Bay of Islands and Auckland sunshine

I rose early (6am) to check out and get the Magic bus to Paihia. First impressions of Magic were good, I had a bubbly bus driver called Lisa who was full of info, brain teasers and riddles and had a cool selection of music on her ipod. My fave teaser was 'Name the 7 countries in the Northern Hemisphere that have the letter P in the name. It cant start with P or have republic in the name though'. It took a while but I got em all (see how you do). I also got chatting to one of my fellow passengers whose name was Arran. Between the teasers, the bits of info and someone to chat to the journey went by pretty quickly. We also had a couple of stops along the way which included a nice waterfall and a stop just outside Paihia to look out over the Bay of Islands. So when I landed at the hostel I was in good spirits. I was staying at a place called Peppertree Lodge and as it turned out so was Arran. Cool bananas! It was a nice place; quiet, clean and comfortable. Me and Arran went to find the supermarket and beef up the old provisions as well as for a general look around the place. After that I just lounged about the hostel really. Here I met Conall who is a Welsh guy on a tour of NZ and I spent most of the evening showing him card games. A few other people began to return to the hostel from their daily adventures including 3 girls from LA. They fit the American stereotype of being clueless about things outside the borders of America (or probably California in their case). At one point I ended up trying to explain the difference between Ireland and the UK, this was pointless as they couldnt grasp it. Later in the evening they stuck on some hollywood movie with Angelina Jolie in it that id never heard of and before they pressed play they asked the three of us (Arran, Conall and me) if we needed subtitles on. We just kind of looked at each other and said we would be fine. English subtitles because we might not understand the American accent.....sigh.

The next day Arran went up to Cape Reinga which is the most Northern part of the country and I hung around Paihia. I went for a walk since it was such a nice day and ended up walking to a waterfall which was a 10km round trip. Good thing it was a nice waterfall, I would have been pretty pissed if I walked all that way for a crap one. After that I took the ferry over to the nearby island which houses Russell which used to be the first capital of NZ I think. Its a cute little town with some really old buildings and a pretty good viewpoint (atop a steep hill) which gives a good view of the bay. Back at the hostel I had some dinner and a game of RISK with Conall and the hostel manager. My first game in a long time, which I naturally won :) In the morning I got all my gear together for the trip back to Auckland and caught the bus in the afternoon. I spent the journey chatting to my fellow passengers and we got to Auckland in the early evening. I got there in plenty of time for poker night in the hostel. Here was another thing that I hadnt done in a while and with 8 of us playing at a fiver a piece it reminded me a lot of games back in Maynooth. Unlike most of those games I managed to win this one and was 35 quid richer! The money was quickly spent the following day on a harbour cruise. I got some nice pics of Auckland in the sunshine which are a rarity, especially in the wintertime. After that it was early to bed for my early start in the morning on the bus to Rotorua!

Auckland is a nice enough place but its just a city and doesnt have a whole lot to do. Paihia then is a small little seaside town with a few things of interest in it and plenty of things nearby to do (like the Cape). But my NZ adventure wouldnt really start until I got to Rotorua which is home to a lot of activities and cool stuff.

The beginning of the end: Auckland

Looking out the window of the plane as I came into Auckland my first impression of New Zealand was of rolling green hills. Getting through the airport was a bit tricky upon landing as they take customs pretty seriously here in NZ. Bringing food in is frowned upon so you just gotta be careful. I got through ok, I even had a chat to one of the guys working there about ireland, and then I hopped on the bus into the city centre. I made it to the hostel ok and dumped my gear. By this stage it was late in the afternoon and the weather was pretty miserable so I didnt do a whole lot. I went for a bit of a walk and had a bite to eat then chilled in the hostel for a bit before getting to bed early. On my first full day in Auckland I visited the Magic office to arrange my travel for the coming 4 weeks. I have to get to Queenstown to fly home so I should have enough time to see the majority of the country. The biggest problem would be the bus times since they only run 2 or 3 times a week. It would mean either staying in places for either one night or 3 most of the way. I worked out a schedule that should let me see most of the country though. This coupled with a trip to the supermarket took up most of the day to be honest. Then in the late afternoon I was due to meet up with a guy from couchsurfing. His name is Otto and he has been in NZ for most of his life. He is Samoan originally but came over when he was a kid. He picked me up in the city centre and we went to a bottle shop to grab some beers. The plan was to drive to the beach and drink them there but there are new laws which ban drinking in such places so that idea was out the window. We went for a walk on the beach and visited a few other places before catching a meal. All in all it was a cool evening and it was good to chat to one of the locals. Then he dropped me back to my hostel where I was just in time to go on a pub crawl which I soon got roped into. It was one of the slowest pub crawls ive ever been on (4 bars) but we made the most of it....

My next day in Auckland was my last for the time being. I was off to the Bay of Islands for 2 days before I came back here again to start my NZ trip properly. I spent this day doing bugger all really since the weather was so crap. I had a bit of a wander but the weather soon had me running for shelter back at my hostel where I caught up on my blogging and a bit of reading. Auckland is a pretty boring place for the most part especially in crap weather. I also got my gear together for my trip north where hopefully the weather would be warmer!

Sydney part 2

I caught the overnight bus from Melbourne to Sydney which was nowhere near as comfortable as half the bus journeys I have taken and ive been on a few at this stage. I miss the sleeper buses from Vietnam. Anyway the Greyhound driver's have a tendency to turn on all the lights and loudly announce when we arrive somewhere which is a tad annoying at 4 in the morning. I did learn of a small town in the middle of nowhere in Oz that has a submarine sitting in a park. This town is inland and its a proper submarine (from what I could tell in the dark as we drove past it at 1am) which is quite bizarre. I got to Sydney early in the morning (like 8am I think) and began making my way out to my digs for the next few days. I have a 2^nd cousin in Sydney (my mother's cousin) and he and his wife were going to put me up for my last few days in Oz. I managed to get out there ok and was treated to breakfast by Fionola who is Brian's wife and who was at the time quite heavily pregnant with their first child. Later on in the morning Brian arrived back from a business trip and I got to know the two of them a little bit. In the afternoon I made my way to the city for some souvenir shopping as this would be one of my last chances to visit the cheap markets in the city centre. With all this done i got back to the house and had some dinner and a few drinks while watching a movie before heading to bed. This was a badly needed night's sleep after my bus trip and a reasonably active day.

I was awake early in the morning because I was going to skype with my mates from home. They were having a party and were going to set up a webcam to let me participate. It was great to see and chat to them again even though I was barely awake and they were mostly drunk. Then it was time for breakfast with Brian and Fionola after which they brought me to the Blue Mts. This is one of the main touristy things to do around Sydney and something I had missed out on the last time I was here so they kindly brought me out there for the day. It was a good 2 hour drive from their house so it was late in the morning by the time we got there. We visited the '3 sisters', Leura Cascades and Wentworth Falls and I got all the typical touristy pics. The reason they are called the Blue Mts is because the gum trees that fill the valleys give off a blue haze and you could kind of see it. For mountains though they are a bit more hills and valleys but lets not quibble. We were a bit restricted a bit weather and timewise but we still had a good day. I got to walk down to the top of Wentworth Falls and get a cold shower as the spray was being blown back up. The wind was pretty gusty that day which isnt ideal for a day walking along cliff edges. We had lunch in the small town of Leura and that was pretty much it. By 3pm we were on our way back to try and avoid the worst of the traffic. It was a Sunday and a lot of people from Sydney would be in the Blue Mts for a day out. Brian then cooked us up dinner later in the evening and we watched a movie called “Into the Wild”. Its a total backpacker film and kind of weird but still pretty good.

I was up early again the following morning as I was off to Bondi Beach. It was a lot more impressive this time around as I got to see it in the sunshine. From there I walked along the coast to another beach, Coogee. This was a great walk in the sun and the views were pretty amazing. I had plenty of time so I took it easy, unlike all the joggers that passed me by and offered some eye candy when I wasnt looking at the scenery. It was about lunchtime when I got to Coogee so I sat down and had some food in the sun in the park and even treated myself to an ice-cream! Feeling mightily pleased with myself after all this I caught the bus into town. Taking advantage of the nice weather I walked across the Harbour Bridge again and got some sunny pictures of the city of Sydney. Then I got the ferry back over and sat by the Opera House till sunset. Sitting there watching the play of light on the white exterior of the Opera House was really nice and so was watching the sun set behind the Harbour Bridge. Then it was time to hop back on the ferry and get shipped over to Cremorne (where Brian and Fionola lived). One more bus and I was back at Brian's house. I had dinner with them again and we chatted the night away.

This was going to be my last day in Oz and it began with a lie in, something I hadnt had in a while. I eventually got up and got my bag organised as well as doing some planning for New Zealand. I got some accommodation sorted in Auckland. I would be traveling around NZ by Magic bus so I put together a bit of an itenerary for what I wanted to do and see while there. This needed to be a bit more specific than I have done in the past as the buses only go about twice a week, it being winter. I put something together and hopefully it will do the trick! I had some lunch then and made my way into the city one last time. I was due to meet up with Uncle Paddy a little bit later for a drink. He had kept in touch while I was off touring the country and I had promised I would meet up with him again before I left. So we met up in the Rocks in an Irish bar and had a few drinks in a few different places in the area. It was a pleasant evening but neither of us could stay too late as we were both off early in the morning, him to work and me to the airport.

So Sydney the second time around was pretty enjoyable. I did some things I hadnt done before and I met some family I didnt know I had. The weather was also significantly better. All in all a pretty good way to finish off Oz. I dont know if Oz was quite what I expected. Sure it is full of amazing things to see and do and I havent seen or done all of them. But it has seen so many backpackers that things are extremely expensive now as people just look to bleed you dry. That is the impression I got with a lot of things as a traveler is that I was simply a bag of money to tour companies and hostels. If you are reading this and planning to visit Oz then be aware that its expensive and getting more so. That said I may be back here before too long looking for work is things in Ireland are as bad as people say. Still, i did really enjoy my stay in Australia and did some really awesome things - driving a big ass jeep over rough terrain, a trip on a sailing boat and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef among others.

Im now down to the last leg of the journey. 4 weeks left of an 11 month journey that has taken in SE Asia and Australia and culminates in New Zealand. Its hard to believe I left Ireland 10 months ago and its nearly time to go back. I'm kind of looking forward to it to see family and friends again but what everyone says is that after returning home from a big trip you get itchy feet by the second week. Better make the most of the last month on the road then!

Melbourne

After a pretty innocuous flight I arrived in Melbourne and called the hostel I planned to stay in to arrange a pickup. I wanted to stay at Habitat HQ in St Kilda and needed a shuttle bus since its on the other side of town. It was late evening as well so I wasn't about to go trying to get there via public transport. I eventually got there and lo and behold but who was there only Jamie! Well it wasn't quite that much of a surprise since I knew she was staying there and she had been make (not so) subtle suggestions that I should do likewise when I got to Melbourne. This way we could hang out over the next few days before her holiday ended and she had to go back home. That evening we just curled up on a couch with some wine in the common room being tired from our travels and made some plans for the days to come. The next day I rose early for the free breakfast and I was heading to the Queen Victoria Markets to help Jamie pick out her souvenirs for folks at home. We spent the whole morning walking around the markets, which are pretty extensive and definitely a good place to buy cheap souvenirs, and got all the bits and pieces needed. This included a didgeridoo which was a birthday present for her brother which we then visited a post office to send home. All the shopping done it was time for some lunch in a cute little cafe of which Melbourne is bursting. Then we took a stroll around Federation Square which is the main arty/touristy area in the city. There are a few parks there along the river too so we took a wander down there as well. Its all very picturesque and chic and made for a nice afternoon stroll. We stopped at a bar on the river and had a few drinks and talked the evening away. Then it was back to the hostel to cook up some food and watch a movie.


The following day we did different things. She was heading off on a Neighbours tour in the morning and meeting up with the two Irish girls off Condor for dinner and a girly chat. So not my kind of gig then. I went to an AFL game instead with a few people from the hostel. It was a good group and we got on pretty well and had a laugh. The match itself was a grudge match between Collingwood Magpies and Carlton Blues in the MCG Arena. This place holds about 80000 and was almost full. Its also spherical in shape. A pitch in Australian Rules is called an oval but its really a circle. The game itself is an odd one if you haven't seen it before but basically involves lots of kicking and catching but strangely not a lot of tackles. I was expecting to see crushing tackles but it was all a bit tame really. It seems to be an odd mash up of rugby and GAA. This particular game probably wasn't the best to introduce me to the sport as it was quite one sided. Collingwood made bits of Carlton and only for they switched off in the last quarter and let Carlton make the final scoreline a bit more respectable then they would have won by a country mile. But our group had a great laugh and we went back to the hostel fast friends. Once I got something to eat in the hostel I abandoned my new buddies to meet up with the three girls in the city centre. They had gone for a meal and I met them in the restaurant where they had been since 4pm drinking wine. It was close to 10pm when I got there so they were pretty smashed. I was sober as a judge so it was quite entertaining for me. We moved onto a bar for another few drinks but it wasn't long before we (I) decided it was best if the lot of them got to bed. Bloody drunks :)


The next day was Jamie’s last in the land of Oz as well as Karen and Liana’s (2 Irish girls). We had lunch together since breakfast was a big no no considering the drunken messes they all were the previous night. They claimed it was because of checkout times in the hostels but I knew better. Anyway we had a pleasant lunch and we all said our goodbyes. Jamie was heading from our hostel (the other two had been staying in the city centre somewhere) so I said goodbye to her a little later than the other two. I was pretty upset to see her go but all good things come to an end and we both intended to keep in touch after she got back so I’d live. Plus we had talked with the other two about arranging a reunion back in the northern hemisphere so we would see each other again in the not too distant future no doubt. I spent the rest of the evening with the gang from the footy game and we all got merrily drunk on very cheap wine and a bit of goon. We followed this up the next day with a trip into town to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens and Melbourne Zoo. We had a very weird, random but ultimately hilarious day. We began well by getting lost and walking onto the grounds of a school much to the amusement of the kids playing football. After this slight detour we worked our way to the Botanical Gardens and looked at all the pretty flowers, trees and lakes. As Caitlin (American girl) had a savage camera she was the resident photographer for the day and we had lots of fun with some crazy pictures. These would include the band pose in one and all of us seated on a different bench in another. For some reason whoever had put the benches in the park hadn't gone to too much trouble about where they went, hence you had a few odd placements like facing a big tree from 3 feet away…. Much faffing about later we found our way into the city and figured out which tram we needed to get to the zoo. Oh yeah the trams! Melbourne is full of them and they are the cheapest and easiest way to get about. They are also remarkably unpoliced so mostly they were free (ahem). They’re not really like the Luas except for the newer versions but the concept is the same. Anyway we got to the zoo late in the afternoon so we didn’t have much time to see the stuff we wanted to see but managed to fit in monkeys, koalas, roos and lions among others. The lions were cool as the males were roaring at each other when we passed their enclosure. Pretty cool to hear that up close but not too close! We finished the day off with a trip to Chinatown for dinner and some drinkage back at the hostel. Much merriment was had by all!

The following day I moved out of Habitat (with a heavy heart) and moved around the corner to a place called Home Travellers Motel where I would be working 2 hours a day for my nights accommodation. I was starting to think about New Zealand and the things I wanted to do there so I needed to curb my spending a little bit. So I spent a week there doing odd jobs and generally having uneventful days. Every now and again I would meet up with the gang back at Habitat and we would do something together. We had a few nights out which were good fun and sometimes I just went up there to chill. My new hostel had a decidedly worker feel to it and most of the people there were in it for a few months and all new each other so I felt a little bit of an outsider. Luckily I had the boys and girls from Habitat (Mike, Julie and Caitlin) to turn to in my times of boredom. One of the days I went into the city with Mike from NY and we visited the markets and took a trip up Eureka Tower. This is a massive tower the top of which has incredible views of Melbourne and the surrounding countryside. On another occasion I went to St Kilda pier to see the little penguins that live there and come out at night. They are tiny and impossible to get a pic of because you aren’t allowed to use flash. Other than these events I laid low and kept my cash in my wallet. I still enjoyed Melbourne and think it’s a pretty cool place, probably better than Sydney. Everything to this point had been going overbudget so I needed to be practical and keep my debts to a minimum on returning home. Gotta leave something for NZ!

Cairns

The bus to Cairns was an overnight one so I had a whole day in Airlie Beach to realise there wasn't much to do there. Jamie had left for Magnetic Island that morning. By the time 9pm had rolled around I was more than ready to leave. I slept fitfully most of the night and woke to drizzly rain in Cairns where I had been told there was sunshine. It was extremely early in the day but I called my prebooked hostel and waited for their bus to come pick me up. I would be staying in Cairns Asylum mainly because I'd had a good time in their sister hostel in Sydney when I was there. This one wasn't as good as the other though. I'd booked in and paid for 3 nights so I was there for that period at least. I was pretty tired from not getting much good sleep on the bus so I went back to bed for an hour. An hour later I was feeling a bit more refreshed and ready to look around Cairns. As it turns out there isn't a whole lot to see in Cairns itself. It poses as two things, one is a place to visit Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier Reef from and the other is to drink a lot in the multitude of bars. The esplanade on the waterfront is nice but would have looked heaps better if I got to see it in sunshine. Most people don't spend a whole lot of time in Cairns as they hop from one tour to the next. My first day was pretty low key as I simply walked around the place and a fair bit of dossing. As part of staying in the Asylum I got a free meal in one of the bars, the only reason I would have gone as they are too damn expensive to drink in.

The next day wasn't a whole lot different from the first. I went looking for cheap things to do in or around Cairns but most things were going to send my budget out the window. Story of Australia so far really. I also looked at what I was going to do post-Cairns. At the time the plan was to do a relocation from Cairns to Melbourne. This would involve moving a camper van in super quick time so it could be rented out again. Most people arrive in Sydney or Melbourne and rent these things there then travel to places like Cairns and leave them there. So the companies need a cheap and quick way to get them back to the big cities. That's where people like me come in. I had been in touch with a company about doing just this and they told me to call back each day until something came up. That night in the hostel was pretty unremarkable. I made good use of the tv room and got an early night. I needed my energy for the next day as I had something planned!

On the Monday I went for a long walk down the esplanade in the direction of the Botanical Gardens. This was a good 4km so it was more exercise than id had in quite a while. It wasn't a particularly nice day for doing this but the weather didn't look like it was going to accommodate my wishes so I just ignored the drizzle. Plus the gardens were basically rainforest so when better to explore them than in the rain? Alongside the gardens were two ornamental lakes, one saltwater and one freshwater. Between all this I managed to spend a pretty pleasant day out there. I had lunch beside the saltwater lake and watched the little tortoises swimming around in the water. So I was in a good mood as the evening approached and this doubled as I would see a familiar face later – Jamie. I even got dinner cooked for me! We had a nice evening where we went for a walk and had a couple beers and generally just chilled.

The next morning Jamie was off to Cape Trib so I was on my own again. I was moving to a less crappy hostel which was cheaper, nicer and had free wifi. Then I got the news that a camper van was available and ready to go in the next two days. I spent most of the rest of the day online and on the phone as I discovered a slight hitch with this proposal. Well a few hitches, one of which was I had to drive nearly 3000km in 6 days but the bigger one was that I had to lay a big bond on my credit card. My card was maxed out and all the conversations in the world with my bank weren't going to change that anytime soon so I had to ditch the driving to Melbourne idea. That meant I needed to look at flights and I discovered a cheap deal leaving on Thursday. But to book it I needed a different card so I had to make a pleading call home for a loan. Luckily this turned out to not be a problem and I got my flight sorted. So my whole day had been spent stressing out and basically wasted. I had different ideas for the day but they got thrown out the window once this emergency occurred. I consoled myself by taking advantage of “Cheap Tuesday”. In Australia it seems that a lot of people get paid on a Wednesday so on Tuesdays they are a bit broke, hence “Cheap Tuesday” was born. I got a Dominoes pizza for dinner to console myself after a busy day.

Wednesday was going to be a much better day than the previous few. This is because I was off to the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkeling. I did have to get up pretty freaking early so I could get to the marina by 7.15am and get on Ocean Freedom (the boat). This was going to be a little different to my Whitsunday trip as firstly the boat wasn't a sailing boat but like a cruise yacht thing. Secondly it was only for a day. Anyway we got on and got breakfast straight away and were off soon enough. Weather wasn't the best (sensing a pattern here?) but it did clear up slightly as we got out to sea. On the way to the first stop point we picked up the glass bottom boat which is basically moored near the reef. We reached our first snorkeling spot and changed into our wetsuits and snorkeling gear. Oh and I was wearing a life jacket as well, just in case. We had a big crew on the boat and some of them jumped in with us and acted as guides and offered info on a lot of the coral and fish that we could see in the water. That was a pretty cool thing to have because you do get a bit overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of the GB Reef. It was amazing to see all the fish swimming about oblivious to us on the surface and there were plenty of big as well as small fish. After a bit of snorkeling the glass bottomed boat was sent out and we got to see all the stuff we might have missed. All in all we covered that spot of the reef, known as Upolo Cay, pretty well. Then lunch got served and we fed bits of it to the batfish swimming near the boat. There big, crazy looking things but they do like prawns.

Pretty soon we were on our way again to our second snorkeling spot but in the mean time we had to wait for low tide as it only really becomes visible then. So as the tides changed we saw some sand islands appear out of the middle of the ocean as it seemed. We got as close as we could with the big boat and then we all jumped aboard the glass bottom boat to get shipped onto these new islands. It was really freaky standing on a pile of sand in the middle of the ocean with no other sign of land. Then the crew guided us around this little area which was really clear and shallow and home to even more fish and coral than the first spot if that's possible. The highlights were when a green sea turtle was spotted and of course when I found Nemo! It is so cool to see these things in the wild. After a lot of swimming around, mostly following cool fish, we got back on the big boat. Then we got treated to an adrenaline rush as we got taken out on the tender for a spin in small groups. This tender (dinghy) had a bigger engine than the one we had on the Whitsunday trip and so we were able to build up a fair bit of speed and do some sharp turning. It was great craic! Once we got back on the big boat we got tea and biscuits and headed back to shore.

Jamie was back from her trip that evening but like myself was quite tired from her exertions. We got some food and both had early nights but it wouldn't be the last time we saw each other. My flight to Melbourne just so happened to be on the same day as her flight to Melbourne. So once we got there we would have a few days to spend together before she went home to Scotland. Cairns as a whole didn't leave the greatest impression on me but I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Great Barrier Reef and it was definitely worth going there simply to see that. Hell I'd go back again for another trip on the reef!

I'm on a boat!

My bus arrived in Airlie Beach around dawn once I got off there were a selection of hostels who had sent minibuses to pick up people just like me. Hostels in Airlie have a poor reputation so it was much of a muchness but I eventually plumped for Beaches. Its a bar with a hostel attached really but it wasnt too bad. Next up I checked in with the boat company I was going to be travelling with on the next day. Once that was out of the way I set up camp in Peter Pan's and started working on what I was going to do in New Zealand. I had seen offers in a few places on the way up the coast and I found a kiwi working in the office so it seemed like a good idea. We looked at all the major things to do in NZ and I quickly realised that my budget wouldnt allow for all of them. So I booked my bus to get from Auckland to Queenstown and one or two other things. Its weird thinking about NZ already because that means my 11 month adventure is drawing to a close. But I still have 6 weeks left so im going to make the most of them before I have to go back to the real world! Later that night me and the guys from my dorm crashed an after party from one of the boats that had come in that day. All the boats have afterparties in one of the bars and not everyone shows up so its not that difficult to crash one and get some free drinks :)

In the morning I checked out of the hostel, stored my main luggage and dossed around for the morning. I even splashed out on a hair cut! Finally boarding time rolled around and I caught the bus to the marina where I got my first glimpse of my home for the next two nights: Condor. It was a maxi sailing boat which means it used to be a racing boat but has now retired to the whitsundays. My first impression was that it was a little small for 24 people to stay on. Then we got introduced to the 3 person crew – Captain Aaron, and the two firstmates James and Priscilla. Its a small crew for a sailing boat but they would draft the rest of us in as needed so it was fine. We got assigned our bunks and then got our safety briefing as well as a 'Sailing 101'. Aaron told us what to do and what not to do among other bits and pieces about the boat. 'One hand for yourself and one for the boat' (translation – hold on) and stay out of the “triangle of death” which was an area where there were lots of ropes under a lot of strain and in the unlikely event of one of them snapping then if you are nearby you will get a nasty injury. Pretty soon the motor got us out of the harbour and it was time to put the sails up. As there were plenty of volunteers to do this I got to sit and watch. It took 4 people to raise the main sail and then the firstmates would tie it off and 3 people to raise the topsail (one at the front) which also got tied off by the pros. Then it was all down to Captain Aaron to steer us to our destination. That first afternoon we simply sailed to a bay where we dropped anchor for the night. Letting the sails down is a hell of a lot easier than putting them up as we saw when James and Priscilla did it and then they cooked our dinner. We had a lovely meal and a few drinks and the group on board began to bond. One of the guys introduced a game called “I packed my bag” which isnt really a drinking game but is funny when you are drunk and creative with what you can stick in a bag..... like a wheelbarrow with no wheel.

I should probably talk about the people on the boat now. There were 24 of us on it around half of whom were german and for the most part kept to themselves. I dont think they had a lot of english because they were slow in responding to some of the crew's suggestions and requests at times. This meant the group on board was split in two, the gremans and the english speaking group. Not ideal but the rest of us got on so well it wasnt much of an issue. Also on board were 6 irish (including me) and the rest were made up of 4 english, an american, an israeli, a scot and a dutch guy. Now who do you think I spent most of my time with? I mean I talked to anyone who could talk back in english but there was one person who I hit it off with more so than any other. It was the Scot in fact and her name was Jamie (I can hear the ahhhs and see the smirks from here) and we got on great and had a laugh while on board. She hung out with two girls from Cork so I spent a lot of time chatting to the three of them. That first night we ate dinner during sunset (which was blocked by a big island) and drank while talking about this, that and the other. A nice way to spend an evening, gently rocked by the waves.

The next day dawned with a slight scare. Aaron was getting up to have an early morning smoke and was surprised to see a mast bearing down on him in the lightening darkness. Another boat that had docked nearby was starting out and failed to notice our boat was in its way. A quick evasive manoeuvre and lots of angry gestures later we were all getting ready for breakfast. There was no need to worry about our boat getting damaged since its made from really thick Kevlar. Aaron told us a story about how the owner once drove the boat into a rock and the rock broke. True or not its a cool story! After breakfast we hopped in the tender (a dinghy we were towing for just this kind of situation) and were shipped to shore. Our first port of call on our trip was to Whitehaven Beach which is regarded as having the finest and whitest sand in the world. We settled down in a little sheltered cove to escape the wind and had a great morning in the sunshine. Someone had thought to bring a ball with them so all the boys started playing beach football. The girls werent too impressed by getting showered in sand while they were trying to sunbathe though. It was all good clean fun with some really funny moments whenever someone swung to kick the ball and all they got was sand. An incoming low tide meant we had to head back to Condor. We had around 2 hours on the beach though which was enough as the sky was beginning to cloud over anyway. By the time we got back on board it was lunchtime and we got another good meal from the crew. Then it was time to sail to our first snorkeling destination.

Now lets be clear, I'm not the greatest swimmer and getting into deep water isnt something that fills me with any great thrill but I didnt want to miss out on the opportunity to see some cool coral and fish. The weather had been gradually clouding over so conditions were far from excellent for snorkeling but we got in anyway. We first had to grab our snorkeling gear and put on our stinger suits. Stinger suits are a bit like wetsuits except not as heavy and there to protect you from jellyfish. We were assured that it wasnt the season for jellyfish and we were safe though. Before we got in we got a snorkeling 101 lesson from James of which there were two highlights. One was him going arse over tit when we hit a wave because he broke the first rule of sailing – hold on. The other was the quote “Swim in pairs and you probably wont die!”. Charming. Jamie was my snorkel buddy and we made quite the pair, me who cant really swim and her who is terrified of jellyfish. She was slightly surprised that she was getting in at all. With all of us ready to get in the water we looked like some weird cast of Star Trek in the stinger suits. The tender got used again to drop us near the coral and we were soon paddling around. I had a 'noodle' to help me float as well. It took all of 5 minutes for someone to yell out “Jellyfish!” and that was Jamie's cue to get out. So there I was abandoned in the water but I was too preoccupied by the view under the surface to worry about drowning. I tried to stick near the rest of the group to be sure. Im not sure how long we were in the water but I had a great time looking at the myriads of colourful fish and coral reef. Soon we began to get chilly in the water and I jumped in the tender to head back to Condor. Then I realised what it felt like to be cold! Sitting in the boat in a wet stinger suit was not a way to warm me up. Priscilla was laughing at all of us in the tender as she guided it back to Condor. Tea and coffee were ready for us when we got back and then we were off to another sheltered bay for the night.

That night was one of the best ive had in a long time. At dinnertime a sea eagle showed up and watching it swoop around was cool. Then Priscilla started to throw small pieces of meat in the air and the eagle would catch it. It turned into a great pre dinner show. Then after another amazing meal we fed our scraps to the huge fish swimming around the boat. All of this was done while the sun set and we got to see it this time. It was quite beautiful to watch the sun set on the water and we shared it with some flying fish and a dolphin as well. For the rest of the night we systematically polished off whatever alcohol we had left. Drinking games assisted in our efforts and we got Capt Aaron up from below deck at one point to make sure what we were shouting was part of the game. This is because we added in a phrase pretty relevant to seafaring and that is “Man Overboard”. By the end of the night everyone was pretty steaming. Some of us began huddling for warmth as it was getting a tad chilly and then we all went to bed..

The next morning we woke to breakfast and more snorkeling. Its quite a good cure for a hangover. Jamie had no intentions of getting in again so I was on my own this time. I think the snorkeling was even better in this spot which was nicknamed “the fishbowl”. There were more fish who just ignored us snorkelers. Aaron even started throwing bread into the water to attract more so at one point we had shoals of fish swimming around us and darting to the surface to grab the bread. It was awesome! Eventually we got dragged out of the water as we had to start making tracks back to Airlie Beach. I did my best to help out with the sails that day and its good fun and great exercise. I did feel a little bit proud when I looked up at the sails and thought to myself that I had helped raise them. Then we did some real sailing! For the most part of the journey all of us passengers were perched on the high side of the boat as the 'suicide' was skimming the waves. It was quite exhilarating to travel in this fashion and you could see in the eyes of the crew that it was days like this that they lived for. The boat was bashing through the waves, soaking all those at the front of the boat. I had a nice dry spot down the back sheltered by all my fellow passengers. It was with heavy hearts that we all disembarked from the good ship Condor but most of us would meet up again at the afterparty in Beaches Bar later.

I spent the whole day in Airlie hanging out with my new buddy Jamie and met up with everyone else in the bar that night. It had been an amazing few days but sadly it was time to move onto pastures new. Facebook details were exchanged and we went our separate ways with promises to try and meet up in Cairns. One thing ive learned about travel is that its not where you go or what you do its about the people you meet. Most people along the way that ive mentioned it to agree with this. Jamie is one of the people who have made a difference to my journey and made my trip to the Whitsunday Islands that much more memorable.

1770

The following afternoon after my big sleep post-fraser I got on the bus to 1770. Agnes Water/1770 is a small area on the Sunshine Coast. It has something to do with Captain Cook and when he first landed in Australia. I never really got a chance to find out the history behind it. It was late in the evening when I arrived and checked into my hostel. I initially planned to spend 2 nights but upon checking the bus times I quickly realised that there was only one a day and it was at night so I had to change my plans slightly. So I only spent one night in 1770 and got the bus the following night. But while I was in town I decided to try something that I had so far missed all up the east coast – Surfing. I got 3 hours of fun for $17 and I wasn’t the only one to take advantage of it. There were 41 people in the lesson which is quite large and made things a bit difficult but I think most of us had fun. We got down to the beach in our wetsuits and with our boards and got a crash course in catching sand waves. Then we split into two groups and took turns in the water trying to catch real waves. Thing about surfing, it looks easier than it is. All you have to do is stand on the board right? Well yeah but you have to paddle out into the water, turn around then paddle to build up speed when you see a wave you want to catch and then jump up when you are on the wave. Lots of paddling and strain on your arms. I got up on my knees a few times and once or twice got onto my feet fro a few seconds but mostly I just faceplanted into the water. I did manage to get good at landing properly in the water since I got so much practice at it! After my 3 hours I was pretty wrecked and didn’t have much energy for a whole lot else. For the rest of the day I chilled at the hostel till I caught the bus that night to Airlie Beach all psyched up for my trip to the Whitsunday Islands.