Wishing you all a happy new year and all the best for 2008! We’re off to the harbour in approximately 45 minutes – we’re booked on a cruise, which should give us unimpeded view of the fireworks 
Hugs & Kisses!
We have finally been to the beach in Australia and actually not seen a single cloud! Arrived in Sydney yesterday, and we spent today on Bondi beach – it is after all a famous beach, so we had to see it. The beach isn’t all that long, but pretty wide, and crammed with people. It mostly reminded me of the beaches full of sea lions as shown on nature programs on Discovery channel, what with everybody lounging around, and the men puffing out their chest muscles for the many groups of impeccably groomed rich men’s daughters There were of course normal people there too, but they weren’t half as fun to watch. And small speedos for men are obviously all the rage for the strutting men… I think you could do a study on the entire social hierarchy at Bondi.
Mario and I were super careful and applied sunscreen 30+, where as Ivan was determined to catch up on all the tanning he missed in Brisbane. Olya settled for the middle road. Guess who’s the least red? I only have a slight hint of burn/rash on my thighs, and Mario’s shoulders are slightly red. Ivan has lobster legs. Considering that this is the first day Mario and I have spent an entire day on the beach without the calming shade of a private bungalow nearby, we’re not so badly off I think. Guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow morning
Our hotel here in Sydney is (unfortunately) pretty far outside the city centre (we’re in North Ryde), but it was the only one Olya could find when she booked our tour. New Years Eve weekend is a pretty busy time for the hotels here (oh, the surprise). The hotel offers shuttle buses in to the city centre in the morning and return in the afternoon though, so it’s not too bad. And there are the regular buses, and we can always opt for taxi. The hotel itself is very nice.
After installing ourselves yesterday, we took the bus into Circular Quay, and wandered around the water front, and around the opera. Did all the mandatory pictures of famous landmarks – you know the drill. We also had lunch at Doyle’s down by the Rocks, as this was recommended by the Traveling Gurus we met on Ouvea: Ken & Steve. They claimed they had the best fish & chips in the world, and even I, who generally dislike this particular culinary experience, had to admit that it was very good. Thank you Ken & Steve! We then wandered about a bit, keeping an eye out for an open shop where I could get a jumper. I got a bit carried away when I saw that the sun was actually shining here in Sydney, and only after wandering around in my skimpy top for a while did I realise that sunshine does not necessarily equal tropical heat. I am still in South Pacific mode. And now I think I might be getting Mario’s cold. Damn it!
After I felt sufficiently clad, we went for a couple of drinks, and then a light night snack, before heading home. Restaurants were still open and serving dinner at 23:30! Hooray! Civilised city, this.
We’re back at the hotel now applying soothing aftersun lotion, and then we’re heading back to the city centre for some dinner. Tomorrow, we thought we’d try to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Yep.
Our departure for Fraser Island was at 6:45 in the morning; a grueling hour for our well adapted friends on vacation. But we were still pleased because this was our only possibility of experiencing the World Heritage and tourist attraction known as Fraser Island.
We left Brisbane in a normal sized jeep; our group, the guide and three English girls, making us a total of 8 people. Still we consider our tour a much better alternative to the tourist buses filled with Japanese tourists that also were available – we were a small group and could therefor enjoy the attractions in relative quiet – as long as we made it to the sights before the bigger buses. The day was thus set for long drives in a fast pace
Our guide had the look and attitude that you would immediately associate with an Australian surfer – tall and slim, with his hair in dreads and some large sunglasses covering the rest of his face – and he like calling everybody “mate”. Although he had a formal education in landscape design; his spare time he devoted to surfing.
After a 3 hour drive from Brisbane we finally arrive at Fraser Island. We arrived at high tide, and due to the bad weather forming lately and a full moon the high swells were especially bad. A large number of jeeps had thus lined up waiting for the tide to recede and the main highway on the island – the beach – to become available. The rumors were that they had to cancel their tours the following day because of the bad swells. Due to our one day excursion WE had a schedule to uphold, and our tour guide/driver would not let bad weather get in the way of our investment in the tour. So we headed onto to the beach for a fast, exciting – and a bit wet – drive through the high tide.
Driving along the beach we noticed how there were no surfers on the beach, although the waves looked impressive and in our eyes would have been an obvious choice for surfers. It turns out the shores along Fraser Island are a breeding ground for sharks, and anybody stupid enough to surf in these waters would be told off by the many people passing by. Still our guide surfed there frequently, but admitted it was only worth the potential risk when the waves were good. Erica safely tucked away her swimming gear.
The limited time we had available as part of a one day tour meant that we would only get to experience two of the many attractions on the island; A walk though the rain forest and a swim in lake McKenzie. Our guide was joyful and informative and told us about the many plant and animal species that were unique for the island. Lake McKenzie is practically dead of plant and animal life due to the acidity and minerals in the water. Thus all nutrition to the water was provided by insects landing on the water and very few species survived under these harsh conditions. We were told the minerals in the water was good for our skin and for rinsing jewelry, and were encouraged to go for a swim – but had to remember to not add any nutrition to the water and thus be responsible for changing the environment. Wee wees in the water were strictly forbidden.
During the day we also got to see two dingos on two separate occasions. These wild animals look like dogs, and walked casually amongst the many swimmers at the lake. Still one was advised not to try to treat it as a dog – it is a wild animal after all.
Well. It will probably shock you all, but Christmas Day in Brisbane? Not too much happening. We were originally planning to do Christmas Aussie style, by lounging on the beach wearing Santa Claus hats, except that this year, of all years, the weather has been (according to the locals) abnormally cool. Apparently it is usually pretty hot on Christmas Day, and a struggle to eat the big traditional lunch. This year it was cloudy, fairly windy, and not beach inspiring at all – and easy-peasy to eat the big lunch. Personally, I would have preferred scorching heat, as I only have one jumper – a white hoodie that is currently sporting a large coffee stain. Mario has even managed to get a cold from being insufficiently clad in this cold-hearted city.
In hopes that the mercenary Gold Coast would still be open, we opted for spending the day cruizing around in the car. We had to use it, since we’d rented the thing, right? We drove down to a place called Point Danger, and from there, followed the coast up to Surfers Paradise, making several stops on the way, ogling the locals having Christmas BBQs by the sea. Think we have admired enough beaches to last us a life time now
None of us felt any particular need to cool down, but Ivan decided to preserve our dignity by taking a couple of dips in the ocean. We also got to see the life guard in action, when someone thoguht they spotted a person in trouble. We rounded off our trip with a wander around Surfers Paradise, where more or less everything was open for business, and Ivan tested the power of the waves that is the source of the name “Surfers Paradise”. The waves looked pretty small when scrutinized from the beach, but once Ivan was out there to give some perspecitve, we realized that they were huge.
We polished off Christmas Day with a dinner at the hotel restaurant, which we had booked in advance. Based on our experiences with restaurants in Brisbane, we were pretty sure we wouldn’t find a single place to eat, so we felt a lot safer by booking a table here at the hotel. We naturally went for the Christmas menu, which at least featured turkey and plumpudding, though the turkey was pretty far removed from the real deal (green tea marinated). And our family recepie for plumpudding is of course superiour to the one we were served, though I finally had some feeling for Christmas while eating it.
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a public holiday in Australia. Or so we’ve been told. I wouldn’t have known it from walking around the city centre though – it felt more like the craziest Saturday ever. All the shops were open, and every shop had a major sale going – most of them had signs stating that every item in the shop were available at half price. And dude! People were off their hinges. It was like a feeding frenzy amongst piranahs. There’s been a long queue outside the Guess shop on Queen Street all day, and I could only dream about getting into my favourite shoe shop, Nine West.
We had reserved the day for shopping and perhaps a little sight seeing, so for the shopping, Mario and I tried to hedge around the worst of the crowd-gatheres. I am pretty pleased with the results though: a very cool handbag, two tops and a pair of cool pumps with a matching handbag. So that means two handbags in one day. Hee! My shopping need is well satisfied. Olya bought a pair of wicked shoes, and Ivan some shirts. Mario was being difficult, and were not interested in trying any of the sandals I tried to push his way. Silly man. I also tried to find a jumper that would be a little nicer than my coffee-hoodie, but no luck.
After the shopping we headed for the local Brisbane mountain (or hill if you like) of Mount Cooth-tha, to get a panoramic view of Brisbane and the surrounding area. Supposedly, on a clear day, you are able to see all the way to the ocean from the lookout point, but the weather is still being really unhelpful, so we basically saw Brisbane. After admiering the view for a couple of minutes, we headed for the Planetarium situated at the foot of the mountain, thinking that it would be excellent on such a stupid, rainy day. Obviously, the Planetarium does not share the money making instincts that characterizes the shops, so that was closed. Of course. The planetarium is just next to a botanical garden. Deprived of planet-gazing, we went for a botanical wander in the rain, and were frustrated by the promised Bonzai garden being closed. Damn it people! At least we actually need the rain ponchos we bought in Norway. The idea was that we shouldn’t need them if we brought them, but that usually fool prof logic is failing us.
We had some pretty bad and ridiculously expensive pancakes for dinner, and then went into a Chinese massage parlour to make up for the dinner. Not too bad a day, all in all. Tomorrow we are getting up super-early to go on a day-tour to Fraser island, which is, according to LP, surrounded by waters inhabited by man eating sharks. Yay. Departure at 06:45, return 19:30. Looong day! Should probably bring our ponchos, in addition to sunscreen lotion.
Good night!
Yesterday was Christmas eve, though it was easy to forget. Even though Brisbane is much cooler in climate than the South Pacific, it is still summer. And what do you do on summer days, even though it might threaten to rain? You go to amusement parks. So we wanted to spend Christmas Eve at a place called Wet’n'Wild down by the Goald Coast, to properly flaunt Christmas
Before we could go however, we had a couple of logistics to sort out, so we headed for the Brisbane Information Centre situated in the middle of Queens Street. We had to discover if there was anything at all to do do on Christmas Day (answer: not really; go to the beach), check if we could possibly manage to go on a day trip to Fraser Island (everything was sold out, but since we were 4 they set up a whole new tour for us, yay!), and hire a car so we could get around a bit. And inquire where we could get the best deals on tickets to fly from Brisbane to Sidney. All of this took us a grand total of 3 hours, and we then had to pick up the car, so we were pretty late driving off to the Gold Coast. We got there around one o’clock, and the park closed at 5, so we had to be efficient if we were to catch all the rides. And before you people at home become too jealous, it was pretty darn cold running around in a bikini yesterday.
Due to our amazing talent for planning, we just got off the last ride when they started to announce that the park was closing. We rule! They had some pretty cool rides, especially the ride we dubbed “The Funnel”, though it’s official name is “Tornado” – a 4 person ride on rafts. I slipped through the hole I was sitting on when we went down the steepest part of the ride (my arse is not fat enough), so I expect to have a huge bruise in a couple of days. Sexy
After the park closed we drove down to the Gold Coast proper, and had a stroll around Surfers Paradise, where we also had dinner – kangaroo and crocodile, as mentioned in yesterday’s post. Kangaroo was very tasty, crocodile didn’t taste of much at all, with a texture between chicken and crayfish.
Today, most of Brisbane is closed as everybody is celebrating Christmas, so we don’t expect to do much. We’ll probably go for a drive outside Brisbane, maybe go back down to the Gold Coast, but it might be a bit too cool for beaching. Booked a table at the hotel restaurant for tonight, as that was one of the few places we know are open for dinner, so at least we shouldn’t starve. Perhaps we should go from window to window, look in on the Australians enjoying their holidays? Perhaps they’ll donate some food to hungry tourists? Christmas is after all about giving
Enjoy your holidays everyone!
