Byron Bay & Port Macquarie

I checked into the Cape Byron YHA hostel. It was lovely... just filled with partyers. *Sigh* Good thing I sleep with earplugs. I spent a few hours that evening chatting with some of the drunk people. And once they were ready to go to the bar, I ducked into my room and got ready for bed. Had 2 other Canadians in my room, both from Alberta. I got put in a boys dorm, due to the high volume of people over the upcoming holidays. But, everyone was really nice, and I had the cleanest room I've had so far, I think. Given that there were 5 of us. It was comfortable. And none of the boys minded :)

After breakfast, I walked the 3.7 km loop to see the lighthouse. I took the path through the forest to the lighthouse and the beach on the way back. I could see quite a bit of marine life down below once at the light house. Saw 2 sharks, a turtle and an eagle ray. The water was so clear, it was magic.

Then, I went to the most easterly point (of Australia) and continued down to the beach. There were some rich/celebrity beach houses along the first strip. Saw many surfers and body boarders all along the coast. Byron Bay's a great place to do water sports. Good surf. Also saw a pod of 10 dolphins playing in the waves as well. So fun to watch.

When I got back to my hostel, Angela walked around the corner! I was surprised she arrived so quickly. Guess Surfer's Paradise wasn't super exciting.

We spent the rest of the day checking out all the hippie shops, had dinner together and made plans to meet up the next morning.

My hostel had free usage of body boards, so I grabbed one for our day at the beach together. I tell you, body boarding isn't as easy as you think! I think surfing's easier! Even just to get out to the surf was a challenge. Very strong current. It was a lot of fun though, great way to spend the day. Angela loves to read too, so when we needed a break, we'd lie out on the towels, eat our picnic lunch and read. We went to 3 different sections along the beach. There was a boat wreck at one site, but the sand was all stirred up from the waves so there wasn't very good visibility. So much for that. Ah well, nevermind.

We had pizza for dinner down on the beach. Hmm, yumm. Was such a nice evening, lots of stars. Then, we called it a day. I went back home, booked my bus for the next day and went to bed.

My bus didn't leave until 9 pm, and Angela hadn't been to the lighthouse yet, so that's what we did. We checked our emails at a free internet place first, and she had one from her ex-fiance. It was a good email, so that lifted her spirits up and we enjoyed a really nice walk, discussing boys along the way as well. Lol, great girl talk!

This time, we saw a Swamp Wallaby along the trail. He didn't seem to mind us at all and just ate away. Lots of Water Dragons as well. They sure move fast.

After the walk, we hung out at her hostel until it was time for me to catch my bus. She helped me carry my luggage. Sure going to miss her. She was heading to New Zealand soon and invited me to visit her at home in Portland, Oregon sometime. She said "you'll love Oregon, has the ocean, warmer weather and national parks for hiking." So, I agreed that we must make it happen at some point and to keep in touch. We said our goodbyes and I got on the overnight bus.

The bus was ok this time. Fully packed, but I could sleep. I had to get off the bus at Coff's Harbour at 1 am and catch the next bus at 3 am to get to Port Macquarie. You meet some interesting people at those hours of the day. There were 2 English girls waiting at the bus stop as well. And thank goodness for that. Made me feel more at ease with our nightly visitors. Most of the men stopping by were on their way home from the pub or bar and were very intoxicated, but harmless. Just didn't want the party to end so they'd sit a while and chat before stumbling off home. Funny. Only one guy was a bit scary, looking for fight, but no other male around to let the energy out on. So after some incoherent rants and lots of profanity flying, he finally walked off. Whew, what a weirdo. There's all kinds...

My bus didn't come soon enough, and I had 3 hours left on board till I was at my stop. My hostel didn't open till 8:30 am so I slept on the couch on the porch of Port Macquarie Backpackers till it opened. The owner woke me up with a cherry hello, and looked like 2 other German guys followed my lead, as they were snoozing on the chairs. It was actually, really comfortable. Nice outdoor furniture.

After checking in and chatting a bit with the 2 boys, I hopped into bed for a much needed nap. I made sure to get up around 1:30 pm so I could walk to the Koala Hospital at the other end of town to do the 3 pm tour. With it being Christmas Eve, they would be closed the next 2 days so I didn't want to miss it.

The tour did a walk around the outside of the hospital. They only had 1 koala inside the clinic at the time and he was recovering from surgery so it was best to keep things quiet for him. All the others were outside in the yard enclosures anyway. Each koala had a story with them, on how they came to be at the clinic. Two were amputees, had broken their hind leg either falling out of a tree or hit by a car, so it had to be removed. We watched some get syringe feedings (which they just love! They climb down the trees so they get the milk formula.) Some were also getting antibiotics for "wet bottom" which is a bacterial infection on their bum. Once they're rehabilitated, they get released back into colonies in the wild. The hospital can get between 200 to 300 koalas each year. Quiet a lot! Only a few are kept at the hospital site as they can't fend for themselves or climb as well anymore. That's nice to see. They all seemed happy in their trees. There was even a wild koala that came around to socialize :)

That was my event for the day really. Evening wasn't too special, just sat in the lounge and watched a movie with a bunch of German backpackers.

For Christmas day, I went on a nice long walk. I did a loop walk in the Kooloonbung Creek Nature Reserve. Pretty much, right at the beginning, there were Little Red Flying Foxes. Had to be careful as I walked, as the path was slippery with excrement and they were all above me. I made it through luckily, without any blessings from above, lol.

There was a couple sections with a nice boardwalk as it followed the creek and mangroves. Saw some crabs and lizards. There is a section were the town put in a Eucalyptus plantation and you can see wild koalas there. I spotted one, and guess what?! Yup, he was sleeping! Lol. Quite a few kookaburra around as well. Can hear them the whole way along the track.

Once I crossed the bridge to the other side, it was more of a wetland, so many dragonflies were fluttering around, begging to have photos of them. So I obliged, and then, I heard a "thump" and a snake appeared on the boardwalk! He moved so fast that all I really saw was a slithering brown body move into the grass. Couldn't get a picture. Don't really know where he came from, the trees maybe??

As I was heading back to drier terrain, lots of little spiders where around. It was really neat how they'd have their web, and pull a leaf into the web and use it as shelter/camouflage. Pretty smart. I witnessed the death of a little blue dragonfly :( But, circle of life, all creatures have to eat. The spider made fast work of its meal! Cool to watch them!

I roamed into town afterwards to see the shops and walked along the ocean path back to the main road to my hostel. After pasta dinner, did some emails and headed to bed.

I got up early to call home to wish a happy xmas and then, after a little more sleep, got a picnic lunch together for a 6 km walk to the light house. I walked along 7 beaches to get there: Town, Oxley, Rocky, Flynns, Nobby's, Shelley and Miners beach. It was a good walk. I ate at the light house, enjoyed the view, and then headed back the 6 km.

The 2 body boarding/surfing beaches were Town and Flynns beach. But even there, you have to be careful. Strong rips and rocks all over the place. I could easily see how dangerous it could be here. A huge swell could wipe you out, you'd be somersaulted underwater and the current throw you into a rock where you'd smash your head. Ouch! Caution for sure. However, despite the danger, Port Macquarie is the body boarding capital in Australia, due to the great waves, always present.

Also found that Nobby's beach is dog friendly (you don't see that much along the east coast) and Miners was a nudest beach. Guess who decided to have a rest, topless on that beach?! Yup, I did it! I managed not to be too self conscious and go with the flow. It was exhilarating!

Found quiet a few Bluebottle jellyfish on the beaches on the way back. Left ashore from the outgoing tide. Wouldn't want to touch those. They aren't deadly, but give a nasty pain throbbing sting that lasts a long time. I met 1 guy that got stung in Byron Bay, and he said it was excruciating! He was told to pour boiling water over the stinging area to kill the protein from the tentacles. So, once the water was too hot to touch, he went in the swimming pool, dumped the water on himself, then plunged into the pool to cool the burn. He said it was instant relief. I couldn't imagine! But, I suppose being in that much pain, you'd do almost anything to get it to stop.

Leftover pasta for dinner, and an early night. I was tuckered out from all that fresh air!

Today, I had a slower start to my day and wanted to practice my surfing or try body boarding again, but when I got to Town beach, it was really stormy. The waves were really big, and even standing in the water up to your mid calves was an effort. The rip just was too strong. So, not safe for a beginner like me. That's alright, I'll have other opportunities. So, I read a bit till the rain came. And boy did it come. Like up in tropical Queensland!

I'm spending the rest of the day inside the hostel, reading and using the computer. I have some episodes of "How I met your Mother" that crack me up, so I'll watch 2 of those. My bus leaves at 6 am tomorrow morning to Sydney, where I'll hop on the train to the Blue Mountains. I'm going to camp in Blackheath. It will be a nice change form the hostels!

Rainbow Beach & Brisbane

What a long bus ride! 25 Hours is just too much! I managed to sleep a little bit, but was really tired. My hostel, Pippies Beach house, was right across the bus stop so at least I didn't have far to go. When I got there, my room wasn't ready yet, so I stored my belongings and roamed town. It was about 2 blocks long. So, needless to say, that didn't take long. I pulled out my book and read a bit instead. I had to check 3 times, and 2 hours later, I could finally take my much needed nap.
The hostel itself was nice, clean and spacious, but the service was absolutely horrendous. They make you feel like your a burden to talk to them. Wouldn't recommend them.
I woke up for dinner, (hmm, more instant noodles) and watched 2 episodes of "The Inbetweeners" that some people were watching in the lounge. A popular English favorite. Not quite for me, but at least I gave it a shot.
Then, I chatted with a nice Holland girl in my dorm before going to bed.
The next morning, I went out to the beach for a nice walk. After about 6 km, you get to see all the different coloured hues of the sands in the cliff side. So beautiful. Supposed to be 72 different colours... I didn't actually count. The rainbow coloured sand cliffs had taken a beating as a cyclone a couple years ago tore down some trees and disturbed the patterns a bit. But, it was still wonderful! I ended up meeting a nice local on the way there and back. We made the walk faster by talking together. We had to keep an ear out for vehicles driving by us on the beach. We even found the remains of a jeep in the sand... mostly buried. Apparently, the beach is littered with them, all beneath the sand. The beach is only accessible when the tide's out, and it comes in quickly. So, there's been a few trapped, unable to get out in time. Lol, not very good planning. Amazing how often that happens.
I popped into one of the other hostels to book my bus for the next day to Brisbane and went home to make dinner, watch a movie on my laptop and head to bed.
My bus left in the morning, it was only a 6 hr ride. Nice change. I checked into the "Somewhere to Stay" hostel. It was refreshing to have such nice people working there. It was a little out of town, so it was nice and quiet. Nice hostel there, reminded me of Chili's in Darwin because of all the longer term people staying there. There was a complementary shuttle every hour in and out of town.
I walked to the grocery store to get some spinach/cheese ravioli with pesto sauce and sausage for dinner. I figured, it was enough for 2 nights. Good to plan ahead :) Then, I occupied the rest of the evening chatting with my Japanese roommate.
I spent the next day exploring. I walked from my hostel, down Boundary st where lots of funky shops and eateries were, to the South Bank Parklands (city beach and markets) were I then crossed The Goodwill Bridge to the Botanic Gardens. There were some really cool fig trees and even a kookaburra in them. They sound so neat, like laughter. Many lizards as well, trying to warm up in the sunshine. Then I walked to Victoria Bridge, along the river pathway and checked out the State Library. They had free internet! Yay! 7 pm is my last shuttle, so I caught that back home. Once I got there, I met my other new roomie, Angela from USA. Portland, Oregon just like my dive buddy Teal.
She was having some relationship turmoil so we spent the evening talking about it. Great bonding times!
The next morning, she was leaving to Surfer's Paradise, so we planned to cross paths again in a couple days in Byron Bay, so we exchanged numbers and email.
I headed to the Lone Pine Sanctuary for the next day. It was easy to get there by city bus. It's the world's first (established in 1927) and largest koala sanctuary, around 130 of them there. They have them grouped in different sections. For examples, the females have an enclosure, same with breeding males, retired males, the juveniles and the mother and her joey koalas. Really neat.
So many native animals there. 3 of the fyling fox species, dingos, wombats, all kinds of reptiles and birds, kangaroos, emu, farm animals, tasmanian devils and a platypus. They even take some of the animals out of there exhibits! They put a leash and harness on them and walk them around the sanctuary for daily exercise. The wombats were so cute!
They had daily talks and activities (like feeding and sheep shearing) every half hour so I watched the birds of prey and koala presentation. I learned that Koalas sleep so much because the Eucalyptus leaves don't give very much energy and they have a slow metabolism. They have a highly developed liver as well to eliminate the toxins (terpene) in the plant. I really liked their feet, they have extra thumbs and their hind toes are separated in pairs. More efficient climbing. They're marsupials, not bears, and the joey lives in a pouch till 6 months when they then climb onto mom's back. They have a patchy white furred bottom so that they camouflage well up in the tree when they are sleeping and it is also unique to each koala. It can help identify them.
Once I got back to the city, I checked out all the fashion shops in Queen st Mall. They have some nice clothes, but... how would I carry anything more?
Today, I'm spending the day in the library till I catch my bus at 4 pm to Byron Bay.

Cairns - Mike Ball Dive Expedition

My flight left at 1 pm from Alice Springs to Ayer's Rock airport, where I changed flight to Cairns. I sat beside a guy named Teal from Oregon, USA. We chatted the whole way and turns out, he's planning on doing some diving as well. When we got to the arrival terminal in Cairns, I started chatted to a man named Adrian from Tasmania while waiting for our luggage. We all got a cab into town together and stayed at the same hostel, Cairns Central YHA. We all got to stay in the same room together as well. The hostel was really nice, very clean and spacious. Nice pool as well.

We all went out to dinner and then went back to our dorm to tell stories, laugh and sleep.

In the morning, we went out for breakfast at the Lillypad, which came highly recommended. Food was alright, I had french toast. But the maple syrup isn't as good as home.

From there, we went to the shopping centre to cool down and I bought 2 books from a book sale ($5 each, really cheap here!) and the boys got coffee. Then, we went to a dive shop, Pro Dive, to ask about outer reef or northern reef dive trips. She gave us a bunch of brochures and some recommendations. 3 companies went up to Cod Hole (which is on my wish list) and one even had a sale on as it was leaving the next day so had standby prices. $600 off! She said Mike Ball Dive Expedition was amazing and who everyone at her shop tries to volunteer with on their days off. A great company, but also has permits to go to certain areas on the reefs that no other company can go. So, with all our brochures, we headed down to the lagoon for planning and swimming. After hours of reading and indecision, both Teal and I decided on the 4 night liveaboard coral sea dive with Mike Ball Dive Expedition. It was well out of my budget, but a dive of a lifetime. It went to the best dive spots in all of the Great Barrier Reef. Plus, it was the cheapest I'd ever get it! Adrian doesn't dive, so he booked a snorkel trip with Silverswift (the company I went with the first time) and planned his Cape Tribulation and Kuranda trip, with a few suggestions from me :)

We went off to the shops to book our trips and then the boys got take out for dinner. I went to rent an underwater camera at Wetrez and then cooked some instant noodles for dinner. Hmmmm, backpacker food. They also got a bottle of vodka so we could celebrate. With 3 glasses each, it was all gone. We swam in the pool at the hostel, listened to music then retired to our dorm where Teal passed out and Adrian showed me his photos. He's a photographer. Had some great stuff!

Adrian said goodbye in the morning, as he set off for snorkeling and Teal and I repacked our bags so we only took what we needed for our trip. We checked out and put our bags in storage at Pro Dive since that's where we booked our trip and I rented my dive gear from them. Then we walked to the Mike Ball shop to check in, fill out paperwork and give them our luggage. We were to meet up at 4:30 pm for dinner and a "met the group" social so Teal and I spent the afternoon walking around town.

The humidity and heat really started itching my rash, so I tried to stay in the shade. I hoped that the salt water would dry it out on the trip.

We met up for the social, and from there went to our boat "spoilsport." We all went straight to our rooms to ensure our luggage was all there then went upstairs to the lounge for a briefing and introductory. Tea, coffee and biscuits were available all the time in the lounge. That was nice.

As our boat headed out for the long trip north of the coast, we spent the evening getting to know one another and Lawrence, the staff photographer, did a free workshop on underwater photography so we had an idea of what we were doing with our camera. I learned upward angles are best, always get close to your subject rather that zooming in and either use a red filter or white balance for colour or the flash with a diffuser. Never to use flash and red filter! My camera had a red filter, so I was set!

We all had an early night since we had a 6 am start.

Our coordinator, Kerin, walked up and down the hallways yelling, "Good Morning! Wakey Wakey!" Then the hand held bell would ring to let us now breakfast was served. We had a traditional breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, tomatoes, mushrooms and hashbrowns. After eating, we got our daily plan of dives and the timeline. We'd get a brief of the dive site on the dive deck before each dive so we knew where we were going, what the conditions were like, any hazards in the area, any hot spots for neat marine life and the layout.

Our first dive was at Challenger Bay (GBR #10) off Lizard Island near Cod Hole. Teal was my diving buddy for the trip. We had the option of either going on our own, or follow a dive master as there was one going in the water for every trip. Except, for our first dive. Everyone was with a dive master so they could go over a few basics to make sure your comfortable. For example, sharing air if your buddy runs out, buoyancy control (so not to damage any coral, they take this quite seriously, which is very good) or airing out your mask in case water gets in it.

I decided to forgo the 5mm wetsuit, seeing how the water temperature is 29 C and just wore a stingers suit. And I'm glad I did. There was a bit of a currant and so many stingers in the water! Lots of small baby jellyfish that you could see on the decent, but tons of long tentacles floating around in the water. And yes, they still sting even when not connected to a jellyfish. They really are the zombies of the sea. What else do you know that can still hurt you when it's dead or just a floating body part?!

Luckily, the stinging would last about 80 secs then disappear. No deadly jellyfish here. Whew! I could even feel them through my suit, but not as bad as on my bare skin. Once at the bottom, we had a White Tip Reef Shark (WTRS) swimming nearby. As I watched him, I spotted a lionfish on a small coral bed. I was taking pictures when the coral changed colour to my right. As I looked closer, it turned out to be an octopus! So cool! And apparently rare to see. A cod kept circling the coral and scaring it back into the hole, but each time it left, it would try to come out. Really neat to see it blend in to camouflage.

We set out to our next sight, Cod Hole. I was really excited about this one. Supposed to be massive cod here. And was there ever! The potato cod where huge! Half the size of me, from my pointed toes to my waist, roughly. Super cool. They eat other fish and have no trouble telling a reef shark to buzz off. So neat! The visibility here was great and I got some really neat photos of an anemone fish and parrotfish. Pretty much on every dive, we saw all kinds of pufferfish, danselfish, angelfish, parrotfish, butterflyfish and anemone fish.

We had lunch and a small break before we were at our next site, the Snake Pit. It was a seafood lunch with prawns, fish, oysters and some other crustacean, but luckily, buns, fruit and salad. So light lunch for me!

Again, this was like the first dive, with lots of stingers, a slight to moderate currant and poor visibility. We did see a couple Olive Green sea snakes (yes, very poisonous, but extremely rare to get bit by one. They're very docile) and shrimp. Our night dive was at this location as well. But seeing how the visibility was poor (and stingers!), I thought since this would be my first night dive, I'll skip it and wait for tomorrow's where there's supposed to be better conditions. I haven't done a multi-dive trip before and didn't want to tucker myself out to quickly. So 3 dives my first day was good. I enjoyed the orange sunset instead.

We had dinner at 8:30 pm of salad, chicken, vegetables, rice, beef and fresh buns followed by tiramisu for dessert. The food was amazing! Our cook, Kari was great! She fed us really well!

After our excitement of our first day, we headed to our beds for a good nights sleep, while captain Patrick drove us to Osprey Reef for the remainder of our dives.

Another wake up call and a small breakfast of fruit, cereal and yogurt. Our pre-dive breaky. Our first dive was at Fairy Groth. I saw my first Grey shark here. More Giant clams and the usual fish. The visibility was great all around Osprey Reef. It was a great location.

We had second breakfast of the traditional sort then dove Admiralty Anchor, twice. More WTRS, clams, and tropical fish. The corals on this trip where fanominal! So colourful and large. A lot of the places had drop offs where you go along the wall and see all kinds of fans and corals (and sharks). Also neat tunnels and trenches to go through.

Next, we had lunch with variety of deli meats, cheeses and olives, buns, fruit and salad.

After digestion, under the water again at North Horn for our shark feed! We all descended around a coral wall where there was ledge we could sit on. It felt like a concert. We sat in a semi circle with an outcrop of a flat coral bed where they has a metal garbage can with a lid on it. A buoy was tied to the lid so that when the rope tie was released, the lid would float up along with a bunch of tuna heads on a line. The can was on a line as well so Kerin could swim with it a bring it closer to us, which of course, gets the sharks closer.

Once we were all settled, you could see the sharks coming in. There were Silver Tips, Greys, WTRS and even Potato Cod. Hoping a hammerhead would come, but no such luck. Not sure how many sharks there were, but around 20. It was really cool! They'd swim right up to us. If you reached out, you could touch one! Of course, we kept our hands to ourselves. It was funny seeing the Potato Cod get in there with not a care in the world. They just pushed the sharks out of the way to get a morsel of food.

The suckerfish attached to the sharks would sneak in bites as well. One White Tip somehow got his head under the lid before it opened to try to get at the fish. Looked like he got stuck with all that thrashing, so Kerin just grabbed his tail and yanked him out and shook his finger at him. So funny!

Then they released the lid at they all went crazy! A huge feeding frenzy! They moved so fast and grabbed the head, whipping, turning and spinning around tearing it off the line. Wow! Glad I wasn't a tuna head right then! Lol.

Once all the food was gone, they hung around for a few minutes then started to swim away. We were allowed to swim freely and find any teeth that they may have lost as souvenirs.

We had a little break and went back to Admirals Anchor for our night dive. We all got glow sticks on tour tanks to identify our buddy and a flashlight. We weren't to shine the light on sleeping fish as it would scare them and they'd leave the safety of their bed to become easy picking for predators. There were green eyes everywhere as the reef shrimp, reef lobster and crabs came out. We even saw a moray eel. Many Bumphead Parrotfish (yes, they're big with big foreheads) were in the same spot resting. The parrotfish have a mucous seal around their mouth when they sleep. Fascinating, but gross! We also saw a slipper lobster. That was neat. We had to look that one up, it looked prehistoric. Sorry, no night photos. Just thought I'd focus on the dive.

We all had an Australian dinner with kangaroo, sausages, beef and potato, vegetables, buns, fruit and salad. Delicious. A white cake made with fruit and whipping cream was dessert. But, I couldn't eat it with all the dinner.

We spent the evening socializing and singing with our captain as he played a few songs on the guitar. We even got to dance one called Amongst the Gum Trees! An Ozzie Favorite! Too Fun! Man, these people were great! The staff were over the top and my dive buddies were awesome! Everyone got along and we were all like family! Just like my Ayre's rock tour. I couldn't be happier. Exhausted from 5 dives for the day, but happy ;)

We ended the night with a photo competition. We submitted 3 photos and Lawrence would chose a winner depending on his opinion and the cheers of the crowd. 2 of the 3 photos in the finals were mine. Pretty good odds, and guess what? I actually one! I think that's the first time I won anything! Yay! No prize though. My photo will go in with all the other trip winners this month and then another draw is done for a winner for the month. Then, out of all the monthly winners, an annual winner is chosen and they get the big prize of a free dive trip. I don't think I'll win that one, but I was happy with the little bout of glory that shined on me:)

Our morning dive, after the small breaky, was at the Fast Eddies. More of the same. Then pancake breakfast with bacon and hashbrowns. An hour to digest and back in the water at Halfway. Saw some Brittlestars, a nudibranch and many Spotted Garden Eels.

Our last dive site was at False Entrance. We had time to do 2 dives, but I did 1 and a snorkel. My body was tired. Lots of Grey sharks and WTRS here. One grey was getting attacked by a school of Trevally, lol. They're very territorial. Some of the trenches had strong currants and I'm glad it was like a maze because Teal and I could turn the next corner and get out of the currant. It was tiring. We had a great time though.

We had a snack of fruits and biscuits and headed to Lizard Island where we had to say goodbye to the spoilsport and the crew.

We had about 45 mins to walk around the island before catching a flight back to Cairns. We went to a lookout point on the island and saw a Goanna along the way. Moving very s-l-o-w-l-y.

The flight was very scenic, flying low over the reefs at 600 ft. We even saw Endeavor Reef were Captain Cook ran aground and can see the old ship, Emily Wreck.

Then, a shuttle drove us back to our accommodation. *Sigh*, it was so hard to say goodbye. It really was a trip of a lifetime.

Teal was staying another night at the YHA, going to Kuranda for the day and flying home the next day. I said goodbye, and went to Travel Backpackers on the esplanade to save money. $17/night there. One of the woman on my trip, Jill from England, stayed there as well so we planned to have dinner together.

I spent the afternoon dropping off my dive gear, picking up my luggage, returning my camera so I could get the photos on DVD and a small nap.

I found Jill at the lagoon, and with our dinner vouchers in hand, we went to P.J O'Briens Pub for our $5 dinner and drink. Good deal!

Today, I'm in the air conditioned mall booking my bus to Rainbow Beach to see the coloured sands. I leave tomorrow at 7:45 am and it's a 25 hour ride! Ugh! Hope I sleep! Jill and I are having dinner again, along with Chirag from England as well. He's was also on our trip and was staying at another hostel. We bumped into him in town and are meeting up at 7 pm to eat. One last goodbye to Cairns!

Alice Springs

My bus ride was long, but I made it to Alice Springs and was surprisingly not tired. Managed to doze a little, despite the uncomfortable seats. Saw 2 bush fires during the night as well.

I checked into Toddy's Backpackers. The staff were amazing there and the room clean. Communal bathroom was gross, but at least you don't spend much time there. There was even a restaurant/bar there that had cheap backpacker meals.

I put my stuff in my room and walked the 15 mins into town to sight see. Just checked out a couple shops at Todd Mall, went and bought some new tank tops and underwear at Kmart (gotta love those $4 deals!), and walked up Anzac Hill to enjoy the lookout over the town. Some people may say they hate Alice Springs and that it's a dump in the middle of nowhere, but I liked it. Maybe it has something to do with living in Katherine and Mataraka (which really is in nowhere). I don't know. I liked that there was no humidity, my rash wasn't as itchy. Still hot in the sun, but refreshing in the shade. Didn't even need the air con, just the fan. A comfortable 32 C :)

After my walk, I went back home and booked my Outback tour. Nice to book it at the hostel, as they give you a night free accommodation when you return.

I booked with a company called Emu Run Tours, and chose the 3 day Uluru Camping Tour. It was the same price as their competitor's (the Rock) but I've only heard good things from other travellers. I think their the best for the price.

I had dinner at the restaurant, chose the lasagna for $5. Wouldn't recommend it, didn't know lasagna could get that greasy! Anyways, as I ate, (half my dinner, couldn't stomach more) there was the funniest show on the TV. It was called Swamp People. It's about these Cajun's catching gators in the swamps down in Louisiana. Seriously, what's wrong with some people! Guy caught a gator and pulled it into his tiny boat, where 2 of them were, then shot it a few times! Not worried about it biting them, or putting holes in their boat obviously! Wow, pretty silly. The bartender and I laughed about it, then I headed to bed to get all rested up for my tour the next morning.

There was 13 of us on the tour including our guide, Ryan. And I was so happy that almost all of us were solo travellers. Yay, people to talk to this time! Everyone was really great, we all got along and there was no discomfort between us. Just family, right from the get-go.

We had a long drive a head of us, so with a small breakfast from Ryan, we drove to Uluru (aka Ayer's Rock). We had a few small stops along the way for toilets, snacks/souvenirs, a viewing of Mt Connor and dried up salt lakes.

Once we got to Uluru, we went into the Cultural Centre for insight of the Aboriginal people and then had lunch. Sandwich, granola bar, juice and a brownie. Then, we went to Mutijulu Waterhole for a guided walk where Ryan told us an aboriginal story of the rock and learn some history about it.

The rain falls down the side of the rock in 2 main spots, forming waterholes. Here, animals come to drink and the natives are able to hunt them easily for food. Unfortunately, these waterholes have been polluted from tourists hiking up the rock and littering. The rock is sacred to the Aboriginals, and they prefer people not to climb it. It means so much to them. I was glad that it was closed to tourists for the climb when we got there due to the heat. I don't think it's necessary for tourists to climb it. You get a similar idea of the landscape on your flight, hiking the other 2 locations I'll mention and just by a small hill anywhere out there. It's flat, with a few rocks here and there with small bush and scattered trees. Don't think it's worth upsetting the locals for that walk. Instead, we walked around the base of it, which was a 10.6 km loop (see, still get exercise in). There was a bit of cloud in the sky so the temperature was very comfortable. No need to worry too much about heat exhaustion.

After our walk, we went to a viewing point to watch the sunset on Uluru. We had sparkling wine with crackers, dip and cheese for appetizers, then stirfry for dinner. We didn't get much of a sunset due to the clouds, but we had a fabulous time :)

We got to our campsite and slept in our swags out under the clouds, umm, I mean stars, lol. It was pretty warm, and luckily, no bugs bothered us. Maybe a few ants here and there. A few people were worried about creepy crawlies (like scorpions and snakes) getting into the swags, but Ryan told us we had nothing to worry about. Just check your shoes before putting them on and tuck them under your swag during the night so a dingo doesn't steal your shoe. Lol.

I ended up seeing 2 dingos. I got up at 3:30 am to walk to the toilet and when I got back into my bed, 2 ran right by me and disappeared. Quite shy, those guys!

We had our wake up at 4 am for a continental breakfast and watched the "sunrise" at the Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas) viewpoint. We could see Uluru from here too, but again we were robbed. Too cloudy.

We parked at Kata Tjuta and had a guided walk up to Karingana lookout. We learned the Anangu people legend on how the Olgas were made as well as the scientific way. All made of sandstone. Then, we had the option to keep hiking and go through the Valley of the Winds. Most of us did it. I went on ahead of most people to get some quiet time. I absolutely loved it! There were lots of gumtrees, bush, flowers and dried up stream beds all in the middle of the surrounding rocks. Like an oasis in the middle of nowhere. This was my favorite place! Lots of lizards, birds and even Euro Kangaroos. The walk was 7.4 km total from the car park. The sign board says it's a difficult track, but it's actually really easy. I would say easy-moderate.

After our hike we went back to the campsite to make tacos for lunch. Then we drove to Kings Creek Station where we were staying for the night. We had free time to roam. There was a pool, camel farm and even a couple horses there. 3 dogs too. The puppy was really cute!

We made a campfire and had BBQ for dinner consisting of kangaroo steak, chicken kebabs, sausages, potatoes, salad and garlic bread (made with flour, garlic and beer in a cast iron pot covered by the fire coals). Cookies for dessert. We all had an early night with our early starts. Rain visited us that night, so we slept under the kitchen areas to keep dry.

Another wake up at 4 am for our breaky then a drive out to Kings canyon. Ryan guided us through the 6km Canyon Rim walk and educated us about the plants and geology. There was a natural amphitheatre, North and South Walls and the Garden of Eden (which was a waterhole in the center of the canyon). Lots of Ghost Gumtrees here. They are called that because they have a white power on the outside on the tree that reflects the moonlight looking like ghosts. It's a neat tree. The Anangu people can wipe the powder on their skin to act as sunscreen. The powder will fill in your fingerprints as well, so if you're on a night of crime, you won't need gloves! If you tie a plastic bag around the leaves, it'll sweat out 2 L of water in 8 hrs. They also call it the female tree... I'll let you figure that out on your own, lol.

It was pretty cool to see some tropical plants like ferns their too. They'd been there for decades, and with the water in the canyon, they still thrive there. Don't see that anywhere else in the outback!

After that, we went back to Kings Creek Station for lunch. We bbq'd camel and beef burgers and had potato salad with regular salad. Cookies and fruit afterwards. The camel wasn't bad, not too strong.

We drove to Mt Ebenezer to see the Aboriginal Art Gallery and camel farm. I went on a camel ride! It was fun! Can see how that would be a little uncomfortable after a while though. Can't really get a synced rhythm like you can with horses when they run. But it was fine went they walk. Even had a saddle! There are wild camel in Australia, however they are introduced to the country (we saw 6 out by Kings Canyon).

We all got dropped off at our accommodation back in Alice Springs with the plan to all meet up for dinner and drinks at Toddy's Restaurant and Bar for the evening. We had a great time reminiscing about the trip and what we really liked as well as future adventures. I was so happy, everyone was so wonderful on that trip.

Today, I'm relaxing around the hostel and the town. I have my flight leaving tomorrow to Cairns so I can get more diving in.

Mataranka & Katherine

John helped me bring my luggage to the bus stop and we said goodbye. It was only about a 4 hour bus ride to Katherine. It was even hotter and mugger there! 40 C the day I arrived. Katherine is a small town, but with quite a bit of residency. Many aboriginal people sitting in the parks with their family in circles, and always barefoot.

I got picked up at the bus station and brought to the AREA office. This company was not very well organized. No communication at all. I understand that their trying to manage 300 backpackers for work and accommodation, but they really need to talk to the people about their new job description and wage, what gear they need, any health risks involving the job, about where their staying, what kind of amenities are nearby and transportation availability and costs. Also when payday occurs and how it works. They only pay you for a certain amount of hours a week. If you worked more, they take it off your first weeks pay, then add it to the second. But, they'd also do the same to the next paycheck. Doesn't really make any sense to me, but that's how it is.

After getting the paperwork done, I roamed town to find the secondhand stores to buy 2 long sleeved shirts and running shoes. I already had a pair of pants from painting in NZ.

Then I caught my bus to Mataranka, about 1 hour down the road from Katherine. Colin, my supervisor, picked me up and took me to Territory Manor Caravan Park, where I slept in my tent the first night. It was so hot. My face was dripping sweat like a facet just sitting inside and it was night time already. Luckily, there was room the next night in a cabin with air conditioning :)
And guess who I saw at the camp? Ben and Steph from France! Same couple from my Kakadu tour. It was great to see them again! Nice to catch up. Everyone was really friendly there, and wanted to meet the new recruits. Really liked that. They were a good bunch of people. Everyone felt really close.

We started work at the Oolloo Farm at 5:45 am. A bus drops us off there and drives us back to the camp everyday. Normally, we work 6 days a week and we try to pick 40 bins a day (our goal, each bin has 300 kg of mangoes). So, sometimes we work 10 hours, it depends on how fast we are or how big the fruit is. It needs to be dry as well, if it rains we stop picking. The water is absorbed into the fruit and it will bruise to easily so that's why we can't pick it if it's wet.

So, with my skin all covered up, we start picking. You grab the mango from the bottom and snap it off the vine, making sure you snap away from you as the sap will spray once the stem is broken. Then you tip the fruit upside down so the sap drips to the ground at not down the fruit as it'll bruise it. Also, the sap is acidic, so you don't want it on your skin. If it does get on your skin, it burns the skin either turning it dark brown or making a blister. We use the mango wash on our machines to rise our hands and skin off in case of exposure. And trust me, we get burned. You can always tell whose a mango picker as their fingers will be stained dark brown until the skin peels off. Nice.

After the mango's picked we toss it into the machine were it gets washed off, runs along the conveyor belt and deposited into the bin on the end that sits on a forklift. Once filled, we drop the bin, cover it up with a label so the tractors can pick it up to bring to the packing shed. Then we put a new bin on and go again. Of course some of the mangoes are to high to reach on the tree so we have to use cutters. Tricky to catch sometimes. The cutters have a grabber on the side so we don't drop the fruit but sometimes it gets stuck on a branch and if it hits the ground, another bruise. So, we try to catch it or drop it into the machine. We try to do this extremely fast as supervisors are constantly telling you how slow you are and you'll get fired if you don't speed up, blah blah blah. Same thing everyday. I just did what I could.

It was super hot out there! The job itself was easy, it was just so hot! Wearing all those clothes in 40 C and +80% humidity and warm drinking water... ugh! What I would have given for cold water, not just to drink, but to dump over your head. We did this a few times a day. You're already wet from sweat anyway, so might as well have a few rinses during the day :) I've never sweat so much in my life, just constant dripping!

On my first day off, I jumped into some of my fellow workers van and we drove to Katherine to get our weekly grocery shopping done and any other errands. Amazing how that takes up a good portion of the day.

Once we got back to camp, I walked down the road to Bitter Springs Thermal Pools, which is a natural hot spring in Elsey National Park. Now, you may be thinking, if it's so hot, why go to a hot spring? Well, seeing how the water is 30 C and the air temp is 40 C, it actually feels cooler. And it was lovely, so crystal clear. And no crocs! Yay. I went in the evening after everyone else left, so I had it all to myself.

Then, I went back to my room, whom I shared with Rick, the bus driver (a local) and Ray from Hong Kong. Ray is still learning english, so every night I teach him new words and phrases. It was fun, and he's a great student. You hear him repeating the words over and over through the days, practising. :) I told him, if he had a chance to watch english TV children's shows, it would help. You know, the picture of a dog on the screen, barking and someone saying, "look, a dog." That way, you can recognize the picture and sound to match up the word. And seeing how we didn't have that option in the room share, he went out and bought kids books from Salvation Army! He did really well at reading them on his own. Only a few times I'd have to explain a word or phrase. Well, we had an early night to bed, usually around 8:30 pm as we have wake ups at 4:30 am. Another day, another dollar! As the saying goes.

Another working hazard was getting hit with a mango. I got belted 3 times. One fell on my head, another hit me in the eye and another whacked me in the ribs from rebounding off the machine from being tossed to hard. And mangoes are solid! It's like getting punched. I was lucky not to get a black eye, just a red mark in the corner of my eye near the bridge of my nose. Good times.
After 9 days of picking, I woke up with a wicked skin rash over my shins, arms, wrists, hands, chest, neck, ears and face. All red, swollen and extremely itchy. I remember being itchy during the night, but I thought it was just bugs. Silly me. I went to the doctor that day and she prescribed me some oral steroids and told me "no more picking." I also asked for something to help with the itch, but there's nothing. She said I could use steroid cream once a day, Calamine lotion and avoid soap as it irritates it more so to use a special tea tree type gel. Hmm, didn't that smell lovely :(
See, what they neglect to tell you, when taking the job, is that the mango tree is in the same family as poison ivy and poison oak. It has an oil based allergen called urushiol that causes the dermatitis. So, hence the reason for the awful itchy rash. Boo to that!

So, I had to leave the picking job. I went back to AREA and they were able to place me in a packing shed working for 7 Fields. So, I had sunday off to get into new accommodation in Katherine and start work monday morning.

I went back to Territory Manor and said goodbye to everyone. We were all like family, worked all day together, ate and slept together. I was really going to miss everyone.

On sunday morning, before I had to go, I went to the pond by the restaurant on camp to watch the Barramundi feeding. These fish get quite large for fresh water fish! Wow! The owner was hand feeding, and was even able to pick one up to show us the size. Something they're used to obviously, as the fish was so calm. Not worried at all about suffocating. Neat.

Yiva and Danny from Germany, gave me a lift back into Katherine. Such a nice couple. Were good people. Goodbye Mataranka. Not a lot there, but it was nice. Just an aboriginal village, 1 clinic, 1 bar, 1 mini supermarket, a car lot and 2 gas stations. Otherwise, all parks. Quiet place.Wallabies jumping around everywhere, and lots of beautiful birds. Colourful parrots. However, they don't make the prettiest of sounds. Guess that's why they have the looks ;) Ha ha.

Nice thing about Katherine, it's still a small town, but there's a grocery store, internet, cinema, bank, secondhand stores and a post office. Also 7 Fields was only a 30 min walk from town, so I could save money on transport and just walk.

I ended up staying at Palm Court Hostel. Small kitchen, but not busy before 7 pm and it was fairly clean. My room was very spacious and with it's own bathroom and mini fridge! I only had 3 beds in my room and only 1 girl, Annie from Germany. Everyone at the hostel were currant mango workers, either picking or packing, though at different farms. Annie was working at the same packing house as me, and we got along great. She even transferred all her movies and songs from her laptop onto my new netbook so I'd have something to do on long bus rides. And, I dyed her hair. Came out lovely... I think I might try that colour in my hair one day... nice reddish brown.

The packing shed was alright. Noisy, but easy. Again, you don't have to think. There are different stations, one side of the room is premium mangoes (no sunspots or scratches or marks over 2 cm) the other side, standard mangoes. If the mango is really banged up, it goes to the juicing area. We also have different rows that we are stationed at to pack the mangoes according to size. Many conveyor belts moving along. We just pack the boxes with the correct amount of fruit (depending on their size), making sure the quality is good before placing it in, then slap a label on the box and put it on top of another conveyor belt so the boys sticker them and place on wooden slats to load into trucks for the grocery stores. Yup, that's pretty much it. Only thing is, they're longer days and you get no days off. Lots of the people had been working for 28 days straight already. Lot of noise and boredom :( Poor kids. Glad I jumped in at the end of the season.

My rash was getting better with the prednisone, but 3 days after I finished, I got the rash again! Ugh, so incredibly itchy! I know why animals will gnaw their own leg off and self mutilate. Unbelievable. At least if it was pain, you could take something for it to make it go away. This was torture! So, I had to stop working with mangoes completely. Only lasted 1 week at the shed. But it takes 2-3 weeks after contact with the fruit for the rash to disappear. A long time! I just couldn't start from square one again. Had to give up the job.

Before I left town, I went for a walk along the Katherine River riverbank to Katherine Hot Springs. All along the river were thousands of Flying Foxes. Couldn't believe how active they were during the day. Fighting over roosting space, flying from tree to tree. Cool. Got lots of pictures. However, they don't smell the greatest. That sweet acrid mix of fruit and guano. Nice. Come to think of it, that's what the whole town smelt like. There were just so many of them.

The spring was closed to swimming since the wet season had the river over flooding and the salties were around. I even saw one in the river! Neat, eh?

I chatted with some of the locals at the spring and made my way back to town. Then, went to the cinema to watch (don't laugh) Twilight's Breaking Dawn pt 1. I know what you're thinking, but I love it, ok! I like my vampire teeny bop movies, lol.

Then I booked my Greyhound bus ticket to Alice springs for the next day. Doesn't leave till 5pm so I have some time to kill today. The hostel owner said I could just hang out in my room till 4pm since it's air conditioned and no one else was checking in, so that was nice. Good to get some computer work done as well ;) 14 hr bus ride to come! Yahoo! (yes, I'm being sarcastic, lol).