Category: Caroline

After almost a solid day of driving yesterday we made the most of our van free day in Coffs Harbour today, starting with a visit to Pet Porpoise Pool. It’s our second marine park in almost as many days but with the promise of seal and dolphin kisses we were hoping for a little more marine interaction this time. And we were not disappointed. The interaction began with a hairy, tickly kiss from Ellie the seal (Si looks like he his trying to show Ellie how it is done but really he was just avoiding a seal kiss for himself – chicken!). Next up was some dolphin kisses (these guys are well trained!) before we settled down to watch another dolphin show – lets see what these guys will do for some fish. It was possibly not as spectacular a show as Seaworld but it was less cheesy and probably more fun, especially since I mananged to volunteer myself to get up on the stage, hold a fish on the end of a pole and get splashed as one of the dolphins leaped out of the water to retrieve the fish.
After the show there was some dolphin belly rubbing and then onto the marine tank to feed fish, sharks and turtles. I managed to make a bit of a spectacle of myself again as I got nervous at the last second and dropped my fish in the water – a disgruntled shark then splashed me ferociously leaving me completely soaked – much to the amusement of everyone else – that will teach me! I felt a little safer feeding the fairy penguins.
After the excitement of Pet Porpoise Pool it was on to Coffs Harbour’s other big attraction – the Big Banana. It was similar to the Big Pineapple in that there is not a lot to it, aside from the giant, yellow concrete banana of course! Si was feeling a little traumatised by all the banana paraphenalia and especially by the many banana themed foods in the cafe. So the only way to put a smile on his face was to have several goes on the toboggan ride, which involved whizzing down the hillside and carreening around corners (I was advised to ease up on the brake after my first go!). A perfect end to another action packed day. And another day to be grateful that we are here having fun rather than back home working. Especially since St J’s had the inspectors in today – hope it went well guys (rather you than me!! 😉

Today’s Gold Coast excitement took us to Wet n Wild water park. It turned out to be the best place to be as the occassional torrential downpours didn’t hinder our fun – we were going to spend the whole day being soaked anyway!
As you can imagine (especially if you read the blog / saw the video about the pool slide) Si was in his element. As for myself, after a bit of a nervous start (my thumb is still not completely recovered from that same pool slide!) I too had a ball. The best ride by far, called the tornado, involved sitting on an inflatable ring and being thrown down an almost verticle drop, with almost definitely some freefall, to then spin around a giant cone – all the while being sprayed with good old H2O, of course!
Simon managed to go on all rides, even an oversize version of the campsite slide. The difference being it was about 30m high, straight, and involved a drop as steep as can be, he even claimed to take off as he dropped!
With all that fun, plus all the stair climbing to get to that fun, we are two very tired cats who will sleep well tonight (even in our cramped, lumpy campervan bed!)

You’ve got to love this country, we’ve gone from hand feeding elephants at Australia zoo, to swimming with little turtles on Fraser Island, then watching a loggerhead turtle nesting, onto saving a baby turtle the next morning. What could top that? Well hand feeding a wild dolphin would certainly come close. Mystique is the 4th generation wild dolphin (indo-pacific humpback) to come into Tin Can Bay every morning at 8am for a bit of a feed. He gave me a big Flipper like grin and gobbled up my fish. Sweet.

The only place you can get up close and personal to all three is Bundaberg. First stop was the Bundaberg rum distillery. The Bundy rum and the company’s advertising genius Bundy the polar bear are a bit of an Aussie legend that hasn’t really made it across the water because everytime the company expands to export, the Aussies just drink more! The most memorable aspect of the distillery tour was the overwhelming odour of molasses that is piped in from the sugar mill next door. That and the alcohol fumes are almost enough to make you feel tipsy before you even get to your free tasters, one of which was a very tasty rum liqueur with chocolate, coffee and caramel in it (when mixed with cream it is just as tasty as Baileys). With our insides suitably warmed from the rum we headed off for the barrel, where they make the Bundaberg ginger beer. We didn’t even bother with the tour this time – just raided the shop for gingerbeer and hit the road.
When dusk fell it was time for the highlight of the day. Walking from our campsite we arrived at the Mon Repos turtle rookery where, because it is exactly the right time of year, we were hoping to be lucky enough to see either a female turtle nesting or some hatchlings emerge from their eggs. Reading up on these magnificent animals at the information centre we learned about their threatened status (mainly from humans sadly – their lights, fishing, pollution etc). We also learned that we might be in for about a 4 hour wait for a turtle event. Lady luck must have been shining on us however because after just an hour we were ushered down to the beach where we walked along in pitch black to see a beautiful loggerhead female (K67838 or K for short) digging her nest. We then watched in awe as she began to lay her 4th clutch of eggs this season. After the first 20 or so eggs she didn’t even care that we were there and so we could take photos of this miracle of nature before us. By the time we had watched 133 eggs emerge we were beginning to feel how tired she must have been. While we were watching her set to the task of covering up her nest we were treated to another special sight – a tiny little hatchling appeared, as if my magic, from underneath a little boy. Oh my, were we also about to witness 100s of little hatchlings emerge? You could almost feel the excitement build in our little group. After careful checking of the perimeter the ranger concluded that this little fella was probably an escaped hatchling from the group next to us. She explained that he had probably been confused by our lights and gotten lost on his way to the sea. Bonus for us though- we got to feel this little beauty tickle our palms, which he fit into beautifully with room to spare!
Back to our heroic K who was still packing the sand tightly around her precious offspring, during this time and on her long walk / shuffle back to the sea she had to stop several times to rest (not surprising when you think this is the 4th time she has done this recently and she will not have been taking the time to feed properly). Finally we said farewell to K and waved her off into the sea but our adventure wasn’t over, we were about to play an important part in the conservation of this beautiful species. Ranger Jae dug up her nest and we helped to relocate the eggs to a safer nest further up the dunes. Si and I each carried 4 little turtle to bes up to their new nest. Unfortunately the odds are against these little guys as only 1 in 1000 make it to breeding age 🙁 However we hope that we have given our little 8 champs a fighting start. What a night.

The best way to start off the day in a new city is to have coffee with a local and Jon the Pom (Si’s Mum’s self-named friend) was full of useful facts and tips to send us on our way. It feels very strange to be in a city again but luckily Brisbane seems quite laid back and not at all as hectic as Sydney. Our day was spent with a brief forray into the museum followed by a long walk along the river.
Si ‘the thrill seeker’ Gormley is as we speak climbing the Story bridge (I’ll let him tell you the story!). I left him to it, not because I’m a big chicken but because I wasn’t wearing the right shoes – what a shame! For my slightly more tame adventure I hopped on the river cat for a sunset cruise. I must have timed it just right as the many bends in the river made it feel as though there were at least two sunsets, one on each side of the river, and for once, even I, was snap happy.
Bridge climb update – as Caroline “wrong shoes” McFadyen has said, I’ve just done the Story Bridge twilight climb, in lieu of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, which was just too hard to book! The bridge is actually more Australian than the Sydney bridge, built by the same man, but of Australian materials, so I reckon it’s more of an Aussie adventure (it’s named after a civil servant called Story, not exciting but I thought I’d put your mind at rest…). After being decked out in jumpsuit and harnessed into what was essentially a belt with no hope of holding me up if I did fall, we began the climb. The first section underneath the road showed how much the bridge could rattle and shake, not exactly inspiring confidence, but as soon as we were above the road it was all fine. Views from the top stretched as far as New South Wales and the Great Dividing Range – either it was an exceptionally good view, or Brisbane isn’t far north. The sun set behind the Brisbane skyscrapers, turning the sky orange then crimson before dusk, when the night became the realm of the flying foxes which gave the cityscape an almost prehistoric touch. With that, it was time to climb down, just as it was getting too dark. I’ve now climbed 33% of the climbable bridges in the world…

No I’m not talking about some dangerous new sport you’ve never heard of, I’m talking about chilling out and relaxing – it’s bad for you! We spent today chillaxing by the pool at our campsite. It all started off well, we had the pool to ourselves and so Si thought we should try out the pool slide, after all there was nothing to say it was just for kids! The first few slides were fine, perhaps even fun but then just as I was about to sit down for another go, I slipped and foolishly put my hand out to save myself. The result? One very sore, very bruised, very swollen thumb! 🙁
Despite the fact that I had just demonstrated the perils of the slide, Si carried on enjoying it for the rest of the day, running up the hill like an excited kid with a big grin on his face to go down the slide over and over again. (Si – I had my share of scraped elbows and banged knees due to tight corners and a shallow pool, me thinks the slide was built for smaller kids than I, but there was too much fun to be had!)

The Pet shop boys told us to Go West but we thought we’d do the opposite and Go East. To the most Easterly point on mainland Australia in fact. Never mind good old Captain Cook, it feels a bit like we’re following in good old Cat’s footsteps (how come she seems to do everything first? – Captain Cat has a bit of a ring to it don’t you think?)
Looking at our rough schedule we had pencilled in about 3 days for Byron bay but after 3 hours we’d had enough. I’m sure once upon a time it was a chilled out, alternative haven but today it was just a hot, sweaty bustle of people and noise and traffic. Most of which, I have to say was fellow campervanners! The only thing to hint at it’s aspiring alternativeness these days is the aroma of incense everywhere you go. Like I say we headed off pretty quickly and have settled for the night in a very quiet, chilled out town called Brunswick Heads – maybe we’re getting old!
P.S. No that is not some trendy belt Si is sporting in the pic, it is in fact a bum bag!! Hee hee, Si’s got a bum bag…. (I did promise I wouldn’t tease too much when he threatened not to carry anything for me- but I couldn’t resist! Sorry Si 🙂

Our morning began with what we thought would be a short stroll through yet another rain forest. I have come to the conclusion that they should be renamed mossie forests as despite layering on the mossie repellant I still got eaten alive by the darn beasts! I know we go on about them a lot but they really are the bain of our lives! I’m sure you feel great sympathy for our plight.
Anyway our short stroll turned into a long hike (it included a 4km detour along the beach to avoid a return trip into the mossie forest) and by the end of it we were hot and bothered and itchy! So where better for our next stop than Lennox Head which promised a teatree lake with medicinal healing properties.
It may well be medicinal but it is very disconcerting to find yourself swimming in what effectively looks like brown tea. Having been spoilt by swimming in crystal clear waters I really did not like being unable to see what I was swimming in (to give you some idea today’s photo is of Si’s foot!) Who knew what might be swimming below me or what I might be about to stand on (Si assured me there were no crocs but can he really be sure?) And I especially did not like the brown tea like dirt left on me when I emerged from the water. AND I was still itchy afterwards! Nope I’m sorry but the ‘medicinal’ teatree lake is not for me! I think I’ll stick to beaches – at least you can see the sharks coming! 🙂

As the name suggests, Port Macquarie is located on the ocean and at the mouth of a river. Which means that it is well known for it’s water sports. So there was nothing else for it but to put yesterday’s misadventure behind us and get back out there onto the water, this time in the form of a double kayak. We were suitably attired this time and Si was sans wallet (well, it was actually in the waterproof bag provided by Mel this time around! – Si) so we were ready and willing to get wet. We had some teamwork and leadership issues to start with but were soon paddling away and exploring the river and its channels, safe in the knowledge that the boatshed was downstream and the current would carry us back when our hour was up. What we hadn’t bargained for was the massive waves that seemed to suddenly appear as if from nowhere and which made the journey back rather interesting. Our wee kayak was rapidly filling with water and it looked like we might capsize at any moment. Nerves ran high, hearts pounded and if ever there was a need for team work this was it! Luckily we eventually made it back safe and sound to dry land with only slightly damp bottoms to betray our adventure.
The guidebook describes the town as a place of punishment for convicts, in particular the hardened criminals from Britain, and if you look closely at the picture you can see that Si is growing some facial hair in an attempt to fit in!

Today was our last full day in Sydney, we’ve seen it all and done it all (well, all except the bridge climb-looks like I’m off the hook with that one, who would have thought they’d be booked out in their busiest week!!). It’s been a fantastic 4 months and we have thoroughly enjoyed being Sydney-siders. Now all that was left was to say farewell to a few of our favourite places. Our first farewell was to Bondi beach. What better way to start the day than with a splash around in the waves on a bodyboard (It was her first time, and she’s a natural, put’s me to shame! 🙁 – Simon). There will definitely be many more beaches and much more bodyboarding in the next few weeks.
After an afternoon of hectic packing and despairing over how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 4 months (yes those 3 pairs of shoes did seem absolutely necessary at the time!) we headed into town to say our farewells to the city. First up was Circular Quay and the Botanic gardens, fitting in the obligatory flag photo along the way (it’s only taken us 4 months to get around to it!). Then to the Andrew ‘boy’ Charlton pool so Si could swim a few laps next to the harbour with fantastic views of Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo. Finger Wharf is where Russell Crowe is supposed to live so instead of swimming I spent the time trying to guess which apartment was his and which boat was his, all the while keeping a keen eye out for any signs of the star himself (alas to no avail!). After his swim Si treated himself to a pie & peas at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels (something he has been looking forward to for about 4 months!). He was a good boy and didn’t have the ‘tiger’ as we are now heading off for our last supper and if we can make it to Leichhardt (a.k.a Little Italy) we plan to treat ourselves to a nutella pizza Mmmm…