Whitsundays - East Oz Coast

Posted on June 29th, 2007 in Travel by garrettgunn

Unfortunately the east coast is experiencing weird weather - lots of rain which all the locals are delighted with cause of water restrictions however its really depressing for me and Garrett you’ll be happy to hear. We thought it might spoil our sailing trip but it turned out to be a great few days.
We headed out to sea on our boat “wings” which was really comfortable with enough space below deck for us all to hide away from the rain. it also turned out to be a dive boat (didn’t know this when we booked it but turned out to be a blessing). The crew were really nice if a little crazy and the food was fab never stopped eating. When we reached the island we anchored and went for a dive - Sinead and Lee tried it out as well i think we may have gotten them addicted.
The coral colours were really unbelievable loads of fish (which i’m starting to be able to name which is cool) including nemo. After wetting our apetites we all went diving the next day twice with a little snorkeling in between - got to watch loads of fish eating at the coral, they actually sound like cows eating grass. Saw a really big fish called George (a maori wrasse) and some batfish that are really stupid looking.  We finished off the day on Whitehaven beach voted the nicest beach ever by national geographic - the sand is unbelievably fine. unfortunately (you’ll never guess what) it was raining so not much sunbathing was done but we kicked a football around as well as taking some really cool photos you should check them out i’ve finally got Garrett were i want him!!!!
When we got back from the beach Garrett decided to be lazy and jump into the sea to get rid off the sand instead of having a shower. Only for the Captain to tell him to get out as one of the biggest great white sharks he ever saw was in that bay (looking to catch some turtles). Needless to say Garrett wasn’t long getting back out of the water!!!
 
On our last morning we went diving again and it was one of my favourite dives ever. The dive instructor took some bread down with him in a bottle and opened it while we sat on the bottom so all the fish came up really close they were all around which was really cool you could reach out and brush your hand against them. Then we swam through some caves and tunnels and found some really cool nemos. We were followed the whole way by a huge parrott fish and I got to see a huge Trevalli fish as well.
So even though it rained the entire time we had a brilliant trip

Comment?

Cairns

Posted on June 29th, 2007 in Travel by garrettgunn

After the shortest waiting time ever we flew from Alice to Cairns (only arrived at the Alice springs airport twenty min before the flight they’re really relaxed there- maybe i should forward this to Ryan Air). It was lovely and warm when we arrived in Cairns but then Sinead and Lee arrived and brought the bloody weather from home!!!! It’s practically been raining since you’ll all be happy to know.
Taking Garretts mothers advice on easing Sinead and Lee into this whole traveling thing we decided to take them white water rafting he-he!!! Some really cool rapids later we arrived back on land practically intact ,well we were okay but lee and Sinead both had black eyes and a few cuts and bruises here and there - well they were pushed down the most dangerous rapid (grade 4) backwards and unfortunately were forced to fall out of the raft….. A few rocks later they popped up (slightly in shock) minus two shoes, a raft, and a paddle. Don’t worry the guides were there  to help rescue them!!!! 
So after that exhilarating day we headed off in our campervans up to cape tripulation (which is a protected rainforest) were we camped up for our first night on the road. Unlike the west coast there were lots of windy roads through lush (Garretts word!!!) rainforest, so the drive was really different for us. We decided to start making our way down the coast  towards the Whitsunday’s.
We stopped at some waterfalls were we went swimming in the rain (nut-cases that we are) then it was off to Paronella park which was interesting but definately not worth the 28dollar entry fee but we did get a free powered camping site with it so we camped up there for the night. It’s a park which was designed by a guy from Spain with Spainish style buildings and really beautiful gardens with a waterfall in the background.
We made our way to Airlie beach which is were we are now but not for long as we head out on a sailing boat to check out the Whitsunday islands tomorrow.

S&G 

Comment?

Perth - Ayers Rock

Posted on June 24th, 2007 in Travel by garrettgunn

 Well Perth is turning out to be the same old same old for us. we come we stay we dont remember much.
 

Met up with Anto, Sarah and Ann and the gang from her house and this was the bank holiday weekend so we hit a good time to be out and about. Just so to do something different we went to Cohunu Animal Santurary. The main reason we went there was the Koalas. The girls got to hug a koala but the koala was more interested in checking them out. bloody men. So the girls got all emotional with that.
 

We fed kangaroos and had good fun with the talking birds and one of the birds took a liking to Sinead and took a bite of her shoulder. (Rather her than me.)
It was the cars last spin. Just as well cause the cops had started to develop a habit of stopping US and telling us WE were going to fast or looking for stowaways or whatever. Always the same, Do you know you have no trends on your tyres?? Were you drinking?……..No and No. Ill not give you a ticket this time - Good old Irish license. Its to much paper work for them and they probably felt sorry for us.
 

So we headed off to Alice Springs for our 3 day tour of Ayers rock, Kings canyon and the olgas. Ayers Rock being the highlight. The tour was brilliant sleeping in the outback around the campfire and looking at all the stars we could see.  Alot of driving the first day when we headed to Kings Caynon to walk through the gorge and learn a bit about the aboriginal culture. we collected our firewood for the campfire and went into the bush to set up for the night. We cooked all the food over the fire and made dampier (home made bread) and chilli con carny. played a few drinking games before rolling out our swags (which is like sleeping in a sardine can but nice and warm and surprisingly comfortable).
 

Next morning we had to peel ourselves out of our sleeping bags cause it was f’in freezing!!!!! especially as the fire had gone out. So it was back on the bus to make our way to the Olgas (Kata Jutu as the aboriginals call it). Its were the young boys of the local tribe were initiated. Amazing place were we went for a three hour walk to warm us up. Then it was off to the “rock” / Ayers Rock/ Uluru to visit the aboriginal culture centre to learn more about the rock and its significance to the aboriginals.
 

Later we had dinner overlooking Uluru to see it change colours as the sun went down. Then it was back to the campsite (this time in a caravan park nearby) were we had a few beers. This was a late night which didn’t help the fact we were up really early to catch sunrise over Uluru. After breakfast we had the choice of a two hour base walk (a walk around the rock) or to climb the rock. We decided to climb the rock which wasn’t as easy a decision as you might think for us as its a highly spiritual place for the aboriginals. We tried to be as respectful as possible while climbing it and i have to say we really appreciated the views and scenery from up top - I personally never expected it to be so big.
 

Then it was back to Alice Springs were we went for dinner and a few beers before going to bed in a lovely warm dorm room - with heating…..
 

The trip is definately one of my highlights so far learned a lot about aboriginal culture and their way of survival before the “white man” came, they deserve some major respect at being able to survive out here. 
 

S&G

 

1 Comment

North west Oz Road trip - Part deux

Posted on June 6th, 2007 in Travel by garrettgunn

So the next main stop was coral bay to get there we went through Carnavon (not much to write about), passed some blowholes which were pretty cool and of course we passed across the tropic of Capricon - took pics to prove it. The weather was nice and warm so was the water - which was great cause we got to go snorkeling without freezing. Coral Bay is on Nigaloo reef so there were lots of fishes and turtles about not to mention black and white tip reef sharks.

We headed out on a boat to find a whale shark so we could swim with it and i have to admit it probably topped the dolphin feeding it was amazing. They’re huge - don’t worry they’re vegetarian so they weren’t going to eat us which is a good thing cause it almost ran into Garrett on our first swim with it. The spotter plane found a young female (so could’ve been even bigger but cause it was so young it was curious about us so it didn’t try and run away) really quickly so got to do some diving that day too - saw reef sharks and stingrays this time oh and a manta ray.

On the way back to the boat after snorkeling i got a shock when a fish came really close to my face really fast and then just as quickly turned away - after it happened again I looked up out of the water to discover the captain of the boat throwing crackers into the water - he was feeding the fish and thought my reaction was hilarious so he kept pegging more and more crackers round my head and there were fish coming at me from all angles…. took a bit of getting used to.

The weather became overcast and rainy so we decided to head on up to Karratha where Adam and Danny were working. Only stayed the one night thank god cause we picked up were we left off starting with a slab of beer!!! Had to drive quite a long way and there wasn’t much on the way - the petrol stations knew all about it we found one charging 1.87 a litre - the dearest in WA. It was 1600K back to perth down the road kill highway( the way all the road trains heading north and south go). The only stop on the way was Karrinjni National park which was meant to be amazing and it didnt disappoint. It was just GORGEous as Garrett said as it was full of gorges. there was some lovely gorges where you could walk down into the gorge and swim in the small pools that were still there. the pictures don’t do it justice.

We were leaving on a high ready for the long drive back to Perth when Garrett jinxed it by saying the previous day that he couldn’t believe that we had no major problems with the car. The car must have heard him cause it decide to take a break on the road out of the national park. Dont ask - getting a lift from near the middle of nowhere is hard, all ill say is 480 for a car taxi to a garage where Garret told them how to fix the car. We weren’t in the mood for anymore sightseeing after that fiasco so we went back as quick as we could to Perth where there were happy faces of people we knew and there was crack to be had.

Wahoo - That was Western Australia covered and when we’re finished in perth we are off to Ayers Rock for a tour.

1 Comment

North West Oz Road Trip

Posted on June 6th, 2007 in Travel by garrettgunn

After waking up looking out over a deserted salt lake we decided to head back towards Perth for the next leg of our trip an hour and a half down the road we decided we’d skip Perth and just head north so we did a U-e and headed towards sandstone (passing lake ballard again on our way). It was nothing but straight dirt road along the way for three hours!!! We had hit the outback well and truly didn’t see another car the whole way to Sandstone just a kangaroo and an eagle or two.
Garrett was in his element….

Finally reaching Sandstone we stopped for a break and a bite to eat - the town consisted of a post office/shop which was out to lunch, a pub - but didn’t want to go there, and a petrol pump (just the one and it was locked!!! handy that). So we just kept on trucking (two more hours to the next town but at least it was a sealed road).

Reached Mt. Magnet late enough got something to eat and decided to try and get to the next town before parking up. As the sun went down it was the signal for the local wildlife to start playing dodge the car. We missed hitting the first Kangaroo by inches, missed the next two kangaroos, missed the goat and the sheep… unfortunately the lamb just got it head on - missed Mammy sheep though. Garrett two (thats a lamb and a chicken now!!) animals zero. We figured the car and us had just about run out of luck so we parked up as soon as possible after that. poor baby sheep - didnt even dint the car.

It was back to the coast sand and sea and flies!! They slowly started to turn me and Garrett insane. Our first stop on was Kalbarri national park were we parked up overlooking a gorge - pretty cool and went for a 3-4 hour hike through the gorge.

Then we left Australia and went to the country of Hutt River - Mad place - got to meet and have pictures with a prince and a princess(who looked better than Diana!!)  so we got the grand tour of the country(took all of 5 mins to walk around the city???), and the prince’s crazy pyramid where you could get energized - its was a tin pyramid and all we did was melt with the heat in there. we had our passport stamped with Hutt river province.  it has a population of approx. 15-people who live tax free. Prince Lenord discovered a loop hole in the laws and he set up his own country on his land so he wouldnt have to pay tax on his wheat crop. the Oz government dont like him at all.

Anyway we left that dirt road of a country and headed off to Monkey Mia so SInead could get all emotional when she got to feed a dolphin. ahhhh… The Dolphins came in for food every morning and people were selected to feed a fish to the dolphins. pretty cool seeing wild dolphins within 5 foot of us.

Right so that was the first part of the Northern road trip. Things were going grand sleeping in the outback while the Wolfe creek killer was still on the loose….. we didn find him - so no reward for us - damn.

G & s (she not happy that I put myself 1st get used to it I say.)

Comment?

South Western Oz Road trip

Posted on June 2nd, 2007 in Travel by garrettgunn

On the 19th of May we packed our twenty yr old Ford Falcon (complete with tied on registration plates) said goodbye to all at Caltex and without so much of a glance back at Williams (well except for later when Garrett realised he’d taken one of the work keys with him - a souvenir i suppose??) we headed off into the sunset..

Our first stop was Bunbury where all there was to see was the cinema and spiderman 3 (Bit of a let down to be honest) oh and not to forget our first cooking experience - one should never turn their back on a seagull.

Up early - Garrett of course was setting the timetable - and off we headed down the highway. A quick stop off at Busselton to see the longest wooden jetty in the world and then it was on to Margret River, where we got to camp out properly for the first time Garrett was in his element lighting a fire. This is a big area for wines in OZ - which of course we sampled on a wine tour - slightly disappointed by the amount of wine in the wine samples. Got to understand what a wooden or oaky taste means (i don’t like it not to be bought) but better still was introduced to dessert wines perfect for my sweet tooth (which also enjoyed the trip to the chocolate factory loved the free samples even more). We finished off at a brewery where we had a pint and tasted there coffee ale - really did have a coffee taste to it.

Upon inspection of our map we realised we had a fair bit to travel so decided to get our skates on so to speak with a few stops to break up the minotiny of driving. Stop number one took us to the bicenntenial tree over 60metres high which had steel rings sticking out of it in a ladder sort of way allowing you to climb to the top. Garrett of course raced up it when i discovered the steps were giving me double vison (went to grab a step and missed it) so i chickened out and only went half way - would still be there if i decided to go to the top it was taking me that long to climb it - Garrett has some great video footage - git!!!

We passed to some amazing forests the trees are really tall called in at a national park were some of the trees had hollow trunks at their base so you could actualy stand inside the tree. We went as far along the South coast highway as we could that day only two hours from Esperence thank god cause when we started driving the next day we realised there was something up with the clutch but dont panick got all sorted out in Esperence and while we were waiting we relaxed in the local spa and sauna. We parked up overlooking the sea when we got the car back and had tea and pastries - figured we deserved it. It was on up north to Kalgoorlie from Esperence only eventful thing to happen was Garrett got pulled over for a random alcohol drug search… and any hidden chinese people we might’ve been harboring.

Our trip of the South ended in Kalgoorlie - which is the biggest gold mine in OZ with one of the biggest superpits in the world. They have massive super trucks 6m by 8m and also huge diggers which have a 11000 litre engine but don’t get too awed it only goes 2km/hr slow as hell trust me i watched one trying to get somewhere it wasn’t going anywhere fast. The superpit just looked like a big hole to me with toy trucks cause they were so far away. Got a chance to look at the size of them though - i can fit in one of their wheels easy they really are huge no other way of describing them.

We stayed that night out at lake Ballard - a salt lake with statues of people scattered all over it (someone thought it was artistic!!) met some really cool people who we talked to over a camp fire. We also got to pass through some old ghost mining towns on the way there so Garrett was happy.

well thats it for the first 1700km of our trip (we’re doing unbelievable distances did this in 7 days).
S&G

Comment?