The Finale

Well while we are not quite home yet, i feel our normal routine life has really already kicked back in which means our trip around Australia is officially over! : (

While there was many times on our trip that I just wanted to come home, now that it is really happening I feel like I could easily do another lap. Of course my bank balance says otherwise and another part of me looks forward to getting back into some sort of a routine. We hope that after this trip, and all the fun we have had, reminds us on a regular basis to get out and explore what we can, when we can, because there is still so much more to see.

Looking back we have done some amazing memorable things (besides actually driving around the whole country) including bush walking, snorkelling, paddle boarding, boats, fishing, white water rafting, microlighting just to name a few and the memories and photos as well as this blog will always be great for us to look back on and show our kids and grand kids someday!

While there is so many things we would change if we could go back, you have to live and learn yourself not from what other people say and it ensures we will be well equipped for the next trip!

Our favourite places would have to be the Kimberley's and the amazing landscape it has to offer, it is like no other and until you see it you can not truly appreciate it. Other fav places would have to be Dorrigo, Mallacoota, Coral Bay, & Broome.

The best advice we could offer people wanting to do the big lap is that you don't need as much crap as you think you need, take what others travellers recommend/don't recommend with a grain of salt (we are all very different in our expectations and needs), visitor information centres are your best friend and finally but most important JFDI (just f$cking do it!)

Lastly thanks to anyone who read either 1 or 100 of our blogs and we look forward to catching up with everyone in the next couple of weeks.

Go Out, Make A Difference

Carly & Joel

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 208

23 August 2013

Today we were on a driving mission to get to Mackay. We made it after driving from 8.30-6.30 and we are going to spend the weekend here visiting Joel's sister. That is all.

 

Carly & Joel

Posted with Blogsy

Day 207

22 August 2013

We got up early to start heading back to Cairns. We had organized to have dinner with Joel's grandparents so we were driving back and maybe doing a few stops at Mossman Gorge etc on the way.

We had noticed a barra farm on the way up to the cape and decided to pull in here to have a look on the way back. It is just outside of Mossman and called Hook a Barra and we were determined that surely we could hook a barra here!

It is quite costly at $45 each per person for an hour of fishing, but it is one of those things that sounds expensive but once you do it (and as long as you catch something) it is worth it.

They provide the rod, reels and lures to get you started and give you advice if you need it. They start off by showing you a tank with some albino barramundi in it. I did not realise there was albino barramundi and also black skinned ones! Apparently also there is an aboriginal family in Mossman that had two albino kids... How weird would that be! Anyway off the subject....they have a pool at the very front which houses 1500 barramundi ranging in size from 3kg to 9kg!

Started off on a popper and early signs were really good! Few fish had a go at it but for some reason they kept spitting it out. Started to get frustrated after a while as they went quiet but the lady running the show said we should try a white soft plastic and she would berley up too just to increase the activity. Within the first couple of casts with the new lure Joel was on! The barra was jumping and carrying on and putting up a great fight! Eventually pulled it in and it would have been about 4kg.

Released this one and put lure back in the water...bang another one...this fish was awesome, jumped out of the water...(look closely I did actually capture it in this photo!)

Gave up a good fight but Joel pulled him in too, he would have been 80cm and probably about 6-7kg. Was a whopper! Even though it was at a farm and obviously our chances were highly increased it was so much fun! We then wanted to catch one to take home so we were taken to a production pond with 1-3kg fish in it and I caught a 2 kg barra which we ended up taking home with us. $14 a kilo for any you want to take home.

A guy in Port Douglas fillets them for you for $5 so we went in to see him and had lunch at the marina while waiting for our fillets.

Made it back to cairns and set up again at our regular big 4 and headed to Joel's grandparents for dinner. Had a beautiful dinner of rissoles and potato bake which Joel was very happy with! Spent the night chatting about old times and travelling, was really nice to catch up with family we don't see very often!

Carly & Joel

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 206

21 August 2013

Last night we were awoken by a small animal (tree kangaroo, bandicoot, large rat this is still debatable) eating our jalapeño and cheddar corn chips (really nice chips that were introduced to us by Joel's aunty Helen)! We got out of the tent, shined lights in its face, threw a pair of thongs at it and it wasn't giving the chips up! We gave up and let it go for it and went back to sleep while it rustled around in our bin.

Today we were just going to chill out and have a look around Cape Tribulation. There isn't a great deal to do here in the way of extra exciting activities but this is the home of the jungle surfing but we gave it a miss this trip. The other thing there is lots of here is walks so we had a little look at a few of these.

First was 200m north of our campground at a gorgeous beach lined with coconut palm trees. There is also a boardwalk here that takes you up to look over the beach. The rainforest here of course is spectacular and well worth a look on any walks.

We then did a few more boardwalk walks south of our campground which were nice also. There are lots of maps around to show you what you can do and it really isn't a big town so you won't miss it if you just drive up each road. We stopped in at Mason's which sells emu, kangaroo, camel, buffalo and crocodile burgers but gave it a miss and checked out their swimming hole instead. Gold coin donation and you can check this hole out... Look it was nothing spectacular but if its a really hot day and you need a swim this is a safe spot and there is a rope swing!

This afternoon we booked in to do a tour and tasting at an exotic fruit farm. So we headed to the farm after having a few beers at the pub at PK's and sat down to a mini presentation and tasting of 10 exotic fruits.

Well there was a mixed bag here, there was some we liked and others we absolutely disliked! Durian was one we disliked! It stank like smelly socks and of tasted just as bad!

They gave us a tour of the farm and if you are interested in exotic fruit or fruit in genera you will probably like it but for $25 it wasn't the best value tour we have been on. But interesting none the less.

Afternoon spent at the bar for dinner and then met some boys that had just been up the cape and were having a fire at their campsite so spent the night chatting to them before bed.

Carly & Joel

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 205

20 August 2013

Today we were heading off and going to Cape Tribulation. We had to head off fairly early because we had booked a tour to fly a microlight just outside of Cairns! Originally Joel had always wanted to do this, we saw it in WA and since we found it here he thought he would just go for it. We arrive at the airstrip and one was just coming in for landing....I tell ya they do not look that sturdy in the air! Joel started to freak out a bit and decided we should both go for half an hour rather than him going for an hour by himself. The instructor talked us into doing this as he has just done a dual flight with another couple so he was able to do both of us together.

Checked out the planes, he explained how they operate, we signed out life away to say these things can cause serious death injury etc and we were putting on our helmets and headsets and jumping into the back seat!

And we were off! They drive up the runway pretty slow and I was like oh yea this is alright...then he suddenly turns around and pedal to the metal we are bouncing along this dusty airstrip until we go up up and away! I love that feeling when you take off whether its in a jet or a little plane like this...love it! My instructor told me I mustn't be scared because people who are tense crush him with their legs cuz they are squeezing so hard and are really tense. I was loving it, we flew out over Port Douglas, saw a prawn farm, the Sheraton hotel with its crazy pool, Palmer golf course (another of Clive Palmers), could see Joel flying beside me in his little microlight...

Out over the ocean, saw turtles, dolphins, rays, and in the estuaries we even spotted a croc! Past a waterfall and back around to come into land again....bumpy landing but we made it back in one piece!

Fantastic! Joel was a little sick from it, but he said his instructor was doing crazy spins and 360's and stuff so he got a bit airsick! But it was a good experience!

Fun times had we continued onto Port Douglas and had a quick look around the shops there before heading to Mossman where we visited the Mossman Gorge centre, we had a great lunch there, was beautiful! Didn't do the walk to the gorge as we decided we would do on the way back. Then to Daintree Village where we had a little look around the shops and decided to do a Daintree River Cruise to go croc spotting.

Tour was really good, guide was very informative and knew just about everything there is to know about crocs and the ecosystem here. Saw the big bad croc who owns the joint...scarface....da dum da dum it was a pity he was in the water cuz you can't really see the sheer size of him...

Then lumpy who is apparently a lot smaller than scarface but I tell ya he looked pretty big on the bank!

Lizzy the queen croc and a few one year olds lazing around too.

Birds, butterflies, all sorts of wildlife was to be seen on this boat tour and the best thing we were the only ones on the boat!

Croc spotting over, was a good thing to do before heading further into croc country, makes it very real! Over the barge that crosses the Daintree River, very similar in distance to the Noosa barge.

Then drove straight up to Cape Tribulation and checked into to our backpackers camping spot at PK's (the guide from Ragin Thunder had suggested this place). Is a hippy looking place as most backpackers are, the camping area was nice and the main attraction is the bar here! Went for a quick walk to the beach and chucked the frisby around. Finished off with a few beers and ordered one of their tight ass Tuesday pizzas for dinner. Good times...

Carly & Joel

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 204

19 August 2013

This morning we had planned to check out Cairns city as our white water rafting tour went through there a little so we thought we'd go back today to check it out.

Cairns is like shoppers paradise I think, just shops everywhere and different ones, sort of similar to the Gold Coast with all it's tax free shops etc. I'm sure most people reading this are from Qld and have been to Cairns so I won't go into much detail here!

We hit some balls at the golf range just out of town...you could tell we haven't hit golf balls for a while! Shocking!

We then headed towards the sky rail which we thought we might do; however Joel has already been on it and it is upwards of $70 each so not your cheap sky rail! Just before you come to the sky rail there is an aboriginal cultural centre which we weren't really sure what it was about but decided to go in for a look. There is a gallery with art and gifts and a restaurant that you can visit if you don't want to actually go into the centre. So we checked this out first and decided to go and ask what the rest of it was about.

The centre has all different activities/shows throughout the day that lead from one to the next. So we just arrived in time to see the didgereedoo show which goes through how to play, how they make them and then the guy plays a couple of numbers with backing tracks. It was awesome! The second song he played there was like a doof doof bass in the background and he played along with it, sooo cool! I took a video of it so if anyone's interested I can show them when we get back.

Next was a history show which shows how the aboriginal people believe the world came about. It was interesting...and it was also a light show which was really good and kept everyone entertained. They speak in their native language and you have headphones that translate it to whatever language you need.

Next to a bush tucker and weapons tour where a young aboriginal guy talked about what weapons they used to hunt and to punish and bush tucker you can eat and use for medicinal purposes. Then to a dance show where they danced in their native costumes and then got some of the crowd to go up and dance too. They then lit a fire by rubbing the sticks together....Joel was picked to have a crack at it and eventually got the fire going (he was pretty skeptical but it worked)!

He then had to blow on the grass where it was smoking and whola...fire!

Next our personal favourite...boomerang and spear throwing! First spear throwing and they show you the technique and then you can have a go. I of course was shocking at it as you can tell from my technique here!

Boomerang throwing lesson was really good, we enjoyed this heaps! I have never actually seen one thrown and come back but I saw it with my own eyes, it actually happens! Haha I of course couldn't do this but I did throw it a couple of times where it slightly started coming back. Joel was really good at it, the guy showing us how to do it actually thought he might be able to get it back and catch it but didn't quite happen! If you catch it they let you keep the boomerang! No such luck so I bought one instead so we can hone our boomerang skills....now I just need to find a very large paddock to throw it in!

There was also rock painting, weaving, didgereedoo lessons, face painting and heaps more. It was such a well thought out and organized centre and I would recommend it to anyone really. (Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park)

Rest of the afternoon was spent with a few beers at the Cairns Harbour.

Carly & Joel

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 203

18 August 2013

Awoke to another beautiful day in the tropics, man have we been lucky with weather the last couple of months.

Morning started pretty slow just meandering around Cairns and completing mundane tasks like grocery shopping!

1pm we had some lunch and started packing our backpack for our white water rafting adventure! Bus picked us up outside the caravan park with rafts in tow and we then picked up 6 other people who were coming on the tour too. The bus drove us to the top of the rapids on the Barron River and we were given our life jacket, helmet and paddle. Kitted up and ready to roll...

Jump in the boat, there was 4 people and two guides in our boat so not overcrowded which was good. Guide gives us the rundown on the commands he will be shouting at us down the rapids... Forward paddle, backward paddle, get down, on the job, over and hold on. Told what to do if we full out of the boat etc etc and then we are off!

The first one was just a little rapid but still fun as you get flung down and then up! I was really good at the hold on command! While I had prepared myself to at some stage go overboard, I wasn't going without a fight! Haha. Few bigger rapids and lots more water being splashed up, spinning around, going backwards, side wards through the rapids, it was great fun! There is a few calmer pools where you can jump out of the boat and float down...this was so cool, the pull of the water is pretty strong so you just have to put your feet up and lie into it and let the water take you! Hardest thing for me is pulling my ass back into the boat!

You then go down a rapid where the water is flowing in both directions and creates a sort of a wave the boat can just sit in. They call it surfing but pretty much you paddle up into this wave and then it flings you around and absolutely drenches you with water, boat fills up with water, try's to drag ya under then pops you back up. So forward paddle, forward paddle, forward paddle, then get down!! We did this quite a few times and every time the guide tried to make it more likely that we would fall out! He even let air out of the boat to make it more bendy! Eventually he got one guy out of the boat (great photos of this!) so he was happy with that and the rest of us were happy cuz we stayed in the boat!!

Overall it was so fun and the guides were great! We would definately recommend this tour (Ragin Thunder) to any beginner rafters...if you have been before you will probably want something more challenging and they have harder rapids too but this was a great first timers run! Loved it! And the scenery as you are coming down is great too.. Rainforest everywhere and in the calm waters it is very tranquil.

Afterwards they show you all the photos they took while you were rafting and you can buy all the photos for $30 on a USB. I haven't put them on the computer yet so will have to post the best photos in another blog....sorry! There are some goodies and there are some shockers!!

Buggered after our big arvo we spent some time in the spa at our resort and hit the sack early!

Carly & Joel

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 202

17 August 2013

This morning we got up and everything was wet, not sure if it rained last night or it was just dew but we had to wait for the sun to come out to dry everything out. In the meantime we had showers and I did the dishes in the camp kitchen. We never used these much when we went around oz, mainly cuz we had our own kitchen in the van but they are good when you are living out of your car!

 

We still had to work out where to stay in Cairns which led us to an hour of trawling through wotif, last minute etc to see what was available. We are shocking at the moment for looking at a park and saying well they charge you $50 for a site, may as well stay in a motel for $80, well if we stay in a motel for $80, may as well stay in a cheap resort for $120, oh well if we spend $120, may as well spend....I think you get the picture! So we did this all morning from the slums to the casino to a cheap park to the Marriott and finally decide the Big 4 near Joel's family was going to be the most convenient. And they have mini golf, water park, 3 pools, spas, trampolines, outdoor cinema, gym and more!

 

Packed up and headed to the Big 4 and as we were a little early to check in we decided to have brekky at the cafe...now this was not the best start to our Big 4 experience, the brekky was fairly awful but I can assure you everything else about the park has been spot on. Checked in, got taken in a golf buggy and shown around the park, then got a rundown on all the tours, booked some tours and about an hour later we set up and were relaxing at our camp site! Staff here are fantastic and if you have kids they will love you forever if you bring them here!

 

Rest of the afternoon we spent with Joel's Nan, Pop, Aunty and cousins. We had a great time listening to Nan reliving the trip they did around Australia 20 years ago and comparing where we had been and what we had seen!!

 

Tomorrow checking out all the Big 4 attractions and in the afternoon...white water rafting! Yea boi!

 

Carly & Joel

Posted with Blogsy

Day 201

16 August 2013

Dragged ourselves out of our comfy bed, had another shower for the road, packed up our belongings and waved goodbye to luxury!

Today we were heading towards Cairns, we didn't have too much of a plan, we were just going to try and get there and that was about it! Drove through some nice towns today... I did not realise how big Townsville was! Cardwell Ranges were very picturesque and Cardwell is a great looking town with every house having a new roof! But right on the water too, might have to stop here on the way back. I think if you haven't driven through Qld before you would say it is green and mountainous in most places, sugar cane, cane trains, trains and banana trees would have to be the stand out features of a drive in north Qld and there is no shortage of towns, petrol stations and bloody roadworks!!

We left at 9am this morning and by 5pm we still hadn't made it to Cairns! Roadworks held us up at every corner...so we are just outside of Cairns for tonight at a lovely park and tomorrow we will go into Cairns and visit Joel's grandparents! For some reason Cairns is really busy at the moment, lots of places booked out so hopefully we will be able to find somewhere to stay! Grey nomads are taking over the world!

Until tomorrow.

Carly & Joel

Posted with Blogsy

Day 200

15 August 2013

Last day in Airlie : (, we are dreading going back to the tent tomorrow night! Haha This morning there was some painters lurking around wanting to paint the staircase near our apartment so we thought we better go out and let them do it.

Decided to check out Cedar Falls just outside of Airlie today as had read that they can be pretty spectacular and you can swim at the bottom of the falls also. The turn off to Cedar Falls is about half way between Proserpine and Airlie and then another 14km down this road. It was quite a nice little country drive and we pulled up at the falls ready for a nice swim and the sound of waterfalls. Clearly we should check our seasons because obviously Airlie hasn't seen much rain for a long time! It was dry as a bone which means the water below is not flowing which means it looks and smells awful which means we weren't going to be swimming! It was a really nice spot though and when the water is actually flowing this would be a don't miss it oppurtunity! We probably could have missed it but it filled in our morning anyway.

Headed back into Airlie to get our swim in at the lagoon. Has been beautiful weather here, just perfect, just warm enough to swim but not too hot that you are dying! Spent a good hour or so soaking up the sun and paddling around the lagoon...pure bliss. Went for a bit of a wander around the shops, really just killing time hoping the painters would be finished. Had some lunch at a health cafe near the lagoon, had a chicken and spicy mayo wrap, banana bread and mango smoothie...not sure how healthy that is but hey!

Headed back to the apartment to find the door taped up and paint everywhere so turns out we had not killed enough time! Only thing to do was to head to the pub and have a few drinks! On our way back from our tour yesterday I noticed the Jubilee Tavern so we headed there for a poke and drinks. Now I know why I haven't played the pokies in a long time! Waste of money!

Back to the apartment for our last night, we watched lots of TV, TV in bed, cooked in the full kitchen, had showers where we didn't have to wear thongs, and before going to bed looked at the pretty lights of Airlie from our balcony one more time.

Carly & Joel

 

Posted with Blogsy

Day 199

14 August 2013

Alarm goes off at 5.30 and I am up and excited! Joel is not so enthusiastic but he will come around in time...probably when the sun comes up!

Run around all morning getting ready for our tour! Pick up and drop off from your accommodation is included in the tour price so thought we may as well take advantage and also Shute Harbour charges you to park in their carpark so take the bus if you can.

Dropped off at the Harbour, get our tickets for the boat and head on down. There was approx 60 people on the tour with us which wasn't too bad and heaps of room to spread out on the boat. Bottom level is comfy seats, tables and lounges and top level is plastic chairs but a great view and fresh air. We went from the top to bottom and back again all day to get the full experience. Haha

First stop was Whitehaven Beach which was about an hour from Shute Harbour. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea is provided so we had a spot of morning tea on the way to our first stop. Saw a whale cruising around the islands and started to slow at a beautiful white beach set up with umbrellas and volleyball court....I thought wow look they have set up all of this for us...turns out it was some other tour but still a great spot! The boat can't pull up at the beach so the little tenders take 10 at a time to the beach from the boat. The water colour was amazing! And the sand was very white reminded me of Esperance, how lucky we are to have this on our doorstep!

They give you an hour and a half to frolick on the beach, they provide sports equipment etc to use and one of the crew takes you on a walk to a lookout if you want to do that. We decided just to soak up the beach...went for a quick swim...it could have been a little bit warmer but we couldn't complain about the surroundings! Threw the frisby round a bit and drowned our camera in the water (won't turn on, hence no photos for last couple of days, lucky we have 2)!

Lunch on the way and next stop Hook Island, here was our snorkelling stop. There is a resort on hook island but apparently it was up for sale for years and no one bought it so its abandoned now and they are going to knock it down. Tour provides snorkels and flippers if you don't have them. Tenders take you across to the beach again and you are then free to snorkel from the beach at your leisure. It was fantastic, took me right back to the Ningaloo Reef, but better I think, probably just saying that cuz I'm a Qlder! Haha but fantastic colour, fish, different types of coral etc. Again the water was a little on the cold side but we still had a good time. The crew feed fish just off the beach so you can snorkel with masses of fish swimming around you, pretty cool. From this spot they also do a semi submersible boat tour for people who don't want to get wet and snorkel but we decided to check this out too! Was very cool and they took us to a place called coral garden and it was really amazing, all the types and colours again were just incredible! Unfortunately the photos show nothing of what you actually see.

Last stop - Daydream Island! This place is so great! Just like a little city on an island! They just drop you off here and you can choose what you want to do. The choices range from...paddle boarding, kayaking, waterskiiing, mini golf, tennis, day spa, pools, spa, bars, shops and restaurants! We really just walked around to both ends of the island and ran into a few gems... Reef island is such a great idea, through the middle of the island is a man made reef with sharks, stingrays, fish, starfish and coral. I could watch these animals for hours, so cool.

Had a drink at one of the bars, checked out the wedding chapel...what a cool place to get married...if anyone is looking for somewhere!

Outdoor cinema...

Relaxing hammocks and kangaroos carrying joeys...could this place get any better?! We will definitely be coming back here for a holiday!

Back to the Harbour and we were absolutely exhausted! Early night, great day had by all!

Carly & Joel

 

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy