Hi all. Since last writing, we did our tour to the spectacular Great Ocean Road. First stop was one of the top surfing beaches in Oz – Bells beach. We nearly didn’t make it to the twelve apostles due to a eucalyptus tree which fell down blocking the road (quite common apparently!). After a bit of a wait we made it through and it was certainly worth the wait. It was a pretty wild and windy day which made the views more exciting with the waves crashing off the cliffs. We headed onto Loch Ard Gorge which was equally as beautiful a sight.

photo credit: b.i.g.d.u.k.e

We hit the shops yesterday for some retail therapy. It turned into more of a quest to find the most horrendous outfit after trawling through rails and rails of dodgy clothes. I guess the Aussie’s aren’t renowned for their fashion! I did manage to pick up a beautiful pair of Nine West shoes for a real bargain, so all was not lost! So yesterday evening, we got all dolled up in our heels – a rare occurence these days – and toddled off to the theatre to see the musical ‘Wicked’. It was fantastic!

photo credit: yumiang

So it’s our last day in the wonderful land of Oz. We fly to New Zealand this evening. It’s been a blast! We’ve seen a lot of amazing stuff and had a fantastic time here. We’ll miss it! New Zealand – you’ve got a lot to live up to, but we’re hopeful! See you in New Zealand…

Hello from cold, windy Melbourne! We landed in Melbourne on Saturday and checked into a hostel in South Yarra. Met up with John there and we had a few quiet ones back in the hostel. We decided to up sticks and move closer into the city yesterday morning, so once we had found the trusty YHA and dumped our stuff, we spent the rest of the day doing the ‘culture vulture walking tour of Melbourne’. Strolled around the botanic gardens and went on the rickety ‘wheel of death’. We ended up at an aussie rules football game – interesting! Headed out last night in St. Kildas for a few. We had a good laugh and were home at a reasonable hour!

photo credit: MacJewell

Today we went on a day trip to Philip island where we saw the excellent penguin parade. After sunset, groups of cute little penguins come ashore and cross the beach to find their burrows up in the dunes. It’s amazing to watch. They just appear out of the ocean and form in groups of about 20 or so and waddle their way up the beach. They are pretty noisy little creatures too!

photo credit: hughiethethird

Aswell as the penguins, we stopped off at a wildlife park where we got to feed some pretty big kangaroos including a female with a joey in her pouch. Also saw cute little koalas sleeping in the trees, some wallabies and a tasmanian devil. We also went to the nobbies on Philip island, home to the seal rocks and also a few little penguins. It was pretty wild out there – the winter gear has finally come out! So it’s off to the great ocean road tommorrow…better bring the thermals!

Greetings from Sydney. What a fab city! So much to do here. We’re staying in the Ibis hotel which is really central and within walking distance of everything we want to see. We spent Tuesday just getting to know the city and taking in the sites – Sydney harbour bridge, Opera house and got the ferry out to Manly. We also visited Darling harbour and the Sydney Aquarium where we saw some pretty impressive sharks and stingrays, while resisting the urge to throw the throngs of school holiday kids into the tanks.

photo credit: avlxyz

We headed for Palm Beach yesterday where Home and Away is filmed. Unfortunately Alf Stewart and flathead were on vacation in Yabby Creek and we didn’t get to meet them, but the beach is really fab and we had fun chilling out near the surf club waiting for the next drama to unfold…

photo credit: Cre@tivity

We are just back from a day of wine tasting in the hunter valley wine region. We visited Waloombi, Stonehurst and Savannah Estate wineries where we sampled lots of their wines and champagnes – mmm! I think we have slept off the effects on the bus back though! May venture out for a few this evening just to compare wines, now that we are connoisseurs! We are here until Saturday, when we fly to Melbourne for 5 days. Looking forward to that but getting sad that the Oz leg of the trip is nearly over

Hello readers! We are in the lovely, laid back hippy town of Byron Bay where we are enjoying a well earned break from activities and chilling out, which is what everyone seems to be doing in this town! Just spent a few hours on the fab beach and have returned now to the hostel for a bit of internet-ing before we head out for a bite and a few drinks. We had a good time in Brisbane. It’s a lovely city – very busy though! We spent a lovely day strolling around the botanic gardens and then over to South Bank where we went to a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition (culture vultures again!) before taking a spin on the Brisbane wheel to get an aerial view of the city.

photo credit: xamesm

We had a great night out on the town on friday night. We met up with some friends from home and generally had a lot of fun and some sore heads the next morning!
So, it’s on to Sydney on the overnight bus tommorrow evening, after no doubt another day of chilling out on the beach in Byron Bay (it’s actually still quite warm down here, Brisbane got pretty chilly in the evenings). We’ve went all out and splashed out on a hotel in Sydney for 5 nights. Looking forward to the bit of luxury! Champagne backpackers here we come!

photo credit: jaredten

photo credit: butler.corey

Hello from Hervey Bay! Just returned from a fantastic 2 day trip to Fraser island. We left from Hervey Bay on Monday morning and crossed over by ferry to the island. We met with our tour guide and our 4×4 coach that was going to take us exploring for the next 2 days. We went through the middle of the island on the sand tracks and out on to the beach where we parked up and trekked in through the rainforest to lake Wabby, a beautiful lake at the bottom of huge sand dunes. Had a dip there amongst the big black fish!
After this we headed to Eurong beach resort where we would be staying. The place was lovely, right on the beach and the rooms were a little bit of luxury after all the hostels – not that they are bad, we’ve been very lucky so far! Had a lovely buffet lunch and then hopped back on the 4×4 to lake McKensie. This was one of the highlights of the trip. We swam in the gorgeous lake, as Warren our tour guide described it, it’s like ’swimming in a giant puddle’ – freshwater with white sand beneath your feet and no sea creatures! Heaven!
Orla bumped into a girl from Gort, so we hooked up with them for a few drinks in the beach bar later that evening. I entered a pool competition but was knocked out on the second game by ‘old Pete’, one of the local islanders who kept calling me a leprechaun – cheers Pete
It was an early start this morning. We once again headed off in the 4×4 with Warren for an action packed day of adventure. Warren was an excellent tour guide and told us everything there is to know about the island and the rest! We headed off down the beach, stopping to photograph some dingoes. We then had the choice to take a plane ride over the island! Somehow, Orla persuaded me to board the 8 seater plane (think I was still asleep!?) and off we went over the island and the lakes and the ocean. It was well worth it and not a bit scary! The big ones are 10 times worse!

photo credit: Brian Giesen

Afterwards, it was back on the coach where we went off exploring the headlands (Indian head) and spotted some humpback whales jumping up out of the water – cool! We also visited Eli creek and the Maheno shipwreck. On the way back to the ferry, we spotted a huge python on the side of the road – thank God we were on the coach for that one!
So, we’re back in the hostel in Hervey bay. I can’t believe it’s still the same day. We’ve done so much. Hervey Bay itself is very quiet and a very spread out town, so we’ve just stuck to the hostel, which has everything we need – pool, tennis courts, bar, restaurant. So it’s on to Brisbane tommorrow at 9:25 – yippee a lie in for me

photo credit: Rob & Jules

From here on in, the trip was really enjoyable. We spent some time chilling out on the beuatiful Whitehaven beach (one of the top 10 beaches in the world apparently), did more snorkelling, had some lovely meals and watched the sun set before docking for the night underneath the stars. The crew were good craic and we hooked up with 2 nice Scottish girls who we had a few drinks and a laugh with in the evenings. Overall it turned out to be a great trip and a good adventure. So, we’re back at the hostel now after a pretty rough journey back to the mainland. Let’s just say I’m glad to be alive and on dry land again

photo credit: Stephanie Costa

Hello everyone! We kept a low profile yesterday due to overdoing it a little on our last night in Port Douglas on Sunday night. We went to watch toad racing in Iron Bar, a totally weird but hilarious event. The winner is whoever can get their toad from the middle of a table to jump off the edge of the table first, by basically torturing them by blowing a party horn at them to make them move! Yeah, how strange! Very funny though and thank God neither of us got called to do it cause you had to kiss your toad before the race began. Orla did have the courage to pick one up afterwards, but I kept my distance.
Then, it was on to the karaoke bar where I redeemed myself for being a wuss with the toads by singing not 1 but 2 songs! Orla reckons this was a greater challenge than kissing a toad any day! Anyway, we had a good night and gave Port Douglas a good send off. Miss it already!
We are back in Cairns at the moment, killing time before we board the overnight bus down to Townsville. We went on another great tour today. Got the scenic railway from Cairns to the aboriginal town of Kuranda, high up in the rainforests. Passed some spectacular scenery en route including the barron river and falls. Once we reached Kuranda, we had some free time to stroll around the very pretty town before boarding the skyrail cable car high over the top of the rainforest back down into Cairns. This was a brill experience. Breathtaking scenery and only a little teeny bit scary

photo credit: spaceodissey

After the skyrail, being the culture vultures that we are, we visited the Tjapukai Aboriginal culture centre where we got to see some aboriginal dancing, learned how to play the didgeridoo and threw some boomerangs and spears! It was really interesting.
So next stop Townsville. The plan is to stay there for 1 night and then head on to Airlie beach and the Whitsundays. Until next time….

Greetings from Port Douglas, a quaint laid back town about 1 hour North of Cairns. There are a lot of swanky resorts around – apparently a lot of celebs visit here, including ourselves of course!
So today we went on our first official tour to the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation. We boarded our tour bus at 8:45AM with our tour guide Peter, the stereotypical laid back Aussie who repeatedly said things like “kick back and relax guys”, “no worries” and our personal favourite “Toooo easy!”. He was really good though and kept us entertained on the bus.

photo credit: Rob Inh00d

After passing by fields of sugar canes, mango and banana trees and the ‘White Cockatoo’ nudist resort (!), we reached our first stop – Mossman Gorge, on native aboriginal land. We strolled through the forest and waterfalls for a little while before reboarding the bus and heading for the Daintree Wildlife Sanctuary. Here we got to see our first Kangaroos!!!, also some crocs, a wambat (remember Fatso!?) and Arnie the talking parrot.
We grabbed some brekkie here, reboarded the bus, crossed the Daintree river by ferry and headed for the Daintree rainforest, a national listed heritage site and home to the Crossawary birds (big black birds with blue necks), tree dragons, giant butterflies and God knows what else!
After our rainforest walk, we headed on to Cape Tribulation which is basically a beautiful beach in the middle of the rainforests. We had a picnic for lunch beside the beach. Finally, we finished off the day by heading back down to the Daintree river, where we went crocodile cruising! Spotted some pretty big crocs sunning themselves on the banks of the river.

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar

So, we’ve just arrived back at the hostel a little tired to say the least. But no time for sleeping, we are off to see some toad racing in a pub up town! Hmm… Booked on a sailing tour tommorrow out to the great barrier reef so I’ll let you know how that goes. We are going to the low isles, which is where Steve Irwin was killed by the stingray. Hopefully there are none of those guys around

I know it’s the other side of the world, and I knew it was going to be a long journey, but nobody prepared me for just how much flying was involved! We left Dublin at 6PM on Tuesday, 30th June and finally stepped out into the 30 degree Cairns sunshine at 1PM on Thursday, 2nd July (Australia is 9 hours ahead). After numerous reheated, barely recognisable airplane meals, many in-flight movies, trying to catch some sleep here and there (here, I’d like to say a special thanks to my inflatable travel pillow!), security checks, quarantine, immigration and not to forget being sprayed with insecticide before leaving the flight at Sydney!, we finally emerged bleary eyed into the Cairns sunshine longing for a good shower and a nice bed where we could finally stretch our legs. Luckily, our bags made it too, after a good rescue by us when we mysteriously saw them doing the rounds on the luggage belt in Sydney, when they should have been checked through to Cairns. Phew!

photo credit: Sarah M Stewart

Thankfully Cairns airport is only 7KM from the city centre, so we hopped in a cab which transported us to our basic and slightly old-fashioned, yet clean and air conditioned hotel where we had our badly needed showers and had a marathon 16 hour sleep! We had brekkie the next morning and strolled around Cairns, a lovely relaxed place. Just waiting on the bus to pick us up to bring us to Port Douglas and ‘Parrot Fish Lodge’ hostle, which will be our home for the next 3 days. Going to do some tours from there, so looking forward to it. Until next time…