Saturday, October 18, 2003
Solway Lass
We just had our 3 day/3 night sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands, on a 100 year old tallship - the Solway Lass.The Solway Lass was easily the highlight of our trip so far and that is really saying something. The trip started off at 7:30 in the evening, so you sail out of Airlie Beach in the dark. We watched the moon rise at about 9 ish before we moored for the night and had soup and beer.
The crew took us to some of the best parts of the islands: Whitehaven Beach, 6km of the purest sand and beautiful tropical waters; a hike up to a lookout with a fantastic view of the islands; diving and snorkelling; we all got to help hoisting sails. It didn't take much imagination for Jamie to pretend he was Captain Cook discovering the Whitsunday Islands for the first time as we gently sailed past the tropical beaches, lush rainforest etc. At the end of the second day we watched the sun set from a coral beach while drinking champagne, with the Solway Lass in the foreground - beautiful and very romantic :-) Neither of us were very keen on scuba diving but it was quite an experience - scary and good, but neither of us want to go on and do a PADI course. It was just like the Blue Planet only you were worrying about breathing, clearing your mask, holding on to the instructor, quietly panicking inside and enjoying it all at the same time. The DVD is much less stressful.
On the last day we got to try snorkelling! Too cool for words. Really easy to do, relaxing and with (we think) better views of the fish cos all the pretty ones are close to the surface. Deeper down they just seem to get bigger and uglier. Amazing colours and varieties though. The crew were feeding the fish bread from the tender (we're getting into this nautical language - that's the little boat that took us ashore) and Jamie was underneath literally swimming through fish not water. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
The crew are a great bunch of people and they helped to make the experience brilliant fun. There is a rope swing, so when we dropped anchor you can jump into the water for a swim, there is netting at the front of the boat which you lie in and sunbathe, or just look down into the water. The food was fantastic - they really pulled out all the stops; including a roast dinner and the best chocolate cake ever! There were lots of Irish people on board - at least 10 out of 32. The evenings were great fun and again we could watch fish swimming around the boat and even fed them bread.
We saw dolphins, shooting stars, a thunder storm 35km away in Airlie beach and a moon rise. It was the sort of expereince you just don't want to leave behind. We'd be tempted to say that you shouldn't leave Airlie Beach without sailing on the Solway but really, you should come to Australia just for her. Great 3 days. And the nights were spent drinking beer under the stars.
Photos will be up soon.
Monday, October 13, 2003
Sun, Sea, Rum and Beef
It feels like forever since our last blog and there is lots to tell you, so don't make any plans you're gonna be here for a while...
First things first though I have to introduce Rudy (pictured left). Rudy is our trip mascot... Jamie got him for me as my travelling buddy when I worked for Broadcom and travelled a bit. So we decided that we couldn't leave Rudy at home. We have been lax in including the little guy in pictures but in the picture on the left he is chilling out, enjoying the views from Carlo Sandblow in Rainbow Beach.
And this links nicely to our first port of call since leaving Brisbane - Rainbow Beach. It's a small, sea-side town and is a very good place to set of on tours of Fraser Island. The ferry journey is also shorter from here than from Hervey Bay and Rainbow Beach is much nicer than Hervey Bay.
We took a 3day/2night guided tour of Fraser and it was worth every penny. It is the most beautiful place that I have ever been. It is so remarkably untouched - for example, the main highway on the island is the 75km beach on the east side. It is a sand island. It is also the place in Australia with the purest breed of dingos. It is believed that the dingos on Fraser are the only ones that have not interbred with other dogs.
Fraser is a world heritage island - this means you can take nothing from the island (except photographs) and you can leave nothing on the island (except footprints).
It rained the first day we arrived but was never cold. We swam in two fresh-water lakes (Lake Birribeen and Lake Wabby), which were beautifully warm. The second lake had catfish in it and they were not afraid to swim very close to people. They freaked me out a little so I didn't swim for long.
The second day we went to the Champagne Pools and Indian head. The swimming in the champagne pools was the only time we swam in saltwater - actually out of the entire collection of people at the pools I was the only one swimming, everyone else calimed it was too cold. Compared to Irish waters it was tropical. You can't swim in the ocean around Fraser Island as there are sharks and very strong currents. The champagne pools are so called because when the sea crashes over the rocks into the pools it leaves bubbles that look like champagne.
Indian head is a good spot for viewing the marine life around Fraser. We were hoping to see sharks and sting rays but it was too dull for that. Just before coming down from the head we were standing there on the very edge, 60 metres above sea level - in a bit of a romantic clinch, if you know what I mean - when BOOM! - this explosion out of nowhere, which never normally happens when Jamie kisses me! It was an F1-11 fighter jet buzzing past. We nearly lost our lives. We were still shaking from the shock of it when BOOM! - a second one goes past. We hit the deck instantly, sure that we were goona die....... It was very scary but funny. Apparently those pilots do that all the time.
We saw lots of wildlife: migrating humpback whales, a dingo, a lizard type thing, a few white bellied sea eagles and other birds. There was one type of bird that particularly interested me - the crested tern:
We also saw the coloured sands and the Maheno shipwreck. On the third day we went to Eli Creek the largest creek on the island where you can float down the creek. But it's a popular spot and gets very crowded - so we didn't swim there.
On returning to Rainbow Beach there is lots to do, but we hadn't enough time - we did get to go see the Carlo Sandblow, which gives great views but is an entirely uphill walk!
Next stop was Bundaberg, and we only stayed there for one night. We needed to break up the journey and Bundaberg has a rum distillery - can everyone see where this part of the story is going? Apparently Bundaberg rum is the most popular rum in Australia - you know you can buy it in cans already mixed with cola!!! Only 4% of the rum produced at Bundaberg is exported and 3% is to New Zealand, so you won't be seeing this stuff in your local offie.
After a very long walk in the heat we did the hour long tour of the distillery - you know the first part of the rum making process must be very like the first part of the licorice making process. We got to taste the molasses after they had clarified it and it almost tasted like licorice and there is molasses in licorice. I digress.... at the end of the tour, we of course got to sample some of the rum they produce and at this point Jamie and I discovered why we are not rum drinkers - it isn't all that nice. Although the one mixed with Bundaberg Gingerbeer is ok.
From Bundberg we headed to Rockhampton - another break in the journey and the beef capital of Australia. We had most of Sunday to kill in Rockhampton as the bus was not leaving until 11:59pm. So we went to have lunch in the Criterion Hotel - one of the best places to get steak in Rockhampton. And they're not wrong the steak is good. I had reef 'n' beef and it was delicious with creamy pepper sauce. We washed all this down with a number of pints of XXXX Gold [an aside here... when you see adds for Australian beer pay attention to what they say and you might avoid the embarassing situation that I had when first ordering beer. I asked for "a pint of quadruple X please" and was presented with a quizzical look from our very patient bar maid. She deciphered what I said and realised that I wanted a pint of "four X"!]
We arrived in Airlie Beach this morning at 6:55am after travelling over night with McCafferty's. The day is lovely and we have just finalised our booking for 3days/3nights sailing in the Whit Sundays. WeE have also acquired our wet suits for scuba diving. Very excited about all this - we leave tomorrow night. If we survive the sailing and the diving you'll hear from us again soon. If not - they've got my mother's number.
First things first though I have to introduce Rudy (pictured left). Rudy is our trip mascot... Jamie got him for me as my travelling buddy when I worked for Broadcom and travelled a bit. So we decided that we couldn't leave Rudy at home. We have been lax in including the little guy in pictures but in the picture on the left he is chilling out, enjoying the views from Carlo Sandblow in Rainbow Beach.
And this links nicely to our first port of call since leaving Brisbane - Rainbow Beach. It's a small, sea-side town and is a very good place to set of on tours of Fraser Island. The ferry journey is also shorter from here than from Hervey Bay and Rainbow Beach is much nicer than Hervey Bay.
We took a 3day/2night guided tour of Fraser and it was worth every penny. It is the most beautiful place that I have ever been. It is so remarkably untouched - for example, the main highway on the island is the 75km beach on the east side. It is a sand island. It is also the place in Australia with the purest breed of dingos. It is believed that the dingos on Fraser are the only ones that have not interbred with other dogs.
Fraser is a world heritage island - this means you can take nothing from the island (except photographs) and you can leave nothing on the island (except footprints).
It rained the first day we arrived but was never cold. We swam in two fresh-water lakes (Lake Birribeen and Lake Wabby), which were beautifully warm. The second lake had catfish in it and they were not afraid to swim very close to people. They freaked me out a little so I didn't swim for long.
The second day we went to the Champagne Pools and Indian head. The swimming in the champagne pools was the only time we swam in saltwater - actually out of the entire collection of people at the pools I was the only one swimming, everyone else calimed it was too cold. Compared to Irish waters it was tropical. You can't swim in the ocean around Fraser Island as there are sharks and very strong currents. The champagne pools are so called because when the sea crashes over the rocks into the pools it leaves bubbles that look like champagne.
Indian head is a good spot for viewing the marine life around Fraser. We were hoping to see sharks and sting rays but it was too dull for that. Just before coming down from the head we were standing there on the very edge, 60 metres above sea level - in a bit of a romantic clinch, if you know what I mean - when BOOM! - this explosion out of nowhere, which never normally happens when Jamie kisses me! It was an F1-11 fighter jet buzzing past. We nearly lost our lives. We were still shaking from the shock of it when BOOM! - a second one goes past. We hit the deck instantly, sure that we were goona die....... It was very scary but funny. Apparently those pilots do that all the time.
We saw lots of wildlife: migrating humpback whales, a dingo, a lizard type thing, a few white bellied sea eagles and other birds. There was one type of bird that particularly interested me - the crested tern:
Aborignal legend tells us that the aboriginies used to feed marajuana to the terns. This is because they believed that no tern should go unstoned.
We also saw the coloured sands and the Maheno shipwreck. On the third day we went to Eli Creek the largest creek on the island where you can float down the creek. But it's a popular spot and gets very crowded - so we didn't swim there.
On returning to Rainbow Beach there is lots to do, but we hadn't enough time - we did get to go see the Carlo Sandblow, which gives great views but is an entirely uphill walk!
Next stop was Bundaberg, and we only stayed there for one night. We needed to break up the journey and Bundaberg has a rum distillery - can everyone see where this part of the story is going? Apparently Bundaberg rum is the most popular rum in Australia - you know you can buy it in cans already mixed with cola!!! Only 4% of the rum produced at Bundaberg is exported and 3% is to New Zealand, so you won't be seeing this stuff in your local offie.
After a very long walk in the heat we did the hour long tour of the distillery - you know the first part of the rum making process must be very like the first part of the licorice making process. We got to taste the molasses after they had clarified it and it almost tasted like licorice and there is molasses in licorice. I digress.... at the end of the tour, we of course got to sample some of the rum they produce and at this point Jamie and I discovered why we are not rum drinkers - it isn't all that nice. Although the one mixed with Bundaberg Gingerbeer is ok.
From Bundberg we headed to Rockhampton - another break in the journey and the beef capital of Australia. We had most of Sunday to kill in Rockhampton as the bus was not leaving until 11:59pm. So we went to have lunch in the Criterion Hotel - one of the best places to get steak in Rockhampton. And they're not wrong the steak is good. I had reef 'n' beef and it was delicious with creamy pepper sauce. We washed all this down with a number of pints of XXXX Gold [an aside here... when you see adds for Australian beer pay attention to what they say and you might avoid the embarassing situation that I had when first ordering beer. I asked for "a pint of quadruple X please" and was presented with a quizzical look from our very patient bar maid. She deciphered what I said and realised that I wanted a pint of "four X"!]
We arrived in Airlie Beach this morning at 6:55am after travelling over night with McCafferty's. The day is lovely and we have just finalised our booking for 3days/3nights sailing in the Whit Sundays. WeE have also acquired our wet suits for scuba diving. Very excited about all this - we leave tomorrow night. If we survive the sailing and the diving you'll hear from us again soon. If not - they've got my mother's number.
Dingo's and Cockroaches
Here's a tale that just reinforces our belief that you either stay in a YHA hostel or make sure it's recommended to you by someone.
We rang to book The Rocks YHA in Rainbow Beach (lovely town BTW) and they told us that in fact it wasn't a YHA hostel anymore but it got good reviews in the Footprints guide so what the hell? How bad could it be? Well, first off when Hilary asked for The Rocks YHA they could have informed us that they'd changed their name to Dingo's. That probably would have saved 15mins of wandering around the town only to find the the bus had dropped us off right outside!
And the staff could have been a little more helpful in directing us to our double room which is actually in a house seperate to the main hostel. All was ok and the hostel bar had a good buzz to it. We returned to the room sometime later to find cockroaches; one on the bed, one in the wardrobe and finally another underneath the bed. Now one cockroach is an accident (we had one in Dublin and never saw another in 2 years), 2 might be a coincidence, but 3 is a party. We had mama roach, papa roach and baby roach. And I'm sure more were lurking if we'd had the inkling to look for them.
Now don't get me wrong. When you're travelling around, living in hostels in a climate where the doors are left open to catch a breeze, you have to expect the local wildlife to come wandering in. I didn't complain when a Huntsman spider scurried across the floor of another hostel: it's his place too and they're not poisonous - just large. But cockroaches are found where ever they can find food and that inevitably means they're found in sanitarily-challenged places. This house didn't exactly sparkle. In fact, some of the rooms were seperated by floor-to-ceiling piles of mattresses rather than walls. We got ourselves moved to another room (upstairs in the same house) and cancelled our second night there.
It's worth remembering that the main hostel building was fine and the shared accommodation looked ok. Anyway, there is a new YHA right next door to Dingo's and we'd both recommend that anyone looking for a double room in Rainbow Beach checks it out. A huge room with en-suite and balcony for AUZ$58 managed by friendly, knowledgable and helpful staff with some great food in the evenings.
We rang to book The Rocks YHA in Rainbow Beach (lovely town BTW) and they told us that in fact it wasn't a YHA hostel anymore but it got good reviews in the Footprints guide so what the hell? How bad could it be? Well, first off when Hilary asked for The Rocks YHA they could have informed us that they'd changed their name to Dingo's. That probably would have saved 15mins of wandering around the town only to find the the bus had dropped us off right outside!
And the staff could have been a little more helpful in directing us to our double room which is actually in a house seperate to the main hostel. All was ok and the hostel bar had a good buzz to it. We returned to the room sometime later to find cockroaches; one on the bed, one in the wardrobe and finally another underneath the bed. Now one cockroach is an accident (we had one in Dublin and never saw another in 2 years), 2 might be a coincidence, but 3 is a party. We had mama roach, papa roach and baby roach. And I'm sure more were lurking if we'd had the inkling to look for them.
Now don't get me wrong. When you're travelling around, living in hostels in a climate where the doors are left open to catch a breeze, you have to expect the local wildlife to come wandering in. I didn't complain when a Huntsman spider scurried across the floor of another hostel: it's his place too and they're not poisonous - just large. But cockroaches are found where ever they can find food and that inevitably means they're found in sanitarily-challenged places. This house didn't exactly sparkle. In fact, some of the rooms were seperated by floor-to-ceiling piles of mattresses rather than walls. We got ourselves moved to another room (upstairs in the same house) and cancelled our second night there.
It's worth remembering that the main hostel building was fine and the shared accommodation looked ok. Anyway, there is a new YHA right next door to Dingo's and we'd both recommend that anyone looking for a double room in Rainbow Beach checks it out. A huge room with en-suite and balcony for AUZ$58 managed by friendly, knowledgable and helpful staff with some great food in the evenings.
