Considerable amount of time has passed, but no worries, I'm just at the moment drinking blueberry juice and blueberry is supposed to be great for your memory. As an extra bonus, it will help with my current hangover. But that's another topic.
Australian East Coast journey was from 26 July til 15 August. So many places, people, situations, experiences to think back at, but these were the highlights:
# Myall Lakes National park. We got there on our very first day in absolutely unplanned manner. I had asked Lisa, our Tom Tom, to get us to Port Stephens and we followed her advice until realised we were 80km passed the port. Anyhow then we got to go to "Dark Point" in the national park close by. It has been important for Worimi people for at least 4000 years and for sand surfers and 4x4 drivers for couple of decades. The vast and massive sand dunes there were truly impressive.
# Byron Bay. This little coastal town was a manifestation of my imagination of a typical Australian surf town. It's cosy, it's cool, people wear surfer clothes 24/7 (even when it's a chilly winter evening and I wouldn't have minded to have my wintercoat...but that's not cool. Think surf. Think warm.) And Byron Bay is located, yes, in a bay and as far as your eyesight goes, it's light yellow sand beach. And then you walk to the tip of the bay and you see the sand continues endlessly. Ocean is so blue you might turn into a poet and if not before, then at least when you see the whales passing by on their way to warmer tropical waters of the Pacific to breed.
# Hand-gliding. This also happened in Byron Bay. Berna and I stumbled upon some guys preparing for their jump of the cliff. I had never seen that from up close, so I asked if we could wait and watch. Thing with watching stuff like this is, that after a while you don't want to remain solely an onlooker.
First guy went on his way and it was so smooth - no falling, he caught the wind immediately and rose higher and higher circling around. Next one was some young fella, who's mother was standing there gradually getting paler and paler. Was the first time for her to see her son jump. Was the 4th time for him to jump. He went for it, his mom shivering. He really plunged and disappeared for 2 seconds. Wow, we were all holding our breath. Then he reemerged and her mum regained ability to talk. It was pretty funny actually.
So I wanted to try as well. What the hell, opportunity is here, gotta grab it. Third guy there conveniently was a hand gliding instructor and happy to make some business. 3 minute training about the take off and we were ready. When I asked how about the landing, he said its basically the same, just run, and anyway, I will explain you in the air. Fair enough. I was ready in this special suit, kind of like sleeping bag, but you can put your feet out. He counted to three, run to the jump-off point and we flew! It was so smooth!! I had been afraid, but it was not scary at all. It was so cool. Soon enough he taught me the basics of steering the glide and how to speed up and slow down. Yeah, my first pilot experience :) My smile was until the ears anyway, but then it got even better. First off, he spotted some whales on the bay to the left side, so we left the usual hillside, glided over to the other side to watch the wales jumping in distance.
Back to the first side of the hill, we saw a fish. Little fishy fish - about two meter long shark! Gosh and it was so close to the shore and more importantly, even closer to two surfers!!! I was like "Can't you do something??? Isn't there a code or anything??? I mean, the shark is just next to the innocently floating surfers!!!" He said there is really nothing he can do, the voice does not carry that far down. Alrighty then... I just looked from safe distance how the shark was zig-zagging about and wished that its stomach was full and that the surfers don't have any bleeding wounds.
After safe landing I had to tell Berna in one breath all of the above. She went to jump as well and on her return, she reported that there was no shark, but one surfer only.
# Driving a four-wheel drive on Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and World Heritage listed and hyper popular among backpackers. The easiest way to go and see it, is to take one of the tag-along tours. It means there is one experienced guide driving the leader jeep and towing the carriage with all the food and even bigger quantities of alcohol and then max 4 jeeps packed with and driven by backpackers (8 fit in one). Everyone paid 10 bucks for insurance, so there are no worries about the financial side for rookies to have a first go on those machines. And so I gave it a go as well. Wow, what a feeling driving this beast calmly on the ocean shore. Mind you, the sand beach is 123 kilometers long :)
After some easy cruise, the leader car stopped and our guide came over to explain that now it's gonna get more interesting. We will make a turn inland, it's gonna be uphill at first, so first gear only and make sure its at least 3000RPM, so you wouldn't get stuck. Let's go for it! That was really fun. Road seemed so narrow though, but I managed :) Then came second, way bigger hill. One car was already stuck and people trying to dig it out... I asked the whole team to support me, pressed the gas pedal to speed up and go. Ah, not enough speed, at some point there was no power to get further. My team suggested me to reverse back and try again. Ok then. Reversed. Ordered everyone to hold on and really gave it a good acceleration. Wow, that was something. Steep hill, curvy road and deep soft sand. But I made it on the second try. Was so happy and excited. Cool to have a chance to give it a real try with such powerful cars! Driving Frangelico after that was like a piece of cake.
Fraser Island adventure was more than just a driving though. We visited many beautiful places, the crowd was cool and evenings where spent by a bonfire. First night me and Berna sneaked to our tent without saying good night, because the rest were only starting to party. Second night though, we were determined to make it past midnight lol and switched over to our 4L goon (box wine). By no doubt we exceeded the goal of midnight. At some point, having freshly graduated from the introduction to massage course, I started to give head massage to a girl in front of me (I did ask of course beforehand lol) and quickly people were queuing up. It was a good for socializing (that's how people remembered me the next day) and deserved break from that "glorious" wine. The night continued in a bamboo discotheque and we danced until we couldn't no more. It was a memorable 200 meters with Berna to our tent.
Next day we went to one of the one hundred lakes on the island. You had to walk about 1km in the, uhm, sand and it seemed an endless journey. But when we made it to the lake and into the lake, oh, how good it felt. The best you could wish for on a day after a box of goon. Revitalised, it was soon time to leave that beach and the whole island.
While talking about Fraser, I also need to mention the dingoes. It is not recommended to walk alone and you should always carry a stick with you. On one morning walk with Berna, one dingo did not let us in peace, it followed us exactly at the distance of our stick. One of the locals saw us struggling and came to explain that in the direction we are going there is the mother dingo with it's cubs. It made sense not to pursue further. Sure enough, the dingo just watched us leave and didn't bother no more.
Other backpackers reported dingos coming to their tents and licking their feet and stuff...Our guide said it was probably the goon that had dropped on your toes while drinking and that smelled good for the dingos (we were not allowed to take any food to the tent for that reason).
# Sailing around Whitsundays. This was the next bigger stop after Fraser Island. That meant we had to make it 1000km north in a course of two days. First night we stayed close to 1770. James Cook landed there on that year, hence the name. And this place is really famous and so many tourists travel trough, but only 65 people live there. If only Estonia would had been discovered in some spectacular way...
Next day it was really time to put your butt through an endurance test. I drove the first 5 and Berna the other 5 hours. We maybe made 4 stops altogether to refuel the car, go to the restroom, eat mandarins and ice-cream and then press on. And we made it.
Whitsundays sailing tours are also massively popular. You can choose between different sailing boats or catamarans and different type of activities. Some focus on beach time, some are "action" boats, where you can learn some stuff to be done while sailing, some are for a party crowd and then some for couples with need for a private room. Our mutual and easily reached decision was to go for the action boat "British Defender". She is a beautiful yacht that raced around the world in 1990.
The crew on the boat was truly amazing. All Kiwis. The skipper had such a great humour, I took an instant liking to all of them and it set things off for a good start. It only got better when one hour into the sailing I could take over the boat and steer it myself for about 45 minutes. Yay. I mean, it was really not that tricky, as the sea was calm, but still, you know, he left me steering and went to do his own stuff for a while :D
Next day was my first experience in diving! The water was so cold! Luckily, you are dismissive of that during the actual dive, because there is so much going on. Fishes. Big, small, 2D (flat ones), 3D (rounder ones), corals dead and alive and, in my case, constant flow of water into my mask.
Best part of the dive was noticing a huge Napoleon fish approaching from behind and then just overtaking me. Look here for a random example from internet, but it shows a similar experience: http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/images/20030314_daily_b.jpg
Napoleon is not the most beautiful fish, kind of odd looking, seemingly slow creature. Could easily fit as wise, but weird character in a Disney cartoon. Napoleons are something like Ents in Lord of the Rings I reckon.
After diving it was time for some real sailing as the wind was pretty strong. Dressed up with warm clothes, we were herded on one side of the boat. Soon enough it was clear why - the deck turned onto a 60 degrees angle at least ie railings of the other side of the boat were often completely in water and you sit there really high up looking down directly into the water. I was surprised that no-one got afraid. Theoretically you could quite easily fall the 8m down... Said that, it was not a struggle to keep a balance, so you could pretty much just relax, watch the ocean below and around and liste to the excellent playlist from our skipper.
Next day was even more windy and we were all wearing rain jackets to dodge splashes of water bound to come our way. Loved it.
# Final days of chilling. From Airlie Beach to Cairns, its a mere 620km. Basically just down the road. And we had 4 days before my departure date. Heaps of time. So now we could decide after breakfast not to leave immediately and just chill on the beach for hours. Or stop somewhere earlier etc We were on couple of camping grounds just on the beach. It's great to open the door of Frangelico in the morning and just listen to the waves for a little while. Even made hour our campfire one evening. That was on a camping ground, where there were no other little campervans like ours. There were proper campers and camper-buses. Seriously, one camper-bus was so high tech it had a little courtyard and a tv screen on the outside of the bus! They also seemed to stay rather long time there. In the morning one guy mowed the lawn in the courtyard of his camper lol. Oh and then there was a roof top tent, the concept of which was unknown for me until that time (http://www.jeepz.com/forum/attachments/general-chat/7618d1299173228-roof-top-tents-_thumb_jeepka3.jpg)
Final days of chilling had a different taste to it also because after much exhausting battles in my mind, I had reached a decision not to go home after Bali, but to quit my job and continue travelling some more and really force myself to make a new start.
Australian East Coast journey was from 26 July til 15 August. So many places, people, situations, experiences to think back at, but these were the highlights:
# Myall Lakes National park. We got there on our very first day in absolutely unplanned manner. I had asked Lisa, our Tom Tom, to get us to Port Stephens and we followed her advice until realised we were 80km passed the port. Anyhow then we got to go to "Dark Point" in the national park close by. It has been important for Worimi people for at least 4000 years and for sand surfers and 4x4 drivers for couple of decades. The vast and massive sand dunes there were truly impressive.
# Byron Bay. This little coastal town was a manifestation of my imagination of a typical Australian surf town. It's cosy, it's cool, people wear surfer clothes 24/7 (even when it's a chilly winter evening and I wouldn't have minded to have my wintercoat...but that's not cool. Think surf. Think warm.) And Byron Bay is located, yes, in a bay and as far as your eyesight goes, it's light yellow sand beach. And then you walk to the tip of the bay and you see the sand continues endlessly. Ocean is so blue you might turn into a poet and if not before, then at least when you see the whales passing by on their way to warmer tropical waters of the Pacific to breed.
# Hand-gliding. This also happened in Byron Bay. Berna and I stumbled upon some guys preparing for their jump of the cliff. I had never seen that from up close, so I asked if we could wait and watch. Thing with watching stuff like this is, that after a while you don't want to remain solely an onlooker.
First guy went on his way and it was so smooth - no falling, he caught the wind immediately and rose higher and higher circling around. Next one was some young fella, who's mother was standing there gradually getting paler and paler. Was the first time for her to see her son jump. Was the 4th time for him to jump. He went for it, his mom shivering. He really plunged and disappeared for 2 seconds. Wow, we were all holding our breath. Then he reemerged and her mum regained ability to talk. It was pretty funny actually.
So I wanted to try as well. What the hell, opportunity is here, gotta grab it. Third guy there conveniently was a hand gliding instructor and happy to make some business. 3 minute training about the take off and we were ready. When I asked how about the landing, he said its basically the same, just run, and anyway, I will explain you in the air. Fair enough. I was ready in this special suit, kind of like sleeping bag, but you can put your feet out. He counted to three, run to the jump-off point and we flew! It was so smooth!! I had been afraid, but it was not scary at all. It was so cool. Soon enough he taught me the basics of steering the glide and how to speed up and slow down. Yeah, my first pilot experience :) My smile was until the ears anyway, but then it got even better. First off, he spotted some whales on the bay to the left side, so we left the usual hillside, glided over to the other side to watch the wales jumping in distance.
Back to the first side of the hill, we saw a fish. Little fishy fish - about two meter long shark! Gosh and it was so close to the shore and more importantly, even closer to two surfers!!! I was like "Can't you do something??? Isn't there a code or anything??? I mean, the shark is just next to the innocently floating surfers!!!" He said there is really nothing he can do, the voice does not carry that far down. Alrighty then... I just looked from safe distance how the shark was zig-zagging about and wished that its stomach was full and that the surfers don't have any bleeding wounds.
After safe landing I had to tell Berna in one breath all of the above. She went to jump as well and on her return, she reported that there was no shark, but one surfer only.
# Driving a four-wheel drive on Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and World Heritage listed and hyper popular among backpackers. The easiest way to go and see it, is to take one of the tag-along tours. It means there is one experienced guide driving the leader jeep and towing the carriage with all the food and even bigger quantities of alcohol and then max 4 jeeps packed with and driven by backpackers (8 fit in one). Everyone paid 10 bucks for insurance, so there are no worries about the financial side for rookies to have a first go on those machines. And so I gave it a go as well. Wow, what a feeling driving this beast calmly on the ocean shore. Mind you, the sand beach is 123 kilometers long :)
After some easy cruise, the leader car stopped and our guide came over to explain that now it's gonna get more interesting. We will make a turn inland, it's gonna be uphill at first, so first gear only and make sure its at least 3000RPM, so you wouldn't get stuck. Let's go for it! That was really fun. Road seemed so narrow though, but I managed :) Then came second, way bigger hill. One car was already stuck and people trying to dig it out... I asked the whole team to support me, pressed the gas pedal to speed up and go. Ah, not enough speed, at some point there was no power to get further. My team suggested me to reverse back and try again. Ok then. Reversed. Ordered everyone to hold on and really gave it a good acceleration. Wow, that was something. Steep hill, curvy road and deep soft sand. But I made it on the second try. Was so happy and excited. Cool to have a chance to give it a real try with such powerful cars! Driving Frangelico after that was like a piece of cake.
Fraser Island adventure was more than just a driving though. We visited many beautiful places, the crowd was cool and evenings where spent by a bonfire. First night me and Berna sneaked to our tent without saying good night, because the rest were only starting to party. Second night though, we were determined to make it past midnight lol and switched over to our 4L goon (box wine). By no doubt we exceeded the goal of midnight. At some point, having freshly graduated from the introduction to massage course, I started to give head massage to a girl in front of me (I did ask of course beforehand lol) and quickly people were queuing up. It was a good for socializing (that's how people remembered me the next day) and deserved break from that "glorious" wine. The night continued in a bamboo discotheque and we danced until we couldn't no more. It was a memorable 200 meters with Berna to our tent.
Next day we went to one of the one hundred lakes on the island. You had to walk about 1km in the, uhm, sand and it seemed an endless journey. But when we made it to the lake and into the lake, oh, how good it felt. The best you could wish for on a day after a box of goon. Revitalised, it was soon time to leave that beach and the whole island.
While talking about Fraser, I also need to mention the dingoes. It is not recommended to walk alone and you should always carry a stick with you. On one morning walk with Berna, one dingo did not let us in peace, it followed us exactly at the distance of our stick. One of the locals saw us struggling and came to explain that in the direction we are going there is the mother dingo with it's cubs. It made sense not to pursue further. Sure enough, the dingo just watched us leave and didn't bother no more.
Other backpackers reported dingos coming to their tents and licking their feet and stuff...Our guide said it was probably the goon that had dropped on your toes while drinking and that smelled good for the dingos (we were not allowed to take any food to the tent for that reason).
# Sailing around Whitsundays. This was the next bigger stop after Fraser Island. That meant we had to make it 1000km north in a course of two days. First night we stayed close to 1770. James Cook landed there on that year, hence the name. And this place is really famous and so many tourists travel trough, but only 65 people live there. If only Estonia would had been discovered in some spectacular way...
Next day it was really time to put your butt through an endurance test. I drove the first 5 and Berna the other 5 hours. We maybe made 4 stops altogether to refuel the car, go to the restroom, eat mandarins and ice-cream and then press on. And we made it.
Whitsundays sailing tours are also massively popular. You can choose between different sailing boats or catamarans and different type of activities. Some focus on beach time, some are "action" boats, where you can learn some stuff to be done while sailing, some are for a party crowd and then some for couples with need for a private room. Our mutual and easily reached decision was to go for the action boat "British Defender". She is a beautiful yacht that raced around the world in 1990.
The crew on the boat was truly amazing. All Kiwis. The skipper had such a great humour, I took an instant liking to all of them and it set things off for a good start. It only got better when one hour into the sailing I could take over the boat and steer it myself for about 45 minutes. Yay. I mean, it was really not that tricky, as the sea was calm, but still, you know, he left me steering and went to do his own stuff for a while :D
Next day was my first experience in diving! The water was so cold! Luckily, you are dismissive of that during the actual dive, because there is so much going on. Fishes. Big, small, 2D (flat ones), 3D (rounder ones), corals dead and alive and, in my case, constant flow of water into my mask.
Best part of the dive was noticing a huge Napoleon fish approaching from behind and then just overtaking me. Look here for a random example from internet, but it shows a similar experience: http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/images/20030314_daily_b.jpg
Napoleon is not the most beautiful fish, kind of odd looking, seemingly slow creature. Could easily fit as wise, but weird character in a Disney cartoon. Napoleons are something like Ents in Lord of the Rings I reckon.
After diving it was time for some real sailing as the wind was pretty strong. Dressed up with warm clothes, we were herded on one side of the boat. Soon enough it was clear why - the deck turned onto a 60 degrees angle at least ie railings of the other side of the boat were often completely in water and you sit there really high up looking down directly into the water. I was surprised that no-one got afraid. Theoretically you could quite easily fall the 8m down... Said that, it was not a struggle to keep a balance, so you could pretty much just relax, watch the ocean below and around and liste to the excellent playlist from our skipper.
Next day was even more windy and we were all wearing rain jackets to dodge splashes of water bound to come our way. Loved it.
# Final days of chilling. From Airlie Beach to Cairns, its a mere 620km. Basically just down the road. And we had 4 days before my departure date. Heaps of time. So now we could decide after breakfast not to leave immediately and just chill on the beach for hours. Or stop somewhere earlier etc We were on couple of camping grounds just on the beach. It's great to open the door of Frangelico in the morning and just listen to the waves for a little while. Even made hour our campfire one evening. That was on a camping ground, where there were no other little campervans like ours. There were proper campers and camper-buses. Seriously, one camper-bus was so high tech it had a little courtyard and a tv screen on the outside of the bus! They also seemed to stay rather long time there. In the morning one guy mowed the lawn in the courtyard of his camper lol. Oh and then there was a roof top tent, the concept of which was unknown for me until that time (http://www.jeepz.com/forum/attachments/general-chat/7618d1299173228-roof-top-tents-_thumb_jeepka3.jpg)
Final days of chilling had a different taste to it also because after much exhausting battles in my mind, I had reached a decision not to go home after Bali, but to quit my job and continue travelling some more and really force myself to make a new start.
No comments:
Post a Comment