George’s Adventure

Saturday 7th October 2006

Darwin is extremely hot. Did you know that Darwin is the most likely place to suffer lightening and thunder in the world? Interesting I thought. Since we have been in Darwin we have been enjoying being in one place for more than one or two nights and our hostel is great as it has a swimming pool to keep us cool in this swealtering heat. On Thursday we visited the library and Government buildings, mainly to take advantage of the free internet but the buildings are impressive anyhow. On Friday we went to Mindil Beach in the evening. We got there just in time to see a beautiful sunset of yellows and reds. There were so many people about too which made the night markets very atmospheric. They had every stall imaginable and more. Lots of jewellery stalls and food galore (you could eat all night if you wanted to) and different bands playing. One band named Em Dee were particulary good. There was a guy showing us his whipping skills and for a small price you could have a go yourself. I bought some new sunglasses as I lost my others on Fraser Island. There was also a little stall called Road Kill cafe where we tried kangaroo, which tasted just like beef, and crocodile, which I actually had no interest in trying but Janine was absolutely loving in and really wanted to so I had a bit, and eeew it tasted like chewy chewy fat chew – not nice at all to me and I couldnt help thinking the meat tasted a bit old. Yum! While we were at the market we also visited a man called Manfred. He told me my fortune using tarot cards and reading my palms. Very interesting! I have never had my fortune told before so it was quite exciting and I enjoyed every moment of it. I wont say too much about what he told me as we could be here for hours, but my future looks bright anyway. Yay! Last night we sampled some of the local nightlife and said goodbye to Brian and Anne-Marie who drove us up to Darwin from Townsville.

Thursday 5th October 2006

I have now reached Darwin and what a hard slog it was to get there.  Looking at a map of Australia you would be forgiven for thinking that it wouldnt take that long to get from Cairns to Darwin…oh no no no my friends, not only is it soooo hot and sticky in the back of a Ford Falcon with another 3 people in the car but it takes forever and the road is just one straight line.  There is only so many termite hills, red soil and trees that can amuse one. Hmmm.

Well, the road trip didnt start quite as expected.  On Sunday 24/9 we caught the ferry from Magnetic Island back to Townsville where we put all our bags into big lockers at the ferry terminal so that we could explore Townsville and catch the Greyhound bus later on that night.  We went to ‘Flanders Mall’ where they had a few market stalls up and visited the art gallery which was really good.  They had an exhibition by Lee Harnden who is a grafitti artist but his prints look just like fine art paintings – amazing what you can do with a spray paint (yes Dad i can imagine the look on your face and the mumblings of the amount of grafitti about and having to get it off the green box over the road….yes yes).  Anyway, the best thing about this art gallery is that the ground level is dedicated to participation.  There is a room filled with empty cardboard  boxes for you to make houses, there is a corner for drawing and colouring (yes i did do this), and best of all – there was a lego room.  Wicked!

Once we had finished being creative for the day we went for a long walk along ‘The Strand’, nothing like London’s street i might add, and then headed back to the bus/ferry terminal to catch the bus to Cairns.

Cairns is a very touristy place, I was surprised by this.  It was made better by being able to meet up with some people we had met on the Whitsundays and by the fact that Cairns has a lagoon.  This is again, just a big swimming pool but its great to sunbathe and swim when it is so hot.  We had a free night in one hostel and then had to move to another hostel to take advantage of a discounted night.  What an effort.  Just to move hostel it took us an hour to walk to the other one with all our bags and massive rucksack in the heat.  It was a nightmare.  Just to find out that when we arrived at the hostel, we couldnt check in until 12.30pm.  Greeeat!

From Cairns you can visit Cape Tribulation.  We did a day trip allowing us to see ‘where the rainforest meets the reef’.  We had morning tea and biscuits at the Daintree River where a boat took us on a little cruise and we spotted crocodiles on the river bank.  We did a botanical boardwalk where our guide talked to us about buttress roots (my brain was trying to remember some of that Geography A-Level stuff and it was starting to return).  We had lunch at a jungle village and visited Mossman Gorge, a beautiful place where you can swim – if only the water hadnt felt like an ice box i would have jumped right in.  On the way back we stopped off at Port Douglas for half an hour.  This is a lovely little place where some of the stars holiday.

We began our roadtrip on Thursday 28/09.  We met a couple called Anne-Marie and Brian on our Whitsunday trip and they mentioned they were driving to Darwin.  Janine and I soon persuaded them that they couldnt possibly leave without our sintilating company.  We stopped off at Mission Beach for lunch, made a slight detour to The Girrigun National Park to see the Wallaman Falls, and only reached Townsville on the first day.  Janine and I had already visited here as you know so we were keen to get going the next day but it didnt begin well as the car had to go in for a service which took longer than expected so we didnt set off until well into the afternoon on Friday.  We passed through ‘Charters Towers’ – Queenslands second largest city which was referred to in its heyday as ‘The World’.  We then got to Hughenden and stayed the night here.  As we left Hughenden on Saturday 30/09 we saw Kronosaurus Korner where they have a giant dinosaur with its mouth open which you can sit in.  They have found many fossils in these parts to indicate that many dinosaurs roamed these areas – they now cover even their bins with dinosaur feet.  Funny really.  For lunch we stopped at ‘Julia Creek’.  This was very eerrie.  All i could hear was the sound of me biting into my sandwich and chewing.  Very quiet town.  We ended the day in Mt Isa.  Apparently you are only an Aussie when you have visited here.  Janine and I walked to a lookout point and watched the sunset over the town.  We also met a guy in a hat and boots who told me he was a ‘real’ cowboy and did a pretend shoot with his gun.  That was quite funny too.

On Sunday 01/10 we went from Mt Isa to Camooweal.  We had lunch here in a cafe that charged extortionate prices because it could.  They had books for sale saying ‘1 book for 3 dollars or 2 for 6 dollars’.  What a saving!!  We went on to pass ‘Georgina River’ and then reached the border and passed into Northern Territory.  We stayed the night at Tennant Creek where in the evening we watched some aboriginal people play some music and sing.  On Monday 2/10 we reached Katherine.  On the way we say a bush fire – Janine was asleep and missed the whole thing.  The next day we finally arrived in Darwin.  We passed ‘George Creek’ where we took a ‘ten minute scramble’ as the guidebook said, to a waterfall.  It was so hot I felt like jumping in the falls.

We are now in Darwin.  Our hostel has two swimming pools and it is such an intense heat here so yesturday we just lounged on the beds by the pool and cooled off by swimming.  We have booked all of our trips down to Adelaide now and we leave on Sunday for those.  

Monday 25th September 2006

Ok I am really not a happy bunny.  Just checked my blog and I have this notice leaping out at me:

"Maybe you noticed that your blog is missing posts dating back to August 17th? Or that your ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tuesday 15th August 2006 

This is our final stop in New Zealand which is a real shame.  I have really enjoyed every moment of it here.  At the moment we are in Christchurch which is the second largest city in New ... [Continue reading this entry]

Here are just a few things I love about this place.....
"Sweet as"
"Parks"
"Bro"
"Ay" (used at the end of every sentence!!)
"Heaps" (used for lots or loads)
Pies!
Fush and Chups
The cleanest beaches
Skydiving
Bungy jumping
Hot ... [Continue reading this entry]

Monday 7 August 2006 I am now in Dunedin. It is New Zealand's second city after Christchurch (which I am heading to soon). It is home to NZ's first university so it has lots of young people walking around ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thursday 3 August 2006

Since I last wrote we have been on a day trip to Milford Sound.  It is fiordland and it is beautiful.  The mountains are unbelievable, covered in snow and surrounded by greenery with trees and the lake.  ... [Continue reading this entry]

Friday 28 July 2006 We arrived in Queenstown this evening so tonight we are planning to PARTY!!!  This is the town fit for a Queen....it is very cool here.  I have booked my Nevis bungy....just have to decide when I want ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tuesday 18 July 2006

Woo hoo!! Yes I have jumped out of a perfectly good plane at 12,000 feet for no apparent reason and it was truly AMAZING! I have to admit I did feel a little nervous before I ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sunday 16 July 2006

In Rotorua we went zorbing. This consists of jumping like superman (or superwoman in my case) into a very large plastic ball filled with, thankfully, warm water. Janine and another girl we met at our ... [Continue reading this entry]