Jun 2007

We boarded the Solway Lass tallship ready for a 3 day/3 night sailing adventure through the Whitsunday Islands! She was a beautiful ship that was built in 1902 in Holland and also worked in both World Wars. It was eventually sold to Sydney Harbour as a floating restaurant where it was restored and then finally purchased by Southern Cross Sailing Adventures where it now works in the Whitsunday Islands via Airlie Beach.

Not much was done the first night we set sail. It was 7 o'clock by the time we boarded so we mingled with our fellow ship-mates and got our eyes adjusted to the darkness. We finally set anchor around 10 pm in the passage between Whitsunday Island and Hook Island. We couldn't really see much because it was so dark so we just went to bed in our cabin below the ship deck.

The next morning we set sail again and travelled around the northern tip of Whitsunday Island and south along the eastern side. We anchored in Tongue Bay and 10-12 people at a time boarded the little dingy to be transported to dry land for a hike through the trees to Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven Beach has been voted the sexiest beach in Australia. I don't know what that means because I didn't think it was that great. However, the weather was cold and raining so maybe it could have been better if there was sunshine and a heat wave. The pure white silica sands and the blue green water was still amazing. We found a spot in the bushes to change into shorts, in the meantime getting bitten by millions of mozzies (mosquitoes). I have 15 mozzie bites on my legs alone! We walked along the shore and in the soft sand until it was time to head back to the ship for lunch. During lunch I spotted a brown sea turtle swimming near the surface.

After lunch we set sail again, this time north along the eastern side of Whitsunday Island and then up along the same side of Hook Island until we anchored at Luncheon Bay. The rope swing was introduced and a few brave souls decided to plunge into the water. It looked cold, just because the weather was cold and windy, but everyone who jumped in said the water was amazingly warm. I didn't trust them, but I wouldn't have jumped off the rope anyway.

The weather the next morning was even worse. It was raining a little harder and the wind was bitterly cold. We were supposed to go snorkelling, but I really didn't want to and not just because of the cold. Dying crossed my mind of course. But Aaron's puppy dog eyes convinced me to try it out. We grabbed our snorkelling gear and a noodle and headed out towards shore in the dingy. We hired wet suits for this event but forgot them in storage with our big bags. Damn. In just our bathing suits it was freezing. We waded into the water and I temporarily forgot that I hate water. I shivered the whole time. I managed to get over my fear for a little bit and actually try snorkelling. It was really cool! We saw lots of neat coral and bright coloured fish. To our surprise we were the last ones to get out of the water and head back to the ship - we didn't even want to brave the cold in the first place. Everyone else only stayed in the water for about 15 minutes. We were proud of our Canadian cold bloodedness.

Back on board the ship we stopped for lunch and then sailed to the next little cove, Maureen's Bay to do some more snorkelling. This time not so many people wanted to snorkel for a second time so I managed to convince someone to let me borrow their wetsuit. Aaron still went without a wetsuit - very brave. This time it was much warmer and my lips weren't blue for half an hour afterward. There were so many neat fish and coral. It was amazing! I even got to swim through some fish and touch them. Back on board the boat Aaron decided to play Tarzan and swung off the rope swing. Like a little kid he kept going back for more. It looked like fun but there was no way I was going in again.

Instead of using the engine to power the boat along the crew actually climbed up the masts and lowered the sails. We sailed with air power alone! It was so cool. We were actually travelling quite fast. We anchored again at Cid Harbour and stayed up late talking to some crazy Scottish and Australian people.

The next morning we got a ride in the dingy over to Sawmill Beach and then hiked through the trees to Loggers Beach. There were lots of cool stuff in this area. We explored the shore for small creatures and shells and were not disappointed. We saw lots of snails crawling up rocks and crabs scurrying underneath the rocks. I also spotted a black sea cucumber hiding under a rock. Of course I had to poke it with a stick and it sucked everything up like an accordian. We walked further along the beach and climbed some rocks where we spotted another sea turtle lazily floating along the surface, but he disappeared as quickly as we spotted him.

That was pretty much the end of our trip on the Whitsunday's. We tried to sail back to the Airlie Beach Harbour but the wind was not strong enough, so Captain Marcus succumbed to engine power so we would make it back in time. The crew was awesome and the sailing experience was great, despite the bad weather.

The next morning we made the long journey to Cairns and are thinking about doing some more trips out to the Great Barrier Reef and to the rainforest in Cape Tribulation before we begin our journey back home! Yay! There would be no better time to come home than just in time for Canada Day.

Byron Bay was a little chilly but we still braved the cold and tried to go in the water. There were crazy waves (well probably not) and I was scared but Aaron made me get in the water with him anyway. It was very chilly. Later we played frisbee on the beach and played fetch with a stray pooch. It made me miss my puppies. Aaron eventually got bored of frisbee and wrestled me to the ground and buried me in the sand.

Next stop was Noosa. Surrounding Noosa were beautiful everglades but we did not get to see them entirely. There was crappy weather here until the day we left, figures. For one day we took a day trip out to Beerwah to the Australia Zoo. This is where Steve Irwin started his career and where his wife and two kids continue his legend. It was a really cool place. We saw lots of crocodiles, giant tortoises, cassowaries, dingoes, kangaroos, koalas, snakes, lizards, elephants and tigers. I had a great time! We sat and watched the crocodile show where a guy fed a large croc by hand! It was awesome! I wouldn't want to run into one in the wild.

We settled into Hervey Bay next, our starting point for Fraser Island. We rented a Landrover Defender 4x4 and boarded the ferry over to the largest sand Island in the world. After a 30 minute ferry ride we set off through the trees down a narrow sandy road towards Eurong Beach Resort where we picked up some ice to put in our esky. Then we set off for the beach. It was so awesome driving along side the ocean on a sandy road that seemed to go on forever. We stopped at the starting point to the Lake Wabby trail and hiked about 45 minutes through bush until we reached the deepest lake on the island. However, it is slowly disappearing because of the impeding sandblows. It wasn't a very clear lake so we didn't swim in it. But all around were sand dunes! We climbed to the top of a dune and we could see the ocean so we started to head towards it. We came out a few hundred meters from where we parked the vehicle so we had to walk down the beach a little bit. We headed north towards the start of the Rainbow Gorge trail. Rainbow Gorge contained sand dunes of many different colours. It was really pretty to see all of the colours in one area.

We stopped for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Canadian backpacker special, and then drove further north to the largest creek on the island, Eli Creek. We had to cross the creek with our vehicle and I held my breath because it was deeper than the other creeks we had previously crossed. But we made it alive. We parked and walked up the creek. It was so clear and green and very cold. But like good Canadians we adapted to the cold temperature and continued on. After our trek up and down the creek we sat on the beach and watched the waves. Low and behold Aaron spotted a couple of humped-back whales playing in the distance. It was so cool! We watched them for a while until we could not see them anymore and then we headed out to find our campsite for the night. We picked a cozy little spot just off the dunes from the beach and under a couple of trees. We set up camp and then watched the colours of the ocean change with the sunset.

We bundled up cozy in our tents expecting to freeze to death during the night because someone had warned us about the temperature drop at night, but it was suprisingly warm. I didn't freeze at all and almost took off my socks. The next day we got up bright and early and watched the sunrise. It was so pretty. We had breakfast and then headed out towards Indian Head, a cliff outlooking the beach and the ocean. On the way Aaron let me drive the vehicle up the beach a little way. It was hard to drive on the wrong side of the vehicle, with the shifter on the left hand side, and then on the left hand side of the road. It was especially hard for me too since I haven't driven a vehicle since I left Canada in January. I was really nervous too crossing the creeks. I didn't want to crash or get stuck or drown for that matter.

We got to Indian head and hiked up the giant hill. At the top we looked at the waves crashing into the rocks at the bottom and spotted a couple of manta rays swimming below searching for food. They were so pretty. I wish we could have gotten closer to them. It started getting quite busy at the top of the cliff so we headed back to the vehicle. We drove further north to the Champagne Pools, which are pools filled with water from the ocean at high tide. They were very cold and filled with lots of interesting creatures. We could see little tiny black and white striped fish and a few other not so interesting fish. We saw lots of anemones and bugs and we even came across a few crabs. The waves were smashing violently against the rocks and into the pools and looked pretty cool, from a distance.

After looking for creatures stopped being so interesting, we hopped back into the Landrover and drove south where we had originally come. We stopped at Red Canyon and The Pinnacles which were giant mounds of red and yellow sand, respectively. The Pinnacles here were not nearly as neat as the Pinnacles in Western Australia. Further south we reached the S.S. Maheno shipwreck. It served in both of the world wars and eventually was sold to the Japanese in 1935 for scrap metal when it was deamed unsea worthy. However, a freak winter cyclone caused their boat to loose the Maheno and it eventually washed up on the eastern shore of Fraser Island. Since it was such a hassle to removed it and haul it back to Japan, they left it there. It was just lying on the side of the beach, all rusted and mysterious. We could walk right up to it and investigate but we could not climb on or in it. Oh well, it was cool just the same.

We headed back towards the Eurong Beach Resort and set up camp along the beach again. Then we headed into the resort 'town' and got some ice cream from the bakery. Back at the campsite a friendly dingo came along, however right when I had my pants around my ankles ready to do my business in the bush. It was a little frightening to look up and see a dingo looking at you. He was probably wondering what the heck I was doing. I quickly pulled up my pants and went back to the campsite. Aaron was telling him to go away but he seemed to want to play instead. He layed down and put his head between his paws to look cute but it obviously didn't work. He eventually took off and searched the beach for scraps. Later on another dingo came along but it didn't look too friendly. I didn't see it coming either, I was too busy taking a picture of a pretty laurikeet in the trees when I heard Aaron making noises back at the camp. Then I turned around and the dingo was looking at me again. He looked meaner and I didn't stick around by myself for very long.

Day three we got up early again and drove to the bakery for breakfast. Then we headed to Central Station which was only a big parking lot and a little museum. But lots of walking tracks started from this point. We decided to walk to Pile Valley. We walked through the rainforest and beside a really clear and calm creek. At the end of the trail we decided to walk up the road but soon discovered that it went the long way back to Central Station and that was too far. We turned around and eventually got kind of lost. Don't worry we found another trail that luckily led us back to our vehicle.

We drove to Lake Mackenzie, the most popular lake on the island. It was so clear and green but darn cold. There was no swimming involved. I tried to wear my bikini but that seemed to be too cold as well. Instead of hanging on the cold beach we hiked the whole way around the lake. We found some really cool things along the way. We saw this really weird land anemone (I don't know what it was but that is what I am calling it) and it secreted a gooey substance from its tentacles when you poked it with a stick. We also saw lots of turtle shells and even a rotting turtle, but no live ones.

It was now time to board the ferry back to the mainland. It was sad to leave Fraser Island, but we hadn't showered the whole time and we were very stinky. We were looking forward to showers back at the YHA.

I finally left Melbourne after stalling for 3 weeks. I needed to work a little bit but somehow things didn't work out. Not many people want to hire you for only 3 weeks. So I tried to keep myself busy and managed to get a job for the last week that I was there. I was only handing out fliers on the street but that is better than nothing. I learned a lot about human character while doing this job. Many people are rude. Most people would not even acknowledge my good mornings or hellos and instead would rudely scoot passed me in hopes that I wouldn't give them a flier. But, there were also some people who had some manners. During my time here I managed to find the weirdest people. I was talking on a payphone one day and this guy came along and was standing on the curb. I looked to see if he was waiting to use the telephone but it didn't seem like he was. I talked another 5 minutes and he stormed passed me into a liquor store and then stormed back out while screaming into my face "grievance!!!" I did not know what was going on. So I asked him if he needed to use the payphone because I was uncertain. He told me in no uncertain, and quite rude, terms that duuhhhh he needed to use the phone. I was pretty upset and no one else was on the street so I let him use the phone for fear of my life. There were many more crazy people in this place. Two days before I left for Sydney my ipod was stolen from my room. Nice. I was terribly upset and went straight to the police. But what are they gonna do. Apparently there was a serial theif in the hostel because another guy two doors down from my room had his ipod stolen as well and a girl on another floor had her locker broken into and her camera and passport stolen all in the same day. It was pretty strange because I was in the room most of the day. Note to theif: I hope you are enjoying my iPod or the dirty money you received from it. Karma will get you eventually.

I took the longest bus ever to Sydney. I left at 7 in the morning and arrived in Sydney at 8:30 at night. I was glad to finally get to my hostel, take a shower and go to bed. I could sleep though because I was too excited for the great event occurring the very next day. I was to pick up Aaron from the airport early in the morning! I hadn't seen him for nearly 5 months and I missed him terribly. He's here now and he's the greatest boyfriend that exists. He travelled almost 15,000 km just to be with me! I feel so special and I'm glad that he is here now.

We spent a week in Sydney taking in the sights. The first day we walked down to Darling Harbour, a posh little harbour development with lots of cool cafes including the Lindt Chocolate Cafe. We restrained ourselves from the chocolate for the first day, but don't worry we stopped there a few days later and stocked up on chocolate Lindt balls of all sorts! This first day we also headed up to the AMP Tower, the tallest building in Sydney. It is similar to the Calgary Tower and overlooks the city. We got a good perspective of the beautiful city and what it contained.

The next few days we chilled out so Aaron could get used to the time difference. After that we did a lot of walking around the city. We made it to the Sydney Opera House and took many photos of its unique architecture. We also walked to the Harbour Bridge, which is also a unique piece of architecture, and walked across it. In the middle of the bridge is the Pylon Lookout. We climbed to the top and gazed at the different view of the city as well as the Opera House.

The last day in Sydney we went on a tour of the Blue Mountains and the Jenolan Caves. The Blue Mountains were spectacular but nothing like our mountains. These are merely hills compared to our beautiful Rocky Mountains. We stopped at Echo Point to view the Three Sisters and travel down the valley in a cable car, the steepest of its kind. After that it was a long drive to the Jenolan Caves, but the view was extraordinary. Once at the caves we were led on a tour of the Lucas Cave. It was amazing! Much better than the other caves that I have toured in New Zealand and on the West Coast of Australia. It was a very long tour and had many different types of stalactites and stalagmites. Many pictures were taken.

Nice smile, Aaron!!

Tomorrow we are on starting our journey along the East Coast of Australia, next stop Byron Bay.