Round the World trip - Australia, first half of 2008

 

(Part 1)

G'day folks!

 

How are you going, as the Aussies say? I'm sitting in Melbourne state library taking advantage of their free internet, but it's hot hot hot outside and the beach is calling, so I’m going to start this email, before meeting Scottish Ryan, German Nils and English Nat on St Kilda beach!

 

Last time I emailed I had just arrived in Sydney in mid-December. Well, I spent a month in the Sydney area packing in lots of random activities as per usual, staying at a mixture of hostels, some with free pancakes (make it yourself, as much as you like), and all with the usual mad mix of nationalities, ages, backgrounds, etc. I visited many must-see sights... Sydney Opera House, the beautiful harbourside Botanic Gardens, Harbour Bridge, the Zoo with my first sight of Australia's weird and wonderful wildlife, the Sky Tower, and generally dandering round for hours every day!

 

I also got back running when I had energy left from all that walking, taking part in a couple of Orienteering races (weekly in different parts of Sydney) which are popular across Oz. You are given a map with 30 ‘controls’ (wee buckets you have to find with numbers and letters on them) each worth 10-30 points, and you have 45 minutes to find as many as possible and write the letters on a card to prove you're found them. The maximum score you can get is 600; my first effort was 320 and my second effort was 470, which was 14th out of 66 in my category! Not bad, I thought, without local knowledge or race experience! I survived running through a massive spider's web when I took a shortcut through the bush; fortunately no retaliation from Mr Spider.

 

As Christmas approached, hostels became booked up and expensive, with Sydney being the place to be during the festive period; enter my saving grace - my wonderful Sydney friends Liz, Emily and Tessa! I stayed with them and their families for about 2 1/2 weeks, saving me an absolute fortune, enjoying the home comforts and getting treated to great home cooked meals. We savoured plenty of barbecues sitting outside during the warm Aussie summer evenings, and the girls showed me many of Sydney's sights which were harder to reach by public transport. I adopted their families for the festive period this year, and they were as good as gold and spoiled me lots. I spent Christmas Day with Em and family, getting up at 7am for the opening of presents and Christmas lunch at her grandparents, which was all lovely. Em got me a great present - jet boating around Sydney harbour with 360 degree spins and generally getting very wet, which was lots of fun.

 

 

I caught the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day and saw Sydney Harbour packed with pleasure crafts. Between Christmas and New Year, I joined Tessa and her friends on a trip 6 hours up the east coast to Scott's Head, staying at Adam's family holiday home. It was a cracking few days spent lounging around on the beach by day, and by night hitting the beach again armed with guitar and drinks, lying back gazing at the super clear night's sky. New Year's Eve, a crowd of us joined the masses at Sydney Harbour, and we admired one of the best fireworks displays in the world, set off from the bridge, skyscrapers and floats in the harbour; hello 2008!

 

2008 started where 2007 left off, with more turbo tourism, and a relaxed day at the cricket. I went to the 3rd day of the 2nd test between Australia and India at Sydney Cricket Ground, and I enjoyed a few pies and beers in the company of Em's brother, dad and friends. Also, on New Years Day I met up with university friends Rosie, Aoife and Shashi on a packed Coogee Beach, followed a few days later with a cheap dinner at the Edinburgh Castle bar; it was really cool the four of us meeting up Down Under!

 

Other trips/overnighters included to the Blue Mountains, Manly beach, the high cliffs and secluded bays of the little visited Royal National Park. My fantastic sister and brothers' going away present was to buy me the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, which was a brilliant experience on a blue sky day in grey boiler suits to blend in with the bridge, and attached every inch of the way by harness and cable! Unfortunately I stretched my back with all the ducking and diving under low points, which left me rather immobile for a week and unable to bend down to put socks on! Obviously the 1439 steps was too much for me to handle in my old age!

 

I spent a couple of nights in Australia's capital Canberra doing the cultural thing, on the way to Melbourne. Due to the Australian Open tennis being on, I stayed in 4 different hostels during the first 4 nights; I ended up staying in a total of 7 Melbourne hostels! I had a ground pass for the tennis, but it rained and there was no play all day! I traded it in for another day and the sun shone brightly and I caught a good few big names - James Blake, the Woodies and Pat Cash in the legends doubles, the Williams sisters and Jamie Murray in the doubles. Tessa came for a weekend and we watched Roger Federer getting beaten by the eventual winner Djokovic; it was a cool experience on Centre Court, but it was disappointing by King Roger!

 

I did a couple of wee trips from Melbourne to Phillip Island with its famous little penguin parade; I walked a section of the Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Angelsea, mostly along beaches; and I also committed to lots of early morning beach runs in preparation for a 10km race in Melbourne. I achieved my goal of running under 40 minutes (just), I came 19th out of 90 in my category, and I got a free post-race pancake breakfast, so I was a happy lad all round.

 

I stayed at a class wee hostel for a few days after the race, which had a free Alice & Wonderland themed party the night I arrived, and croquet on artificial grass in its front garden - very sophisticated! Then I went to Tasmania for 10 days. On my flight over I got chatting to the guy beside me, who bought me a beer and offered me a lift into Hobart - result! After getting my bananas confiscated at customs (the sniffer dog did its job well), we hit the road. The man had pre-warned me he was low on petrol and he wasn't wrong; we started chugging along the highway and pulled off in a desperate bid to find a petrol station in the pouring rain. Shortly after we ground to a halt, but thankfully the area looked promising and the guy found petrol while I guarded the pick-up truck. Back on the road he dropped me at my hostel - what a service!

 

Tassie was quality all round and over the 10 days I did the usual Dave activities - running, lots of walking, climbing 3 mountains and running back down, swimming in gorges and paradise beaches, a couple of big nights out in Hobart with the locals (Emily put me in contact with her good friends whilst she lived in Tassie), and the latest activity... hitch-hiking! After scouting for the chat on this, I decided to give it a shot, armed with my sign ‘Hobart please? I'm Irish!’, which after a long wait for my first lift out of town and fine tuning of technique, worked really well! The latest count on the number of free lifts short and long I've caught is 15, with only one ‘slightly’ dodgy ride! There are some beautiful spots in Tassie, and I also saw lots of wildlife - kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, wombats, possums, echidnas and Tasmanian devils (only in reserve).

 

I just journeyed along the Great Ocean Road on my way from Melbourne to Adelaide, with a mixture of walking, buses and a little hitching. The Twelve Apostles were very impressive, the water was freezing, the flies were crazy (thank goodness I had a fly net), and the weather was good for the all important photos. Now I'm in Adelaide after staying at a Jail hostel last night, I fly to Perth today (26/2/08), I will spend March on the west coast, April up top between Broome and Darwin, and around Alice Springs, and May down the east coast, before flying to New Zealand from Sydney on the 2nd of June. Lots of adventure ahead!

(Part 2)

 

The last update was at the end of February when I was in Adelaide, 1 1/2 months ago. During that time I have changed my thoughts, plans and itinerary countless times through chatting with lots of random people along the way. A mixture of good luck and organisation has worked out very well in the end, with everything going smoothly.

 

I had an action packed few days in Adelaide, one day going to the massive Clipsal 500 car racing event on the city streets, with Murray Walker showcasing a selection of the world's finest sportscars. I toured Australia's number one wine growing region, the Barossa Valley, sampling fine wines from four different wineries. I also indulged in some delicious chocolate on a free tour of Haigh's Chocolates factory - yummy! I could get used to weekends like this!

 

I flew to Perth on the 26th February after a minor accommodation emergency, with the city's hostels all full and going through a major boom. It seems Perth is the place to be, with loads of work and the perfect weather attracting and keeping the backpackers. I hastily joined an excellent scheme called couchsurfing (CS) (www.couchsurfing.com) which I'd heard about on the grapevine. People offer their couches or spare rooms to travellers in need of a place to stay and who would like to meet the locals. The hosts don't receive any money in return, but get to meet people from around the world and learn about their cultures. Many hosts have couchsurfed on their travels previously and are just giving something back for the help and hospitality they received. 

 

I arranged to stay with a guy called Luke who had couchsurfed in England and France; he lived with his parents, who were chilled with him hosting total randoms! He picked me up from the airport, lent me his bike and snorkel the next day for a trip to beautiful Rottnest Island, I savoured some home cooking in the evenings, and I got my laundry done. Luke played Aussie Rules football for a local team and invited me along to a training session - this was a super cool experience! He also invited me along for a true Aussie camping weekend in the Margaret River region with his friends. This was great fun, sleeping in swags (Aussie style tents), going swimming beside the remote campsite's river, camp fires, yummy food, cricket, kayaking, supa golf, wine tasting, chocolate tasting…. the list goes on! It was an all round tremendous experience.

 

After investigating tours in Western Australia (WA) I realised they were going to cost an arm and a leg, so a short stint of hard graft was in order. I juggled the order and dates of my itinerary and reckoned I could squeeze in 4 weeks of work, so I went on a mission one Friday and successfully lined up a labouring job starting on the following Tuesday. It involved shifting grain using blower machines, transferring wheat, barley and canola from road train trucks carrying over 50 tonnes, to containers which would be shipped overseas to the likes of Japan, India and China. It was hot dusty work, long days starting at 7am while admiring the sunrise, and finishing some days after 7pm to admire the sunset! I packed in 200 hours of work in 4 weeks, even with a day off for St Paddy's Day and the long Easter weekend off - a job well done!

 

During my intermittent free time I explored Perth, checking out its fantastic beaches, King's Park with its superb views over the city skyline and Swan River, I visited friends and family I'd never met before, and I spent a cool day in the Swan Valley playing supa golf and tasting the usual assortment of chocolate, wine, cheese, jams, honey and rum! St Paddy's Day was good entertainment in Northbridge, with a wellie toss competition, Irish dancers and the odd pint of Guinness!

The reward for March's hard grind was a jam packed month of tours in April.  First up was a 5 day tour of the southwest corner of WA, with many great breaches on the Indian and Southern Oceans, mystical limestone caves, towering forests with canopy walkways and tree climbs, and a contrasting range of mountain climbs. I was in a group of about 20 young people and 10 different nationalities, from Brazilian to South African, Welsh primary school teacher to rugby league physio. 

I returned briefly to Perth and went to a university school disco night out with a Canadian friend, before I was off galavanting again on a weeklong trip to the red centre of Australia. Alice Springs is 3700km from Perth, 2800km from Sydney, 1500km from its closest city Darwin, and 440km from its number one attraction Uluru (Ayers Rock)!! This truly is outback Australia, and a long way from anywhere. I booked myself on the very popular 3 day Rock Tour, with 6am hostel pick-up setting the scene for what was to come. A large part our time was spent driving through the vast expanse of Central Australia, with random stops for lunch, bush toilet, picking up firewood from the side of the road for the evening campfire, and ofcourse the highlights of Uluru, Kata Tjuta and King's Canyon. We walked round the circumference of Uluru (it's a mighty big rock), and gazed at its changing colours over dinner at sunset and breakfast at sunrise - all very cool. 

We went for 3 hour hikes in the crazy landscapes of Kata Tjuta and King's Canyon, where tourists die on a regular basis of heat exhaustion, dehydration and complacency! Our tour guide advised us to drink a litre of water an hour and we obeyed. At our campsites we slept by the campfire in swags (Aussie style tents) under a million stars, which is not something you do every day! On our second night our guide treated us to kangaroo tail, which we cooked and prepared on the campfire; I enthusiastically helped with the carving and eating of it, and I felt like a real bush man! It was actually pretty tasty after getting over how weird the idea of it was. Rounding off the tour was the opportunity to do a short camel ride for only $5; how could I resist! So after my slightly stubborn single humped beast stood up, we trotted to the end of the paddock before I experienced the rather bumpy ride of a running camel on the return leg - all very amusing! I also got to pat their pet dingo and feed young kangaroos through a fence.

I'm back in Perth now for the weekend visiting and staying with friends and family, before going back on tour on Monday up the west coast to Broome and Darwin - I cannot wait! Then I'm exploring the east coast highlights in May and departing Sydney for New Zealand on the 2nd of June; exciting times ahead!

(Part 3)

I'm taking advantage of free internet here in my Wellington hostel before catching the ferry back to South Island. I watched Ireland lose to the mighty All Blacks in soaking wet, windy and cold conditions, which was a bit of contrast to the nice hot sunny conditions of Western Australia two months ago!

 

So, rolling back to tour month, where my hard earned cash from March was all blown on crossing this vast state. The first day of our Perth to Broome tour involved driving for 370 miles in 7 hours, which was a taster for what to expect during the 10 day tour, and it puts a 30 minute drive to Belfast in perspective!

 

We still fit in a few fun activities on this first day - the crazy Pinnacles desert, a lunchtime swim in the beautifully warm Indian Ocean, and sandboarding. The latter involved a massive sand dune, your sand board and candle wax, with the principle being that the faster you wanted to hurtle down the dune either sitting or standing, the more you wax your board! I was in my element putting maximum wax on, finding the biggest dune, flying down it, running back up, and doing it all again many times until I was exhausted!

 

After another long drive with swims in the freshwater gorges of Kalbarri National Park and the super salty waters at Shell Beach, we arrived at Monkey Mia for some close encounters with dolphins. The tourists packed the water's edge as the dolphins came to within a few feet of us to eat fish from the hands of the conservationists and willing volunteers from the audience, which was pretty cool!

Onwards and northwards we stayed at the stunning beaches and turquoise waters of Coral Bay and Exmouth, where we sun baked, relaxed, swam and snorkelled on the west coast's equivalent of the Great Barrier Reef, the Ningaloo Reef. The GBR is a 2 hour boat journey to get to, while to get to the Ningaloo Reef you waddle off the beach into the water with your snorkel and you're there! I spent the morning exploring the reef and chasing fish and turtles until I was exhausted and bronzed up on the beach - sweet!

Another day of driving inland brought us to the spectacular and remote Karijini National Park, where we camped under the stars in swags for 3 nights. We spent 2 days trekking through and swimming in the endless gorges; this place was the highlight of the tour. Unfortunately we had a very accident prone group; one chap tumbled several metres down rocks landing in a shallow pool, escaping with only a sore head and a fractured hand, even though blood poured from his head. This incident required 2 lengthy journeys to the hospital for our tour guide, and a third visit was necessary after a 60 year old lady in our group tripped in camp and needed stitches in her leg! Fair play to Mr Tour Guide for keeping jolly and patient.

One and a half days of driving later, we finally arrived in hot and humid Broome. I had a few days to re-organise myself and my gear, and chill on iconic Cable Beach with the warmest waters I experienced around Australia. My final and most anticipated tour was 9 days through the wild and rugged Kimberley Region, from Broome to Darwin. The company I chose was designed for small groups (9) of adventurous young people, where a 4WD vehicle is a must; I couldn't wait.

A large part of the trip was spent travelling along the unsealed Gibb River Road, driving through rivers small and large, and checking out the many dramatic waterfalls. We went trekking and swimming almost twice a day, and camped in remote bush locations away from the crowds. We collected firewood daily, we used the campfire each night and morning for cooking, heating water for coffee and dishes, and for keeping cosy. We had a great guide who chased wildlife to catch and show to us, and took the adventurous/mad ones like myself climbing and jumping (into water pools) at every opportunity! I had an amazing time and I was in my element in this special and little visited region.

I had a short but fun time in Darwin, visiting Litchfield Park with yet more huge waterfalls to frolic in, and I had close encounters with snakes and crocodiles (in a safe way)! I flew to the east coast, where I had an exciting combo of tours booked to the Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation, the Whitsunday Islands 3 day sailing and Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island, and the self drive safari for the hordes of backpackers was a real adventure. Groups of 11 were assigned to a 4WD which had all the equipment and food provided to survive for 3 days, and we were given maps and told to go off and enjoy ourselves! We just had to take care of the vehicle, try not to break anything, crash or overturn in the sea, otherwise we'd be paying for it!

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this adventure as much as I would have liked. I banged my shin a week previous on a step on the Great Barrier Reef sailing boat, leading to a silly little cut. This was fine for a week but it must have got infected, maybe by bacteria in the water, and my leg became very painful and swollen on Fraser Island. I grinned and bared it for 3 days on Fraser, before heading straight to Brisbane hospital where they took me in immediately. They pumped lots of intravenous antibiotics into me, the days dragged by with little progress, and I ended up staying for 8 days until they were happy to send me on my way with oral antibiotics. I was lucky to have old school/uni friends Bing and Jen Reid living in Brisbane, who visited me in hospital and I stayed with them after, before a quick visit to Byron Bay and a good catch up with friends in Sydney.

Now I'm in beautiful New Zealand with mountain views around every corner. It's winter here so I'm wrapping up in lots of layers, but I am enjoying the hostel log fires and the snow capped mountains. The weather has been sweet so far, apart from the rugby in Wellington, and I got some stunning blue skies from kayaking and trekking in Abel Tasman National Park and the 3 day Queen Charlotte Track. The hostels and people are very homely and friendly, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here. I'm hitch-hiking around for the first couple of weeks, which is fun and free, skiing for a week in Wanaka and Queenstown, then hiring a campervan with a Canadian friend for a couple of weeks to explore the glaciers and Milford Sound, before seeing the sights of the North Island by Stray hop-on-hop-off bus. Lots to look forward to!