Pirates of the good ship Team Adventure

After an overnight stopover in Auckland, where I was savaged by bedbugs (my first and only experience of them in my year away) my first stop in South America was Santiago, the Capital of Chile. I was a little apprehensive about arriving in South America on my own. One of the cabin crew on my flight really reassured me by telling me not to leave my hostel on my own, EVER! Great, exactly what I wanted to hear.

I flew out of Auckland at 1pm on Sunday and arrived in Chile (after a 12hr flight), before I left New Zealand, at 12pm Sunday. After queuing for two hours to clear customs, I was finally ready to venture out. What I had already noticed was the sheer volume of impressive facial hair, the moustache was very much favoured here.

My hostel was in a lovely part of the city called Bellavista, it was kinda like the St Kilda of Santiago, minus the prostitutes, or maybe the prostitutes here were just more subtle! There were lots of little cafes and markets and this was the first place I realised the difficulty involved in getting still water- aqua sin gas por favor, my Spanish was coming along a treat.

I didn't do very much on my first 2 days there, it was a mixture of jet lag and the words of caution from the helpful cabin crew.

By the third day I was very ready to head out and see what the place had to offer. And you know what? Santiago was NOT a scary place at all! I walked through the city, went to a museum, realised I didn't speak Spanish so the point of museums was lost on me and decided not to bother in future. Did a bit of shopping, had a nice lunch and got back to my hostel again without getting sold into white slavery, a successful day I thought! So I did very much of the same for the next few days.




So after 6 days in Santiago it was time to head on to Buenos Aires.

to be continued....

She's the one at the slot machine

During my previous visit to Sydney I managed to blind myself so saw everything through one squinty eye, this time I had two working eyes, hooray. I know there are plenty of photos of Sydney on the blog, but here are a few more.....for luck

Unfortunately my Sydney visit was cut short, damn Qantas. When I phoned to confirm my flights to South America the following week, they told me I was on a standby list, not to worry though they said, they could get me on a flight from Melbourne to Chile in 3 days time! So my little time left in Australia was now cut in half, I found this all very inconvenient!

Next morning I got the first flight back to Melbourne. It was Melbourne Cup Day and I must have been the only person in the city heading away from the racetrack. Even though I didn't make it to Cup Day, I did fit in a visit to Crown Oaks Day with my cousin Martin and his girlfriend Epp, I got to wear a hat! They taught me everything I need to know about betting, for which I will be forever grateful!

Here's Martin doing his thing.

On my last day in Melbourne I realised I had no pictures of the place. I fixed that though and here are some of the best sights. Flinders Street Station

Hula hooping man on Swanston Street
Tram on Bourke Street, not a ye oldie one unfortunately
Federation Square, now I thought this was pretty ugly but others seemed to like it....

I spent my very last night in Melbourne with my lovely work friends. After a very nice meal and a few cocktails it was time to say my final goodbyes to them. That's the only downside of travelling, all the goodbyes that are necessary.

So that was that, I said goodbye to Australia, the home of scooners, pots, aww yeahhhhs, Bondi Rescue, Rove and Tori.

Next stop Chile.

Way, way back in September I became solo traveller girl. Amanda had headed home to Naas to become a career girl and Peter and Rachel were somewhere on the west coast.

After spending a few more weeks in Melbourne, earning a bit more money to fund my great big giant adventure, it was time to move on again and see some of Australia. I was so excited about the prospect of pot noodles 3 times a day and sharing a room with 10 bag rustling Germans, well who wouldn’t?! To Cairns I went.

Well what can I say about Cairns, NOT MUCH! It was only there a day and by about 10.30am I’d pretty much seen all the place had to offer. I did see pelicans though; I do be liking the pelicans.

Next stop was the lovely little town of Port Douglas, about an hour north of Cairns. Here I met my new best mate Jane. She had a car. She had other great attributes too, but she had a car!

The following day Jane and I headed for Cape Tribulation in the Green Machine. I unfortunately don’t have a photo of it but it looked like a snot on wheels. In order to get to Cape Trib you need to cross the Daintree River. $16 got us a return ticket on the little ferry across. We had a fair bit of stopping along the way to appreciate the nice views.
Eventually we arrived at Cape Trib. What was there? Not much to be honest! It was very pretty in a wind swept kinda way.

After a walk to the end of the beach for a photo we were soon back in the car and heading back to Port Douglas.

Next morning I said goodbye to Jane as she was heading back to Cairns. I had a few more days in Port Douglas of doing not very much, sitting on the beach and sunning myself I thought, the weather thought otherwise. Not really a lot to do in a beach town in the rain, so I thought it was time to move on again.

To Mission Beach and probably the worst hostel I stayed in the whole year. Scotty’s Beach House, avoid if you’re ever stumble across Mission Beach. I had a whole extended family of spiders living 1 foot from my head.

Something you can do it the rain is WHITEWATER RAFTING! It was brilliant. The Tully River is one of the best rivers in the world for rafting and because there had been so much rain recently the river was higher than normal.

Our raft leader was a slightly mental, female version of Steve Irwin, in her favour, she was alive
So after a grand total of 2 days in Mission Beach I decided it was again time to hop on the Greyhound.

Four hours south of Mission Beach is the ghost town of Townsville, capital of northern Queensland, apparently. I got there early on a Saturday afternoon and went to have a bit of a look around. I came across a couple of tourists and not another soul, it was eerie….But the main point of Townsville is the ferry to Magnetic Island.

So on Sunday morning I packed my bags again and headed to the ferry terminal. I was starting to get a bit bored by myself so I was really pleased to see my new best mate Jane (the English girl from Port Douglas) in the terminal. Turned out she was heading to the same hostel as me on Magnetic Island, what a co-ink-i-dink!

Our hostel turned out to be part of an animal sanctuary which housed crocodiles, snakes, a whole rake of birdies and Barney the koala. Barney had the scuts the day we went to visit him, still allowed to hold him though…uhhhhh

We were advised that it wasn’t a good idea to go walking around at night on account of the Death Adders, they’re called DEATH adders, needless to say we didn’t go walking at night.

As Jane and I both planned on going Whitsunday sailing next, we decided to go together. After thrawling through brochure after brochure of potential boats I'm pretty confident in saying we did bloody well for ourselves!!

Siska was a former champion racing maxi. It could accommodate 22 people but being out of high season there were only 11 of us.

We were collected from our hostel in Airlie bright and early on the Friday morning. When we got to the boat and parted with our shoes we laid claim to our various beds. Considering the boat looked tiny from the outside it was quite roomy inside...although only being half full probably helped! After a brief welcome talk (mainly explaining how to use the toilets) from Jess our 'host' we were underway.

Said toilet, even with our talk it did spend about half the time blocked

Within 20 minutes the sails were up and we were powering through the waves at a 45 degree angle. Walking was virtually impossible but hilarious to try nonetheless!

This is Jane, I think it may be her first photo appearance on the blog...

After a couple of hours we arrived at our first snorkelling point just off Border Island. Having donned the oh-so-attractive stinger suits and warned not to stray past the blue buoy ("There's a strong current there that will take you non stop to Chile" Okaayy!) we were taken closer to shore on the inflatable dinghy. After 30 minutes of snorkelling we were picked up and returned to the boat to warm up and gorge ourselves on a much needed lunch!

The Galley, the food they wipped up, oh lordy!

Shortly after lunch we were once again underway to our next destination and mooring for the night, Whitehaven Beach.



After dropping anchor we were transported to the beach where we spent an hour in the setting sun cleaning jewellery (the pure silica sand is very good for that apparently) and exfoliating!

1st stop on our second day was Tongue Bay. From here we were taken onto a small beach where, after a short walk, we got to Hills Inlet lookout. From here you get a gorgeous view of Whitehaven Beach with Hills Inlet in the foreground. Having taken a couple of photos and killed a few March flies that were buzzing around we headed down to Bettys Beach for a bit of a dip in the crystal clear waters before heading back to the boat.

The 3 days flew by and before we knew it we were heading back to Airlie Beach. Most of that journey was spent trying to sunbathe on the deck that was once again tilting at a precarious angle.

Eventually at 3:45pm the sails were taken down for the last time and the engine started up for the final motor into the marina. Luckily we were within spitting distance because when the engine was started an alarm went off and the smell of coolant filled the galley! Finally we made our way into the marina and before we knew it we were saying goodbye to Siska and making our way up to the bus collection point where we stood swaying gently!

After sailing, Jane and I stayed in Airlie Beach for a few more days. It was the liveliest place we'd been for a while so it was a bit of a novelty! I had to say goodbye to Jane in Airlie after another few days. I was heading to the Town of 1770, I fancied learning to surf! But I was meeting Jane again to go to Fraiser Island so it wasn’t a real goodbye.

The Town of 1770 was a nice little place, some amazing views. Sadly though the coral was spawning when I got there and you can’t go in the water. So I still don’t know how to surf!

(This outdoor toilet is worth over 1million dollars, you fancy it?? )

After another couple of days in 1770, I got bored again so that signalled it was time to move on. Another long bus journey got me to Hervey Bay and Jane. Next morning after a short wait outside our hostel a huge green 4x4 coach drew up to the pavement. The backdoor opened (like a spaceship) and out popped Alex, "Too Easy, No Worries, Alrighty Then", our guide for the next 2 days. First stop on Fraiser Island was Central Station. After a quick stop there we set off for a pleasant (power) walk through the rainforest beside Wanggoolba Creek.

20 minutes later we were back at the coach and after a quick introduction session instigated by Alex, "Too Easy, No Worries, Alrighty Then", we were heading to our next destination...75 mile beach. This runs up the East coast of the island and is one of the main highways for vehicles. All the same road rules apply and there is an 80km/h speed limit. The only slight change to the Highway Code is that all vehicles have to give way to the planes that land and take off from the beach!

We headed south to Lake Wabby, a barrage lake (formed when moving sand dunes block a watercourse). After a fairly challenging walk across a large sand dune we decided to head up to the lookout before going for a swim in the lake. 20 minutes later and slightly sweaty Jane and I reached the top, took some photos, and walked back down.

After a very welcome swim in the green water we headed into the bush for another power walk which took us back to the coach. We then headed back up 75 mile beach for a quick stop at the Maheno Shipwreck. The Maheno was, in its day, a luxury liner that broke its tow rope in a cyclone on its final journey to be scrapped in 1935.

Our night on the island was spent at the campsite in Cathedral Bay. Jane and I were sharing a twin tent that had actual beds in, Luxury! After dinner prepared by Alex, "Too Easy, No Worries, Alrighty Then", we played a slightly drunken game of Trivial Pursuit, which I won. I was called various childish names at this point and then we went to bed!

(There's a lack of pictures after this because my camera decided it didn't like being filled with sand)

The following day we headed to the Champagne pools. Basically a large rock pool that the waves crash into creating bubbles. After a quick stop at Happy Valley for our picnic lunch, and yet another coach change (the smell of diesel was getting overpowering!) we were soon heading down to Eli Creek, the largest freshwater lake on the East Coast of Fraser.

After lunch we headed inland to Lake Birrabeen. Unfortunately due to the fact that the sky had clouded over the 'blueness' of the lake wasn't quite so apparent. Didn't stop us from going for a swim in the clear waters and slathering ourselves liberally in the 'health giving' (apparently) stinky sludge that sits on the bottom of the lake! Silky smooth and conditioned we boarded the coach for the last leg of our journey back along the sandy tracks to the ferry 'terminal' arriving just in time to board the 4 o'clock ferry back to Hervey Bay. As it was Halloween we headed out for a few drinks with some girls from our hostel before joining a party at a hostel up the road.

Next day involved an 8 hour bus trip to Brisbane. Pretty much everyone we'd met the previous night was on the bus. Our few days in Brisbane were full of shopping, emailing, shopping, emailing... you get the idea. All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Jane, sadly for good this time as I was running out of time in Australia and had to keep moving. We have planned an extensive camper van tour around the British Isles next year!

So 18 hours on a bus got me to Sydney.....

Way back in August Rachel and I got up ever so early one Saturday morning and did the most touristy thing imaginable. That's right, we went to Ramsey Street!!


We went on this...The Neighbours bus. We felt no shame! We were treated to a medley of hits from past Neighbours stars, we got a bit of Paul Robinsons -Don't It Make You Feel Good, a pop sensation, you have to wonder how such a talent didn't have more success?Ramsey Street was tiny, really, really tiny. Little known fact - there's actually another house at the end of the street that refused to take part in the show. So the tour guide was encouraging people to go look in it's windows...but we had more exciting things to do like posing outside Paul Robinsons house!


And Harolds house.
And Susan's house, super cheesy....you're starting to get the idea of how our morning was going.

Soon it was time to leave Ramsey Street, much to the delight of the residents I imagine. Next stop, Erinsborugh High. The tour guide whipped this sign out of the back of the bus and hung it up so we could pose again. So much posing. The school is an English language school so we weren't allowed in too far, these poor kids have classes 7 days a week!

This nice photo was achieved by balancing the camera on a wall, setting the timer and belting it up the stairs.
Now for a series of random shots....

After the school we got back on the bus and headed for the neighbours studios. This was highly exciting, we drove in a circle around the compound and didn't even go in the gates! Rachel did have a bit of a moment though when she realised that this was where Rove Live was filmed. We do love Rove!

This ones for you Rachel, I believe it was the one on the 'saucy door' too!

So all too quickly our tour was over and we were deposited back in St Kilda, delighted to have seen where such an iconic and dramatically gripping show is filmed. Live filming every Tuesday if you're in the area and want to have a look.....

Afterthought: I'm not sure why all the photos look so dark, hope you dont strain your eyes too much!