Some Photos

Here are a few photos of Fraser Island. The shipwreck on the beach that has been there for years... it's all rusted and falling apart. One photo of the dingos we saw all around the island... and a gorgeous view of the beach from one of the lookout points. Oh, and one of the coolest trucks on the island. Go Pink!

Fraser Island

A bit of a camera malfunction, so I am low on photos... but I just got back from a 3 day island safari on Fraser Island. A group of us got a four-wheel drive truck (it was hot pink... and awesome) and we camped on the island. We spent the days driving to different sites (a freshwater lake, a shipwreck, a lookout point) and spent the nights camping and drinking cheap wine. Wild dingos are all over the island and come right up to you... we had some fun trying to care them off every night. Fraser was one of the best parts of my trip so far... but so hard to describe. When I get some pictures together, I will post them.

I'm heading south still towards Brisbane... stopping in a few beach towns over the next week.

Magnetic Island

I arrived in Townsville, a smaller city south of Cairns. I am actually staying on Magnetic Island, so I took a ferry across the water to get to my hostel. It's right on the beach... the only hostel in Australia that is directly on the beach. Huge deck and bar, and there's not much else around so people are hanging around outside all day here. Unfortunately, we can't do swimming in the beach right now... the reason, you ask? Well, a big crocodile is on the loose so there are warning signs everywhere to stay out of the water. Only in Australia, huh?

But, a bunch of us decided to rent bikes and ride to the other side of the island where we could go swimming. So our worldly little crew of Troy from Isreal, Nic from Wales, Marco from Switzerland, Ellen from Ireland, and little old me from the US set off for the day. We rode for 10 miles or so, to Horseshoe Bay.

We hiked to the top of the island too for some amazing panoramic views. Along the way, we stopped at a koala sanctuary and walked along a path to see koalas in the wild... we made it at the perfect time, just as they were waking up to eat. Koalas are nocturnal, so around sunset, they were waking up to eat. They only stay awake for about 4 or 5 hours a day though. They eat and sleep. That's it... talk about the life.

I Found Nemo

I really did... he was in Cairns. I did a dive and snorkel tour of the Great Barrier Reef yesterday (I have the sunburn to prove it, if you don't believe me) and felt like I swam into the Disney movie with all the colors and fish swimming around.

We started off on a 45 minute boat ride out to a reef site... then had the chance to snorkel and swim out to see different sections of the coral. It was beautiful... so many fish swim right next to you, and if you just float and watch them, you get to see them in a totally natural state. I am considering myself very lucky to experience one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

We had lunch on the boat, and moved onto another section of the reef. The second one was better than the first. I saw a sea turtle, and a ton more fish. The coral comes up pretty high in the water, so you are swimming only a few feet, sometimes inches above the coral. I don't have any pictures of the coral... the only cameras being sold on the boat were film cameras, and I knew they wouldn't take very good pictures. I stole a few from the internet that looked similar to what I saw.

I tried my first scuba dive, and lets just say I'm no expert. I really had trouble getting used to the breathing, so I didn't last too long. But, since the coral was so close to the surface, I really didn't miss out on seeing much. (At least that's what I am telling myself.)

And, to top off an amazing day, we all got free champagne on the boat ride back... not a bad way to finish up the experience of a lifetime.

I'm going to start working down the coast to Brisbane, then fly to Sydney over the next few weeks. Tomorrow I'm headed south to a smaller place called Magnetic Island. Should be fun!

Continued...

Picking up where I left off... the last few days on my outback trip was full of things to do. Uluru was amazing... but being such a sacred Aboriginal site, it's disrespectful to climb to the top of it. So, our group did a climb through the Olgas, another huge rock formation not far from Uluru. It was beautiful at sunset, and the next day, we went hiking.

We also did a 4 hour hike through King's Canyon, which was our last stop before arriving in Alice Springs. This hike was the most difficult of them all... steep, rocky steps, but it was so worth it. We walked the rim of the canyon. A few times, kangaroos could be seen hopping around. All these trips were so full of amazing views the time went so quickly. Our guide was great, filling us in on stories and history of the places we were.

This is a few of the people on the trip with me... Brandon from the US, Nick from London, Maxime from France, Renata from Holland, Sabine from Holland, and Iveta from Czech Republic

Our guide ran into a friend of his who does animal tours,... he had a bunch of reptiles with him and let us play with a snake. I didn't play so much as squealed and tried to smile for the picture... but I actually held a snake and didn't die. Quite an accomplishment, I think.

I have hundreds more photos I could post... maybe I will at another time. But I'm already looking forward to my next trips so time to switch gears and get into beach mode. I am now in Cairns in the tropical north of the country, where the Great Barrier Reef it. Water and a beds are much welcomed after a week in the desert.

Desert Patrol

This is where it gets good... I spent the last week on a group tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs. There were 17 of us... all young travelers from across the world. The trip in total was 2,850km (1,770 miles) and well worth every inch. The first stop was Flinders Ranges... a mountain region north of Adelaide. We drove right through the center of them on a rocky track, spotting wild kangaroos and wallabies as we went. We stopped at some old homestead ruins... houses built back when people tried farming and living on this land. We spent the night in a small country town... it felt like it was desolate at the time... but it was nothing in comparison with what was to come.

Next day, we did a lot of driving to get further into the outback. We made a few stops in little towns to refuel and went to a locally-famous guy's home named Talc Alf. He's apparently slightly crazy but makes carvings and artwork. A lot of tour groups make this stop because he's something interesting along a dirt road where there is nothing else to see. The day we stopped, he wasn't around, so I missed the chance to see what he was like. We did go to his "art gallery" that was a shoddy bunch of shelves with his artwork.

Our next stop was to a city with a population of 8. There is nothing here but a gas station and a pub. What more do you need, really?

We camped here for the night... sleeping under the stars. No tents... just sleeping bags, while stared at the clearest and widest blanket of stars you could possibly image. It was hard to get to sleep because I didn't want to close my eyes. The sky was gorgeous... not something you would ever see in city.

The next day, we set off for Coober Pedy, an opal mining town. This was the part I was most looking forward to. The city basically exists underground to escape the heat... in the summer, it can get up to 60 degrees Celsius (140F). They burrow into the side of the mountains and live in perfectly normal homes... just their walls are rocks. We did an opal mine tour... learned about how opals are turned into jewelry, and how I can't afford the ring I want. A big, blue/green opal ring was about $700 or so. I settled for a small one though for quite a bit less.

We went to an underground pub, underground church, and we slept in an underground bunkhouse. It's a whole different world in Coober Pedy... from the surface, it looks like a construction site because of the mining equipment, and nothing is built over one story high. But everything is going on underground.

The next day was a long day of driving... long day. About 10 hours of driving through absolutely nothingness. For as far as you can see... there is dry, dusty ground with the occasional half-green bush struggling to survive. The drive would be so worth it though... because the end of this trip is Uluru... the enormous red rock in the center of the country. It's a sacred Aboriginal site and is what anyone coming to the outback is coming to see.

We got there for sunset... and these pictures are nothing compared to the actual site. The sunset changes the color of the rock, so every time you look at it, you see different colors and shading. We woke up at 4am the next morning to go see sunrise, and went for sunset again from another viewing area... it just keeps looking better and better.

We took a 3 hour walk around the rock to see it up close. There are small caves, watering holes, aboriginal artwork all along the sides. It's an amazing structure in the middle of nowhere.

There is certainly more to say... but I will have to begin another post later. Hope you enjoy this one for now.

Adelaide

There's a lot of backtracking I'll have to do to explain this last week. It started Sunday with a flight to Adelaide. Slight disaster with that one... It was daylight savings on Sunday at 3am... my flight was at 6am. I expected my phone to automatically update and wake me up at the right time. Safe to say, don't always trust technology. I ended up missing my flight.. and losing my cell phone all in one morning. So I rebooked and left for Adelaide on Monday.

Adelaide is a smaller city... it's beautiful with parks enclosing the city center. The one day I had to spend there, it was Labor Day, so on top of already being a quieter city than I am used to, it was also nearly empty because of the holiday. We were restless in our hostel with nothing to do, so a guy from Uruguay and I went walking in the city, through the Botanical Gardens, and out for a few drinks to pass the time. The gardens and parks are the pride of the city, so everything was lush green, and kept in great condition.

Other than the walks and parks, it didn't feel like there was too much going on. There must be more to do in the city, but I had just one day there and it seemed to be the right amount. At least for now.

Hot

Sorry for my lack of posting recently... I had limited internet access for the last week. I just got back to civilization after a week of camping in the outback. I traveled from Adelaide up to Alice Springs....had the most amazing time with a tour group of about 17 people. I will post photos as soon as I can!

Great Ocean Road

I spent Saturday on the Great Ocean Road… the long winding coastline of the state of Victoria. There were a few stops to see some notable spots, the biggest attraction being the Twelve Apostles, limestone rock formations standing tall in the sea water. There are not 12 remaining any more… limestone is very fragile and is easily eroded by sea water. But the views are stunning and well worth the 160 mile drive.

I usually skim past scenery pictures, especially when they are someone else’s, but please know these photos don’t nearly do justice to the absolutely beautiful scenery along this coast. Standing out of the cliffs looking at these spots is really breathtaking.

The water is the most gorgeous shade of blue… and the coast line, apart from sleepy, surf towns along the way is so natural and untouched, I was just amazed.

One of these photos includes Split Point Light House, built in the 1800s to help ships navigating there way to southern Australia. It was tough terrain back then, and one of the sections along the Great Ocean Road is named Shipwreck Coast, for… yes, you guessed it, ship wrecks.

For lunch, we stopped in picnic area full of koalas and other animals in the wild. In Victoria, it’s illegal to touch koalas… apparently the southern koalas are larger and more aggressive than their northern neighbors. Other states allow you to pet them or cuddle them in parks. I got some photos, but had to keep my hands to myself.

After lunch, we did a short hike through a lush rainforest area. Unfortunately, no pictures of that part of the trip. My camera battery was dying.

One of the limestone formations is called London Bridge. It used to actually be a natural bridge you could walk across to the end of the rocks. Sometime in the early 90s, a tour group went across for the views, got their photos and started returning back to main land. Just as the group crossed, the limestone crumbled and left one section of limestone standing alone. The tour group realized two people, a man and a woman were left stranded on the remaining section. It turned into a huge media rescue, news casters, etc. But the couple didn’t want any attention, tried to hide from cameras, and wouldn’t do interviews. It turns out, the man was there with his mistress and told his wife he was out of town on business! Ha, nice way to find out the truth, huh?

Hope you enjoyed the pictures… you would have enjoyed it so much more if you could have seen it with your own eyes. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Updates

It's just about time to leave Melbourne and move along on my trip. Friday is my last day of work (yay!) so I get to head out and see more of the country. Saturday, I"ll travel along the Great Ocean Road which is a gorgeous coastline outside of Melbourne. The trip lasts all day and has some beautiful scenery and photo ops. Sunday, I fly to Adelaide, another southern city. I'll be spending a few days there, then it's off to outback country. Will keep you posted!