"Where are you heading to in Queensland? Cairns? Townsville?" said the man in the British Lolly shop in Kings Cross "Airlie Beach" I told him "aw yeah thats a little slice of heaven right there, now get out of my shop" he said jokingly jealous. Whenever we told any aussies we were going to Airlie Beach on the Whitsunday coast they immediately gave us the thumbs up, as in "Good choice". We got here last monday from Sydney via Brisbane. It took a couple of hours and weirdly we are an hour behind Sydney despite being further to the right of it. I still can't work this out. Anyway, we've been staying in a place called Sunlit waters which is at the top of a very steep hill that Emma hasn't enjoyed climbing once or twice a day but most of this area is hilly and sweeps down to sea so blue they have to use the word blue in different languages to describe it.
Our apartment was very spacious which was very welcome having stayed in a cubby hole in Manly for 2 weeks. Also it had a pool which is good as although it's called Airlie Beach there is no actual beach but there is a big lagoon which is pretty. The major reason we came up here was to visit the Great Barrier Reef. There are loads of boat trips out there but we picked one called Reef World which is a pontoon built out at Hardy Reef. It's a 2 hour journey out there and the trip gets pretty choppy once you get out to the coral sea past the islands and there were a lot of people being sick on the way out and back. Once out there we had to put on stinger suits in case we encountered any jelly fish while snorkelling. They are not very flattering but everyone had to wear them. Emma was away like hell into the water but I had to sort of edge myself after almost dying the last time I went snorkelling. No offence to Colum but I felt a lot safer out here as there were ropes and buoys surrounding the area we snorkelled and the pontoon was gonna move away either. The water was so shallow that the reef looked like a miles of sand along the horizon and when we were in the water it was literally within touching distance from the surface. The fish were swimming right up into your face and the reef was white in the sun. I saw lots of fish, the ones that stick out were Turkish Harlequin Wrasse which had the same colours as a rocket ice lolly and Five Striped Damsel Fish which had a flat body and and a tiny little puckered up mouth. The divers saw turtles and eels but i was delighted just to be able to go out at all. I am terrified of not being able to put my feet down so it was something of a victory for me. I could have but my feet down on the reef it was that shallow but you don't want to go destroying it with your big flipper feet. I think it's really durable otherwise it wouldn't have survived all these years. It's the largest living thing on earth, almost 3000 kms long. Incredible, I kept thinking to my self as I was looking at it "Great Barrier Reef! woo-hoo".
We went out another day as well around Border Island which is one of the Whitsundays and had a bit of snorkel round there as well. Not as shallow and very murky but you could still see fish and reef. I didn't feel as safe at this one but I had a go anyway and could swim to the shore if I wasn't confident which was quite often. Again Emma had no problems although she forgot to take her watch off before she got in but it didn't break it. I told her I didn't buy her crap! The last stop on this trip was Whitehaven Beach which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It is amazing white silica sand and crystal blue water but we didn't get much time there. Emma was back in the water there as well, making up for all the time she spent out of the water everywhere else. It started raining while we were there as well but because it's the tropics the rain is warm and it cools everything down as it is very hot here. There have been loads of torrential down pours but they don't last long.
Apart from that we've just been relaxing and trying to get a tan befitting of people who have been in Australia for a year. We've seen every season Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter as well as the Dry and Wet seasons they have here. We' ve witnessed the outback and the city life. We've visited every state on mainland Australia as we made an N shape across the country through Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland( Canberra is a territory of its own but is tecnically in New South Wales). Didn't get to go to Tasmania but got to see Tasmanian Devils, didn't get to do New Zealand but met a lot of Kiwis and did very little of the east coast but we've been told by people who have travelled around Australia all their lives "You can't do it all". We're delighted with what we've managed to pack into a year and maybe we'll get a chance to do some of what we missed out on another time. We've been through almost every emotion possible and haven't had one row (yeah right). It has been fantastic to be able to share this experience and it's something that we can always look back on. For all our complaining and slagging off, Australia is the most amazing place with the most diverse, friendly, generous, patriotic and funny people, a great climate and so much to see and do. The whole place is a little slice of heaven.
Thanks for reading. We look forward to seeing you all when we return. We leave tomorrow and 29 hours later we arrive in Dublin. Hopefully we bring some half decent weather back with us.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Hollywood and Hanley go to Manly
After a weekend of packing and wondering whether one of the seven entities involved in our apartment in Melbourne would return with the deposit we made it to the airport on time and reimbursed for our flight to Sydney. Unfortunately the airline was all over the place and gave our plane to some poor souls who were scheduled to go to Perth on the flight before ours but they couldn't board as the flight couldn't be serviced they announced over the pa. It may have been the Australia Cricket team took out their frustrations on the flight from Perth to Melbourne having lost the first test to South Africa. This may not mean a lot to anyone who doesn't follow cricket or is not Australian but over here its a national disaster. I got to watch a lot of it as Emma took charge of all the packing, well she is better at it than me and she had to make room in my case for some of her own stuff. Emma was a fair bit through the packing by saturday night when she took a well earned break to go to see Kylie Minogue in concert.
We were running late for this as we misread the start time as 8pm instead of 7pm. We got there for about 8.30pm but it hadn't even started. We had time to get a drink before we took our seats and everything. It was in the Rod Laver Arena again, same place as Stevie Wonder, though this time we were in much better cheap seats side on to the stage. If I had any doubt as to why Kylie is a gay icon I know why now. There was a wide range of ages there from young to old and a wide range of sexualities as well it must be said. One drag queen who was right up the front and was on the big screens as Kylie went through the crowd to see who had come in the best costume (won by someone dressed as her hot pants in gold lycra from head to toe) sat in front of us on the tram the whole way home. Five months ago I wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face but this is Melbourne and anything goes. It was a very entertaining show that lasted 3 hours. She has come a long way from one of her first concerts that a wee girl from our street went to about 20 years ago when her and her da queued for hours to get tickets and Kylie played for 15 minutes.
So that was our last weekend in Melbourne. On the sunday we went down to Acland st. for dinner, avoiding Greasy Joes we went to the place we should have taken Ronnie and Eleanor, the Zenith Club. It was a lot more like a restaurant and an altogether more enjoyable dining experience. We stopped into a bar called The Local on Carlisle st. on the way home with the attention of having one drink but we ended up hanging about for a pub quiz that was good craic and amazed ourselves at how much we had learned about Australia in the last year.
So the airport the next morning. Donal very kindly ran us there and we thanked him for his generosity by leaving him with a bag of food that we took from our cupboard. It was just rice and pasta that we hadn't opened, paprika, pepper etc and some saffron from my attempts at making paella. We had accumulated an awful amount of stuff since we came to Australia last January and had to to several runs to the charity shop with clothes and shoes that we weren't able to bring with us or no longer wanted. when we got to check in my case weighed 37 kilos so we had to promptly get rid of a 5 kilos. Most of what we discarded, unfortunately, was leaflets, brochures and mementos we had gathered on the road trip.
So we made the weight and after our plane was given to the people going to Perth we had to get to another gate and we were informed a smaller plane was waiting for us and 30 passengers wouldn't be able to get this flight because of the downsizing. We were on it so we didn't care and off we went to Sydney. The flight was alright, they announced we were being served lunch and then retracted that statement and said we were getting afternoon which was a biscuit. We landed at Sydney Airport, got or bags and were on a train to circular quay all within 30 minutes which was better than any airport I can remember. We got to Circular Quay which I didn't know sits snugly between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Our first view of Sydney when we got off the train to get the ferry to Manly was this iconic sight. Then it just got better as the ferry goes out beside the Harbour Bridge and turns right past the Opera House then we chugged out to sea with this incredible view in our wake. Every time we go into the city this is the way we have to go ( I think there is a bus as well but who wants a bus when you can see Sydney harbour in all its majesty).
When we got to manly we first of all mistook the harbour for the beach and then when we got our hotel room we discovered as we were warned the scale of a budget room is roughly the size of a bed. Emma reminded me we'd lived in a van for 2 and a half months so this should be no bother and to be honest it's been fine although I thought we would have had foxsports but we don't so i'm still without football. Also we discovered that beach was on the opposite side from the harbour and what a beach! It has everything, soft sand, big waves, warm blue sea and beautiful women and it's a 100 metres from the hotel. We've been down every day trying to get the sort of colour would make you believe we've been in Australia for a year.
On Christmas Eve we got the ferry back into Circular Quay. The harbour emerges after a right turn round North Headland. It really is magnificent and something you'd think you'd never get sick of looking at. This day were going to get even closer to the bridge as we were going to climb it. First we went round to the Opera House for a closer look. My first thoughts were that it's not as white as it looks on telly, it's more of a creamy colour. Emma didn't think it looked as big as she thought. The bridge climb was brilliant, it took about 3 hours what with getting on all the gear (jump suit, harness, windsheeter, fleece, hat, handkerchief, radio, headset) the training that entailed climbing up a ladder walking across a walkway and climbing down a ladder and then the walk out to the bridge arches to begin the climb. You go with a group of people (usually 8) they put you with, you have introduce yourself to everyone and all that but eventually the climb began. The toughest part is the beginning and the end when you have to scaled 3 or 4 vertical ladders up a pillar through the traffic and train lines til you reach the arches after that it's a pretty leisurely stroll up a steady incline with unbelievable view of the harbour and city. We walked up to the very top and then crossed over the middle and walked back down again.
Christmas day was spent on the beach amongst thousands of people. Some had built snow men in the sand. We had crackers and dips for Christmas lunch and then went to a Thai place for dinner. Pretty different from Christmas at home. It was a complete non-event here. There was no stress about presents, no last minute shopping, people just seem to take it in their stride here.
Another unconventional event was Maura Magee's wedding. It was in a surf club in North Curl Curl not far from Manly. The surf club over looks a beach, naturally so the back drop to the ceremony was spectacular. It was a great wedding as the nuptials lasted no more than 10 minutes and next thing two of the groom Iain's brothers were in the ocean boogie boarding. I would have joined them but I didn't bring my shorts. The wedding dinner was a big barbie with 3 roasts and a load of salad and more drink than could be consumed then we all ceili danced until we were exhausted. Great craic. Really brilliant wedding.
Maura and Iain have a beautiful apartment overlooking part of the harbour and at the bottom of their street is the most amazing view of the Harbour bridge and Opera house. It was absolutely perfect for New Years Eve. Emma did take some photos that look great on the viewfinder on the camera but not so good on the computer for some reason. It's a huge event new years over here and it was one of the reasons we wanted to be here. People are out all day trying to secure good spots in all the different points that surround the harbour area. Luckily we didn't have to go out until 4 or 5 because the location of Maura's is so good. The fireworks were spectacular and it is a fantastic event. Still had the usual nightmare getting home. We were on a train packed with people. We were sardines but worse was to come when it came to a halt and had to crawl into the next station because someone had vandalised the signal. A short trip took the guts of an hour. We got out at the next station and walked to Circular Quay to get the ferry back to Manly.
Sydney is an amazing place. I know a lot of people who have been here and heard a lot of stories about the place but it didn't really prepare me for the geography of the place. I had no idea that you could get ferries all over the place or how spread out it all was. We went up to Bondi yesterday, it was cloudy so wasn't great and then we stopped off in Kings Cross on the way back which is full of strip joints. We went over to Darling Harbour one night to this ribs and steak place called Hurricanes. We had to wait an hour to get a table with about 100 other people but it was worth it. North Sydney were Maura lives is, like a lot of inner city Sydney it seems, on steep hills. Apart from that we've just spent most of our time lying on the beach in Manly. The weather has been brilliant apart from 3 or 4 days. Sydney is a lot different from Melbourne. You can tell they get a lot of sun here just by the way people dress and how tanned they all are. It's also a lot more Mediterranean looking I think. Everything points to the harbour, the jewel of the city but i'm sure there is a lot more to it than that. Also maybe because we are on holiday and not living here there are a lot more nationalities here and I haven't heard that many Aussie accents. Anyway it's a great place, full of diversity.
We leave tomorrow and head for Airlie Beach for a week before home.
We were running late for this as we misread the start time as 8pm instead of 7pm. We got there for about 8.30pm but it hadn't even started. We had time to get a drink before we took our seats and everything. It was in the Rod Laver Arena again, same place as Stevie Wonder, though this time we were in much better cheap seats side on to the stage. If I had any doubt as to why Kylie is a gay icon I know why now. There was a wide range of ages there from young to old and a wide range of sexualities as well it must be said. One drag queen who was right up the front and was on the big screens as Kylie went through the crowd to see who had come in the best costume (won by someone dressed as her hot pants in gold lycra from head to toe) sat in front of us on the tram the whole way home. Five months ago I wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face but this is Melbourne and anything goes. It was a very entertaining show that lasted 3 hours. She has come a long way from one of her first concerts that a wee girl from our street went to about 20 years ago when her and her da queued for hours to get tickets and Kylie played for 15 minutes.
So that was our last weekend in Melbourne. On the sunday we went down to Acland st. for dinner, avoiding Greasy Joes we went to the place we should have taken Ronnie and Eleanor, the Zenith Club. It was a lot more like a restaurant and an altogether more enjoyable dining experience. We stopped into a bar called The Local on Carlisle st. on the way home with the attention of having one drink but we ended up hanging about for a pub quiz that was good craic and amazed ourselves at how much we had learned about Australia in the last year.
So the airport the next morning. Donal very kindly ran us there and we thanked him for his generosity by leaving him with a bag of food that we took from our cupboard. It was just rice and pasta that we hadn't opened, paprika, pepper etc and some saffron from my attempts at making paella. We had accumulated an awful amount of stuff since we came to Australia last January and had to to several runs to the charity shop with clothes and shoes that we weren't able to bring with us or no longer wanted. when we got to check in my case weighed 37 kilos so we had to promptly get rid of a 5 kilos. Most of what we discarded, unfortunately, was leaflets, brochures and mementos we had gathered on the road trip.
So we made the weight and after our plane was given to the people going to Perth we had to get to another gate and we were informed a smaller plane was waiting for us and 30 passengers wouldn't be able to get this flight because of the downsizing. We were on it so we didn't care and off we went to Sydney. The flight was alright, they announced we were being served lunch and then retracted that statement and said we were getting afternoon which was a biscuit. We landed at Sydney Airport, got or bags and were on a train to circular quay all within 30 minutes which was better than any airport I can remember. We got to Circular Quay which I didn't know sits snugly between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Our first view of Sydney when we got off the train to get the ferry to Manly was this iconic sight. Then it just got better as the ferry goes out beside the Harbour Bridge and turns right past the Opera House then we chugged out to sea with this incredible view in our wake. Every time we go into the city this is the way we have to go ( I think there is a bus as well but who wants a bus when you can see Sydney harbour in all its majesty).
When we got to manly we first of all mistook the harbour for the beach and then when we got our hotel room we discovered as we were warned the scale of a budget room is roughly the size of a bed. Emma reminded me we'd lived in a van for 2 and a half months so this should be no bother and to be honest it's been fine although I thought we would have had foxsports but we don't so i'm still without football. Also we discovered that beach was on the opposite side from the harbour and what a beach! It has everything, soft sand, big waves, warm blue sea and beautiful women and it's a 100 metres from the hotel. We've been down every day trying to get the sort of colour would make you believe we've been in Australia for a year.
On Christmas Eve we got the ferry back into Circular Quay. The harbour emerges after a right turn round North Headland. It really is magnificent and something you'd think you'd never get sick of looking at. This day were going to get even closer to the bridge as we were going to climb it. First we went round to the Opera House for a closer look. My first thoughts were that it's not as white as it looks on telly, it's more of a creamy colour. Emma didn't think it looked as big as she thought. The bridge climb was brilliant, it took about 3 hours what with getting on all the gear (jump suit, harness, windsheeter, fleece, hat, handkerchief, radio, headset) the training that entailed climbing up a ladder walking across a walkway and climbing down a ladder and then the walk out to the bridge arches to begin the climb. You go with a group of people (usually 8) they put you with, you have introduce yourself to everyone and all that but eventually the climb began. The toughest part is the beginning and the end when you have to scaled 3 or 4 vertical ladders up a pillar through the traffic and train lines til you reach the arches after that it's a pretty leisurely stroll up a steady incline with unbelievable view of the harbour and city. We walked up to the very top and then crossed over the middle and walked back down again.
Christmas day was spent on the beach amongst thousands of people. Some had built snow men in the sand. We had crackers and dips for Christmas lunch and then went to a Thai place for dinner. Pretty different from Christmas at home. It was a complete non-event here. There was no stress about presents, no last minute shopping, people just seem to take it in their stride here.
Another unconventional event was Maura Magee's wedding. It was in a surf club in North Curl Curl not far from Manly. The surf club over looks a beach, naturally so the back drop to the ceremony was spectacular. It was a great wedding as the nuptials lasted no more than 10 minutes and next thing two of the groom Iain's brothers were in the ocean boogie boarding. I would have joined them but I didn't bring my shorts. The wedding dinner was a big barbie with 3 roasts and a load of salad and more drink than could be consumed then we all ceili danced until we were exhausted. Great craic. Really brilliant wedding.
Maura and Iain have a beautiful apartment overlooking part of the harbour and at the bottom of their street is the most amazing view of the Harbour bridge and Opera house. It was absolutely perfect for New Years Eve. Emma did take some photos that look great on the viewfinder on the camera but not so good on the computer for some reason. It's a huge event new years over here and it was one of the reasons we wanted to be here. People are out all day trying to secure good spots in all the different points that surround the harbour area. Luckily we didn't have to go out until 4 or 5 because the location of Maura's is so good. The fireworks were spectacular and it is a fantastic event. Still had the usual nightmare getting home. We were on a train packed with people. We were sardines but worse was to come when it came to a halt and had to crawl into the next station because someone had vandalised the signal. A short trip took the guts of an hour. We got out at the next station and walked to Circular Quay to get the ferry back to Manly.
Sydney is an amazing place. I know a lot of people who have been here and heard a lot of stories about the place but it didn't really prepare me for the geography of the place. I had no idea that you could get ferries all over the place or how spread out it all was. We went up to Bondi yesterday, it was cloudy so wasn't great and then we stopped off in Kings Cross on the way back which is full of strip joints. We went over to Darling Harbour one night to this ribs and steak place called Hurricanes. We had to wait an hour to get a table with about 100 other people but it was worth it. North Sydney were Maura lives is, like a lot of inner city Sydney it seems, on steep hills. Apart from that we've just spent most of our time lying on the beach in Manly. The weather has been brilliant apart from 3 or 4 days. Sydney is a lot different from Melbourne. You can tell they get a lot of sun here just by the way people dress and how tanned they all are. It's also a lot more Mediterranean looking I think. Everything points to the harbour, the jewel of the city but i'm sure there is a lot more to it than that. Also maybe because we are on holiday and not living here there are a lot more nationalities here and I haven't heard that many Aussie accents. Anyway it's a great place, full of diversity.
We leave tomorrow and head for Airlie Beach for a week before home.
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