Australia Zoo and Brisbane - January 15, 2010

Crikey! Today we saddled up the (Toyota) wagon to mosey on down to Brisbane from Noosa Heads. The distance to Brisbane was comparatively a short drive; only about 120km. The sole rush on our schedule was to go to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo in Landsborough, QLD.

That’s right, we were going to the zoo of everybody’s favorite crocodile hunter. At the zoo we would be able to interact with some kangaroo, koala, and other assorted animals that Steve Irwin antagonized in the wild. Of course, though, we visited with heavy hearts due to Mr. Irwin’s relatively recent demise. (Pause.)

The zoo must go on. Steve would have wanted it that way. In fact, his daughter, Bindi, is one of the main attractions. Not because she’s some bizarre human-reptile hybrid. Bindi hosts one of the main attractions on a daily basis at the zoo. (Note to self: check Australian child labor laws.)

Besides Bindi being a worthwhile attraction, the zoo allows visitors to interact with some of the resident animals. We were able to walk into the living areas of the kangaroo and koala. We walked close to, pet, and even fed the kangaroos. Most of the kangaroos rested on a hot summer day, so they were inactive. Only occasionally did we see the kangaroos hop/run across their lawn. Seeing the kangaroo run was impressive. Nicolle even fed the kangaroos. No limbs were lost and no animals were harmed while taking these pictures.







We also pet some koalas. The koalas was similarly inactive. The koalas are so inactive that they sleep 18-20 hours per day. I enjoy sleeping, but that’s excessive. Koalas apparently do nothing but eat until they’re full, then they go back to sleep. While they slept, though, we pet their soft fur.




After we finished annoying wild animals who just wanted to rest, we drove to our second-to-last destination of Brisbane, QLD. We would only spend one night in Brisbane with another early morning flight the day after.

The areas of Brisbane we visited were pretty nice. The city has an efficient commuter rail system that reminded me of Long Island Rail Road. Brisbane also had a nice river promenade. The walk along the promenade included shops, restaurants, and a pool. We noticed a The Brisbane YHA hostel we stayed at had a pool on the roof, which allowed for sunset viewing.

Day 2, Fraser Island Adventure - January 14, 2010

Everybody’s favorite Fraser Island tour guide, Karl, had offered a nice sunrise tour complete with some dingoe sightings. Too bad the departure time was 4:45AM. Nicolle and I didn’t even kid ourselves to think we could wake up that early. Though we didn’t get to see the sunrise, I can safely say that I didn’t put any of my babies in danger of being eaten by a dingoe, which is basically a wild dog.

The morning call time arrived again pretty early at around 7:30AM. The menu for the day’s events included a nice 4WD bus ride up the beach with a few stops here and there. The culmination of the trip was the famed Lake McKenzie.

Our first stop on the drive up the beach was Eli Creek. Fraser Island possesses a large amount of fresh water from the process of the sand filtering the water that is deposited onto it. Karl claimed that Fraser Island has more fresh water on it than Sydney Harbor. One of the fresh water creeks we saw was Eli Creek. As you might be able to see in the picture, the water is extremely transparent. The water is supposedly clean enough to drink, but we didn’t test that theory because we enjoy healthy bowels. Nevertheless, we walked to a point where you could basically walk or float back down to the mouth of the creek.



The second stop was at the shipwreck. The story tells that the ship, called Maheno, was built in Scotland around the early 1900s. The ship was both fast and luxurious. Ultimately, the ship’s captains tried to test the speed with an attempted jump over Fraser Island resulting in the ship being wrecked on the beach. Sorry, the last part is completely made up. It sounds interesting though. I don’t remember how the ship was wrecked. There it stays though. Undisturbed.



We also stopped by the Colored Sands area of Fraser Island. This wasn’t as appealing as the other parts. I believe the sands were colored by mineralization. Not much here. Let’s move on.



Champagne Pools was a little more interesting. Rock formations created this set of pools, which are filled by the ocean’s waves. Some visitors swam in the pools. Karl warned against going in the pools because of jellyfish. And what Karl says goes; he’s lived on the island or visited the island for over 25 years. One interesting aspect to the pools: the island was formed by volcanic upheavals long ago, and you can see some very linear and thin lines of rock formations that was, basically, lava flowing up throw cracks in the rock surface and cooling.




Ah, Lake McKenzie. This is main draw of Fraser Island, which says something because the island contains so many beautiful areas. Lake Mac, as they say, is a fresh water lake. As you can see, the lake’s color is amazing clear, blue, and all around amazing. The sands don’t disappoint either, they’re as white as a baby’s bum. We definitely enjoyed swimming in the lake because it wasn’t too cold. Plus there were no threats. The sand was refreshing too because it felt like walking in sugar.




Because we traveled on the two day trip with the same group of people we were able to befriend two nice lasses from Dublin. One girl was truly Irish and the other was an Italiana. They had only began their trip, which was a three month round-the-world journey. We were jealous.



Our small group also included the aforementioned Karl. What a character he was. He was a guy who had seen and done a lot in his lifetime. But he seems to truly love what he does and that showed in his enthusiasm for guiding the tour. He was so enthusiastic about the job that he even put on his boardshorts to relax on the beach and swim with us. As he said, he really hates his job.



We’ve traveled with many guides both for this trip and other parts of the world, and I think it’s safe to say that Karl was one of the best we’ve experienced.

Fraser Island Adventure - January 13, 2010

All that driving really paid off to spend two full days on Fraser Island, off the coast of central Queensland. As Colin mentioned, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.

Today we were up early once again to catch a 7:45am bus to the ferry. There were some dolphins out on the water during the 40 minute ferry ride, but they never got close enough for us to take a good photo.

Once we got onto the island, we were quickly taken onto a 40 passenger air-conditioned 4WD bus for our 2 day adventure with the tour operator Karl.



Karl is a fun-loving, comical guy who really seemed passionate about the island. Knowing all the ins and outs, he added a few things to the itinerary that weren't planned, such as our first stop to Lake Birrabeen.




The lake was so beautiful! I've never seen a lake with such clear water. And because Fraser Island is a sand island, there were no rocks or slippery grass to walk on. The water was warm enough to swim in and cool enough to be refreshing. With the sun shining and no fear of crocodiles or stingers, life felt like it couldn't be any better than this!

Because we were on a tour, we had less than 2 hours to enjoy the lake before heading off to the next area of the island - the rainforest. After spending a few days traveling down the tropical north of Australia, the nature walk on Fraser Island was paled in comparison. It was not hot and humid (thankfully), and there was a crystal clear freshwater lake along the walk. We had a nice hour long hike in the forest before lunch.




Once we finished the walk, around 1pm, we were starving and ready for lunch. The tour provided lunch at the hotel on the beach where our accomodations were. Unfortunately, lunch was pretty disappointing. The only good thing was it being buffet, so we could fill up - which we did.

Once we all finished lunch, we were off again for a coastal drive literally on the beach. We were brought to an area where we had to hike 2.5km to sand dunes and a swimming hole among the dunes. The destination of the hike was amazing. I really did feel like I was in the desert.



To one side we could see the ocean and to the other there was an oasis - our swimming spot.



Swimming felt wonderful after the short hike and walking on the hot sand. We were in the water for the entire 2 hours, chatting with two new friends (Joanne and Rosa) from Dublin (though Rosa is from Italy).

By the time we hiked back to the bus, it was getting late and time to head back to the hotel for dinner. Along the beach drive, Karl stopped to show us the stingers left by the tide on the beach. This is a photo of just one of the many predators in northern Australia waters - the Portuguese Man of War.



Dinner was similar to lunch and again we felt disappointed in the meal. Unfortunately, we also didn't have air conditioning in the hotel room, but the fan did work well enough. Fraser Island also afforded us another opportunity to do some star gazing, which was lovely.

Overall, I would say it was a wonderful day. In my opinion, the best we've had in Australia so far.

The Great Banana Battle of 2010 - January 12, 2010

Welcome to the first and last Great Banana Battle. I thought I would take the opportunity to pit three different types of bananas against one another. Rest assured that I’m not a sadist who enjoys banana-related violence. The main reason being that only one type of banana (Cavendish) dominates the US market. That’s right, the bananas you see in the supermarket in the US are all the same. Somewhere along the way, probably in between Dole bribing corrupt government officials, producers deemed monoculture appropriate. So only one banana for US customers.



Australia, however, natively grows bananas. And Ozzies enjoy more variety. In the Cairns produce market we purchased three different types of bananas (in the picture from left to right): (1) Cavendish; (2) Sugar; and (3) Monkey.

1. Cavendish: The banana we all (were forced to) know and (potentially) love. The Cavendish is the longest of the three bananas. It has a fleshy consistency and a mild taste. You are probably familiar with the taste.

2. Sugar: The sugar banana held the most promise. The stand selling the sugar banana claimed that the sugar banana had a very sweet taste. We purchased a few green and unripe sugar bananas. I made the mistake of attempting to eat an unripe sugar banana. The unripe one was difficult to open and annoyingly sticky. The taste was even worse: it tasted like shoe leather. Discouraged but not defeated, I left the sugar banana to ripen. After the sugar banana ripened, I gave it shot. The sugar banana was easier and less sticky to open. The taste didn’t improve much; though the sugar banana was sweeter than the Cavendish.

3. Monkey: The monkey banana could have been purchased on novelty alone. Both the name and the size are comical. The monkey banana was easy to open. The taste surprised me. Out of all three, the monkey banana had a sweet and banana-like taste. I really enjoyed eating one.

Results: The trophy of Best Banana in the Great Banana Battle goes to the Monkey Banana. Runner-up goes to the Sugar Banana (only after ripening). Consolation prizes go to the Cavendish.

That's it for today. Sorry for the uneventful post. We basically drove all day through a lot of nothing. The trip measured about 730 km in total and lasted about 8 hours. I'd be lying if I said we enjoyed all that driving.

Locals had excited us to the prospect of spotting kangaroos along our so very long drive. But to our dismay we saw none.

The only noteworthy event was sampling crocodile and kangaroo meat. We stopped in Rockhampton to eat at the Stonegrille. The restaurant came recommended because it offers a sample of the local fauna. Plus you have the ability to cook the meat (on a stone grill, appropriately enough) to your liking.





The meats definitely had distinct tastes. The crocodile is the white-ish meat. Both Nicolle and I agreed that the crocodile meat looked similar to fish but tasted more like chicken. The kangaroo was the favorite. The kangaroo meat (upper left under the steam) had a tender, sinewy consistency to it. I thought it even tasted like it had a little cheese in it. The remaining meat (upper right) was beef. The beef tasted pretty good too.

Thankfully, for the next two days we will enjoy being chauffered around on Fraser Island (albeit in an airconditioned 4WD bus). Fraser Island should be beautiful, it's the largest sand island in the world. The island also claims some impressive fresh water lakes too. We hope the "death island" moniker (for including several ways to die by sharks, snakes, surf, dingoes, spiders, etc.) is just a myth. We'll let you know. We hope.

The Great Barrier Reef – January 11, 2010

Boy, we sure do know how to wipe ourselves out! Today, we had plans to visit The Great Barrier Reef via The Whitsunday Islands. Our tour bus was scheduled to pick us up in front of a local restaurant at 7:10am, so we were up by 6:15 to have breakfast, pack up and check out. We freaked a little bit when the reception office opened late – at 7:05am and we ran to catch the bus that was already picking people up. Luckily, the bus we needed was five minutes behind, so we had just enough time to make a quick phone call to reserve a tour for Fraser Island (Jan 13-14 adventure).

The day started out very similar to yesterday with white puffy clouds mixed in with rain clouds throughout the morning. When we boarded the boat – this time a catamaran – the crew gave several warnings to all on board that we would be experiencing very rough seas and to take preventive measures to avoid seasickness. We decided to take the Dramamine again knowing it would be a really long day if either of us got sick.

Our tour operators gave us a second breakfast of plain and raisin bread with jams and jellies, one of which was a product called “vegemite.” Apparently, people either love it or hate it. I don’t know if it is an acquired taste, but both Colin and I agree that its bitter, salty taste is gross! An hour and a half after breakfast, we were then served some morning snacks of pastries and muffins. I don’t know if the crew wanted everyone to fill our stomachs before hitting the rough surf, but for a solid hour to the reef it felt like we were on a roller coaster that twisted us side to side, up and down. Many people got sick, so we were glad to have taken the meds.

The approach to the reef was pretty amazing. You could certainly make out the various color schemes in the water.




To snorkel, we had to wear our stinger suits to protect ourselves from the killer jellyfish that inhabit these northeastern waters in the summer months. It didn’t feel that weird to wear the suits, but the photo shows how ridiculous we looked! It didn’t feel so bad with everyone else wearing the same.



We did get to snorkel for as long as we wanted, but the areas closest to the floating pontoon were very crowded. While we didn’t see anything extraordinary, it was an amazing experience to explore just a tiny fraction of the largest living structure on earth, which stretches 2300km! We were also able to see the reef in a submarine, via an underwater observatory, and see enormous 1200 lb. Groper fish from the deck.




The only part of the day that let us down was lunch. Not only was the food mediocre, the meat was cooked on an outdoor BBQ grill, which was washed down at the end of lunch with runoff going straight into the Groper fish’s pool of water. So much for ecotourism.

The ride back was similar to the ride out, except a little drier since the clouds cleared a bit. Colin and I were fine without meds on the way back, but many others were not so lucky. Our theory is that you have to keep your eyes open, remain outside and focus on the waves and the motion as you feel it – at least this works for us.




The actual amount of time spent exerting ourselves by snorkeling was very little, but the two days out on the water exhausted us. We arrived back at Airlie Beach at 6pm and drove an hour and a half south to a city called Mackay. This is our destination for a shower and bed for the night. Tomorrow we drive down the central coast of Queensland to Hervey Bay, just outside of Fraser Island. The drive should take about 8 hours and we have heard the first 4-5 hours are very boring, but might allow us to see some Kangaroos. We’ll let you know.

Whitsunday Island - January 10, 2010

As Colin mentioned in the last post, we were a bit frustrated with trying to book a tour at The Whitsunday Islands. We decided against going to Cape Tribulation and drove the 6 hours from Mission Beach to Airlie Beach yesterday to make sure we had enough time to go out onto the Islands and the Reef.

We awoke bright and early after a decent night’s sleep in a 10 person dorm room. Three of our roommates were Brazilian girls, there was also an Australian, a Bulgarian, and a few Irish. We didn’t really hang out with anyone because we were pretty tired from the drive and had to be up at 7am to decide on a tour.

Last night, we found out all the 2 and 3 day overnight cruises leaving today were sold out. So, we arrived at the tour booking office at 7am hoping to find a tour that would have a cancellation. Unfortunately, no one had cancellations, so we decided on a back up option of a day tour today and a day tour tomorrow, staying overnight at Airlie Beach. Though we were a little disappointed to not sleep out on the ocean, as Colin mentioned, we knew that any experience on the water here would be amazing. The hostel upgraded us to a private room and a bathroom for booking the tour with them, which was an added bonus.

By 7:45am, we had a ticket in hand, beach towels, sunscreen, bathing suits on and were making our way to the bus stop for a sailing excursion to the beautiful beach called “Whitehaven Beach” on the largest of the Whitsunday Islands – called Whitsunday Island. The weather forecast called for sporadic showers, and we experienced beautiful white puffy clouds followed by light rain showers in the first 20 minutes on the bus ride.



The day actually turned out to be amazing! We did have a few showers at the beginning and end of the sail (coming into and out of the harbor), but the bulk of the day gave us crystal clear blue skies. I think we actually got wetter with the sailboat hitting choppy waters than we did with any rain showers. The first hour of sailing was decent, but the second hour had us in some pretty serious swells. The sails were up, but the motor was on the whole way to the beach going against the wind and current. A few people on the boat got sick with all the rocking. Colin and I felt fine, but decided to take a Dramamine before coming back after a filling lunch on the beach.



The ocean waters were so blue and Whitehaven Beach lived up to its name with fine, white sand.



Because of the stingers (aka Jellyfish), the crew gave us all stinger suits to wear in the water. The suits are pretty much just lightweight protective wetsuits. I put mine on, but took them off on the beach because I decided not to go in the water, while Colin never put his on (and also never went in the water).



The crew advised everyone to wear them, but did add that no one has gotten stung in those waters before, but the chance existed. There were a few people in the water without suits, but the air temperature had a nice, cool breeze where we didn’t need to go in the water.




After about an hour or two on the beach and a filling lunch, we got back on the boat and had a wonderful sail back to Airlie Beach.



Going with the wind and current was so much better than heading out there in the morning. The captain had both sails up and we were “surfing” the waves. Colin and I even got to help unfurl the front sail! For a solid 45 minutes we were completely relying on the wind to move us with the motor completely off.




We arrived back at Airlie Beach around 5pm and desperate for a shower checked into our hostel room. The upgraded double is really nice – it’s a hotel style room with a balcony, full bathroom, and TV – things we have not experienced in awhile. After freshening up, we went out for dinner and decided on the backpacker special at the Italian Restaurant here. I had a roast beef with summer vegetables and mashed potatoes, while Colin had a vegetarian pasta with summer vegetables as well. The meal was satisfying, but neither of us would call it amazing.

We finished the night with another trip to McDonalds to use the internet and research our plans once we leave The Whitsundays. We also have another early morning planned for tomorrow as we plan to take a cruise boat out to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel!!