Down Under

Hello again,

Its been about a week since our last update so I thought I'd take some time out to let you know our progress.

When Locky did the last blog we'd been in Cairns a few days and hadn't really done much. Last Friday we went on a bar hop around Cairns (to be honest you're in Cairns either to see the reef or to drink) taking in a handful of bars/clubs with some other backpackers, playing silly games along the way. To be honest it was a little weird for us, but we had a good night nonetheless and the next day was spent recovering by the pool or in bed.

On Sunday we finally got on the reef, choosing to use our new PADI Open Water dive certifications for the first time. We chose a company called Tusa, who, for $235 (about 120 quid) took us out to the outer reef, gave us drinks and meals, provided our gear and then gave us a guide to take us around underwater. We went for two dives with our guide Al and it was amazing - although we did use our air up quite quickly restricting our time down there.

The first thing you notice is that the reef is just massive down there - absolutely huge! Then you notice the wildlife, we saw all kinds of fishes, organisms and coral formations. Unfortunately we saw no sharks or jellyfish (probably more fortunate actually!) but we did see plenty of smaller fishes like Angel fish, Bannerfish etc.

The Tusa photographer shot around taking our photos too and prompted us to grab onto the reef for a few (which we were a little surprised by but did what he and the guide showed us to do) and you can see some of those in the gallery. We also got to hold sea cucumbers and other marine materials lying around which was unexpected as we had been taught to leave the seabed alone and not touch but I suppose they're experienced enough to know what they're doing.

The next day we picked up our campervan, which will be our transport and accomodation down the East coast for the next few weeks (photo to follow). Due to a booking mishap we actually picked it up a day early but it wasn't a problem and we were quickly on our way around Cairns in our customised Toyota Hi-ace van (see the weblink for the company info on our van - http://www.travellers-autobarn.com/new-design2/rentals-campervans.shtml.

I was the fortunate soul to have first go and successfully kept us alive around Cairns. After acquiring supplies we decided to go North first and take in Cape Tribulation, a famous area of rainforest and coast line. The roads were extremely winding and hilly (Locky was in the driving seat by this point) and even had floodways and causeways with centimetres of fast flowing water going over them to cross! But eventually we got up to Cape Trip, stopping at a famous Ice Cream shop for a quick snack (where we saw our biggest spider so far - photos to follow!).

Then onto our first camp site which surprised us regarding the price. What we hadn't thought about was the extras of campervanning, you assume that the van is powered and has water, but you also have to remember that they have to come from somewhere so you need power to charge the battery and to power some appliances, and every now and then we need to top up our water tank. We have a little stove and sink but not much space to cook - and we also need to clean ourselves, and as campsites provide all this for us you start to see that camp sites are quite important!

Our first night was $40 in a middle-of-nowhere site in the forest. It was ok actually, although there were plenty of tropical rain showers which made life a bit difficult. The humidity is also a problem as it gets hot in the van so the first nights sleep was a bit of a culture shock, particularly for Laura who is effectively in the roof of the main part of the van which is the noisiest when it rains and is a little precarious.

After a stressful(ish) first night, we came back through Cape Trip, and back into Cairns, stopping at the Daintree River for a wildlife ferry trip to try and spot some crocs! Unfortunately the weather was very tropical again with rain, but with our enthusiastic guide Scott making good conversation and informing us about the local wildlife it was extremely interesting and a good laugh. It was just us three on the boat (its low season at the moment tourist-wise) so it was very specific to us and although we saw no crocs (just floating logs that looked like them) we had a really good time.

After that we drove back to Cairns (stopping somewhere I think, but I can't remember and the other two aren't here to ask!! I'll leave a gap here just in case we did something - I think we might have stopped at the Mossman Gauge but I'll confirm for next time).

After getting back to Cairns late, we missed out on campsites (who close stupidly early, times like 7pm) so we had to find somewhere to stop and eat. Our destination was a Retail Park in Cairns. Once there Laura cooked us dinner and we stayed there for a bit before making our way to a quiet street to park up for the night. This was a very weird experience, particularly eating our risotto dinner in view of the local McDonalds. Despite the lack of facilities (we did briefly use McDonald's toilets) the night wasn't too bad and was very, very cheap!!!

After our first night on the road, we made our way out of Cairns for the last time and journeyed south to take in some waterfalls and mountainous scenery in the hills. We headed towards a place called Malandra, where there was a circuit drive with three waterfalls (Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Ellinjaa falls). Unfortunately the tropical rain made it difficult to enjoy them, but they were each spectacular in their own ways and we have photos which will be uploaded at some point.

After the falls we stopped at another Nature reserve to go for our first rainforest walk which turned out to be quite a mission. The ground was largely sodden underfoot from the earlier rain which made the walk trecherous. We also had to descend in careful zigzagging pathways cut into the landscape over roots, rocks, streams and mud. Along the way we got to know the local wildlife including massive ants, dragon flys, flying bugs, midgies and the various calls from the birds in the trees (no sign of tree kangaroos or large animals here I'm afraid). When we eventually got to the bottom there was a sodden grass lookout over the mountains and rivers below which was quite spectacular and worth the long, sweaty walk down. Whether it meritted the long sweaty walk back up I don't know but we'll upload photos to view soon.

After driving further south through unbelievable rain storms we eventually got to our stop last night which was a small town called Tully. Again we got a site spot (for $11 each) and enjoyed the facilities we had missed out on the night before having parked at Maccy D's! This town was only a stopping point as we made our way further south, and it there wasn't really much to write about either (i.e. not the nicest place in the world but it did the job).

This morning Laura took the wheel as we started trying to eat up the thousands of kilometres down to our final stop Melbourne. We are currently in a place called Townsville, which seems nice enough. Apparently there are museums and walks we can do so I expect we'll take in a few touristy things before we leave (which will probably be tomorrow).

The plan at the moment is to head to Brisbane before too long (maybe by the weekend), stopping at a couple of places en route, maybe Rockhampton ("Australia's cow capital" as Locky's book calls it) and the Fraser Islands, before getting to Brisbane which should have a lot more to amuse us (including Australia Zoo).

Apologies for the huge blog entry, I hope you understand the reasons for it. Unfortunately not hostelling means we don't get a huge amount of internet time, and we know how much you lot love reading about us in our tropical climates (it has been overcast and raining the last few days if that makes you feel better!). We'll try and get some photos up next time, and hopefully the next entry won't be so ridiculously long!

Hope you're all doing well!

Cheers
Woodie