Hot and Sticky in Western Australia

G' day All, Susan here. Yep! Well I have finally gotten off my backside to make a contribution to Pete's fabulous blog.  I can't guarantee it will be as funny or as informative as his, I may ramble on a bit or have a quick chat with the girls half way thru so bear with me...

So we picked up our campervan and headed North, happy to be on the road again.  It's a 'Him' this time and is called 'Morris' (lovingly named after the first 'Box' of wine we had in him).  Our first stop was The amazing Pinnacles Desert, This is made up of thousands of limestone pillars, up to 4 metres tall rising out of golden sand dunes

It's pretty spectacular, even more so considering the surrounding earth is a rich red colour and the neighbouring beaches are snow white...

At this stage I think I should point out that for the last few weeks the average temperature has been between 35 & 39 degrees which is pretty darn hot in the middle of a desert, oh and while I'm at it I may as well mention the Flies.....  Oh yes 'THE FLIES' when people talk to you about Australia the mention the stunning landscape, the  tropical turquoise seas, the great friendly people, they even mention the nasty, nasty, horrible, HUGE (as big as my hand HUGE) spiders!!!  but no one warns you about the flies,  while in the middle or western Oz, as soon as you step foot outside at least 40 flies land on you (it's like a race) luckily for me they get to Pete first due to a certain height factor-poor Pete) then the flies that haven't landed on you are flying AT you, mainly into your mouth, into your ears, up your nose and even trying to balance on your eyelashes... Not good!  Ok that's my rant over for now... Well not quite just a quick word about the spiders.. I seem to have a special gift of seeing them everywhere and they seem to be getting bigger.. and they're always in the jacks, normally Pete would go in and inspect them for me (what would I do with out him he's the best) but the other day I ventured into one (unchecked by my main man) trying to be brave,there was huge spider in it, his body was the size of a meatball!! no kidding, I nearly passed out. Other than that I love Australia....

   Next stop was 'Shell Beach', well when I say next stop I actually mean 3 days later after a very long drive, this is Australia you know.  Shell Beach is one of the longest shell beaches in the world, it is made up of tiny, white cockleshells up to 10 meters deep in some places and the water is luke warm and crystal clear, a great spot for the daily bath...

The beach was almost deserted when we got there, it was beautiful...

From there we when to 'Monkey Mia resort' in Shark Bay to see (yep you've guessed it) Dolphins!!! Go figure? Every morning for the past 10 years wild Dolphins come right up to the shore line and interact with people, of course a few buckets of fish might have something to do with.  It's a bit of a circus during the morning feeding session

 

but is a great opportunity to see wild Dolphins up close..

The resort itself was beautiful, fab beaches, a cool swimming pool where we spent most of the day working on our tans, which are coming along just nicely thanks to the searing heat and the scorching sun!! We even managed to fit in a romantic stroll along the beach for sunset..

The next day it was back on the road again heading north for our final destination Exmouth and the Ningaloo Reef, home to Logger Head Turtles, huge Manta Rays and the amazing 18m long 15 tonne Whale Sharks.  Our plan was to head out on a boat and go snorkelling for the day over the reef in the hope of spotting some of the above... however, this was not to be.  Upon our arrival the clear blue skies quickly changed into dark black clouds, gale force winds, torrential rain which resulted in 'Cyclone Pancho' (No we didn't name it, that'd be the Aussie weather people, wonderful imaginations the Aussie's have).. The eye of the Cyclone was 200km off shore so no real damage was done but the roads were closed due to flooding and the winds were too strong to drive so we were van bound for a few very wet and very hot days, Morris let us down by leaking but then again maybe he was sweating as much as we were in the 80% humidity..  Sorry I've no Photos of the storm but if you saw it you wouldn't get out of the van to take a picture either.  

So that brings us up to date, we are now on our way back to Perth to give leaky Morris back, he's served us well but it's time to move on... in a few days time we will fly to Cairns (pronounced 'Kens' with a high pitched voice) on the East Coast to begin the last leg of our Amazing Australian Adventure... Stay tuned... There are loads of really BIG SPIDERS there so I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about all that...

Now for the girlie bit... Happy Birthday Mam on the 1st April hope you have a great day, lots and lots of love.. Su+Pete. Dad hope your enjoying your well earned rest by rebuilding the house maybe? or just building another one or two for fun? Mmm very relaxing... Daisy Mae so sorry haven't written lately, promise to write soon, hope all's great with you and writing away like a mad thing.x Gillie Gorie thanks a mill for the great email, I'm lovin' all the goss promise to mail you back soon, Jeannette, likewise promise to mail soon, any more thoughts on an early hol???  Maevey Baby any wedding news for me?? Suzy Mogs, how's it going? any goss? Bar and Su, Neal and Gabreilla give Aaron, Zak, Ginavera, Lorenzo a big kiss for me, Pete and Patricia 'how's it goin' bud!, Mr +Mrs Owen+Ruth MaGee (to be) congratulations that is wonderful news,  Eoin and Lucy, nice one on the job front!! Lavinia hope alls well with you,Marco and baby Lucca, Niallo, see ya in Sydney, Martin and Dee, howyanow! Thanks for the Grays Anatomy! A big hello to Pete's parents in Tuam, the Lyons' and Monica in Dunmow, Paul in Auckland (well done with the job), John, julie and kids in Glanmire, Martin and Catherine, hope you're well, how's lovely Sam? taller then his uncle Pete yet? ... Lots of Love Su+Pete. xx

Uluru and Kings Canyon

Hello again! We're back from a three day bus tour to Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) and the Kings Canyon where we roughed it in swags (outdoor sleeping bags) and hiked like we never hiked before in sweltering heat. Actually, due to an arachnaphobic Su, we slept in a tent but we got the gist. We were the oldest people on the bus and got christened Mum and Dad by the tour leader (who was 25) but we didn't mind as what we lacked in youth we made up for in wisdom and experience (yeah right). The group was good old craic and we were able to fulfil our role as parents by given out worldly advice to all the kids about what to do when they got to New Zealand (as most of them seemed to be doing after Oz). We gave them Martin and Catherines address in Hastings so there should be about 20 or so hungry smelly backpackers looking for free food and lodgings in the next few weeks (not really).

Here's a photo of what the whole tour was in aid of:

It's a big rock in the middle of Australia! It's pretty awesome!

We also went to Kings Canyon another day - also pretty awesome! Awesome!!!

Notice our hats - we spent ages picking them out. Mine is made from Kangaroo leather! It's very springy and awesome.

After a bit of a climb down we came to a watering hole (maybe it was a billabong - I don't really know) called the Garden of Eden. Also awesome!

Notice how Su has her hat off in this photo.

So finally a photo of the whole tour group - we had a mix of Irish, Swiss, German, Japanese, Korean and a couple of Italians. For fun, see if you can figure out who is from where. A prize for whoever gets it right:

We has a couple of days in Alice Springs afterwards where I recovered from either a bout of flu or exhaustion from being on a tour where we had to sing songs on a bus for three days (probably the latter). We flew to Perth and what did we see from the plane? Uluru again! We would have been gutted if we paid for a helicopter trip over it just to see it for free from our plane. It was, again, AWESOME!

Off to collect another camper van tomorrow - Hyacinth Mark II. Up and down the West coast over the next couple of weeks.

Oh yeah, belated Happy Saint Paddys day!!!!

The Long Trip

Driving over 1500 kilometres in three days is never easy but that's what we had to endure from Adelaide to Alice Springs. Fair enough, you get some of this:

which is always nice. But most of it is this:

and a lot of this:

with quite a lot of this:

and unfortunately, a lot of road-kill.

However, we endured. Mostly due to the likes of this:

It was windy that day.

And this:

as well as this:

after the days driving was done of course. And this!

The big camper made it a breeze. We highly recommend it! Here in Alice Springs now enjoying the 36 degree heat. We bought hats! Off to Uluru soon!

Melbourne, The Great Ocean Road, and Adelaide

Well now! A busy few days for us! A lot of photos this time so downloading could take a while. We bummed around Melbourne for a few days, taking in the sights and generally chilling out. We are really terrible for not seeing more touristy things in the cities but by the time we get to them, all we want to do is wander around and get a feel for the city itself (and check out the shops). We did make it out to St. Kilda in Melbourne where we topped up our ever decreasing tan. Here's a photo of some kite surfers in St. Kilda:

Some of these guys were flying high into the air - extremely cool!

We got a relocation deal to bring a four wheel drive camper from Melbourne to Adelaide (5 dollars a day!) so we picked up and packed up and headed for the Great Ocean Road. See!

We stopped off at Anglesea golf course as we heard that they had resident kangaroos that lounge about near the fairway. Sure enough:

They say they have to hire a team of young lads to retrieve golf balls from the kangaroos pouches every evening. The kangaroos think that they are duck eggs and collect them for the winter.

Don't believe a word it.

We drove further along the Great Ocean Road stopping occasionally to see the sights and take photos. Here's one of The Twelve Apostles:

There's only six of them left - they're slowly being eroded by the sea. Ahhhhh.

You haven't seen a photo of the new van yet. It wasn't as roomy or comfortable as Hyacinth as you can see:

Cooking outdoors was a bit of a pain but the V8 engine was a lot of fun!

We just managed to eat in time for sundown. And what a sundown it was!

We continued on the next day and drove on towards Adelaide. Here's me in the morning with the van and an empty water bottle (just an excuse to show a profile of the van).

So, we're in Adelaide now where we've spent a few days. The temperature is in the mid thirties but we're not complaining. We getting a six berth behemoth of a camper van tomorrow and we're driving to Alice Springs. It's supposed to have three double beds, a shower, a toilet, an oven, a T.V., loads of stuff! All for 1 dollar a night! Hard to beat! Will update when we get to Alice! Oh yeah - Happy Mothers day to all the mothers out there!

Sydney Australia!

We made it to Sydney! Again, and I know this is becoming a habit, sorry for the delay, but I'm lazy. We ended up staying nearly a week in Sydney as we were glad to be in a big impressive city and out of a camper van for a change. We stayed with the bould Niallo in Manly for two nights. Niallo is a good buddy of mine from Galway and he and his flatmate Ashlee were good enough to put us up for two nights in Manly, which is a swanky suburb of Sydney. Having a real bed to sleep in was bliss! We checked out Manly beach in the morning - a short walk from Niallos place - imagine being able to stroll down to this every morning!

We stayed in a cool hotel in Ultimo for two days afterwards (a belated birthday present from me to Su - we vegged out and ate junkfood... again). We did manage to make it out and wander around Sydney - the highlight for me was Darling Harbour (we went to the biggest IMAX cinema in the world - 8 stories high!). Then we tried the other end of the scale and stayed in Kings Cross - in a room the size of a closet with bunk beds. Couldn't get out of there fast enough really. Didn't bother taking any photos of the roaches or the dodgy television. For a change of pace we booked into a better place in Bondi Beach for two nights - one day of sunning ourselves on Bondi beach (topping up the tan!) and a night on the town with Niallo, starting at the Opera bar (near the Opera House) where we finally managed to take a few more photos:

Su and myself first:

Hmmmm... beer. And the three of us:

Then as night fell (and the fruit bats came out flying overhead - seriously), Su got this one of the Opera House:

There are better things to be doing than taking photos in Sydney - needless to say we had a long and boozey night. You can't beat it. Our plan was to leave Sydney by getting a relocation deal to Melbourne. Relocation deals are when you pay a camper van company a nominal amount of money to relocate their camper van back to it's home depot. You have only a set (small) amount of days to get it there but it's much cheaper than hiring a car and you get a nice camper van to stay in while you do it. The plan was to get one from Sydney to Melbourne, then one to Melbourne to Adelaide, and then from Adelaide to Alice Springs. However, after arriving at the depot in Sydney early in the morning, we were told that the camper van was involved in a crash and we couldn't have it. Bummer. As we still had to make our way to Melbourne and pick up the next camper van from Melbourne to Adelaide (in a few days), we ended up getting an overnight train to Melbourne (not a whole lot of fun trying to sleep with crying babies, not enough leg room etc). But we made it! We're here in Melbourne now but as we haven't even taken one photo, I'll get on the case and update in a day or two. Melbourne is great so far though! The landlady of the hostel we are in at the moment has friends from Tuam! Murphys apparently - had to pretend I had an idea who they were. Great fun!

Milford: Sound!

Sorry in the delay in posting but we have been in the back of beyond without internet access and without sunshine. Yes, the rain seems to have finally caught up with us over the last few days so we've been holed up in the camper van staring out at puddles and reading books. We did manage to make it to Milford Sound before the rain though and it was pretty cool. We stayed in a place called Moke Lake which is near to Queenstown and Su took this nice photo :

The next day we drove to Milford Sound and got on a boat called "The Friend-Ship" for a two and a half hour journey around the Sound (actually not a Sound but a Fiord). I guess the "Good Ship Lollipop" was in for repairs. Here are some photos:

It was a bit cloudy that day but you get the general idea - lots of steep cliffs and mountains on both sides and lots of waterfalls.

We then got back to the camper van to find it dead - we left the lights on but a set of jumper cables soon had us back on the road to a place called Lake Gunn which is near to Milford Sound and I took this as the sun disappeared (little did we know that we wouldn't see it again for a while) :

Yep - so it's been raining pretty much ever since. We celebrated the lovely Su's birthday (she's 21!) with a bottle of bubbley and junk food and we even managed to buy a Mississippi Mud Pie for Valentines day. Believe it or not (especially after the last blog), we still have some left. This is our last evening in New Zealand - we fly out to Sydney, Australia tomorrow for 4 or 5 days of soaking (and I mean soaking) up the sun and getting the chill out of our bones. If the weather isn't good there then a letter to the Prime Minister will be written. A stern letter at that. New Zealand is such a fantastic place, that if you get a chance to visit, do. The people are extremely friendly and the scenery is so good that we have to stop yourself taking it for granted.

Australia here we come!

Extreme Queenstown and Extreme Eating

We've spent the last few days knocking around Queenstown - "Extreme capital" of New Zealand, where you can do everything from Extreme Bungee (up to 134 metres high), Extreme Sky Diving, to Extreme Jet Boating. I had already Bungeed before, and Su had done both a Bungee and a Sky Dive, so after a day of Extreme partying, and a day of Extreme Hangover recovering, we decided to do the Shotover Jet Boating, and the Luge.

The Shotover Jet is a jet-powered boat (3 tons!) that rockets you down the Shotover river at speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour, narrowly avoiding canyon walls, and spinning 360 degrees in it's own boat length! Crazy stuff!

The boat only needs about 4 inches of water to operate on and is powered by twin V6 Buick engines. The twin Hamilton Jet units thrusts out 800 litres of water a second. We recommend it!

Afterwards we got the Queenstown Gondola to the top of Bob's Peak to do the Extreme Luge! Good craic, but tame after the Shotover Jet. The Luge is a three-wheeled cart that you plummet down a winding track on and then get a chair-lift up to for another few go's.

Here is me and Su on the chairlift:

All these activities pale in comparison to what came next. It was time to show these Queenstown folk what "Extreme" really means. Jumping off a 134 metre bridge with an elastic tied to your legs, or jumping 5000 meters out of a plane, or anything else like that doesn't even come close to Extreme Buffet eating. In our defence, we hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast - and they had a deal on. So - we went down the Gondola, changed into appropriate clothing for a dinner out, and went back up the Gondola to eat them out of house and home. It was supposed to be a six-course meal (I counted 7 courses but maybe one was a choice...). Making sure our trousers were nice and loose, we began:

The soup course was first: we had a choice between Mushroom soup and Cauliflower and Blue Cheese soup. Needless to say, I had both. With bread. I know what you are saying "Foolish to fill up with bread at a buffet" and normally you'd be right - but my jeans have been loose lately so I needed to sort it out. And I was only getting started.

Next came the Salad course: I had Green Salad, Pasta Salad, Sweet corn, Potato Salad, Olives, Cous cous, Beetroot, Egg and Rice Salad, Mediterranean Salad, Feta cheese, Jalapenos, and Lardons. It was all very nice. Su was tucking into her main course by this stage.

Next was the Seafood and Cold Meat platter course featuring: Salmon, Mussels, King Prawns (just the one big one for me), Prawn cocktail, Salami, Ham, Pastrami - all served with condiments. Just to clarify - I'm not naming what was available - I'm naming what I had (both the same up to now). Su was getting to the desserts at this stage - which I must admit is her specialty.

Then the Hot Entrees: The choice was Chicken in Capsicum sauce, Pork belly in Honey Sauce, Fish in coconut sauce, Venison curry, and creamed potatoes. So I had Chicken in Capsicum sauce, Pork belly in Honey Sauce, Fish in coconut sauce, Venison curry, and creamed potatoes. The staff were beginning to notice now. And they were beginning to look nervous.

Now for the Hot Carvery: Roast New Zealand Lamb served with boiled potatoes, noodles, broccoli, creamed pumpkin, carrots and peas. Again, very nice!

Don't worry - I had left room for dessert. Su, by this stage, had been through most of the dessert cart and I could see what was available. There was really way too much to mention here but she sampled the Chocolate Mousse (naturally), the Creme Brulee (sp?), the Vienisan Slice, Chocolate Truffle, and the Chocolate/Almond cake.

I went for the Creme Brulee, Pavlova, Choc Mousse, Fruit Salad (for the health), the Carrot Cake (also for the health), Tiramisu, followed by hot Fruit Crumble with Creme Anglais (I had to go up a second time). The plates were clean when I finished. The staff were diving for cover by this stage thinking I was going to explode at any second.

Su was looking a little bit green now so I only made one trip to the Cheese board. It was a little pathetic anyway as all the cheese was a bit mank looking, so I settled on one cracker and some blue cheese, which I crammed into my mouth as Su dragged me away.

There was tea and coffee aswell but at that time of night we thought it might keep us awake. I did manage to break away and grab a banana from the fruit bowl on the way out though.

Can I say to any of my family reading this: if you are ever in Queenstown and plan to have the buffet dinner at the top of the Gondola, don't use the name McGrath to book it as there's a very good chance our name is blacklisted up there. In my defence, we are backpacking and have to stretch every penny...

I do realise the similarities to Homer Simpson though so no need to mention it.