Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road starts west of Geelong and ends about 15km east of Warrnambool, where it joins the A1 Princes Highway (which runs from Melbourne to Adelaide, I think). I'm not sure how many kilometers it is from Melbourne to Warrnambool on the Great Ocean Road, but it's about five-and-a-half hours driving time, according to the tourist map. Tomorrow I head back to Melbourne along the A1, which is apparently three-and-a-half hours driving time. If I set off at 8.00 a.m I should make it back to Melbourne for midday, when the car is due back.

Warrnambool (population 26,800) has a nice city centre. It reminds me of Bundaberg, but the buildings are grander and there aren't palm trees everywhere. It's less tropical, more English I suppose. There are a lot of Victorian buildings, taller than those in Bundaberg. It's got a good feel to it. I'm staying in the Hotel Warrnambool, in the centre of town. I thought I'd have a change from backpackers' hostels. It is recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. I've got a double room for $40, with breakfast included. Both the bed and the room are twice the size of the room in Bamboo Cottage, Byron Bay, that I paid $88 a night for (without breakfast). It's a good deal. I bet the breakfast is good too. The restaurant was certainly busy this evening.

I ate in Fishtales on Lebeig Street this evening (also Lonely Planet recommended!). I had fish of the day - blue grenadier) with mango and avocado salsa - mmm!

I set out on the Great Ocean Road yesterday, stopping at Torquay for lunch, then heading on through Anglesea and other places with familiar names, but all geographically jumbled. In Lorne I followed the signs to Erskine Falls, as Kim recommended a visit there. It's a beautiful spot The falls reminded me of some falls that I took went to with Gris and Dan in Cornwall in the late '80s - St ----- Falls. After that I walked to Teddy's Lookout, before heading out of town and continuing on to Apollo Bay, where I spent the night in the YHA. Apparently Kipling wrote about Erskine Falls (so he must have visited them I suppose). The tourist guide quoted Kipling in the reference to Teddy's Lookout too: 'West away from Melbourne dust, holidays begin.'

The Great Ocean Road is beautiful, definitely an experience worth having, and I'm glad I did get to see it after all. I made a snap decision to hire a car on Thursday morning in order to get out here. The road twists and turns along the coast to Apollo Bay, with each bend bringing another breathtaking view of the Pacific. I started to get cramp in my left leg on the downhills yesterday.
This morning I breakfasted on pancakes in Apollo Bay. It was almost the highlight of the day. It started raining just before I left and continued on-and-off until the early evening. After Apollo Bay the road veers inland for a while and is less interesting - but then the whole road was less interesting in the rain, even the Twelve Apostles look pretty drab in the rain.

I'd not been driving long when, on the spur of the moment, I decided to take the turn to Cape Otway Lightstation - about 12 km off the main road. About 8 km along this road I drove over a cattle grid to find a lot of parked cars and people looking up into trees. This is how I came to see another 5 koalas. (This evening I saw 2 more in Tower Hill Reserve).

Koalas look almost like caricatures of themselves. Their claws and noses are so black, they look stuck on; and their eyes look like glass. They wedge themselves in a space between branches and sleep for most of the day, bobbing gently as the branch moves in the wind. Every now and again they move slightly to readjust their position and perhaps have a yawn. They smell very pungent - the smell of koala-processed eucalyptus! It is such a strong smell that by this evening I instantly recognised it as an indicator of the presence of koalas!

I was so taken aback when I first saw the koala yesterday evening. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It didn't look real. I looked up into the tree because I had a sense of something there, something watching me and when I saw it I stopped dead, unable for a few moments to process what I was seeing.

Tower Hill Reserve made my day (To be continued)

See www.worngundidj.org.au for info on Tower Hill Reserve

Koala!

I saw my first wild koala today. It must have been some time after 7.00 p.m. I was travelling along the Great Ocean Road on my way to Apollo Bay, where I had booked a room at the YHA. The tourist brochure that I picked up at the car rental place said that the picnic area at Grey's River, near Kennett River, was a good place to see koalas, so I thought I'd give it a try. I eventually got to Kennett River and hadn't a clue where the Grey's River picnic area might be, there wasn't much in Kennett River itself, as far as I could see, apart from a campsite. I drove on through and after a couple of kilometers I came to another bridge (there are a lot of rivers and creeks on the Great Ocean Road, as you might expect) and a sign that said Grey's River. I carried on around the bend in the road and on up the hill. Just at the top of the hill was a small picnic area, complete with bush toilet (or 'dunny' as they say over here - before Mark corrects me). I parked the car and got out. I spent around 15 minutes waiting quietly to see if any koalas might materialise. Then I decided that I couldn't spare any more time as I needed to get on to Apollo Bay. I'd just reached the car when I happened to glance up and there, sitting on a branch of the eucalyptus tree that I'd parked under was a koala, munching contentedly. I was momentarily dumbfounded; I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. I got some great pictures, although the light was fading. The koala was maybe four feet above me and quite unperturbed. I'd post a picture, but this YHA computer won't let me.

I'm sure I could draw some profound insight from this experience, but I'm too tired to string the thoughts and words together. Something about looking for something that turns out to be right under your nose - or in this case, above your nose.

Anyway, a koala in the bush is definitely worth two in the wildlife park.

Tomorrow, I intend to carry on up the Great Ocean Road to Port Campbell, to see the Twelve Apostles (a bit different to the ones on Ilkley Moor) and London Bridge. I'd like to visit the Grampians after that, maybe staying overnight at Hall's Gap. This may be a bit unrealistic though, in view of the distance involved. I can probably do the distance, but would it leave me any time to see anything or do anything when I get there. I've rented the car until midday on Saturday, so I need to be back in Melbourne then.

If I stayed here in Apollo Bay I could kayak with seals ...

There's a place called 'Skipton' on the way to the Grampians I notice; I wonder if it calls itself the 'gateway to the Grampians' as the one in North Yorkshire, UK, is 'gateway to the Dales'?

End of inertia

It's now around noon on Wednesday. I've booked a 2-day trip with Duck Truck Tours for next Monday and Tuesday, to visit Phillip Island on Monday and Wilson's Promontory on Tuesday.

Phillip Island is famous for the 'Penguin Parade'. Each day, at dusk, the fairy penguins (so-called because they are the smallest species of penguin) make a mass exodus from the sea. I have to go and see the penguins, because Paul thinks they are cute. I want to see them too of course.

Wilson's Promontory is reputedly very beautiful. I wanted to go on a 2-day camping trip, but it wasn't to be, because Duck Truck don't do the 2-day camping tours any more and I couldn't find another operator who does. At least I shall get to see a bit of it. A bushwalk is on the agenda. I asked the woman I booked the tour through what the average age of the punters was. She replied '8 to 80'. I said I was asking because I was 50 and had had a few experiences of finding myself the oldest participant by a good few years. She assured me that different grades of walk would be available. I told her that it wasn't the walking that was the issue - I want to do a long walk - it was the party atmosphere that I have an issue with.

Tick tock (Wednesday 29th March)

I'm having some difficulty in deciding how to structure my remaining time here in Oz - and the clock is ticking! It's odd to be back in the city, where somehow doing things takes that much more organisation and effort. I've felt a kind of inertia and torpor weighing me down this week. I think it is partly being in the city, as it's a feeling I've had before in crowded places. I remember when even Newbury had that effect on me (after growing up in a small village)! And that was back in the 1970s when Newbury (in Berkshire) was considerably smaller than it is now. I feel oppressed by the mass of streets, cars, houses and people and by the busy-ness of it all.

I spoke to Gris and to Danny on Sunday (Dan is at G's in London for the weekend). Becki (now 8 months) took her first 3 steps about 10 days ago and is now attempting to speak. Superbabe! Apparently she says something like 'hello' in response to a 'hello'. Both Gris and Dan says that she has appeared fascinated with Dan ever since he got there on Saturday morning - she just stares and stares at him with her big brown eyes.

On Monday I booked my rail ticket from London to Leeds over the internet. Amazingly I got a ticket for #9.50! (no pound sign on this computer). I'm returning home on 26th April (the day before my birthday) after spending a few days in London with Gris. There's a Sibford reunion - a small one - happening on 22nd April at Graham's house in Watford, which fits in nicely as I get back on 21st. I might be a bit jet-lagged though.

Whilst surfing the internet on Monday, I found a drumming class in Fitzroy, run by Ben from Voyeurhythmic (based in St. Kilda in the south of the city). Fitzroy is a northern district of Melbourne, adjacent to North Carlton where I am. I went along to the intermediate class yesterday evening. It was my first drumming since I last went to Clifton Drummers in January and my hands got pretty sore! It was a good class and if I'm around next Tuesday evening I'll go again. It was difficult picking up the intricacies of the soloing rhythms that Ben was teaching. But then I'm new to his style of teaching. The others have been learning all term. There were about twelve of us, ranging in age from 20s to 50s. I'm resolved to begin attending a class again when I get home. I'll probably go along to Ianto's classes again at Knock on Wood in Leeds, which is where I began learning drumming back in 1998. I need to learn some new stuff and develop techniques and that isn't going to happen at Clifton Drummers.

Ballina kayaking photos (16th March)

Intrepid kayaker exploring Mangrove swamps on the Richmond river, NSW.

Jude in front of kayak, Lyn's finger in foreground (I assume). Photo taken by Jan.









Photo taken at end of trip. From left to right: Sue, me, Jan, Jude and Lyn.

Map - location of Everton in relation to Melbourne

Most Easterly Point of Australia

Photo taken on Saturday 11th March, my first day in Byron Bay. I walked about 12 km that day, first along to Belongil Beach (to the north) then back along the beach to the town and on up to Clarke's Beach, from where I followed the trail up to Captain Cook's Lookout and the Lighthouse, and back. It was a hot day! I got back to the finishing point of the walk just as the sun was going down. Then I walked back into Byron, to Bamboo Cottage.

Back in Melbourne

It is strange to be back in the city and without an ocean or river at hand to dip into when the mood takes me. When I left Byron Bay (a week ago) I thought how I had to brush the sand off my feet and move on. Last night I had a shower (my first for a week) and washed my hair, which was great. Even after scrubbing I still had river mud on my feet, though it came off on the towel eventually. The turtle tattoo is healing up nicely, by the way, though still a bit scabby. I've now got a turtle as a constant companion!

So, back in the city. I sat up far too late last night messing about with emails and blogs. I got a great email from Melanie, prompted by my blog about Sibford (we went there together). Thanks to Aisha too for her blog comments. That's two more people I now know are reading my blog.

I slept until 9.00 a.m this morning. I'd have liked to sleep longer, but I had promised to ring Paul. As it was he texted me a little after 9.00 (i.e. 10.00 p.m. GMT) to ask 'are you there?'. It was good to speak to him again after a week. He's just had his jabs for Thailand, as it is a little over 2 weeks now until his flight. Apparently Daisy (the cat) has also had her jabs; not for Thailand, but to go into a cattery while we are away. I wonder how she'll cope. She's never been into a cattery before as there has always been someone - Danny, or a friend or a neighbour - there to feed her. None of my cats has ever been in a cattery - I wouldn't have been able to afford it. Apparently it's going to cost #4.50 a day - and that's the cheap end of the scale! At that rate I don't think I can afford it now, given that I'm planning a fair bit of future travelling.

I went out for brunch, at the Rathdowne Bakery, just down the road. Had a quick browse in Rathdowne Books afterwards, but didn't by anything. After cashing some money at the ATM, I walked back along Curtain Street and Nicholson Street, just for variety's sake. I'm puzzled as to why the street names round here seem familiar - Rathdowne Street, Curtain Street and Nicholson Street. I've come to the conclusion that it must be from novels. But the only novel I can recall reading that was set in Melbourne is Monkey Grip, by Helen Garner. It's a tale of '70s bohemia which deals with heroin abuse, amongst other things. I found it in Shipley Library, back in the mid-'80s, when I was still living in Manningham. I recall it being summer when I read it and I think it was before I started work, so it would have been 1985: the summer that I finished at Bradford College, with a degree in Organisation Studies; the summer before my Dad died. My Dad died in November and I discovered then that he'd been back in the UK since May of that year, living in Brighton after 18 years in Israel. That was a weird time. My whole life was pretty odd then, out of kilter. I remember that I wrote to Melanie when my Dad died. She was then teaching at Sibford, by a strange turn of events. She wrote back to say how odd it was to be at Sibford, of all places, remembering me as a child there so clearly, and how excited I would be when I got a letter from my Dad.

Over brunch (which included a couple of long black coffees of course, as well as a very nice veggie supreme focaccia) I made a few notes of things I want to do and places I want to see over the next couple of weeks:

• Go to Philip Island to see the penguins. Kim says there are koalas there too
• Wilson's Promontory
• The Great Ocean Road (west of Melbourne)
• William Ricketts Sanctuary (which was on the DVD of Billy Connolly's Australian World Tour) - somewhere in the Dandenongs I think, only about 25 km from Melbourne
  
• Visit the Melbourne markets - Victoria and St Kilda. I could tie a visit to St Kilda in with a visit to Lise, who lives there.
• Do a dive. The water will be much colder down here, but it will probably be the last dive I do for some time, and it will be warmer than diving in the UK

I need to look into the options for getting around, either using buses and coaches for day trips (organised or not) or hiring a car. I might look into getting to Tasmania. I did just look at flights on Virgin Blue and the cheapest option is to fly to Launceston, which would cost about $140-150 return. Flights to Hobart cost more. It'd be nice to go by sea, across the Bass Strait, if I'm going to do it at all. But that of course takes more time, and probably costs more. I'll investigate.

I did make some notes before I left home on places I wanted to visit whilst based here in Melbourne. I'll refer back to them.

Wedding photo

This is the photo that I tried to add last month. I have now edited the earlier post and added the photo (there was only a link to it before).

Anyway, here it is again.

Paul looks lovely I think.

Camping near Everton, Victoria

'Everton, a rural township in north-east Victoria, is 22 km. east-south-east of Wangaratta and about midway between there and Beechworth. It is on the Ovens Highway, in flat to undulating country. About two kilometres westwards are the Ovens River flats, on which there is considerable settlement.

'Everton is situated in Dr. G.E. Mackay's Tarrawingee pastoral run (1853-67) and it is thought that Mackay gave the place its name after Everton, England. Everton was situated at a position where it was relatively safe to cross the flood-prone Ovens River plain, making it convenient for miners moving between Wangaratta and the gold fields at Bright and the Buckland Valley. Everton later became a railway junction for the Wangaratta-Beechworth line (1876) and for the line to Myrtleford and Bright (1883 and 1890). The railway station area, four kilometres north of Everton, was known as Everton Upper. [...] The railway lines to Beechworth and Bright were closed in 1977 and 1987 respectively.' (from http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/everton.html)

I got the train back to Melbourne from Wangaratta this evening (Thursday 23rd) ahead of Kim, Mark and the family, who are returning by car tomorrow - when they've packed everything up. Albert, the cat, was pleased to see me. Remembering where the house was, in order to direct the taxi driver, was some feat after all this time and all the places I've been to in between.

The place where Mark and Kim camp is next to the Ovens River, on some land belonging to a farm owned by Kim's aunt and uncle, near Everton. It's a great place, very beautiful, very wild and very peaceful, with the river to bathe in. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to do very little for a few days. The biggest decisions I had to make was when to go in the river, what book to read, whether to have another cup of coffee now or later ... and so on. Evenings spent sitting round the fire in the moonlight listening to squabbling possums. Waking in the morning to the chorus of kookaburras. Mmmm.

I was so busy doing nothing that I never did get around to playing Scrabble!

Wildlife on Fraser island

A lace monitor lizard spotted in a tree on our first afternoon on Fraser Island. It was probably about two feet long from nose to tail, maybe more. I heard a much bigger one crashing through the undergrowth when walking back from Lake Wabby a couple of days later, but I couldn't see it.

Last Wednesday, after my second dive at Julian Rock (Byron Bay) I spotted a large lace monitor crossing the car park just as we were about to get into the van. It was four or five feet long.










On the left, a Golden Orb spider. There are a lot of these around in the bush: usually the first thing you notice is the enormous web across a path or between trees. Sometimes you first become aware of it when you walk into it and feel the web across your face and in your hair.














This is a Huntsman spider - a pretty large one too (see how it measures up against the floorboards in the background). They look horrible but are apparently very timid. If they do bite (which is said to be rare) it's reputedly no worse than a mosquito bite.








A very over-exposed picture of a dingo. I don't think I've quite got the hang of the night portrait setting on the camera...

Actually, I quite like this picture.














Oh, and here's a dingo footprint, from the sand of Fraser Island. This was taken on Eulong Beach.

Into cyber limbo

I've been blogging madly this evening, because tomorrow I go into the wilds of Outer Victoria where I'll have no internet access for a week (Oh my God! How ever will I cope?!)

I keep thinking that my the Australia bit of my holiday is nearly over, whereas I've still got three weeks left here. It's because I'm headed south again, back to where I started. I got an email from Virgin Blue airlines yesterday, advertising a 'sale' on domestic and international flights. There were some very cheap fares from Melbourne to Perth, and to Cairns, and even to Christchurch, New Zealand ($149!). I was tempted!

In three weeks I'll meet up with Paul in Thailand! I've left the planning of that bit of the trip to him. It'll be great! It's our honeymoon remember.

At peace

I got an email from someone a couple of weeks ago remarking that I sounded lonely. She must have read the blog when I booked into Lyelta Lodge in Bundy and felt a bit weepy. The day before had been a difficult one. That email got me thinking about loneliness and homesickness though, which was useful.

I suppose that just for a few moments there in Lyelta Lodge I did feel homesick and lonely. I don't really 'do' homesick any more. I cried all the homesickness out of me between the ages of ten and twelve at boarding school. It has had repercussions though, that boarding school experience. It's why I find walking into hostels so difficult, where it feels that I'm the new girl all over again, having to find or make a place for herself; and it's why I get anxious whenever I have to pack my possessions up in order to go somewhere - that's like going back to school after the holidays. (I was anxious this morning, at having to pack up). I still sometimes have anxiety dreams about trying to pack all my stuff up at the end of a school term and not being able to fit it all in, having to leave things behind.

I was ten years old when I started at Sibford Friends boarding school. My birthday is at the end of April and the term would have started around mid-September, so I wasn't even ten-and-a-half. I remember walking, with my Mum, into the hallway at the Manor House and being greeted by Miss Ellis, the headmistress. As I stood in that bare hallway I suddenly shivered and Miss Ellis smiled (her shark's smile) and remarked in a sympathetic tone that it was normal to get the butterflies in this situation.

I'd taken Beano, my hamster, to school with me and I was shown where he was to be kept, in some old pig styes in the Manor gardens. After my Mum had left I didn't know what to do. I was very shy and unable to just 'make friends' as children are expected to do. I felt lost and alone and very lonely. I desperately wanted to go and see my hamster, but I couldn't remember how to get to where he was. Eventually I found Miss Warren, the housemistress and asked her. She said she would remember me as 'the hamster lassie'.

Whenever I go to a new place where there are lots of people who appear to be interacting and socialising with each other (like CCI or other workshops, or backpacker hostels) I feel like that new girl all over again and I go into a kind of panic and want nothing more than some space to be quiet and to gather my resources.

As to loneliness, well what Marilyn French says about loneliness in The Women's Room struck a chord with me when I read it in 1979: she says that 'Loneliness is not a longing for company, but a longing for kind.' That's true. Loneliness is being in an unhappy marriage or relationship; or in a job where you feel that you have little in common with most of the people you work with. Loneliness is the absence of like-minded people. I've spent a lot of my life feeling lonely, but not any more. I've been alone some of the time out here, but seldom lonely.

As to being alone, a lot of people have asked me - often a little incredulously - if I'm travelling alone and if that's alright. I think it is easier to be alone when you are older - as a woman anyway. I've had a lot of practice at being alone throughout my life, at different periods. I've always been quite self-sufficient (again, I had to be as an only child and then being sent away to school). I don't feel self-conscious about being alone now, whereas I have done in the past. I can enjoy being alone, enjoy whatever I'm doing and wherever I am without feeling that something is missing. I'd love it if Paul was here to share this, but he isn't and that's the way it is. I know he's there for me. I think that part of the reason I find it easier to be alone now - without that old self-consciousness - is that I do have someone who is there for me. I know that I am not alone (except of course in the sense that we are all ultimately alone - it's one of those dilemmas) no matter how it might appear to other people. I'm happy with that.

The other thing that I have now, that I think comes with age, is an inner peace. It's certainly something I didn't have in the past; I always seemed to be in emotional turmoil then. I am at peace with myself. Perhaps it's because I'm not ruled by my hormones any more? I don't know if that is why.

What I do know is how happy I have been these last few weeks and how much I have been in the present moment. That being in the present and being able to maintain that feeling of the perfect present moment (like a kind of ongoing meditation) is new for me. My happiness isn't tinged by thoughts of having to go back to a daily routine that I hate, as it has been in the past.

I always knew that I wanted to travel. Now I have to find a way of doing more of it.

Sydney on St. Patrick's Day

I'm in Sydney again and staying at Railway Square YHA once more. It's St. Patrick's Day and I'm not out celebrating because I'm a grumpy old git and I have to get up in the morning to catch a train to Wangaratta. I met up with Suzen at the Aquarium earlier, but only briefly because I was late getting there and she had to leave to go and meet friends in order to celebrate. She invited me along too, but I wanted to spend more time at the Aquarium. By the time I'd finished there I was shattered and just wanted to crawl back here and get something to eat. I'm now a little rejuvenated after tuna and pasta (good backpacker nosh).

An Israeli man who I met on my last night in Hervey Bay (after Fraser Island) is also staying here. We met in the kitchen in Hervey Bay and met again in the kitchen here. I was eating instant noodles and a tin of tuna last time we met; this time I was eating pasta and tuna. I thought he'd think I never ate anything else, whereas it's the first time I've eaten tuna since then. I've just realised though, in writing that, that it was only last Thursday that I was in Hervey Bay - only eight days ago. That's amazing! I really am losing track of time. It's the result of packing so many activities into a short space of time I suppose.

That reminds me, I met Jo (who was doing a PADI course in Bundy and did a dive with us on the final day of my course) in the street in Byron the other day - outside Woolies in fact. It's a small world! Especially on the backpackers circuit.

I loved Sydney Aquarium. I must have spent almost 2 hours there after Suzen left, going round the bits I missed first time and revisiting the other bits. The Oceanarium displays are great - there are three of them moored in the harbour and you walk through with sharks and rays swimming overhead. One contains the sharks and rays and other ocean fish - and a green sea turtle. Another contains seals and the third has a Great Barrier Reef display. I loved the sharks and rays and the reef display - it reminded me so much of being underwater, diving.

By the way, I wrote a blog about my second dive off Julian Rock on Wednesday, but when I clicked on 'publish', blogger lost it ('oh blogger!' I said in exasperation cos the computers were being really slow that day and it had taken me ages to write and I'd listed all the fish, and everything).

I got the ferry from Circular Quay over to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour, which was a treat in itself. I travelled back by ferry too, although Suzen said it was easy to walk it. The ferry is much more fun. I just love being on the water and getting that different perspective of the land.

Yesterday - my last day in Byron Bay - I went kayaking on the Richmond River up in Ballina. I wasn't sure I'd be up to it after my massage on Wednesday, but I was and I am so glad I did it. I'd forgotten just how good kayaking is. Again, it's so peaceful being out on the water and seeing things from a different perspective.

Sue, who runs Ballina Kayak Tours (see photos on website) picked me up from Belongil Beachouse at about 8.30 a.m., as arranged. She's a lovely person and we got on really well. We drove up to Ballina, chatting all the way, so that Sue almost forgot to do her introductory spiel about the area and the trip. There were three other women on the trip, Jan, Lyn and Jude. They were all 'mature' women and all local to the Ballina, northern rivers area (Lyn is 72 apparently, though you'd mever believe it) and we all got on well. Jan and Lyn have known each other for years and travelled all over together by the sound of it. Sue knew them already. Jude was the wife of someone who Sue goes kayaking with. We went out in three kayaks: Sue in one, Jan and Lyn in another and me and Jude in the third. We paddled down the river in and through the mangrove swamps, spotting lots of birds on the way pelicans (well, ok, they were so much in evidence that you don't have to spot them!), wedge-tailed kites, whistling kites (they have a beautiful whistle), egrets, cormorants, ibis, osprey and snipe. We didn't see any dolphins - I seem destined not to see any dolphins at all on this trip, though everyone else I meet has seen some! We stopped for tea and cookies mid-morning on a little sandy beach, before returning to our starting point. I was getting tired by that time.

Before taking me back to Belongil, Sue took me to her favourite juice bar, Beanz ('natural food with attitude') where we both had a large glass of blended fruit juice with crushed ice. It was yummy! I ended up going back to Sue's house - on the outskirts of Byron - with her as she needed to go home and get changed before a 3 p.m. appointment in Byron and didn't really have time to take me back to Belongil, then go home, then back into Byron. So I had a shower at Sue's and a sandwich, before returning to Belongil.

I gave Sue an open invitation to visit if ever she gets to the north of England.

Photo of Sue (far left) pinched off the Ballina Kayak tours website.













Once back at Belongil, I just dropped off my swimming stuff and got the Belongil Beachouse minibus into Byron, as I had things to do there. I went to Black Dog Surfing and got a gift voucher for a surfing lesson, which Tam was very happy to give me as it meant she didn't have to actually refund any money. I took this round to Sandra at Bamboo Cottage, who then insisted on giving me some money for it. She insisted on giving me half the value of the lesson. I gave her my email address so she could let me know how it goes. I hope she does.

Oh, between going to Black Dog and visiting Sandra I called in at Sharky's Tattoo Parlour on Jonson Street. I'd called in last weekend to enquire about getting a tattoo, asking ridiculous questions like 'does it hurt?' Anyway, I'd decided I wanted a tattoo of a turtle and had identified a possible design. As it happened, in the event I changed my mind and went for a different design. I'd left it until the end of the week, because you're supposed to keep the tattoo reasonably dry whilst it's healing - i.e. not be diving, surfing and kayaking!

I spent an hour (an hour! - when I'd enquired earlier in the week the guy had said '20 minutes') getting a tattoo from Jimmy, who did a good job. It didn't really hurt, though it was starting to sting a bit by the end, with all the swabbing on top of my patch of sunburn from kayaking earlier in the day, but I did get stiff from sitting in one position for so long. I told Jimmy that I'd thought about getting a tattoo when I was fifteen or sixteen. I remember telling my mother that I wanted a tattoo, partly (of course) to wind her up, which it did. [Mum, if you're reading this, I've finally done it!] I pointed out to Jimmy that when I was fifteen tattoos weren't so commonplace as they are now; the only people who had tattoos were sailors or criminals.

So, I now have a very nice tattoo of a turtle on my left shoulder. It's a kind of abstract, 'tribal' design, a bit 'labyrinthine' I thought. Very tasteful!

I was advised by Jimmy and the other tattooist (who was working on the guy sitting next to me) to 'Go and get a few beers, ay. That's the thing to do after you've had a tattoo.'

Lake Wabby

Betty and Paul playing with the sand in Lake Wabby on Fraser Island. Jenny in the background

Fraser Island

It's a week today since I came back from Fraser Island. I really enjoyed the trip there. I travelled with Sand Island Safaris. There were only nine of us on the trip, plus Tony, our guide. We stayed at Eurong Beach Resort on the East coast of the island, where I shared a cabin (number 8 Surf Side) with Betty and Paul, two cousins from Vancouver. The other people on our trip were Stuart and Jenny from Macclesfield, UK (both retired), Heidi and Chris from Bathurst, who had got married the previous weekend and were on their honeymoon, and two young Norwegian women, Kristina and Metta.

I told them that I had got married before I left the UK, then left Paul behind, causing Betty to remark that I was on my moon without my honey. I liked that! I related it to the group of women I went kayaking with this morning and they all thought it was pretty good.


The photo was taken on Wednesday 8th March (International Women's Day in fact) on Waddy Point. I had just seen a shark out in the ocean, then we saw a Manta Ray beach momentarily at the foot of the rocks down below.

Fraser Island is a sandbar - the biggest in the world I think - measuring 120 km by 15 km. It's half the size of Bali, or so Tony told us. You need a 4WD vehicle to get around in all that sand. It's got an amazing variety of plants and animals, including what is believed to be the purest strain of dingos (undiluted by inter-breeding with domestic dogs). It is also now visited by about 350,00 people a year!

According to popular myth, all the sand from the coast of NSW ends up on Fraser Island. There are a lot of freshwater lakes on the island, all fed by rainwater: window lakes, perched dune lakes and barrage lakes. There are over 40 perched dune lakes on the island, which is over half of all those in the world. These lakes are literally, as the name suggests, lakes perched on sand dunes. I saw a lot of lizards (lace monitors) on Fraser Island and a lot of spiders. I've got some good spider photos (which my cousin, Jane, would like no doubt - being a spider fan) which I may try to upload sometime - mainly Golden Orbs, but there is a great shot of a Huntsman which was hiding behind the door (on the floor) in the men's toilets.

Our first stop on arrival at the island was at Lake Birrabeen, as perched dune lake with a shore and base of fine silica sand - great for exfoliating and cleaning your jewellery (and your teeth apparently). Fraser Island was mined for sand at one time (it was also extensively logged). This was one of several lakes that we swam and played in over the 3-day trip. We didn't do any swimming in the ocean as there are a lot of sharks.

On Wednesday - the only full day we had on the island - we drove north from Eulong along the beach. It's somehow surreal driving for some way along a beach of unbroken sand, with the Pacific waves. At one point Tony pointed out some Sea Eagles circling out at sea. You could see the disturbance in the water below and he said it was shark feeding on mackerel - the eagles were waiting their turn. Sure enough, you could se the shark's fins breaking the surface as it (or they) swirled around after the fish. We swam in the Champagne Pools later on - sea pools amongst the rocks. Tony said a Manta Ray was stranded there recently, after coming in with the tide. We also saw the wreck of the Maheno, rusting on the beach (it's been there for 70 years or so), admired the coloured sand of the Pinnacles and then went on to Eli Creek, where we took it in turns floating down the creek on an inner tube.

On Thursday morning we did a two-kilometre walk to Lake Wabby, a barrage lake, beside the Hammerton Sandblow. We walked about a kilometre through the desert on the way there - very hot - then back through the forest.

Diving the Needles

Had a great dive this afternoon. Nige - from Somerset, also staying at Belongil - had booked for the same dive at 2.00 p.m. this afternoon. He was one of the people who recommended Sundive to me. I was there for 1.15 as asked, in order to get kitted out. The hardest part is always squeezing into the wetsuit. The second hardest is standing up with the BCD, tank and weights on - though we didn't have to do this today as I did my first boat dive. A boat dive involves sitting on the edge of the boat (an inflatable in this case) and rolling in backwards - you've probably seen them do it on TV. I practised it once in the pool at Bingley Grammar - where I was having lessons - but it isn't the same at all. Oh, and the third hardest thing is getting back out of the wetsuit again - especially when one arm doesn't work properly! But there are always other people around to help.

The ride out to the Needles - where we were doing our dive - was some experience too. We went from what I think is Captain Cook's Lookout - a mound down on the beach (Watego Beach I think). We cut out through the middle of all the surfers who were riding the big waves. We were going into the waves so the boat was bucking and rearing. I was near the front and kept getting the waves going over me. Holding on was hard and you get thrown about a lot. At one point the guy who was steering the boat, Ian, stopped and turned to us and said, 'Look guys, I'm not enjoying this, honest!'

Anyway, so I went backwards, arse over tit, into the water. I was in the water about 40-45 minutes and used about 120 bar of air. I had to come out a few minutes before the other three that I was with, because as my tank got lighter (less air) I started being positively buoyant, in spite of the 6 weights and full wetsuit that I was wearing. I suddenly found myself floating back up to the surface and no matter how hard I tried to get back down. So tomorrow I have to weart 7 (seven!) weights on my belt. No way I'd ever manage to walk far with them and a tank full of air on my back I just kept bobbing up again.

Visibility was great, though not as good as at Lady Musgrave last week. There was quite a current too, you can see how the sand is moving about on the ocean floor and when you kick you just don't go anywhere, but seem to stay in one place. Sometimes it feels like you are a puppet on a string and you look around and that's how the others look too!

We saw two leopard sharks, probably about a metre and a half long - on separate occasions. One of them was very interested in us and gave us a good checking out. We also saw a beautiful small (12") fish with fan-like fins - I must check tomorrow what it was called. Loots of other fish too, in different sizes and shades of blue, green and yellow. I saw a brilliant blue starfish and a small pinkish eel. No sea snakes this time.

So, I go back for another dive tomorrow. Oh, it's such hard work being on holiday and trying to fit everything in. My dive tomorrow is at 11.00 a.m. so setting up starts at 10.15 a.m. My massage is at 3.00 p.m. I rang Cate - the massage therapist - this afternoon to ask if I could change from the 1 1/2 to the 2-hour treatment. May as well make the best of it, ay.

I rang Tam at Black Dog Surfing earlier (whilst having a post-dive cup of coffee and slice of carrot cake). I had said I'd get in touch about whether I wanted to book another (free) lesson. I told her I wasn't going to have time and she said to call in for a refund! I thought about that and decided I would get my refund, and I'll see if they do gift tokens. Then I can buy one and give it to Sandra at Bamboo Cottage - I like that idea. She was so nice to me the other day when I was feeling a bit sore after an earful from the owner (I changed my mind about a booking and she wasn't amused and dumped on me with some guilt-tripping kind of stuff which I didn't like.) As soon as I saw Sandra, she remarked - without me saying anything about it - ' don't take it personally, she'll get over it.'

Plans for the rest of this week

I've booked a dive for tomorrow afternoon, with Sundive. I'll be going out to Julian Rock - lots of big fish apparently, like Wobbegong Sharks, Manta Rays, and turtles too. On Wednesday afternoon I've booked a massage with someone who does Shiatsu, remedial massage and craniosacral [spelling?] therapy. I thought it best to have a range of treatments to chose from!

On Thursday I'm going kayaking down the river to the sea in Ballina. They do pick ups and drop offs too, all for $55 (and tea thrown in), so I don't have to get the bus to Ballina.

I'm undecided whether to have another go at the surfing on Wednesday morning. It's partly an issue of time. If the dive tomorrow goes well I'd maybe like to book another dive for Wednesday morning.

I've still got quite a bit of blogging to do too. I haven't said much about Fraser Island yet.

I have to stop for now though. It's 10.30 p.m. and it's a long walk back to Belongil Beach.

G'night.

Bundaberg Aqua Scuba

From left to right (1st picture): Israeli Daniel, Karin, Sara andGErman Daniel. I'm the frumpy-looking person on the right in the second picture. (I must do something about that!). Picture taken in Bundy coach terminal on Targo Street, with the Bundaberg Aqua Scuba shop in the background.

The Jacaroo hat

Me and my hat on the walk to Mount Kosciuszko. I've got rather browner since then. I'm not sure that I've lost any weight though, in spite of all the exercise.

Statue of an African woman

The statue I made at Wendi's

Our camp at Geehi

Wendi's camper van on our site beside the Swampy Plains River at Geehi, where we stayed on 22nd February. By the time I took the pictures - on Thursday morning - we'd already started to pack up and had taken the rear extension down (the tarp on the ground). After packing up, we sat and waited for John to come along with the jump leads.

There were composting toilets and water at the site, but no other facilities.

We bought a ticket to stay overnight on the National Park land from the information hut in Khancoban.

Did I mention in the blog about the flat battery that I thought it was very amusing to be driving around a site full of kangaroos asking for jump leads. I didn't share the joke with Wendi at the time, because I thought she might not think it was very funny whilst we were still in the middle of the predicament. I told her afterwards.

Kangaroos at Geehi

Some photos of the kangaroos at Geehi - my first wild kangaroos (actually my only kangaroos so far I think). These were taken on 22nd February - the day of the flat battery (recounted in the final instalment of the NSW and ACT tour)













The hut in the background is the Geehi Hut. This was originally built in 1952 from river stones and concrete. It was badly damaged by the bush fires in 2003, but the basic structure was saved, allowing the hut to be carefully restored.

Mt Kosciuszko pics - taken on 23rd February

Picnic in Canberra

This is me having a picnic in the car park of Parliament House in Canberra. Taken on 19th February, by Wendi. Notice the Wrapertoire statue in the foreground. We travelled in style!

It was cooler in that car park than outside.










And here's Wendi too!

Not waving ...

This is what I did mostly.

I found it absolutely exhausting! I kept telling myself useful things like, 'I'm not a failure if I don't succeed, I'm a success because I try.' I used lots of 'PMA' as one of the other women called it. My body let me down though. I kept on going back in and I got so exhausted that as I was trying to pick myself up and recapture my surf board (it was tethered to my right ankle so it couldn't go too far) I'd just get knocked right
down again by the piddly little dregs of the next wave.

I am disappointed. I've wanted to surf ever since my Mum took me to Cornwall on holiday and bought me a balsa wood surf board that I played about on in the sea. I was nine or ten years old when we first went to Cornwall on holiday. I can't remember if it was then that I had the surf board, or another year. We went again a couple of times in subsequent years. Camping of course.

I was crying tears of exhaustion and frustration a couple of times this morning. I kept them to myself though.

When I was sitting on the beach having a rest and feeling sorry for myself, I remembered the climbing lessons I took on the indoor climbing wall at Huddersfield. I used to find that very difficult and very challenging. I didn't have the upper body strength or agility (and this was 10 years ago!). One evening I felt so frustrated that I lost my temper half way up the wall and started shouting about 'What the fuck am I doing here ...' etc., etc., etc. [Tracey, if you're reading this, do you remember?] The instructor looked a bit taken aback. It was the same guy who took us down to Derbyshire one Saturday and who thought I didn't mean it when I said I'd changed my mind about abseiling. He should have known better!

Surfing group pic

This is the group I went surfing with this morning. I look happier when I'm not on the board! The guy waving his hat and giving the 'V' sign in the back row is one of the instructors. The guy on far right is called John and was originally from Skipton, North Yorkshire (it's a small world, etc.) but he's been over here for 10 years.

Oh, and the woman on the left in the front row (next to me) lives in Manchester.



Hey, I can upload pictures! I told the woman on the counter (in the Global Gossip Internet Cafe) about my problems and she told me how to compress them using Windows Picture Manager. Wowee! Cool!

Grrr - blog rage!

I have wasted about an hour in this internet cafe - at some expense - trying to upload images from a CD. All I have to show for it is one image. I give up! Why does it take so long? It says 'uploading your images', then 9after about 10 minutes) it says 'done', but where are the images???

Cool surfing dude ...

... well, not exactly! This is the closest I got to standing up, I think. I went surfing with Black Dog this morning (Monday 13th) and since they guarantee to get you standing up on the board in your first lesson, I am now entitled to another lesson, free, or my money back. I'll try another lesson, when I've recovered from the mental and physical exhaustion of this one - if there's time.





The weakness in my neck causes me real problems. It's not just the pain and the limited mobility in my left arm, it's the effect on my overall balance; and the effect on my confidence in my body and in my ability. Of course, I'm also overweight and generally unfit, but these two conditions are also partly a result of the injury and the subsequent period(s) of inactivity or limited activity.

A stay in Byron Bay

I've been here in Byron Bay since Friday afternoon. It's now Monday afternoon. The two backpackers hostels I tried on Friday (Belongil Beachouse and Cape Byron YHA) were full, so I tried another number out of Lonely Planet (the East Coast Australia edition) and ended up staying at Bamboo Cottage ('a touch of Bali in Byron Bay') for two nights. It's a beautiful house and very close to the centre - just over the railway track). But it was $88 a night, weekend rate. So after two nights I decided to book try Belongil Beachouse again and managed to get a bed in a 4-bed dorm there yesterday. It's a lot cheaper than Bamboo Cottage - $66 for a 3 night booking, with a YHA card. I've got a top bunk at the moment unfortunately and the showers and toilets (two of each) are pretty basic and a long way from my dorm - which is an issue when you have to get up to go to the toilet 3 or 4 times a night like I do! The larger dorms have en suite bathrooms, but Nicole (young German woman in my dorm) says her friend is in one of these and cannot ever get to have a shower because they are always being used when she wants one. The plus side of Belongil is its setting - just over the road from Belongil Beach - which isn't crowded like the main beach and the other beaches nearer town. There's a good restaurant next door too - the Belongil Beach Restaurant in fact. Another plus is that there's an 11.00 p.m. curfew on noise: the common room actually gets locked up at 11.00 p.m. Being about 2 km out of town there are no streetlights or noise from other houses. Actually the quickest way to get to and from town from there is to walk along the beach, as I did on Saturday

I liked Bamboo Cottage, but the bed was like a coffin - narrow and hard - and at night there was a lot of light and noise from outside making it difficult to sleep. There were some great people at Bamboo Cottage. I n fac there were a couple there from Manchester, Ash and Chetna. I got on really well with Sandra too, the young German woman who is kind of caretaking the place for Berenice (the owner). Sandra has been in Byron Bay for 3 months and still hasn't tried surfing, though she keeps meaning to book a lesson. That reminds me, I said I'd ring her to let her know how I got on today.

My reason for moving to cheaper accommodation is that there's loads of other stuff I want to do whilst I'm here. I went on a bus trip to Nimbin yesterday and had a diving lesson today. I've yet to book a dive or two out at Julian Rocks in the Cape Byron Marine Park. A couple of people I spoke to this morning recommended Sundive, so I'm going to go along there in a while and book - hopefully for tomorrow. I also want to go kayaking (with dolphins). There are a couple of companies in Byron that do kayaking trips, but I fancy the Ballina Kayaks Tour: it sound like it's got more interest in it as they take you along the river to the ocean (Ballina is inland); also it sounds less like a backpacker party experience. Oh, and the other thing I want to do (need to do) while I'm here is get a massage. I picked up a copy of Body and Soul from Tourist Info on Saturday. This is the local guide to alternative therapies and believe me, there's a lot to choose from here in Byron.

By the way, this area was named after Lord Byron's grandfather who did a bit of travelling in the late 18th century. Captain Cook named this are 'Cape Byron' after him.

Trains to Wangaratta

'The Rural City of Wangaratta is located in Victoria, Australia and lies 235 kilometres north east of the capital city of Melbourne and 647km south of Sydney, New South Wales. The Rural City of Wangaratta is widely recognised as a municipality that offers a premier provincial lifestyle. The region is famous for world class wine and gourmet food. It is the gateway to Victoria's major ski fields. With its spectacular scenery, the region is viewed by tourists as the 'hub' from which to explore North East Victoria and Southern New South Wales.'

I'm in the process of booking a train from Sydney to Wangaratta for next Saturday 18th. Mark will pick me up from here so that I can join he and Kim and the kids for the camping trip. They actually started their holiday today.

It costs $61.38 to travel by train from Sydney to Wangaratta and takes over 8 hours. I suspect I have to change trains. It's not easy travelling between states by rail here, because each state developed its own rail system without any reference to the others. Not only do they not link up, but the tracks are different guages.

I've just booked my flight from Ballina (nearest airport to Byron Bay) to Sydney for next Friday. I'm travelling with Rex (Regional Express) for the first time. It was the cheapest fare. I'll get into Sydney for midday, which suits me very well. I want to go to the Sydney Aquarium on Friday afternoon.

So, here I am on my first day in Byron Bay making arrangements to leave! That's the nature of travelling - one does have to think ahead.

I remember the blog I wrote on the day I was leaving Otley, when I was planning a trip to the Lebanon for next year. I said that on this trip I would practice being in the moment. I actually haven't had to practice much at all. I've found it very easy to be in the present! This is something new for me: enjoying the moment and feeling happy with whatever it produces.

Next stop Byron Bay

It's Thursday evening, 9th March, and I'm back in the Colonial Log Cabins YHA in Hervey Bay (pronounced 'harvey', by the way). I'm in the same cabin ('Possum Lodge'), the same room (118) and the same bed. What's more the bread and cheese that I left in the fridge in the common room on Monday is still there, so that's breakfast sorted.

I have to make an early start tomorrow morning. I'm getting the 6.15 (courtesy) bus from the YHA down to the coach station at Pialba in town, in order to get the 7.00 a.m. bus to Brisbane and from there to Byron bay, arriving at about 6.30 p.m. I'll be losing an hour along the way too as Queensland is an hour behind the rest of Australia - they don't have daylight savings time, 'cos they like to be different I think!

I want to do some more diving, amongst other things and when I was here on Monday I decided on three places that I'd like to go. Working north to south these were: Rainbow Beach, Byron Bay (and hippy dippy Nimbin) and Coff's Harbour. It seemed a bit unrealistic to think that I could visit three places in a week (I need to be back in Victoria to join Mark and Kim for the camping trip on Saturday 18th) and actually get to do anything - given the distances and travelling times. So, today I asked Tony, our Sand Island Safari tour guide for some advice. He said the Byron Bay was the best choice because it's a good place to use as a base: lots to do in Byron Bay itself, including diving, surfing and the Sunday flea market, and also it's a good place to use as a base for trips into the mountains.

Byron Bay it is then! I booked the Greyhound bus by phone early this evening - $86 (with backpacker discount). It only cost me $89 to fly from Sydney to Hervey Bay with Virgin Blue - a far greater distance. But I didn't have time to sort out flights.

By the way, I sent yet another email to Nigel Pope last week - an old friend of mine from the '70s (he even lodged at our house once when Gris was little and we lived at 79 Greenham Road in Newbury). I'd hoped to see him while I was over here. He teaches at Griffith University in Brisbane. He hasn't replied to any of my emails though. I left a phone message wth the Departmental Secretary 2-3 weeks ago too, but still nothing. It's very odd because he was communicating with me fine until about 2 years ago, then suddenly nothing. Oh well ... there's nowt so queer as folk!

Dingo encounter (posted Thursday evening, 9th March)

Hey, yesterday was International Women's Day.  I only realised part way through the day.  There was a Canadian woman in our group who'd never heard of it!

 

I got back from Fraser Island this afternoon.  We stayed in the Eurong Beach Resort on the east side of the island.  I shared a room (no 8 Surf Side) with two cousins from Vancouver, Canada - Betty and Paul. 

 

I woke up early yesterday morning and thought I'd go for a little stroll from the apartment to the beach - about 2 minutes walk.  Just as I reached the end of the paved path and emerged onto the sand a dingo lolloped out of the bush to my left, onto the path.  I stopped and the dingo stopped.  We stood about a metre apart and looked at each other.  I tried to remember what all the posters on the island say about how to act if encountering a dingo - but it was only 6.00 a.m and I've never been a morning person.  So I treated it like I would any dog.  I stood tall, with my feet planted squarely apart and said 'Hello dingo,' in an authoritative tone.  (Fortunately the dingo didn't answer - this would have been worrying.)  The dingo stood slightly to the left of me, looking past me and sniffing the air.  We stood like this for perhaps 30 seconds maybe longer, then the dingo carried on his (or her) way, bounding off into a pond on the right hand side of the path and jumping through the water, chasing something, like dogs do.

 

I told Paul about it when I got back to the room.  'What did you do?' he asked.  I said that fortunately I'd never been afraid of dogs.  He looked at me a little askance and said, 'But this is a wild dog...'  'I know,' I said,  'But the principle is the same isn't it; you make it clear that you're not afraid, that you're not an underdog.'

 

I bought a dingo cuddly toy before I left the island this morning - for Becki of course.

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New South Wales tour - the final episode!!!

So, about 10 days after it finished I am intending to recount the final day of the tour. It was a great tour and an opportunity to see bits of the country that most travellers would not get to see. I am so glad that Wendi suggested it and that I took her up on her offer. Thanks Wendi - and Derek - for all of your hospitality. I'm not sure what my expectations where - but the reality far exceeded them!

So, anyway, where were we. Ah yes, we left Gemma and Tony's house in Cootemundra and headed for Tumut, via Gundegai. We camped beside the Snowy River, on a site there. I got badly bitten by mozzies that night. I also had a middle-of-the night encounter with a possum when I got up to go to the toilet. I came back to find a possum sitting a few feet from the camper van. It watched me carefully as I approached, only making a run for it when I got within about a metre.

The next day was a long day's driving through the Snowy Mountains on narrow roads that wound around up hill and down hill.

On leaving Tumut, the first notable landmark was the Blowering Reservoir - between Tumut and Talbingo - where I saw my first emus, several pairs grazing (if that's what emus do). [And no, Paul, before you ask, there was no sign of Rod Hull]. I managed to get quite close to one pair and took a couple of photos, but the emus just look like greyish blobs. We went on through the Old Kiandra goldfields, where we stopped to look at the display of historical mining machinery at the roadside. There were signs on this stretch of road warning of wild horses (brumbies) but I didn't see any. We went through Cabramurra - Australia's highest town , at 1488m - stopping briefly on a hill to look at the view.

It was somewhere around Kiandra that we became aware of of the vast stretches of burned forest up there. AS far as the eye could see there were swathes of bare grey trees in amongst the green. At one time we were driving through dead trees on either side of the road. We both thought it was eerie. There was some new green growth coming up, but the trees themselves were completely dead. Wendi said she hadn't realised how extensive the fires had been. In amongst all the dead bare trees, there were beautiful white daisies carpeting the ground - takling advantage of the light that was now reaching the forest floor.

When we stopped in Khancoban to refuel and to buy a pass to stay overnight in the National Park, I asked the woman in the information centre when the fires were. She said 2003. She told us that the campsite in Thredbo had been badly hit by the fires and that there was now no shade there. This was one of the places we had thought of stopping overnight, before climbing Mt Kosciuszko next day.

After Khancoban we continued on. It was now late afternoon. After another climb, we stopped at Scammell's Spur Lookout (which the information board said was in Tumbarumba Shire!) to look at the views. When we got back in the van it wouldn't start. The battery was flat! Now this is not a good thing to happen on a mountain road in the middle of Australia - well, ok, not exactly the middle, but you get my drift. Fortunately, just then a car pulled up and Wendi asked the couple in it if they had any jump leads. They didn't, so we tried - with their help - to turn the van around so it was facing downhill in order to bump start it. It was too heavy. Just then a second car pulled up (this was very lucky because it's not exactly a busy road) and with the help of another two people we did manage to turn the van around and to bump start it. Great! The only problem now was that we couldn't stop anywhere unless we could find someone who had some jump leads in order to get us going again.

We got to the rest place at Geehi just at dusk. At first it seemed that there was no-one there. But there were several vans in amongst the bush beside the river. The third or fourth people we asked actually had some jump leads and were happy to help us to get going again in the morning. Their names were John and Lorna and they came from Bateman's Bay (though she was originally from Aberdeenshire).

It was at Geehi that I saw my first wild (live) kangaroos. There are mobs of them there and I got some great photos. I also saw several Kookaburras close up.

We stopped at Geehi that night. Geehi is beside the Swampy Plains River, on the Alpine Highway between Khancoban and Jindebyne, before Thredbo.

People and places (posted Monday evening, 6th March)

I went back to Mon Repos on Friday evening to have a second attempt at Turtle Watching. As I was leaving the night before (if you recall, we were turned away due to the bad weather) I got talking to a young woman from Cumbria, Vicki, who is travelling with her partner Gavin. They also went back on Friday night.

I ran into Vicki and Gavin again at Cool Bananas on Saturday evening. I almost didn't recognise Vicki without the kagoule she'd been wearing on both the previous occasions that we'd met. They'd booked in there to take advantage of the cheap deal on trips to Lady Musgrave Island. They are travelling in a car that they bought when they arrived here in Australia. They are mainly camping, just staying in hostels for the odd night, or when the weather is bad. So we travelled over to Lady Musgrave Island together too. Also on the trip was Cheryl, from Poole in Dorset, who Vicki and Gavin had met when they were staying at the Footprints hostel in Bundy. Cheryl had also been to see the turtles on Friday night. She was now staying in Backpackers 1770 in Agnes Water. She'd travelled up from Bundy with a young Swiss woman, Olivia, who she'd met there. They thought they'd booked into Cool Bananas, but because they they spent 5 minutes sorting out their luggage before going to reception to book in, the overbearing man who appears to manage the place had given their rooms away.

Cheryl and I ran into each other on the beach at Agnes Water again yesterday evening, having both gone down to watch the sunset. We parted back in the town and each went off to find some food. I went to the Hook In in the Endeavour Plaza and found Vicki and Gavin there finishing off their fish and chips. I bought Barramundi (mmm) and chips and talked to them for a while. They had booked out of Cool Bananas and pitched their tent on the beach down at the site in 1770. I saw that site when I was down there on Friday - it looked great: lots of shade and good facilities, and a great outlook.

Vicki and Gavin are headed for Cairns, where they are aiming to sell the car. From Cairns they will get a flight back down to Melbourne where they are finishing their stay. They'll be in Melbourne at the beginning of April, so I may run into them there.

Daniel, Sara and Karin - the Israeli trio from the diving course - were also at Mon Repos on Friday evening.

When we completed our dive course on Saturday morning we were joined by the students who'd started later in the week and were doing their first open water dives. There was a young woman called Jo there. She is English, but her father lives in Townsville (N Queensland). When the bus pulled into Bundy this morning en route to Hervey Bay, Jo got on. She is now also in Hervey Bay and off to Fraser island tomorrow, but with a different company.

On Saturday I met with Tomei and the other Japanese guy from Barolin Street again. They were assisting with the dive course. I saw Mai down at Barolin Rocks (where we did our final dives) too. She'd had a frustrating week of it, unable to carry on with her Advanced course because of the weather. So she was hoping to get some good diving in at the weekend.

Colonial Log Cabins YHA (posted Monday evening 6th March, 17.12)

Staying in the Colonial Log Cabins YHA in Hervey Bay. Blissfully relaxing after the frenetic atmosphere of Cool Bananas. Actually 'frenetic' is maybe not the right word to describe Cool Bananas as there was a lot of heavy duty relaxation going on there: lots of sofas so deep that if I sat on one I'd probably have to be prised out of it with a winch; the kind of sofas that are meant for sprawling, not for sitting up on, and no back or neck support. I tell you, staying there did my self-esteem not much good at all. I felt old and grumpy.

Anyway, Colonial Log Cabins is more my scene. The dorms are all in individual rooms in blocks (cabins). Each cabin has its own shared kitchen/common room area, with a TV and a deck to sit out on. In fact each room has a deck. Each room also has air con and a fan. There was no air con in the dorms at Cool Bananas, just a fan. There were four bunk beds to a dorm and most dorms were mixed, but I was in the 'girls' dorm.

The sitting and dining area in the main block here is also well air-conditioned. There's a pool out back and a barbecue every night between 6.00 and 9.30 p.m.. I'll try out the barbie tonight as I don't feel like cooking. It's been a long day: up at 5.30 a.m. to get the 6.30 a.m. bus from Agnes Water down here.

It's very hot and humid in Hervey Bay, as it was when I was here (briefly - on my way to Bundy) just 8 days ago. Amazing that it was only 8 days ago! They've had a lot of bad weather in-between. The bad weather we had in Bundy travelled southwards down the coast I think.

Lady Musgrave Island (posted Sunday evening 21.00)

Out on the day cruise to Lady Musgrave today: 75 minutes each way on the catamaran and 6 hours on the island and surrounding waters. I snorkelled for the first time ever and did my first post-certification dive. Visibility 20 metres! I felt much more confident because I wasn't afraid of losing the 0thers - because I could see them!

Underwater the colours of the corals and the fish are just like you see them on TV and in photos. Whilst snorkelling I saw a lot of brightly-coloured little fish and a big potato cod (called 'George'). I also saw a big (approx 1 metre carapace) Green Sea Turtle (they grow up to 176 cm). Green Sea Turtles are still laying on the beach at Lady Musgrave, but this one was in the water, half beneath a ledge in the coral.

Whilst diving we saw: a Hawksbill Turtle (smaller); a lion fish; a black and white striped sea snake (very venomous); a white-tipped reef shark (I saw it first!) and some rays . Lots of small colourful fish too of course.

I'm tired now and it's hard writing emails here at Cool Bananas, because all the lights are permanently turned down low and the vloume on the TV is turned up VERY LOUD.

In the morning I'm catching the 6.30 a.m bus to Hervey Bay. I've booked into the YHA there - the 'Colonial Log Cabins'. On Tuesday I'm off to Fraser Island for 3 days so will be out of contaact (no phones or computers). Hopefully I can bring this up-to-date tomorrow, at the YHA.
Paul is 52 today. I rang him around 8.30 GMT and sang 'Happy Birthday' to him. He wasn't very awake!

PADI Open Water Diver

Hooray, finished course yesterday!  Out in the ocean at Barolin Rocks (nr Bundy).  Only saw little fishes though.

 

In Cool Bananas in Agnes Water - staying 2 nights.  Everyone here at least 20 years younger than me.  Very noisy in the evening - I wouldn't have liked it when I was 20-30 years younger  no quiet spaces.

 

It's around 7.30 a.m Sunday.  Going to Lady Musgrave Island for the day on the Spirit of 1770 (catmaran)

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Bustard Head and Cool Bananas (posted Fri p.m. - 3rd March)

Drove up to Agnes Water and Town of 1770 this morning leaving Bundy via the Burnett River Bridge, then crossing rivers and creeks with interesting names: Kolan River, Yandarin Creek, Cockatoo Creek and Captain Creek. I looked for the koala communities (mentioned in tourist brochure) at Avondale, but didn't see any. Drove about 150-160 km, past lots of bush. The only signs of habitation for miles was a postbox and wheelie bin by the roadside and sometimes the glimpse of a distant house and vehicles through the trees, sometimes the sound of a barking dog. Several Utes passed me on the road, one with a fiercely barking Rottweiller. I drove up into Miriam Vale Shire, then Gladstoneshire and back into Miriam Vale Shire. Stopped for lunch in Agnes Water and checked out cruises to Lady Musgrave Island. Then drove on through Town of 1770 (where James Cook landed on Bustard Beach on 24 May 1770 - his second landing in Australia) to Bustard Bay.

Bustard Bay: 360 degree views over the ocean - turquoise, aqua and emerald, fringed with white; the humming of cicadas; large butterflies and dragonflies; breaking waves; a red and black bird flying to perch on the branch of a eucalyptus - so small that I wasn't sure if it was a large dragonfly or a bird, though it moved like a bird; eucalypts forming a tunnel over the cliff-top path; lookout platforms built onto the cliffs.

I've booked into Cool Bananas backpackers hostel (in Agnes Water opposite the bus stop) for tomorrow and Sunday, planning to take the day cruise to Lady Musgrave Island on Sunday (special cheap rate if you stay in the backpackers hostels - about $60 less than usual rate). Not sure whether to take the dive package (having a crisis of confidence!) but will definitely snorkel!

I want to go to Fraser Island too, so am planning to try to book a 3-day trip there with Sand Island Safaris. The tours depart from Hervey Bay every Tuesday and Friday, and a Tuesday departure would fit in with my plans very nicely, giving me Monday to travel down to Hervey Bay for an overnight there.

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Bargara Beach (posted Thurs. 2nd March)

I drove to Bargara Beach this afternoon in the hired car. I parked on the seafront and ate my sandwich, watching the waves crashing on the rocks and the rain beating down on the windscreen. I drove around the tiny place a couple of times with a view to getting a hot drink, but decided that nowhere looked appealing.

Before leaving Bargara I followed the signs to the esplanade and parked at the end of the drive for a last look at the ocean. Three or four other cars stopped there too, the drivers and passengers looking out at the wild weather from behind glass - as I was doing. I was just about to drive off when I noticed that one man had got out of his car. Dressed in faded blue swimming shorts and a T-shirt, with bare feet, he opened one of the rear doors and got out something that looked like a neatly folded blanket. It turned out to be a battered tan suede jacket, which he struggled into as the wind tried to take it from him. My reaction was, 'Is he mad?!' But immediately I thought, 'No, he's got the right idea!'. Why is it that as soon as we get into a car we are separate from the environment - protected and sanitised, safe - and reluctant to immerse ourselves in it. I watched him progressing along the beach, battling the wind. I took off my sandals, pulled on my kagoule and got out of the car. The wind and rain hit me full on - it was like being washed and blow-dried all at once. Black rocks, red and black sand, sea pools; the patterns and textures in the sand, made by wind and rain. I stood on the edge of the shore and the waves rolled in - the water warm as it lapped over my toes; then the drag and suck as the waves pulled back, my feet sinking into the sand. I thought of the 1000s of miles of ocean out there and I could feel the pull of it. It's easy to understand why someone might just walk into the sea and keep going.

As I turned to go back to the car a pelican flew low over the beach. I took a last look at the broad sweep of the bay. My trousers were soaked through when I got back to the car. I wasn't bothered!

There's a lot of new building going on at Bargara and around it. It won't be wild much longer.

Bundaberg Historical Museum (posted Thurs. 2nd March)

There's a bicycle - one of several - in the Bundaberg Historical Museum, which was bought by a local family (the Hansen family) in 1917 for #12 10 s and was still in use by members of the family until 1990. Another bicycle there was used in the 1977 film, the Mango Tree, which was filmed in and around Bundaberg. In the vicinity of the small bicycle collection is a newscutting from 1970 relating the story of 'the Bicycle Bandits of Bundaberg' . In 1915 two bicycle-mounted bandits grabbed the payroll of the Fairymead Sugar Company, pursued by a carful of constabulary. They were apprehended on the Burnett Bridge, throwing their bounty - contained in two sugar bags - into the river. It sank to the bottom, but was later retrieved intact. The headlines of the time called this the 'most audacious highway robbery under arms in Queensland'.

The museum is a motley and eclectic collection of artefacts, shells, fragments of stone, gem collections, stuffed birds, tools, household items, workwear, agricultural implements, school books and even typewriters and telephones. The Lonely Planet promised quilting, but - disappointingly - there was none on display this time (I like quilting). Of the birds, the curator remarked that 'we've managed to make half of them extinct over the last 100 years' - this may have something to do with people stuffing them and putting them in glass cases I think. It curtails the breeding you know!

Two interesting facts about Bundaberg - gleaned from the museum:

• The Burnett River (on which Bundaberg sits and in whose murky tidal waters I had my first open water diving experience in yesterday) is home to the rare lungfish - which in terms of evolution represents the link between frogs and fish. The first one was found there in the 1870s, having long been considered extinct. The only other places in the world where they are found are the Amazon and the Congo. In 2000 there was one in a tank in the Bundaberg Zoo (where is the Bundaberg Zoo I wonder?).
• The sugar cane industry in Bundaberg was sustained in its infancy by the 'recruitment' of South Sea Islanders, known locally as Kunakas. Between 1863 and 1904 around 60,000 of these were brought to Queensland, usually kidnapped or lured aboard ship under false pretenses then abducted. After this 'blackbirding ' was banned, most of them were deported, unless they had married here, or acquired freehold land, or had been here for over 20 years.

The staff in the museum were really friendly too. It's one of 3 museums in the Botanic Gardens.

Loggerhead turtles - posted Thurs. 2nd March

Mon Repos beach is in the Woongarra Marine Park, about 15km NE of Bundaberg. From November to March the beach is closed to public access nightly and the rangers there conduct turtle-watching tours - admission by ticket. At the moment it's the middle of the hatching season and every night lots of baby turtles succeed in pushing their way up through the sand (having hatched a few days before) and then dash to the sea, trying to avoid predators on the way. The conditions have to be just right - any lights on the shore distract them and draw them towards the light, away from the ocean.

Did you know that:

* The sex of baby turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand. Under a certain temperature the turtles all hatch out as male; over a certain temperature they hatch as female.

* Turtles from different gene pools do not inter-breed, even though they are the same species.

* Only 1 in 1000 hatchlings makes it to maturity.

* Female turtles only begin to breed at age 30; they return to breed in a site within 2,500 km of where they were hatched.

* Turtles hatchlings are threatened by foxes (amongst other more obvious predators such as crabs and birds) before they can reach the ocean; there is a programme to poison foxes in Woongarra Marine Park - 1,000s of live baits. Foxes were imported into Australia by the Brits (who else) for sport in the 18th century.

* Turtle hatchlings in N Queensland are also under threat from feral pigs (bred from those released into the wild by settlers); colonies (herds?) of wild pigs as big as 60 strong have been reported.

And ...

* I bought a ticket to go turtle-watching tonight

* Tonight - for the second time in 15 years - the turtle watching was cancelled due to weather conditions on the beach!

It has been raining heavily all day (until about 30 minutes ago). The winds got really strong at around 7.00 p.m. (while we were all gathered at the Mon Repos centre, waiting for the tour to start) and the ranger called the tour off, saying that there were high waves sweeping up the beach and a wall of sand also blowing up the beach, about 5 feet high.

I'll try again tomorrow, while I still have the car.

Phone home - posted Thurs. 2nd March

I got up early this morning (again - it's becoming a habit!; it's so much easieer to get up early when it's not work that one is getting up for.) I intended to ring Paul using the phone card I bought in Blue Mountains YHA last week - only 9c a minute to UK (plus a connection fee). I needed to make the call around 10.00 p.m. GMT - 8.00 a.m. here. I had meant to look for a phone box yesterday, but forgot. Fortunately when I emerged from my front door this morning and walked to the corner, I spotted one a little way up Maryborough Street. I then discovered that I had to put 40c into the phone before I could use the card! It was still much cheaper than using the mobile though. We had the longest conversation we've had since I left 3 1/2 weeks ago! And it was wonderful to speak to him. I then rang Gris and caught up with her news. Becki can stand unaided now - albeit only for a few seconds. It's amazing to think that she is 7 months old now - and will be almost 9 months by the time I see her again. I was going to ring Dan too, but ran out of time, as I needed to sort out a rental car. I sent him a text a couple of days ago, asking how he is and if he's reading the blog. He hasn't replied. [Are you reading this Dan? Communicate with your mother please!]

Paul said that when he spoke to my Mum recently on the phone, she reported excitedly that she had seen my blog - Mike had shown it to her on the computer. Good for you, Mum. I hope you read it regularly! I wonder if you have received your postcards yet?

Time up on computer (library). Have to stop.

Bundaberg Botanical Gardens -posted Thurs. 2nd March

'In 1881, approximately 46 ha, surrounding lagoons at North Bundaberg, was gazetted as a Camping Reserve. Later, areas were resumed for a Railway reserve and a School reserve. The remaining land was gazetted as a Botanical Gardens Reserve. Today, 27.4 ha have been planted with a mixture of exotic and native shrubs and trees as well a variety of rainforest trees and flora. Plants and trees and lagoons attract at least 114 bird species. Incorporated in the setting are childrens' playgrounds; picnic tables; shelter sheds; electric BBQ's; toilet facilities; boardwalks over lagoons with viewing decks.'

See info on Bundaberg Botanical Gardens

I walked to the Botanic Gardens yesterday evening (Wednesday). It was rather further and so took longer to walk than I had been led to believe by the woman at Bundaberg City Tourist Information the other day. It was worth the walk. Lonely Planet describes them as 'splendid'. When I mentioned that I was going to go there the other day, Sara (young Israeli woman on diving course) dismissed them with a shrug of her shoulders and a twitch of her nose as 'just a swamp'. She said she was 'so disappointed' to see them after seeing the gardens at Melbourne (where she and Karin have lived for a while). Well, she's right, there is no comparison! Bundaberg's botanic gardens are wild and wet: no formal walkways and avenues of elms here! They are beautiful. I didn't get a chance to look at the rainforest walk, but I went to the Japanese Garden (twice). There are several lakes - green, swampy and pungent. There are ibis and wading birds everywhere and signs saying not to disturb the egrets in the nesting season, or to intervene in nature's natural selection process. Eucalypts grow out of the middle of the lakes, with ibis nesting in the branches. In several places the lake has spilled over onto the path. Beautiful - lushly, greenly beautiful in the soft, warm rain. The only sounds were of roosting birds, water and the breeze in the branches of the eucalypts.

I walked around for as long as I could yesterday evening. The rain had slowed to a drizzle by then and I had my umbrella. I only left at 6.30 ish because it was beginning to get dark. It gets dark very quickly here and I had a way to walk back to the city centre. I felt blissfully happy. I realised that whenever I've travelled anywhere before, my happiness at being in and discovering new places has always been tinged with sadness at having to go back to a life that I didn't - largely - enjoy. That has changed. I know it will be hard to go back, but I do want to go back. I have a lot to go back for and a future to create! Whatever future I do create will include travel.

The walk back to the city took me through streets of houses on stilts - the style over here. One had a spreading tree outside - the width of the house itself - with dark green fond-like leaves and red flowers - a jacaranda?

I liked the gardens so much that I resolved to drive over there this morning. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that by this time I had decided to stay in Bundaberg (instead of moving to Agnes Water/Town of 1770 for a day or two) and to hire a car.

Sugar cane - P.S.

I've been out driving today and seen lots of the little railway crossings. It appears that they are still used, though only from June to December (the sugar cane harvesting season, I suppose).

Sugar cane

I didn't mention the sugar cane did I! There are acres and acres of the stuff - used in the Ginger Beer and the Bundaberg Rum and I don't now what else. And of course this is why the infamous cane toad was imported to Queensland. I've not seen anyone licking one yet (though some of the bushy-bearded men look like they may be closet cane-toad lickers). In fact I've not seen a cane toad!

There are lots of little single-guage railway tracks crossing the road at about 2 km intervals. The warning signs say 'cane railway'. Daniel had told me about these yesterday - he'd noticed hem when he drove out to the beach at Moore Park. I noticed them myself this morning. It's not clear whether they are still used. The lines are very rusty.

Rainy Day #2

Notice the oblique reference to Bob Dylan there!

 

It has rained and rained and rained and rained since lunchtime.  I was sitting in the Kebab House on Targo Street when it started, eating a falafel roll (falafel in flatbread).  I was facing the door and pointed out the rain to the two Daniels.  Israeli Daniel shrugged (as he does) and said, 'It'll stop soon.'  This was the cue for the rain to get heavier.

 

We did our first two open water dives this morning - in the Burnett River.  We were at Bundaberg Aqua Scuba at 8 a.m as instructed and drove out to the coast at Elliot Heads first to check out the ocean conditions.  The boss, Julian, was with us today, as well as our tutors from yesterday, Roger and Daniel (an enormous blond-haired guy who turns out to be only 18!).  There was also another young guy called Matt, who is I think doing some advanced training.  At Elliot Heads Julian, Roger and Daniel got out of the van, followed by Bartek and Matt, then us.  the seasoned divers looked at the waves and muttered a while, shaking their heads.  'We can't go out there today,' said Julian, 'Not unless you want to die.'  The surf was high and the wind speeds are up causing a lot of current too.  So we drove back to the Burnett River, kitted up and got in (I had to squeeze into my suit with the arse hanging out again, but at least they'd given me a BCD that actually stayed inflated today - which was reassuring.)  I hated it at first and panicked - it was salt water and visibility is very poor.  I stuck my head in and immediately felt like my mask was filling up so took my head back out again.  I had one f those "I've changed my mind moments.'  Is it only me that has these, or do most people just keep quiet about them?  Actually, I had several of these - put my head in and pulled it back out again about 3 times.  Eventually, Julian grabbed my hand.  We had to all hang on to each other anyway. For about 12-18" you could make out some detail.  Over a metre (maybe less) there was nothing visible at all - not even a vague outline.

 

I had a thought a while ago that I'm glad I didn't have before the dives: I hope there aren't any salties (crocs) in the Burnett River!

 

I had an email from Tracey Addy today.  She remarked that those climbing lessons I had years ago when we worked together in Kirklees must have come in handy (referring to the Harbour Bridge photos).  this reminded me of a past "I've changed my mind moment.  Tracey and I had been doing a climbing course in Huddersfield, mainly n the climbing wall.  Then the instructor took us down to Derbyshire for the day.  We roped up and were going to do an abseil down a rock face.  I was first.  Then I changed my mind.  But the tutor tried to grapple with me and drag me backwards over the edge roped to him, as I dug my heels in and protested.  He succeeded in the end. I ended up going down that face practically sitting on his knee. Later he remarked that it usually worked with kids - that once he'd got them over he edge they were fine. 

 

I was never a good climber - not agile or confident enough, but it did give me some skills and get rid of some fears. 

 

It's still raining outside.  I went and bought an umbrella on the way here.  I've got a kagoule, but with that all the water runs of it and the lower half of my body is quickly soaked through.

 

Yesterday was just showery, although it had rained heavily in the early hours of yesterday (Tuesday) morning - so heavily that it woke me. I asked Daniel W (German)yesterday 'Did you hear the rain in the middle of the night?'  Then quickly realised that this was a silly question - he's sleeping in an estate car borrowed from his friend in Brisbane.  The Israelis are sleeping in a tent. 

 

I had a siesta again this afternoon from 1.15 to about 2.00 p.m. I was woken by the  ringing of my phone, just before the alarm was due to go off.  It was Roger from Bundaberg Aqua Scuba to tell me that it had been agreed with the others that they would do their other open water dives (2 more needed for the course) on Saturday as the weather should be better then.  We had discussed this possibility this morning.  I said that was alright with me.  Apparently the others may go up to Agnes Water/Town of 1770 - about 100km up the coast - for a couple of days.  I had thought of going on there anyway.  Roger will give them my mobile number so we can work something out.

 

I want to go to Mon Repos beach while I'm here, to see the turtles hatching.

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