And so to the big Land Down Under! Touched down in the relative warmth of Sydney eager to explore all that the city we had heard so much about has to offer. Rob immediately headed off north to hang out with Koalas and Kangaroos, walk the sandy beaches and brush up on his Trivial Pursuit skills while I stayed in Sydney and caught up with friends from home and London. After a hectic time exploring every inch of New Zealand we were both looking forward to slowing the pace down, catching up with a few friends, and relaxing on warm golden beaches while we still can.
We caught up a few days later and took in the obligatory trips to Manly and Bondi Beach, and then it was off to the opera! Having seen the famed Opera House as well as the Harbour Bridge from the ferry across to Manly we decided to try and get to a performance if we could. Having consulted the calender of events we
rocked up to the ticket office the next morning and asked in the best
Irish brogue for two tickets to the 11 am show - "Introduction to Ballet" - from the rather bemused (yeess certainly boys - I've seen it
all now) cashier. Having overcome the initial knowing looks from some
of the rest of the audience (two handsome men attending the ballet
together ) we settled down in our excellent seats for a very
enjoyable performance. The rest of the time in Sydney was quite relaxed, lots of pints with friends and few great nights out. This part of the trip isn't really about culture or exploring new places any more. Australia is very like Ireland, except the weather is a thousand times better, the people don't burn quite as easily, and life revolves around the beach rather than the pub. That and the fact "popping down the road" to see a friend involves a 3 or 4 hour drive.
From Sydney we first travelled up to Newcastle so I could catch up with relations and then we made our way up the coast to Byrom Bay for an obligatory big weekend. Next stop was Brisbane or BrisVegas as it is known locally where we stayed with Colin, a mate of Rob's. The weather in Brisbane proved to be a bit of a disappointment and we really didn't get too much done apart from our laundry. Instead of spending the weekend in the city, Colin organised for us and one of his friends to go a couple of hours up the coast to the very pretty town of Noosa. The four of us all had a great time on Saturday night, ending with a refreshing dip in the sea for some of us. The next day was our first taste of the glorious Australian weather on the beach where we spent several hours clearing the heads while bodysurfing in the ocean with thankfully not a shark in sight.
It was only through having a few discussions with the locals that I actually realised how many things there were in Australia that could do real harm to an innocent Irishman. Of course there are the obligatory sharks, but Australia is also home to 10 of the world's deadliest snakes, jellyfish, crocodiles, spiders and a whole medley of other assorted nasties that you really do not want to meet on the way home of a Friday night or at any other time for that matter.
We then said our farewells to Brissy for the meantime and, following a few scheduling difficulties at the airport, got on a plane for Perth. Unfortunately we only really had one full day to explore and as the weather wasn't great part of that was spent watching the recently released new Star Wars movie - which actually wasn't too bad to be honest........Also managed to have a wander around some of the parks, took a stroll down the river and enjoyed a quiet beer at sunset down at the ferry pier. Thus, with all our energy well and truly conserved we headed for the north west of Australia and to the town of Broome to meet up with our friend Claire. This part of the trip had been most anticipated, not only because we got to catch up with Claire but also because it was the one place we could be guaranteed some decent sun time on the beach! We had managed to arrive on a weekend and proceeded to have a great one - although it couldn't get much better than Rob's brief guest appearance dancing in a cage in Broome's outdoor nightclub!!
Broome is a bit of a strange place - famous for it's pearling industry and the presence of a large Asian population involved in it, the town appears from nowhere as an oasis by the sea in the midst of seemingly endless tracts of red, barren desert. With only 15,000 inhabitants it seemed as though it could feel very small in a short period of time - by the end of our 6 days there we alrready knew a few of the locals about town. The luxury of being able to jump into a car and drive somewhere else for a couple of days to escape just doesn't exist as there is simply nothing around within easy driving distance. In spite of that, the town has all the amenities you could want - McDonalds, one of the oldest outdoor cinemas in the world, great beach, sober up centre, prison, crocodile farm and several drive-thru off licences (a concept which I am sure would go down a treat in Ireland). Our main activity in Broome was the pursuit of a good going home tan. The weather was perfect at a little over 30 degrees and the beach was huge. We approached the water a little more gingerly as there was known to be some stingers about but got a bit more confident as the days wore on. Saying that, the Indian Ocean wasn't particularly refreshing given that it was still around the temperature of a warm bath. Luckily though, Claire was able to use her membership to sneak us into the local beach club so we had the opportunity to cool down in the pools and lounge under the parasols - even trying our hand at lawn bowls at one stage.
Far too soon our visit was over and we departed again to retrace our steps to Brisbane including another all-too-brief stopover in Perth. Tom immediately headed off to meet more relations while Colin once again provided hospitality to Rob. Anxious to get moving and more importantly to get to a nice beach again we swiftly made our way up to Hervey Bay - the gateway for tours to Fraser Island. Unfortunately again our luck with the weather deserted us and we spent most of our two days there sheltered in the hostel - in the end deciding not to make the expensive tour trip out to the island as it was too overcast to be able to really enjoy it. Decided then to cut our losses and head north again, this time to Airlie Beach and the promise of some fun, sun and reef diving on the famed Whitsunday Islands.
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