Back in the City

Lake Birrabeen - Fraser Island

Whitehaven Beach - Whitsunday Islands

G'day! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I know that you are all anxiously awaiting news of my latest adventure. You're in luck as I have just purchased one hour of Internet time!

Mandy and I left Sydney for Airlie Beach (the base from which all sailing tours begin) on May 25th, the same day Tero flew home to Finland. Friday through Sunday, we sailed around the 74 Whitsunday Islands, stopping to snorkle along the Great Barrier Reef three times. The G.B.R. is actually 75 million soccer fields long! Compared to my relatively uneventful previous snorkling expeditions, this was unreal. We popped our heads underwater and were immediately surrounded by vibrantly colored fish, including the Dory fish from Finding Nemo. Mandy sat out the last snorkle and saw a massive sea turtle and manta ray from the boat! The skipper shouted out to us in the water to take a look at the manta ray but all I heard was "manta ray!" and excitable shouting, so I swam the hell away from where he was pointing. I was also dodging a few jellyfish because it was the end of the season and my 'stinger suit' didn't cover my face, hands or toes.

Sunday evening we flew directly to Brisbane where we enjoyed a hot shower and crashed. We took in a full day Rainforest Tour and viewed the Glass House Mountains, which are 13 volcanic mounds sticking up out of nowhere. Tuesday we dragged all our luggage to Crikey! The Australia Zoo, yes, the Steve Irwin Zoo. It was actually owned originally by his parents back in the 1970s so it's been in the family for awhile. No sightings of the man himself but we took in the crocodile show in the Croc-o-seum at Croc-o'clock (otherwise known as 12'oclock). It was a bit cheesy. I enjoyed watching Mandy sweat it out in Kangaroo Heaven (which would be more aptly named Rodent Hell) and then nervously pat a koala whilst muttering "take the picture already, Leah."

From Noosa, two hours north of Brisbane, we left on our Fraser Island journey. For most traveler's, this is the highlight and I can see why. It is a World Heritage sight and the largest sand island in the world. Nine of us set out with a guide along the highway of 75 mile beach, which is actually 68 miles long. I've never driven on a 'sand highway' before alongside a beautiful beach and it was breathtakingly beautiful. It was quite isolated, save for the odd 4X4, but apparently around Easter and Christmas, it's like an L.A. freeway there. From one of the lookouts, we saw a shark, but this only came across as a large, dark blob. We had three days of serious off-roading, stopping at crystal clear lakes for lunch and sitting around a campfire in the evening. It was wonderful watching Mandy's progress in terms of adapting to rather unsanitary conditions. Very impressive. Our door to our 'rustic beach hut' barely opened and after one go, Mandy was confidently kicking it open as if this was the normal way to open a door. We kept an eye on the spiders for each other, although she didn't realize for the first two days that there was one dangerously close to her toothbrush.

Back in Brisbane, we met up with my friend Nigel (from England 2004 trip) who took us on an authentic night out in Fortitude Valley. It was great, although poor Mandy only had three precious hours of sleep before having to fly home this morning! We had a great time and now I'm on my own for the next month. Flying to Cairns tomorrow for a week or so. Come July, I'll be sweating it out in SE Asia with sister #2.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the serious sunshine in Calgary.