224 days later

Over seven months after I sailed from Newcastle my journey concluded in Sydney. Although entirely unplanned, this proved to be probably my favourite of all the many cities I've visited and a fine conclusion to the trip. Although not an architectural gem the city nevertheless has its bridge and opera house landmarks of course and a surprising number of historical buildings for this part of the world. Yet what really makes Sydney stand out is the buzz, the atmosphere, and its fine waterside location. There's a lot going for this city and although more brash than the likes of Melbourne it's impossible to ignore the energy on the streets.

The final days of my trip were productively if relaxingly spent as start of the wind down before heading home. Taking in the view from the bridge and ferry, searching out some interesting Christmas presents in the Rocks weekend market, a day trip to the Blue Mountains and generally browsing the streets, which is a pleasure. I'd even a trial flight booked at a local flying school although unfortunately the bad weather put pay to that.

Don't get me wrong, Sydney is a busy, bustling city, but it has a stunning location and a good many open areas that make it a joy to spend time in. It's a capital city in all but politics, although keeping the politicians at arm's length in Canberra may well have been a master stroke. I suppose it's vaguely akin to us having parliament in Milton Keynes. No, perhaps that's doing the place a disservice. I have read less than stellar things about Canberra but the MK comparison might be going too far.

I enjoyed a few days in Sydney, but all things must come to an end and it was time for me to take me flight home. It was my first time on a Boeing 747 although in the future I think I'd rather opt for a more modern alternative such as the A340, which if the A330 is anything to go by has a superior on demand in-flight entertainment system. The 747 is a bit long in the tooth. The movies start at set times and you either catch the start or you don't. The safety announcement video was certainly on video - a scratchy video tape and there were ash trays by the toilet doors indicating this aircraft had been around a while. I can't remember exactly when smoking was banned on planes but it was a good while ago. This said the flight, all 22 hours of it, seemed to pass swiftly enough, although setting off in the evening of the 6th and arriving early morning on the 7th meant that for almost the entire duration of the flight it was dark outside. A 20-hour night, you normally don't get that unless you visit the artic circle at midwinter.

It was odd to be back on British soil with all its familiarities. The rather dingy Heathrow Airport, on the tube to Euston, and rush hour crowds to match. The 9:46 Virgin Trains service to Carlisle. It was all very much the same as I remember.

The fat lady has sung, but we're not done quite yet. Once I've kicked the jetlag we'll have a look over the Big Trip that was.

Final week

Melbourne has proven to be pleasant enough and as I discovered on a long but enjoyable day trip along the Great Ocean Road yesterday the surrounding countryside and coastline is well worth making the effort to see too. I'm not hanging around though; I've had a couple of days sightseeing in the city centre and although I could likely stay longer and trail around a few more of the sights the write-up of Sydney in my Lonely Planet is sounding well worth investigating. As a result I'm flying over there tomorrow and seeing what the city with the bridge (that's my self-imposed title rather than anything conjeured up by marketing people) has to offer.

There's not a great deal of aviation competition within Australia. Ansett went belly up a few years ago and on the odd occasion when an airline has been mentioned in Lonely Planet on visiting the company's website there will inevitably be some mention of how passenger flights were halted a few months ago, typically have been squeezed or bought out by Qantas and directed to their website instead. Our saviour from a monopoly of the skies comes in the shape of Virgin Blue. This isn't a range of adult products by Richard Branson but rather his downunder budget airline venture, and most welcome it is. A number of Aussies have told me how before the competition came along Qantas were able to more or less charge what they wanted. Two hardly makes for a crowded market but when both players are fiercely vying for share the prices are kept very much attractive. Once again I've bagged a fine deal from Melbourne to Sydney, not with Virgin Blue, who weren't terribly expensive, but Jet Star won the day with an $89AUS fare, which is a touch over 30 quid. That'll do nicely, thank you, not least as everything else in Australia seems to encourage the haemorraging of cash at every opportunity.

This brings me into the last week of my grand voyage. Ever since I booked the flight home the weeks have been skipping by with a seeming wild abandon but the appearance of the travelling fat lady has come as no surprise. From the outset my intentions were to take the Trans-Siberian, get a feel for Japan and see the almighty sights of China. Thereafter the pressure was off. It might have been nice to see what South East Asia had to offer but I always knew it wasn't likely to be my cup of tea and ditching it for Australia has left me with no regrets, not least as this venture into the land of down under has proven something of a success. It's all a bonus to return home with in my baggage, on my camera and most importantly of all in my memory. But let's not go here quite yet. The fat lady hasn't sung. She's waiting in the departures hall and while I might pass her at the Sydney Airport terminal building tomorrow she's just limbering up with a few days of practice before the grand finale. Yes there's still good time to add to the experiences of the trip and see it off in style. This blog isn't finished just yet. Tomorrow: Sydney!

Cold down south

I wrapped up my time in Darwin yesterday with a day trip to Litchfield National Park. Generally speaking most people use Darwin as a base for its reasonably handy National Parks, of which Kakadu is the most well known. However I had neither the time, money or indeed the inclination to trudge for several days in temperatures hitting mid to upper 30s. I have no desire to test my suitability for the French Foreign Legion in the summer heat of Australia's 'Red Centre' so if I do fancy taking in the likes of Alice Springs or Uluru (Ayres Rock) then I'll jolly well come back in the middle of winter and see it at a time when it might actually offer some enjoyment rather than being a sweltering drudgery.

A few hours were passed in a most worthwhile fashion indulging in the deadly sins of internet and culinary delights, than it was off to Darwin Airport to my remarkably cheap 'Virgin Blue' flight to Melbourne, costing some 60 quid for the 4 hour flight. Not to be sniffed at. Problem is, when you go for the cheapest flight available, and most other flight options are priced at getting on for 3 times what I paid, you end up on a flight full of the type of people who can't afford a flight at a more civilised hour. The gate comprised a mottley selection of Chinese with more gaps in their mouths than they had teeth, those who looked they should be begging on the street rather than flying anywhere, Buddhist monks with a fan club of women praying at their feet in a Waynes World-esque "we're not worthy!" manner, people with a fine selection of limb injuries, infants who shouldn't have to endure an overnight flight, families with bizarre luggage, the needlessly sunburnt and the needlessly overweight, to reel off but a few. They were all there, humanity in its infinitely unattractive variety. It didn't bode well I thought, but the seating allocation worked as much in my favour as I could have hoped with pretty normal people beside me and only one occasionally tempremental baby a row or two behind. The flight failed to provide a sound night's sleep as flights so often do, however I grabbed a good couple of hours I reckon and am trying to struggle through the day now without succumbing to the fatigue and collapsing in some ill-chosen spot in the cityscape.

Melbourne is looking good from a preliminary inspection. Not having been subject to the cyclone issues of Darwin it boasts a good number of historic buildings and in part is even by the sea. I'm typing this from St Kilda which is essentially the seaside suburb of the city and it still bears some of the signs of being a resort in the past with a fine Winter Gardens style theatre and an early 20th century fun fair with a renovated and very rickety looking rollercoaster dating from the same era. Even if it had been open I suspect my travel insurance wouldn't have covered me in the event of any mishap. Melbourne seems to be primarily known as the cultural capital of Australia which isn't a side of the city I've had time to explore just yet but the Sunday markets I've wandered past are a healthy sign that there's creativity aplenty in this place. I can't say any of it was worth buying, but then creativity and marketability seldom go easily together. The nightlife appears to be something to be noted too, given that on the way into the city centre on the airport shuttle bus the streets were full with young hip things pouring out of night clubs with that unmistakable "just been drinking and dancing for 8 hours solid" appearance, blinking wearily as they emerged into the brightening world around them.

I can't go any further without giving some mention to the weather here. On arrival at 5.30am this morning the temperature was announced as being some 13 degrees, the lowest I've encountered in quite some time. Needless to say before departing the unneccesarily well air-conditioned airport terminal building I had to retrieve my long forgotten fleece from the darkened recesses of my rucksack. The last time the trusty top layer saw the light of day was at over 6000 m while freezing my arse off trying to take photos of Mount Everest. Here in Melbourne it feels like an entirely different season to that in Darwin. I suspect moving from a tropical to a more temperature climate plays a big part too. It's a welcome relief though; to be able to walk around, explore the sights and wear out some shoe leather without sweating like a pig in a sauna.

Overlanding through the outback

This grand trip of mine has gone through phases of travelling overland, being sick of that so flying, wanting to save some money so overlanding it again and latterly reverting back to flying again. However taking on the Cairns to Darwin stretch overland was an opportunity not to be overlooked. On offer was a 4-day trip covering almost 3000 km almost entirely through bush and outback. This was a side of Australia I really wanted to experience, although admittedly I had little idea of what to expect.

Off we set last Saturday on a great orange all terrain vehicle, some 22 of us, heralding from countries as Ireland, France and Germany. Yes, well it was a rather European crowd, but a good one, and despite the many hours on the road each day the time passed quickly and in good humour, eased along by the sights of the outback and regular stops at towns and creeks along the way. Highlights included handling a selection of Australian pythons and watching the more poisonous snake varieties quickly dispatch the rats they were fed; a true outback pub where the stereotypical beer advert image of the Aussie bloke with his hat and a 12-pack of XXXX on his shoulder rang absolutely true; seeing roos, emus, wallabies and much else besides dash around in the bush on either side of the vehicle; roads stretching into the horizon sometimes empty for hours, at other times populated by four-trailer 'road trains' or behemoth loads from one of the outback mines.

All-in-all the tour proved to be pretty much everything I might have hoped for. It was totally different to the cities, as well it should be. This was Australia's wild west and it fit this casting requirement effortlessly. The population are rough, thirsty and friendly inhabiting towns of just a few hundred at most, yet being so remote each has to be self-sufficient, offering all the services even in minute form that you might possible need living out there or passing through on a road trip through the outback. There are after all no short outback trips. The mainstay for drivers is the famous Aussie roadhouse. These generally comprise a filling station, pub, cafe and motel all in one and generally also offer repair services and might even store any game you've acquired on the way. It's not entirely clear where the staff of these roadhouses live as often they're entirely detached from any other form of civilisation. Nevertheless operate they do and they're a most welcome sight at the end of a long drive. Just ignore the frogs inhabiting the toilet rim and you'll be right.

Much of the outback is divided between the huge cattle stations, the Aussie term for what would be called a ranch in the US. I'm unsure why these have to be just as massive as they are given that the cattle seem to only ever inhabit a small area within good reach of a watering hole, yet some of these stations are as large as Belgium. They're lightly staffed too, perhaps just 12 stockmen working on one of these country-sized outfits in the peak season. My current reading is a humourous collection of tales from a guy who's tried his hand at this stockman life and I suspect as I progress through the book a good deal besides too. Detached from the outside world and most importantly the pub for months, uncooperative horses and fruit bats impaling themselves on the ceiling fan and spraying their guts over you are all experiences that go with this territory.

Four-days on through the arid mobile phone receptionless country that was is outback and I made it intact to Darwin with my fellow travellers, having by now learnt the lyrics to several favourite Aussie songs such as "G'Day G'Day", and both the lyrics and actions to "Give me a home amongst the gum trees" as well as having had ample opportunities to join in with classics such as Midnight Oil's "Beds are burning" which I'd never previously realised is actually a protest song about giving back land to Aboriginals and "Land Down Under" by Men at Work. Darwin doesn't have much in the way of historical architecture to boast about, having been both heavily bombed by the Japanese in WWII and more or less wiped off the map by a cyclone in the 1970s. I find myself here for a few days on account of taking a cheap flight to Melbourne on Saturday. The weather is astoundingly hot and not terribly conducive to doing anything aside from sitting around, preferably somewhere air conditioned with a cold drink in hand, while attempting to avoid noticing just how appallingly England are doing in the Ashes, although the Aussies normally do a good job of making sure any Pommie who makes themselves known is brought up to date with all that stuff.

Rather eager for internet access after the trip I've already uploaded the best of the photos to the my flickr site. I've also been uploading photos taken on my mobile over the past few weeks and months as well as topping up a few other recent sections on the site too.

Next stop is Melbourne to where I'm taking an overnight flight on Saturday. The flight times might be rubbish but the price was great, meaning I can spend a little more on tours exploring the Great Ocean Road or Blue Mountains during my last couple of weeks down under. The end is approaching quickly. Before I know it I'll be back to the freezing cold of a Northern winter, yet in the Darwin heat I'm currently doing my best to avoid that doesn't sound half bad at the moment.

Preferring heights over depths

From time to time on this trip I've tried to push myself into doing things beyond the norm and certainly what I'd regard as beyond the comfort zone. Five-hour walk along a crumbling stretch of the Great Wall, 3 days in a 4x4 on rough roads to Everest Base Camp, a cramped and slippery Cave walk, and today Scuba Diving. Generally speaking I've done pretty well I reckon and although I've been pushed near the limit a few times I've managed to pull through. Today's endeavour however wasn't exactly an unmitigated success and it was here that ability finally gave away to disability.

Although I didn't go with much apprehension I suspected Scuba-ing might not work for me. Discomfort, the inability to have much idea of which way I was heading or wanting to be heading and how to get there plus an mask ever filling with water confirmed that this activity wasn't going to be for me. At least I tried, and the rest of the time I leapt back in with the snorkelling which by now I'm feeling pretty confident in doing. It was a pretty dull selection of reefs alas and hardly demanded much exploration compared to the comparatively teeming coral off Townsville. It hardly matters though. This was snorkel numbers six and seven and I'm feeling I've largely had my fill of the reef and this stretch of coastline. You could certainly spend much more time on it of course and undertake countless activities of varying extremity, however Australia is a much varied place and it would be criminal, in a touristy sort of way, to not at least try to touch upon some of the other and starkly constrasting facets that comprise this gigantic place.

Thus it is with much anticipation that I'll be heading off into the Outback on Saturday on a coach tour. Happily overnight accommodation is largely in remote Aussie watering holes, that's pubs by the way not Billabongs in case you were wondering, and there should be ample opportunity to take in the sights and flavour of the outback, given that the tour takes 4 days and traverses just slightly less than 3000 km. Hmm, I seem to remember getting tired of big overland journeys at some point, but my enthusiasm with the backdrop of the Aussie bush and outback has been renewed with a fresh enthusiasm that I was hoping for from this continent of a country.

I've finally ventured into Cairns and got some the photos uploaded uptodate, including today's adventures in the chopper. Another recent highlight was visiting Cape Tribulation, a national natural treasure of rainforest and wildlife habitat to the North of Cairns. The tour driver was great, typically Aussie and entertaining to the last. My favourite story from the day without a doubt was that of a branch of KFC to the North of Cairns, near the last set of traffic lights on the East Coast, no less. This particular KFC like so many here has a KFC bucket suspended from a pole above the store. However unlike most, this one doesn't rotate. The reason being is that a few years back a cyclone came along and blew this giant KFC off its perch and it totalled 5 cars below. Since then KFC have decided to avoid a possible repetition by bolting the bucket to the pole. This means it no longer rotates but it can claim to be the East Coast's only cyclone proof KFC tub...

One man and his snorkel

Since I got the Whitsundays I seem to have spent a huge amount of time on the water. I booked myself on a 2-night trip aboard a sailing boat, although due to the total lack of wind we had no choice but to motor our way around the islands. I didn't get any hands-on sailing experience while on board although I had a good chat with the skipper and saw a bit of what was going on. However the highlight was the snorkelling around various coral reefs. I'd never done it before, never really considered it, but it turned out to be relatively simple once you get the hang of it and a fabulous way of seeing what lies beneath. Since snorkelling is by its nature in shallow water the astounding colours of everything really show off. The fish are nothing short of iridescent while the coral seem to specialise in being every colour you never think existed outside of artificial food colourings.

The best of the snorkelling thus far was a couple of days ago off Townsville, which is located vaguely between Airlie Beach (from where the Whitsunday island trips originate) and Cairns (the main barrier reef hub). It was a lengthy 2 1/2 hour trip out to the reef on a speedy motor diving boat, but the reef was superb. Aside from a small island of sand lying precariously above the water, everything around was submerged, albeit only just. The reef came in every form from coral islands to vast plateux of just submerged reef. There seemed to be everything, a lot of it, and often in super-sized proportions. Blue starfish and black prickly-looking sea cucumbers adorned much of the shallow lying reef while masses of fish in every size inhabited the space between the reef and the surface. Some, bearing mouths of rather buck-teeth could clearly be heard chomping on edges of coral and although many times their size I could drift not many centimetres above them without causing alarm. The highlight was spotting a white-tip shark lying at the bottom of a hole in the reef. Shortly after being spotted it decided to swim off, much to the delight of the onlooking snorkellers. Hopefully none of my masked companions was daft enough to be worried about the prospect of it taking their leg off or similiar, it was after all something of a tiddler by shark standards although quite big enough to be perfectly impressive for us.

As for Australia as a whole, I've heard a number of fellow travellers describe the country as something of a retro experience. I suspect this might be due to the streets being lined still with family owned stores, rather than the identikit high-streets we enjoy at home all offering the same couple of dozen chain stores, while some of business names long since lost from the UK such as Tandy and Radio Rentals are still going here. There's a certain character and charm to be noted as well, as old buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century have remained and are still in use, although almost always in a guise quite at odds with what the engraved business name on the building frontage states. It's good to see though, not least as they're in what I can best liken to a Wild West style of architecture and due to having spent several months in Asian countries where seemingly no regard is given to hanging on to anything historical and woe betide with something of character. There are elements of North America here, perhaps not unsurprisingly as both are countries of the colonial Western European New World, built upwards from scratch, although the Americas had a few hundred years head start. Everything is spacious with low housing density, good weather to encourage sizeable properties and plenty of land to go around of course.

I'd definitely say that the elements we prize in our surroundings at home have been adopted here, albeit in an adapted form to suit to the rather different surrounds. Streets and pavements are well finished and entirely lacking the Russian or Chinese style holes or protuding concrete or metalwork that might potentially cause injury. Similarly gardens are well manicured despite water restrictions and houses freshly painted and looked after. Attention to detail and personalised touches abound in residental areas, unrestricted by the more conservative finishes and regulations that constrain the appearances of British homes generally.

The general atmosphere is relaxed, and aside from a punch-up between two cafe owners at a coach stop yesterday no-one seems to get too bothered or hot under the collar, despite a climate that might urge otherwise. It's a fine place with good, friendly people and a good standard of living from what I can see, although I've yet to be inside any Aussie houses to see just how they're kitted out. Yet to be in a country that drives on the left, where you can drink the tap water and flush toilet paper down the loo, it strikes me that Australia has got a lot of the important points of daily life just right.

On the East Coast

It's been a little while since the last blog and that's largely due to the less than affordable internet prices in a lot of places. There's nevertheless being a great deal going on, with no end of wildlife, sights, beaches and a bit of everything else packed in.

I did indeed make it to the Koala Sanctuary outside of Brisbane which in addition to the tree hugging grey folk also was home to a fine cross-section of Aussie wildlife most of which I'd never seen in the flesh before. A Kangaroo enclosure allows visitors to wander amongst the hoppers while there are more typically zoo-style areas for smaller Aussie critters. From Emus to Dingos to Wombats to Eagles they were all there. What I didn't see in the sanctuary I've since seen in the wider Australian undergrowth.

From Brisbane I headed up a couple of hours north to the Sunshine Coast. It was a toss-up between this and the Gold Coast, the latter being a more developed partying and surfing place. The Sunshine Coast, and Noosa in particular where I found myself was more low-key tourism. No buildings were allowed above the treeline and away from Noosa's main beach there stretched endless kilometres of sand disappearing into the distance and very sparsely populated by people.

In addition to the traditional fun of the seaside Noosa also makes a handy base for various trips, the most popular being to Fraser island, a sand island over 100 km long home to hard woods and sub-tropical forest, heaps of wildlife, even a couple of dozen lakes, some boasting the whitest sand you'll ever likely to see. I also headed to a town near Noosa with a population of only 500 which has survived essentially because it's made itself a tourist destination with a fantastic twice-weekly market selling a gloriously diverse range of crafts and goods, and needless to say it made for a good opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done early.

Following a quick hop back to Brisbane I'm now flying much farther up the Coast to the Whitsunday Islands where there's ample opportunity to try out some sailing and get hands on to whatever degree you wish, or otherwise laze on deck and snorkel amongst the Great Barrier Reef. It's all to come! I'm flying in about an hour and my internet time is up, so from Brisbane Airport it's goodbye for now.