Gem & Al Down Under

This was possibly the most relaxing place we stayed at in our entire year out here. The beach itself is about 10 miles of golden sand and lined with palm trees, and is mainly empty which made it a perfect little place to unwind. Our hostel was a short walk from the beach and was without doubt one of the best we stayed at: cheap price, friendly,helpful owners, clean, spacious kitchen, free internet,  not too big, not too small, a pool, hammock and a free bbq on saturday night, and the weather was perfect! Sorry if that makes you jealous but we couldn't have asked for anything more!

The reason we decided to stop at Mission beach in the first place was to do some white water rafting. The nearby Tully river is apparently the best place to do this in Australia and it was pretty good fun. We were on the river for about 5 hours and part of a group of 8 rafts with about 1 instructor and 8 people in each. Going through the rapids is cool and you obviously get soaked and bashed against the rocks, and we had to swim a couple of times as the raft turned over, but it is all good fun. The only frustrating thing is that you have to wait every so often for the other 7 rafts to come through the rapids safely, to comply with health and safety, and it means you sometimes lose some momentum between rapids, but considering we were told that there have been a couple of fatalities over the years, we couldn't really complain! It was a great way to spend a day and some of the views are amazing, as the river winds through gorges and raveens, with waterfalls running down and the rainforest rising up to the sky. 

For the rest of our time at Mission Beach we just chilled out at the beach, dipped in the warm ocean and made some attempts to top up our tans. As I'm writing about it I wish I could go back there, but these pictures will just have to do...

Upon leaving Sunrise Court we had to endure another over night coach journey, this time having to suffer 10 hours of being uncomfortable and sleep deprived until we reached our next destination, Airlie Beach, where we set sail for the Whitsunday islands.  Airlie Beach was our first venture into the tropical region of Austalia, and we were relieved to see the sun was shining. Airlie Beach, which doesn't really have a beach as such, is a small but bustling town with most of the action happening on one street, and it is a bit of a mecca for backpackers as the Whitsundays is definetly on the 'Must do' list.

We spent one night in Airlie Beach before we set sail the next afternoon. We were going on a catamaran called 'The Pride of Airlie' and at our induction meeting we got speaking to Tom and Louise, friends from Newcastle Uni who were in Oz for a month, while Gem got talking to 2 girls from Kingston, Rachael and Nikki, one from Canvey island, Sarah, and one from Canada, Marsha, who we also ended up sharing a room with for the next couple of nights. Outnumbered again.
 

It took about 2 hours to sail to the island where our resort was, and on the way, we got our first impression of what these islands, 74 in total, were all about. Surrounded by deep turquoise water, most of the islands rise up high out of the sea and are covered in lush green forest, though most don't really have sandy beaches on their shores, they are gorgeous to sail around.

After Fraser it is fair to say we were skint. Actually, we were more than skint, we had finally resorted to using the credit card! We needed work and we needed it, well, probably a few weeks earlier if we're honest. In Hervey Bay we made a series of phone calls to hostels in the next town of Bundaberg, but one after the other said no, sorry we are full, try again in a few days yarda yarda yarda... On our 3rd day of trying we found success and said we would be there the very next day.

We were picked up and taken to our new accommodation at about midnight and quickly went to bed. When we woke up the next morning we were happy to know our private room came with private shower and toilet, but we were in for a shock. In fact, we nearly didn't stay as the place was in such a state I think my mum would have had a near heart attack if she'd witnessed it for herself.  Four Japanese guys lived there and for roughly the eight months they had been there they must not have cleaned the kitchen or anywhere else once in all this time.  The cream kitchen floor was a deep brown and the white (we suspected it was white) oven was covered in thick black grime and grease. The table and floors were a mess and the bin was overflowing with stale food. We had to make a choice to either leave straight away or clean up, so we gave in to the latter and scrubbed away, on our hands and knees, for the whole afternoon.  When our new house mates returned from their day's work and saw us cleaning their mess they must have felt guilty because they helped out straight away.

Our first couple of weeks at Sunrise Court, as we learned our hostel was called, were pretty tough in all honesty. The first job we were given was cherry tomatoes. This turned out to be a shockingly paid job where one bucket of cherry tomatoes was worth about $6 to us (that's about 2 pound 50!) and which took about 45 minutes to fill. So in our 8 hour days we were making around $50 on a good day. Motivation was hard and morale was down, but for that first week Gem kept hollering at me to keep up, shut up and get that extra bucket or two full. So there we were, scrounging around tomato bushes desperately trying to make that extra $6, that we thought would make all the difference to our empty bank accounts. Dear o dear. 

After speaking to our new work manager, Melissa, we, like everyone else on the job, were asking to be moved to something better paid. Within a couple of days, she said we could do Zuccinnis at Dickie's farm, where there was good money to be made.  You would better know zuccinnis as courgettes, and while there may be money to be made, it's at the expense of long term spinal damage. To such an extent that after just 2 hours on the new job, Gemma and the 3 other girls who were also starting had to quit as the pain became unbearable. Having to bend over, up and down, cutting through sharp stinging bushes, cutting at the courgette, and heaving your increasingly heavy bucket down a seemingly never ending row, going as fast as you can (as the more buckets equals more money. No hourly paid jobs on these fields) while watching the locals bombing it down the rows becoming smaller and smaller in the distance and yearning to somehow be like them was my idea of a living nightmare. I would go on record as saying it is the hardest fruit picking job you can do, and sadly, one that only men, with sturdy backs, should do!

The following day we were doing big tomatoes for the same farmer, as zuccinnis was every other day. As if it couldn't get any worse, it was raining heavily all day, and the only reason the farmer tempted me out of the van in the morning was that he said for today only, it would be hourly pay! To protect us from the elements he gave us pathetic, black bin bags with arm holes in them and for the first half hour spirits remained high. By 8.30, damp and miserable, I was at the end of my tether, and it was only Alex who kept me on the farm as I was ready to walk. By 11 o'clock though enough was enough and I went AWOL, much to Alex's dismay. It was another 3 hours before he found me shivering in a ditch muttering incoherent babble to myself (ok, I might be exaggerating) but somehow he persuaded me to return, and we ended up working until 4 o'clock.  Just to top off another fine day we had asked the farmer to call our driver to pick us up, to which he said he had done so but when it came to 5 o'clock and our driver finally came, he was wondering why he hadn't got a call and had turned up on the off chance that we must be nearly finished. 

Alex persevered with Dickie for the next few days. while I was forced to go back to Melissa and say there was no way I could go back there and do zuccinnis, which meant I couldn't stay just doing tomatoes every other day. So she landed me a job at Hawkies tomatoes. More contract work and another real bad day. Firstly we were dropped off at 5.30 am and made to wait in the cold and dark for an hour untill light dawned on my new found hell hole. When light did break we were being looked after by horrible, shoddy supervisors who worked backpackers to the bone, wouldnt allow us a break, lunch or to even breathe!  In fact one woman even went round after us inspecting our buckets looking for the tiniest mistake just so they could dock us the bucket and pocket the money themselves. Little did she care to realise if it wasn't for us backpackers helping out this understaffed industry she'd be on her hands and knees doing the job herself.  Colour was of huge importance, just one wrong slight shade of green and you could say good bye to your entire buckets worth of $1.60 but if its taken you 10-15mins to fill your bucket you damn well want to collect that tuppence you've earnt.
 
One arsehole even tried to whistle at me like a dog to point me to a new row.  Of course I obliged by yelling at him not to whistle but call me by my name, to which he replied in a patronising tone "I don't know your name!" so I retorted "then bloody ask me!"  Much appreciated by the other backpackers yet I had made myself a new fan in big bearded Scrooge! 
 

This is in fact a pesticide sprayer
but is very similar in structure
to the tomato machine

It was at this time, just two weeks after arriving that we were seriously considering our options and Gem was more then ready to pack her bags and go. But then something happened which actually resulted in us staying for the next 3 months...THE TOMATO MACHINE!! Dun Dun Duuurn! We had heard about a job on a tomato machine, which was hourly paid, but some said it was a myth, just an old legend used to lure unsuspecting backpackers to this deadbeat town. However, it turned out to be true and Melissa got us on it the very next day. Unfortunately luck continued to be against us, and in the next couple of weeks Bundaberg experienced more torrential rain than it had done in the previous year. We were still strapped for cash and the rain was the last thing we needed. 

On a well earned break                                                       

                                                                                           The Toilets

Eventually the rain subsided and the work became more regular and we were finally able to start saving. The tomato machine was hard work but a doddle compared to our previous jobs. It is a great, big, hulking machine that looks something like a plane that would never get off the ground. On each side of the main vehicle, wings are attached which spread out over the rows of tomatoes and lower a pair of seats into each row. Our job was to sit on the seats picking away while the machine crawled down the row at about 1mph. Of course that is slow, but when there were tomatoes in abundance our arms would be flying around the bush like crazy, and it was sometimes hard to grab them all. The highlight of our day would be when the machine stopped to unload the tomatoes, giving us a break and the chance to rotate seat to seat or to being the spare person behind bucket picking up all the fallen and missed tomatoes behind.  The supervisors were tough but actually refreshingly friendly. We got used to hearing the call  "Less talking, no greens and two hands in the bush". The job continued over the next couple of months and at the end of July we made over $800 in one week for a 60 hour week.

     Tomato fields ready for a good pruning                

By August our run on the tomato machine had ended as we had stripped the bushes of all the tomatoes that were left. Luckily, we were needed to begin pruning the next lot of bushes that would not be ready for another couple of months. Pruning, a bit like zuccinnis, involved a lot of bending over as the tomato plants were brand new, but without any buckets to heave around the field it wasn't as painful.  In fact Gem thrived on this and became quite speedy, gaining respect from the locals and settling in until they all pretty much knew her by her first name (which doesn't happen to much between locals and backpackers) or her nickname to a few (Good ole Kerrie in particular) as Sexy Legs!

     Bob, Sexy Legs, Kerrie & Ivy                          Last day for us Willing Workers

The worst thing about pruning was the hours. Due to the heat you could only prune in the morning and it wasn't always every day, so the money dried up to an extent. In the end we were forced to find other jobs we could do on our days off to make up a decent weekly wage. Unfortunately the only options open to us were cherry tomatoes or Hawkies. In this case cherry tomatoes were the tomato of choice, but by this time we had been softened up by 2 months of sitting down on a comfortable hourly wage. Unlike before, where we scrounged around looking to make that extra $6, after just two hours of measly pickings, Gem, and about 7 others, staged a mass walkout and refused to pick as it was a waste of time. I and 4 others decided to stay and it paid off as the farmer decided to move us to another bush that was plentiful, and I made a good days pay. Gem maintains that it was only because so many left that day that the rest of us were moved to the better bushes, so apparantly I have her to thank. The next day we had to go back to Hawkies, and although the money remained paltry we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the previous supervisors had been sacked, and although Gem still tried to walk off again with a couple of others, came back after some pleading from me, and the extra cash came in handy. 

The four Japanese guys who were there when we arrived, although messy, were all nice, but their English was not that strong and they left within two weeks of us arriving, so we did not get to know them that well.  In the first few weeks we got to know the people who we were working with better, such as Lee, the mad motor mouth Englishman who made the duracel bunny look lazy!

We also got to know some of the Korean people who were staying there, and like all other Koreans we met, they turned out to be good people. Erin and Julie (left), on first meeting Gemma, described her as "pure" Ha Ha! They soon approached Gem and asked her to help them with their English by giving private tutorials, and they even insisted on paying! I told you, we love Koreans! Through this a good friendship was forged, and we regularly shared meals together, with them cooking up some gorgeous Korean dishes, while we would cook them Fajitas, Bolognese, Beef Strogonoff.... Typical English food, but they never complained anyhow! Of these two, Julie was the sensible, shy one, while Erin was a bit more mad! She had a good grasp of wit in the English language, but was also a bit scatty and not the most punctual student (we got to used to hearing her say "back in 5 minutes" and then not seeing her for the next hour). During lessons Gem would teach her that she had a "mischievious" sense of humour, while I taught her that if someone was a coward they were a "pussy"! Valuable words I think.    

                                                                            Good use of prop Julie!

We didn't know what to make of this   Roomies: Martin, Me, Al, Kei & Stephane
guy when he turned up, luckily
he mellowed out - Phew!
This was about the best smile we could get
out of Erin, as she doesn't like showing
her teeth in photo's!

          Gem with 'Uncle' Martin                 Bargara beach at sunset              

Through working on the Tomato machine we got to know paractically practically everyone who stayed there. In our attempts to let off some steam after the long hot days in the fields, we would often have house or beach parties, or go to the one club in Bundaberg on a Saturday night. Oddly, our hostel was plonked right in the middle of a nice, rich neighbourhood by the sea front, and officially we had a 10 o clock curfew. However, some of our house parties went on in to the early hours and we upset the neighbours on a couple of occasions, with the police coming round asking us to quieten down a bit. The presence of the police though just gave Stephane an excuse to practise his english and offer the police a drink and ask "Are you a gen-uine cop?". 

By the end of July, many people in the hostel, from the other rooms, began to leave, which just made the rest of us jealous. Within a week they were replaced with new people who we actually got to know even better. But by the end of August these people were also ready to leave and so we staged a series of going away parties, which either involved food or, as Nikki would insist on her last night, a bonfire down at the beach under the clear sky and a moon which turned red during a full lunar eclipse. All these parties though did share one common theme...alcohol of course! 

Mama Mia! Ricardo and his dishes                 Jolly, Jolly, Jo-lly, Jo-leeeene! 
                                                                                  so funny, Jolly laughed at 
                                                                                 just about anything you said!
                                                                                Aaahh! Korean enthusiam.

                                                                                     Gem & Nikki

                            Ladies...                             ...Gentlemen (well, almost)

Kris, Michelle & Flo: The Terrible Threesome,  Newly loved up couple Flo & Megan.
sciving off work, getting sacked &
getting pissed in the day!

     Impressive!                                                        Kay & Nikki

We left before these two buds                               Flo & Raphael
could totally corrupt us!

                                                        Its Ok, size really doesn't matter, 
                                                        we only had triple the amount 
                                                        of firewood at the last bonfire guys!

After Stephane moved out, Kim moved in from downstairs and lived with us for a couple of weeks.  Top bloke and taught us the game of Sand Jenga, with a stick and some sand, though he didn't like it when I kept beating him!

Our last day working was Sunday 2nd September. Even though we were glad to be finally leaving, it is true to say that we both made some really good friends here who we intend to meet up with again in Sydney.  We had enjoyed our stay at Sunrise Court, so it was also sad to have to say good bye. The accomodation, though never properly clean (they didn't even have a hoover that worked!), was in a strange way homey and easy to relax in. The neighbourhood was quiet but pretty friendly, and the beach was only a stones throw away across the road. There was a really great mix of people throughout our stay and the fact that we were all doing the same work meant there was a real sense of comaradarie that spread through the hostel. So on our last night, all that was left to do was have one last party, fuelled as always by cheap goon, and celebrate the good times. 

                         Great memories


                                                                            It doesn't happen often... 
                                                                           but we think Kei was drunk


                                      Yes, I do like balloons! So what!?!

                                                                   

                                                  Later on in the evening....

It is the middle of May and we are finally going to Fraser Island. Pretty much since we got here we have been told that this is a place not to miss, so we are both looking forward to it. The afternoon before we leave we meet the group we will be leaving with. There's eleven of us in total but would you believe it there are eight girls and I can't work out if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

After a briefing and several reminders to be dingo safe ( I feel so much better now I've been told to cross my arms over my chest and walk backwards quietly or if I fancy start shouting "dingo" to scare off and protect us from these wild dogs) we all set off to do our shopping for the next couple of days, which went surprisingly well despite having a vegetarian who insisted on buying and cooking for herself.

In the evening we all went out for a drink and dinner and to get to know each other a little better. We're a motley crew and with all those girls I still wasn't sure how it was going to turn out! 

   Gem looking busy as we pack to leave
It is the morning to go and there are 4 vans heading out, and our van was the last to be packed and ready. All due to the lack of man power I reckon, despite the evidential photo!  I have put my name down to drive but it has been a while so one of the other lads takes the wheel as we head out to the ferry. That is a nice little trip and then we are on Fraser, off road and I feel ready for some 4 wheel driving! Inland the speed limit is only 25mph and it is blooming bumpy, but great fun, except for the unlucky few who are sitting over the rear tyre. Um..yeah that would be me. Shame I can't drive yet as it takes us a while to reach the sea front so it is a little dull waiting and the tomboy in me would have probably thrived on it. The weather is great but I unfortunately ran over a snake who was sunning itself on the track, but we think it survived. It was the snakes fault. About 2 hours later we finally make it to the beach highway, about 75 miles of flat, straight sandy beach where you can go 60mph, which suits Gem's speed thrills!

Halfway up the beach we come to an old ship wreck. It is pretty cool and slightly surreal and everyone gets out and takes pictures before we realise the time is 3.30pm and we only have about 2 hours of light left in the day. A little further down the beach we set up camp and then I realise why having 8 girls in your group can be a great thing! The stove is set up and the girls cook up a brilliant spaghetti bolognese while Kian and I start on the beers. The meal was memorable for Gem as well as her and a couple of the other girls had a heck of a job pinning down and carving up the mostly still frozen beef with table forks.

After eating dinner in the dark kindly assisted by my fellow sisters we had our first night with the people from the other two vans that set up camp next to us, so we all had a big drunken beach party. No skinny dipping mind, as going in the sea was strictly forbidden because of the sharks and strong tides. However, there were other dangers lurking inland as we were all wary of the dingoes, epecially when going to the toilet in the bush, which made it a doubly fascinating experience for us ladies as all we had was a torch, toilet roll and a spade.

  Cookie Culprits..and yeh, that is a toilet roll in my hand..even I don't understand except to say that my dearest mum has obviously taught me well to be prepared for any eventuality.

A big cause of contention for Alex on the first night was the case of the missing cookies. I had lobbied hard at the supermarket to get them in the trolley and they were going to be one of my little treats, but when I went to have a couple with my breakfast they had all vanished! A bit puzzled I started my investigation and it didn't take long before Dav's conscience got the better of her and she confessed, but there were a few others who stayed silent, but thankfully a snapper was on the scene to gather all the neccesary evidence and secure a guilty charge. Upset as I was Gem attempted to soften the blow by saying they were surprisingly tasty. I really appreciated that.

 

  Stephanie


  Dav                                          Jenny

  Kate and her cookie                                               

  Oi Oi!                                     Caught sneaking off to bed with Al in tow

Seeing the beach was beautiful to wake up to, and it was a shame we couldn't have had a bit more time just relaxing though we had a tight itinery so had to make a move. While all the girls were nursing hangovers it was left to the boys to tidy up and get us moving out of there.

Our first stop was Indian head, a tall volcanic outcrop which gave great views of the beach and ocean. We were told you might see sharks from up there but unfortunately we didn't, but I did see a Dugong, which is basically a sea cow! After that we walked further up the beach to the Champagne Pools. Once we got there we didn't want to leave. They are turquoise rock pools where the sea spills over to give the impression of champagne bubbles. They look great but they are still pretty cold! .

 View from Indian Head (above)

                                                                   Champagne Pools




The champagne pools are like a little treat. We waited for the waves to wash over the rocks and lather up around us giving a tingly sensation. Us girls were also greatly entertained by these funny little molluscs that open and close on the rock surface spouting water which added to the champagne effect.

We could have stayed there all day just soaking up the sun but we had to get back down the beach to see Lake wabby and set up camp again. We had lunch, at which time we saw our one and only dingo just stroll past us like we weren't there, and then we set off for Lake Wabby. We wanted to see it as we were told it won't be there in 10 years due to the big sand dune that is slowly engulfing it. Unfortunately by the time we reached it the sun was beginning to go down, and it was an extra hours walk there and back to get to the waters edge. This was our one regret of the trip because speaking to other people it's great fun doing sand boarding, but we just didn't have time. We also ran out of time for Emma who was asked by some random guys to appear in a commercial they were trying to shoot for some 4x4 rescue device, but in the end it got too dark and the opportunity was missed.

We still had to make it a camp site, but we ran out of daylight and I took the wheel and drove off road in the dark, managing to run over another snake on the way, though this one definetly survived.  We weren't impressed at having to put up our tents in the near dark in the pouring rain and still in our bikinis, all before the nine o clock curfew was about to set in and with dinner still to cook.  I seem to remember the happy approving faces of Alex and Kian standing by with beers in hand watching the spectacle but we all had a good laugh about it the next day.
 

 Lake Wabby

                                                                    Lake McKensie

 Kian!                                                                     Goanna

We arrived in Noosa not quite knowing what to expect. We hadn't heard much about the place except that every girl we'd met previously said it was "so pretty".  The weather was good as we arrived and we stayed in a quirky colourful little apartment style hostel called the Dolphin Beach House. The nearest beach was Sunshine beach and was smaller than the main one in Noosa but  more deserted with just a few quaint delicatessens and cafes/restaurants and so definitely better for it.  It certainly was pretty.  From one end of the beach we were able to walk around the cliff's edge to another secluded beach with great views and just sat for about an hour completely on our own entranced by the huge waves crashing against the rocks and frothing up beneath our feet, absolutely breathtaking and peaceful.  In fact it is true that all of Noosa and it's beaches are pretty but unfortunately we can't show you any pictures of the place because a week after we left Noosa all our saved pictures that we had taken were lost as our memory card malfunctioned before we saved them to CD. We were really gutted about this, especially as we had some great ones, and to this day, nearly 5 months later, I still don't think Gem is fully over it.   I still have that memory card in the hope that someday technology will have advanced even further or stephie has some computer whiz kid friend who can restore those magical moments!

After a few nights we were ready to go off on our canoe safari, which we had booked previously in Brisbane. Again we weren't sure what we had signed ourselves up for but it all sounded good fun.  And the weather was sunny! After a short boat trip across a lake, and a warning about the Bull Sharks in the water, we were left to our own devices to figure out how to canoe properly and reach our base camp for the night. Before we were left to find our way up the river we were given our tent, cooking sets and a barrel to protect and keep dry all our food and clothes. I think at this time we really didn't appreciate the value of that barrel, but we would do...

Canoeing is actually damn hard work, and there were quite a few times when I just wished we had a little motor on the back so we could sit back and relax, but oh no, there was no chance of any slacking off with Sergeant Gemma on board, and funnily enough it was always yours truly who got the blame if we weren't going dead straight down the river.  So anyway, Alex thought he was Captain Jack Sparrow?*!?!  Good thing someone's mind was on the task at hand.

Occasionally we would try to take pictures of ourselves passing the camera to and fro, but that only seriously rocked the canoe, which freaked me out as I was dead suspicious that any ripple we saw in the water was a Bull Shark, which is apparently one of the most aggressive sharks in the Australian waters. There is a famous story about a young girl back in the 60's who took a quick paddle in the river but was never seen again and as Gem likes to re-tell the story was "completely ripped to shreads and eaten, with the shark leaving only her hat behind floating on the waters surface"

The next day started well and the sun was still shining as we canoed further up the river to find a giant sand patch in the middle of the forest.  After an hour and half canoeing and a further hours walk, we found what looked like a desert film set and chilled out for about an hour before taking the previous journey in reverse.

Our last evening started pleasantly enough but by about 8 o'clock the rain started. We had all bought these plastic rain macs, but they turned out to be little more than plastic bags that ripped easily and were soon unusable, so we all had to take refuge in our tents. As darkness fell the rain got stronger but the toilets were a short walk away. The lanterns we were given also turned out to be useless after about an hour or two, so me and Gem were reliant on the light from Gem's phone which had a range of about 1 meter, navigating our way through trees, gravel and increasingly big puddles and back, while Gem jumped at the slightest noise that came from the darkness.

And so the rain kept on falling, and falling, and falling. We thought we had come completely prepared, I had even bought a bottle of dry shampoo, but as it turned out we were totally unprepared for what was probably our worst night in Oz.  Our tent was hounded by the rain which leaked all over the place and everything, including ourselves, was getting damp, and in various places around the tent, actually submerged. This was when our clothes were forced to take on a new purpose, as we put them around the edge of the tent to soak up the incoming water inches away from our head and toes.  Wonderful. The rain carried on all night and we were lucky if we even got 2-3 hours sleep.

The morning came and we couldn't get out quick enough. The rain actually stopped for an hour or so in the morning as we packed up before we had to canoe back down the river. Well that journey took another 2 hours, and we were already still cold and wet from the night before when it started to bucket down again, except this time we didn't even have leaky tents to protect us. But with true English grit, we ploughed on down the river and eventually made it back to our pick up point. Admittedly we had a bit of help from two girls in another canoe who suggested we tie our canoes parallel to theirs to give us twice the manpower, though would you believe this only had limited success as one canoe always edged ahead or away from the other.  In fact the only extra thing we did achieve from this was seeing our friend drop her cigarettes in the water, only for her to stick her paddle in a few metres away and realise we were canoeing over water that was only knee high, but in these circumstances, there was no going back.

Just to top off our little safari, the pick up boat was an hour late, so we waited in our sodden clothes freezing our butts off for a little longer than we wanted, but when it did arrive we could only feel...well a little bit sorry for the people getting off the boat who were just about to start their safari. On our way home, our driver told us that the tents weren't really designed for that much rainfall and that today was the first time in 2 years he had to turn on the heater in his car. As you can imagine, that made us feel a lot better.  Of course, if it wasn't for the weather we would have enjoyed the trip even more, but we were thankful for the first day, and when we were out on the water just floating down the river surrounded by the forest in pretty much complete silence, it was about as relaxing as anything you can possibly do.  
   

Hiya stephanie!! I'm writing to you from Noosa in Queensland.  I just want to wish you a great big Happy 21st Birthday from across the other side of the world!  I'm sorry I can't be there but I promise that I'm with you in spirit! lol x

Hope you have a good time today, even though your at work - I'll be having a drink on you whilst on a canoe safari without a shower for three days!  No crocs thank god. lol  They're further up north.  Will be in a tent - no idea how to put one up!  Its a little tricky buying food that will keep fresh for three days in the heat, in preparation for our little excursion, so might only have meat for a bbq on the first night.  I'm waffling again!  Be in touch soon, inc MSN...

Take care.. 

Love Gem xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi mum, happy birthday, I haven't forgot! Hope you like our sand messages! Also happy anniversary I hope you do something nice. Take it easy and don't work too hard, will speak soon!

Love Alex xx 

Having been subjected to watching endless reruns of 'Braveheart' while still at Bev and Micks, the thought that "they will never take our freedom" was stuck in our heads as we made our escape from the desert and boarded the bus for the 17 hour return journey back to civilisation, finally able to begin our adventure up the east coast.  After buying some new clothes to replace the ones that fruit picking had ruined, we headed off to the Blue Mountains with one thing on our minds... 

After a morning practising abseiling in the Mountains, where everything went smoothly except for one painful moment for Al that had him wincing (I'll spare the details Al!), our group of six headed to the Empress Falls canyon and squeezed into our wet suits, of which mine turned out to be two sizes too small for me (silly guides).  We set out and waded, swam and jumped our way through freezing rock pools between the canyon (in slow motion, on my part, due to the lack of mobility in my wetsuit) untill we reached a 30 metre waterfall!  Guess who abseiled down it first?  Alex may be afraid of heights, for which I told him I was bringing the camera, but I was definitly cacking it leaning over the edge trying to shuffle into a 90 degree body position!   I accidentally peered down the waterfall but couldn't see the bottom - I don't know why I did that either!  Despite learning to abseil down a small rock in the morning nothing quite prepares you for climbing down a steep, slippery long drop with water cascading over your eyes, so you can't see a thing.  There was no turning back.  I felt eyes naturally wanting to close and went for it - perhaps not the best method!  It felt like about an eternity (Alex assures me I only took about 3-4 minutes), but eventually I made it to the pool below.  Relieved, soaked and freezing, but very glad I did it!  Alex followed me down and was also well chuffed, especially after his little problem in the morning, which had made him quite nervous.  Oh.. and we were recommended to buy a waterproof camera off the canyoning company to protect our own but low and behold the pics came out black due to not much light in the canyons and no flash on the camera! 

After this we were back in Sydney for a few days and met up with Alon and our Korean friends Lee and Choi (Jar Geneet Sauh guys!) who cooked us up a couple of lovely Korean/Japanese meals before we left. It was great knowing you guys and hopefully we will meet again when we return to Sydney! 

                                                 Meet the Fam!


 In Brief: These dodgy looking people are
the guys (and girls) who we travelled up the
east coast with between Port Macquarie and
Brisbane. The two nipps with me and Gem in
the first photo are Paul (top) and Olly. The
other two are Leanne and Dan, a couple of
true blue scousers.  We met Paul and Olly in
 Port Mcquarie, and Dan and Leanne in Coffs
 Harbour, at the legendary (to us at least) 
Hoey Moey hostel (what a great name!).  And
by the way, I have no idea what that is that
Olly is holding up to my lips in the sofa photo, 
                                                            no idea at all... 
                                                                                                                    
In Full: Reached 'sunny' Port Macquarie and met a couple of nice Isrealis and two English eighteen year old stoneheads, whom later on we aptly named The Nippers in our growing traveling fam (We know your not impressed with this guys but it really is a sign of affection!).  They struggle to go a day without a puff (and are in denial of their addiction i'm sure) though they're a laugh and (on rare occasions) mature for their age amid the pot fog lol.  It rained most of the time we were here even though a local told us its statistically the sunniest spot in all of Australia, huh? 
   
                                                                                Bolders painted by children 
                                                                                along the beach front in P.M.

                                                                                
I'd definetly recommend the hostel we stayed in at Coff's (Hoey Moey's), just like Red Cliff's, for those of you who know, but better and unbelievably cheap for what you get there.  Plus there's the most stunning beach I've seen to date right on its doorstep.  First time I saw it there was a rainbow from beginning to end facing me across the edge of the sea.  Just a shame the camera wasn't charged!  Only snag about this hostel was that it was a bit quiet when we went and the beds had a huge bum ditch.  Dan and Leanne, a Liverpudlian couple joined us here in Coff's Harbour. 

Just a little mention to all the Red Cliffs' clan...

Hellooo!.. Micky, Paul (Mark!), Martin, Richard, Ally, Audrey (liiight weeeight!), Auriane, Tellu, Kris, Anna (fruit cake), Zoe, Gareth, Dylan, Damien, Matthew, David, Nicola, Willie, Elaine, Gaz, Arris, Judith, Dave, Keiron, Christa, Sheena, Lindsey & Quaime (hope we spelt this correct).  Phew!  Hope we havn't forgotten anyone we met there. 

Audrey (left), French-Canadian and my 'partner in crime' picked fruit with me on the same rows -  I won't even recall the rediculous conversations (and songs) we had to get us through the day.  I tried to teach this wild child to dance, as requested - bloody nightmare you were.. but we had a giggle (once that was till we had no more interuptions!) xx   Anna was this machine at work, zooming past us all down the rows of grapes and putting us to shame.  I reckon she must of had an itchy bum or something, though more than likely its down to her years
experience working on a farm in Wales!  Not to mention this woman is hilarious - never enough time to scoff my lunch down, I was laughing so much.  I meant what I said Anna, "in ten years time...!"  Her slapstick wasn't bad either.  Yelping, she blindly bounced backwards off of thin air only to find she'd hit a super strong spider web built across from one hedge to another. Classic Anna!   (That reminds me, we saw a humungous stark black and white Tim Burton-esque gothic spider that no local has ever heard of..spooky!)  Zoe, what can I say, you were a little trooper, always looking on the brightside and giving us encouragement with gold stars at the end of a tiring, sweaty day.  Together we formed a nice little team.  (If you guys have any photos/videos of us at work I can add here I'd really appreciate it!  Tanx!)

In the words of Chris Martin "Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard...".

Meanwhile I was also working my butt off for peanuts. After a few days wait I got a job pinning down the sheets that cover the grapevines. Not really well paid work and the hours, and not to mention the person I was working for, was real unreliable. I had worse luck than Gem in getting paid and wasted a a good few hours every week chasing up my pay but got it all in the end. My luck changed when I somehow landed the best possible fruit picking job in the whole of Australia: Picking water melons for the Suppupo family! Ok the work wasn't amazing but it was hourly paid and I was convinced a couple of months picking up these melons was going to make me look like the Hulk (so far that hasn't happened) but it was what came after that made the job so great. There was four of us. 2 German lads and a girl, and one Welsh lad. We all got on well (Zee Germans even had a sense of humour!) and we all knew how lucky we were. We would finish at lunch and everyday we would get to sit down in the garden with the family, have a couple of beers and be treated to a huge freshly prepared lunch. One day it was pizza and sausages on the barbie, next it might be proper steaks and freshly baked bread. We all loved it and couldn't believe our luck! Mama Suppupo would always say "Nobody-a-leaves-a-my-house-a-hungary" and she was right!

In all honesty i didn't really like the job and it was bloody hard work chasing the tractor trying to pick up half a dozen melons at once in 40 degree heat. The highlight was seeing a deadly brown snake slither right past the tractor and through our group. We were told by the farmer that they were common in the area but they usually go the opposite way to a tractor, and for every one you might see, you don't see the other nine! Then he said that the brown snake was actually the second most venomous in Oz, so basically, that means the world! It was pretty cool though, as was seeing the farmers dog chase a kangaroo that had somehow breached the fence and hopped right through the middle of the melon field in front of us. Only in Australia!

If it wasn't for the lovely peeps we met at Bev & Mick's, I don't don't know what we would have done...
                                                                      
 Mickey, Ally, Quiame, Richard & Martin                 Audrey & Auriane

 

 Kris & Tellu... advertising for Colgate           Me and my boys! Willie, Mark
                                                                        Micky & Richard..oh and Al!

Bev & Mick's was a pretty decent hostel to stay in whilst we worked but with no sign of Bev!  It was also the local pub in town on the ground floor, so we met a few interesting hill billies!  There was a small kitchen, eating/lounge area, DVD room, internet, pool tables, table tennis area and bedrooms upstairs.  Watched so many DVDs in the evening, the only time we had a break from it was probably when Braveheart was played - a dozen times.  Table tennis, well.. what can i say guys, I think I might have beeten you all first time round, except, and I can't honestly remember, maybe for Ally (Scottish) & Arris (English). He he!  Don't worry I knew my place when it came to the table tennis competition and stayed out of it, as your idea of winning was to smash the balls at us girls..and, yes, I am refering to you, Richard (Scottish) Arris (English) and Kris lol!  No doubt if I wasn't playing table tennis or watching DVDs Alex and I were being taught how to poker by Gareth (Irish).  I had $ signs in my eyes after that.  Competition?  My best attempt was coming third amonst a group of twelve.  Don't worry mum, dad, we were only playing with chips!  Alex got me out once - probably the only one that could truly read me.  That was untill our new roomies Tellu and Kris came along.  Tellu was an absolute diamond at poker and beat us all so many times, I need to have a quiet word with her to pick up some tips.  Gareth now asks me if I want the number for gamblers anonymous.

                                                                      Usual friday night pose for Al

So you see I kept myself pre-occupied and also did a bit of Thai Kickboxing with Richard and Aurianne (French, left) and some salsa dancing with Auriane as well but with not much luck in the latter.  We had a laugh though!  Friday nights could get pretty chaotic at this place, and on our final night Bowsie(barman)in a drunken state sprayed the enitre eating area with fire extinguisher foam, which choked us all and covered the place in what looked like a thin layer of snow.  Somehow that night I also somehow got involved in a water fight with Richard which got a lot of the hostel wet and was caught on CCTV! The little bugger started it and I wasn't about to let him get away with it.  But I fell on my bum, bruised my thigh and still Richard threw water all over me again on the floor, completly defenceless. Alex found this very funny, of course.  Next time Richard I will be sober!  For the sake of sticking to a budget we bought goon (cheap boxed wine) on weekend nights with $5 bbqs out in the park after being pretty disciplined for the first few weeks not spending any money at the bar.  I never want to touch that stuff again (Ooops!).   We also went to visit the nearest larger town Mildura a few times out of sheer boredom.    

                      Sat BBQ                           Clockwise: Damien, Nicola, Me, Auriane 

       Love you too!                          
     Scary dude with the glasses gives you an evil eye when playing poker
                                   

I've told this girl a hundred times that, in my opinion, she has a model face better than Kate Moss - she just needs to get get her technique down!

Oh yeah and I was part of this slightly bizarre wedding ceremony that took place early on in our stay at the park - not quite sure whether the bride and groom backpackers thought this was real or not.  Goon must be the answer.  (Pics anyone? Tanx!)

Talking to other backpackers people seem to either love or hate Sydney - I loved it and so did Al.  Personally its generally a cleaner, more spacious chilled out version of London.  Its obviously smaller but just as compact and it doesn't take you ages to get anywhere!  The harbour is as beautiful as you'd expect it to be, lined with nice bars and restaurants.  Of course we lapped it up and had drinks with friends in the sun in Darling Harbour, Cirqular Quay and also in our fave pub in the centre of town - The 3 Monkeys with live music (like Oasis re-plays - the whole backpacker experience seems to go hand in hand with  Oasis!) and a good warm feel to it.  Oh yeah and i dragged Alex along to the Sydney Art Museum, visited the wildlife centre, the Botanical gardens and Point, bit of sunbathing and beach walks, took the ferry to Manly and a bus to romantic Watson's bay for fish & chips! (but watch out for a swearing, chip throwing Stan Collymore - no joke, it was him!) - all the 'cultural stuff'...you get the idea.  

 View of Sydney from the harbour and hoards of bats in the Botanical Gardens

                                          Watson's Bay and The Gap photos

The 3 Monkeys: Lee, Choi & Sang yoon

We conquered the harbour bridge climb. Pre-booked, we did it late afternoon when it was cloudy and unbelievably windy. If we weren't harnessed to a metal bar and walkway along and up the bridge we would have been blown off the top for sure.lol  Alex was terrified, clutching on really tight to the bar and leaping across to the other side bar when the guide squeezed past... I just wanted to do the climb freestyle and have our picture taken at the top staged like a piggy back but to no avail!   For my part, it was a long way up and pretty scary, and yes i was holding on tight and walking like I had bricks down my trousers but it was blooming windy that day, and anyway, by the end I was cured and even managed to look down a few times!

The following week we headed out to the Blue Mountains and stayed in one of the best hostels in Oz. The Blue Mountains look pretty good but me and Gem have a difference of opinion over how blue they actually are! I think they are pretty blue but Gem is not so sure. The blueness is a haze that covers the mountains and comes from the Eucalyptus in the trees, and if you ask me, it is definately blue, not like the sky, but still blue. We took in the Three Sisters, which are the most famous rock formation in the mountains, and we got to see the nearby Katoomba waterfalls from a cable car, before heading into one of the valleys on the steepest railway in the world. it is only short and was previously used for the mining in the area. 

We were there for two nights and on the second day we had intended to try our hand at canyoning. Unfortunately, Gem was in no fit condition to do this as she had got badly sun burned on her right shin (to be specific) while sunbathing on Coogee beach a few days before. So the next couple of days were spent relaxing and trying to see a few extra sights before we headed back to Sydney. We had both agreed that we would definetly have to return here as we had some unfinished business with a canyon! 

Back in Sydney we had booked a hostel in the Kings Cross area of sydney. We had heard about this place and when we arrived we understood what people meant. It is pretty much an 'anything goes kind of place' with strip clubs and pubs lining the streets, and prostitues and tramps roaming around. strangely though, the place was not quite as menacing as you might expect, and the place is really popular with backpackers as it is cheap and close to the city centre. While in Kings Cross we met an Israeli guy called Alon (left) who we struck up a lasting friendship with. However, this guy can really bring the feminist out in Gem, and I used to sit there in quiet amusement as those two had arguments about all manner of things, all in good humour though.  When we arrived the hostel owner asked us if we were looking for work and said he had 10 days work if we wanted it for some fashion warehouse. Me, Gem and Alon all decided we would take it. For me the next few days entailed standing on street corners with a great big pink sign and handing out flyers. Gem, along with some other girls, got the more prestigious job of folding clothes all day. Noticing Alon's shaved head and goatee beard, he was chosen as security! On his day off they must have noticed my scary physique too because I spent my final day guarding the door. In the end me and gem only worked for 4 days but we got an extra bit of cash in hand so we were happy with that. 

Sometime the next week, Alon introduced us to a friend he had just met on the plane and we all went to watch 'Borat'. These guys were Jewish but they absolutely loved it, and ribbed us that they must have enjoyed it more as they also understood all the hebrew jibberish he says that's not subtitled. Alon also introduced us to Caroline, Jo and the popular middle eastern social activity that is nargila, which with much reluctance, Gemma eventually agreed to enjoy.

                                             Inside club in sydney


                    Jo & Caroline.                         Any chance to have his pic taken,
                                                                        this man has no shame

On a finer day we decided to head down to Darling Harbour and have a ride on a jet boat around the Harbour. Gem occasionally gets a real need for speed so she was particuarly looking forward to it.  It all started off fine with the boat whizzing around the harbour but then the driver started doing all these sharp 180 degrees turns and getting us absolutely soaked! Combined with the wind it actually made it pretty cold. What we could have done with was one of those mac's that keeps you dry, but the driver said we wouldn't need them. It was good fun with some great views of Sydney but the driver was an arrogant git who was just getting us drenched for his own amusement!

On Xmas Eve we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy meal on the harbour. It started with a fried prawn starter, which was then followed by some beautifully cooked lamb and chutney source for me, but Alex can't even remeber what he had - typical! Dessert was a lavender and poppyseed cake while Alex had a Creme Brulet tart. Not a typical English Xmas roast but still gorgeous.

As the saying goes, 'When in Rome...' we decided we had no choice but to spend Christams Day at Coogee beach with our Korean and Isreali friends (hello all! Hope you've either managed to save money & not spend it, studying or travels are going well!) and cooked a bbq and tasted xmas pud ice cream - don't try this.  Thankfull it was sunny, the day before chucked it down.  Sydney was experiencing unpredictable weather in years in the height of their summer, typical!  Good for the Ozzy drought though.  Alon then took us us for another bbq in the same evening after we walked from Coogee to Bondi Beach.  Not your typical backpacker experience as we dined out back of a an expensive white washed interior house in the hills, celebrating Xmas with some Jewish Australian peeps!  Loved it! 
Spot the Xmas tree!

me and Alon                                            Choi...what a pose!

 Gem and Sang Yoon

While in P.S. we also went on a dolphin cruise around the port and saw loads of them with one even coming right up to the bow of the boat, but me and gem were one of only a few people who saw it, so it made it seem worthwhile. Possums also shared our camp site and Gem enjoyed feeding one bread and strawberries, though to her surprise it preferred the bread. We saw the biggest spider I have seen in the common room. Somebody caught it and trapped it in a vase. "Oh it's only a huntsman" said an aussie over my shoulder. Only! This thing was massive. OK, me and gem knew they weren't poisonous but it was still pretty scary!

We tried some kayaking in Nelson Bay along the coast past cliffs and beaches, which was actually quite hard as we chose a windy day and rowed like maniacs on the way back going against the current.  Me and Gem had to work together and as Gem went in front she was the one who was in control of steering! I'm not going to say anything more other then that with Gem's sense of direction you can imagine how it went.  I'd just like to add that Alex had to sit behind me as the heaviest goes in the back seat, which we were told meant I had to give the instructions from the front and Al doesn't like taking orders! (Ha ha Matey!)  Lets just say it was a steep learning curve for us but once I started to counting a rythm for the oars, I got my ship mate back on track and we were sailing away!


We bought tickets to the Rodeo in town as well and had a good time watching the talent on show, even though the whole event is not really ethical in terms of the animals.  It was an experience but for this reason I wouldn't choose to go to one again.  Unfortunatly some of the photos of the Aussies riding the bulls didn't come out very well but we have downloaded some of the horses we just about managed to catch in action. 

                                                                          Good old Bundyrum! lol

New Years Eve away from Sydney was a pretty quiet affair. We ended up going to a party with live bands but when we got there we were definatley older then most others. In truth it was nothing special but we made it through midnight before heading down to the beach for a walk and another drink.

The Open Air Cinema on the harbour was impressive.  The screen was
the size of a tennis court and was built on stilts in the water.  We
watched from the seats on the riverbank, overlooking the Harbour Bridge
and Opera House at sun set.  Saw Catch A Fire - not bad, serious
but touching and a decent pace once you get into it.  To top it off during the festival we danced at an urban latino dance night in Sydney.. 
All of which meant we now definitely needed to work! 

Hello Everyone!

We're glad you have found your way here, as are we! Not being the most technically gifted means it has taken us about 5 months to summon the courage to drag ourselves away from the beach and give this blog lark a go.   As you're reading this we are now officially internet bloggers, or at least we think we are!

The idea of this little page of ours is to keep family, friends and fellow travellers updated on our travels and this seems the easiest way to do it.  Not only that but it is also for us as much as you guys as a reminder in years to come of what we got up to and all the people we met along the way.  For such a wide reaching audience of different people and age groups this is not the easiest of tasks but as we've been here a while there's plenty to tell, so over the next couple of weeks we are going to get this bang up to date.

Here goes...