April 16th Entry:
Happy Easter! As I've changed my plane ticket to leave from Brisbane on April 19th, I only have 3 sleeps left in Australia. I've really enjoyed my time in this country. Let me get you up to date since my last blog entry about the Great Barrier Reef. After an amazing snorkling exprience, we took an overnight bus to Airlie Beach. It's a tiny little resort town. Really just a street along the beach front. Like Cairns, it has an artificial lagoon (freshwater) next to the beach for people to swim in during stinger season. There's not much to do in Airlie, other than a strip of tourist shops and cafes. It's main purpose is a jumping point to the Whitsunday Islands.
On April 14 (Good Friday), I went on a tour of the Whitsunday Islands. I went with a company called "Ocean Rafting", which took a group of us (about 20) in a speed boat/raft on a tour of the main island. The ride was fast, bumpy, wet, and fun! I met 2 really nice German girls on the trip. one of the girls, Julia, had actually been on the same night bus that Corinne and I were on from Cairns to Airlie and was taking the same bus out of Airlie that night with us. Plus, she's going to fly home from Brisbane on the 19th, too! Funny world.
Anyway, the tour took us to the main island (Whitsudnay Island) and we walked up to a look-out point over-looking White Haven Beach. This long stretch of very, very white sand has the world's purest form of silica sand. They actually used the sand from this area for the lenses of the Huble telescope. From the look-out, we trudged back to the boat and then moved to another location on that beach for lunch. We hung-out there for about an hour and a half, and then it was off for a bit of snorkling at yet another location. I had trouble with my snorkle masks (1st one had a leak in the seel, 2nd one was too big, and the lenses snapped out of the 3rd one!). After spending all my energy fighing with my masks, I decided to quit while I was ahead and made my way back to the boat. From there, we headed back to Airlie Beach. All in all, it was a good trip, although not as spectacular as the reef tour. The islands reminded me of the islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, although with beautiful blue-green water and white sand beaches!
After taking another overnight bus (left at 8:15pm), we arrived in Hervey Bay at 9:10am on Saturday, April 15. We were picked up from the bus station by our Servas hosts, Don and Barbara. They are wonderful people; a retired couple who just moved to Hervey Bay about 3 years ago. They live in a community complex, like a condo idea but with houses instead, including a community center and an outdoor pool. Corinne, Barbara, and I spent the late morning/early afternoon swimming and lounging by the pool side. Tough life! Corinne and I spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around Hervey Bay (a very nice town). We walked out tot he very long pier, where many people were fishing, and enjoyed a fantastic sunset.
Today, Barbara and Don took us around to see the area. We set off this morning for a near-by market where people were selling all sorts of things...from jewlery to produce to old tools. Then we went to the town of Maryborough. It's a town of about 25, 000 people and boasts the largest concentration of historic Queensland-style buildings from the turn of the 20th century and is the birthplace of the lady who wrote "Mary Poppins". It's a very picturesque place. We had a picnic lunch after wandering the streets. Then we drove to a conservation area where, after a fair bit of walking and searching, we spotted a koala! Now I've seen kangaroos, platypuses, and a koala in the wild. Perfect! We then drove back to Hervey Bay and had a coffee/milkshake at the marina. Not a bad way to spend Easter!
April 17th Entry:
Today Corinne and I did a 4-wheel drive tour of Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It took about 1 hour by ferry to get to the island from the Hervey Bay marina. We had wet weather all day, but the island was still very beautiful. Swamps, beaches, rainforest, sand dunes (sand blows), and streams. Our tour was very small (only 10 people) and our guide was a funny German guy. We met 2 very nice couples on the tour, one from Switzerland and the other from England. The couple from England were on the last few weeks of their 16 month journey around the world! Amazing people.
We had a lovely supper with Don and Barbara when we got back this evening, enjoying beautiful fooed, great wine, and fantastic company. What more do you need in life?
April 20th Entry:
Well, here I am at the Singapore airport. I've left Australia and I'm on my way home. The last couple of days havn't been terribly eventful. On Tuesday (April 18), we left Hervey Bay and spent most of the day on the bus to Brisbane. When we got to Brisbane in the late afternoon, we made our way by city train and on foot to our Servas host's place. We stayed with Wilmai Davidson, a really nice lady. She used to work in the corporate world but a life-changing experience in Nepal (she got severe altitude sickness) caused her to re-think her perspective on life. She left her job, moved to Brisbane, and starting working as a nanny for a couple of different families. She also took a serious look at personal spirituality.
On Tuesday evening, the 3 of us went with some of Wilmai's family for a cheap meal at a "Service Club". This place was a small members-only casino that serves cheap food. Not the greatest, but for $3.50 a plate, who am I to complain? After, we went to the movies to see March of the Penguins.
The next day (April 19), Corinne and I took a tour bus to visit the Australia Zoo, just north of Brisbane. This is the zoo owned by Steve Irwin; a.k.a the "Crocodile Hunter". It's main focus was on Australian wildlife. It was good, but a bit of a "Steve Irwin" theme park. Not really a conventional zoo. And I found the animals much more domesticated than in other zoos I've been to. Still, the staff seemed to take very good care of them.
That evening, we had supper with Wilmai, then played a game called "Rummy-O". After that, it was time for me to head off to the airport.
So ends my 1st Australian adventure. It's a great place and I intend to visit again. I have no regrets about coming home early. I'm tired of traveling for now (physically and mentally) and these places are too spectacular to waiste me being tired. So, I'll just have to return another time!
Some important lessons I've learned:
- Try not to have any expectations about the place your traveling to
- Try not to have any expectations about yourself when traveling (i.e. reactions, moods, etc.)
- Slow down and pace yourself
- You can travel at any age, and you don't have to do it all at once
- Traveling is a personal experience and if/how/why/when it's done should not be based on the expectations or opinions of others
