CPU Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 (edited) Deleted Edited June 18, 2006 by CPU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Toe ek sien daar is UITEINDELIK iemand wat dapper genoeg was om iets onder Journals te plaas, was ek so opgewonde om dit te lees - en nou's daar niks............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPU Posted June 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 (edited) Jammer Riekie, ek het my journal weer gepost What a vacation!! The flight to Sydney international airport was pretty long, custom control are very strict, I see a lot of people being searched by custom officials when I arrived at Sydney International airport and I was one of them , I had nothing to hide. When I saw them putting on surgical gloves to go through by small luggage, I said to myself "Oh Crap" . During my camping trip at Moreton island, the canadian gal I met said that she knew someone who was fined $200 AUD for bringing in an orange from New Zealand that she forgot in her bag. Later on I took a connected flight to Brisbane via VirginBlue airline.Brisbane, what a beautiful city!! While in Brisbane I went on a 2 hour ferry ride along the Brisbane river, it was an eye opener. The winter in Brisbane is mild and temperature range is between 10 to 23 degrees Celsius, sunny and not humid at all, I guess the humid weather kicks from December to February. My sister in-law now say that temperature between 16 to 18 degrees Celsius is cold, I hear the same thing when I talked to some Aussie people. Gold coast is also a beautiful city, Surfer's Paradise, saw metermaids in bikini's giving out tickets I went on a 2 day tour to Moreton Island from Redcliffe, the boat ride from Redcliffe to Moreton Island was an hour ride where I snorkelled with a group of people around the Tangalooma shipwrecks, what a sight, we saw dolphins, large sea turtles and a dugong, three people in the group were from Canada. I than separated from the first tour group (Snorkling and Sight Seeing) and spent a night camping out on the other side of Moreton island (East side), man did I have to clean out the tent which had spiders, YELLOW spiders , than I found out that they forgot to bring one extra sleeping bag. I took a look at the Blue Lagoon which is a fresh water lake, and at the campsite I met two ladies, one from Vancouver, Canada and the other from Missouri, USA, they both were studying at the Queensland University. Around the campfire, we could see huge fox bats flying about hunting for food, than sleep time it started to rain, the rain was so hard that the tent I was in leaked @##$$%%^^^&^ , I still managed to sleep without a sleeping bag and was pretty cold (Damp cold).The next morning I took a long walk along the beach, what a sight with the sunrise, the group took a sight seeing tour at Cape Moreton, than tobogganing time in the sand dune, on our way the 4 wheel drive got stuck and later on we met up with a large green python snake. After all the activity we returned to Moreton Island West beach, and went for a cool dip in the ocean near the ship wrecks, the water was so clear. I arrived back at the Holiday Inn, phew civilization and had a good night sleep on a comfortable bed Sydney is so busy, when I arrived in Sydney via the XPT train from Brisbane, man I have never seen so many tourists. There are so many Bars, and the night life is so lively!!! Had a good lunch at the South African Ribs & Rump resturant at Manly beach While traveling to Sydney I realized that I left a roll of film of pictures that I took at the snorkling site with my underwater camera in the Holiday Inn Aussie money is made of plastic, and the coins are bigger than normal, they can get rather heavy when you have a lot of the 50 and 20 cent coins. I was able to withdraw $AUD from an Australian ATM machine using my Canadian Bank card since I did not take any travelers cheques and running low on cash…so cool Went to a number of pubs downtown Sydney with Aussie friends, and some who are now Australian Citizen from SA, I have to admit that the Australians like their beer , and did notice that when they have a few drinks they become very chatty…the beer I like drinking is VB (Victoria Bitter) I did have a hard time understanding some of the Aussie accents, other than that it was cool to listen to a Aussie, quite a distinctive accent since I am used to the American/Canadian accent.Did not see any huge ugly Bugs while I was in Brisbane and Sydney only spiders when I went camping outdoors, that was kinda expected , what I did notice in the Kangaroo Holiday Apartment in Brisbane was tiny ants that only appear when there is water.In brisbane I stayed in the Kangaroo Holiday Apartment (4 1/2 star) which was very clean and close to the South Bank and the City, and later on stayed one night at the Holiday Inn since I needed to catch a train at Roma Street Station to Sydney. In Sydney I stayed at the Travelodge hotel on wentworth road and was not too bad, close to all the attraction. I am planning another trip next year again as there was too much to see and do, and still did not see everything, hoping to have enough vacation days saved up to visit Cairns, Melbourne and New Zealand. I am so tempted to apply for PR in Australia Link to some of my Photos , I took about 500 digital photos Edited June 19, 2006 by CPU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted June 19, 2006 Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 I than separated from the first tour group (Snorkling and Sight Seeing) and spent a night camping out on the other side of Moreton island (East side), man did I have to clean out the tent which had spiders, YELLOW spiders , than I found out that they forgot to bring one extra sleeping bag. I took a look at the Blue Lagoon which is a fresh water lake, and at the campsite I met two ladies, one from Vancouver, Canada and the other from Missouri, USA, they both were studying at the Queensland University. Around the campfire, we could see huge fox bats flying about hunting for food, than sleep time it started to rain, the rain was so hard that the tent I was in leaked @##$$%%^^^&^ , I still managed to sleep without a sleeping bag and was pretty cold (Damp cold). Thanks CPU!! LOVED your "travel journal"! (Maybe now that you broke the ice, I will also have the courage to put pen to paper....) Seems like you've had your own "survivor" experience in Oz! I LOVED your pics - I'm also "snappy happy" - if it'll stand still long enough, I'll take photo of it! Great Story!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jules Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 Thanks for sharing CPU, loved your jounal and pics ! Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterbug Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Hey CPU,Excellent - I loved reading your journal. We live in Brissy - nice to hear your experiences form another perspective. We have been to Moreton Island for a couple of days over New Years with a bunch of friends and it was truely an amaging experience - a must do if you have some time!GreetingsTravelBUG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.