where is georgie?

WOOHOO!

We are in Melbourne! We woke at 4am to get our 6.10 flight from Cairns to Melbourne (via Sydney) on 1st September and have ended up in St Kilda where we stayed at... Base!! We have now worked out come Christmas, we will have stayed at every Base hostel there is in Australia (St Kilda (Melbourne), Magnetic Island, Brisbane and Sydney at Chritmas time).

The Base here seems v swish in comparison to the others and we stayed there for 5 days while we hunted for a place to stay (desperately needed to get out of the hostels)! We saw a lot of horrible share houses - landlords know they can make a bomb out of working travellers here and shoehorn 4 people into a room, 5 rooms in a house, so that's 20 people per house! Might as well stay in a hostel...

Sam did all our searching and had the great idea of putting an advert for US looking for a place to stay, rather than us replying to other people's ads. That's when we got a call about a house with 4 other people in it at the moment. We were quite dejected after seeing a lot of duds and decided, en route, that if this one was rubbish, we'd concentrate on a job first and get into another place later. Well, someone must have heard our conversation and worked some magic because this place is a palace!! Sam and I are in a room at the top of a 3 story flat, our room has its own ensuite and a walk in wardrobe for our stuff, the kitchen is gorgeous and new, has Foxtel tv (Sky) and wireless internet, balconies and a video intercom for the front door! It is perfect and a freaking bargain ($10 more a week than we were paying in Brisbane, which was a special rate for the dead of winter). It's gorgeous and we moved in a week ago and have been v happy here so far!

We are now searching for jobs. I'm not having a lot of luck with agencies for office work but Sam has spent a day training for an inbound call centre job which I'm hoping to get something similar this week. Shops around here that are advertising are hairdressing apprentices and a ful time chef (counts me out then!) and a casual partimer (2 days a week but long term so again, not for me). Very frustrating as not only do I need ot earn to live day-to-day but I need to save hardcore for the future travels. Oh well, got a meeting with the agency that found Sam a job tomorrow morning so wish me luck!! Sam and I are keen to go to Zumba class at the local gym so we must get earnig ;)

We are here now until we go to Sydney in mid-December for xmas and new years while little Sam has flown to Brisbane and gone inland again to work at an Irish pub! We'll hopefully reunite when she flies to Melbourne in December and do the Neighbours tour before going to Sydders. We have also found out Paul O'Brien (who played Jack Holden in Home and Away) has a bar around the corner from our house so we are planning to go and get a pic with him one ladies night! Watch this space :P

I have nothing to say about Cairns, unfortunately! We went for a couple of days and it was a disaster. Sam went to do her skydive but the weather was very cloudy and after initially describing the weather as dangerous (!), they later said it was ok to jump but v. cloudy so not a great view. Well, as you can imagine, that wasn't encouraging so she opted to not do it and rebook in NZ. We also were meant to do a days snorkelling but I was unfortunately still sick from Magnetic Island, and Sam's severe sea sickness at Whitsundays made us decide not to go :( totally bummed out.

The weather was not great, it rained every day. The town was also not up to much, the Cairns Centro shopping centre was the only thing we had to do.

But we stayed at Castaways, which was a good hostel, so go stay there if you visit!!

Next stop - Townsville. Or more specifically, Towmsville ferry port, Magnetic Island bound.

When we got to Townsville, it was 28 degrees, so finally getting warmer! We took the ferry across to Magnetic Island and stayed at Base hostel, right on the beach.

We only spent a few days here and relaxed and visited another koala/animal sanctuary, which was great fun! Big Sam did a half day horse trekking (great for her as she is missing her horse riding from home) where she got to 'swim' with her horse in the sea! Little Sam meanwhile did her suba diving course.

We stayed in little huts which was interesting - extremley hot the first night and then the second night, the heavens opened yet again and it got very cold! We also had fun taking pictures of a possum which turned up at the next door hut, sticking its head into a crisp bag, looking for scraps! I got sick at the end of the trip, which wasn't ideal but had a nice few days none-the-less. :)

Warning to any future travellersreading - Base hosts full moon parties which are well attended so it will always be busy and full of party people drinking, having a good time and staying up late, so if you're a more chilled out traveller who likes a decent night's kip, perhaps avoid this time of the month! :)


The view from my spot at the picnic benches on Base hostel's deck :) lovely!


More views of the island from the hostel


The michevious possum trying to scavange a snack! I missed the priceless shot of him standing up with the packet on his head!


Little Sam getting her scuba on!


Stroking the turtle at the sanctuary! He felt like a cold dry tongue, hahah!


Me holding and feeding a parrot! That's nervous laughter on my face, btw


Getting more adventerous, holding a lizard!


Big Sam smooching a croc!


The first snake I held started slithering down my top!! Bit embarassing, big Sam on hand to snap my embarassing situation though!


I got the hang of it in the end!

Oops... I got distracted!! Updates!

We left 1770 and took a hideous overnight Greyhound up to our next stop - Airlie Beach! This was the jump off place to get to the Whitsundays on our sailing trip but due to lack of spaces on our boat, we had to wait a few days until we got to go. So we stayed in our hostel, Beaches, and wandered about Airlie for a couple of days. Airlie's nice, the change in humidity was recognisable the moment we stepped off the coach, but there wasn't a great deal to do in the town itself.

What was really great was our trip to the Whitsundays. We left on a Saturday and boarded the boat "Powerplay" which was a Catamaran with jacuzzi on it! Although we didn't use the jacuzzi in the end, spending time in the ocean snorkeling instead :)

We were on the trip with about 14 or so other people and 4 crew (our skipper, Annie, Rachel, Kelly and Ricky). It was amazing how they managed to fit us all sleeping on the boat but they managed it, with this such as the dinner tables converting into double beds in the evening! Nick, the Sams and I all stayed in a little cubby with 2 doubles, which was a hole in the wall with one bed, and then a kind of step up to another bed! Very hard to describe but pretty cool!

We had another grey day at first which made sitting on the front of the boat a bit chilly as we started our trip but it quickly heated up and the majority of us came away with sunburn of some description after three days! On the first day we went snorkelling at Luncheon Bay which was, in a word, amazing! I've never snorkelled before and snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef was a great place to start! I'm not a great swimmer so I was a bit nervous but they have those inflatable noodles you get at the swimming pool for aqua aerobics so once I was in the water, I tucked it under my arms, stuck my head in the water and away I went! The coral was amazing (I managed to impail my thigh on some within about 30 seconds of getting in the water - it left me with a huge bruise for WEEKS) and the fish were incredible. It was a bit freaky at first when schools of hundreds of fish came up close to you, as you get a bit squeemish about them touching you but after a few minutes I completely forgot about that! We just kept swimming out deeper and deeper and looking around, it was just amazing, I can't tell you. It's like you're flying above everything but not in a scary way... crazy. Little Sam got an underwater camera and took a load of pics so when she eventually gets them developed and we get a set, I'll post them on here (we've split up again for a few months so will be in the future..).

As we slowly started getting the dingy back to the boat, Nick, big Sam and I were last to wait, bobbing about in the water when the guys in the dingy shouted back to us and pointed to the horizon where we saw 2 whales turning in the water. It was AMAZING! to be in the water, and see them so close (or so it seemed, being inthe water at the time) was incredible. I wish I'd had earplugs and put my whole head in the water at the time, as you can hear them singing under there :( seeing them was great though.

On the Saturday we went to Whitehaven Beach, which was beautiful, really early morning as the sun was risiing and the tide was out so we could see the swirling sands. Amazing views and a really beautiful beach.

We had a great few days on the boat, making friends with a group of Americans and two Irish couples (one had emigrated here to Australia, a his brother and brother's girlfriend came to visit) and spent our evenings playing hysterical games of charades before heading back on Monday when I spotted a whale (very proud of my unusually eagle-eyed-ness!)

When we came back to Airlie, we spent another day there and had drinks with the rest of our boat that evening at Beaches bar :)


I can't take credit for this craftyness, I'm afraid! But I found it on a rock made of the coral that washes up on the beach and had to take a polaroid snap for my scrapbook!


Sooooo much coral! But it's illegal to take it away from the beaches so I just had to keep taking pics of the most interesting pieces instead :(


Grey day at Airlie marina! Our boat, Powerplay, is in the middle of the shot at the forefront.


Couldn't get a good shot of the sleeping arrangements! Thats our bed behind the curtain and you can see the foot of the next bed around the corner.


Us and the other passengers on the boat, at sunset :)


Little Sam and I. The toilets were cubicles that doubled as showers that had the showerhead as the tap in the sink (you could detach it to shower yourself). There was also a limited supply of fresh water so showers were limited to 1.5 mins!! Basically... we didn't shower and looked a hot damn mess for the whole trip, so 'scuse the hair!!



Big Sam and I


Inside the boat. The tables turned into beds at night and everyone slept on the chairs and the padded level where all the bags are! Amazing use of space..


One of many views of the Whitsundays at sunrise

After the frenzied few days on Fraser Island, we moved up to Agnes Water/The Town of 1770 for a few days relaxation. And that's exactly what we got, as 1770 is quite a small and sleepy place. It was lovely though, we had a few days of brilliant sunshine and spent our time wandering around their little shops and cafe's and lounging by the pool. We tried a day by the beach but it was very windy by the water and so we kept getting sand in our faces and gave up!

We stayed at Beachide Backpackers which was a great place, quite quiet because of the time of year, had a pool to use, free internet, a bar in the hostel and ensuite bathrooms so really nice.

Sam and I also found a stray dog! Well.. we thought it was stray, turns out the owner just doesn't keep an eye on it and lets it run around all the time. But it was the bit of drama for that part of the trip!!


Me by the pool


Sam with the not-lost dog

Next stop was Hervey Bay. We had to stay there a night before going to Fraser Island the next day. Our hostel (Beaches) seemed to be a million miles away from anywhere which was a pain when it came to grabbing some eats. That night, we had a horrendous amount of rain which immediately started dripping through the ceiling in our dorm room. In the middle of the night, the bathroom skylight also started dripping! absolute nightmare..

So the next morning, the weather was still shocking and none of us particularly wanted to go on the trip if the weather was bad, but the staff assured us the weather would pick up during midday, so we went to our orientation at 7.30 and divided into shoppers and drivers/others. I was going to drive when we got there but chickened out in the end. Don't feel too bad about that as it was all off-road driving on Fraser!

We piled into a 4WD car, the two Sams and I, Nick, 3 Canadian girls (called Jill, Jessica and Lauren) and Raffa, and set off to the ferry. After a very chilly 40 mins ferry ride we got onto the island and the adventure began! We were on a tag-along tour, which meant we had a tour leader called Perry who led us in his car, and the other 2 cars followed. We drove through the woodland/rainforest and it was a ride and a half, made more interesting by the heaps of rain that had come down the night before!!

After an hour and a bit of jungle driving, we made it onto the beach, which was still amazing even in the horrible greyness. Just driving on the beach seemed so weird at first! We stopped for a bushwalk to one of the natural lakes on the island. Fraser, by the way, is the largest sand island in the world with over 100 natural spring water lakes on it. The first place we went was Lake Wabby which was surrounded by sand dunes, and the lake was huge and green! Didn't look very inviting, but a few German tourists in another group didn't let that stop them stripping off and jumping in!

In the afternoon, we went pippie picking in the sand (clams) and collected over 80 to cook up the next night. We then went back to the campsite for the night. Now, I've been camping before so I had an idea what to expect, but I've never camped in Winter, or on a Dingo infested island! So it was extremely cold and annoying that you couldn't go to the bathroom in the night alone because of the dingos! It was very uncomfortable night's rest so we were very glad for the next day to come.

And with the morning came sunshine! Thank God! In the morning we went to see turtles at Lake Allom, drove to the North of the island to the Champagne Pools (the only safe place to swim on the islands because there are rocks surrounding the pool), Indian Heads which gave a great view and then Eli Creek for some sun bathing in the afternoon. That night we had another campfire and Perry cooked up the pippies in an unbelieveable thai sauce - so tasty! A girl on our Fraser Trip and I also found out we went to the same college and live 15 mins from each other at home! Very weird that I'm finding these people halfway across the world!

The next day we visted Lake Birrabeen for a few hours before catching the ferry home. We would have ordinarily gone to Lake McKenzie but it gets so many visitors a day jumping in covered in sun screen etc so it needed a rest. Birrabeen was no less beautiful though with white sand like icing sugar!

Fraser was a great trip and I'm glad we did it although the camping element was tough! The views in the sun made up for it though!


Very grey first day


Sand dunes surrounding Lake Wabby


Overlooking Lake Wabby


Big Sam driving on the beach!


Looking more amazing on a sunny day!!


Champagne Pools


Sam and I


The Sams and I


Sunsetting on the beach


Epic dinner!


Lake Birrabeen

Our first stop after Brisbane was Noosa. It's a nice sunny seasidey place and even though it's winter here, we got a glorious beach day in at Sunshine Beach.

We stayed in an awesome hostel called Flashpackers and I 110% recommend it to anyone who goes to Noosa. It's nice and small, family owned, they have wine and cheese on a Monday, all you can eat pizza for $8 on a Weds and a free BBQ sausage sizzle on a Friday for free (gutted we missed that!). Also free wireless/use of their internet computers, small pool there too, lovely rooms, 2 pillows (this seems like nothing but considering the sacks of cotton wool balls people have been passing off as pillows for the past three months, these pillows were luxury!), nice new kitchen that's so cleannnn and shuttle bus 2 minutes to the little village.

During our couple of days in Noosa, big Sam and I also booked our flights to Melbourne for 1st of September! Very excited to get there now!

Oh dear. I didn't keep my promise to update, did I? Oh well, here is a mega surge of posts to make up for it :)

So we left Brisbane. Big Sam's outback adventure was... well, an adventure but not a great one! So she came back early, little Sam came back from Kilkeaven and we all got ready to go up the coast!

Before we left, little Sam's friend Nick, from back home, arrived to travel up with us and we went to Australia Zoo - home of Steve Irwin. It was a fun day out and we saw lots of different animals, I think my favourites were the Asian elephants. Photos below:











The lizard guy above does a great impression of me on a Monday morning... or any morning, as a matter of fact!

Just a quick blog to say, I'M OUT OF BRISBANE!!!!

We arrived in Noosa yesterday and it's lovely. Nice, quiet, beautiful beach, amazing hostel called Flashpackers (you have never seen a girl so excited over having 2 pillows before) and we will be staying until Tuesday, when we will be moving up to Hervey Bay and doing out 3 day/2 night island safari on Fraser Island (largest sand island in the world with over 100 natural spring water lakes on it) so CANNOT WAIT!

Before we left we visited the Australia Zoo owned by the Irwins (lots of memories of Steve there) which was great so will do a post about that and our time in Noosa when I get a chance :)

Bye for now!

Ooops, not updated for a while. Mainly as there hasn't been much going on. I got 6 days of temp work counting paper and putting it in numerical order, which paid well but is long over now. Praying I can get some more work over the next 6 weeks or I'm in trouble...

Big Sam is going to the Outback tomorrow morning to work on a pub/alpaca farm!! Sounds mental but I'm sure she'll enjoy it cos she's outdoorsy and animaly. She's not gone yet but I'm already excited for her to come back so we can finally move on when little Sam is back as well. I don't mind being in the city, in fact, I quite like it but even I'm getting sick of it now and I'm poor so it doesnt bode well.

Anyway... here are some pictures of Brisbane that we took the other day when it was nice and sunny :)









Oh, and I got my fringe cut, yay!

Last weekend the two Sams and I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, about 40 mins bus ride from the Brisbane Central Business District.

We opted for it over the Steve Irwin zoo as its cheaper to get entry and you get to feed kangaroos and hold a koala there so we headed over there. It was a great afternoon walking around and seeing all the koalas (the grooms, brides and retired bears) and fed the kangaroos there. There were also various farm animals and reptiles but we werent so bothered about them :P

Bit disappointed as the photo of me holding the koala I was holding was LESS than flattering and so I will definitely go back at some point to get another one hehe! plus, they were cute and Orion, the boy koala we held, stretched up his head for a hug when I held him! Aw.

Since I didn't include any pics with my post about my brief stays in Byron Bay and Surfer's Paradise, here are some randoms:


Byron Bay


Byron beach



Our very hippy hostel!!



View of Byron



View as we hiked to lighthouse



We finally made it to the lighthouse!!




Surfer's Paradise


The beach and its big shadow from the scrapers!



Beach and city



Nice and sunny