My Wee Trip

We finally had our trip to the great barrier reef today and unfortunately I couldn't dive. I was very disappointed, I had been looking forward to it since Fiji and this was the last day I could go. I still have this chest cold and a slightly weird ear and although I feel absolutely fine, diving with congestion is just silly. I was almost tempted to just not tell anyone and go ahead, but some wise words from a pro diver friend of mine convinced me otherwise.

I did snorkel however, and this time, I really enjoyed it! I even saw another shark and a turtle this time. And yes! I once again got to hold a sea cucumber! He was my friend for some time because the guide forgot about him. When he finally remembered and took him back to the bottom, I was worried that the cucumber would now be lost as he was quite far from where we picked him up but apparently that's ok. I did check on him later and he seemed fine, don't worry.

It's Jess's last night tonight, it's a shame she has to go home, we've had a really cool time on our adventure. John Boy and I fly to Christchurch, New Zealand tomorrow and from there, we pick up a car and drive North to Kaikura. I'm looking forward to being cold again!

Got up bright and early at 4am feeling excited and awake. I slept really well being on my own even though I was in a tent. Woke up to the sound of dingos howling in the distance and a crazy old Dutch lady singing to wake up her crowd. The morning stars were really clear, I found Venus, the Southern Cross and a shooting star. Even found Orion's Belt even though it was upside down.

As we drove to Uluru, the light was just starting to spread across the horizon. The rock is strong and fierce in silhouette, it was easy to image the fear the first Aboriginal people would have felt coming across it for the first time. I have enjoyed learning more about the Aboriginal way of life over the last few days. Being close to the rock made the history and culture even more present. The sacred womens' spot where ancient women came to give birth, I found particularly powerful. The thought that so many thousands of ancient lives started in that cave makes you realise why the Aboriginal people hold Uluru in such high regard. We had a talk from Ezichial, a 70 year old Unungu man who told us that they don't want us to climb the rock. He said it is dangerous and for people to die on such a sacred place makes them very sad. It is very true though... we seem to have this need to claim and conquer places we visit but the sense of achievement, as the Unungu said, should come from gaining knowledge about the history and understanding it rather than climbing it and being able to say "I've done the rock!" So what if they believe the rock was created by giant boys playing with stones or that the small rocks falling down were made by the spirit of a snake avenging it's dead nephew. It's their beliefs and none of us can really fault them for believing in crazy stories!

I felt the same when we visited the rainforest last week. This amazing ecosystem where plants and animals cleverly rely on eachother for survival and adapt to use eachother's abilities... I had to ask what part us humans play in it. The answer was, nothing at all. We are utterly pointless and worse, we don't even respect it for what it is! There was a discovery some years back of a tree which has properties capable of curing AIDS. When the scientists discovered this, they sent out teams to collect more, only to find that the area and all of these trees had been cleared for development. To this day, they are yet to find any more of these trees.... Oops!

So... I may be being slightly melodramatic this evening but being at Uluru and Kata Tjuta really made me think about people and made me quite sad for several reasons. However, I have also found myself almost looking forward to being home and back in real life having these images stored in my mind. Even though I didn't manage to capture the perfect sunrise (sorry dad, you'll just have to go yourself!) I still know that I know these places... that's a very good thing.

It has been difficult to get any decent amount of time online the past week or so. Everytime we stopped somewhere with internet access, there were 40 odd of us competing for time. I'm not good at writing under pressure and although I keep a written journal with the intention of just being able to copy directly to this, it never really works that way in my head!

Anyway, this is the last day of my Contiki tour. We made it all the way to Cape Tribulation in 16 days, the first day somehow seems so long ago that I can barely remember where we stayed yet at the same time, could have been yesterday.

It has been an interesting part of my trip. I have met a few great people, possibly even one or two I will see again somewhere along the way. The highlights for me where seeing the dolphins at the most Easterly point, staying on a farm in Adora Downs, jumping off a cliff into a creek (ok, not that big a cliff, but still, it was lots of fun!) drinking cocktails in a swimming pool on Long Island, and of course, a major highlight for me, meeting all the wildlife along the way! However, strangely, I think the lasting image I will have of the East Coast will be the Jacaranda trees. They were in bloom when we arrived and started losing leaves along the way creating hazey bubbles of purpleness on all the roadsides. I'm not sure why I was so taken by them, they just had a very calming effect.

I haven't gone diving yet, but I plan to next week and I am very much looking forward to it. We meet up with John today and then we'll decide what to do next. Today, part of me wants to finish and come home, but I know that's because the tour wasn't exactly what I had been looking for in my trip, I think I need to do the extra month to get my adventure back on track and make contiki just a part of it rather than the main part.

I'll get back online in a few days and let you know where i'm off to next... Ooh, it's very exciting!

Here goes the fastest blog i've ever done! The queue for the net cafe is ridiculous. The bus journey has gotten better the last few days although I am still a grandma. Missing people more now too but I know you're all still there so it's fine.

Been on a farm stay which I loved, the night was so clear and I even enjoyed the barn dance! Just like a ceilidh really! Then went to Fraser Island for the last 2 nights, it really is beautiful. Lake MacKenzie is gorgeous, (the water is the perfect hangover cure!) We've had some terrible storms however and our boat out to the island was delayed because of lightning overhead.

I've feel I have to run now before I get lynched....

Not really that taken with Sydney so far. Seems like just another city with the exception of the close proximity of ocean. It's a little souless. Of course, in 4 days, I am not claiming to have gotten to know it well enough to make that judgement but it's just a general feeling. The famous Bondi Beach reminded me of a huge frying pan full of sausages, even LA didn't have that much flesh on display. Everyone is there to be looked at and as such they are all preened and perfect, the houses are like glass lego stuck into the hills costing millions of dollars.

We stayed in Manly, a lovely little place a half hour's boat ride from Sydney's harbour. Victoria and Darren who very kindly put us up have been a breath of fresh air after dorms and hostels. Being able to wake up with no one else in the room is a little luxury I never thought of before I left. They have been fantastic hosts, on our first day, Darren took us out to North Head and we saw 2 humpback whales! They were quite far away, but they were certainly whales!

Because of mix up in dates of our tour, we managed to get the chance to go to the Blue Mountains. A lovely trip but unfortunately, the weather was so bad that we didn't actually see a thing! Literally, the fog was so thick that we could barely see the trees at the side of the road.

Picked up the tour early on Thursday morning. It was like the first day at school all over again. I'm not going to be too derogatory about it because I still have 14 days to go so being positive is important. However, anyone who knows me will understand my feelings at having to learn our "day song" and being made to stand up and introduce myself to the bus. Including telling them all useful details like my favourite colour and weather i'm a "scruncher or a folder" with regards to the use of toilet paper... I keep imagining Hassan being here instead, and it makes me laugh in the worst times! I am also the oldest girl in the group, yet the only one to get asked for identification in the pub last night... How does that work?! I am actually quite irritated at still being on antibiotics for this ear infection because I can't even have a few drinks to ease the stress of it all. However, it is giving me a very nice excuse to do my own thing at night instead of joining in with all the fun activites!!

Of course, there are many plus points to being on the trip. The accommodation is very good and I am getting to see a lot. Including getting to cuddle a koala - can you imagine how excited I was?- and going into the rainforest today which I didn't even know existed. The waterfalls were truly beautiful. Byron Bay was a lovely little town, even saw a pod of 8 dolphins off the most easterly point.

I have extended my trip now to include a few weeks in New Zealand and then a couple of weeks in Singapore so my new return date is the 18th December... At the minute anyway!

Must get on with my knitting now like the grandma that I am!