Koalas!

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary was the first, and is the largest koala sanctuary in the world. They have over 80 koalas of various ages, all with separate living quarters, including the ‘bachelor pad’, ‘nursery’ and the ‘retirement home’! They also housed the world’s oldest koala, who was a record breaking 23 when she died in 2003. Although this may sound young, apparently koalas typically only live to 10 years old in the wild. After looking at lots of koalas in various states of snooze (Koala’s sleep on average 23 hours a day!), we were able to hug a koala and have our picture taken (see below!). They were surprisingly heavy, and extremely soft, with very sharp claws, which Carrie’s koala decided would be best placed in her arms! When holding the koalas it is apparently really important to stay really still, as they think you are just another tree, and if their tree starts moving about they cling on for dear life! Ryan performed an excellent tree impression, Carrie’s was apparently not as good! After being detached from our furry limpet friends we fed some of the kangaroos they have at the sanctuary. Clearly it wasn’t Carrie’s day, as the kangaroo she chose to feed had some issues controlling its saliva, leaving a lovely slobbery mess in place of the food! Also at the sanctuary we saw two keepers walking some dingos, which Ryan got to stoke; they looked much nicer than the one we saw on Fraser Island a few days ago. We then saw a Tasmanian devil (the splatted black and brown creature below!) and a keeper taking a wombat for a walk! We’re not quite sure whether that’s how they exercise in the wild, but never mind!

PS. Font big enough for you old man??!!!!

Fraser Island

Today we visited Fraser Island, an island completely made of sand 175km long and 25km wide. The island has a number of lakes and is covered to a large extent by eucalypt forest and rainforest. As the island is completely formed from sand it is only accessible by 4 wheel drive, consequently our tour bus looked like a converted lorry, with giant tyres (see the picture below)! We started the day on a barge travelling the 10 minutes from Rainbow Beach (where we’re staying) to Fraser Island, and then driving the 30km to our first stop, Lake Mackenzie. The lake is completely filled from rainwater with a number of beaches surrounding it. After taking a dip in the lake (up to our knees!) we headed into the rainforest for a walk along a creek, which runs silently as it runs over sand. Also in the rainforest we saw lots of epiphytes, strangler plants and white trees which strip their own bark! In the afternoon we drove along the beach in our lorry to see a 100 year old shipwreck which sits on the beach – apparently the boat was used as a hospital during WW1. We also saw a dingo (the wild ‘wolves’ that live on the island) eating a fish, which apparently is something we should have been excited about! What we did get excited about was seeing a shark! It came in really close to the shore, so that as the waves rose we could see it swimming just below the surface about 5 metres off the beach. Surprisingly enough swimming off the beaches of the island is not recommended! After our shark encounter we visited a fresh water creek which we waded down before relaxing in the pool at its mouth. Luckily we made it back to our hostel before a horrendous storm that has lasted for the last hour or so – the lightening looked like strobe lights going off every few seconds, and the thunder made Carrie jump every time it sounded! A scary end to the day!

Cairns

So far in Cairns we have celebrated Caroline’s 22^nd birthday and had a day tour to Cape Tribulation with various stops on the way which included a wildlife park that had kangaroos, crocodiles, emus and wallabies. They also had a family of kola bears, a tree kangaroo and 2 cassowaries (see the picture below) which are very large endangered birds that are endemic to the region - they have also been responsible for causing a few deaths. Our next stop was a cruise along the Daintree river to spot some wild crocs, or snapper bags as the Aussies call them. Our safety announcement was not to hang limbs over the side of the boat as crocs can jump up and bite them off for din dins. We saw a few small crocs but as the cruise was finishing we saw a large crocodile sunbathing on a sand bank. After lunch we had a guided walk through the rainforest and saw an array of spiders, birds and another endemic species, including the peppermint stick insect – it gets its name from the spray it emits when it feels threatened, which unsurprisingly smells of peppermint. We were also given the opportunity to have some bushtucker, it involved sucking the bottom of an ant to gain a refreshing lime taste - we had only just finished lunched so we passed! 

Our main reason for visiting Cairns (along with everyone else!) was to see the Great Barrier Reef. Each morning from the apartment balcony we could see hoards of people being packed onto boats, some carrying 300 people. We took a day trip, with luckily only about 10 other people, out to the outer reef, roughly an hour and a half offshore. We spent the day snorkelling around a couple of reefs along the outer edge of the site and saw some pretty amazing and colourful fish, including plenty of Nemo’s (clownfish), angel fish and rainbow fish. We also saw massive clams that could fit a human in, and masses of beautiful colourful coral. At the first site we stopped off at we spotted a turtle on the ocean floor in amongst some of the darker coral. After watching it for a few minutes we were lucky enough to see it start to come up to the surface, with it swimming right past us as it broke for air. Its shell was roughly the size of a human body, and it could swim pretty fast. At the second site we stopped at we saw a white tipped reef shark swimming along the ocean floor, it was about 2 meters in length – so a pretty good day all in all!

Ayres Rock

Ayres Rock, or Uluru if we’re being aboriginal, has to be one of the most surreal places we’ve visited so far. We flew in through a sea of cloud and haze due to a combination of forest fires and the heat to land in a red, dusty plain with the only building in site being the small, single storey airport. So you can get some sort of idea of the size of the airport, it only has one baggage carousel, which is immediately in front of you as you walk in through the doors from the runway. The other side of the baggage carousel are the exit doors! After leaving the airport, which took around 15 minutes from plane door to hire car door, we drove to Yulara; the only accommodation within over 400km of Ayres Rock. Consequently, our two nights here were not the cheapest night’s sleep we’ve had so far...or the nicest, with the cheapest option being a four bed cell!

After checking into our hovel, we drove to a viewing point about 10 minutes away from the rock itself to watch the sunset. Although we’ve seen pictures and knew what to expect, our first sighting of the rock was quite amazing. It just appears to rise from the otherwise completely flat ground around it, a great big dome on the otherwise uninterrupted horizon. Watching the sunset made the sight even better; the sunsets behind you, lighting the rock in various shades of red and orange.

The following day we headed out to the rock again, this time venturing to the actual base to do the base walk. The walk is just over 10km, and takes you past aboriginal carvings, gorges and water holes. You can also see all the different shapes and formations of the rock up close. Interestingly, you can also see lots of dark grey and black lines down the rock face – like the imprint of a waterfall on the orange surface. Apparently, these marks are exactly that, with rainfall pouring off the top of the rock in these places, causing algae to grow in their tracks, leaving the trails. It was difficult to imagine great waterfalls pouring off the sides of the rock in 30 degree heat, doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the landscape!

On our last day at Ayres Rock we travelled to Kata Tjuta, a second rock formation in the desert. These rocks have gorges between them, meaning you can walk through them. The name translates to Valley of the Winds as the wind blows through the narrow gorge, meaning it is very windy here all the time - it was a little odd wearing a jumper and coat in the middle of the desert!

Final few days in New Zealand

After skydiving in Taupo we headed to Rotorua – New Zealand’s stinky town! Rotorua is part of NZ’s geothermal area, so stinks of sulphur everywhere! To see some of the sites the geothermal activity produces we visited a village where we watched a geyser erupt around 30 meters in the air and saw sulphur caves, green lakes, a champagne pool (it bubbles all the time) and the Devils Bowl; a florescent yellow pool, the exact colour of highlighter.

Also in Rotorua, we watched Ireland vs. Russia in the Rugby World Cup. The day of the match felt like we were visiting Ireland – Rotorua was taken over by green and orange, and everywhere we went we heard an Irish accent! Consequently, the match had an amazing atmosphere, with around 80-85% of the spectators supporting Ireland.  Ireland won the match 62-12 – making us feel a bit sorry for the few Russian fans.

After Rotorua we visited Matamata, home of Hobbiton; the village where the Hobbits live in Lord of the Rings (for everyone like Carrie who doesn’t know what this means!). Our tour of Hobbiton was excellent (in Ryan’s opinion) as the set was dressed to start filming for the movie The Hobbit (which they will apparently film throughout October and November). We found out that instead of using computer graphics in the films to make the Hobbits look tiny, they just alter the sizes of the set. Consequently, we saw tiny ‘Hobbit Holes’ and big holes. Apparently the tiny holes are used to make real size humans look massive! O so clever! As Hobbiton is located on a farm we also got a chance to bottle feed some lambs at the end of our tour, which were really sweet!

Our final stop in NZ was Auckland, where we spent a day shopping, as well as looking around Eden Park (the main rugby world cup stadium!) and climbing Mt Eden (which gives an amazing view over the city). We also took a ride up the ‘Skytower’, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, which gives brilliant 360 degree views over the city. Before leaving Auckland we journeyed to a black sand beach just outside of the city called Bethels Beach, which was surrounded by beautiful black cliffs and sand dunes.

We were both really sad to leave New Zealand  and surprisingly, our campervan!