2pm Thu 3 Apr: There's a strong breeze rustling the coconut tree by our balcony overlooking Bora Bora's famous lagoon, smack bang in the middle of the South Pacific.
Nati is preparing a Peruvian cooking masterpiece of lentejas con carne and I'm catching up on our blog. To keep things simple: there's an Australia blog below and New Zealand and French Polynesia blogs above, in the order we visited.
AUSTRALIA
The one thing about travelling is this: you just have to do your research. We didn't before we flew from Sydney to Cairns, so we arrived in Queensland's wet season (Nov - Apr). And by wet, I mean pelting, torrential rain, the sort of thing that turns streets of Cairns, Rockhampton and Mackay into rivers - as it did when we were in town.
Dumped the idea of sleeping in our hired Hipper Campervan (flower power! Peace man!) as we might have well have slept in a sauna.
We faced the rain and snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef in a monsoon, nice reef and fish but not as good as further south near the Whitsundays. Saw Barron Falls at their most thunderous - best waterfalls I've seen after South America's colossal Iguazu - and cooled off with swims in rivers like the gorgeous Mossman Gorge.
And made it to Cape Tribulation - finally. Last time I was near here, with my uni pal Andy three years ago, we were too tight to pay for the ferry. This time, we shelled out a massive £7 return but actually didn't find Cape Trib all it's cracked up to be, although Daintree rainforest is absolutely bursting with every shade of green.
Also saw the rainforest from a white-water raft...well, I did until our raft started sinking due to a hole right under...me. It was our guide's first puncture in eight years.
It was still raining, so three days' drive south, past flooded fields, the humidity and rain disappeared at Noosa, a posh beach town with lovely river kayaking to low-tide islands...and the completely awesome mountain-bike heaven which is Tewantin State Forest. It's single-track bliss, darting through eucalyptus forest despite hills closer to cliffs.
Home comforts arrived with my uni friend Ed and his lovely girlfriend Sarah, who live in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. Had a couple of classic Aussie days. Went surfing (well tried to, thanks for the lesson, Ed) and boogie boarding, which Nati loved until a dizzy spell after a particularly nasty wipeout. Set a meat-eating record at our BBQ, went swimming in Ed & Sarah's pool and checked out the house they're having built - nice, mate!
Steve Irwin's got one hell of a croc collection at Australia Zoo - I got crunched (scroll down for pic) then we hit cool Byron Bay and got a great feel for Brisbane staying with my mum's pals Margaret & Ken at their fairytale Aussie 'Queenslander' house. Their beautiful wooden home even had a verdanda popular with possums at night.
Thanks for the great hospitality, Barbie & Ken! My mum's other friends Karen & Don took us out on the town, so big thanks again.
Brissie's a super city (Nati's favourite in Oz), where you avoid road traffic on their mega-quick Rivercat boats, a smooth and stunning ride by any city's standards.
Ended two months in Oz with a jazz jam and a wicked Andy Warhol late-night exhibition. I never knew soup cans could be so cool.
Nati is preparing a Peruvian cooking masterpiece of lentejas con carne and I'm catching up on our blog. To keep things simple: there's an Australia blog below and New Zealand and French Polynesia blogs above, in the order we visited.
AUSTRALIA
The one thing about travelling is this: you just have to do your research. We didn't before we flew from Sydney to Cairns, so we arrived in Queensland's wet season (Nov - Apr). And by wet, I mean pelting, torrential rain, the sort of thing that turns streets of Cairns, Rockhampton and Mackay into rivers - as it did when we were in town.
Dumped the idea of sleeping in our hired Hipper Campervan (flower power! Peace man!) as we might have well have slept in a sauna.
We faced the rain and snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef in a monsoon, nice reef and fish but not as good as further south near the Whitsundays. Saw Barron Falls at their most thunderous - best waterfalls I've seen after South America's colossal Iguazu - and cooled off with swims in rivers like the gorgeous Mossman Gorge.
And made it to Cape Tribulation - finally. Last time I was near here, with my uni pal Andy three years ago, we were too tight to pay for the ferry. This time, we shelled out a massive £7 return but actually didn't find Cape Trib all it's cracked up to be, although Daintree rainforest is absolutely bursting with every shade of green.
Also saw the rainforest from a white-water raft...well, I did until our raft started sinking due to a hole right under...me. It was our guide's first puncture in eight years.
It was still raining, so three days' drive south, past flooded fields, the humidity and rain disappeared at Noosa, a posh beach town with lovely river kayaking to low-tide islands...and the completely awesome mountain-bike heaven which is Tewantin State Forest. It's single-track bliss, darting through eucalyptus forest despite hills closer to cliffs.
Home comforts arrived with my uni friend Ed and his lovely girlfriend Sarah, who live in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. Had a couple of classic Aussie days. Went surfing (well tried to, thanks for the lesson, Ed) and boogie boarding, which Nati loved until a dizzy spell after a particularly nasty wipeout. Set a meat-eating record at our BBQ, went swimming in Ed & Sarah's pool and checked out the house they're having built - nice, mate!
Steve Irwin's got one hell of a croc collection at Australia Zoo - I got crunched (scroll down for pic) then we hit cool Byron Bay and got a great feel for Brisbane staying with my mum's pals Margaret & Ken at their fairytale Aussie 'Queenslander' house. Their beautiful wooden home even had a verdanda popular with possums at night.
Thanks for the great hospitality, Barbie & Ken! My mum's other friends Karen & Don took us out on the town, so big thanks again.
Brissie's a super city (Nati's favourite in Oz), where you avoid road traffic on their mega-quick Rivercat boats, a smooth and stunning ride by any city's standards.
Ended two months in Oz with a jazz jam and a wicked Andy Warhol late-night exhibition. I never knew soup cans could be so cool.
No comments:
Post a Comment