May 2008

Our home for 7 days!

On the plane ride over from Sydney to Cairns, we had the spontaneous idea (we are such adventurists) of renting a camper van for a few days to have a look around the outback and tropical bits of Queensland. This had the added advantage of not having to spend any time in Cairns (sorry Cairns, we're sure you're lovely, but we couldn't face another city). Our first stop was to "camp" at Innot Hot Springs. We had a very hot dip (the clues in the name) in the pools and a very pleasant night. The next day we were set to go fossicking. Unfortunately, it was 7 kms away to the nearest site to search for topaz, along an unsealed road. Being the conformists we are, we didn't want to chance the camper down an unmarked track, and couldn't be bothered to slog the equipment (water, lots of it, plus shovels and sieves) on our backs, in the heat of the day, so didn't bother. Instead we moved on to the Undarra lava tubes. These are massive underground tunnels which were formed 190,000 years ago, when Undarra volcano errupted. The lava followed the paths of the rivers and gullies. The surface of the lava flow hardened, due to the drop in temperature at the surface. This formed insulated tubes, in which the lava continued to flow in a liquid state until the lava eventually drained out. The tubes were found because over the years, hot gases and earthquakes blew holes in the tube ceilings, which caused a collapse and so created a way into the tubes. We took a half day tour and had an expert guide called Tim to show us around. We were lucky to be joined by only 2 other people (a nice couple from the Sunshine Coast) and so got lots of time to chat to Tim, and also were lucky to explore parts others people don't explore.

Turmite mounds. There is hundreds of them on the way to the lava tubes.

The Bruntons are put on special alert not to run over any amazing wildlife that Australia has to offer.

Undarra lava tubes.

Onward to Yungaburra, where were went in search of the elusive tree kangaroos. We spent 2 days looking for the blighters and the closest we got, was to see a stuffed one in the visitors centre; they had it taxidermied when it got run over (it was dead at the time).

Trying to spot tree kangaroos in this dense rainforest became futile for the Bruntons. Although several of the locals had seen them the day before.

We had more success when we went to spot the crocodiles on the banks of the Daintree river, with the "Bruce Belcher Tours". It must be a quiet time of year, because this time we found ourselves the only ones on the 1:30pm tour and had the big boat to ourselves. We got more of an adventure than we bargained for when Kerry the driver got us "stuck" for a few seconds on a sand bank. First his face was a picture, as he muttered "geez, please not today, not in the water today" and looked in need of a brown bag to breathe into, then Lisab's face was a picture (so say's Andyb) when she realised how panicked the driver was. Lisa had already planned an escape route onto the roof of the boat, and would refuse to come down until rescued by a helicopter. Thankfully, he managed to pull us off the sandbank as quickly as he got us stuck, though we wondered if we would have been so lucky if we had been a boat full of (well fed) tourists. We were quite glad to make it back on to dry land.

We were lucky though to spot Albert sunning himself on the banks of the Daintree river, a local called him a fattie but we think he was obese. The photo's don't do justice to how huge he is; we thought he didn't look capable of moving, though we were assured he could catch his prey VERY quickly - despite being an old man of 70 (sorry David!). We didn't fancy testing him to find out.

A close up of Alberts teeth. We were assured by our guide that the red you see on his teeth was in fact rust and not blood.

We also went in hunt of the amethstine python at Lake Eacham. Walking round the lake, which is surrounded by rain forrest, we saw all sorts of birds, including the (two a penny) brush turkey, and some amazing trees. A pair of English guys then told us that they had spotted a python sunning itself on a fallen tree, about 50 metres away. They were either kidding, or had scared it away, cause we didn't see it, and we would have; it reaches a size of about 6 metres, being the largest snake in Australia - not surprising given that it can down a kangaroo as a light lunch. Then, making our way back to the campsite; tired from a day of spotting everything we weren't looking for and spotting nothing we were, didn't we see an amethystine python?! It was certainly an adult, as it stretched almost to the other side of the road, and was at least 5 metres long (with a large girth). It was crossing a relatively small road, with 20km speed bumps all along it. Andyb was driving, and we stopped to watch and let it pass, putting on the hazard lights to warn others we had stopped. Something terrible then happened, as some stupid or callous person in a car ignored Andrew's warnings (hanging out of the window, flagging car down) and ran over the snake. It appeared dazed for a few seconds, and then sloped off to the bush where it had come from. Although it moved, we think that it probably died later. Unfortunately, road kill is an all too common site in both New Zealand and Australia. We were initally REALLY excited to see a python, but would obviously have far preferred not to see one and for it to still be alive.

We were very excited to be heading out to the Great Barrier Reef, and decided to go from Port Douglas. Having never visited the reef before, and doing no more research than going into the first information place and being sold the first tour, we don't know how "our" spot on Agincourt Reef compares to the others. Suffice to say that muchas fun was had by both Bruntons and we both never wanted to get out of the water when the horn sounded. We spared no expense and rented a digital camera for the day. In true style, Lisab was allowed it for 2 minutes to take a (very fetching) shot of Andyb underwater, but then a really big fish swam past and Andyb "suggested" she take a shot of it, but the photo came out blurred and the camera was promptly returned to it's rightful renter.

Typical view when one stuck his/her head under the water.

A Reef Shark that swam past us a couple of times, although deemed 'not dangerous' it could quite possibly give you a nasty nibble.

The Shark went that way! (though she's more concerned with whether her bum looked big in this....)

Given we are not marine biologists (and are too lazy to look them up on the internet), most photos will either say yellow fish or black&white fish, even after studying a wall chart on the boat we have failed to remember any of their names. These are little blue fish near some sort of coral.

A fish with a yellow fin.

A giant clam. Kenny would be impressed!

A spotty fish.

A thin yellow fish thats got a trumpet for a nose.

Andyb trying his best to look like Jacques Cousteau in his fetching lycra suit.

Some stripey fish.

A yellow fish with black&white stripes.

We think it's a Parrot fish or it could be some sort of wrasse with a yellowish friend.

Giant sea turtle.

Incidentally, we chose (yes, it was a conscious decision) to look like overgrown babies and wear the lycra suits, not because we have a new fettish (though Andyb seemed rather attached to his by the end of the day) but because there are box jelly fish lurking in the waters. To be fair, jelly fish season is over, BUT Lisab did spy an invisible jelly (it was virtually see through)in the water. She had no idea what type it was, but moved away from it quick smart, and was highly pleased with her hire.

For your chance to win a stunning free hair cut in one of Sydney's mid priced, below parr barber shops, just spot the diff-hair-ence between the right side of Andrew's head, and the left side, after a recent trip to the girl who forgot to listen in hair school.

Left side

Right side

To enter, simply study the 2 photo's to "spot the diffhairence" and send your answer in the form of a blog message, with the title "I wish I'd gone to Tony & Guys" by 5pm on the 22nd May 2008. Correct answers will be put into a hat and one (questionably) lucky winner will win a free do FROM THE SAME SALON frequented by Andyb! Terms and conditions apply, see below:

Terms & Conditions

1. The winner will receive one Aus$15 voucher, to be used ONLY at the salon where Andyb's hair was cut. This entitles the winner to receive a free "flat top". Alternatively the winner can part exchange the voucher for a "crew cut" (Aus$20) or upgrade further to the Andyb experience, a "scissor cut" (price Aus$25).
2. The competition promoter cannot guarantee the same hair stylist; in the event of another stylist, the promoter guarantees a cut of similar or worse quality.
3. In relation to point (2), the winner uses the voucher at his/her own risk. A dislaimer will need to be signed prior to receiving the voucher, waiving all promoter responsibility. Ultimate responsibilty for hair state, post-cut, lies with the competition winner.
4. The prize does not include transport costs to/from Sydney. The winner must find their own way to Sydney.
5. The competition is subject to Andyb being able to remove the hat (needed to select a winner) from his head by the 22nd May 2008 AND is subject to Andyb remembering the name of the salon in Sydney. Hence, promoters may relinquish the prize, and/or terminate the competition at any time, without prior or post notice to competition entrants.
6. The promoters reserve the right to use entrants' profiles for future promotional advertisements

We only managed to spend a few days (4 to be precise) in Sydney, and our time was only marred by our choice of accomodation - which included free tannoy announcements from 09:35am, to warn guests not to outstay their 10:00am check out time. They started off pleasant enough - in a soothing voice - "dear customers, today check out is 10:00am, if you are leaving today, please check out by then, if you wish to stay another night, please come to reception soon to pay the next night, thank you". Second message at 10:15am was rather curt, "for those who have not checked out, please make your way to reception now"; the third message was down right rude and quite scary "I know who you are who haven't checked out, report to reception immediately to explain EXACTLY why you have not bothered to check out on time and I will rip your head off" (we made the last bit up, but if it had been us who'd missed the sacred 10:00am deadline, we'd have shimmied down the drain pipe).

Again, in Sydney, we mainly watched the world go by, and no day passed without making our way through the botanical gardens which are fabulous. Really interesting trees, ferns and loads of bird life. The most amazing things in the gardens are the flying foxes, or fruit bats, which by day, hang from the trees, and although they are nocturnal, they are really loud in the daytime. They squabble for space with one another ("you've got more branch than me") and don't seem to settle until later on in the day. It's like their having some sort of all night rave. The park has been over run by them in the past - it acts as a really good food source. They have taken measures to control the numbers, but we still saw hundreds of them.

Flying Foxes

A lone Fruit Bat

A Sulphur Crested Cockatoo - these are squawky little bleeders too

A Rainbow Lorikeet - a rare moment when Lisab was allowed the camera

Sydney harbour

Sydney Opera House

Andrew also found out what must feel like to be stung by a box jelly fish when we went to Manley beach. This wasn't due to actually being silly enough to go into the sea, but ordering 2 lovely looking take away vegetable pasties that we'd decided to eat for tea. He suggested the pain of forking out $10 each for a pasty could be likened to that of a sting, and almost caused the same deadly reaction.

"Marvellous Melbourne" was the phrase used by journalist George Augustus Sala to describe this city when he passed through in 1885, and in our opinion, could be used to describe Melbourne today. Although it is much bigger, it had a Manchester feel to it; friendly and vibrant. One of the first things we did, was to go to the reputedly friendly tourist information centre. We would highly recommend a stop here first; they gave us information on everything we needed (and more), and appeared very efficient, despite being really busy. We were half tempted to hand over our travel plans for the next 5 months to the woman behind the counter, who could have easily sorted them before she knocked off at one. We passed a good week, idling through the streets, parks, and suburbs of Melbourne and rather enjoyed our little selves.

The botantical gardens were very pleasant, even at Autumn time. We were amused to find that the oldest (claimed) house in Australia is situated in the (Fitzroy) gardens. Unfortunately, in order to qualify, it had to be shipped all the way from Yorkshire in England, brick by brick! The house was the former residence of Captain James Cook's parents (dating from 1755 and brought to Oz in 1934 to celebrate Victoria's centenery), and is a typically sweet yorkshire cottage but looks a bit odd to be plonked down in it's "new" Australian surroundings.

Captain Cook's parents house.

No trip to Melbourne is complete without a visit to an Aussie Rules game (so says our friend Ryan who arranged for his dad to get us tickets AND accompany us to the match). We met Glenn (Ryan's dad) to watch Essendon (Ryan's team and Melbourne side) unfortunately get thrashed by Port Adelaide (94-158). It's a really fast game to watch, and very physical. We didn't really have a clue about the rules, and would suggest the accompaniment of a Glenn to set you straight; without his explanations, we would have been lost. Lisa also wishes to thank him for providing seats so close to the action that she couldn't help but notice the size of the thighs on the young players. Aussies appear to be very good at sports, but also excel in sledging. We witnessed a Port Adelaide fan wind up an Essendon fan and concluded that the Port Adelaide fan would have been going home in a St. John's ambulance, had he tried similar antics in England. Incidentally, all the fans (home and away) sit together at matches, relatively good naturedly, which makes a refreshing change.

Keeping up the sporting theme (you can't get away from it in Melbourne!) we took a guided tour around the MCG. A very nice older chap in a very smart stripey blazer took us round. The tour included a behind the scenes sneek into the changing rooms (they smelt) and the post match interview rooms etc, as well as a walk near the sacred turf. Currently the pitch is set out for the Aussie Rules season, and the square has been dug up and moved until cricket season starts again. Later we looked around the sports museum, which has a brilliant cricket section, full of tales of the Ashes, etc. Even Lisab wasn't bored (although she was a bit irked that Andyb didn't let her win on the interactive cycle race, OR the goal shots game, OR the cricket wicket game - competitive husband was on great form).

MCG (well half of it)

After perusing the city for a few days, we decided to take a trip out into the Yarra Valley, to have a look at some wildlife, at the Healsville Sanctuary. We got ourselves a public transport pass and had a lovely ride out on the train, and then the bus. They don't half pack 'em in on the trams at [c]rush hour though, on our way home. The sanctuary contains a hospital, and we were lucky (though the bird wasn't) to see a Kookaburra being operated on; it had been shot in the wing and they were mending it (in medical terms). We also got to feed the red kangaroos from Tasmania and listened to a talk on the Koalas. Some of the animals have arrived at the park because they are injured and no longer able to survive in the wild. We were suitably impressed (as usual) by the exoticism of the animals and birds on display. Lisab also got to see her favourite animal in the world, the Platypus. Although they are nocturnal, they have this fabulous really huge glass panelled tank which displays the little platypus in their environment. 2 babies were born in February 2008 and we think it may have been these that we saw in the tanks, their parents were having a (well earned) sleep in their burrows.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo and it's Joey

Koala

The Bruntons have taken to saying "stone the crows, you great galah" at every opportunity, in keeping with Aussie speech, and therefore feel that we are integrating well into the Aussie culture.