Walking on Sunshine

Sunday December 16th - Sunday December 23rd

And finally we arrive in New Zealand. The weather's good when we land and it feels great to be back in our favourite country. This first week has involved either water or walking. Within 3 hours of being picked up from Christchurch airport by an old uni mate Dave we were all, including his soon to be wife Tara, out on the water in kayaks. The aim was to paddle across a relatively short stretch of water to Quail Island for a spot of lunch. The plan though didn't take into account my ineptitude a) on water and b) in a kayak. So, after reaching halfway and already having capsized twice, we headed back to the safety of shore and had a beachside picnic. All very pleasant and the others were very good about my uselessness (well to my face they were!)

The second water experience was a little more full-on although not quite as expected. We made our way west to Murchison where we would head off on a whitewater rafting trip. We met up with our friend Jamie and his new girlfriend Lizzie and over a beer the night before wondered whether the rain that was falling would cause problems for the next day. The rafting was going to be along the grade 5 rated (5 being the most likely to cause you to swim) Karamea River. We drove (well were driven) the 3 hours to our helicopter rendezvous (oh this was a heli-rafting trip by the way!) through torrential rain and were greeted with the bad news that the river had risen too much and was flowing way too quickly (up from 25 cubic m/sec to 500 cubic m/sec) for us to be able to raft it safely. Sadly the 5-minute joyride in the helicopter and raft down a tamer Buller River didn't make up for the disappointment but a 40% refund and a good meal in the evening certainly helped.

The second half of the week has been taken up by walking, and quite a lot. We've just finished the 71km Queen Charlotte Track after 3 days of walking. The bonus with this walk was the water taxi that dropped us at the start also transferred our big rucksacks between campsites each day so we 'only' had to walk with our smaller rucksacks.

So it was that we arrived at Ship Cove over 200 years since Captain Cook had made the same journey and raised the British flag. Admittedly he had slightly less Gore-Tex and a little more rum than we did but the similarities in the journey were eerie! The first day was to be a 27.5km slog to Camp Bay, our campsite for the night. The weather was a little cloudy but still warm and the forecast was for it to improve. We'd actually changed our plans from doing it as a 4-day walk to try and get the good weather. We made great progress and passed by Resolution Bay and Endeavour Inlet all the while getting great views of the Marlborough Sounds. All along the route there are lodges and resorts for the more discerning walker and we did wonder at one point why we weren't in one of those. Since the track is well used there are opportunities for small traders to make some pocket money and we took advantage of one of those that was selling homemade honey. Anything to try and improve the porridge in the morning. We set up camp that night at the appropriately named Camp Bay.

Day 2 of the walk was described as the most arduous of the track and they weren't kidding. We started climbing as soon as we set out but once up on the ridgeline we got spectacular views of the Sounds. From one lookout we took the video clip (which will appear below when we find a quick enough internet connection) which hopefully does some justice to what we saw. Although the day's distance covered was less at 24.5km the uphill sections meant that by the time we descended from Torea Saddle to our overnight stop at Cowshed Bay we were shattered. Rach took advantage of our beachfront site and cleansed off a couple of days worth of sunscreen while I cooled off some throbbing feet.

The walk so far had taken us through some fairly dense green forest with beech trees and ferns before it headed onto the ridge and heathland. On one side you get views of blue waters and steep tree covered hills and on the other you could be looking at the Lake District, albeit on a rare day when it's sunny, with rolling green countryside leading down to lakes. Our third and final day took us the final distance to our water taxi rendezvous at Anakiwa. There was no mention of the early morning slog uphill in the description but that's what we had and it was all we could do to stagger our way down the final descents reaching the end aching all over but really pleased with ourselves and having seen some spectacular scenery.

We now head back towards Blenheim and our Christmas accommodation in Straw Lodge.

Merry Christmas everyone from Jon and Rachel.

The week's 24/7s

Monday: Heading for the west where it rains

Tuesday: Rain falls, river rises. Cancelled, no surprises

Wednesday: Heading north where it's also now raining

Thursday: When we try we relax really well

Friday: Rehydrated food tastes great after long walk

Saturday: In this weather the Sounds look fantastic

Sunday: Gravity's no friend of pain. Cake is!

Rock Lobster

Monday December 10th - Saturday December 15th

Well this was our final week in Australia. Where the other 8 have gone to is anyone's guess. The week started with celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary with a day on the beach and a nice meal out in the evening. In fact eating good meals was a theme of the week which means that next week's needs to be exercise.While we've been in Perth we've met quite a few members of Rachel's aunt Kay's family and any we hadn't already met were ticked off with a big family gathering for a pre-Christmas meal. This included freshly cooked hams and chickens along with Christmas puddings all washed down with plenty of champagne and wine. The following day we all went round to Kay's chap (Barry)'s place and pretty much did it all again with the only addition being crayfish (or rock lobster depending on your inclination). These had been 'caught' by us the day before on a trip out with another of Kay's contacts. We probably can't claim to have caught them 100% as it required some scuba diving so Noel, the guy we went out with, did the hard work while we relaxed on the boat or swam in the sea. Eating fresh crayfish was fantastic though.

We've managed to squeeze some sport in this week too, much to Rach's relief! Tuesday saw a Twenty20 cricket international between Australia and New Zealand at the WACA. Barry came up trumps here with tickets for us although the circumstances were slightly unnerving. Sadly Barry's father passed away in August but due to him being a retired OAP he was paying peanuts for his season ticket so his family have kept it on so I went in as the late Robert Main with Rach as his guest! The game was good with the Aussies winning pretty easily.



We're both ready now to head to New Zealand and get back out in the fresh air and stretch our legs again. We've not really had much chance for that in the last couple of weeks although Rach managed to get out onto the water this week for a kayak and I had a quick bike ride. Perth has been an interesting experience not least for the fact of seeing how a city that is so far from any other major city, even in Australia, operates. You could nearly be in another country on the west coast and in some ways I think people think they are with Western Australia operating very differently in many ways to the eastern states. We've enjoyed Australia and had some fantastic experiences but it's time to move on.


The week's 24/7s
Monday: Two years. Who said it wouldn't last?
Tuesday: Wouldn't be seen dead at the cricket.
Wednesday: Christmas pudding, presents and hot weather. Lovely!
Thursday: Christmas pudding two nights in a row.
Friday: I think we're ready for New Zealand.
Saturday: 5098km, 4 states, 3 timezones. Australia...done!

End of a Century

Monday December 3rd - Sunday December 9th

The passing of 100 days is usually a key point in any event; the first 100 days for a new Prime Minister, how'd he do? The first 100 days of a war, are we fighting the right people? The first 100 days of Big Trip, is bread and water a nutritious enough meal for the next 80 days? Sunday marked the 100th day away. During this time we've passed through 6 Canadian provinces, 4 Australian states, taken 6 flights and passed through numerous timezones, all the while having a fantastic time. All of this has meant that time has passed pretty quickly and with us now making plans for the final stages of the trip the remaining 80 days will undoubtedly fly by too. Best make the most of them then.


News on the end of the trip is good, we have tickets for the Trans-Mongolian train from Beijing to Moscow and as of this week we can also legally enter China thanks to a very swift service from the Consulate here in Perth issuing our visas. Just the Russian and Mongolian ones to go but the Russian one may prove to be tricky.

We've had a pretty relaxing week all told. Thanks to an excellent public transport network here in Perth we've been able to get around really easily, and cheaply, although no matter how good a system is if you can't read a timetable properly you'll come unstuck. This we found out while waiting for a bus only to realise that we'd checked the times for Saturday services. It was Tuesday.

We headed south out of Perth for a day in the port of Fremantle, or Freo if you struggle with words of more than 2 syllables. This appears to be one of the few places we've been where they are preserving their old buildings, or at least the facades, rather than knock them down. It gives the place a really nice feel with plenty of Victorian architecture on show. They've also got the Round House there. This is a building dating back well into the 1800s that was the first jail in Fremantle. It's still in pretty good condition given its age and position on the seafront. Just behind this is the time gun. At 1pm every day a cannon is fired, as it has been for over 150 years, so that captains can rate their chronometers. Nowadays it's probably used more as a signal that it's time to head to the pub for a lunchtime drink but again the preserving of tradition here goes against a lot of what we've seen so far.

Sympathy time now, get the small violins ready. The weather this week has not been great. Temperatures have struggled to reach the mid 20s (!) and by the afternoons any warmth there's been has disappeared with the Fremantle Doctor blowing it's way in. Normally this is a very pleasant breeze but when it howls in as it has this week you have to think twice about going to the beach! We've persevered though and struggled down to the beach a couple of times to have a dip in the Indian Ocean. We also had one long walk along the coast (in the rain mind!) to stretch our legs.

One thing the weather didn't hamper was our trip to Margaret River. This is the main wine region of southern Western Australia and we spent a happy couple of days sampling the local fayre. We also visited the southwesterlymost point of Australia while here too, Cape Leeuwin. This is the point at which the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.

One more week left in Australia and then we're on to country number 3 and New Zealand. We're going to make the most of being in a comfortable house as it'll be pretty much the last chance for a couple of months give or take a day or two here and there around Christmas. We got the tent out this week to check it was all OK and give it a spring clean before it's next use in anger.

The weeks 24/7s:

Monday: Chinese visa? You don't wait long time
Tuesday: Public transport that's designed for the public
Wednesday: Cold and windy, and this is summer?
Thursday: Nearly cold enough to need some trousers
Friday: You can never taste too much wine
Saturday: At last blue skies and warm sun
Sunday: Still not convinced we're insured to drive

Four Seasons In One Day

Monday November 26th - Sunday December 2nd

It's been a busy old week really, a lucrative one and also a potentially lethal one. If that doesn't build up suspense I don't know what will.

We started the week in Sydney, spent the middle part in Melbourne and ended up on the west coast in Perth. To be honest it's been a bit of a whirlwind tour and I think we would have liked to have spent a couple more days in Melbourne to have a good look around as it's probably been our favourite place so far in Australia.

The journey down from Sydney to Melbourne was going to be something of a road trip as we were relocating a campervan for Britz. For the princely sum of $5 a day we had a pretty much brand new van, kitted out with all your mod cons such as fridge, microwave, hob, etc and stocked with cutlery and crockery too. Wehn we saw the vans we could have had we were pretty smug about having siuch a nice shiny new one. Until that evening that is. We made good progress down the east coast and following a suggestion from Colin planned to go via the Snowy Mountains to Melbourne rather than just all the way down the coast. We parked up at a campsite at Tathra Beach and for the first time on the trip asked for a site with power. We plugged the van in and went and cooked ourselves some dinner. When we came back to the van Rach noticed some liquid on the floor and thinking it was a water bottle that had leaked happily swung the rucksacks and things out of the way to stop them getting any wetter. It was only when she felt her arm burning and I noticed that the strap on her daysack was melting that we realised it was something a little more sinister than water. Turns out it was battery acid and it was making a break for freedom all the way down the van. Looking at the battery that powers all the mod cons you could see the current arcing across the battery at which point we figured unplugging ourselves from the mains would be a good idea. Luckily the guy who ran the site was very helpful and a couple of hours later he'd taken the battery out and given us the tools to give the van a good washout so that we could sleep in it without fear of getting acid on us or fumes in us. This kind of put a dampener on the road trip and also meant we were without any power in the van once the engine was off so we decided to just push on down the coast, a pretty dull drive to be honest, and make it to Melbourne to get rid of the death trap.

On reaching Melbourne, the home of four seasons in one day (it was springlike today), we'd been expecting to have to argue to get some money back for the rucksacks that had been damaged and the trouble we'd had, but I'd already agreed a value with the guy in Sydney so hoped that had fed through. By the time we left the place we'd actually made $60 including all the petrol and of course have no intention of replacing the rucksacks so we were pretty happy with things. We head into the centre of Melbourne to go and ask the tourist info for maps and the like and are given a leaflet with things on in the week. Turns out that there's a cricket match on at the MCG, only a state one-day game but still, and if you go by public transport you get in free. Rach was also keen to see Brett Lee bowling in the flesh to appreciate how fast he really was! Holding a $3 train ticket as we were it seemed rude not to so half an hour later we're strolling into one of the best cricket grounds in the world for nothing and watching some cricket. The day was working out very well indeed. To round it off we headed back into town and went to Queen Victoria Market as it was the first night for their weekly night markets in the summer season. Spent a good couple of hours wandering around looking at all the stalls and taking in the smells from well over fifty different origins of cooking.

Our only full day in Melbourne was spent riding the free tourist shuttles to see the main sights and then taking a walk through some of the parks and gardens, of which there appeared to be hundreds of in town. They also have a very striking Shrine of Remembrance as well that you can have a look around and it puts the UK to shame in terms of what we have in comparison.


Too quickly we're checking out of our hostel in St Kilda, a vibrant beach suburb of Melbourne, and rounding off our week of financial prudence in good style. We get $20 refunded for the room keys despite the fact we hadn't paid for them when we checked in. Neither of us question this until we're well out of earshot of course.

Our final destination for the week is Perth and a 2-week stay with Rach's aunt Kay. For the first time in the trip we're met at the airport and it's great to have a friendly face waiting for you and to know that you don't need to battle with public transport with your bags. Kay's house is massive and the chances of us wanting to go back to camping after staying here are looking slim. We may have to pitch the tent in the garden to get back into the habit of it.

The week's 24/7s:

Monday: Not sure battery acid should be there

Tuesday: Don't think Britz will see us again

Wednesday: Free van, free cricket, we're loving Melbourne

Thursday: Tram, bus, tram, walk, tram, food, bed!

Friday: A fabulous base for the next fortnight

Saturday: With military precision our week is planned

Sunday: You can never take it too easy

Destiny

Monday November 19th - Sunday November 25th

After three weeks of travelling and camping down the east coast with our faithful little Yaris it's been a real treat to have a week in one place and also 7 nights of comfortable sleeping. We've enjoyed a great week in Sydney and have been looked after very well by Colin and Julie. Nearly time to be on the road again though.

We've made the most of our time in the unofficial capital of Australia and have been able to get out and about to explore some of the area as well as taking in some culture.

The usual sights in Sydney have been 'ticked off' with a look around the Opera House and a walk across the Harbour Bridge (the free option). The weather has been great for the main part of the week so we got views of the harbour at its best and also had a good couple of ferry trips to and from Manly. We did a little walk around North Head in Manly to stretch our legs and also try and get our fitness levels up a bit in readiness for all the walking we've got planned in New Zealand. To that end we've also surprised ourselves by going for three runs this week, albeit a little slower than was previously possible, but it's the effort that counts.

Our culture fix for the week saw us take in a performance at the Opera House, a ballet no less. The ballet was titled Destiny and from what we could gather it was two interpretations of the same piece, one in each half of the performance. We were given a crib sheet at the start to help us understand what was going on and in the main we kept up but it did need a bit of discussion afterwards to fill in the gaps. The sound of the orchestra in the venue was excellent and we managed to get some really good seats even though I think the lady at the box office thought we were more suited to the final of Australian Idol that is taking place there on Sunday.

We managed to get a good length walk in this week in the form of the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi beaches. The skies were blue and the sun was out but there was also a gale force wind blowing, which in combination with the sand it was picking up meant that by the time we got to Bondi Beach the right-hand sides of our faces had been exfoliated to within an inch of their lives. It's a pretty good walk though and I don't think you'll see Bondi quite as empty as when we were there. Anyone trying to have lunch on the beach really would have been eating sand-wiches. On summer weekends they can get around 40,000 people on the beach, I think there were about 40 when we were there.

Wildlife news for the week...we've actually seen some galahs, not flaming I may add but we've now seen a couple of the birds that look like cockatoos but have a reddish pink front to them. We also saw the hundreds of bats that inhabit the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. They are in one area of the gardens and at a distance look like huge fruits hanging from the tree. When you get closer though you can see that they are brown bats cocooned in their leathery wings. With them, the cockatoos and the lorikeets the skies are filled in that part of the gardens. Makes for a great sight though.

We've certainly enjoyed Sydney, perhaps maybe more than we thought we might (certainly more than I thought). We're now getting ready to pick up a little campervan to drive to Melbourne and then after a couple of days there fly to Perth.

Out to Get You

Sunday November 11th - Sunday November 18th

One of the things about getting off the beaten track a bit is that you get to see all manner of wildlife that you wouldn't see by following hoardes of tourists around, including the tsunamis of Japanese that you see at all major attractions. The flipside to that is that there are more than a few things off the beaten track that want a piece of you. Let's start with Lamington National Park. We decided to have a crack at the West Canungra Creek Trail, a 14km track that drops about 500m in elevation before criss-crossing said creek 6 or 7 times and then bringing you back up the 500m again. We'd read all the warning signs saying that what goes down must come back up (referring to the walk rather than last night's dinner) and that when the creek is in flood it's best not to go near it. What it forgot to mention was that once you get to the wetter part of the rainforest you will be plagued by...leeches. We had to get into a routine of every 10-15 minutes having a leech check to remove them from shoes, trousers, t-shirts, arms, legs you name it. The majority of them were pretty small but there were some bigguns too that weren't took keen to let go of you. Much as I like a bit of attention that was too much. The walk itself though was excellent, leeches aside, and it set us up for a pretty good week.

We left Queensland behind this week as well and headed into New South Wales jumping forward an hour as we did so as Queensland haven't adopted daylight savings. Apparently it's because the locals would get too confused so you end up with the evenings in the height of summer being pitch black well before 7.

We did follow the tourist path at a couple of points along the way this week including a quick trip in to Byron Bay. We didn't really have a huge amount of time to explore many walks but we did go and have a look at the lighthouse and walk out to the easterlymost point in Australia.

Our next encounter with the great Aussie wildlife happened in Pacific Palms, just south of Forster-Tuncurry. We found a great little campsite that was just set back from the beach. After picking our site we decided to have a quick look at the beach. Ignoring the black lizard on our right we made our way around the corner on the sandy path to come face to face with...a brown snake. Now we had a feeling they were ones that shouldn't be messed with, this one was around 4 foot long, so we made like the Knights Who Say Nee and chickened out and ran away. We later asked the people who ran the campsite and they confirmed that if you're going to get bitten by a snake, make sure it's not the brown ones. They're pretty much the only ones that will try and have a go at you. Later on that night we were watching a possum in the trees when it came down to investigate us a little further and decided to check out how Rach's toes tasted. Nothing too hard but a nibble nonetheless. Lucky for it that it didn't go for my feet, poor thing wouldn't have stood a chance! At this campsite as well they have the Green Cathedral, not a huge building painted green but a clearing in the forest that is used for weddings and services. A really great spot that would be a very special place to get married, with a lake just behind it and the sunlight coming through the trees.

We've managed to fit in some wine tasting this week as well, visiting the Hunter Valley. Here we were plagued by flies and ants so found ourselves having to spend more time tasting the wine, shame!

We rounded the week off with a trip to the Blue Mountains and then the sea. These aren't mountains that have formed in the usual way of the earth rising up but instead the earth has been eroded down leaving mountains behind. This means that if you're going to do any walks you have to drop hundreds of metres first and then climb back up them at the end. Still, we managed a couple of good walks in the Jamison and Grose Valleys and got some great views over the mountains, made blue by the haze of eucalypt oil that comes from all the eucalyptus trees. Parts of the Grose Valley are recovering from a huge bushfire but the regrowth has already started and it's fascinating to see how the forest recovers after something like that.

Our final night before heading to Sydney was spent literally camped on the edge of Coledale Beach where we could sit and watch, for about the third or fourth time this week, pods of dolphins swimming by and enjoy the sunrise. After last week being a little strange and disjointed this week was excellent and we're now looking forward to a week of a bit of relaxing and exploring the sights of Sydney.

Dancing in the Street

Tuesday November 6th - Saturday November 10th

After the great weekend we'd had sailing around the Whitsundays and the equally good night out at the end of it I think we were both a little drained and it took us a couple of days to get ourselves back up to speed. The long drives that we had each day along what the Rough Guide describes as a "famously unexciting stretch of the Bruce Highway" didn't lend themselves to fun and frolics either.

Still, at the end of the day we're thousands of miles away from it all and driving through Australia so we soon got ourselves sorted out and headed for the National Parks again to do some walking. We headed to the Glasshouse Mountains just north of Brisbane and climbed a couple of them (there's 13 in all). We thought the one called Death Mountain was probably left well alone so went for Beerburrum (Rainbow Mountain) and Ngungun (Black Mountain) instead. The first one was supposed to be an easy climb so after 25 minutes of climbing almost vertically we collapsed at the top and got great views out over the other mountains and away in the distance Brisbane. We were the only ones on the mountains and the rushes of fresh air and stretching our legs had done us wonders so we headed off to Brisbane in good spirits.

The good vibes obviously paid off as we had a great day in Brisbane. Managing to avoid the temptation of going to the cricket (again Rach's idea!) we headed into the city centre and spent a happy couple of hours looking around before making for the South Bank area for Friday evening drinks and a nice meal followed by a stroll along the river. On our way back through town we stumbled across a small gathering of people that steadily grew as salsa music blasted out and what was described as only one of two free outdoor salsa lessons in the world started up. Before long there were around 50 people involved, including Rach (I had to take some photos!) and they salsaed their way around the pavement for a good 40 minutes.

We decided that as we'd had such a good day in Brisbane that we would push on further south and headed once again for the National Parks, this time Lamington and the Green Mountains. We got out and about and had a good walk and also strolled along the treetop walkway that included a climb up a tree, around 30m, to a platform that gave you a view over the canopy of the rainforest. Fantastic views and thankfully there was only a gentle breeze so the tree was only gently swaying.

We Are Sailing

Monday October 29th - Monday November 5th

This week has really been all about The Whitsundays sailing trip that we've just completed. Three days spent aboard a 67ft racing trimaran, Avatar, sailing around some of the 74 Whitsunday Islands. We've had a fantastic trip and made some good friends from the people that were with us onboard. As with places like Cairns there are so many tours to choose from that you're always a little worried that you might have made the wrong choice but there was no problems with ours from the moment we got onboard on Saturday morning.

The weather was set fair, well actually it was great. Blue skies and flat calm seas greeted us as we pottered slowly along getting to know the other guys onboard, half of which were German, with some other Brits, an Italian, a Pole and an American making up a good mix of people. Being a trimaran there was plenty of room on the boat to relax in the sunshine on the deck or on one of the two huge nets that were strung between the hulls of the boat. I've always wanted to just relax on one of those and now I've done it twice in 3 weeks.

The Whitsundays were another of Captain Cook's discoveries, on a Sunday hence the name, and consist of islands that range from a small rock to Whitsunday Island itself which is 11000ha in size. You can go ashore and camp on some of the islands but we'd gone for the luxury option, well a mattress down a hole in one of the outside hulls. I think even an estate agent would have struggled to describe it as anything other than bijou. At least we could have the hatch open at night and look up at the stars though.

The Great Barrier Reef does extend as far down as here but it is a bit further offshore than the islands. However, there is still good snorkelling to be had amongst coral around the islands (you get a greater diversity of coral here because of cooler waters) and we were able to have a few snorkels around Whitsunday Island and Black Island. On the final day I decided to relax onboard while Rach went snorkelling off Langford Reef and had the chance to follow some turtles around, which was pretty amazing. You get a good glimpse of them on the surface as well when they lazily come up for some air before going back down under the water.

As well as the snorkelling and general relaxing we also got ashore to go and spend some time on Whitehaven Beach. This is one of the most well-known beaches in the world (if you're into that sort of thing) as the sand consists of 99% silica making it the purest sand anywhere. When you walk on it it's like walking on flour it's so fine and soft. It's also very white. We spent a good bit of time on the beach here and in the water playing volleyball, although we struggled to look good, not only because of a lack of skill but because of needing to wear stinger suits. These are basically all in one lycra suits that protect you from the jellyfish that are now in the waters meaning that we're out of luck for sea swimming on the east coast from now on.

On the way back in to Airlie Beach yesterday the wind picked up enough for us to be able to sail which was a great way to end the trip, just hearing the sound of the water rushing past and the screams from people as waves crash over and through the nets soaking them as they catch some rays. It was a great trip and made even more enjoyable by the group of people onboard who we then went out for an end of trip drink with last night, which led to a couple more drinks, etc, etc. Not feeling too worse for wear this morning and we've just had some breakfast with 3 of them who were in the same hostel as us. We're both still rocking gently from side to side though hopefully as an after effect of the sailing rather than a sign that we're losing our marbles.

We have seen a lot of other things this week too as we made our way from Cairns. We visited the Tablelands again and looked at the huge fig trees that have put down hundreds of roots from the branches of other trees to create what look like huge sculptures. We also had a look at Millaa Millaa Falls, the waterfall made famous by the Timotei advert from some years back.

We've been camping all the way down so far and that's meant being able to see some more wildlife. We've had encounters with bush turkeys, kookaburras, bettongs (rat kangaroos), kangaroos and in one campsite 3 possums.

We got across to Magnetic Island as well, but only for the day, but still had the chance to find a really quiet idyllic beach that only had us and a strange naked man in a straw hat on. We sensibly based ourselves at the opposite end of the beach out of his way.

So all in all it's been a good week, not so much driving so far (there's still well over 2000km to go before we reach Sydney) but plenty of sights and wildlife seen and the scenery has been pretty spectacular. We're now going to push on south and see what we find on the way.

Down Under

Monday October 22nd - Sunday October 28th

Our second week in Australia and this week has been all about the 3 Rs: rainforests, reefs and roasting hot temperatures.

Cairns, or Ceaaaaaans as the locals like to pronounce it, is in the tropics and has on its doorstep areas of wet tropics that are designated as World Heritage Areas. We've visited a few this week including Behana Gorge, Crystal Cascades and Lake Placid. The first two of these involve walks up a river valley to waterfalls at their heads. At Behana the waterfall had helped to create a great swimming hole that was much needed after a hot slog up to it.

The bonuses of these swimming holes, of which there were more at Crystal Cascades, is that a) they're very refreshing b) they're fresh water and c) they don't have anything in them that can eat you. The front page of the Cairns Post this week carried a photo of a crocodile that had been caught by a fisherman in a creek in town and then a couple of days later another was spotted at a local beach meaning it had to be closed. Add to that the fact that in a week or so it's 'Stinger Season', i.e. jellyfish-tastic and the beaches aren't such an exciting proposition.

We also went up to Kuranda this week, there are pretty much 3 ways of getting there; by tourist train, by a 7km long cable car or by your own transport. Luckily Zoe has been kind enough to drive us around while we've been here so we took that option. Kuranda is at the top of a winding mountain road which passes through more rainforest. It's very strange to think that it's rainforest that you're driving through when you normally associate that with places like Brazil or Borneo and access is really difficult, while here we are driving easily through it.

The main thing that Cairns is probably renowned for is its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, if you're going to do a trip out to it here is probably the best place to go from...so we did. Zoe and Mark's friends Mark and Dawn own a company, Reef Daytripper for anyone looking for a good reef trip in Cairns!, and were able to get us onboard for a trip out to Upolu Reef this week. What a fantastic day. A lazy cruise out to the reef itself onboard the catamaran and then the chance to snorkel (my preferred option) or dive (Rach's choice de jour). We got to see all manner of fish and wildlife and of course the amazing coral reef itself.

We headed out to the reef again on Sunday, this time to Fitzroy Island. Zoe and Mark's boat was used to good effect once again, although it took a battering from the waves on the way back and after a swim (and yes that did include me!) and snorkel at Fitzroy we circled the island before heading to Turtle Bay. This is a great little spot that can really only be accessed by the water and has a fantastic golden sand beach and clear blue waters, hopefully the video below does it justice.

This isn't the only great beach we've had a chance to visit this week either. We've also spent a good amount of time at Kewarra. Another golden sandy beach fringed with palm trees that, like a lot of the places we've been to, has been very quiet.

Saturday was Rach's birthday and so it was time to indulge in one of her passions, animals. The destination was the Tropical Zoo and it was a great day out. Rach got to hold a koala, which I think was a bit of a trip highlight, we got to feed kangaroos, watch crocs from a safe distance and really get close to the other animals including another of Rach's favourites, the red panda.

So to the final R, the roasting hot temperatures. In the last couple of days the humidity has really picked up and we're now getting into the 30s easily, usually by mid-morning. It's not the heat that's the real problem, although in fairness we are both melting, it's the UV rating. In the UK there's panic when it reaches 6 or 7 and everyone thinks they're going to end up crispier than a bit of nicely cooked bacon, here the rating is currently at 15. According to the weather guys that's in the extremely extreme range. It means that you only have to think about going out into the sun to start burning so we're getting into the slip, slop, slap routine, which is actually a real pain but the alternative is not really worth thinking about. I know at this point there will be a lot of small violins being played for us but we've got to try for sympathy! We're heading south from here next week which should mean cooler temperatures at this time of year but they're having some crazy weather there and it's nearly 40° in Melbourne so camping will be a bit toastier than we've been used to.

All in all it's been a very good week but we're now ready to head off out into the countryside again and start exploring some other parts of this huge country. Zoe and Mark have looked after us really well, but it's time to leave them to some peace and quiet now.

Australia

Monday October 15th - Sunday October 21st

A change of tack with the blog for Australia, we'll do some weekly updates rather than the daily ones as we're planning on taking things a lot easier for the next couple of months and I'm sure you don't want to hear how each day we get up late, relax on the beach/in the pool/under a palm tree (delete as appropriate) so we'll try and keep things interesting and stick in some more pictures.

In actual fact the days above should really not include Monday as we kind of lost that in flight. We had a brief stopover in Honolulu, airport seemed nice, and then off again on the remainder of the flights to Cairns. As you fly in to Cairns you get great views out over the Barrier Reef as the airport is right on the coast. For these first two weeks we're staying with Zoe and Mark in their very nice house a few miles out of the town centre. They've recently made a very welcome addition to the place as well, a huge swimming pool (well it's bigger than the whole of our back garden so it's huge to us!). You'll be sad to hear though that the first week's weather has not quite been what was promised to us, it's been warm and humid but pretty overcast and breezy with frequent showers. We have thawed out though after our cold Canadian experiences and the novelty of only needing shorts and a t-shirt won't wear off soon.

We've slipped into the relaxing mentality quite nicely and have enjoyed pottering around the local area seeing some of the sights. We spent a day up in Port Douglas, a kind of smaller, more upmarket version of Cairns, and enjoyed the views from the coast road on the way there. The road hugs the coastline pretty tightly for the majority of the way so you get some good photo opportunities.


Zoe and Mark, as well as having a big house and a pool, also own a motor boat and so we headed out to Lake Tinaroo to try out some waterskiing. Tinaroo is up in the tablelands region and that means that only way to get to it is via a winding mountain road, we went up through the Gillies Range. Since we are only at 16°S latitude here we're in the tropics so heading up to the tablelands you go through rainforest before coming out into a landscape that looks something like home with rolling green hills. We got ourselves set up at the lake and both Rach and I had a go at waterskiing. Now Rach is definitely the watersports fanatic of the two of us and was up on the end of the rope skiing away quite nicely. I on the other hand am not what you would call a water baby and as this was my first attempt at waterskiing used the training bar at the side of the boat with limited success. A quick masterclass lesson at lunchtime from Rach and I had some more success afterwards before wiping out quite spectacularly. We also had a good swing around in a ring behind the boat too, but the only skill that requires is to hang on for dear life! All great fun though.

The week was rounded off with a very early start (well for us anyway) at 5am to watch the rugby World Cup final. Shame about the result but amazing that we actually got to the final and means we now have bragging rights over both the Aussies and the Kiwis for the coming months. They could still be in mourning in New Zealand when we get there!

Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Saturday October 13th

A check of the thermometer at 7.30 when we get up shows that our bodies are telling us the truth and it's cold. We're at 0 degrees and we waste no time in getting sorted out and packed up ready to head back to Vancouver. With it being our last night in Canada we decide to treat ourselves and book an exquisite, boutique hotel in town. Now, fair enough, we haven't paid exquisite, boutique prices but you'd still expect to have some kind of quality. Sadly there's none, so the only recommendation for the Howard Johnson hotel in Vancouver we can make is to not go there.

We weren't going to let the poor hotel ruin our last day though so we headed off and explored some other areas of town including Davie VIllage and the waterfront. We've got great weather again so the stroll around town is very pleasant and the temperature is pretty much perfect. We're passing the time until the main feature of the night, which is an ice hockey match. We go with a couple of other people from the youth hostel and get a quick introduction into what we should be looking for and how the game works. The reputation of hockey games for fighting is pretty strong so we were hoping for some fisticuffs at some point and we had to wait for all of...5 seconds. Literally from the face-off (check out my grasp of terminology) there was a fight. Apparently it was leftovers from the previous day when the Vancouver Canucks played the Edmonton Oilers for the first match in the series. The game is pretty brutal but as with the baseball is governed more by the TV channels than the umpires. When the game had inexplicably stopped for a third time we asked what was going on and were told that it was an advert break. It was really good fun though and there's no doubting the North American's ability to put on a show. The fans are funny too with insults being traded as if they were in high school, the strongest one being, "Edmonton Sucks!" That told them. In the end Vancouver won 4-1 and we'd had a great night out.

24/7: Despite hotel's best efforts a good day

Sunday October 14th

So here it is, our final day in Canada. The last 6 weeks has absolutely flown by and we've seen and enjoyed so much that it doesn't feel like we've been here that long. On the other hand when we look back at photos from the start of the trip it seems like a lifetime ago we were in Halifax.

Our flight isn't until the evening so we decide to head back to our favourite part of Vancouver (once we'd found it) Granville Island. Enjoy the market again and buy a few supplies for the flight(s). Before we know it it's time to head to the airport and endure the nonsense that is American customs. We have to stopover in Honolulu so have to fill out American visa waivers and customs forms, etc. We also get funnelled into a separate part of the terminal and for a moment think that we've missed the chance to enjoy the Air Canada lounge that Andy had given us passes for. Thankfully we find the door to the promised land and have a good 90 minutes prior to the flight relaxing with some glasses of wine and free food. Well it's rude not to isn't it? Then that's it, time's up and we're boarding the flight. We can't recommend Canada highly enough and in particular the more out of the way places. Highlights have definitely been Algonquin Park and the walking in the Rockies, but we've surprised ourselves and enjoyed Toronto and Vancouver too, which for non-city people was a surprise. There's still plenty of things we'd like to do here so will be back at some point in the future. For now though the next stop is Australia...

24/7: 6634km, 6 provinces, 4 timezones. Canada...done!

Making the Most of

Wednesday October 10th

We'd hoped to spend a few days on Vancouver Island to round off our time in Canada, but sadly there were both high wind and rain warnings out for the areas we wanted to go to so rather than hang around in the city, nice though it was, we decide to head east to a place called Harrison Hot Springs. You'll never guess what the main draw here is. That's right, a beautiful lake, oh and some hot springs.

Before we head out of Vancouver though we're determined to find the real part of Granville Island that we'd been looking for yesterday and succeed. It's tucked underneath the bridge that you drive over and contains a great public market that has amazing amount of fresh fruit, veg, fish and meat. There's also some great places to eat and other studios and workshops that you can look around so we spend a happy couple of hours taking it all in before heading to a place just north of the city called Capilano Dam. Again this is on the salmon spawning route so what they've done here is construct a salmon ladder and you can watch all the salmon trying to jump their way up. We also see a couple of bald eagles as well flying around which is pretty impressive.

Harrison is another pretty unassuming place on the outside that gets better as you look around. We pitch our tent in an RV park on the edge of town. The lady at the park does look a little surprised when we ask for a tent site, she's even more amazed when we see her the next morning and ask for another night. It's not raining though and we've got a good pitch so why not.

24/7: Three more days of open country Canada

Thursday October 11th

We investigate the lake a little more this morning by having a stroll around and discover the source of the hot springs. The water reaches the surface at 70 degrees here so unsurprisingly its cordoned off but you still get the stench of sulphur and can also feel some of the warmer runoff in a pool next to it. After warming our hands in there we go and hunt for conkers and find loads, well quite a few and then Rach finds a big stick which helps her out a little more to persuade some from the trees. Luckily I wasn't the end of that kind of persuasion!

There's a main hotel complex in the town that you can enjoy hot pools and the like in, but for the greater unwashed you can go to the public pool that is also heated by the hot springs. Spend a very pleasant couple of hours dipping in and out of the warm water before we spend the night with the locals in the pub playing some pool and enjoying some really good food, again!

24/7: Perfect symmetry: sleep, eat, relax, eat, sleep

Friday October 12th

We begin to head back towards Vancouver after a lazy start to the day. We're pretty close to the American border at this point and a quick look at the map shows that there is actually a road, 0 Avenue, that runs right along it. Curious to see if there are rednecks patrolling the border with pitchforks and banjoes we head down. It turns out to be a very non-descript road that has a ditch separating the two countries. There's no way of driving across but if you were so inclined you could just stroll across, or if you had a 4x4 drive, into the USA. Decide to avoid the offroad option and drive along the bottom of Canada to a place called White Rock. Turn up at an RV site and get ourselves a campsite for the night. It's only when we ask why the gate to the field is shut that the lady realises that they're actually closed for tents but she's still happy to take our money and let us stay, so gracious! Anyone would have thought camping out in freezing temperatures was strange.

We head to the coast and have a good stroll along Crescent Beach to a wdillife sanctuary at Blackie Spit. With the migration for birds in full swing there were a lot of different species enjoying a rest and a drink before continuing their journey to warmer climes, much as we will do in a couple of days time.

24/7: Bright sun, blue sky, red sunset, curry!