Working In Melbourne: June 2006

Surf Pics

Fri 30th June, Byron Bay

Yet another action packed day! I must be mad. Got up at 5.40am to get a lift up to the lighthouse, unfortunately it wasn’t a great sunrise as it had been raining, however it was still worth getting up for. I then dived on the internet and caught up with a few people on MSN before my whales trip at 9am.

The Whale viewing trip was well worth it with us seeing Humpback whales as soon as we got out in the bay. Then 2 whales decided to take an interest in the boat, they headed straight for the boat but kept diving and not re-surfacing for around 12 mins. At one stage they were within 2m of the boat, unfortunately I never managed to get a photo of this though I did manage to get a few reasonable pics. As the whales had got so close to the boat it did mean that we were delayed leaving as we could not re-start the engine and risk them being very close to the boat.

This meant that I was slightly delayed moving on to my next activity of the day – Surfing!! Whale watching was due to have finished at 12 and my surf pick up at 12.45pm – instead one of the lads from the diving centre dropped me off with 1 minute to spare! Surfing was ok but difficult to wade out with the under current. Relatively lazy evening after eating my $5 meal at Cheeky Monkeys.

Thurs 29th June, Brisbane to Byron Bay

We drove from Brisbane to Byron Bay today via Surfers Paradise then Nimbin! Only 5 of us on the bus so very quiet.

Zorbing

Here are some photos of me Zorbing just outside Brisbane!

Wed 28th June, Hervey Bay to Brisbane

8am start. Drove to Rainbow Beach - Had a go a playing the Didgeridoo and actually managed it!! What a miracle, couldn’t circular breathe so I think that might take a bit more practise when I get home. Then drove on to Noosa where we spent a couple of hours wandering around. The afternoon was quite sunny and had a great looking beach. Evening spent n Brisbane just catch up with things. As everyone had told me just another city, looking forward Byron Bay and decided to have an surf lesson there even though already booked into surf camp further down the coast for an afternoon and morning.

Tues 27th June, Fraser Island

A different day to our first with extra driving, We drove along 75m beach where a plane landed on the beach in front of us. Quite a few of us then caught this plane to fly over the Island and then best of all to spot wildlife in the sea – We were very lucky as there were several pods of humpback whales so we saw a whale breach the water, unfortunately difficult to capture on film! I do have a photo on here of another whale I saw later in the day. Then visited the Champagne pools, Indian Head, Eli Creek, Maheno wreck (photo of Zara and Ted from Cork) and back to the lodge for dinner and group photo before catching the 8pm Ferry. Went up on deck on the Ferry and have never seen the stars look so amazing, there were so many. We could see the Milky Way!

Tues 26th June, Fraser Island

I’d decided not to do a self drive trip on Fraser Island after hearing a few stories about lost deposits, vehicles tipped over…so took the safe option with Cool Dingos which proved to be very good. In the morning too a ferry over to Fraser, caught the bus then we walked to Basin Lake where I was the only person to attempt a swim, it was cold but refreshing. We then went for another walk back to the bus where lunch was waiting. The afternoon was spent at Lake Mackenzie – As you can see from the photo the water was an amazing colour. The evening was spent playing card games.

Sun 25th June, Kroombit to Hervey Bay

Though we were up early we never got on the road to 12.30 today. Instead we had the chance of going horse riding, or should I say plodding! We were given the task of rounding up the goats which was pretty amusing. We then tried out our lassoing skills. Several of the group also tried their hand at clay pigeon shooting. Quite a sunny day with no rain and only 4 hours driving in the afternoon.

Sat 24th June, Airlie Beach to Kroombit Cattle Station

On our way South towards Brisbane we stopped off in Sarina to have a game of bare foot bowling – Why bare foot? Because we never had the right shoes to walk on the green! Most of the day was spent travelling with an early start of 7am and arriving at the cattle station at just gone 7pm. So after a dinner cooked over a campfire we tried out our skills with a ride on the mechanical bull – I lasted 5 secs which was pretty good considering most people got thrown after 2! We then spent the evening playing observation games.

Fri 23rd June, Airlie Beach

Finally a day off and the chance of a lie in, brief but until 9.30am. I went for a wander and ended up spending too much money! So now mum is expecting a rather large box to appear, hopefully before I get home.

Map of My Route (Better late than never)

Thurs 22nd June, Last Day on Freight Train

Another early start, 7am. We went snorkelling in Luncheon Bay. Saw “Elvis”, a humpback Wrasse. Hopefully I’ve got a good photo, he was over 1m long. Went to another bay for snorkelling then Geoff put the sails up and we sailed back to port which was pretty cool. Once back at “Koalas” the most important thing was a shower, as you can see from my photos my hair went really curly in the seawater and no hot water on the boat. I had to dash around sorting out all the washing, everything that I took with me on the trip got soaking wet.

Wed 21st June, Freight Train (Our Boat)

Woke up to…no rain! Big relief. First day snorkelling on Barrier Reef, tooked lots of photos on my underwater camera and hopfully they will have come out ok. Also went for an introductory dive, however not convinced that I really liked it. Good day – Stayed up on deck for most of the evening before snuggling down in my bunk with my beanie on! The girl in the photo with me is Carla.

Tues 20th June, Airlie Beach – Whitsunday Coast

The day started off dry with a nice rainbow! Our skipper was Geoff,host Elena and dive instructor Drew. Out in the bay we saw Dophin and once we got to Tounge Bay we saw turtles after the seaweed. We never snorkelled the first day…then it started raining…and raining…we were dropped off in Tounge Bay so that we could walk across to Whitehaven beach, voted the 3rd best beach in the world. It did look fantastic, through the rain and I was the first one on the beach, well let me rephrase that..the only one on the beach until our group arrived. It carried on raining and Geoff our Skipper tried 3 bays before deciding on the one for us to spend the night so that we weren’t seasick! But I did still did enjoy the holiday.

Mon 19th June, Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach

This morning we went for a walk to view koalas in their natural habitat on the "Forts' walk, just saw the one on his lonesome! Our guide, Frat, also tried to get us to lick the ants green bottom as it is meant to tate of lime, I'm afraid I declined! Continued to Airlie Beach where I stayed at Koalas, a nice spacious room for my rather large suitcase! In then evening we all went down to Beaches and met up and I had Kangaroo again...

Sun 18th June, Mission Beach to Magnetic Island

We then headed to Townsville and after a short drive and ferry ride arrived at the Base Resort on Magnetic Island. In the afternoon we did a kayak trip along the shoreline. Then settled down for dinner and a drink..accommodation here wasn't as good as previous and a bit cramped! but at least it was only one night.

Working In Melbourne

Friday, June 30, 2006