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Me writing my entry in Megan's blog on the beach in Palm Cove
- it's a hard life |
As Daniel put the effort in to do an entry on Megan's blog, I thought I ought to! As we are near the end of this exciting but long trip (yes, Mum we are virtually at the end!), I thought I would talk about my top 5 highlights of the holiday together with some things that have surprised me about Australia and some pieces of advice for all of you out there thinking of making the trip Down Under. I'll try to make my entry as interesting as Megan's - don't want to damage her readership stats - so here goes..
Lindsay's top 5 highlights
At 5 - Playing on the showcourts at Melbourne Park
Meg and I had visited the home of the Aussie Open on our first day in Melbourne. Meg spotted on a sign that you could hire courts and play at Melbourne Park. She wrote down the web address and was keen to tell Daniel on Monday evening when he got home from work. Daniel being Daniel made enquiries the next day and excitedly told us that he had booked a court to play on on Wednesday. We joked that we hoped it would be one of the showcourts but he said it was inside. On the day of our booking we were all excited and as it was a beautifully sunny but crisp day in Melbourne, decided to ask if we could have an outdoor court. The people at the desk were very helpful and said "You're on showcourt number 2". I laughed thinking they were joking but again Daniel being Daniel said 'Can't we play on the Rod Laver?' (that's the equivalent of Centre Court at Wimbledon for all you non-tennis fans). The lady fortunately had a good sense of humour and said 'no you can't because Enrique has it booked'. Enrique Inglesias was doing a concert at Melbourne Park that night.
Before Daniel had time for any more negotiating we set off to find showcourt 2. It was an unbelievable experience playing on the same court that great tennis players have played on. An experience I will never forget. Playing on Court 1 at Thongsbridge won't be the same - although we do love Thongsbridge Tennis Club!
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| Me and Megan before the big match! |
At 4 - Cape Woolamai Beach, Phillip Island
After picking up our hire car in Melbourne we got our first taste of how huge Australia is as we drove to our first stop,San Remo and Phillip Island.
One of Daniel's colleagues in the Melbourne office suggested that we might visit his wife on our way to the Penguin Parade as she lives on Phillip Island - the home of the little, cute but fishy Fairy Penguins. (I'll talk about them more later on). We arrived at our accommodation, the Silverwater Resort in San Remo on another sunny but crisp winter's day. On our arrival Daniel phoned Deborah to discuss visiting her - she asked us what we were planning to do and gave us some suggestions, one of which was to visit Cape Woolamai beach. We're so glad we took your advice Deborah. The beach was empty, the sand beautiful and the sea unbelievably clear. The sea at Cape Woolamai is the Southern Ocean coming straight from Antarctica and it certainly felt extremely cold when you touched it! I definitely wouldn't have done a Baywatch moment in this sea! (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, a few years ago we were on the beach in Lanzarote and a much younger Megan had a parachuting panda that you flew in the air and then let go of to see where it would land. Unfortunately I was not supervising her, Daniel was - let me add it was a very cold, windy day and the sea was not appealing! Daniel encouraged Megan to fly the panda and release it. Surprise surprise it went in the sea - quite far out. Seeing Megan's dismay and seeing how quickly the panda was heading out to sea - I stripped off to bikini and swam out to retrieve said panda). Moral of tale - don't let Daniel loose with child and any possession they value close to the sea.
Anyway back to July 2011 - it was a very moving experience visiting Cape Woolamai beach. You felt extremely close to Antarctica and as though you were in a very remote and untouched part of the world. We spent a long time on the beach - despite it being the middle of winter - and it is somewhere I feel very lucky to have visited.
At 3 - Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge
Our first glimpse of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge was from the plane as we came in to land nearly a month ago (can't believe it is that long ago) and it didn't disappoint.
The Opera House is a beautiful piece of architecture and when you are looking at it from a ferry it almost looks like it is sailing in the water. The area around the Opera House is also very beautiful with the Botanical Gardens close by and a lovely area of bars and cafes down on the harbourfront (something which Hong Kong could take lessons on from the Aussies). People in Sydney obviously like the outdoor life and even in the middle of winter (which it is here) there are seats and tables outside the Opera House and people eating and drinking there. We sat outside one of the bars on our first night after a 24 hour journey and life seemed a whole lot better. However, you do feel a very long way from home but Sydney is definitely a place that I could live for a while.
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| The Harbour Bridge with Sydney Opera House in the background |
At 2 - the Penguin Parade, Phillip Island
This was one of the trips that we were all very excited about and it was even better than I had hoped. To be honest it had already been a great day with the visit to Cape Woolamai beach and then we went to visit Deborah whose house overlooked the beach with its own swimming pool, tennis court and chapel!! She showed us round and had even baked apple cake which was delicious. She told us to wrap up for the Penguin Parade which we all did.
At 4.30 pm we set off from Deborah's to the home of the penguins. They return to their burrows at sunset each night so we got there in plenty of time. As we parked up there were signs asking you to check for penguins under your car before leaving - I thought this was a joke but no apparently the penguins sometimes go underneath the cars in the car park. We grabbed hot drinks, admired a few cuddlies (which you have to do whenever Megan is with you) and headed down to the spot on the beach where we were to sit and wait. It was very cold - remember it is close to the Antarctic and it is winter. We were glad we were wrapped up but others came in shorts and flip flops!! I thought they must be British but no I was glad to see that other nations are just as stupid as us.
We sat in a sort of stand for about half an hour as it was going dark. When we arrived at the Penguin Parade there were signs up saying what the penguins' ETA was (5.49 pm). Of course, Daniel kept looking at his watch and saying 'they're late, they're not coming tonight!'. People became quite fidgety when all of a sudden we saw a lot of white emerging from the sea. It was the first group of penguins. They seemed very cautious at first and were looking round, then one of them half waddled and half ran across the beach and the others followed. They then walked right past us and up a little path at the side of the boardwalks we had walked down earlier. We were allowed to go and stand on the boardwalks while the penguins came past so we were able to get really close to them; it was amazing. The penguins didn't seem at all bothered by our presence and continued walking to find their burrows. Some seemed to get lost, some called out to their friends to find out where they were and some just staggered around. It reminded me of a load of drunk men trying to find their way home after a heavy night!
This process of penguins emerging from the sea and heading back to their burrows continued for about an hour. We must have watched hundreds go past - we were all captivated by them. One of the penguins seemed to be struggling and so one of the rangers jumped over the boardwalk fence and collected him up to look at his injuries. He wasn't too pleased to be picked up. They told us as we were leaving that they had checked the penguin out and couldn't find anything wrong with him so had put him back. Megan and I were relieved to hear this as we had watched the little penguin limping past us.
I would definitely recommend the Penguin Parade to anyone visiting the area. It was very sensitively done, the penguins aren't at all bothered by the presence of oohhing and ahhhing humans and it is a real chance to get close to this amazing but fishy smelling (they really do smell of fish) and noisy (they sing very loudly when they have found their burrows) creatures.
PS. And yet we did check under our car as we left!
PPS. Sorry no photos as photographs are not permitted at the penguin parade.
At 1 - snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef
This day is a day I will remember forever and would definitely repeat if ever I am so lucky to visit this part of the world again. I knew Megan was feeling nervous about the day - she was very quiet on the journey up to Port Douglas despite me and Daniel chatting and trying to keep the mood light and relaxed! Port Douglas is a bigger resort than the one we are staying in and has a beautiful harbour with lots of boats - most of which are taking divers and snorkellers out to the Reef.
After collecting our wetsuits (which were already wet - except Megan's) we got on the boat. The three Wavelength crew were excellent and I could tell Megan was already feeling more relaxed particularly after chatting to Suz, one of the Marine Biologists on board. However, we both told her that she was under no pressure to get in the water - I'm sure a lot of people aren't keen to be swimming 70 miles out at sea!
On the way out to Opal Reef (the part of the Outer Reef that we were going to) we saw loads of whales. The sea was extremely calm and still so it was ideal conditions for seeing whales and you could see quite far down below us as the water was so clear. The whales we saw were enormous. They came quite close to the boat and seemed to be just hanging around in the water enjoying the day! The whales had migrated from Antarctic waters to the warmer waters of Queensland to give birth as the baby whales don't have enough blubber to survive in the colder waters of the Antarctic. Some people saw mothers with the calves. There were so many whales you didn't know where to look. We spent about an hour watching them and then continued to the Reef.
The tide was fairly low so as we approached you could see the coral sticking up out of the water which looked a bit strange when you are out in the middle of the ocean! The sea was incredibly blue. The Wavelength crew told us to put on our wetsuits, snorkels and flippers ready to get in the water. Some people on board had decided they didn't want to get in but Megan was already getting into her wetsuit. I think she felt ok as the water at the first site - Turtle Bay - was shallow and clear and also she wanted to see turtles. We went to the back of the boat and down the steps to get in. It was cold but beautiful. I stayed with Megan but she was soon off swimming as there was a turtle just in front of us. We swam together looking at the turtles - one of which was quite large. The turtles didn't seem bothered by the 20 or so people swimming close by. There were lots of beautifully coloured fish like Nemo, some parrot fish and clown fish too. There was also a lot of coral as you would expect. You had to be quite careful when swimming close to the coral as the tide was very low and it would probably hurt your legs if you caught them on it. We swam at the first stop for about an hour - it went really fast. When we went out to the deeper part of Turtle Bay we saw sharks swimming around on the sea bed beneath us. They looked very graceful and not at all dangerous - although they did have quite big, pointy mouths which I wasn't too keen to get closer to!
Suz told us to make our way back to the boat - which was quite a distance away. We all swam back. There were loads of fish swimming by the steps of the boat. Megan had reallly enjoyed it and seemed keen to get off the boat again at the next site which was even further out and deeper.
The second time we got off the boat another of the Marine Biologists gave us a guided tour and showed us some clams, Christmas worms, maori wrass and some mushroom coral that we were allowed to touch. It looked just like a mushroom but when you touched it, it was very hard. We did some exploring on our own and then got back on the boat for some lunch.
During lunch (which was excellent because unlike other reef tours they didn't give us fish - it just doesn't seem right to eat the stuff you have come to see, a bit like standing in a field of cows with a burger in your hand), Suz gave us a talk about the coral and creatures we had seen which was extremely interesting. Most of the people on the tour were friendly and nice but there were two rather large and loud American ladies who seemed to think that they could see better corals and fish off the coast of the US. During Suz's talk one of them asked why the coral they could see was mainly brown and not as colourful as they had seen off the coast of Mexico. Daniel piped up 'because they paint the coral in Mexico'. Everyone laughed. To be honest the coral was fairly colourful - I'm not quite sure what they were expecting - neon pinks!
After lunch we went to the third site. This was by far the deepest part of the sea and you could see the continental shelf further out where the ocean becomes as deep as 2km really quickly. Megan decided not to come in this time so Daniel and I went. This was by far the most colourful and beautiful part. There were lots of much larger fish, giant clams and beautiful coral. Despite the depth of the sea, the water was still so clear that you could see the bottom. It was amazing. As I swam back to the boat I saw some jellyfish heading our way so swam away from them as I didn't want to get stung or receive the treatment required to alleviate the sting!!! (Anyone not sure what that is - watch Friends).
Megan was very helpful when I got back to the boat - helping me get out of the wetsuit, etc. As I took my flippers off a quite large man stood on my toe - it was very painful! We sunbathed on the top deck of the boat as we headed back to Port Douglas. It had been an unbelievable experience. Although not such a great day for extremities as on the car journey back to Palm Cove Daniel trapped my fingers in the car window. Ouch!!!
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| Me and Daniel in our wetsuits about to get in |
Hope you've enjoyed this entry. Before I hand back to Meg, just thought I'd leave you with things that have surprised me about Australia and some pieces of advice if ever you venture Down Under.
1. It is very expensive here. For example a paperback book in a shop is about $27 - that's about £17.
2. Australia is huge. The distances between towns and cities is enormous.
3. When you go in a shop people always say 'How you going?'. At first I wasn't sure how to answer this question - best to nod and smile I find.
4. Everywhere feels very untouched and far away from the rest of the world. If you want to go somewhere difficult to be contacted - come here.
5. The natural beauty of this place is staggering, indescribeable until you've seen it. As I'm writing this we've just flown over part of the Great Barrier Reef which you could seen clearly from the plane. Wow!
6. Australian people are very friendly but they always assume you live in London! When you say the no I live in the north of England they are very disappointed. Someone even asked me if I was from Liverpool - last time I checked my accent was certainly not Scouse!
7. Don't listen to any man who tells you you have plenty of fuel to get you to the next petrol station. Always ensure you have a full petrol tank when setting off on a long journey. The distance between petrol stations here is rather long.
8. Don't go walking in woods or rainforests without putting on insect repellant - the mosquitoes will get you!
9. Watch out for men driving the ferry on Sydney Harbour cruises telling you to come and sit in the wheel house with them as you will get cold. When this failed the man in question sent his assistant to ask me if I wanted my photograph taking with the captain. Daniel wasn't there obviously and Megan was in absolute stitches at my way of dealing with the advances - which was to smile and ignore.
See you soon everyone.
xxxx Lindsay
