Nick’s world tour

What must be the shortest bus ride in the past 9 months, 2 hours north of Mission Beach is Cairns. The sky clouds over as we leave and is appropriately raining as we pass through Innisfail, a small village which apparently is the wettest place in all of Australia. 

Cairns is a popular town which is completely geared towards tourism, as the main place for exploring the far north of tropical Queensland. The town itself is all low rise, with a long grassy esplanade along the mudflats (no beach here) leading to the swimming lagoon and the pier area with all the million dollar yachts. Read the rest of this entry »

I left Townsville early morning for a short ride north along the coast to Mission Beach. My mission (ha ha) whilst here was to do nothing for a couple of days, by way of recovery from spending three days getting to the coast. Read the rest of this entry »

I was going to take the weekly Desert Venturer bus down the backroads, stopping off at outback ranches and old pubs, to the east coast and the town of Cairns. But they cancelled it. So my only option is to knock a few thousand km from my Greyhound pass and spend 36 hours in the 55 hours on the bus. It was as much fun as it sounds. Read the rest of this entry »

That was a mission, half the height of the country in one go. Now back in the tropics, Darwin is a tiny little city, and the capital of the Northern Territory. Destroyed with varying degrees of success over the years by wars and cyclones, it’s a modern place next to some nice beaches. There’s not much to do in the town, as most attractions have ended due to the impending wet season. The Wet hasn’t started yet, and it’s not too humid either. Though the flies are very persistent, taking a liking for eyeballs, nostrils and flying in your mouth when you’re eating. Read the rest of this entry »

After a sleepless 24 hours we left CP and headed into the Northern Territory (ok, we go north, and it’s ANOTHER time zone?!) for the town of Alice Springs, or Alice.

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Most of the population live near the coast, perhaps explaining why Aussies are so cheerful and relaxed about everything. But the real country is the outback, so after travelling west, half way along the South Coast it’s time to make a sharp right turn at Adelaide and head north up through the “Red Centre”. Just on the northern edge of South Australia is Coober Pedy. This is a weird kind of place, and made for an interesting stopover.

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Just north of Adelaide is the famous Barossa Valley home to many wineries, including that of Jacob’s Creek, everyones favourite Special Offer wine in Tescos.

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We roll into Adelaide early, and have to wind our watches back half an hour… and dispose of any fruit or veg we might be trying to smuggle across the state border. They do take quarantine quite seriously here. Being mean, I force a few oranges down my throat so as not to waste money…

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When I arrive at 5am, it’s very very cold. I’m lucky I booked ahead as everywhere is very busy as it’s the Melbourne Cup. Read the rest of this entry »

The first bus journey went well, though it wasn’t helped by being incredibly tired from a late night. I arrived late afternoon in Canberra and there was a hint of sunlight. Just a bit, though still a cold wind. I checked into a rather brand sparking new hostel in the centre and went for a wander. Read the rest of this entry »