The Big Trip Report Number 10 - Sat, 04 Jan 2003

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Happy New Year to all our faithful readers (and shame on you to our unfaithful readers). We know it's been a while since we last wrote, but don't worry we're still alive and still in Australia (just) as we leave for New Zealand tonight.
In the last couple of months we have journeyed from the top (Darwin) to the bottom (Melbourne) of Oz via the east coast. You would think that we had plenty of time to see everything - wrong - we have been moving pretty fast. This country is huge, about the size of the U.S. minus Alaska. We have already filled you in on our adventures in the croc-infested Top End. Our next stop was Cairns (in northern Queensland) where we immediately jumped onto a dive boat for a 3 day trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef. The highlight was a shark feed, where we sat in 10m (30 ft) of water whilst 50-60 sharks and other fish of all sizes feasted frantically on a huge fish kebab! Very exciting!

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We then headed north to the peace of the rain forest at Cape Tribulation. Unfortunately the country has been suffering from drought (it is the world's driest continent), so they have not had a proper wet season here for 3 years. This meant that even though the rainforest was still beautiful, everything was a little dried out.
Before we go any further we should fill you in on 'the backpacker circuit'. It is a rite of passage for young (18-23) Europeans (mostly Brits) to go around the world. This sounds very adventurous, but in reality it means going to the same few places and getting hideously drunk on a nightly basis. The circuit encompasses the U.S., Thailand and some other Asian spots, but the key component is Oz. In particular the east coast between Cairns and Sydney. This means that the backpacker infrastructure is very well established and organized to cope with the hordes of bright young things (and us oldies too - and we did feel old!). The benefit is that doing anything here is easy, but the downside is that you feel you are on a production line as everyone goes to the same places and does the same activities. But we said what the hell and joined in. We went on a 3 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands and a 3 day 4WD safari on Fraser Island. The latter is the world's largest sand island, populated with dingos (wild dogs), brumbies (wild horses) and backpackers (drunken idiots).

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We finally reached Brisbane (or Brissy as it's known), our first real Aussie city, big enough to dilute the vast quantity of backpackers. There were real Australians! Speaking of Aussies, we have been truly amazed by the cheerful and friendly nature of the locals - is the whole nation on Prozac? They are all in a good mood even when doing dreary jobs such as cleaning toilets, driving buses or at the supermarket checkout. It is a refreshing change from home. Australia also seems to have more than it's fair share of quirky eccentrics working in the tourist industry, mainly as tour guides - they certainly liven up the day.
We then strayed briefly from 'the circuit' to Murwillumbah, a cute, sleepy one-horse town, where we chilled, climbed a mountain and fed bananas to the water dragons every morning. We were headed to Sydney for Christmas, and time was running out, but we managed to squeeze in a days wine tasting in the Hunter Valley. We went to 6 different wineries in a mini-bus, all of which were very generous with their products – we were plastered - gotta love wine tasting Aussie style.
Our final stop before Sydney was the Blue Mountains. We were lucky to arrive after huge rainstorms had helped put out the massive forest fires that had been threatening Sydney in early December (as they do every year). Despite the extensive damage in some areas, there is still much beautiful forest around Sydney. We hiked and spent a day canyoning, which included an abseil (rappel) down a 30m waterfall. Great fun!
So we made it to Sydney for Christmas. We had decided to celebrate Aussie style at the beach. Unfortunately the beautiful weather that had been with us since our arrival in Oz decided to split. So we braved the clouds and wind with our picnic and bottle of fizz, but it was more grey English rather than typical Aussie beach day.
The last leg of our trip was the 20-hour-by-bus trip to Melbourne. We decide to break the journey half way in Narooma, where we dived with a colony of seals. The water was cold with tons of fish life, but the highlight was the inquisitive seals that swam around us for most of the dive. Seals are not the only cool animal life we have encountered here. This country is teeming with interesting and colorful mammals, birds, reptiles and unfortunately insects. Some of our animal highlights include:
-Seeing wild koalas and roos up close, complete with babies in their pouches.
-Prehistoric-looking goannas and water dragons.
-Flocks of squawking cockatoos.
-A foot-long stick insect.
-Huge colonies of fruit bats in every city.
-The amazing, colorful and vocal birds everywhere.
-The crocs in the wild and at the Crocodile Hunter's Zoo. Crikey!

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So we arrived in Melbourne a few days ago to celebrate New Years Eve. The scorching 35C weather that greeted us had turned to 20 degree rain by the day of the 31st. But happily by the evening the clouds cleared and we joined the locals at an open-air celebration in the center of town. We danced the night away outside, with fireworks at midnight. It was a great way to end 2002. So what does 2003 hold for us? Lots more traveling. We intend to be on the road most of the year, although we will be back in NYC for 3 weeks from Feb. 6th so maybe catch ya then.

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