May 10
A bit of a lazy start, we uploaded some of the photos and left them running as its back to the old dial up.
Vicky and Barry came over with the kids and took us to the local pub for lunch and a couple of drinks. We then came back and had a few more drinks and chatted until the wee hours of the night!
It was meant to be a quiet day, guess it was in a way but just went on and on!

May 11
We had a very slow morning, due to a few sore heads. We had a barbie for lunch with Sue, Ray and Vicky's lot. Lounged about in the sunshine.
In the afternoon we went to Craigs house for his Birthday celebrations.

The Kids

Happy Birthday Mate

May 12
We spent most of the day trying to fit everything we had accumulated whilst in Oz into our rucksacks, for our impending flight to New Zealand. The rest of the day was spent chilling out. The evenings entertainment was a poor copy of Spiderman 3.

written by  James & Tracey on May 9, 2007 from Tahmoor, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
Send a Compliment

---

1 comment...

Beach Dual carriageway

Floating about in the Creek

Maheno Wreck

May 8
James arose very early as he wanted to get pictures of the sun rise from teh beach. I stayed in bed as it was far too early to get up! He managed to get some good photos, it was a bit cloudy though. He decided to come back when he felt a couple of spots of rain, He took about 4 steps and the heavens opened - he came back to the room looking like a drowned rat!!
We had breakfast and back onto the big bus. We went for a long walk over the sand blow (just a big sand dune to you and me) to get to Lake Wabby. This is a green lake that is at the bottom of a large sand dune. We swam in it for a bit, quite cool but refreshing after the long walk to get to it. James went for a walk witha couple of others to get to a lookout point, on the way back he couldn't resist running down the sand dune into the water with photos taken of him going from the top to the bottom.

Run forest

He's fallen in the water

Thats pretty Blue.

Cheese

May 5
We checked out of our room and walked around Airlie Beach for a while. We had Folafel wrap - no where near as good as the one in Melbourne though. James went for a swim in the Lagoon - Not safe to swim in the sea cos of all the stingers.

Croc in the Lagoon!

April 29
The Pro-Dive bus picked us up just before 8am. We headed totheir training centre. We spent the morning watching training videos and being taught rescue stuff in a classroom. The afternnon was much more fun. We were in their 4m deep pool in scuba gear acting out various rescue scenarios. It was much easier for James to drag me out of the pool than it was for me - as my back would tell you. He had it easy!
We got back both feeling exhausted, but had to read the Rescue book that was given to us that day and we had to know the stuff by the next day. We both gave it a fair go but fell asleep with the books in our hands.

April 30
We woke up excited of the prospect of our next adventure - which was lucky as we got picked up at 6am.
At the dive shop James picked up a new Mask as his last one kept misting up and he didn't want to viwe the Great Barrier Reef through mist. We got onto the boat with another 20 or so divers, but we were the only 2 on the Rescue Diver course. We headed 3 hours out of Cairns for our first dive site. Our first dive was a fun dive, but the reef we found to be quite average - think its a bit too close to Cairns.
Dive 2 we practiced some skills on the surface - towing each other and panicked diver - we finished off with a fun dive in which we saw a blue spotted ray.
Dive 3 was spent practising bringing an unconscious diver to the surface, played inturn by James and I. Finished the rest of our air by going for a fun dive in which we saw a 1 1/2 metre long white tip reef shark. We returned to the boat, both of us needing the loo and tired. However, just as we got up onto the back of the boat there was a shout from person on lookout for "rescue divers". Both of us knew that this call could come at any time and we were to act as though a real emergency was taking place and we were getting marked on it. We got back in to the water to find 2 of the instructors acting
distressed. As I was out first and had heard about Anne-Lyse being an absolute nightmare to save I chose the other one, and left Anne-Lyse to James. During this rescue both of us got cramp in our calf, masks and regulator knocked off and pushed under the water several times. We finally managed to get them onto the boat and give them oxygen and appropriate first aid. We were absolutely knackered! They really didn't want saving.
For the evening we summoned up all of our energy and joined in the night dive. This was the first time we had to navigate ourselves in the dark - quite scary. While we were swimming a Large red bass quickly shot across our faces - making us pap ourselves!
After we got back around 8.30pm we had cake and went straight to our cabin and fell into a very deep sleep.

May 1
First dive was at 7am which was a nice relaxing dive around Flynn Reef.

Big Old Turtle

May 2
Due to the amopunt we wanted to fit in, the first dive was at 6.30am. This was as the sun was rising. All of the nocturnal fish were going back to be and all the daytime fish were waking up and having breakfast. It was very busy on the reef. James got a cool video of a turtle eating the coral.
For our second dive we heard those fateful words "rescue diver" (think I may be hearing this in my nightmares). A diver had gone missing (again). However it was our dive intructor, Jason. We set of in a North-Westerly direction using the same search pattern as before. Trace found him playing with a Nemo fish when he realised he was supposed to be unconsious. We got him to the surface where he woke up and started shouting out his leg was impailed with some coral (a stick - goodness knows where he got it from we were in the middle of the sea!). We did the usual of First aid etc... Then we Passed our Rescue Diver - Hoorah! Went for a bit of a fun dive with the rest of our air. Where we found another shark, sleeping and swimming around the bottom.
Our last dive was completely fun. We hardly used any air as we were completely relaxed and not on edge waiting for a rescue to be required.

Trace Cruising

Ooh, You Thorny Devil

April 27
We woke up after the sun was up - how strange! We checked out and got a bacon sarnie for brekkie. Went to the Baby Kangaroo Sanctuary. Here we were able to hold little joeys. James' one was called Hannah and mine was Dave, they were around 7 months old.

Ahh, Aren't they Cute Roos.

Salt Lake

Underground Home Extension

April 24
Up at 4am again. We stopped again at 6.30am to watchg and take photos of the sunrise. This time James got his tripod out and was laying in the road just to get that perfect shot. We also had to get some firewood from the side of the road for the campfire tonight.
We stopped off at Marla for a bit of Brekkie and loo stop.
When we set off again a Black Wedge Tailed Eagle flew really close to the bus, James was too slow with the camera though so you'll just have to take our word for it.
We stopped off at the South Australia and Northern Territory border - so far done 1746km (thats 1091 miles!)
We stopped off for some fuel and to pick up some food supplies, plus the all important fly veil!. We had lunch at Mount Endevour, we had a look at some Aboriginal art work.
The next part of the journey we had to try and spot Uluru (or Ayres Rock to you and me!) Some people got caught out by spotting the "giant toothbrush" (Mount Connor) which meant they had to buy Horty a drink In Alice Springs. We arrived in Yulara and headed towards Uluru to do a short walk called the Mala walk. We drove a bit away (along with many others) to watch the sunset on the rock - However the sun was not playing as it hid behind some clouds, but we still enjoyed some bubbly and crisps and dip.

Outback Tour Group

April 25
Up at 5am (so a bit of a lie in) cleared up camp. We went to Uluru to start a walk at 6.40am. We walked around teh bottom of the rock to watch the sunrise and got to see the colour change of the rock - awesome!

Red Uluru

The Long Road

April 22
Up at 6am, for breakfast at 6.30am. When James got on the bus I knew he hadn't checked his clothes for insects as there was a hairy catepillar coming out from his collar!
Our bus went down a 30km dirt track towards Blinman for a quick loo stop. We went to a lookout point and saw Wilpena Pound Mountains - where we were heading next. We climbed (yes it was a climb not a walk!!) up Mount Ohlssen Bagge (3.2 km) up and down. At the top we had a few minutes to admire the views (for me, Trace to nip to the ladies!) and get our legs back into order for the trip back down.
An hour and half later we reached the bottom for lunch with a well deserved BBQ burger and salad.
Back onthe bus for another couple of hours to Rawnsley Park (where we are staying) We helped with the food prep for dinner. We walked to the site shop and got an ice pop! James walked up a hill to take a look at the sunset but wasn't much good so came back down again.
Dinner was curry and rice. We played cards then sat around the campfire looking at the stars.

written by  James & Tracey on April 21, 2007 from Parachilna, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

We Left Dan and Dawns for the last time bright and early and got a tram to our pick-up point for our next journey. We got picked up by a mini bus with a crazy driver called Bill. He has a very uncanny look of Crocodile Dundee!! We pushed through the morning rush hour traffic of Melbourne to start our 2 day trip along the 'Great Ocean Road' to Adelaide.
We had about 10 other travellers on the bus with us. We followed the road along the coast stopping at various points to enjoy the view and take photos (feel like real tourists again). On one of the stops I managed to get a photo of a Koala with its eyes open and waving at me which, is not as easy as you may think as they are asleep for the majority of the day.

Hi Down There

We again made stops at various good views and natural rock formations. Two being the 12 apostles and the 'London Bridge' both very spectacular and as so we took many photos along with the bus loads of other tourists!!

After more Km's under the belt Bill took us for a short guided walk through some of the National park forest where he showed us some massive trees, a few examples of the 640 different types of gum trees and plants that grow 1mm a year, one is about 10m high so is about 10,000 years old. In this forest various full skeletons of dinosaurs have been found.

As night fell and we were on deserted roads we all had to be on the look out for kamakazee and sucidal animals the majority being walabies and kangaroos. We witnessed many trying to eat the front grill of the bus but we managed to miss them all thanks to the skillful driving by our guide, think he has hit alot in the past though!! He was just telling us of how proud he was at keeping a clean sheet and we were just about to arrive at our evenings accomodation when a deer ran out of the bush and accross the front of the bus. With a quick shout of "right" from one of the other passengers Bill hit the breaks hard and some how managed to steer around him, that was very close and left us breathing hard only about 40m from our home for the evening.

After dinner we ventured out around the buildings in search of wildlife. Under torch light we found a family of grey kangaroos. One of the mothers had a roo in her pouch which was eating the grass at the same time. After a few cracks of twigs by us lot the quickly bounced away into the darkness. We turned around and set of in the opposite direction and soon again found some more grey kangaroos. These were males who were fighting to be the dominant male and like all the cartoons you see they do actually face each other and box. Great ring side seats.

April 20

Through the night we were freezing only to find in the morning that the window had been open opps! First leg of the trip was up the mountains to look out from the great views from the 'Balconies'. The bus then took us on to Mckenzie falls. We got dropped of at the top and in the heat of the day had to walk down the 279 steps to the bottom. and of course back up again but well worth it. At midday we got dropped of at a bus stop to change to a normal coach for a 6 hour ride to Adelaide. On the coach we crossed into South Australia and therefore back 0.5hrs.

After we found our hostel we headed out for a few supplies and dinner. For dinner the local Indian caught Tracey's eye and we went for that as we hadn't eaten Indian food since being in India! We had a really early start the next day so had an early night only to be kept awake by the other backpackers having a good time out on the balcony which our room was one that opened up onto. Oh well you get what you pay for!

written by  James & Tracey on April 19, 2007 from Adelaide, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Dan and Dawn

April 11
After a decent lie in, we headed off to the local travel agents - Peterpans in St Kilda where we hoped to sort out the next few week in OZ. We had only expected this to take an hour maybe 2, upon which we would go and walk to the beach to visit one of the many cafes Dan and Dawn had told us about.
However, 5 hours later, bleary eyed we left the travel agents with our wallets much lighter! But we have now booked all our nights accommodation, planes, trains, automobiles, outback tour, island hopping and liveaboard diving course and the majority of meals for the next 4 weeks left in OZ. Sorted!

Pizza and beer for the rest of the evening at Dan and Dawns with plenty of chatting!

April 12
We caught a couple of trains to Mooroolbark station. We met up with Pauline and her husband, Gerald. (Pauline was one of the people on our trip to India, and shared the boat we were on down the Ganges.)
First off they took us to the Domaine Chandon Vineyard, in the Yarra Valley. A beautiful setting and the sun was shining! We had a very pleasant early afternoon sampling sparkling wines, sipping our way through a couple of bottles of Cuvee Riche and a cheese platter. On leaving we decided to buy ourselves a couple of bottle of sparkly stuff to thank Dan and Dawn for letting us stay at theirs.
We then went up Mount Dandenong for a spectacular view across Melbourne all the way to the coast. However, to stop big bush fires they have been back burning the undergrowth and had created a massive blanket of smoke which in the still air, managed to completely block out any view - Oh well better luck next time!

We then headed down back into Melbourne town and met up with Matt and Ange (also from the India trip). We walked along a road which must have a good 60 restaurants on it foods from all corners of the world, but mostly Italian. We settled for a small Italian on a side street.
We said our goodbyes to Pauline and Gerald and us "younger people" (well kind of!) found our way to an Irish bar to chat away the evening. Come 11.30 it was time for us to make our way across Melbourne where Ange stuck us on a number 16 Tram - adament it was the right one! Along with a few other drunk people we travelled across Melbourne, however, none of the tram stops had signs to tell you which stop it is. We knew the tram journey was about 40 mins long and were really hoping we would spot somewhere we knew from the 2 days we've been here. To our relief we passed a BP garage which we recognised and quickly hopped off at the next stop. If it hadn't been for that great petrol station I think we would have ended up at the end of the line with a long walk home! Ange was right after all (sorry Matt!) and we arrived home safe and sound.

April 13
Had a bit of a lazy morning. Around midday we walked into St Kilda (in the sunshine). We got to the sea and walked along the seafront. Stopping off at a beachside cafe for a spot of lunch and glass of wine in the sun - nice!
We popped into some of the shops on the way home, being very restrained and not actually buying anything.

Dan cooked us dinner and we enjoyed a bottle of Bubbly with it. We met up with a couple of Dan and Dawns friends and headed on the train into Melbourne for the Comedy Festival. We had a quick drink before going into the show. We were on the top floor of the town hall in the "wee room" it held about 30 people. We watched a young Aussie guy called Tom Dassalo. Thank goodness he is young as he needs a few more years experience to become funny! We did learn a couple of new words though - some of which we cannot repeat on this blog! Dan said he's only 20 so how far can his worldly knowledge stretch - think he's trying to stick up for the poor lad! We went to a Jazz bar after the town hall and enjoyed a few more drinks and chats. We got the tram home - this time we had Dan and Dawn with us so we were safe.

April 14
Dan cooked his special beans and bacon for James' breakfast.
We went on the train into the city and met up with Matt and his mate, Andrew. We had a couple of drinks in a local pub. Then walked over to the MCG stadium ready for the footie match. Matt is an Essendon supporter and they were playing Carlton, a bit of a grudge match as these 2 teams were at the bottom of the league last season. Bit different to English footie league as the same 16 teams stay in the premiership and there is no relegation - boo!!

Aussie Footie Match

April 15
As rent to stay with Dan and Dawn, it had been pre-agreed in Thailand that James would make and fit a shelf in their store cupboard. So we headed to the local B&Q (or Bunnings as they call it here) to get the necessary equipment. Along with a few other things, including 96 litres of water!
We met Dawn at their facourite place to eat in Balaclava and had Folafel pitta - out of this world!
For the afternoons activity Dan and Dawn took us into the city to show around. They took us through the market along the river and up lots of side streets with cafes. We went up this network of alleys which had become sort of allowed area for grafetti art - some of it was really good.

The Grafetti Wall

April 16
Today was a pretty lazy day as we just chilled out at the flat.
Tracey ventured into Balaclava to get ther hair cut and get some fish (for dinner) But it seemed Mondays are when everyone else chills out too as half of the shops were shut, so no haircut and no fish!!
Managed to figure out what else to cook that was veggie, so the day was saved.
A nice evening in with a bottle of wine and watching the comedy gala on the TV.

April 17
Trace had her hair cut in the morning. We then got on the Tram into the city.
We headed for the tallest building in Melbourne - the Rialto. Where they have a 360 degree observation deck. Unlike the Petronas towers, we have to pay for the priviledge of going up 55 stories! There were some amazing views over Melbourne though. Quite a few of the buildings have tennis courts on the roofs. We had a hot chocolate and beer in the cafe whilst admiring the views.
We walked around by the river and caught a train to Prahran. We spent the next 2 hours wandering up and down the high street perusing the vast array of little designer shops and boutiques. However, all we managed to pick up was a couple of pairs of pants and socks for James - cos goodness knows where they go!
A quick sprint meant we just caught the train back to Dan and Dawns place. Where we chilled before catching the train back in the city to meet Ange and Matt. They took us for an Italian and 2 for 1 cocktails. Trace had a Chicken Parma. Followed by a drink in the sports bar with horrific karoke. We made a quick exit for the casino, and the roulette table. James and I decided to make these interesting by taking $20 each and seeing who could come out with the most money - if any. We both decided on the roulette table, it was a close competition for a while with both of us being up on chips ($2.50 each chip) however the final outcome was Tracey victoriously had doubled her money and James had broken even. But all in all a successful piece of fun.
To finish the evening off we took a stroll along the river bank where they have a line of large steel sculptures from which they blast large flames every 30 minutes or so. we were lucky to be there just at the right time. You could feel the heat from quite a way away.
We said our farewells to Matt and Ange - quite sad as don't know when we'll see them again.
On the way back to the train station I needed the loo so stopped off at one of those automatic dalek-looking public toilets. This was an experience in itself!! I pressed a botton on the wall and magically with a click and a whirr a toilet seat appeared out of a letter box above the loo - bizarre!

April 18
Another quite lazy day and our last day in Melbourne.
Sat in the sunshine reading.
We walked into Balaclava to get some stuff for Dan. I cut James' hair in the afternoon.
Dan cooked us dinner, we had a few drinks as Dan wanted us to drink the remaining alcohol as we were getting up early in the morning!

written by  James & Tracey on April 10, 2007 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
Send a Compliment

---

2 comments...

In the evening we went to a local pub - the Imperial. Here we met a couple of Sues crazy friends and enjoyed a meal and a few drinks.The pub we went to that night had a music night where the local musicians bring their instruments and enjoy an evening of playing lots of songs, particularly Irish numbers.

April 6
We had a bit of a lie in to rest our weary heads. Especially Trace!!
Vicky (James' other cousin) arrived with her family all ready and raring for an Easter BBQ at Craigs. The afternoon and evening was spent (again) in Craigs yard with the 7 kids charging around. The rest of us chattingover old times and working through Australias wine supply! James' cousins are a pair of nutcases!!

Craig and the kids playing footie

April 7
It was a slow start to the day. We got up and bumbled around the house. We then ssat down and spent a good 2 hours and wrote the last lot of entries you've been reading we were happy we got to the end of the task, hit save only to find the internet connection went down half way through the save. After a while of shouting at the good for nothing computer we proceeded to write it again - it wasn't as good as the first but you'll never know that!

In the evening we went to the local pub with Ray and had dinner. James had veal and lobster - because he could! They serve such big portions in the pubs here, you eat as much as you can and you finish with a portion that you would normally start with back home!

April 8
Started the day with an easter egg - Not the same as home though. Had a Cadbury mini egg one but it tasted like the cheap ones you get at home - not happy!!

We set off in the car for a tour round. Starting at a small animal sanctuary where we walked in the same penned area as the wallabies. The emus, dingoes and wombats were in separate areas because they bite.
We drove to a place near Picton. The view from the lookout was stunning across a reservior - as still as a mill pond! Across to the mountains at the other side. The weather was ok, but raining in the Valley below us.

We visited the famous Robinsons Pie shop. Wow! They make exceedingly good pies over here. James acclaimed that it was the best small pie he had ever had. The best large pie being the one he had in a pub near work for his last meal with work before leaving - A Pie expert!!

We then drove down a winding mountain road into the valley in the pouring rain. At the bottom we got to Jamberooo - this place hold lots of exciting activities such as grass slope skiing, taboganing n a steel tube, water slides. However, we walked to the entrance to find out it was $31 to get in, with a big sign saying certain rides would not run in the rain and no refund. As it was tipping it down, we turned away dejected and headed off back home in the car.

In the evening when we had time to dry off, we went back to the local pub - The Tahmoor Inn - for a roast dinner. The roast dinner had a cheek to be called a roast dinner. The roast beef came without yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, peas, gravy, carrots - but did come with pumpkin, asparagus, cheese and tomato sauce, I don't suppose you can do them for trades description as it did have roast beef on top!

April 9
The days plan was to head to the local Dam with all of the family - however, as it was drizzling and Vickys lot didn't turn up til mid afternoon, it was decided that, for a change, we would go to Craigs house for drinks and some Tucker.
Once again a relatively early night, turned into quite a long boozy affair.

written by  James & Tracey on April 5, 2007 from Tahmoor, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...