Deb and Dan's World Tour: Australia

The Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House as seen from Macquarie's Chair

Surprisingly, Australia was a bit of a slow burner for me. We have so many friends who have been to Oz and they all told us we would love it so, admittedly, I was expecting to be blown away. That didn't happen straight away. Danny was keen from the start and thought it was a great place (and it is) but it took me a while to appreciate everything that Australia has to offer.

For me, there was always the underlying fear of bugs, spiders, snakes and in all honesty, being in the country that houses the most poisonous creatures on the planet, it made me just a little nervous. You soon start to realise, however, that coming face to face with something of that ilk is highly unlikely and there are actually millions of people living in Oz who lead normal lives on a daily basis without being afraid to put their shoes on in the morning or to pull down the sun visor in their car through fear of something jumping out at them.

When our time in Australia finally came to an end, we were really sad to leave. The land of Waltzing Matilda and Didgeridoos had won us over and I could quite easily have shed a little tear.

Australia is awesome. The different things you can see and do there are overwhelming. We thought two and a half months would seem like a lifetime but it flew by and I have no doubt we could quite easily have spent a lot longer there. Perhaps we'll go back one day, who knows?

Sydney Opera House as viewed from ferry crossing on way to Manly

Sydney is a beautiful city. The parks, architecture, quays and harbour help to create a place that is instantly eye-catching. Here are just some of the views of Sydney. Believe me there are many many more.

Opera House in all its glory

Danny at Circular Quay with the Harbour Bridge in the background

Deb at Macquarie's Point

Bats in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Sydney CBD as viewed from Royal Botanic Gardens

Royal Botanic Gardens

Deb at Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park, Sydney

Hyde Park, Sydney

James Cook Statue, Sydney - bit dodgy if you ask me!

Our last night with the lads and lassies....!

Back L-R Joanne, Barry, Deb, Sally
Middle L-R Adrian, Sandra
Front L-R Trisha, Aoife, Danny, Anne-Marie, Fitzy

Blur Kicks!

We hooked up with Julie and Nick again in Manly, Sydney before they headed back to the UK. We enjoyed far too much food and wine at the rather well known Ribs and Rumps - a spot favoured by the England Rugby team when they're in town. Nick braved a 1kg "Man 'O War" steak and did us proud by finishing the lot. Although he didn't quite have room for dessert, he and Julie did manage to sink a few more beers with us before saying goodbye. Thanks for a great night kids!

Nick post 1kg mammoth steak

Who's a good boy?

Rather you than me - Nick and his 1kg "Man 'O War" steak

"Feed me now!" - Julie at Ribs and Rumps in Manly

Julie and Nick in Manly, Sydney

To round things off nicely, our Australia trip ended up back in Sydney. Flying in on New Year's Eve, we hooked up with Aoife and Bryan whom we met in NZ. The four of us along with about twenty of their friends, ripped things up at Darling Point and had an absolute blinder. The fireworks (at 9pm and again at Midnight) off the Harbour Bridge were stunning and when we finally rolled in at about 6am, we agreed it was one of the best New Year's Eves we'd had in a long time. Big thanks to the Irish contingent.

Sandra, who's your mate?

Aine getting "gooned" by Fitzy

Go on yourself Lorraine!

That's the way to do it!

Goon time! Cheap and cheerful (?) wine in a bag, classy!

Danny and Deb in front of Harbour Bridge fireworks, NYE, Sydney

Deb and Aoife

Ladies! Aoife, Sandra, Lorraine and Aine

Nice! Frankie, Fitzy (Bryan) and Dan

The calm before the storm - NYE, Darling Point, Sydney

Melbourne was next. Although we weren't there for a huge amount of time, we managed to fit a fair bit in. Thanks to my friend Julie who I used to work with at Finning, we had tickets for the third day of the fourth Ashes test at the MCG. In spite of the rather poor result, we had a great day and the MCG is a phenomenal stadium.

We celebrated Christmas at the hostel and then on the 29th December, we were treated to lunch by my Brother, Jim and his Wife, Vicki. Vicki and Jim had arranged for us to have lunch at the very swanky Sails on the Bay restaurant in Elwood just outside Melbourne. We got to really treat ourselves and took advantage of a very generous tab, ending up being nicely sloshed before making our way back home - cheers guys!

Flinders Street Station, Melbourne

Melbourne on the river

Cool

Dan and Deb at Sails on the Bay in Elwood, Melbourne - enjoying the very lovely Christmas present off Jim and Vicki

MCG - 3rd Day of 4th Ashes Test

Deb and friend outside the MCG

Dan at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

After Cairns, we flew to Ayers Rock. The heat when you step off the plane is incredible. It's as if the central heating is on full blast. You realise quite quickly that this really is the Red Centre.

We went on the Sunrise Uluru Experience where you're picked up at 4:45am in order to reach "The Rock" for 5:45am. The sunrise is great to see but there were so many people there. We couldn't believe how many. There are so many tour operators, it's astonishing. I thought there would be a handful of people but alas, this was not the case and in all honesty, the experience is somewhat spoilt because of the numbers.

After sunrise, we were taken to the rock's base and from here, Danny decided to climb it whereas I opted for the base walk. Come 8am, it's scorching so by the time we'd both finished at 9am, we were wrecked - Dan more so than me after having commendably reached the top of Uluru.

Ayers Rock (Uluru)

Dan armed with prodding stick (again) at a shelter in Ayers Rock

People walking up Ayers Rock

Dan post climb, very proud but very hot!

Deb after base walk at Ayers Rock

View from 2/3 of the way up the Rock

Me and my shadow

Port Douglas and Cairns were the final two destinations in Queensland. From Port Douglas, we took the Haba jet to the Great Barrier Reef. We sailed to the Agincourt Ribbon Reef and snorkeled at two locations. Danny, very bravely, did an introductory SCUBA dive at the first place. He looked very fetching in all his gear and after a thorough induction, plunged into the depths with an instructor and one other person. I actually saw Danny doing his dive from my snorkeling spot and he looked very convincing. Dan enjoyed the dive but continued with snorkeling at the next spot so that we could see the reef together.

Compared with Hook Island, the snorkeling was a thousand times better. We saw Butterfly fish, Angel fish, a Double-Ended Pipe fish and loads of others that we don't the names of. The coral is amazing and we saw loads of drop-off points. This was one of the best experiences in Oz so far, without a doubt.

Cairns holiday park backdrop

After our trip to the Great Barrier Reef aboard the Haba Jet

En route to Port Douglas

Airlie Beach was the next port of call. From here we took a day cruise to the Whitsundays. Onboard Voyager, we were treated to tea, coffee, a buffet lunch but most importantly, we got to visit three of the Whitsunday islands. The first of which was Hook Island. This would be the one place where we could snorkel. As it was stinger season (jellyfish to you and me), we had to don some rather fetching Lycra suits - needs must. The snorkeling was ok but as it had recently rained quite heavily, the water was a little murky so visibility wasn't great. We still got to see some fish and coral though.

After Hook Island, we sailed to Whitehaven Beach. This place is heavenly. The sand is squeaky silica and a beautiful pale blonde colour. We had to wear our Lycra suits again to go in the sea but it was a small price to pay.

Finally, we arrived at Daydream Island and the Daydream Island Resort. Here, Danny and I decided to spend our time jetskiing. Hysterical! I have no doubt my screams would have been heard ashore. It was a pretty cool way to end the trip even if we were both shaking when we got back on land!

Daydream Resort, Whitsundays

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays

Lycra'd up and ready to go - snorkeling off Hook Island, Whitsundays

Voyager - vessel taking us out to three of the Whitsundays Islands

"Texas what...?" - chilling at Airlie Cove, Airlie Beach

Airlie Cove, Airlie Beach

From Hervey Bay, we flew with Air Fraser to the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island. The island is a heritage site and as such tourism is closely controlled. After landing on the beach in our 8-seater plane, we were taken to pick up our Mitsubishi Pajero 4X4 - what a nail! After a brief induction, we were off with Danny at the wheel. We drove on the beach for a few miles before reaching Eli Creek and then a little further to the Maheno shipwreck. Beyond this were the Pinnacles which are weird sand formations in spectacular colours.

After the beach drive, we headed inland which I must say was hilarious. Our knuckles were white and we were both a little concerned about getting stuck and being eaten alive by Dingos but all in all, we had a great time. At one point, both our heads were bouncing off the ceiling of the car due to the bumps and dips in the sand. When we reached Lake McKenzie we couldn't wait to get in the water. It was gorgeous. It's a freshwater lake and apparently there were little turtles in the water but we didn't see them. We stayed there for a good couple of hours to cool down before making our way back to the meeting point to board our plane back to Hervey Bay.

Our take-off and landing strip on Fraser Island

Deb, relieved we might just make it back to the ranch!

Where to go on Fraser Island

Don't do it like that, do it like this!

The happy couple at Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

Offroading, Fraser Island

Nice wheels!

Yes, I've sussed it!

Fellow motorists - on the beach?

Wehey, this is just like the M6!

Lake McKenzie as viewed from the plane

Our little 8-seater plane, Fraser Island bound

After Noosa and before reaching Hervey Bay, we popped down south again to visit Australia Zoo. Steve Irwin's parents owned this zoo originally when it was a reptile centre. Steve followed in their footsteps and as you're probably aware, he and his family put in regular appearances. Although Steve is no longer around, he features everywhere around the zoo and there's a very moving memorial to him along with footage of his expeditions and wild antics being shown at various points around the zoo.

The animals are awesome and the shows are very well done. We had a great day although it was an absolute scorcher. When we were in the "Crocosseum", the compere asked where everyone was from and low and behold all the Brits were at the back of the stands - in the shade!

Crikey indeed Mr Irwin - RIP

Dan with Travis

Travis the Koala

Bit snap happy these things

Feeding the crocs at Australia Zoo's Crocosseum

Yes Dan, very good

Danny in Crocodile Dundee mode

Bill's bored now!

Deb with a kangaroo, we'll call him Bill

Memorial to Steve Irwin

Feeding the elephants

Elephants line up for public feeding

Giant tortoises

Nuff said

Making our way back to the Sunshine Coast, we settled in at Noosa. I loved this place. There are some breathtaking properties in the area and you can tell there's a bit of dollar rolling around here. On our first night, after having checked in, we decided to venture out in the car to check out our surroundings. We reached a road end which turned into a carpark and as we made our way through, we could see there were lots of people milling about, some on stools supping wine, and others simply sat in their cars but all were facing the same way. Turns out we got to Noosa Heads just in time for the sunset - perfect!

Noosa at night

Home sweet home - Bougainvillia Caravan Park, Noosa

Sunset at Noosa Heads

Kite Surfing at Noosa Heads

Noosa Heads

Travelling inland from the Gold Coast, we reached the bizarre little town of Nimbin. What to say about this place? It's basically a haven for those who like their weed! Nimbin has a colourful past, playing home to the hippies in the 60s and still having a number of active communes in the area today. There's a museum documenting Nimbin's transition through the years but other than that, it's just full of weird artifacts, most of which are suspended from the ceiling!

Not thinking the words would be enough....

Sign at Nimbin

Deb at Nimbin museum

Nimbin museum

Dan with VW at Nimbin museum

Nimbin museum

The Gold Coast of Australia is well worth a mention. We stayed in Surfer's Paradise and Coolangatta and got to enjoy the gorgeous beaches in the area. The sea's pretty fierce at Surfer's hence why it's a "paradise" for surfers so in order to take advantage of a day at the beach we moved back south to Coolangatta where we were told the sea is a lot calmer.

Whilst on the Gold Coast, we also got to meet up with an old friend from Cannock, Sarah Gallagher. Sarah moved to Oz a fair few years ago now and lives in Mermaid Beach with her chap Luke and their lovely daughter, Charley. We were suitably fed and watered one evening by Sarah and Luke who were perfect hosts and that's where we got the tip about Coolangatta's calmer waters.

Coolangatta Beach

Coolangatta Beach with the highrise of Surfer's in the background

Quality accommodation at Coolangatta

Throw another shrimp on the barbie

Sarah Gallagher with daughter Charley on the Gold Coast

Beach at Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast

Deb at Sopranos

Dan with Oyster Shooter, Sopranos

Byron Bay is beautiful. We really felt at home here (as you can see from the photos, it's reminiscent of Cannock!) - seriously though, we wish we had stayed longer having had only three days there. The town is buzzing but has managed to avoid mass commercialism in spite of being a thriving tourist spot. Definitely worth a visit if ever you're on the East Coast.

The very beautiful Byron Bay

Sunrise at Byron Bay

Most Easterly Point sign at Byron Bay

Byron Bay's Lighthouse

Thanks to Bruce, Renata and Tristan (Bruce is a friend of Dan's through work), we got to see and sample some of the finer points of Brisbane. We took advantage of the City Cat Ferry which is probably the most scenic way to get around Brisbane and Bruce and Renata took us to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast for the day which we thoroughly enjoyed. Cheers guys.

Brisbane from the river

Dan and bird, any opportunity

Brisbane river

Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast

Renata and Bruce with Tristan

Dan, Bruce, Renata and Deb at Bruce and Renata's in Brisbane

During our first visit to Sydney, we took in some of the sights including the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition which takes place every year on the coastal walk between Bronte beach and Bondi beach and we also went to the Ashes exhibition at the Museum of Sydney.