Tag Archives: Australia

Day 26 ·

Sydney, Australia

-33.936097, 151.166468

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Sorry for the silence. Boats + internet = 1994-esque dialup.

1000s of kms, 1000000s of waves, 2 countries, 5 islands, 4 states, and 3 modes of transportation later, Anna and I are now on our way up north to Queensland from Sydney.

The reason for our long silence (we apologize) has been because internet on the cruise ship was expensive and slow, and since we disembarked the ship we’ve been on the move. However, this morning we’re in the Sydney Airport waiting to board our flight for the Sunshine Coast and meet up with Ryan and Christen Kirk.

Over the next 2 weeks I’m going to attempt to relive our journey, day by day, on our blog, almost like it’s happening live. Except that it’ll be heavily edited and condensed and contain photos and videos.

So… first stop: Tauranga.

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Rounding out Australia.

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It’s early morning here in Wollongong, and as I mess around with photos while everyone else is asleep, I’ve just been reflecting on our trip so far. Anna and I have only a week left in Australia (aside from a week at the end of the trip after NZ), and while we didn’t hit some of the places we had originally intended, I feel like I’ve gotten more out of this voyage than I could ever have intended. Two things about this time away are different than any other before it, and have made all of the difference.

First is Anna: it dawned on me some weeks back that my favourite thing about this trek has been sharing it with her. I know many of you will make that “aawww” noise right now, either because you think it’s sweet or you’re having a laugh, but it really is true. I’ve loved seeing new and old sights, getting on buses and planes, and hanging out with people, and all with Anna next to me. And she feels the same way (good thing too!). I think that it has only strengthened our friendship, and thus our marriage… it`s just another type of environment for us to learn about each other, how we respond to different pressures and problems, and what types of things really make us excited about life. Anna`s just a pretty fun person.

The second thing is the pace: I’ve also realized that I think I’ve eclipsed my backpacking/seat-of-my-pants years. Sure, I can still do it with the best of them, and there have still been times between condos and free-rides that we’ve had to. NZ will be full of it. But I’ll be completely honest when I say it tires me out MUCH quicker, and I find myself drawn ever stronger to the life of an all-inclusive or a HOTel over a HOStel. I don’t think that will change much of my traveler’s spirit over the coming years, other than probably shortening the length of these trips from a few months to a few weeks. And heck, I might even through in a cruise or two.

As for the trip, since leaving the Sunshine Coast we have moved around a bunch. We first arrived in Sydney and were picked up by my old friends Phil and Kathy Macarthur. They were super great, hosting us for five days and taking us around to all sorts of places. We visited the Symbio Wildlife Reserve during our time there, and got to see some pretty hilarious animals. For some reason Australian wildlife makes me laugh, and not in a mocking way. I can`t explain it other than saying that it`s almost like they`re all out of cartoons or something. See the following for examples:

During the rest of our stay in Sydney we also spent a day downtown. We visited Sydney Harbour, with it`s iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and walked around the old part of the city called the Rocks. We took the ferry across the harbour and north to Manly, then returned later that evening and had dinner with Andrew Feeney. A couple days later we went up to Newcastle for the night to see Ruth Feeney, then back down to Sydney. Finally, it was on to Wollongong, about an hour south of Sydney, to stay with Ian and Charlotte Kirk in their apartment that overlooks the water and the Escarpment. Our time here in “The Gong“ has been great… there`s tons to do and see in the area and since Ian and Charlotte have done (in the words of Ryan) about everything there is to do in a 300-400km radius of Wollongong, they are great tour guides. Just yesterday we visited the Blue Mountains and saw the famous 3 Sisters rock formations, the Aussie version of the Grand Canyon, and beautiful Wentworth Falls.

Only 4 days left and we head to Auckland!

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Onwards and Downwards!

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Whoa! It’s been about 3 weeks (at least) since I last wrote on here! Sorry everyone. I’ll try to give a brief summary of some of the stuff we’ve been doing. I have a lot of photos taken but it takes a long time to upload them, so I don’t have too many new ones to share.

Our time on the Sunshine Coast has been, in a word, terrific. The weather really has been impeccable, and aside from a few spots of rain and thunder in the last week we had seen day after day of cloudless, blue skies, hot weather, and nice breezes. The ocean water has warmed up to about 23 degrees C (73 F), which really is warmer than it sounds once you get in (Anna might disagree), and the waves up picked up nicely. Disappointingly, the surf picked up too late and I haven’t had a chance to stretch my surfing muscles again yet, but I might give it a go in NSW, and definitely will in NZ and when we come back to the Sunshine Coast.

Anna and I took advantage of all of this and got to do some more exploring. We went up to Coolum Beach one day for the annual Coolum Kite Festival. There were tons of people, most of them families with kids, so it was a fun atmosphere. Little stalls selling food, treats, and knick-knacks, and of course a ton of colourful kites of all sizes. There were little shapes and critters, and massive squids. It was a pretty cool event.

Other days, we just drove around the countryside, going through little towns and a lot of farm fields. The Hinterland, as it’s called, is really beautiful here… dry rolling hills, farms and ranches, forests sprinkled with palms with little winding roads twisting through them, and lots of nice views. We even came across a massive pineapple.

We also went up to Noosa for the day to hang on the enormous beach on a bay there. Noosa is a really nice spot, with lots of high-priced resorts/condos and beach homes. It’s nestled in on the edge of Noosa National Park, which is in itself a huge parkland spreading across much of the Sunshine Coast coastline. Anna and I hiked there for a good part of the afternoon and got up pretty high from the ocean. Views with like Hell’s Gates give an idea of the things you’ll see… towering, rocky cliffs, huge waves crashing onto outcroppings, and the hills themselves covering in thick semi-tropical forest. We lucked out too and even saw a koala napping way up in a tree.

One of our last outings was to Mount Coolum, a huge mound that rises up not more than half a kilometre from the ocean. It’s a big green mole on the face of the Earth and you can see it clearly for quite a distance up and down the coast. The climb up was nothing short of exhausting, probably not helped by the fact the sun was beating down on us and the path was pretty steep and rocky. But the view was more than a fair payoff. You could easily see for many kilometres around the mountain, and it was cool being able to pick out the little towns and locations that we’ve come to know. Even the Glass House Mountains could be seen in the distance over the ridge.

So now our time in Mooloolaba is done, for now, and we’ve off on another leg of our trip. This part is going to be quite a bit more fast paced and packed with new things, so you can expect to get a lot more updates. Our first stop is Sydney, to stay with my old friends Phil and Kathy Macarthur for a few days. After that I think we’ll be heading up to Newcastle, but we’ll keep you posted.

I leave you with this:

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Dust storms and day trips.

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By now most of you have probably heard about or seen photos of the crazy dust storms that eastern Australia has been experiencing. While it wasn’t as bad as Sydney and New South Wales, where Anna and I were on the Sunshine Coast received much of the same treatment. The skies during the day on Wednesday (I think… I’ve lost track of the days. Must really be on vacation now) were thick and orange. It was mildly apocalyptic.

Before…

And after…

Everything had a fine film of dust on it the next day, and the distant skies have been threatening further haze for days now. But in the end, despite many people’s doomsday climate change scenarios, I think that this is just a part of the Australian environment that many have forgotten about as Australia has been modernized in the past decades. I know in the Outback that dust storms are a common occurance, and they were probably wondering what all the fuss was about.

Aside from crazy weather, we’ve just been exploring our area and spending time on the beach. Yesterday we did a day trip to nearby Brisbane, but by noon hour we’d had enough of the urban bustle. So we hopped in the car and spent the rest of the day driving around the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Both Anna and I are consistently amazed at how beautiful this country is. I think Queensland is especially amazing, and we literally go days where you could count the total clouds in the sky on one hand. If anyone is looking for a quick getaway, we’d love to be your tour guides!

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Eumundi Markets.

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Yesterday Anna and I drove out to the world famous Eumundi Markets. It’s a great spot, one that I went to briefly last time, and we got to spend a good hour and a half browsing the stalls and food spots set up there. Lots of great Australian art, photography, crafts, and clothing, plus some really great coffee and terrificly overpriced soft drinks.



You should see the drink that came with this.

We picked up a painting by a woman whose subjects are typically silly scenes of animals in the Outback and naked, plump butts leaning over Ayers Rock… typical Australian stuff.

The rest of the day we spent driving down the Sunshine Coast coastline and stopping in the little towns on the way. There is no shortage of incredible views and beautiful homes.

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Change of plans

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Sometimes when you’re traveling, plans can rapidly change.

Yesterday, Anna and I made a big decision based on a great opportunity that came our way. Basically, we scored an awesome weekly rate in a condo right on the beach in Mooloolaba, and have decided to make it our homebase for the next six weeks (in which case this blog will temporarily be called “Living out of a Condominium”). Yes, we totally loved being in the tent, and no, we’re not abandoning our other plans at all… We just figured out after doing the math and soul-searching on what we really want out of this trip, that this made the most sense. At least I can give you a better idea of our itinerary now:

The next six weeks:
Mooloolaba and surrounding environs, with day trips out to various places, and maybe some short-term jaunts to locations like Cairns (for the Great Barrier Reef) or Alice Springs (for the Outback and Ayers Rock). We’ve discovered that flying is way cheaper than driving, and while we do miss out on the sights of a roadtrip, in the end we’re going to get to some remote locations than had we attempted by car.

After the six weeks (about Nov 1):
Sydney and Wollongong for 2 weeks, Melbourne and some of Victoria for another week, and then probably off to New Zealand, either via Tasmania or Maroochy so we can see Ryan and Christen.

Whew, that’s a lot of details. Photos to follow, I promise!

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Here at last.

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After 28 hours of flights, layovers, trains, and cars, Anna and I made it to our lovely little camp site in Maroochydore yesterday. Actually, we first re-familiarized ourselves with some of our old haunts around town, like the Sunshine Plaza mall (where we had our first photo together), one of the YWAM base houses (where we first met) to grab Ryan Kirk’s tent (thanks again Ryan and Christen!), and the Mooloolaba boardwalk (where we had our first convo, in particular about how much I dislike wind). We also visited the Australian version of Target, which is like a shady cousin of the great American store, and some other places. Finally, we hit up the camping store and after inspecting the overpriced sleeping pads, we passed on them and bought an inflatable double-sized mattress for less than the price of one pad. A purchase I share never regret.

All in all though, it was a little overwhelming to do some shopping and prepping once we got here, and we were super tired. We were in our sleeping bags by 6pm and asleep at 6:03pm, and didn’t get up until the choir of tropical birds starting chirping at 5:30am. A morning spent at a cafe and walking around town has completed our re-energizing, and now we’re just trying to sort out our next mode of transportation.

I’ll try to get some pics up soon, but there aren’t many yet.

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The Maroochy Palms.

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Today Anna and I selected where were going to lay our heads on the first night of our trip. We intend on keeping a pretty strict budget while we travel, so camping is likely for many nights. But being the first week of our trip, we felt we needed to break ourselves in a little, so it was clear that the only choice was the fantastic looking Maroochy Palms Holiday Village.

This place has it all: proximity to the beaches, pool, gym, BBQs, day-trips, and all for a pretty good price. Plus, it’s only about 4km to the areas we used to hang out in (when we first met), so it’s close to familiar territory. At least we know our first week will be awesome!

Photos to follow in about 2 weeks.