outback Oz and Fiji

A little update…

outback

Drove from Melbourne straight to the outback in the end of january. We did a couple of stops before we went to uluru (Ayers rock). One of them was coober pedy, the opal capital of the world. We visited a mine and camped underground.

Apart from the stops the main thing we did was driving… all day every day. You finally realize how big the country is… once you pass port Augusta, it all becomes red, dry and hot!!! Very hot!! On all our days in the outback it was over 40-45 and it didn’t really cool off at night, it never hit the twenties… and Louise didn’t come with airco…

But it was cool driving in the middle of nowhere for days. You could stop somewhere and for 500km in each direction there would be nothing, apart from an occasional roadhouse with food, petrol, supplies. Hardly anybody lives there, and experiencing the conditions ourselves, we could understand way. but it is a beautiful place.

We spend a couple of days near uluru, watched the magnificent rock changes colors during sunset and sunrise. We couldn’t climb it as it was too hot and too windy at the top. I hear you thinking ´what is so special about a damn rock´ but it is one of the only things that happens with the landscapes for 1000´s of km. and it is a magical and spiritual place for the aboriginal people. The Olga’s are a 60 km from uluru and are another group of rocks. We did a hike there. We really enjoyed it.

Next stop was kings canyon, where we did an amazing hike (all hikes begin at sunrise and end before noon otherwise you literally melt) up and round the canyon. it was one of the best things we did in Oz. beautiful beyond words.

Then we made our way to Alice Springs, the capital of the outback and the only city, 20000 people or so. It probably goes quick reading but only this part of the trip is over 3000km. most of the days we slept next to the road and enjoyed the wildlife and magical sunsets. The only thing that drives you nuts, apart from the heat, are the flies. You just cant eat outside, constantly there are dozens of them buzzing around your head, trying to get in every opening of you body. In alice we visited a reptile center, a royal flying doctors base and drove to the MacDonnell ranges for a day.

In the outback there are great 4x4 routes, and if I ever go back to Oz it will be with a landrover going from Perth to cairns through the outback! We stayed mostly on the main sealed route, there are gravel roads for conventional cars, but even on the highway we didn’t meet many other cars, a handful every hour (only 4x4 with airco and trucks, and a few nuts like us who go to the middle of the desert in the peak of the summer). So for once we did the safe thing and didn’t wanna risk a break or overheating Louise in the absolute middle of nowhere.

Queensland

After Alice we spend 3 days driving non stop to northern Queensland and on the 4^th day and some 2500km later we got to cairns, the capital of tropical Queensland. We were happy to made it all the way across the continent without car trouble!

We booked ourselves a 4 day live aboard diving trip to explore the outer parts of the great barrier reef. We got a great lastminute stand by deal (half price) as it was low season. The area around cairns is overdived because it sees 100000´s of snorkellers and divers every year. So we went a couple of 100km up north and were rewarded with very pristine and colorful reefs and heaps of fish life! Laura didn’t really wanted to go in the beginning, but she enjoyed the diving as well!! And the food, diving crew and infrastructure on the boat were all great!!

After the trip we wanted to go as for up north as the paved road goes, but we were confronted with some really tropical showers (feb is the wettest month there). Spend a day in port Douglas and the area. We managed to do a boat cruise to spot some gigantic crocodiles, but is was pouring so hard that even they were hiding I think. At a certain point we had to turn back as we were told that some creeks and rivers were overflowing and the highway was completed flooded and impassable, so we didn’t make it to cape tribulation. Too bad.

So we went south… but the rains followed us (I think we asked too hard to get some coolness while we were in the outback, and the weather gods were a little delayed in answering our prayers ). And this are tropical rains, it really pours, not just a drizzle…

In arlie beach we went on a 3 night trip on a yachting boat which took us sailing around the famous Whitsunday’s. These are the pictures you get to see when it people talk about beaches in Oz. it was still raining on and off but at least when we got to Whitehaven beach it stopped! The boat was filled with a lot of great people from all over Europe, so we had a good time!

Fiji

During the previous weeks we had decided to go to Fiji earlier and skip parts of the east coast. So no Frazer island (we saw it from the plane), no gold coast, no sunshine coast and all these other really touristy places. We can always go there when we are 70.

So when driving to Brisbane, from where our plane would leave in 3 days, faith caught up with us. The light of the battery came on. To make it short, we had it checked, didn’t know what it was, didn`t had time to look at it, I put in a new battery, same problem, kept on driving coz we were almost in Brisbane (600km),…. but suddenly a couple of 100km before the finish line, Louise died… just nothing, not a sound, total silence. Luckily we just got in a small town (80 km either way was nothing but bush). It was a Sunday so there was nothing do but wait. Before dying on us, I managed to park Louise on a side road in front of someone’s house. The guy came out to have a look, and as it goes in a small town he knew an electrical mechanic and the next morning at 6 we had the alternator brushed and we were ready to go! The old couple offered us to take a shower and some cold drinks, really friendly and helpful (like most people are in Oz). if something like this happened back home most people would call the police in stead of coming out and help.

We finally got to Brisbane, we stayed 2 nights at Joanna’s place and left Louise there coz we were heading to FIJI for 17 days!!!!

The main island looked and felt like parts of Asia or Africa. The way we like it! First thing planned was to go to pacific harbor and to the world’s best shark dive (for once the brochures were right!!! Check out http://www.sharks-fiji.com/ ). On the 2 dives I saw probably more sharks then on all my previous dives for the last 4 years… they were everywhere… white tip, black tip and grey reefs, nurse sharks and the star of the show the fearsome and massive bull sharks. Most people consider me nuts going in the water with this 4m man-eating sharks, There are only 2 sharkfeeders and both come from Beqa island. They worship sharks and have made a pact with the creatures. So they believe that they are protected and no harm will come over them. I don´t know if it is true but it works, because on the 10 years that they have been doing the feeding nothing happened. there was not a moment when I didn’t feel 100% safe. And seeing them up close and personal, just a meter from your face and no cage or anything to hide in, you can imagine the adrenaline rush one gets! One of the best dives ever!!! on average once a week the even bigger tiger shark (5-6m) can be seen, but I was unlucky, or lucky depending on how you see it…

After this we went back to Nadi and bought a 14 day pas that gives you unlimited islandhopping in the Yasawas, a group of islands in the west of fiji. After all this traveling we needed a vacation. It that was absolute paradise, beautiful beaches, a magnificent turquoise sea, green hills, perfect snorkeling, little villages,… all you dream of. As it was the raining season, it rained every other day or so, but when it didn’t the sun was out. The first week we stayed in the really cheap ones. Most of them are runned by the villagers and the typical Fijian hospitality is always a big part the good times!. There are still villages scattered around the islands where people still life their traditional lives. We sometimes managed to get a bungalow for a dorm rate since we never booked ahead. You pay for food and accommodation as in most cases their is only one or two resorts on each island. Apart from that there is nothing.

So you spend the days lazing on the beach, reading, dozing off in a hammock, playing cards or volleybal….

The last week we spend in 2 resorts, a little pricier but the food was amazing!! And we met loads of great people from all over the world so we ended up extending our stay every day.

Everything was super apart from me getting stung by a portugese manowar (a poiseness jellyfish). They are not common there but storm had brought one in and of course I am the one that get tangled in its tentacle. It was really painful for a few hours and it looked like my neck was completely sunburned with white blisters. But some old English guy knew what it was and after a mixture of local leafs, wodka, painkillers and ice, I was ok. But I scared everybody out of the water for the first 2 days. Apparently they are deadly…

Selling louise

After picking up Louise in Brisbane, we drove to Sydney in 2 days… 13000km later and without any real car problems we called our road trip a day…

We were not the only ones trying to sell a van, it is the end of the summer and there were 100's ads hanging around. We almost got depressed when we saw all those papers hanging around...After a few days of almost no phone calls and test rides we decided to park ourselves in the backpacker car market. We didn’t really want to coz you sit in a dark garage the whole day and your mood sinks as there are travelers sitting there for weeks trying to sell their car. But new arrivals always come and check it out, so there is more chance to sell.

We only had 3 days left as we didn’t want to change our flight to chili. Staying in Sydney is very expensive The plan was to sell it for a good price, for any price, give it to a friend for free or abandon. With 2 days left we had a guy who wanted it too buy for less then half the price if we couldn’t sell it before our flight. Nobody came to the carmarket on the first day, the day before 1/3 off all cars where sold, so it was quiet.

But on the Saturday it gets busy normally and we were ready to make a good deal. And determined to sell. And we got lucky. A French couple wanted what we had to offer and they didn’t even bargain, they thought it was cheap enough…i even had to push them to go for a testdrive. Only problem was that they could only give ¼ cash as they were transferring all their money from a French to an Australian account. And it was weekend. So we had to gamble… sell and hope that they would wire the money or try to sell to somebody else on the last day. We went for the first option, they seemed nice and trustworthy.

So on Monday we stepped on the plane with a only promise that they would wire the money… and they did. As soon as their money arrived on their aussie account on Thursday, they made the transfer. It is nice to know that you can still trust people like that.

We are in Chile now for the last leg of our journey (traveling through South America)… we´ll be going home in a few months. We´re jetlagged like never before...

That´s all folks!!

FIJI pixxx

click on the link for east coast and mainly fiji pics.
see if i find the time and will to write a story about the last months in Oz and fiji...
by the way we are in Chili now... different country, different adventure and much colder!!
6hours behind belgium time. we actuallu managed to travel in time while crossing the international date line. we have the same day twice,2 manic mondays...
in santiago at the moment and will go to valparaiso for a few days. the 1st of april we`ll fly to punta arenas, in patagonia

take care and safe travels to everyone!!