Pete Goes Down Under!

Well, the second cyclone didn't hit, turned and went south east parallel to the Australian coast, that means its time for....SAILING!

Tomorrow I'll be heading out on the Whitsunday Islands for a few days, staying on one of the islands at night. Should be good, the weather has been cooperating lately (a few sunny days in a row, cloudy today but should clear) so the sailing should be good times. In the meantime, I snapped a few shots of Airlie Beach (which, ironically, doesn't even really have a beach!). A little cloudy, but still a nice little town. There have been so many little towns in this country...

Spreading my artistic palette (ooooh fancy) with another close up vegetation shot after some rain

The "beach" of Airlie Beach...just as well, swimming in the ocean here isn't really encouraged, looks cold and there are the deadly stingers out there....box jellyfish.

Finally, some blue sky today over the harbour!

The lagoon; basically a large manmade outside swimming pool. Quite nice when the sun is shining.

Posted by Pete at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

WELL! What a time I've been having over here. I know that australia is a tropical place and storms do happen, but why do they happen right when I'm trying to relax!? I had been in Mission Beach for one night. The morning after I was making breakfast with some friends when one of the staff members approached and asked us if we were checking out. Confused, we said "no, we're here for a few more days." They said "sorry mate, you're gettin out, a cyclone is moving in." Frankly, we weren't very impressed. To be honest, we talked about staying and riding it out. Then we were told it was a level 4 cyclone and getting bigger. 35 minutes later, we were on busses and heading either north or south. I came south, to the town of Townsville. Spent one night there waiting for the cyclone to be over, and the next day trying to figure out what to do. Fortunately, my Whitsunday Islands sailing was booked for Wednesday, so it was down to Airlie Beach. Unfortunately, a new cyclone formed in the wake of the first one, so my sailing cancelled. Sigh. So now I'm here for a week or so until I can get out there. Of course, if this cyclone gets bigger I'm just giving up and going further south. I'll have to make my way back up here somehow. Lousy cyclones....

I've also got some pictures up that I took in Mission Beach before I had to get out of there:

These are shots of the pool...cause that was more or less all I got to do!

This is the view from the pool; right into the forest!

And then some shots of the hostel...hope its still standing!

Posted by Pete at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And you better not forget it!

My flight into Cairns was more or less uneventful, got here ok and was taken to my hostel. But it FINALLY feels like I'm not missing something. The tropics are warm and...well...tropical. Cairns itself isn't that big of a city, or at least it doesn't feel like it is. Seems to cater to mostly travellers and backpackers, so there are a TON of souvenier shops and travel agents, every so often a hostel will pop up. At any rate, this morning I went and explored the city (at one point somehow ending up in the industrial part of the city) and took some pictures. So tomorrow I'm off to Mission Beach, heard there are some REALLY interesting hostels down there. I'll be there for a few days, just relaxing. Cause my life has been SO stressful recently...

Cheers!

Posted by Pete at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think it's pretty self explanatory...it's a road along the ocean, and it's great! It does however, go into rural Australia, which means that as soon as you leave your vehicle you get the flies...just your basic flies, but still annoying all the same. They don't bite or sting, just crawl on you and drive you nuts!

Fly problems aside, the history behind it is as follows: After the First World War, the returning servicemen needed jobs and something to do. It was decided that a road would be built from Melbourne to Adelaide along the ocean. Whenever the funding and enough men were around, it was worked on. I tried to make the journey myself by taking trains and busses, but unfortunately if you don't have a car you more or less get stranded. So, back to Melbourne where I took a day trip along the road to see the sights. Behold!

This is a really common sight along the coast, the water gradually wears away at the rock face, creating these little plynths standing along the edge.

Wild koalas! They looked more or less the same as in the sanctuary in Sydney, just kind of hanging out and eating. Kind of sounds like my life, actually...

These birds kind of appeared when we stopped for lunch and a local had some seed to feed them with! They were a type of parrot...starts with an r...Roselle, I believe. Cool little birds, sharp little claws.

These next few are taken in a temperate rain forest, something we have a few of back home I believe. What was odd was the lack of evergreens! Bizarre...

The Australian coast is really quite diverse...in 10 minutes you go from the ocean to the rainforest to these wide plains and valleys.

And, finally, we have the 12 Apostles. Actually, there's only 8 of them (there were 9 but one of them fell over last year, you can still see the rubble). The real question is, was there ever actually 12...

This is a perfect shot of how the 12 Apostles were formed. Gradually, the bridge will wear down and collapse, leaving two standing stone towers. Ta da!

Loch Ard Gorge, where a captain tried to make the fastest journey from England to Melbourne. They were so excited upon arriving that the last night they got drunk and crashed the ship...only 2 survivors out of 55.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving Melbourne, flying up to Cairns to check out the tropics, cheers mates!

Posted by Pete at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, one part of it anyway.

About time for a big update...

I left Melbourne at some point about 4 days ago. Left on my own, my friend Sue needs to stay in Melbourne for a bit to relax and recover, she's spent the last 4 months straight travelling. So off I went, solo! I didn't really have any plans, just wanted to go down the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide. So I went off, taking a train and then a bus (about a 3 1/2 hour trip) until I reached a spot called Apollo Bay. A really small town, this place made Maple Ridge look like a full city. The first thing I noticed was that it was (hence the toque) COLD! I mean, it wasn't cold, but I had to put on some jeans, shoes, and a long sleeved shirt. Crikey. I more or less just spent my few days there relaxing, playing guitar, reading, walking along the beach and hanging out with the guests at the hostel. The hostel itself was really cool, kind of 50's retro and very comfortable. And it had a great view of the beach. Didn't do any swimming, mainly because it was fairly cold and the current was really strong, I wasn't ready to leave the country just yet.

Anyway, the first thing I checked out when I got there was how I would keep going. This, however, turned out to be a problem. The bus that dropped me off in Apollo Bay only goes to Port Campbell, my next port of call (or past Apollo Bay, for that matter) on a friday. So if I kept going, I had to stay in Port Campbell for a week, with no garauntee of being able to go all the way to Adelaide. So what did I do? Came back to Melbourne! Hooray! So now I'm debating whether to stay in the city and work, or head to Adelaide and try to find work there in the city or fruitpicking. But, until next time, cheers folks and enjoy the pictures!

By the way, hope you guys at home enjoyed the snow!
(and I added some pictures to the entry before this one, check them out!)

It took a while to reach the beach, kinda felt like being in the desert...

Beach shots:

The hostel I was staying at:

My great room: (6 share for $20 a night that was never filled, best deal yet!)

The lounge outside the room

The kitchen (small, but worked like a dream)

The view outside the lounge connected to the kitchen. Fantastic)

Posted by Pete at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm still here. Mainly cause Sue and myself have had a hard time getting together, mainly due to lack of communications and whatnot, especially email being our only contact method. But soon, whether she comes or not, I will hit the road and continue on my way.

What has happened so far...well, being in Melbourne I've spent a lot of my time walking. Walked around the city, walked through the Market (which is really cool, the biggest open air market in the southern hemisphere I believe), generally just walking. Can't wait to keep going and see the great ocean road though.

Cheers!

Some views of Melbourne

The First National Mint

Aaaand Melbourne at night

Posted by Pete at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)