairns and I arrived at Airlie Beach.

The best i can describe Ailie Beach is like a ski resort but for sailing, not like Benidorm or Magaluf, so nighttime is a kinda apres-sail

The two main pubs at night are an irish bar and the local backpackers hangout. Both were livley. In particular the Backpackers where i was reintroduced to Cider. The seafront is a great place to hang out with a large man-made lagoon (free), BBQs (Free) and a good walk around to the local cove.

I spent 2 days out on the ocean. The first day was on an impressive Cat sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. The highlight being set ashore on Whitehaven Beech. The sand is almost entirely silicon,which gives an almost white look to the beech and when walked on, actually squeaks under your feet. The down side was once we had been set ashore, a storm moved in and drenched the lot of us (theres no undercover), on the plus side it was hot, so we all dried out pretty quick.

The second day was out to another Barrier Reef base, similar to the one stationed off Cairns. The water was a bit more choppy out there, which meant the visabilty wasn't as clear as last time but still just as much fun. It's amazing how many people suffer from sea sickness. About 15 people throwing up in sync is a sight to see- but not to video.

I spent 5 days here, which is about the right time to spend. Theres plenty to do and loads of islands to explore. There,s also lots of boats to choose from for 2 and 3 night sailing trips. I decided against the later due to the very dodgy weather reports. Probably a good idea, a spoke to one girl, who looked totaly drained after her sailing trip ( the impression i got was not much food stayed down)

Nothing could have prepared me for the experience i had today. I jumped on one of the many tour boats that are available from Cairns and set off passing Green Island, heading for the Great Barrier Reef about 20 miles out from the coast. The weather was due to change over the next few days to stormy , so i was fortunate to get this day in for a chance to do a bit of snorkling.

The tour boat i went on, was recommended by most people in Cairns and it had the advantage of a station permanently based at the reef. The boat took a couple of hours to get there, but there was plenty to see on the way including whales travelleing back to Antartica.

Once at the reef station, there was a lot of activities to do including a glass botom boat, semi sub, even the new type of air filled helmets for people who can't swim, (they just stand on a gantry that lowers down).

I decided to give scuba diving a go, i'd kicked my self not doing it when i visted the Cayman Island last year. Since the tour was to try lots of new things and diving was on the list, it seemed the best place to try it. After a brief instruction and breathing checks 5 minutes later we were in the water with the instructor and diving amost the reef.

The 45 minutes whilst under is probably the most memorable experience i've had so far on the tour, and that's saying a lot. Swimming amost clams 5 feet wide, diving and investigating sea cummbers and starfish and lots of other marine life around was. . .

There are no words i can think of that explain how amazing it was. Just no words.... not even Awesome.

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The highlight though was meeting the local Maori Wasse fish "I called him Dave, he looks like a Dave" who is about 4 to 5 feet long and is named afer the markings tattooed in his face.

There was hundreds types of different fish swiming around and hiding amongst the reef. these included various Clownfish (nemos), Angelfish and countless types of coral all in vivid colours, shapes and sizes (I was very lucky with the sun being out all day)

After the diving, i went back to snorkling around the reef, for about another hour. But the time raced by. Before i had chance to take many photos, the boat was signalling me in to return.

The reef streches for hundreds of miles, passing the whitsunday islands, so with a bit of luck i'll get another chance to visit the reef further down the east coast. Once is nowhere near enough, neither is twice.

Amazingly iv'e now past the halfway point. In someways it's gone quick, even though New York Seems a lifetime away.

Cairns is a great resort, hot all year around and the ideal place to either go to the barrier reef or up to Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas and the Rainforest tours. Its also idel to go in the winter here, since most of the poisonous spiders and snakes dont come out until the Summer.

Supprisingly there isn't much of a beach, but to make up for this, they have created a large outdoor pool called the Lagoon. Alongside this and continuing along the seafront is a part park part activitives area, including a skateboard/bmx park, 2 kids play areas, a multitude of monuments / sculptures and a boardwalk continuing in to the distance. it's like Cleethorpes could be, if someone actually sat down and planned something for a change (in fact Cleethorpes has a much better beach, so we have an advantage over Cairns who would have thought that!)

One thing i have noticed, is that alot of activities are free.....e.g. the lagoon the skateboard parks. There are even barbecue areas where people can come along, turn on the electric hot plate and cook their meals. AND YES ITS FREE! Plus, people clean them before they leave. Everyone here has a sense of pride in the town. Even though most people are not from here. I wonder what state a BBQ would be in say in Peolples or Grant Thorold Park. It would be a great idea, but probably vandalised or stolen before the morter has set. If nothing else it would give the druggies something to cook up some munches!!

Cairnes is the best place to access the Barrier Reef, however if you were thinking of going to the reef, best make it in the next few year. Climate change is expected to wipe out some of the reefs coral in the next ten years or so, nows the time to see it.

Its also worth taking a day trip to Cape Tribulation to take in a few walks in the rainforest, and see the crocs in their natural habitat or if youre lucky (or unlucky) a cassowary. They may be flightless birds, but they are big, have massive claws and love to chase down their pray. plus their indangered, so you cant hurt them!!

Cairnes is a good place to come for about a week. Just to chill out and take in some diving.

Tried Morton Bay Bugs whilst here. Yum. Yum.