Madder than a bag full of cut snakes

Ise Pearl - our home on the Whitsundays
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Right, I think we left this last at the Whitsunday Islands (sorry it's Rupert again first. Jo P - sorry it's always me first but Jo is the popular one and whilst she's still answering all her e-mails I'm twiddling my thumbs so it falls to me to start off)

The Whitsundays were awesome, we had learnt from our mistakes and booked a slightly more exclusive trip on a 60ft 70 year old pearl lugger that carried just 8 guests so was slightly more luxurious than many we saw. The 3 days were great but the absolute highlight for me was spending an hour with a green turtle in 3m of water just the two of us. I gradually got closer and kept diving down to swim parallel with her eventually I got close enough to stretch out my hand and stroke/ touch the top of her shell twice. It was wonderful, I kept trying to signal the boat so that others could join me but they couldn't see me. Anyway beautiful beaches, secluded bays, huge fish and giant clams - you get the picture.

Stinger Suits - already regretting sharing this photo
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We left that part of the coast in the rain and kept going north heading up into the Atherton table lands - a set of hills and valleys 1000m above sealevel slightly inland from Cairns. It was like visiting the yorkshire dales on a june day - there were palm trees and cows instead of oaks and sheep but other than that very similar. We visited this cathedral tree with a trunk diameter of 44m (giant redwoods eat your heart out) and a canopy of over 2000 sq m. a crater in the ground that dropped like a pipe 100m to the water level and a further 150m below that where it started to curve and no one had been down any lower.

Sunset over the Table Mountains
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we stayed the night next to a lake and saw the most amazing sunset (you can see the photos framed at our house in 10 months time - we'll also fill in the last 3 blogs with photos in the next few days).

The next day we walked around a couple of volcanic lakes surrounded by rainforests. Half way round I spotted a curled up snake sitting on a tree stump, I resisted the urge to stroke it and carried on. When we visited the local information center later that day we worked out what it was from the poisonous snakes poster in there. A Death Adder....... doesn't sound very friendly does it. Quite glad I didn't opt to say hello.

Cuddles The Death Adder
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On the way out we passed one of the ubiquitous yellow warning signs for animals - including one for wild ponies that was a little graffitied - someone had added a horn to the horses head. Jo being quite overawed by all our recent wildlife encounters got very excited, exclaming " ooh we get to see Unicorns" then paused and asked "but aren't unicorns made up?" ... I think I could make some money off FHM for that one.

I've just finished re-reading the Australian Bill Bryson book in which everyone he meets tells him that in Queensland the Ozzies are madder than cut snakes! even madder than a bag full of them. A couple of the ozzies we've bumped into in New South Wales seemed to agree with this but added the warning that it got worst the further north you went. Up at Cape Tribulation (the furthest point on the coast you can reach on a tarmaced road) we went to the only shop and walked straight into a monty python sketch.

Rupert in front of the Cathedral Tree
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The was a small local shop advertised as a grocers/off licence/information center with 3 desks to it and one woman behind the counter counting out change for the only other customer in the shop. When she was done we gave her our bag of groceries and when we had paid asked her where the camping grounds were. She replied in a surly voice that it was up the road (there being only 1 road this wasn't that informative) I asked where the bottle shop was (it wasn't apparent) and was told that it was at the next counter. I took a step to my left and waited, looking around. The woman shuffled a few bits of paper straightened the till and eventually wandered over "what can I do for you?" she asked. The woman wouldn't serve me until I was behind the right desk even though she was the only person in the shop, presumably if I'd have moved further to the right (to the information desk) I'd have got a better answer when I asked where the camping ground was. Madder than Cut snakes then...

The trials of Cape Tribulation....
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I just re read the above and it was better in person

Cape trib - beautiful deserted beaches next to the rainforest - lovely but very wet, in fact by this stage it had been raining for about 5 days although maintaining 35 degree heat and we were starting to get a little tired of the wet and had run out of dry clothes. We went down to Port Douglas (very beautiful holiday town) and hung around there for 4 days including a day out at the great barrier reef with 3 dives. The first dive was a touch disappointing although there was a greater variety of coral than we had seen before there weren't that many big fish.

On the second dive though Jo jumped in and came face to face with a black tipped reef shark. - it just got better, we saw a couple of Grey Whaler sharks emerge out of the blue and then a lot more reef sharks when we got back to the boat. We later sat on deck eating out lunch and I started chucking a bit of my lunch in - a chicken leg was the first to go and as soon as it hit the water the sharks whipped around and sprinted (swam really quickly - I don't know what the fisshy term is) straight at the food - it was really amazing to see how fast they moved. Anyway I was told off for throwing food in and that was the end of that game.

The only other notable thing that has happened (that I remember now)is that my wife is no longer the mild mannered vegetarian that I know and love but had turned into a Mozzie killer that now takes sadistic delight in their every death. There are lots of them up here so we're cutting our losses and heading back to Melbourne - The sooner I get Jo away from the shops up here the better, we blew three days worth of budget in one dress shop yesterday.

Love to all

Rupert.

Hey all,

Jo P - thanks for your entry. Just to let you know Rups goes first so that I can review what he is saying before it goes live! This may indicate a bit of a controlling streak of mine, however some of his stories don't necessarily show me in the best light.... dyeing his clothes pink in a domestic goddess frenzy, forgetting the hazy line between reality and dreamland with my recent unicorn comments etc. etc. so you can understand my need to know what's being shared! (The stories that have been editted out will only be made avaliable in person and after several glasses of something bubbly).

For those if you who have been following our Ozzy radio updates this week should not leave you disappointed - the daily session where listeners got to call in and gargle you their favourite song - priceless (Vicki - you were right, the NQu radio didn't let us down).

I think too I have now accepted that I am a signed up member of the wonderful world of backpacking. This realisation was brought home to me this week in two painful incidents:

1) Finding myself showering in a petrol station because we'd spend a few days on the freeway and it was free

2) Rupert insisting that I superglued my shoes back together rather than buy new ones

Now before you fall off your chairs, whilst I haven't worn make up for a month and my heels are so 2006 rest assured I haven't changed that much and managed to blow a couple of weeks budget in Cairns on some beautiful evening dresses and a cocktail dress for Zoes wedding. Completely impractical and won't fit in the back pack but when the shopping uge hits it's best not to stand in the way. Needless to say they're all currently sailing their way back to the UK courtesy of the Australian Post.

As Rupert mentioned the Whitsundays and diving were indeed highlights for us over the last few weeks (although diving in and coming face to face with a shark is not something I will forget in a long time and I have a feeling that it will be the cause of many sleepless nights!). The Whitsundays were stunning and although wet we had a great trip - made even better by meeting some fellow 'Pommes', Leanne and Flin, who had the same attitude as us - if it's going to rain all night we may as well enjoy it - as we sat drinking red in our oil skins as we soaked. Quality fun and I am definitely embracing Ruperts idea of yachting on future trips.

The diving was fantastic as well - the chance to explore a magical world of fish, colour and the unknown. I'm still not 100% sure about the idea of breathing underwater so tend to have my regulator (the breathing bit) clamped firmly in my mouth so hard it gives me cramp. I also tend to worry when Rupert takes his out to pose for underwater photos. This all lead to yet anther embarassing story for me (am surprised R didn't think to mention it....), while we were diving we were accompanied by the obligatory underwater photogratpher whose role is to to take shots of you diving and then endeavour to sell them back to you at an extortionate price on the boat back.

Unfortunately for me I hadn't realised that he was also taking a movie so when he came over to us to 'capture the moment' I first spent some time posing (for a video) and then I spotted that Rupert had his breathing apparatus out of his mouth so I went into good buddy mode, grabbed his equipment and shoved it back in his mouth - much to his amusement as he was in complete control and was wondering what on earth had got into me.

It gets worse.... this video was then replayed back to the entire boat on our journey back to the main land. People were in fits.

Other than that incident the Great Barrier reef lived up to all expectations and we're both looking forward to diving in New Zealand.

After a few days shopping and drinking in Cairns we decided to take a break from the humidity and head back to Victoria and Kylie and Matt. Weather wise this couldn't have been a better decision as we went from 31 degrees and wet to 31 degrees and sunny! True to form Kyles and Matt once again turned out to be fun hosts and we had a ball once again taking in the sights of Melboune - one of the key highlights being the tram restaurant around the city which cumulated in the four of us chasing Possums around a park in the small hours of the morning. The evening didn't end there as we all headed into the casino (reminisant of a few B'card nights out), however after this point my memory becomes a little hazy and I'm not best placed to fill you in on any details!

Over the weekend we also had our first Ozzy barbie with the whole of the Cox family which proved extreemly entertaining and good fun and we spent a glorious day on the Morninton Peninsular - fantastic views, good wine and an outdoor pool!

All this sadly brings us to the end of our Australian adventure - it's not often you leave a place already planning your next trip back. Oz has been amazing, the animals, fish, people, landscape, weather, beaches and scenery all fantastic and we have barely touched the sides of what there is to explore.

Onto New Zealand this afternoon where we have the scenery, wine and adrenaline sports (!) to look forward to.

Will keep you posted!

Take care

Jo