| The East Coast |
| Back to Airlie Beach! It's sort of my "home" in Australia, where I keep the van and a few boxes of my stuff in storage when I'm not around. The journey this year started here, but first I spent some time in the water and doing the PADI Divemaster course. This included a 3-day trip to the reef. Abel Point Marina is where most of the dive operators depart for the reef. When you arrive by car to Airlie Beach, this is your first view of the ocean, and I think it's a pretty inviting sight. Check out the dive trip below... |
| The new "lagoon" swimming facility has made Airlie Beach a much more attractive place to hang around, as swimming is otherwise not possible half the year due to jellyfish. It's been a bad year for stingers, with many people getting hit by the Irukanji jellyfish which is usually the size of a fingertip and therefore not easily seen, and there have been a few fatalities this year from the box jellyfish (the most poisonous creature on the planet). |
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| The "White House" is a pay-weekly communal place where a handfull of seasonal workers and transient types live. I've spent time there on a couple of occassions. Below is the view from the kitchen and balcony. |
| The other place I stay a lot in Airlie Beach is the Seabreeze Caravan Park. It is relatively cheap and is surrounded by native bushland, so you get the occassional kangaroo hopping through and daily wakeups from groups of kookaburras. |
| After the box jellyfish, the most toxic creature in Australia would be this guy - Captain Johnny Dazzle (but seriously, that's his name). We met him at the lagoon and were invited to a big party out in the countryside which included quality time in the jacuzzi. Don't think I want to share the water with Johnny though ;-) He's actually a Kiwi and I reckon he was born under some kind of happy star because nothing slows the guy down. |
| Finally leaving Airlie Beach, we went down to Eungella National Park to look for a platypuss. It's one of the very few places you can see them in the wild. We did see a few, but too far away to photograph well. But we did have a greeting from these two photogenic hounds on the back of a parked Landcruiser. |
| New Year 2002 took place at the beachside of Coolum, on the Sunshine Coast south of Noosa. It was stormy weather, with a spectacular thunder and lightening storm at night, which also made the surf a bit growly. |
| Why not ring in the new year with an Aussie-sized burger? The thing was huge! Can't remember where exactly, but it was one of those tiny roadside attractions with something "big" next to it. Allow me to explain... |
| BIG THINGS IN AUSTRALIA |
| All over Australia you will find huge models of well-known things such as fruit, animals, people, etc. The trend apparently began when an American business man in Coffs Harbour built a big banana out front of his banana plantation and it attracted a lot of new customers who were passing along on the highway. So now you just buy a load of chicken wire and plaster or fiberglass, whack up a giant something or other, set up a food takeaway and giftshop, and wait for the customers to roll in. There are actually people who will now go out of their way to track these big things down. Well me too actually. Below ar e a few samples... |
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| Before leaving Airlie Beach for the big trip around Australia, I spent a couple of days coming to terms with all the crap in my storage closet. Not fun when it's 30 degrees with 99% humidity! |
| And believe it or not, this is a platypus, swimming in the muddy waters of Broken River in the national park. People have been observing them here for years, which is why they are so much more easily approached here than anywhere else in the wild. |
| Near Airlie Beach is Cedar Creek Falls, with a waterfall and clear plunge pool, with turtles, eels, and various freshwater crustacians. It's a nice place to escape the touristy scene at the Airlie Beach lagoon. This happy-looking turtle seems to agree. |
| Please wait while the pictures download... |
| Happy New Year from Coolum!!! |
| Big Cow near Nambour |
| Big Pineapple near Nambour |
| The original Big Banana at Coffs Harbour |
| Big Crab near Seventeen Seventy |
| Big Gold Panner in Bathhurst |
| Big Prawn in Ballina |
| Big Bull in Wachope |
| Big Beer in Hervey Bay |
| Big Trout -- Please do not shake or climb on tail of fish: offenders will be prosecuted!!! |
| Big cow in Rockhampton |
| Big Ned Kelly in Maryborough |
| Another Big Ned Kelly in his unofficial home town of Glenrowan, Victoria, home of "Ned Kelly's Last Stand" |
| The authentic (?) Ettamogah Pub, along the highway north of Brisbane. I also went to the "Ettamogah Pub" in a few other places, including Pnom Penh in Cambodia. |
| A fake big Ayers Rock (Uluru) near Nelson Bay, with gift shops inside. |
| A huge sign near Kempsey in southern New South Wales. Slim is one of my great Australian heros. He's been making truly Australian music for over 50 years. Sadly he recently passed away in September 2003. Sail on mate... |
| Vic Hislop's Shark Show in Hervey Bay. We'll hear more about him later. |
| Atrocious view of Surfers Paradise, from the southern beach of Burleigh Heads |
| We passed through Byron Bay, where I have been *many* times, and have loved, but now is really over-run with wannabe-hippees (sadly) and came to lovely Lennox Heads, with only a few Australian surfies and fish-seekers. It is one of the best wild beaches of the region, and a great place for kite flying. |
| Seal Rocks is a fantastic place, way off the sealed road on the way down to Sydney, with really wild surf and a superb campground. Let's keep it that way. |
| Nelson Bay has some of the squeekiest white sand in the world and is, unfortunately, exported to many beaches as far as SE Asia. |
| Here are a few images of Sydney Harbour, as we approached during sunset on the fairy fron Manly Beach... |
| A big summer music festival was happening at the opera house when we arrived in Sydney, with music, big crowds, and especially good lighting. |
| Manly Beach is crowded on most weekends, but really is a great place to catch good waves and be a part of the Sydney scene. |
| The QVB (Queen Victoria Building) is the top place to spend too much money on everything in Sydney, so why do more than take pictures? |
| Sydney Aquarium |
| Inland from Sydney are the Blue Mountains, which for many years formed a seemingly vast barrier to the westward expansion of new Europeans. |
| The van has been so reliable for the past few years, but near the town of Cowra it had a major breakdown: water pump bearings seized and the fan smacked into the radiator. However, we were incredibly lucky to be rescued by the owner of Cowra Towing, Mr. Dave Young, who should be given the title "Crocodile Dave" as he is such a character and a warm-hearted generous guy too. He let us stay in his driveway and fix the van ourselves with his assistance. It took three days, and by the end we were almost like family, and he charged us next to nothing for his help. Amazing people you meet out there. |
| I had to include a picture of a magpie somewhere, as they are by far the most common bird in the country, found in all but the very driest and hottest areas in the outback. |
| Climbing up Mt. Kosciuszco in the Snowy Mountains. I was amused by the guy on the left who clearly had never experienced snow before (pretty easy to miss the stuff in such a warm country). He kept saying "oyyy me hands ah soooo cold, mate!" |
| Finally reached Melbourne, a very nice place for such a big city (3 million people). If I had to choose an Australian city to call home, this would probably be it. |
| A day at the beach on the ocean beach town of Torquay. Getting ready to head for Tasmania the next day... |