Noosa

Noosa was a real luxury, we were invited to stay with a family friend. I must say it was such a treat after sleeping on hard bed rolls, lumpy mattresses and in noisy hostels. The house was gorgeous and our every whim answered. Thanks Jocelyn!

Unfortunately we were unable to experience the wonder of Noosa's beaches as the heavens opened and it poured for the duration of our trip. Bugger! Still, it was lovely just to spend time 'at home' enjoying all of the creature comforts.

nicked this off of the internet...too grey and cloudy for any decent shots.

Canoeing in the rain!

After leaving Rainbow Beach, we hit the road and headed for Noosa. It was here that we decided to try our hand at canoeing rather than kayaking, we've got to work off our excesses some how! We booked ourselves on a camping/canoeing trip and headed for the Noosa Everglades and the river of mirrors, within the The Great Sandy National Park.

We headed off at about 10 and made it to our campsite after a couple of hours of paddling. The river was beautiful with some nice wildlife to spot on the way.

Token Wildlife

Our view along the way

Although much of the river was the same, the river of mirrors was stunning, the weather wasn't great but the water was like glass. We had a lovely, peaceful time paddling through its waters. Having reached our campsite, we quickly set up camp and settled into our goon of wine with the other campers.

Campsite visitor

Happy Campers

It was then that the rain started! It rained solidly from around 4, all through the night and well into morning. Knowing that we had to paddle for at least an hour to reach our pick up point we were keeping our fingers crossed that the rain would die off and Queensland would be as warm as we had been promised. It didn't. What a wet, wet and cold ride home. Good fun, great experience...not sure I would do it again!

Fun in Rainbow

After a disappointing time in Hervey Bay (we missed the whales by two days!), we rented another car and headed down the coast to a small seaside spot called Rainbow Bay. There wasn't a huge amount to do here but we soon found something to float our boat. Kayaking with dolphins. Bring it on! We headed out with a few others at 7 in the morning, hoping for the best.

Our Ride

Views of Rainbow Beach

We were told not to expect to see anything as the dolphins were wild, sometimes you would see loads and on other days you would see none at all.

Ed on spotting duty!

After we had been paddling for about half an hour some dolphins were spotted a little way away. Before we knew it, they had reached our kayaks. There were about 20 dolphins surrounding our little kayak. They were swimming next to it, underneath it, round the front and round the back. It was an incredible experience! As you can see we were both delighted.

What a feeling!

Croc Spotting

Although only 30 mins by bus from Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday's the river we went croc spotting on seemed a world away. Mangroves and muddy water, instead of palm trees and sandy beaches. Plus of course crocs instead of dolphins!

Our guide was a Steve Irwin wannabee, with plenty of enthusiasm and even more knowledge. After about 15mins of cruising down the river, we spotted dorothy:






Quite a hefty maid about 8 feet long. Sadly this was the only one that we saw on the banks. There was one more showing its eyes and nose in the water on the rivers edge, but that was all you could see. There are over 200 of these beasts in the river, but as they are wild, they are not particluarly keen on boats or humans.

After some good tukka for lunch we headed into the bush, and with our trusty guide it wasn't long before we spotted a few snakes.

This one was sliding up the back of the tractor as we went along

Now it is almost time for us to depart Airlie Beach for Hervey Bay. We are going on an overnight bus - can't wait!

Sailing with Siska

A day later we arrived in Airlie beach, the home of a stack of sailing boats waiting to take backpackers to paradise. Ed and I booked ourselves on to Siska, a Maxi yacht of about 80ft and began the sail to the Whitsunday islands.

The weather was above 30 degrees, a welcome change after Melbourne's cold and wet winter.

Ed helping out.

As day turned into night we settled into our beers and goon bag of wine (box of wine), a good job, as the night brought choppy waters and the unwelcome sensation of rolling from one side of the boat to the other. Thankfully the weather was beautiful once again the following morning and we were able to visit Whitehaven beach. Gorgeous as you can see.

After two days and one night on the boat we were more than ready to arrive on dry land. Bloody hell Queensland is hot! Guess we're not getting much sympathy from you guys.

Diving at the S.S. Yongala

After a short (ish) flight we found ourselves in Townsville, Queensland. An hour or so in a rather smart rented car we were at Alma beach, the home of Yongala dives. A night in the dorm, a fairly late start and we were off...

Half an hour on this speed boat and we were at the renowned diving spot of the S.S. Yongala, a wreck dive that is considered to be within the top ten dive sites in the world. The Yongala sank in about 1911, it was discovered in the 50s and is now owned by the local museum. It is also the grave site of over 50 people. Pretty incredible that we were allowed to visit with 10 others.

We went on two dives and each time saw an incredible amount of wildlife. The difference here to other dives we had been was the fact that most of fish were massive! It was not unusual to have a fish the size of you float on past. AWESOME!

During the first dive we checked out the fish and admired the false reef that had formed on the ship.

Ed getting up close and personal!

The second dive consisted of looking a bit more of the wreck. Truly amazing to figure out the portholes, decks, lounge rooms, bathrooms...and then to wonder what in the hell happened to the people...the life rafts were never used.

Towards the end of the second dive we met this ray...absolutely huge!!

As you can imagine, we had a ball!

Living the quiet life in Tasmania

Over the last two weeks we have been living the quiet life in Tassie, a stunning state of Australia and one that usually people miss out.

Day 1
We arrived in the morning, picked up our tiny rental car and headed for Port Arthur, a gaol of the late 1700s. We quickly booked ourselves on the night tour and allowed ourselves to be scared silly by visiting one of the most haunted houses in Australia. Ed was an amusing sight...beanie pulled down well over his forehead and eyes glued to the floor, if there were ghosts there, then he was determined not to see them! It was good fun.

Day 2
We checked out Port Arthur by day, not quite as scary and hit the road once more. Visited some Tassie Devils and checked out a few secluded spots. The scenery was gorgeous.


Day 3
Having arrived at Coles Bay the night before, we were ready to visit the renowned Wineglass Bay at Freycinet National Park. After powering it up the hill we reached the look out. Wow. We headed down to the beach collected a couple of shells and took the long walk home.
Day 4
We travelled up the East coast of Tassie to St Helens, passing many many

beautiful white sandy beaches along the way. St Helens showed the most life out of everywhere we had been to so far. The fish and chip shop closed at 6pm!

Stuck for things to do, we went looking for tourist entertainment, and boy we weren't disappointed. Stuck between a cheese factory and some waterfalls was priscilla, the beer drinking pig. What a porker!



Day 5
Wilderness time. We hired some camping gear, in the form of tent, trangia, and firewood and headed out to the bay of fires

a selection of secluded coves and beaches, voted by someone, sometime as being the second best beach in the world. It was special, but I've had better!

A lovely day spent fishing, well dropping a line in the crystal clear water, and drinking beer. Mange tout.

Day 6
Drove to Launceston (pronounced there as Louwanseston - convicts!). Lots of very young mothers with prams, reminded us of Southmead in Brissle. Enough said.

Day 7
Drove to Cradle Mountain, more walking, but also surprisingly snow !



Then on to Strahan (pronounced Strawn). Had the best fish and chips ever here - blue eyed trevella.

Day 8 & 9
Spent a couple more days in Stahan. (mainly due to our cabin having a tv so guaranteed to watch the rugby final.) Over the next few days we enjoyed relaxing and taking a sail on a yacht called storm breaker, made all the better by a Crayfish lunch.


Day 10
On this day we found ourselves in Dover, a seaside spot not far from some thermal springs. The accomodation took a dive for the worse here!



Day 11
Took a drive to the thermal springs which turned out to be a glorified outdoor pool. Thankfully the clouds parted and we were blessed with a bit of sunshine for our dip. Too be honest, it was a little like an English summer with Dad's pool cranked up to 30.


The afternoon brought on a visit to the Tahune forest and the tree top walk.

Very windy!
Day 12
A quick visit to Mount Wellington in the morning and then on to Hobart our final stop.


Day 13
Back to Melbourne for final farewells.

Tassie was great, a little quiet for our tastes but a truly beautiful place to visit. Now we're looking forward to the excitement of the East Coast. We're flying to Townsville tonight. X

Just to keep you in the picture...

We have now left Melbourne after a lovely eight months. We thoroughly enjoyed living in this amazing city and have excellent memories to take with us...

* Bimbos and their $4 pizzas and other cheap eats on Bruswick Street * AFL at the 'G' * Heaps of animals to play with * Sparkling wine that's cheaper than the 'house' * Victoria Markets
* Culture - theatre, concerts, festivals, comedy... * Carlton Draught * The Melb'orphans' - they know who they are! and of course the BIG engagement! We are sad to leave, but are looking forward to spending time together, appreciating lie ins once again, seeing new places and generally having a good time. We will keep you up to date of course! Looking forward to hearing from you on the road. xxx

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

You can't come to Melbourne and not do this (well Ed obviously can, he said he would rather eat his own eyes than come and see Ramsey Street)...thought I would just share a couple of moments with you. Neighbours has never been as big over here as it was/is at home, it was therefore that I headed off in a minibus loaded with Poms to visit the famous street. Meeting Dr Karl and watching a re run of Scott and Charlene's wedding were the highlights here!

The Tourist shot!

A little cuddle with Karl Kennedy


The Street.

Finishing up...

Jobs are reaching or have reached an end...couldn't do the tele sales thing anymore though, finished up a couple of weeks early on that one! May my name forever try reaching the top of that ladder!

The Yarra Valley

For my birthday a group of us headed out to the Yarra Valley, the wine making region of Victoria. We went on a tour bus from the centre of Melbourne and headed out into the valley. We visited three different winerys, one of which was the Australian equivalent of Moet et Chandon. Lush!

As you can imagine the day progressed swimmingly. After arriving back in Melbourne we headed for the park to guzzle more champers and then went on to a Thai restaurant on Brunswick Street. This was topped off with a couple of water pipes on Lygon and finally bed. What a fabulous birthday. To make it even more perfect the sun was shining and the views of the valley incredible. The only down side was turning 29!