Well, Bali Just continues.
We have never done so much nothing in all our lives, such an ultimate relaxing time. Surfing is generally on the cards everyday as is plenty of eating and reading. Hard life!
We took a trip round to Ballagan beach yesterday and spent the day chilling and mucking around in the beautiful bay. We sat watching the sunset, filling the sky with vibrant colours and as the massive vburning ball of fire that was the sun settled down into the indian ocean we headed for an all you can eat bbq with mental amounts of fish, salads, and balinese flavours of many kinds.
The last few days has seen a massive swell hit Bali, waves of 3 to 4 times overhead pumping through and there were some mental surfers getting huge rides off these monsters on the shallow reefs. Some pretty exciting stuff!
So its a hard life and we really appreciate all your support, couldnt have got through without you.
Stay cool
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Thursday, 24 September 2009
the abandoned ones
1-Lady Musgrove island
2-diving
3-look at the colour of the water!
4-fraser island magic
5- Nic on the beast
Well hello again my fluffy little friends, so much has happened since we last spoke; we have been going snorkeling on the barrier reef many times, surfing at 1770, 4x4 driving on fraser island then sailing in the Whitsundays, drove up to cape tribulation via cairns, went to many amazing national parks and saw the biggest lizard ever! Still having loads of fun in expensive oz.
We are now situated just in between cairns and Brisbane in a hostel picking chilli's in 30 degree heat, feeling hot hot hot!!!
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Cranking Surf in Bali
Ulawatu is where C dog, mot bag, and myself JC are positioned. South part of the island where there is lots of surf action, rediculous number for great surf breaks including Padang Padang. Scooter action that Johnny has fallen in love with and location in a beach shack for 3 pound a night or 50'000 RP,, crazy exchange rate. Nice places to eat near by, v'friendly people who want to sell many t-shirts and offer transport as soon as you use your legs. I think they get offened if you walk...maybe. Anyway having sooo much fun, not doing too much. Not a bad place to be. Timmy and Charlie have gone north to a honey moon retreat and another girlfriend arrives tomorow. Me and chris are to busy surfing to care..lol
All the best.. jc
Monday, 14 September 2009
Bye to oz
Well here we are, in Darwin, sweating away in the heat and on our final day of being in Australia. Its been a great ride, seen some awesome things and met really fun people.
We fly to Bali this evening ( Jonny, John, Myself, Tim and extra friends Richard and Tanja) We went straight from Airlie Beach which was a bit of a dive up to Cairns with just one stop in a lush freshwater lake with cool water surrounded by rainforest. Once in Cairns we were settling into the Hostel having decided to sell our car there. Crazy stuff because within 2 hours of arriving in Cairns we had sold the beast for a $600 profit, awesome, a bidding war really helped our cause.
After the extra cash, we decided a skydive was the obvious way to celebrate. It was truly wicked, a really great feeling, almost forget you are falling and feel like you are floating. The views were stunning, across the Barrrier Reef and the Atherton Tablelands and the rest of Northern Queensland. Pretty exciting stuff, my ears could not deal with the pressure though and i was deaf for 3hrs, still a tad wierd now.
We also criused up to thwe stunning areas of Port Douglas and Cape trib where the rainforest drops right down onto tropical beaches, warm water, sun. Yes please!
Darwin was next, not alot here to be honest. Its a bit of a wierd spot, we did a jumping Crocodile cruise yesterday, that was classic! Massive crocs jumping right out the water about 3ft away from us trying to get meat. We then went on down to Lichfield national park and swam and dived in waterfalls, checked out huge termite mounds and got generally very hot in the 37dgree heat! Everything is Bon, Yes yes oh yey
We fly to Bali this evening ( Jonny, John, Myself, Tim and extra friends Richard and Tanja) We went straight from Airlie Beach which was a bit of a dive up to Cairns with just one stop in a lush freshwater lake with cool water surrounded by rainforest. Once in Cairns we were settling into the Hostel having decided to sell our car there. Crazy stuff because within 2 hours of arriving in Cairns we had sold the beast for a $600 profit, awesome, a bidding war really helped our cause.
After the extra cash, we decided a skydive was the obvious way to celebrate. It was truly wicked, a really great feeling, almost forget you are falling and feel like you are floating. The views were stunning, across the Barrrier Reef and the Atherton Tablelands and the rest of Northern Queensland. Pretty exciting stuff, my ears could not deal with the pressure though and i was deaf for 3hrs, still a tad wierd now.
We also criused up to thwe stunning areas of Port Douglas and Cape trib where the rainforest drops right down onto tropical beaches, warm water, sun. Yes please!
Darwin was next, not alot here to be honest. Its a bit of a wierd spot, we did a jumping Crocodile cruise yesterday, that was classic! Massive crocs jumping right out the water about 3ft away from us trying to get meat. We then went on down to Lichfield national park and swam and dived in waterfalls, checked out huge termite mounds and got generally very hot in the 37dgree heat! Everything is Bon, Yes yes oh yey
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
some fine viewing for you!
So there we are, generaly they go in order of bottom to top, we have NSW walves, Queensland cruising, Fraser, the great barrier reef and some aerobatic flying there for you!
Noosa is the spot where i take over for you, arriving in the mornig we wndered through the national park where we stopped for the day on an incredible beach, perfect blue warm water, backed by tropical forest, its all becoming rather predictable but we still aint getting bored of it.
We stayed on the riverside in noosa, enjoying some fine beer in the evening. Was a little over touristy but a good feeling spot. We Drove on north headinjg inland to cut around the great sandy national park which had alot of sand. Arriving at rainbow beach we swam ans then walked down the beach to the great sandy national park. Massive dunes and semi sand rock was all the way down, spectacular colours and some fun chucking sand rocks around, Jonny made some carvings, the old artist is coming out in him!
Hervey Bay was the next stop as that was where we had booked our trip to fraser island from. So, after a sleep in the middle of nowhere in some very scary wood, a good few bottles of wine and some excellent philosophical chatter we were installed in the boring place that is Hervey Bay. WE did nothing all day because there is nothing to do (we did meet a few fine old backpackers though), but that worked out fine as we were heading to fraser very early the next day.
We met up with our group, ( of us all tyogether in a Toyata Landcruiser, it was truly gloriuos fun. 3 days of monkeying around, swimming in perfect freshwater lakes, cricket on the beaches, enjoying the company of the others, watching the local fauna and wndering through the lush forest. We drove the 4wd down some mental tracks, just so crazy but awesome fun. The guys we went with were great, from all over UK and europe. After returning to the mainland, very tired, some sunburn we had a final night altogether in Hervey Bay. Our Peter Andre was ripping, well in form singing away to mysterious girl.
We arranged for some of us to keep going together, 6 of us. We drove to 1770 and Agnes water. Whilst there we stayed in an amazing hostel with gorgeous hammocks, gardens, firepit and a brilliant atmosphere. We ended up working the next day on the boats at the local mariner for a crazy guy. He was so vague, first telling us we had to water his garden and do some burning off before heading to mariner to clean rust of a boat that got stuck and all sorts of other drama!
The next day we went on a trip to the great barrier reef, which we got free from working (worth $160!) It was one of the most amazing experiences ever, the coral is unbelievable and the fish and turtles and everything, just ah man, you would not believe. A whole day of chilling and they fed us amazing food, yes please, perfect.
Next day we drove north again but not before doing an awesome aerobatic flight for 1hr, loops, flips all everywhere and everything. He even let us fly the beast.
We are now in airly still with our crew of James, lauren, Rich, Tanja, Jonny and me and having a sorting day. Keep it real!
Byron to Noosa, and most things inbetween... (to be read before the previous post)
Note: This should be read before chris's entry, as his follows on.
Well, this is my maiden post on this here blog, so after such a long amount of time relying on the others I've put alot of pressure on myself to make it a worthwhile addition.
So we left Byron bay, and drove probably 2 miuntes down the highway after a free meal to a rest stop on the side of the road, which was far more of a owner-less camp site. When we pulled up at about 10pm there must have been 30-40 cars (some with tents!) all doing like ourselves and avoiding the hostel fees. One comfortable night there and then we were off to see what the next day would have in store.
Chris divulged some rumours of a place called Nimbin, basically a little hamlet obsessed with the 60's. Some 'lonely planet' research told us it had been the host of a small concert in the 60's, and some people had just refused to go home. We headed there, and on the way came across Mount Warning. Not taking the name as a warning we headed steeply up to the summit car park; no problem, until we stopped and the bonnet started fizzing, hissing, and blowing out steam. Disaster number uno. The steep climb had been too much for one of the coolant hoses, and it'd gotten itself a nice little hole. We took the walk to the bottom of the hill, and phoned for the helpful RACV guy to come and sort it, then raced on up the mountain. It was a gorgeous afternoon (we seem to have had a lot of those) and the climb was worth it.
Nimbin was definitely the most bizarre place we've been to, not what I expected to find in oz. Many of the shops and shop keepers seemed to fit the description of folk who were around to enjoy the 60's and all they had to offer. A couple of hours was enough, and we were off. We stayed at another gorgeous campsite, and a fire and red wine were the order of the evening.
The next day is not one worthy of note. We knew that surfers paradise and the surroundings were very commercial, but nothing prepared us for what we came across. Firstly we went to Tweed Heads to see if that would offer the same thing in terms on waves and relaxation, but we were let down and pushed on to 'Surfers' as its locally known. I've never walked around LA, but this is exactly what I imagine it to look like. A huge strip of beach lined with highrise after highrise, club after bar, and building site upon building site. We walked around and landed on the idea of a trip to the supermarket because we needed food. Had another free bbq in a plastic park and then carried on north again. In the small islands north of the strip we got a sneak at what all the money from the Gold Coast is going towards; the luxury beach side apartments and villas with private pontoons and 40ft cruisers plonked in the water. We moved on.
(I'm running out of time)
Straight to Brisbane, which was kind of a mixture between Melbourne and Sydney, but probably more like the former. One night at a rather anal campsite owned by a pom, and the second at the first hostel we'd stayed in since January probably. Didn't like the hostel, very cliqy, bit smelly, and the tv room wasn't showing the ashes!!
Next morning, and North again would you believe. We soon started spotting some weird looking mountains on the left, which turned out to be the Glass House mountains. A sharp and late turn about and we we looking at a crazy looking bloody big one. It was marked as an expert climb, we fancied ourselves as experts and up we went. The burn was incredible, the heat was intense, and the view from the top was spectacular (it spanned a large section of the Sunshine and Gold Coasts). Brilliant! After that we sped past Steve Irwins Australia zoo, and so can say that we saw it.
It was getting pretty late when we got into Maroochydore, and we looked about for ages for a place to stop. We couldn't so we took a rather twisted route around the next 40km of coast to find Peregian Beach which had a perfect campsite for us. We stayed there, and went to coolum beach for the whole of the following day, then back to the same campsite to watch our first part of the last test. Very luckily a couple of ex-pats invited us to watch the rest in their van, so we did and idulged in some free beer and cheese and biscuits! (Can't remember what day it was, but england were lookin good.)
The next day we pushed on to Noosa, which is where chris's section comes in. But he apparently forgot to mention the incredible deal we got on 24 bottles of wine from a big Dan Murphys (bottleshop); 2 cases of clean-skins wine, working out at about $2.85 a bottle (or GBP1.40). We came away pretty happy.
Well, this is my maiden post on this here blog, so after such a long amount of time relying on the others I've put alot of pressure on myself to make it a worthwhile addition.
So we left Byron bay, and drove probably 2 miuntes down the highway after a free meal to a rest stop on the side of the road, which was far more of a owner-less camp site. When we pulled up at about 10pm there must have been 30-40 cars (some with tents!) all doing like ourselves and avoiding the hostel fees. One comfortable night there and then we were off to see what the next day would have in store.
Chris divulged some rumours of a place called Nimbin, basically a little hamlet obsessed with the 60's. Some 'lonely planet' research told us it had been the host of a small concert in the 60's, and some people had just refused to go home. We headed there, and on the way came across Mount Warning. Not taking the name as a warning we headed steeply up to the summit car park; no problem, until we stopped and the bonnet started fizzing, hissing, and blowing out steam. Disaster number uno. The steep climb had been too much for one of the coolant hoses, and it'd gotten itself a nice little hole. We took the walk to the bottom of the hill, and phoned for the helpful RACV guy to come and sort it, then raced on up the mountain. It was a gorgeous afternoon (we seem to have had a lot of those) and the climb was worth it.
Nimbin was definitely the most bizarre place we've been to, not what I expected to find in oz. Many of the shops and shop keepers seemed to fit the description of folk who were around to enjoy the 60's and all they had to offer. A couple of hours was enough, and we were off. We stayed at another gorgeous campsite, and a fire and red wine were the order of the evening.
The next day is not one worthy of note. We knew that surfers paradise and the surroundings were very commercial, but nothing prepared us for what we came across. Firstly we went to Tweed Heads to see if that would offer the same thing in terms on waves and relaxation, but we were let down and pushed on to 'Surfers' as its locally known. I've never walked around LA, but this is exactly what I imagine it to look like. A huge strip of beach lined with highrise after highrise, club after bar, and building site upon building site. We walked around and landed on the idea of a trip to the supermarket because we needed food. Had another free bbq in a plastic park and then carried on north again. In the small islands north of the strip we got a sneak at what all the money from the Gold Coast is going towards; the luxury beach side apartments and villas with private pontoons and 40ft cruisers plonked in the water. We moved on.
(I'm running out of time)
Straight to Brisbane, which was kind of a mixture between Melbourne and Sydney, but probably more like the former. One night at a rather anal campsite owned by a pom, and the second at the first hostel we'd stayed in since January probably. Didn't like the hostel, very cliqy, bit smelly, and the tv room wasn't showing the ashes!!
Next morning, and North again would you believe. We soon started spotting some weird looking mountains on the left, which turned out to be the Glass House mountains. A sharp and late turn about and we we looking at a crazy looking bloody big one. It was marked as an expert climb, we fancied ourselves as experts and up we went. The burn was incredible, the heat was intense, and the view from the top was spectacular (it spanned a large section of the Sunshine and Gold Coasts). Brilliant! After that we sped past Steve Irwins Australia zoo, and so can say that we saw it.
It was getting pretty late when we got into Maroochydore, and we looked about for ages for a place to stop. We couldn't so we took a rather twisted route around the next 40km of coast to find Peregian Beach which had a perfect campsite for us. We stayed there, and went to coolum beach for the whole of the following day, then back to the same campsite to watch our first part of the last test. Very luckily a couple of ex-pats invited us to watch the rest in their van, so we did and idulged in some free beer and cheese and biscuits! (Can't remember what day it was, but england were lookin good.)
The next day we pushed on to Noosa, which is where chris's section comes in. But he apparently forgot to mention the incredible deal we got on 24 bottles of wine from a big Dan Murphys (bottleshop); 2 cases of clean-skins wine, working out at about $2.85 a bottle (or GBP1.40). We came away pretty happy.
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