Just when I thought our chance has passed

Some pics from the last few days of the trip.

Lunch on a Sunday afternoon in Syndey.

The Island we spent 4 days on.

Fishing on the Whitsunday Islands. I caught 1 fish, and also hooked a sea turtle but it got away.

Magnetic Island.

Beaches

Since Port Douglas we've spent 4 days in Cairns, about 4 days in Magnetic Islands, and are leaving for the Whitsunday Island Tomorrow.

In Cairns I did a day scuba trip on the Great Barrier Reef. It was a pretty good dive all around, saw a few clown fish. The Reef is absolutely huge. We had to take a boat ride for about 2 hours off the coast to get there. When we arrived you could see the water breaking over the top of the reef as far as your eye could see in both directions. After I got up from my dive the tide had gone out and created what looked like a huge sandbar in the middle of the ocean.

So the next day we headed to a place called Magnetic Island. We camped out about 5 minutes off the beach and pretty much spent most of the days hiking around in the morning then sitting on the beach all afternoon. One of the bays had a huge rock, I'd guess about 25 feet high into the ocean. Micah and I climbed up to see if we could jump off it, then two Ozzie guys came up behind us and jumped off as if it was nothing. Micah jumps off and immidiately looks up to me and yells "wow that was scary". Of couse now I realize I have to jump off. So I did, of course while screaming the whole way down. Also we did a hike and saw a baby Koala. Probably the cutest thing in the world other than Beau Marley and Lilly. Also we had to say bye to our friend Darina who had been living and traveling with us for the past few months headed back to Dublin. We replaced her with our friend Paul from Melbourne, also from Dublin.

After Magnetic Island Micah and Jenni and I did another dive about 100 KM south. Its called the Yongala, it was a ship wreck from 1911. They advertise it as Australias Titanic. However the dive was at 100 ft down, and we had to do some new SCUBA training before they'd let us go down there. On the first dive I was a little freaked out because I couldn't see land in either direction and the dive was so low I could see the bottom from our boat. After a little calming by the dive instructor I made it down. But I had some ear problems from the depth and I couldn't do the second one. Got to see a sea snake and a huge grouper on the first dive.

Now we are in Wetsunday Islands. Tomorrow we are getting on a boat with enough food and water to survive on a desterted Island for three days. Supposesly we should be 5 of 12 people on this entire Island. Saddly though we will have to spend 4th of July without fireworks.

Port Douglas

We made it across the Outback for the last time. We got upgraded to a 5 person campervan in Darwin, so we've been traveling in style for the past few days. However Saturday I shall continue to be homeless, but now also carless.

So far Queensland is really nice. Reminds me a lot of Hawaii. Its very tropical and mountainous. Its also been our best swimming experiences. We done the beach, where the water was finally warm, and a waterfall in the mountains, which was pretty much as cold as water can be without your body automatically swimming to shore and getting out once you've jumped in.

We are in Port Douglas today, which is way too nice of a place for us to be walking around . I haven't showered in 6 days, unless you count the ocean and the waterfall (which I do). And my shirt is inside out to promote 2 days of additional wearing.

Tomorrow we turn in the campervan and begin the greyhound / backpacking journey to Melbourne. We have a hop on hop off ticket and there are about 30 stops from Cairns to Melbourne, so the only prolonged bus journeys days should be narrowed down to a day from Brisbane to Sydney, then a day from Sydney back to Melbourne.

The joys of traveling

So turns out the lowest we could fix the car for was $1,500. The closest clutch was in Brisbane and would have to be flown in. So after much diliberation, we sold the car for $500 and are renting a camper van to drive to Cairnes, then greyhound busing it from Cairnes back to Melbourne.

Its sad to see Logan (our car) go, but it will be also nice to change the trip up a little bit.

Next stop, Great Barrier Reef.

Darwin/Kakadu

Sorry not a lot of time for any commentary. We made it to the Darwin. All the way across the Outback. However the station wagon now has no clutch, so we are working on getting it repaired. Not a bad place to be stuck but still annoying.

Central Australia

We spent the last 3 days on a group tour of Central Australia. The Highlights; Ularu, The Olgas, and Kings Canyon.

This is Kings Canyon.


The bottom of Ularu

Me in front of Ularu
Ularu at Sunset
The Olgas
Ularu is the largest rock in the world. It may look like a mountain of dirt but actually is one solid rock.

Outback

We have begun our 3,000 Km journey from Adilaide to Darwin. Actually we are half way there with 1,500 Km of the Stuart Highway behind us.

Some highlights...

This is the road we are on. 3,000 Km of nothing but straight roads and outback. Usually there is a roadhouse with gas every 200 Km. We pass a car about once every 10 minutes.

Stuart Highway Road train. Yes that is a 62 wheeler.


Our first night we spent in a town called Coober Pedy. Its the opal mining capital of the world. Since it gets to over 140 degree in the summer, everyone lives underground in the old opal mines.

Also a few movies based on other planets were filmed here. This is a prop from Pitch Black.
The Catholic Church, also underground.
We stayed at a campsite built from an old opal mine.