Great Ocean Road, VIC

Coming back from Tasmania we still had some days left in Australia before heading out to Singapore. So we wanted to check out something that seemed very popular on the tourist/backpacker circuit: the Great Ocean Road. So of to Avis to rent a car (got a Ferrari-red Corolla this time) and straight into the sun, sea, and sand. Oh, and yes... Sois is wearing women's glasses.

Guess surfin' ain't that safe either (+ 2 shark attacks since we're here)

The Great Great Ocean Road starts at Torquay (important surf spot and birthplace of the RipCurl brand) and wins 247 kms to Warrnambool. Along the way you can follow the coast for quite some time and see some spectular scenery. We went to see the famous surf swells at Bell's Beach, some other cliffs and rock formations, and of course the crown of the GOR: The Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles are a unique group of 12 rock formations in the Port Campbell National Park that stretch out into sea. You can see 9 from the coast and the other 3 are only reachable by boat. From the pics, you can probably deduct that we were content with the first option.

We also passed some nice little coastal towns (no interesting pics) and decided to stay for the night in a place called Lorne where we had a nice, almost Provence-like apartment. At last, we were able to cook some dinner ourselves and forget the takeaway for a change.

The next day, we explored the coast some more and wanted to head up further inward to the Grampians National Park. However, the distances were simply too far and we decided to "jet" the Corolla back to Melbourne and ultimately transfer back to Sydney (did meet the guy in the pic though). And that's where we're now, getting prepped for Singapore and Asia in general. But more on that in the next post. No worries and g'day mates!

Come to Tasmania (Part II - Cradle Mtn)

Cradle Mountain National Park was our next destination and supposed to be one of Tasmania's highlights. We arrived there in the afternoon and decided to relax a little bit because we were planning to climb Cradle Mountain the next day! In the evening we did a spotlight tour to 'spot' some animals. We hoped to see a few kangaroos, but the abundance and variety of animals we saw was just amazing. Now we really understand why it is best to avoid driving in the dark here in Australia. We saw so many animals: wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, possums and many more. The wildlife here in Australia is just incredible. Unfortunately the road kill as well...

We had a good night sleep and got up early to climb Cradle Mountain. However, the weather was really bad and it even rained. we decided to go to the park ranger and ask him about the forecasts. Luckily, the weather would clear in the afternoon and we were allowed to climb the mountain. And there we went... It supposed to be a strenuous 6.5 hour climb. Pfff and strenuous it was!!

On the first part of our climb, there was a lot of fog and we had to climb through dense vegetation. At a certain moment Sois stopped and saw a black snake AHHH! We were warned already the night before that the snakes of Tasmania were about the third most poisonous in the world! We could not turn back because we came too far already. The only way was up... as fast as we could!

At a certain moment we came to a plateau and had a better overview over our snakes. The views were again astonishing and luckily the fog cleared. We could see the summit of Cradle mountain and it still looked very far. We started our climb and it was pretty tough because it was getting warmer and warmer.

After about 2 1/2 hours of rock climbing we made it to the top. We had a 360 degree viewing over Cradle Mountain and other mountains in the near. It was again really worth the climb. We had lunch at the summit (little sandwich with jam :-) and started our descent. Now you could really feel the muscle soreness! On our descent, Chel was petrified because she had to stand still on a steep little rock to let a nice lovely deadly snake pass by ... Apart from the snake encounters, and our muscle soreness, the climb up to the summit went actually quite good! But, we were not there yet. We still had about 2 hours of hiking to go before we would reach the finish. In total, it took us indeed about 6 hours to go and come back and we were really happy we did it! It felt really like a victory!

We decided that this would be the perfect finisher for Tasmania! On the same day, we drove to Devonport in order to arrange a last minute flight back to Melbourne for the next day. We finished our visit to Tasmania on a beach in Devonport in order to see some more wildlife. After dark, we went to the beach in order to spot some penguins. It was really nice because we were able to see the little penguins as well. Unfortunately we have no pictures, because the flash light is harmful for them. Tazzie was really cool, a must see!!

Greetings from the top!!!

Meet Taz and His Buddies

No Drs. Chel today as these little devils were ready to eat... and the good old Drs. did not want to become part of today's menu. Here you see some devils tearing up a dead mouse (you should have heard the "thump" when their caretaker chucked it in). A wonderous feast not for the faint of heart!

BTW, did you know that Tasmanian Devils only live on Tasmania? And that they can eat up to half their bodyweight in half an hour? They also have the strongest biting power for any animal their size. Also, they are marsupials and their pouch has a reverse entry which protects the young when they are digging. Information is power so keep reading our blog! Hihi.

Don't mind me... just chewing on a mouse's head

And finally, these guys are now very threathened due to a mouth cancer that is transmitted when they bite each other. Luckily, the center we visited is just one of the initiatives to save these cool animals that are cute from ugliness!

Come to Tasmania (Part I)

Welcome to Tasmania! The Lonely Planet already mentioned that Tasmania was mostly, but mistakenly, skipped by most travellers (domestic or international) in their travel itinerary. Well, that made us of course a little bit more curious :-) We decided to book a last minute flight to Tasmania. It was roughly a one hour flight to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. Most of the area of Tasmania consists of National Parks. It is one of the few places on earth were there is still complete wilderness. Tasmania is a big island underneath Australia and has an area of about 68400 Square km with a population of about 486000. When you make the comparison to the Netherlands, with an area of about 41500 Square km and a population of about 16.5 million, we knew that we would certainly encounter some rugged 'wilderness'.

When we arrived in Hobart, we decided to tackle this island again by car. Sois is becoming a real expert in driving on the left hand side of the road. So you'd better look out when we're back at home... ;-)

The next day we drove to Port Arthur and decided to stop along some major natural attractions on the way.

We stopped also at a Tasmanian Devil Wildlife park along the way. You probably all know the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes as 'Taz'. If want to see the little guy in reallife, check the next post.

After the interesting encounter with the Tazzie Devils, we continued our journey to the Tasman Peninsula to Port Arthur. The main thing about Port Arthur was that it was Australia's largest penal colony. Port Arthur used to be a destination for the hardest of convicted British criminals. They could not escape because they were too afraid of the shark infested waters on three sides of the peninsula. In addition, they had to pass a highly secured 30m wide pass of land that connected the peninsula to the mainland of Tasmania. However, today it is mainly a tourist attraction which was (according to our opinion) highly overpriced. We had lunch at Port Arthur, but decided to have a look at the site from a look-out point.

On our way back to Hobart (about 2 hour drive), we even drove a little further and went to have a look at Mount Wellington in order to have a stunning view over the city of Hobart... Wow!

The next day we continued on our journey to the Western Wilderness. We decided to stop at Lake St. Clair on the way to go for a little hike. Our hike was relatively short (about an hour), but certainly rewarding because we were able to see an echidna!! Echidna's are the only surviving monotrems, apart from the platypus. They are the only egg-laying mammal (with the platypus as well) and therefore a very special creature. After we stretched our legs a little bit, and met the echidna in the wild, we still had to drive the rest of the day. The drive was beautiful and as we expected... throughout complete wilderness.

The Australian Open 2007 (Men's Final), VIC

The last couple of weeks we spent our late evenings watching the Australian Open Championship of Tennis (Melbourne). In the desert, we had no television and even stayed up late to watch the tennis in the lobby of the hotel. Rafael Nadal lost his game against Gonzalez. Wow, a men's final of Federer vs. Gonzalez... Well, Chel called already to the ticket office and checked the Internet a dozen of times, but unfortunately there were no tickets left anymore. They were sold out already months before the Australian Open even started. When we arrived in Melbourne, everything in the city was focused on this event. We got totally sucked into the Australian Open. Was there really no chance at all to view the finals now that we were in Melbourne?? We couldn't stand it anymore and went to ask. They told us that it would be highly unlikely, but one could always be lucky, hihi! Tada-tada-tada... you can all guess it!!! There were 2 cancellations, even 2 seats next to eachother! Oh we were so happy and lucky. This was the ultimate birthday present.

The gates were opened at about 3PM and we decided to be there early. We went to view our seats and they were just perfect. We were able to see the tennis court very clearly. At 4PM, the mixed doubles began to play. The stadium was actually not crowded at all and the game was already played in 2 sets. It was actually rather quiet. Hmm, we were wondering how the ambiance would be when 'Roger' would be playing against 'Gonzo'.

7.30 PM Time to go to our seats... The stadium was overly crowded and there was no single seat availabe anymore. People came in, all dressed up in red and white (Federer) or in blue (Gonzalez). The atmosphere was just incredible! We even spotted Serena Williams on the other side of the court.

The moment that the two tennis players walked onto the court was so real and weird. Well, we knew already that we were going to enjoy every minute of this match... and we did! The audience went crazy when a match was won, but on the otherhand it was so quiet when they were playing. Everything in full concentration! Oh, it was just amazing.

Both of them were really good, but in the end Federer won the Australian Open (again!). We stayed a little longer to watch the ceremony and afterwards walked to the hotel... with a BIG smile upon our face (Oh, and as as final "treat", here's some video footage of the winning point)


One of the most exciting tournaments in a long time

Melbourne, Victoria (VIC) (Part I & II)

We landed in Melbourne and took a few days to walk around and explore the city and its sights. This has probably been the nicest city we've visited so far in Australia. Better than Sydney: just more relaxed. We were here to get organized again and to try to get tickets to the Australian Open. In addition, we made arrangements to spend a few days in an often overlooked part (or state) of Oz: Tasmania.

Now regarding the Part II in this post's title... after we came back from Tasmania, we spent another night in Melbourne as part of our trip along the more westbound Great Ocean Road. But more on that later. We've got to get them tickets first!

Dinner in the Desert

Sometimes we get the chance to do even more wonderful or exceptional things on top of all the great things we are fortunate enough to experience. This is certainly one of the proverbial "cherries" on top of the many cakes. We made arrangements to go and have dinner in the red, dusty desert with Uluru / Ayer's Rock and the Olgas in the background. It's tough to imagine, but we hope these pictures send some of that vibe to all of you. Bon appetit!

Two stunners

A toast to a wonderful trip, a great trip, and a happy pre-birthday!

Kata Tjutas / The Olgas, NT

Besides hiking around the big red rock, we also wanted to visit another different part of rock formations called Kata Tjuta / The Olgas. We heard that there was a nice hike between the massive rocks. Better preparation, including an earlier departure, ensured that this was one fabulous hike.

Some facts again: Kata Tjuta, also known as Mount Olga (or colloquially as The Olgas), are large rock formations located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. These rock formations are a group of 36 domes (now only 28), made from a mixture of Granite, Basalt and Mudstone, no one is entirely sure how these three rock types have been mixed together. Intruiging, n'est-ce pas? We just enjoyed tramping around in this red wonderland. And as time flew, we already had to pack up our belongings again and head down to Melbourne in the state of Victoria.

Chel turns into "Hikey" mode once again

The sun sets over a place that feels almost like being in a scene of the Lion King

Uluru / Ayer's Rock, Northern Territory

From Cairns, we took a short flight to Uluru / Ayer's Rock which is both of natural and cultural significance, especially to the Aboriginese. We had found some cheap but good accomodation online, and decided to rent a car over there to see as much as possible in our give two and a half days.

Water pools in the desert. Unusual for that time of year

The pictures found in this post are taken when we wiked around the base of the rock (10 kms) in the scorching heat (40+ degrees celsius). We wanted a more or less authentic experience, without the massive tourist numbers. Boy, did we get a treat alright. We packed more than 5 liters of water for the entire walk that never seemed to end.

It was so hot that we seriously considered turning back at one point (see the pic of Chel taking a break in one of the few shelters). Stubborn as always, we continued across the base and it was simply phenomenal. You realize that this place is of high cultural and religious importance to the Aboriginals because whole sections were fenced and one could not take pictures/video. Now it was possible to climb the rock, but we didn't do it out of respect to the Aboriginese. Imagine that they would trample over the altar of the Notr Dame or go into the Taj Mahal with shoes. It's all about mutual respect.

Look at the glasses: what do you see?

Anyways, we survived the walk and decided to get some pictures of the the sunset of the rock Did you know that this rock (and others) is all that is left from massive rock formations? They have been eaten away by sand, water, and wind erosion. That's why the surface is so smooth as well. Because the sunset was impressive, we dediced to go for the sunrise next day as well. That meant getting up really early, but again, this was also very worthwhile. The next day, we planned to go to Kata Tjuta or the Olgas to do some more hiking (except earlier on the day). And we had another surprise in store, as Chel's birthday was also quickly approaching. Stay tuned!

Waiting for the sunset in our shiny Ferrari-red Hyundai Elantra. Respect.

Wakey wakey little Chel

Cairns & Cape Tribulation

After our explorations of the GBR, we took one day to visit Cape Tribulation and its surrounding areas. It is located within the Daintree National Park and the Wet Tropics World Heritage area and lies approximately 110 km from Cairns. We wanted see and drive and hike through some serious rainforest: we weren't disappointed either.

But again, NO swimming... EVER!

This picture is taken at a very special place... its where the tropical rainforest leads directly into the sea. It is just a place of extreme biodiversity (we didn't catch any critters on camera though). Imagine driving across a small and winding road to through a tropical rainforest that seems untouched by man. Sometimes spooky, but always beautiful. And with all this beauty in mind, we drove back down to Cairns.

Now there are no pictures of Cairns as it is just an average sized city with nothing really special to offer. Like most of the times, we used the city to get organized again. And this time, it was going to be for one of Australia's major attractions: Uluru / Ayer's Rock, right in the red centre of the island-continent (and part of the Northern Territory). So pray for us, do your (naked) raindances, and hope that we'll fly in alive!

"Wet" Greetings from Down Under!

Just a quick hello from the Agincourt Reef at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Best wishes and luck to everyone!!!