Feb 2007

I took the ferry back to Townsville from Magnetic Island and went window-shopping - in the few windows that were there.... Ha Ha
After another 5 hours or so on the Greyhound bus, I jumped off in Airlie - that was wet wet wet, but the hostel was nice and warm with a huuuuge tv
The next morning I went sailing with Tallship Derwent Hunter. Got to say I really like sailing now!!! We went to (names might be a bit wrong...) Hayman Island, Sid's Island, Hook Island, Whitsunday Island & Langford Island. But the only islands I actually stepped on was Whitsunday and Langford
Back in Airlie I've done absolutely nothing....as it has been raining and it's only one street.... Ha Ha

After 5 hours or so on the Greyhound bus from Cairns, I jumped off in Townsville and got the ferry over to Nelly Bay on Magnetic Island. The hostel had a pool and was right ON the beach, so it was 3 days of typical "sydenferie" Ha Ha

After spending the night on airplanes & Melbourne airport, I landed in nice & hot Cairns At the hostel I took a quick shower and then got my ass to the postoffice. F i N A L L Y got to send "snusen" to Marte and a package full of gifts home to Norway When that was done I went shopping in a japanese store I got dressed up in Kimonos with shoes and the girl working there even put my hair up fun experience in Australia.... Ha Ha After eating a very tasty burrito at a Mexican Restaurant, I went to the cinema. "Miss Potter" is a cute movie
The next day I was picked up 7:30 in the morning after only 2 hours sleep....so the start of my 2 day trip to Cape Tribulation was sleeeeepy but I did wake up for our first stop "Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary" very nice place Then we drove to the centre of Port Douglas. After almost falling a sleep again I went off the bus when it stopped and a short walk at Mossman Gorge -scary bridge!!!- before lunch. When we arrived at the river we jumped on a boat and saw a middle-sized crocodile on land, crabs in the mud, a frog in the tree, a young(small) crocodile and then big 4,5 meter long crocodile next to the boat... cool!!!
In Cape Trib I stayed at The Beach House - a jungle right down to the beach. Next day I enjoyed the jungle, beach and pool Back in Cairns I had some dinner before I went to the movies again. This time I watched the very good "Notes on a scandal".

Tuesday 6 february I got picked up by WesternXposure outside my hostel. There was the usual toilet & brekky-stop before our first tourist attraction..The Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. Cool!! Before sandboarding we had lunch at a cosy little beach at Green Head We stayed the first night at Kalbarri. And the next morning we had to get up at 05:00AM!!!!......crazy!!!! We saw the sun both rise & set that day That early early morning we drove to Murchison River Gorge in Kalbarri National Park, where we saw Z-bend gorge & Natures Window. Nice!! After lunch, at one of those "roadhouses" along the road, we went to Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. There we saw heaps of rocks that's alive...."Stromatolites"...Not that they did anything that proved it.... Ha Ha Before we reached Denham, where we stayed the night, we had a stop at beautiful Shell Beach just a little bit too shallow to swim...
Since we already was in Shark Bay World Heritage Area we only had a short drive to Monkey Mia. Which is famous for it's dolphins & pelicans...at least the pelicans should be HaHa We had a barbielunch with the emu's before we left to go see some sharks from Eagle Bluff Lookout. We stayed the night at Coral Bay, so the next day we could do whatever we wanted. I enjoyed the amazing beach We drove further up to Exmouth that day. The day after our first stop was Vlahming Head Lighthouse, then we found heaps of info at the Visitor Centre. And since we already was in Cape Range National Park we had a look at Yardie Creek and enjoyed Turquoise Bay - lunch, swimming and snorkelling over Ningaloo Reef. For dinner we had B U R R I T O yummi yummi yummi!! Since it was Kat's(Belgium) birthday we also had balloons, hats and trumphets Nice night! The following day was the longest drive. We drove all the way from Exmouth to Northbrook Farm Stay. First thing we did the next morning was to go visit Prince Leonard & Hutt River Province very cool!!! I got new stamps in my passport... The prince itself guided us around his province & told us a whole lot in a short time. Right outside the border Sarah(our driver & guide) picked up a bobtail lizard to show us. Weird little creature that was biting it's own tail... Ha Ha Further down, towards Perth, we stopped at Greenough Wildlife Park where we fed & had a look at different animals, and had lunch. In Perth I had dinner with Laura before I went to the airport, flying to Cairns.

Oh my...laura sorry I just had to steal them :D

it such a long time agooooo hilarious :D

fun fun fun

I didn't really do much in Adelaide before my trip with Surf'n'Sun. Which I went on wednesday 31 january, got picked up by our guide, Simon, early in the morning. After picking up everyone, a nice group of 13 + 1 guide, we drove off to Middleton Beach. Where we caught some killing waves
Afterwards we had a barbie in the bosses frontyard before we drove to Victor Harbour. There we saw Sealink - the most expensive ferry!!! While we jumped in two fishing boats It was like a rollercoaster over to Kangaroo Island HA HA fun fun fun when we got save on land we were soaking wet...at least parts of us HA HA
On our way to Surf'n'Sun's camp/farm on Kangaroo Island, we stopped at a nice lookout where Simon told us about the islands history & what kind of animals we'll most likely to see. And which ones we would really want to see - as they are older than the dinosaurs....

The reason Kangaroo Island got the name they do, is because when the white fella asked the aboriginals "What are they called"and pointed at the kangaroos. The aboriginals didn't understand and said "kangaroo" - which means "I don't understand" & the white fella thought that was what it was called....
And kangaroos definitly do act as they don't understand when they run in front of each and every car driving past them....

After dinner at the camp/farm we went to look for pinguins. Tiny tiny pinguins cute as...
The next morning our first assignment was to take photos of the Remarkable Rocks, which we did very well. We played some rollercoaster again, this time with the 4wd van fun fun fun before we had a look at New Zealand fur seals. nice!!
Right before lunch, we had a stop at Flinders Chase Visitor Centre(the best one I've seen so far ) After lunch we enjoyed the beach by sunbathing, swimming, sleeping, snorkelling and playing.

What a wonderful life

After getting sunscreen and saltwater on our bodies, we drove off to Little Sahara for some S A N D B O A R D I N G!!!
Our last day on Kangaroo Island, we went on the "Hanson Bay Hike". After a few small lookouts(the nature made itself) and a little bit of wildlife(guana, echidna etc.), we found Simon sitting by the river and enjoying his drive to the other end of the hike(while we had walked for 3 hours ) hahaha
Our hike ended by the ocean, and we got to see some amazing white beaches We had lunch back at camp and Simon made us get time for Australia's no.1 beach
I can definitly get the no.1 about that
Simon dragged us off the beach - he had to - cause we had an appointment at Seal Bay. There we went down on the beach where the seals were, with out own personal guide. nice nice nice
Our drive from Seal Bay to Penneshaw was one big party!! Loved it!!
Since our two fishingboats didn't show up, we got to take the expensive Sealink-ferry back to Victor Harbour.

Right before I was about to leave Adelaide, I had an interesting experience...
I was a hairmodel for Toni&Guy on the Hair & Beauty SA Expo. Which was fun fun fun and free colour & cut

This is what I did on the morning of 4 february :D

fun fun fun

And with the stage-make up still on I took a bus to the airport, where I had the best meal

Once again I left Sydney before my visitor got on her plane back home to Norway...(Am I a bad host...)
This time I went to Melbourne, Victoria. Melbourne is definitly a place I'll go back to, for sure!!! Good shopping, nice gardens & parks and just a goodlooking city
From Melbourne I left for Devonport, Tasmania with "Spirit of Tasmania". Nice ride!!
On land in Devonport, I jumped on the Adventure Tours bus going on a 3 day tour down the east coast to Hobart. First stop was a brekky stop. yummi!! A bit later we stopped at Bridestowe Lavender Farm where I tried one of their blueberry & lavender muffin... Very interesting taste...quite good After a barbie-lunch, Bruce, our ATA-guide started telling us a story about a little town:

The story
During WW1 a lot of Australians went to Europe to save the world. And the same was 3 brothers from a tiny town in Tasmania. They left their mum thinking they were going on the adventure of their life. The woman was heartbroken watching all her children leave to fight in the war.

During the war there was a little man on his little horse travelling with yellow envelopes in his bag. In these envelopes was the soldiers name, place and how he died and where he had been buried.

The woman prayed and prayed that the man would not stop at her house. She watched as he stopped at other houses. And she felt extremely sorry for those he stopped at, but was reliefed everytime when he didn't stop at her door.

In France, Australia lost more men than France itself...

One day the woman watched as the man on the back of his horse stopped outside her house. She opened the door with tears running down and you can only imagine how heartbroken she was when he held out 3 yellow envelopes for her...
All her kids had died in the war.

In memory of the soldiers the town planted an alley of trees, which grew big and strong.
But a couple of years ago a branch fell down on the road, so the trees where getting dangerous, and it was decided that they where going to be cut down. The people of the town did not like this. They called for a guy that used a long time cutting down the trees. But the trees they finally were cut down and this is what he left:

war memorial 01
war memorial 02
war memorial 03
war memorial 04

I absolutely loved this story

On our way to the beach house in Bicheno, we stoppe at a waterfall - very nice - and a white beach with turquise water, crystal clear - very very very nice!!!
We also drove through the town that suffered the most from the bushfire right before christmas 2006. The fire had just kept on till there was nothing left to burn, right down by the water. Sad sad sad 80% of Australia's bushfires are lit on purpose...and so was this as well...How sad is that...

The next day we started by walking up Mount Amos, which ended up more like climbing fun fun fun At the top we had a great view over Wineglass Bay +++

"Wineglass Bay is such a romantic name of a beach, but it got it's name years ago when they used to drag the whales up on the beach and cut them up there. Having all the blood running down the beach, looking like red wine...Wineglass Bay"

After the walk/climb/slide we jumped in the freezing water at the beach where we had barbie-lunch yummi!! After cleaning up we drove all the way to Port Arthur. After dinner some of us went on a Ghost Tour down at Port Arthur Historic Site, with Todd as out guide. Interesting true stories, but not very scary(not even close to London...)
The next day we had all morning till lunch to explore Port Arthur Historic Site on our own. After lunch we drove to "Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park" where we fed Tasmanian Devils, roos and wallabies. And then we headed to Hobart, where the Adventure Tours trip ended.

On 29 january I got a plane to Adelaide, South Australia.