Ok... now we're back in Caaaaaaairns and Betty is all fixed up with a new battery and charger. I'm glad that we were right and that there was something wrong with her. The hire company were massively reluctant to believe us on the phone and so we had to drive back here to show them that things were not as they should be. After about an hours work she was ready for us.
It has occured to me that I haven't written anything about the week on the liveaboard. I'd love to put some pics up on here but James is currently busy sorting his pics out and they're all on his camera.
We rocked up to the boat at about 6pm on a Thursday evening to be greeted by a champagne reception. We met all the other guests and the crew. We were the youngest on board for the first part of the week but it was no problem. After a very bumpy night we made our way to the first dive site and were in the water at very early o' clock. The boat operated an open deck policy, which meant that you could pretty much dive when you wanted, up to 5 dives a day. I had to have an orientation dive just to prove that I'm not completely useless in the water as it had been over a year since I'd dived. After that dive we were able to buddy up and do as we liked at each dive site. This was far preferable to following a dive leader and being in a big group crowded around a reef and scaring everything away.
I won't bore you with the details of every dive (I'm sure James has that stored up for the future) but some highlights for me were seeing my first sharks (whitetip reef sharks and a grey reef shark), lots of cuttlefish, the Potato Cod at Cod Hole (particularly during the night dive when they followed the light of my torch to hunt with) and many other things. While on board I did the Nitrox speciality course which allowed me to use a different blend of gas with a much higher oxygen content. This made multiple dives far less tiring than if I'd been using air. We both did the Naturalist speciality course with the illustrious Laurence Buckingham, a man not quite of this planet. We weren't going to bother with it but after chatting to him we felt we had to. The man is a real gold mine of information, and we both learned a lot from him.
The week was split into two parts, with some members of the group leaving halfway through to be replaced by newcomers. We met some fantastic people on the boat, both crew and guests. Anyway, I'll leave this topic for James to talk about as it really is his forte and it seems like I haven't shut up yet =)
We should be heading out to the Atherton tablelands and that area tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be meeting up with a girl that James met on one of his Operation Wallacea expeditions later today so that'll be cool. We have to be in Airlie beach by Nov 3rd so that James can prepare for his diving instructors course. We'll be there for about a month in total, and I'm thinking of ways to pass the time as he'll be pretty busy all that time.
Stay in touch!
Katy x
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Cape Tribulation
Hey all!
After leaving Cairns in our lovely camper Betty, we made our way up to Port Douglas and stocked up on supplies. Chilled out on the beach for a while and then headed to the Mossman gorge. We timed it perfectly and ended up having the place to ourselves. The water was pretty cold but really refreshing. We camped there for a night as I pretty much passed out at 7.30 pm and slept through until about 9.30 =) Headed up to Daintree, realised there was literally nothing there, turned around, came back and went into a zoo we passed on the way. I had a great time feeding the kangaroos and wallabys. James, however, caught the attention of one of the males who got a bit overexcited by his presence and wanted a fight, jumping up and headbutting his one day old camera lens. Whoops.
Lenses intact we escaped and made our way over the river crossing and up to Cape Tribulation. There's pretty much nothing here but it's beautiful. The scenery on the drive up was gorgeous, although Betty doesn't like being thrown around corners very much. Last night we went on a night walk in the rainforest and found a tarantula, 3 Boyd's Forest Dragons, a tree frog and some other stuff.
So far today we have been sea kayaking (is it a wise idea for me to be on the sea here with this surname?) which was fantastic. The wind was around 25 knots around the headland and we were the only pair in the group who could get round - tremendous fun, if a bit wet. Came back, had lunch, then went canopy surfing in the rainforest. Basically we were in harnesses and zipped about on wires. Good fun.
So that's where we are now. Looks like we might have to head back into Cairns tomorrow as we think Betty's battery is on the blink. Hmmm.
K x
After leaving Cairns in our lovely camper Betty, we made our way up to Port Douglas and stocked up on supplies. Chilled out on the beach for a while and then headed to the Mossman gorge. We timed it perfectly and ended up having the place to ourselves. The water was pretty cold but really refreshing. We camped there for a night as I pretty much passed out at 7.30 pm and slept through until about 9.30 =) Headed up to Daintree, realised there was literally nothing there, turned around, came back and went into a zoo we passed on the way. I had a great time feeding the kangaroos and wallabys. James, however, caught the attention of one of the males who got a bit overexcited by his presence and wanted a fight, jumping up and headbutting his one day old camera lens. Whoops.
Lenses intact we escaped and made our way over the river crossing and up to Cape Tribulation. There's pretty much nothing here but it's beautiful. The scenery on the drive up was gorgeous, although Betty doesn't like being thrown around corners very much. Last night we went on a night walk in the rainforest and found a tarantula, 3 Boyd's Forest Dragons, a tree frog and some other stuff.
So far today we have been sea kayaking (is it a wise idea for me to be on the sea here with this surname?) which was fantastic. The wind was around 25 knots around the headland and we were the only pair in the group who could get round - tremendous fun, if a bit wet. Came back, had lunch, then went canopy surfing in the rainforest. Basically we were in harnesses and zipped about on wires. Good fun.
So that's where we are now. Looks like we might have to head back into Cairns tomorrow as we think Betty's battery is on the blink. Hmmm.
K x
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Diving
Hey all...
Back from our very exciting week on a liveaboard with MIKE BALL dive expeditions. It was super awesome, except strong currents prevented us getting to Osprey Reef which was a bit of a kicker. We had some really brilliant dives and I saw my first sharks. I made friends with an Aussie called Bruce - we're thinking about keeping him as a pet.
Currently waiting for the camper to turn up so I have to go. I'll write a proper one later.
Katy x
Back from our very exciting week on a liveaboard with MIKE BALL dive expeditions. It was super awesome, except strong currents prevented us getting to Osprey Reef which was a bit of a kicker. We had some really brilliant dives and I saw my first sharks. I made friends with an Aussie called Bruce - we're thinking about keeping him as a pet.
Currently waiting for the camper to turn up so I have to go. I'll write a proper one later.
Katy x
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Uluru, Kata-Tjuta and King's Canyon...
... were fantastic! Don't have much time to write but I'll do my best.
Flew into Alice Springs. Turns out the Masters Games is being held there for the next 2 weeks - massive competition for lots of sports with teams from all over Oz. All participants must be over 35. This turned out to be really brilliant for us, because although the rooms were twice the price they normally would be, all the sites were more or less empty because there was no space in the town for tourists.
First day - up at 5am to be picked up and taken to Uluru. We were in a group of 10 (inc. guide) - 2 Swiss, 2 Germans, 1 Finn, 1 Korean, 2 Oz and us. GOt to Uluru and did the base walk - 9.4km in horriic heat. ULuru is hugely impressive and we managed to find a Thorny Devil along the way which kept me happy taking pics. Back to camp and we slept under the stars in swags. I was woken up sometime in the night by howling Dingos which was pretty eerie under a full moon =)
The next day we did a walk through Kata-Tjuta called the Valley of the Winds. Completely different landscapes (even though both places are big, red rocks) as this is made of granite, not sandstone. Also gorgeous. After the walk we drove about 300km to King's Canyon and camped in King's Creek cattle station. This one ranch is bigger than Belgium. Lots of cows. We cooked a Kangaroo tail in the fire and ate it, tasted like brisket. Lots of aboriginal tales around the fire and then bed.
Third day was a rim walk of King's Canyon. We both agree that this was the best part of the trip. I don't have time right now to describe it so I won't even try (Google it!). Hopefully I'll get some pics up soon...
Right now we're back in Cairns doing our washing and getting ready for the dive boat tonight - hopefully this trip will double the number of dives I've done! We'll be out of touch until next Thursday.
Katy xx
Flew into Alice Springs. Turns out the Masters Games is being held there for the next 2 weeks - massive competition for lots of sports with teams from all over Oz. All participants must be over 35. This turned out to be really brilliant for us, because although the rooms were twice the price they normally would be, all the sites were more or less empty because there was no space in the town for tourists.
First day - up at 5am to be picked up and taken to Uluru. We were in a group of 10 (inc. guide) - 2 Swiss, 2 Germans, 1 Finn, 1 Korean, 2 Oz and us. GOt to Uluru and did the base walk - 9.4km in horriic heat. ULuru is hugely impressive and we managed to find a Thorny Devil along the way which kept me happy taking pics. Back to camp and we slept under the stars in swags. I was woken up sometime in the night by howling Dingos which was pretty eerie under a full moon =)
The next day we did a walk through Kata-Tjuta called the Valley of the Winds. Completely different landscapes (even though both places are big, red rocks) as this is made of granite, not sandstone. Also gorgeous. After the walk we drove about 300km to King's Canyon and camped in King's Creek cattle station. This one ranch is bigger than Belgium. Lots of cows. We cooked a Kangaroo tail in the fire and ate it, tasted like brisket. Lots of aboriginal tales around the fire and then bed.
Third day was a rim walk of King's Canyon. We both agree that this was the best part of the trip. I don't have time right now to describe it so I won't even try (Google it!). Hopefully I'll get some pics up soon...
Right now we're back in Cairns doing our washing and getting ready for the dive boat tonight - hopefully this trip will double the number of dives I've done! We'll be out of touch until next Thursday.
Katy xx
Edit: Found some more time to write. Forgot to tell you about James eating a Wichetty grub. On the way back to Alice Springs we stopped on the roadside for a loo break and saw a Wichetty tree. I was instructed to dig up the root until I found a swollen part and then snap it off. Lo and behold there was a grub inside, about 4 inches long. After a quick toasting on the fire, James bit the head off (spitting out loads of yellow goo) and then ate it =) Apparently it tasted like watery mashed potato. Unfortunately my pics of this are on my other camera and I can't get them off at the moment, but I've uploaded a few from the bigger camera on Facebook - take a look.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Uluru
Hi!
Just a quick one - off to Uluru tomorrow for 5 days, so we'll more than likely be out of touch. Updates when we get back!
Katy x
Just a quick one - off to Uluru tomorrow for 5 days, so we'll more than likely be out of touch. Updates when we get back!
Katy x
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Plans
Hi everyone!
We've been frantically making plans. James found a lovely and very knowledgeable lady called Carmen at Experience Cairns (incase you're ever here) who knows everything there is to know about diving and everything else. She's managed to book us on a 7 day liveaboard with UNLIMITED dives for the very nice sum of about 700 pounds (a discount of about 800 pounds each!). Both very excited as this is quite literally some of the best diving in the world and we can't wait. Look up Osprey Reef if you're interested. We leave for that on Thurs 16th.
So, between now and then we may head out to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) which involves a bit of a journey but by all accounts is more than worth it. Future plans are to hire a camper and make our way slowly down the east coast to Sydney in time for Christmas and New Year.
Feels like I'm spending money at an horrific rate at the moment but it'll set us up for the next 3 months which will hopefully be a lot cheaper. We're in good spirits today as the $A has taken a fall today, which means that instead of 2.1 to the pound we now get about 2.5. Makes a big difference!
Tonight we're going to barbeque some bits of kangaroo and probably give ourselves food poisoning. Love to hear from you all so please keep in touch.
xxx
We've been frantically making plans. James found a lovely and very knowledgeable lady called Carmen at Experience Cairns (incase you're ever here) who knows everything there is to know about diving and everything else. She's managed to book us on a 7 day liveaboard with UNLIMITED dives for the very nice sum of about 700 pounds (a discount of about 800 pounds each!). Both very excited as this is quite literally some of the best diving in the world and we can't wait. Look up Osprey Reef if you're interested. We leave for that on Thurs 16th.
So, between now and then we may head out to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) which involves a bit of a journey but by all accounts is more than worth it. Future plans are to hire a camper and make our way slowly down the east coast to Sydney in time for Christmas and New Year.
Feels like I'm spending money at an horrific rate at the moment but it'll set us up for the next 3 months which will hopefully be a lot cheaper. We're in good spirits today as the $A has taken a fall today, which means that instead of 2.1 to the pound we now get about 2.5. Makes a big difference!
Tonight we're going to barbeque some bits of kangaroo and probably give ourselves food poisoning. Love to hear from you all so please keep in touch.
xxx
Monday, October 6, 2008
Nemo's first 5 weeks
I think as i cant read, i find these things rather boring so ill keep it dyslexically simple :D
Ive been here 5 weeks so far, flew into Cairns and got the Greyhound bus to Mission Beach. Lovely place with 14km of pretty much unused beach. Stayed in the dive centre for the first 2 weeks then moved to an awesome hostel called Absolute for the last 3 weeks.
Completed my PADI Divemaster course with no problems, took an easy 4 weeks, so now i can take people on guided tours of the reef! Also went white water rafting and sky diving, both of which were awesome and must be done again. See Facebook for photos.
Met loads of locals and backpackers alike, all very friendly, especially 3 German girls called Ami, and two Mirijans (or something like that, sorry Miranda!).
Now in Cairns to meet the equally lovely Katy! It is nice. Apart from the tall buildings and more stressy city people. And cars. And a grid like layout. And a 'scrotty' (thanks for that word katy) beach. The End.
Nemo x
Ive been here 5 weeks so far, flew into Cairns and got the Greyhound bus to Mission Beach. Lovely place with 14km of pretty much unused beach. Stayed in the dive centre for the first 2 weeks then moved to an awesome hostel called Absolute for the last 3 weeks.
Completed my PADI Divemaster course with no problems, took an easy 4 weeks, so now i can take people on guided tours of the reef! Also went white water rafting and sky diving, both of which were awesome and must be done again. See Facebook for photos.
Met loads of locals and backpackers alike, all very friendly, especially 3 German girls called Ami, and two Mirijans (or something like that, sorry Miranda!).
Now in Cairns to meet the equally lovely Katy! It is nice. Apart from the tall buildings and more stressy city people. And cars. And a grid like layout. And a 'scrotty' (thanks for that word katy) beach. The End.
Nemo x
Katy arrives in Oz...
Hello! And welcome to the tales of our lives out here.
I've finally arrived in Cairns over 40 hours after leaving 3 Castle Hill. I was lucky enough to put my first mark on my 'Neighbours stars that I have seen on this trip' chart, as I shared the flight to Heathrow from Newcastle with a certain JASON DONOVAN. Oh yeah!
Kerry and Lisa did a marvellous job of feeding me with a large amount of pig before I headed off to Singapore, which I am immensely grateful for. The flight to Singapore was pretty good, apart from the aggressive Indian businessman sat next to me. He seemed to be made entirely from very pointy elbows. After that, 5 very dull hours in Singapore airport (not a Neighbours star in sight) and then on to Cairns via Darwin. It was very boring.
I did have an exciting incident in Heathrow which I have so far forgotten to recount. I was walking past Wetherspoons when a very helpful barman shouted out, "Excuse me love, you've dropped something..." I looked around on the floor for the elusive dropped something, only to hear him shout, "...my jaw!" Well, I didn't hear it exactly, and kept grubbing about on the floor looking like a complete arse. Only 5 seconds later did I realise what a prankster he was, and shuffled away looking mighty embarrassed. =)
Now I'm in Cairns with the very lovely Nemo. After a shower, we went a-awandering and sorted out some diving type things. We then found the Esplanade, a big free outdoor swimming pool/lagoon. Very nice.
That's where I've got to so far. Comments always appreciated =)
I've finally arrived in Cairns over 40 hours after leaving 3 Castle Hill. I was lucky enough to put my first mark on my 'Neighbours stars that I have seen on this trip' chart, as I shared the flight to Heathrow from Newcastle with a certain JASON DONOVAN. Oh yeah!
Kerry and Lisa did a marvellous job of feeding me with a large amount of pig before I headed off to Singapore, which I am immensely grateful for. The flight to Singapore was pretty good, apart from the aggressive Indian businessman sat next to me. He seemed to be made entirely from very pointy elbows. After that, 5 very dull hours in Singapore airport (not a Neighbours star in sight) and then on to Cairns via Darwin. It was very boring.
I did have an exciting incident in Heathrow which I have so far forgotten to recount. I was walking past Wetherspoons when a very helpful barman shouted out, "Excuse me love, you've dropped something..." I looked around on the floor for the elusive dropped something, only to hear him shout, "...my jaw!" Well, I didn't hear it exactly, and kept grubbing about on the floor looking like a complete arse. Only 5 seconds later did I realise what a prankster he was, and shuffled away looking mighty embarrassed. =)
Now I'm in Cairns with the very lovely Nemo. After a shower, we went a-awandering and sorted out some diving type things. We then found the Esplanade, a big free outdoor swimming pool/lagoon. Very nice.
That's where I've got to so far. Comments always appreciated =)
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