Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

The Wilde Family

43 Blog Entries
2 Trips
55 Photos

Trips:

Australia
Australia - The Return

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/ShaunWilde




MELBOURNE first night

Melbourne, Australia

Part 2:

We went for food at Little King Restaurant

ARE SCORES FOR THE RESTAURANT ARE
SALLY 10\10
CHRIS 9\10
DAD 8\10
MUM 10\10

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on March 30, 2009 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia - The Return
Send a Compliment

St Kilda

Saint Kilda, Australia

In the afternoon we took the tram down on the beach at St Kilda. We met an Old German Lady, who was obviously in the employ of the Perth Immigration Department, who told us that all Australians are lazy, Melbourne is corrupt to its very core and if we planning on emigrating we should go to Perth but Adelaide is okay as that was originally settled by Germans.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on March 30, 2009 from Saint Kilda, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia - The Return
tagged StKilda
Send a Compliment

Last day in Mission Beach

South Mission Beach, Australia

Today is our last day in Mission Beach, the sun is shining again (we have been very lucky with the weather seeing as, in these parts, this time of year is known as The Wet.)

Spent the day packing and tidying (in this heat you do everything slowly) and hiding in the pool.

Tonight we are going out for a final meal (kitchen has been cleaned and we, Shaun and kids, have been banned from that area.)

Tomorrow we go home but we are not sure which route to take as we have been told that the most direct route may be flooded and we may need to take a 2 hour detour via the tablelands.


permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 10, 2008 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged WongalingBeach
Send a Compliment

Back to Mission Beach

South Mission Beach, Australia

After a morning of waiting for the rain to stop the sun eventually came out to play, so it was pool time, in between sessions of packing and tidying, and BBQ in the evening; sigh, it just had to be prawns again.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 9, 2008 from South Mission Beach, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged WongalingBeach
Send a Compliment

Gladstone to Cairns

Cairns, Australia

We caught the taxi to the airport, the security at Gladstone is certainly different to any other. We arrived within 40 minutes of our flight and were checked in and handed our boarding cards to the same person at the gate 30 minutes later!

The funny part was on arrival at Rockhampton we all had to disembark and put our luggage through security! We then reboarded the same plane and sat in the same seats!!

The journey was Split into four parts 25 minutes between Gladstone and Rockhampton, 50 minutes between Rockhampton and Mackay, an hour between Mackay and Townsville. The last part of the journey between Townsville and Cairns should have taken an hour but due to a storm over Cairns we were held outside for about half an hour. We experienced quite a bit of turbulence, which we all thought was great fun - some of the other passengers didn't find it very funny though!!

We landed approximately half an hour late and decided to do some shopping around Cairns. Unfortunately the weather was pretty wet and we came back to Mission Beach after a few hours. We stopped off at Innisfail for some shopping and then drove to our exchange home.

On the way back we spotted our first Cassowary bird - in the middle of the road!! Every time we tried to drive on he kept coming back on to our side of the road!!

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 8, 2008 from Cairns, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged WongalingBeach
Send a Compliment

Heron Island back to Gladstone

Gladstone, Australia

Well this was our last few hours in paradise, the children managed to do some more junior rangers and gained two badges for all their hard work. Shaun and Karen went for one last snorkel. The cases were packed up and we had to leave, but we spent every last moment in the pool and arrived on the catamaran dripping wet!!

A few tears were shed (by Karen) and none of us wanted to leave this fantastic place. But all good things come to an end and we will have to come back another year in order to see some of the hatchlings - which apparently weren't due until at least the 9th January this year!

We drowned our sorrows on the catamaran back to Gladstone and arrived there two hours later a bit wobbly (well Karen was anyway.)

When we got back to the hotel we went for a swim and tried to persuade a family that were going ut to the Island the next day that they wouldn't enjoy it and we would be more than happy to suffer the trip for them - it didn't work!! We went for a meal at the local Thai restaurant and listened to the noisy parrots for one last time.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 7, 2008 from Gladstone, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged HeronIsland
Send a Compliment

Heron Island

Gladstone, Australia

Shaun went off diving again in the morning, whilst the children did their Junior Rangers again. Karen sat by the pool and read her book ALL day (about time too says Karen).

That evening was the seafood buffet in the restaurant and there were mountains of huge prawns, Moreton Bay bugs, crabs, salmon and almost ever seafood you could imagine.

After dinner Shaun and Chris decided to go on one last turtle hunt. Sally was TOO tired and so she and Karen retired to bed - and missed ALL the action!!!

Whilst on the beach Shaun and Chris came across a Loggerhead turtle laying its eggs and had the opportunity to help the Ranger resite the nest (as the turtle had made her nest too close to the shoreline). This meant that once the nest was uncovered Shaun had to hand out each of the eggs so that they could be transported to the new site dug by the Ranger (129 eggs and one broken one - broken when laid and did not have a yoke.) Chris was one of the lucky ones who helped to move the eggs! Because the turtle had gone back into the water Shaun was able to catch the moment on film.

On their way back to the room they also passed two Green Turtles laying eggs and came back pretty full of themselves!

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 6, 2008 from Gladstone, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged HeronIsland
Send a Compliment

Heron Island

Gladstone, Australia

Shaun had received a passout for diving again today and managed to see 2 octopuses (1 on each dive, if he hadn't have manged to photo them nobody would have believed him). The children became Junior Rangers for the day and went on a Turtle track hunt. They can now tell the different tracks made by Green and Loggerhead turtles. They also learn't about the different types of birds on the island.

Karen spent the morning doing the washing; not quite her idea of tropical paradise but it was all done by lunch. She then spent time at the pool drinking beer and reading her book! In between Junior Rangers the children spent time in the pool and made a few friends with other junior rangers Ben and Josh. Shaun joined them after his dives and had a crisp stolen out of his hand by one of the cheeky restaurant birds that prey on people with food. They in turn have to protect their baby chicks from the seagulls who unfortunately have a pretty good strike rate, we saw quite a few chicks being eaten!

Tonight Shaun went for a night dive and saw a BIG octopus (3 for 3 - poor photo alas), a shark and lots and lots of turtles trying to sleep on the sea floor! Karen, Chris and Sally decided to go for a turtle hunt around the island as the sun set - the turtles must have seen us go by because we later heard that loads had come up the beach as we walked by! We did manage to see lots of baby sharks flapping their fins around in the water so that helped make up for the disappointment.

When we returned to the room Shaun had just arrived back from his dive and told us about a turtle near to the jetty. So we went to see how it was doing, unfortunately it had chosen a spot where there were lots of rocks and it didn't succeed in laying its eggs that night.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 5, 2008 from Gladstone, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged HeronIsland
Send a Compliment

Heron Island

Gladstone, Australia

Today we set off on the catamaran to Heron Island. The journey didn't go to well as Sally had a nosebleed before we left, and as the sea was quite rough Chris' stomach didn't stand up too well - enough said! Apparently the sea had been so rough over the New Year the catamaran and helicopter transfers were cancelled for 5 days, the day we arrived was the first day the dive boat had ventured out to sea in a while (so Shaun was pleased).

We were out of Mobile phone and internet access for the duration of our stay in Heron Island which was HEAVEN! It was so nice to wander around and not listen to someone else's conversation!Although it did slow down the blog entries.

We went for a snorkel and saw some black and white tip sharks and loads of sea cucumbers. After a quick dip in the pool we got ready for dinner and prepared for the highlight of our trip - turtle watching!

We were very lucky to come across a Green Turtle who very kindly laid some eggs for us and we were able to watch which was truely amazing!! Unfortunately you are not able to use flash photography or lights on the beach in case you upset the turtle (and any others around) so we don't have any pictures to show. But it is definitely a sight to behold and we would strongly recommend it to anyone.

We were kept awake by some really noisy Mutton Birds who had laid eggs all around the island (and four outside our room!). The noise they make can only be compared to that of a wailing baby and they all join in with the chorus as the finale!!



permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 4, 2008 from Gladstone, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged HeronIsland
Send a Compliment

Sydney to Gladstone

Sydney, Australia

This was our last morning in Sydney so it was back to the packing and sorting for Karen. Shaun took the children out to have a go on a bungee trampoline where they both did a backflip! Shaun bought himself a Digereedo and was shown in the shop how to play it - so there should be some interesting music coming from the house when it is shipped back to England!

We caught a taxi to the airport and booked in for our flight to Rockhampton, we then drove to Gladstone and stayed in a hotel for the night in readiness to travel to Heron Island the next morning.

There were some EXTREMELY noisy parrots outside the hotel. Apparently the local council are trying to get rid of them and have chopped down loads of trees thinking they would fly away - unfortunately all it has done is concentrate them all in 3 trees and the noise was deafening.

permalink written by  The Wilde Family on January 3, 2008 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia
tagged Sydney
Send a Compliment
Viewing 11 - 20 of 43 Entries
first | previous | next | last



author feed
 author kml

Heading South?

Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor FairTutor can hook you up with Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor. It's pretty sweet! Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor www.fairtutor.com
Navigate
Home
Find Blogs
Find People
Find Places
Find Photos
Browse Tags
Make Maps
Write a Blog Entry
search
Login

go
create a new account



   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy
View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city: