Then, conscious not to outstay my welcome I decided it was time to move on, so headed up the coast. After a 12 hr bus ride, my first stop was the strange little town of Coff's Harbour. Not much to do there, but luckily for me there was a dolphin park so the day was not wasted! Then I carried on to Byron Bay which is known amongst backpackers as a party town. Met a nice girl from Preston and we went out for a few drinks and dinner but the town was full of kids on schoolies (aussie spring break) so we felt about 90 years old!
From there I went on a day trip to a weird little town called Nimbin. Someone had recommended it to me as a good place to go, but as soon as I got on the bus I knew it was a mistake; Nimbin is famous for holding a hippie festival in the '70s and has clung onto this little bit of fame ever since. It is now full of ageing hippies and basically, somewhere you go to buy marijuana. Not my scene at all! So imagine my (quiet) delight when we arrived to see the town crawling with policemen.. mwah ha ha (thats meant to be an evil laugh)...
From Byron Bay I traveled to Brisbane. My friend Yvonne lives just south of Brisbane and I was hoping to see her on my way through, but she is working until 22nd Dec so I am going to come back down then. I really liked Brisbane, and spent a lovely day at the museum, art gallery and followed it up with an extra dose of culture at the theatre in the evening. Since arriving in Oz I have felt a buit devoid of culture so felt a lot more civilised afterwards! On Sunday I went to Australia Zoo, the home of the (late) Crocodile Hunter himself, Steve Irwin. Although I had seen loads of animals on safari in Africa, I have never before seen a kangaroo, koala, or many other australian animals so was very excited. The crocodile show was really good, and I had a guided tour in the afternoon from a lovely guy called Phil. He had known Steve and so had lots of interesting stories and anecdotes about him and the zoo.
From Brisbane I flew up to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Tomorrow I'm going on a 3 days 2 night sailing trip around the islands, and will get to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef - something I've always wanted to do so very excited about that! Will try to put up a picture of me in a fetching 'stinger suit' to give you a giggle next time...
1 comment:
Hello again, Eleanor: I love reading about your continuing adventures and wish I was in Oz too!
We have a few inches of snow forecast here tonight and, no doubt, the entire country is about to grind to a halt, as usual! The shame of how diabolical our transport system is, particularly when utterly predictable weather happens, makes me want to emigrate right now.
Am watching the news and we now have a severe weather warning! BBC Essex will once again be scaring old people into staying at home unless it's an absolute life or death emergency. People in Canada are probably enduring metres of snow, possibly up to their necks, yet life carries on regardless.
So it's either learn to be a welder (to get into Oz) or have success with the Euromillions (biggest win to date £5.90 shared between 3 of us, so there's a bit of a way to go).
Mr M and I are spending Christmas in a tiny cosy cottage in deepest, darkest Norfolk with a great big open fire. We will be feasting on our three-bird roast (a chicken, in a duck, in a turkey) from Aldi (well, we're not out of recession yet, you know)!
So, throw another shrimp on the barbecue on your sun-filled Christmas Day and think of Mr M and me, hacking into our turducken, huddled around our fire, probably having to use a shovel to get out of our front door for essential supplies! Sounds like something out of Dickens!
Merry Christmas, Eleanor, hoping 2010 is a great year for you and sending you lots of love from Julie xxx
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