Cairns (07 Jul – 03 Aug)

The rest of my time in Cairns I just spent enjoying the great weather and the nice people I have met. Big shout out to two guys from Hamburg Andre and Robin and to two fellows from NSW Mark and Jules.

YHA in Cairns

Cape Tripulation (Jul 04-05)

Next day I went on a trip to Cape Tripulation to experience the Tropical North of Queensland.

Cape Trip is as far north as the common backpacker gets. Although there are a few towns further north, there is not much to see and so almost no one goes there. Hence I have finished the East coast now and can tick that on my itinerary too.

On the first day I got picked up at my accommodation and we drove to the Daintree National Park. The “scenic” drive there was really nice. According to the guide this road is second best after the Great Ocean Road.

First up was a cruise on the Daintree River to spot some crocs in the wild. We managed to see quite a few. Biggest one was about 2.5 metres lying on the bank and taking a nap. It was a cloudy day and so most of the crocodiles were in the water rather than taking a sun bath on the banks. There are supposed to be about 80-100 crocs in that river. 

Daintree River

Croc lying on the bank

Cairns (Jun 26 - Jul 3)

It’s hard to describe how you feel returning from a 3-day-trip with 11 dives. You feel more than knackered and so it took me some days to recover. Basically every muscle in my body hurt and I would never have expected it to be that strenuous.

So I took it easy, relaxed for some days, updated this blog and watched the 8^th season of 24.

After some days Suzi checked in at the YHA and so we brought each other up to speed what we have been up to since Rockhampton. We sat down and the next time I looked at my watch it was 4.5 hours later. She was also on Maggy but stayed at the other side of the island to do the open water course. Unfortunately she left for Asia some days later and I will most likely not see her on this trip again *sob.

The next day we went for a walk on the esplanade and noticed some ukulele players on a stage. It was the 2010 Cairns Ukulele festival. 

Festival banner, look at those sponsors. Accor and KPMG are apparently everywhere ;-)

Great Barrier Reef (June 23-25)

Having just checked in at the YHA in Cairns I inquired about a trip to the GBR to get to the next level in scuba diving, the advanced open water certification, when I was told that the next course was to commence the next day at 6:20h and that all the courses for the following days were fully booked already. Nice, that gave me 9 hours to do all my laundry, get rid of some more stuff to lighten my backpack and to recover from a 7 hour bus trip. Still, I was really eager to get in the water again and so it was easy to put up with a little less sleep although I knew I had 11 dives in 3 days ahead of me.

Our boat was a purpose built multi million Dollar scuba vessel with about 80 gross tons skippered by a 22-year-old.

Our boat: ScubaPro II

 Our scuba gear for the trip

Magnetic Island (June 20-22)

…or Maggy as it is also called is just 20 minutes off Townsville and is supposed to be the best location to see koalas in the wild. As a matter of course I missed them.

 Leaving Townsville for Maggy in a very nice cat

Townsville (June 16-20)

Townsville is the second largest city in Queensland with about 160k citizens and a lot of military presence in the area. 

So it is not unusual to see fighter planes breaking the sonic barrier over the city. It is also the gateway to the famous Yongala wreck. This is supposed to be one of the top dive site in Queensland but since I cant afford the GBR and Townsville it wasn’t hard to dismiss the Yongala. Still I would have loved to dive that wreck.

Townsville was one of the few places where I didn’t sleep at the YHA. I stayed at Reef Lodge instead which was recommended by Lonely Planet and the night in a 3 share dorm was just 22 bucks. Finally I have come that far north where you don’t have to put on any long clothes anymore and where you can stay up late just wearing shorts.

My room mates were the nicest couple I have ever come across on my trip so far. Grant and Sara from just outside of Belfast were working at a CD/DVD sale in Townsville and planned on staying there for three weeks. I watched the game Germany-Serbia (fu*king hell that sucked) with Grant and was impressed how much he knew about football. We spent entire evenings just talking about stuff and if you ever hear me saying [nei] instead of now then you know where I got it from ;-)

On the way to the hostel I noticed that the rubber on my suitcase wheel became loose and by the time I reached the hostel the rubber was completely gone and the wheel was about to break off. So unfortunately the suitcase just made it a little under 2 month before I had to replace it. In order to prevent that from happening in the future I decided to buy a proper backpack which proofed to be more difficult than expected. I checked out the local stores but those either didn’t have what I was looking for or the rucksacks (they actually use that word) were too dear (another word Grant uses frequently) . Therefore I had to take the bus to the suburbs. A clever bloke would have done that on any day between Monday and Saturday but I watched some movies I got from Sara instead and so decided to go shopping on a Sunday. N1.

I guess I don’t need to tell you how long I had to wait for the busses to get me to and from the store. Anyway, in the end I got what I wanted and so I am now [nei] a proud owner of a BlackWolf CedarCreek 75+15. They had a big sale on and I got the $330 backpack for $175.

Downsizing from 130 litres or however big my suitcase was to 80 litres was quite difficult and it took me quite long to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. In the end I had to let go of a pair of trainers, a sweater, a pair of jeans, my Lonely Planet Eastcoast, lots of ducuments and flyers, my sailing books and my beloved Gnuf hoody (courtesy of Pokerakedmie.com). Sorry for that, Micha. That hoody was really good but since I had never used it Down Under there was no sense in keeping in.

I almost cracked my bones putting on my new backpack and so I had to throw out more stuff in Cairns. From now on I am a genuine backpacker.

Enough of that bag and back to Townsville: There is the only living coral reef on display in the Reef HQ but as I will get to see that myself first hand in Cairns it was probably smarter to save the money. I would have loved to take a look at it, though.

Instead, I climbed castle to get a good view over the city. 

 Castle Hill

Airlie Beach (The Whitsunday Islands) June 12 – 16

Sailing the Whitsundays is one of three must-sees in Queensland. The other two being 4WDing on Fraser and diving in Cairns.

 The Whitsundays consist of more than 70 islands

Fortunately I just got the boat I was looking for. It was a catamaran (LOA: 15m, Beam 9m) with diving on board at a standby rate saving me $150. They crammed 21 people + 4 crew on board and so there was a snug atmosphere but still quite enjoyable.

All the sheets and sails were operated with hydraulics and so there was not much we could do to help the skipper. The swell picked up and so it was quite a bumpy trip with at least half the passengers getting sick on the way to the Whitsundays.

Rockhampton (June 9-12)

Unfortunately there is only one Greyhound bus out of Agnes Water (the second big coach company Premier Motor Service doesn’t even bother to go there) which is at 9 pm and so we were due to arrive Rocky at midnight. I phoned up the YHA in Rockhampton and they deposited my room key in their safe for me to pick up. Of course there was no taxi at the bus terminal and so we had to wait 20min for one to show up.

I met Suzi again in Agnes and it turned out she also wanted to stay at the YHA. Apparently we just keep bumping into each other. Together with a Dutch guy we shared a cab to go to our accommodation. The Dutch guy wanted to give me the money for the taxi later, he probably just forgot to do so ;-)

The YHA receptionist was a nice bloke from the Philippines. He showed me some cords on the ukulele (it is actually not tuned like a guiar), let me play his guitar and recommended a great restaurant.

I met Kevin from Noosa again (as everybody is travelling in the same direction and since most backpackers stay loyal to YHA you always meet your fellow travellers again) and we had a look around the city searching for the library for free Internet. The Show was in town (something like the Oktoberfest but much smaller and without the huge tents we are familiar with) and so people used it as an excuse not to work this day. Even the library was closed. I assume you meet more people in town on Boxing Day at 06:00 in the morning. The streets were wiped empty.

Since everybody was at the show ground we figured we should at least check it out swallowing hard when the lady said “That’ll come to $15, please”. I would never go to the Oktoberfest if I had to pay $15 admission. WTF???

Anyway, it was just as crowded as the Oktoberfest and so it felt like home.

 as crowded as the Oktoberfest

Agnes Water and Town of 1770 (June 6-8)

As the name indicates in 1770 James Cook came to this nice place and founded the state of Queensland. This is actually the most northern town where you can surf but I didn’t try it. Might save that for Sydney, not sure.

 Agnes Water

It is quite a small town and apart from the beach there is not much to see. Apparently this is a good spot for snorkelling but I will see loads of fish in the Whitsundays and Cairns and so I pointed my attention toward something else.

 Beach in Agnes Water

Hervey Bay (Fraser Island) June 01-06

I had to decide between Hervey Bay and Rainbow Beach as my starting point for Fraser Island. Since I am not the fastest traveller I choose the more northern City.

The YHA Collonial Village is a nice place and it looks more like a camping site than a hostel. Apparently space is becoming less of a concern the further north you go. Even the smallest streets are a lot bigger than back home. The hostel has its own tennis court, ping pong table and a good pool.

My skin deteriorated all of a sudden and so I decided to take it easy for a couple of days to let it get better before going to Fraser Island. Kinda fed up with all these delays and so I need to travel faster from now on.

Initially, I wanted to book a self drive tour on Fraser but as I didn’t feel well during the days before, I chose the guided tour where you can sleep in a hostel room rather than the sandy campground.

Driver was 8 minutes early and so everybody on the bus had to wait for me. Even the hostel staff was already looking for me.

Fraser Island consist of 99% sand and a wee volcanic material. Being 123 km long and 22 km wide it is the world’s biggest sand island and for some reasons different types of forest were able to settle. Depending on how much minerals the trees have already absorbed the color of sand changes every few kms. About 700-2000 Aboriginals (depending on the season) used to live there, but they were deported when the island was discovered by the logging industry.

The shuttle got us down to River Heads where the ferry was already waiting for us. The journey took about 35min and we saw something that some identified as dolphins.

 Fraser Venture

 

Noosa / Australia Zoo (May 28-30)

Eventually leaving Brisbane for good I took the coach to Noosa this morning. Getting out of the bus I was standing next to Suzi (the girl I met on the way to Nimbin) all of a sudden. Was really happy to see her again cuz we had a good time in Nimbin. We checked in at Noosa YHA which is situated in a building dating back to the 19th century. There were no power outlets in the room but it was a lively place with lots of relaxed people. I saw Alex again who I have met in Byron Bay and in Brisbane, I saw Laura who I have met in Surfers etc.

Suzi and I looked around the city and walked around some hours until we were sick of the rain. In the evening there was a meet and greet at the YHA. I haven’t seen that in any hostel I’ve been before. We figured they wanted to sell some tours but as it turned out they just explained the rules and we introduced ourselves over a complimentary glass of wine. I really liked that place and the people I’ve met.

The next day Suzi and I took the free shuttle to Australia Zoo. I wanted to visit the zoo from Brisbane but they didn’t offer free transportation back then. Of course I forgot to mention my YHA membership and so I got charged the full price. N1.

Anyway, the park was not as big as I thought and you could walk from one end to the other in about 35 minutes. Stopping to look at the animals and attending the shows the park took us about 5.5 hours to complete.

I was really excited to see the Australian animals because you usually don’t see them in the zoos back home. Petting the koalas and hand-feeding the kangaroos and wallabies was an amazing experience but then I have always been fond of animals. I have also heard some negative comments on the zoo that I wouldn’t be worth it but I just thought it was great and I would recommend the zoo to anyone. Crickey!!

 Cassowary, Suzi's fav

Surfers Paradise (May 24-26)

Off to Surfers Paradise was today's credo. I decided to take the public transportation rather than the coach to save some money. In the end I travelled for $11.20 from Brisbane to Surfers which is a fair price I'd reckon. On the otherhand it takes twice as long and so I arrived in the evening hours.

After checking in I strolled around the Mariner's Cove Marina and there are some steep boats at these wharfs. Not like Monaco but still pretty impressive. You could book a lot of tours like helicopter rides or fishing trips. I layed my eyes on a jetski safari but I got no time for that.

In the evening I met with some fellow travellers in a pub at the marina for drinks. There were just few Germans around (now that's a first) and mostly british folks. You can quickly become friends with these guys and so we ended up playing cards for hours after the pub closed at 23:00h. One of them even had a guitar with him and so I was able to play a bit too. Feels quite strange after such a long time.

Sea World

The next day I went to Sea World which was ideally located just up the road. The park was bigger than I had expected with widely spread water tanks. The highlights were:

Ray Reef: A small basin full of different rays (sting, fiddler, eagle) that you could touch and hand-feed

white-spotted eagle ray

back in Brisbane

Having enjoyed that shower and my decent meal I bought a 24h Internet voucher to update my blog at last. Sorry for the slight delay in terms of keeping you in the loop. A lot happened within the last 10 days and I had limited Internet recources ;-)

Unfortunately football sucked and I even got up at 4:00h to watch the game online. Had some money on Inter just in case our guys dont make it. I was right eventually but I'd rather have lost that bet. Anyway the double is nice too. At least there are no Italians around who could rub it in.

The exchange rate improved significantly during my sailing trip and so shopping and staying at hostels became just a bit plus bon marché (big shout out to Andi).

2moro I will check out the Gold Coast (I might visit my scuba buddy Nubia) before finally leaving Brisbane heading North. Initially, I didnt want to stay that long in Bris and rather go North but as it turned out I always had something to do around BrisVegas as the locals call it.

Also, I wanted to meet up with Suzi (the girl from the Nimbin trip). She was supposed to arrive in Bris yesterday but I havent heard from her yet. Maybe I'll see her on my way back from Surfers Paradise.

Sailing in Moreton Bay (May 18 - 21)

You guys might remember I was disappointed when I wasnt able to go sailing just before I went off to Byron Bay.

I stayed in contact with John, the skipper of the yacht and on my way to Nimbin I got the ok to start another adventurous sailing trip on Tuesday.

On Monday I travelled back to Brisbane and did some shopping for the trip.

On Tuesday I met with John (66, Aussie) and Liam (26, English) at the marina.

John, great Aussie bloke

this and that

Having done nothing today except watching UK's general election (all constituencies have yet failed to come in but it looks like the tories will make it. Not sure if this is good or bad)  I take this opportunity to note what came to my mind during the last days and weeks that never made it into my blog.

1) Neil Robertson beat Graeme Dott 18:13 in Snookers World Championship and became the first Aussie to clinch the title. It remains to be seen what impact that achievement will have on Australia's snooker but as usual a lot of young kids want to learn the game from now on. The final was even broadcasted live on Australian TV.

2) There are no 1-Cent or 2-Cent coins in Australia and so all the .99-amounts must be rounded when paying at the supermarket check out. Therefore you sometimes will have to pay more, sometimes you will be given a discount of 2 cents. Not a bad idea at all, at least your wallet stays light ;-)

3) I have seen this ad on gumtree the other day and called John straight away to see if there was still a place available. As it turned out I was first and we needed at least another 2 persons to go sailing. So far nobody else called in and John has now cancelled the trip. Real shame since this would have been a true bargain and a great chance to learn new sailing stuff.

4) Since I wont be sailing this weekend I decided to head for Byron Bay. Actually I wanted to skip that location in the first place but Matty basically insisted on me going there ;-).

There is a Padi school and so I thought I should start my dive training. Therefore I will leave Brisbane on Sunday and make my way down south.

5) Havent heard from my girls recently. Drop me a line in the comments section or write me an email. Hope you've been well.

6) It's F1time again. On Sunday the Spanish GP will take place at 22:00h local time. Just hope I will be able to see it and that it will be recorded just as promised (got that little hint, bro ;-))

I am really excited to see how they broadcast the F1here in Down Under. It's probably Webber everywhere.

Had some more on my mind but now that I am actually writing it down I just cant recall. Might complete it on next chance.

Nice to see I have six followers already. Dont hesitate to comment my posts.

The Treasury (May 4-6)

Coming back from my sailing trip I received another refusal from couchsurfing. So I booked some more nights at the YHA where I met three English guys from Cambridge. They were pretty funny and easy going. One of them was interested in learning how to solve a Rubics Cube and so I sat down with him and explained the algorythms to him. They stayed in Brisbane and went to another theme park on the Gold Cost each day. Not sure why they didnt book a dorm down there.

Steward is still in that YHA and this time I got to take a picture of him. He is a real germ.

Steward

Sailing in Moreton Bay (May 1-3)

Getting up at 6:00h is nothing out of the ordinary for me. Ever since I arrived in Oz I went to bed early and consequently got up early too. Of course, when you need to wake up early you could sleep much longer ;-). So I got up a little later than expected and checked out of the YHA. With all my gear packed in one plastic bag, one day pack and my suitcase I boarded the train and got down to Manly once again. Having arrived there I was able to store my suitecase and met my fellow sailors. Phil (skipper), James (lawyer from New York), Scot builder from Brisbane), Darryl (structural engeneer, originally from Malaysia) and Kuan (architect, also originally from Malasia). It was a great team with everyone being very polite and helping out as good as they could.

Our boat was a Jeanneau Odyssey 40 by the name of Capriccio, built in 2001 and owned by our skipper Phil. It is a great boat with a lot of space, four cabins, a nice living area, two steering wheels, a single line reefing system, a furling jib (not entirely sure this is the right word. It would be Rollrefffock in German).

Also it was equipped with a digital speed-o-meter and a gauge for depth, apparent and true wind.

Phil used to be a farmer for most of his life and after he had sold his parents farm he bought this ship for his family. Having saild more than 20k nautical miles with it there was no topic he couldnt give detailed information on. It was really dificult to understand ihs Aussie accent with all these English nautical terms but it was ok by the end of the first day.

Having not sailed for almost 7 months it was a great feeling having 25 knots of apparent wind in your face while standing on a jumping and heeling boat screaming orders to the head sail trimmer.

My body is full of cuts and bruises from tightening sheets and winching jibs.

Special highlight was 3 hours of night sailing on the first day. The helmsman ususally changed every hour and when I took over the wheel at dusk I was the lucky guy to steer until total darkness.

There are not many lights on in the Moreton Bay area and I would have been lost immediately. But Phil makes these trips for some years now and he didnt even need a map to point the right way. He just told me to follow the Southern cross.

What impressed me most was the brightness of the stars. I was warned by Andi but would have never thought it was that remarkable. You could basically see the entire milkyway with the Southern Cross up front (Southern Cross is the stars constellation that is shown on the Australian flag). There were even shooting stars to be seen.

So there I was standing at the helm in 18 knots with the boat heeling at 30 degree and calling the shots, above an absolutely amazing spectacle including shooting stars. I just wonder can it get any better? Is scuba diving in cairnes or skydiving over Fiji gonna beat this?

Me on the bow after just lowering the anchor on our first lunch break

at the helm in 20 knots

40 feet can be quite long when standing at the helm

"Manly, Manly station. Plattform's on the left side in the direction of travel"

I called Southern Cross (the sailing host) to confirm my booking when I was told that the course was full already. I should leave a contact telephone number in case of any late cancellations. Not that easy when you still dont know your Aussie number by heart ;-).

Not expecting any sailing this weekend I went to the agency office to collect some mail. I was sent an email telling me that I have received something. Gladly I got my new debit card including my PIN. Basically I am now set up for leaving the city. There is still an application out there for my tax file number but I dont have to wait for the physical mail and just need to get the agency's email.

While enquiring for a new couch to surf on ( maybe I am successful this time) I received a telephone call from Southern Cross telling me that there was indeed a late cancellation and that I could be on board if I get down there and pay up front.

So I withdrew some money from the bank and made my way down to Manly harbour. Shortly after leaving the train station I got controlled by the conductor. Having not been controlled in Munich for years I decided to always have a ticket from now on. Not that I didnt have one this time but I realized I shouldnt get in trouble in a foreign country over something like a ticket.

kids at a Manly elementary school playing dodge ball in theire blue school uniform

I secured my spot on the boat and went home for an extensive round of washing and packing for the trip.

This sure aint bon marché (shout out to Andi) but I havent been on a boat since Oct 4 and it is just time to get in touch with the element again.

Manly harbour (check out all the masts in the background.

There are more than 4000 boats in this harbour

Farewell my loves

Today I had to say good bye to Nadja und Kati. The girls took the train down south to visit a former co-worker (big shout out to Martina) while I stayed in Brisbane and tried to book a sailing trip. Not sure when I will see the girls again but since all of us are travelling north to Cairnes there will be a good chance that we will meet somewhere along the way.

Too late I realized that I still don’t have a pic of Nadja and her car of dreams.

So Naddel, take a picture and send it to me by mail. My readers demand that pic ;-)

In the afternoon I went east to Manly to look for a sailing trip in Moreton Bay. To my surprise there was just one company offering sail training. But I got lucky and secured the last remaining seat on the boat. It is a 3-day-trip to build up the basics of yachting. Since I only have skippered tiny 4m boats on tideless lakes, it might be a good advice to start at the bottom.

When I walked into my room I met a new roommate named Steward. I introduced myself and was wondering how Steward was doing. Instead of saying something like “allright, how ‘bout ya?” I got a 45 minutes monologue about his “mission” in Brisbane.  He was 79 years old with no teeth in his face and a real thick accent. Another real Aussie bloke and I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. After he noticed I was not a native speaker he adapted and it was manageable to get the gist. He was in Brisbane to have the doctor checked on his heart.

Cliffnotes:
- girls are gone
- Steward

Guided city tour

We went on a free tour through Brisbane today with our guide Ryan. A real Aussie bloke who travelled the world and now hosts guided tours on a tip-only-base. Wearing a Panama hat and flip flops he explained to us the history of the town, how settlement started in the early days and how the aboriginals have been oppressed over the years.

He did a great job telling the stories and answering questions and was rewarded accordingly.

Afterwards I went to the library to upload all the pics and to update this blog. It took ages but you are worth it ;-)