Australia, Back to Sydney and Out (photos)

5 May - 15 May

We woke up in Emerald Beach the next day, 5 May, and then drove in to Sydney. We went back to the same guesthouse as we stayed in before in Kings Cross, which is near the car market. We went over to the car market to get a sense of competition and prices and were a bit disappointed by what we saw. Lots of cars and everyone said it was very slow. We had the newest car and the only shiny red one and the only one with a spare tire on the roof so we thought we'd be OK. That night we went to a car wash and polished up Betty and then had canveyor belt sushi for dinner and beers on the guesthouse terrace.
The next day, 6 May, was our first day at the car market. It is in a underground parking garage and filled with people selling cars and cold and smelly and dark and miserable. We were in good spirits the first day, even though only one person looked at our car. That night we bought manila folders to make signs for our car, showing off the model year (1994) and the Western Australia registration (the best one to have).
The next day, 7 May, the second day we finally had some interest. An Irish guy actually asked to see the engine. I think he bought someone elses car. At the end of the eight hour day another Irish guy, who I could barely understand asked me what my "rock bottom" was. I wouldn't tell him. No cars sold and everyone was despressed. A couple vans sold though, and since the custom is to buy a carton of beer when you sell your car and hand them out to the other sellers, we had a couple free beers. That night we saw "Kingdom of Heaven", which was just like every other movie I've seen.
The next day, 8 May, the third day, we spent eight hours down there and there were maybe two buyers walking around the whole day. It was pretty bad. At this point our price was dropping one to two hundred dollars a day. We had the highest price since we had by far the newest car, but nothing was selling. We had pizza for dinner.
The next day, 9 May, the fourth day, a young Swedish couple looked at the car at the end of the day. Ohhh OOhhhh. Nothing. I expected them back the next day but never saw them again. It wasn't exactly fun, but we were having a pretty good time hanging out with all the other sellers. Conveyor belt sushi for dinner and beers on the terrace.
The next day, 10 May, we sat there all day and nothing happened. A car behind us failed inspection with almost no compression on cylinders 3 and 4. We had full compression on four cylinders, and 80% or so on the other two. We knew this. What was wrong? Price drop. Then, an English guy came up and asked about the car and took a look at the engine and, can you believe it, asked me to start it up. He went upstairs to ask about registration and came back and wanted to get it inspected the next morning. We knew it would be fine. Then, he made an offer, magically hitting our low and I countered for fifty dollars more to pay for the carton of beer, and I told him that the price would not change after the inspection and that he should not pay for it if he was going to try to get an even better price. We shook on it and arranged to meet the next day. We were pretty psyched. The price was AUD$350 less than what we paid for it. Just as we were leaving, an Irish couple (tons of Irish) came by and asked us about the car. They had just had another car inspected and it needed AUD$1600 worth of repairs. They were very interested but were too late since I had already shook on a deal. They wanted us to call them if anything changed. It looked like we were in a good position since I had a back-up if the other guy tried to lower the price. We went back to the guesthouse and ate dinner, soup I think.
The next day, 11 May, we met the car inspection guy, who had done the inspection for us when we bought, and the seller. The inspection went great. We had fixed some of the things that he had suggested when we bought and nothing else got worse. In fact, changing the fuel filter, or something else, brought our compression up from the previous inspection, so we had full compression on all six cylinders. The buyer had to go downtown to get money so we went OUTSIDE and ate lunch in the SUNSHINE. Then we waited around, he came back, signed some papers and then we got the money and Betty was no longer our car. We went out and bought a carton of beer, went back down and handed them out, hung out for just a little bit and then left the horrid place forever. That night we went out and met our Irish friend Helen that we had met in the Whitsundays. We met her and her boyfriend and two other Irish folks at a pub in Paddington and then went back to their place for dinner. We had a great time and drank a lot of beer and I learned some great jokes, which aren't as funny without the Irish accent but still work.
The next day, 12 May, we packed our stuff and got out of Kings Cross and moved to a nicer hotel downtown. Here is a view from the window.
The next day, 13 May, we confirmed our Air New Zealand tickets, took a bus to Bondi Junction and bought some jeans since NZ is cold. Then we headed back to the room and then to the subway station to meet John, our friend from Noosa, and went over to John and Larah's place, had some beers, went out for Mexican food (cheap at home, expensive in Australia) and then back to their place and then back to the room.
The next day, 14 May, we walked around an art market at The Rocks and then took a ferry to Manly Beach. Here is a surfer on the beach, and here is the beach. We came back toward downtown at sunset, which was crazy orange.
The next day, 15 May, we got up early, took a taxi to the airport, got on a plane and flew to New Zealand. I slept until the end, when Dara woke me up to see the view as we were landing.

Australia East, Part III (photos)

24 March - 4 May

My notes are pretty scant for this section.

We left Gladstone on Sunday (24 March) and continued heading south, stopped in Agnes Waters for some pies and bought some ice. The pies here are something we enjoyed. They are an inexpensive lunch and are like a pot pie, filled with gravy and beef or chicken. My favorite were steak and mushroom. We ate them all the time. From there we headed toward Deep Water National Park, on the coast near Bundaberg. It was a long ride in through bumby gravelly road and we weren't sure we would get a spot since it was ANZAC Day (commemorating the Gallipoli landing by Australian and New Zealand troops). We rolled in and saw an unoccupied campsite that was reserved. Since it was pretty late in the day and toward the end of the holiday weekend, we figured we'd be safe to just snag it, so we did. When the ranger came around he noticed the name it was reserved under was the same as a big group on the other side of the grounds so he asked them and found out they didn't need the site so we were in. We set up and went down to the beach. It was a fantastic empty beach with big clear waves crashing against an outcrop of rocks. We were the only ones there. Back at the campsite a solemn looking man (with a beer in hand) walked up with his son and told us they would be having a ANZAC commemorative ceremony on the beach at 4:18am (I may have the time wrong). We figured it might be fun, since there was a full moon that night. We decided we would set out clock for it. Then, we made dinner and had a few beers and Dara saw a turkey in a tree and we went to bed. We didn't make it up for the ceremony.

The next day (25 March) we said goodbye to the beach and I caught Dara dancing. From there we headed out and south to Noosa, a great little riverside town. We got there and got a campsite right next to the river and watched the sunset over the river each night.

On the next day (26 March) we went on a coastal walk around a big point of land. Here is a view from the trail. We looped around and came to the point and sat down for a picnic lunch. There was a huge inlet below us and we could see turtles. Here I am enjoying lunch overlooking the inlet. We saw some great sunsets from our campsite and I spent that evening fishing. I didn't have any bait so I was using little bits of cooked pork sausage and they worked great. Here is a bream that I caught, just over 22cm, so a keeper (I let him go). The pelicans are keen to whats going on and as soon as they see the excitement of a catch, the pelicans come over to see if you'll give them the fish. That night we met an Australian couple, John and Larah and chatted with them for a bit.

The next day, 27 March, it was pretty rainy so we went into town and did some internet, had some pies and saw "The Interpretter", which was pretty lame. We did laundry that night.

The next day (28 April) we rented a boat and cruised around in the river. I'm sure some other stuff happened but I only have financial notes. He had burgers and wedges for lunch, I bought a pair of cheap sunglasses and we bought groceries (ice, tuna, coffee, cereal, mushrooms, tomatoes, lemon and garlic). That evening we watched the sunset and I fished again. That night we hung out for hours with John and Larah. I think it rained.

The next day, 29 March, we took a route suggested by John and Larah into the hinterland. We drove inland through the hills and had some great views. We didn't want to push the car too much on the hills since we were going to sell it soon. We stopped in a cute little town called Maleny and ate at a diner and read celebrity magazines. Then we carried on and got some sausages from a grocer and ended up at a campsite on the Somerset Dam. That night we had our second fire of the whole trip. There was a fire ban in most of the places we were.

The next day, 30 March, we woke up and had breakfast and saw a bunch of people near us looking up into a tree. I grabbed my camera and headed over there and saw that they were watching a koala sleep. We also saw him wake up.
From there we headed to Brisbane, more rain so we went to the mall. We had a couple of slices of pizza for lunch and went and saw "The Hostage". All movies seem to be the same these days. Not sure what else happened. My financial notes indicate that we bought a 30 pack of VB (Victoria Bitter) and a liter of milk.

The next day (1 May) we drove to the ferry and took a boat over to Moreton Island. It was a bit of a tourist trap and the weather wasn't so great but we spent three nights there. Not sure what happened. We went for a really long walk on 2 May and saw starfish. We rented DVDs and made food and did some walks. At night they had a dolphin feeding. They line up scores of tourists (mostly Japanese) and each person gets a single fish and then two people from the resort take you by each arm into the water then you give the fish to a dolphin. Someone videos it and sells it to you for thirty dollars or something. It was pretty obscene and we didn't do it. Not big marks for Moreton Island, but, it is the location of The Spooky Motel in the first Scooby Doo movie. Oh yea, they also feed the pelicans.

We left Moreton Island on 4 May and started the big drive to Sydney. We spent that night at Emerald Beach and camped right near the beach and ordered in pizzas. It was windy I think, and it rained.

Australia East, Part II (photos)

Sailing Whitsunday Magic
Whitsunday cruise
Whitsunday harbor
Hamilton Island Overlook
Whitehaven Beach
Jim and Dara
Whitehaven proposal
Whitehaven view
Whitehaven boat
Hamilton Island sunset
Cockatoos
One more cockatoo
Whitsunday overview
Whitsunday swirl
Heart Reef
Heart Reef
Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
Whitsunday Islands
More Whitsunday Islands
Jim and Dara
The plane
Airlie Beach rainbow
Gladstone Beach

Australia East, Part I (photos)

1 April - 16 April

Australia's East Coast


Cape Tribulation

This is a beautiful section of Australia. Cape Tribulation is a World Heritage Site, and it is the only place in the world where the rainforest meets the ocean. We camped right off the beach, and we went for a walk before it poured outside. We crossed the estuary during low tide so we could actually see crocodiles. Thankfully, no sighting. We continued to the rocks when the rain came down.

While leaving the campsite, we saw a hercules moth, the largest moth species in the world. It's lifespan is only for a day. Wild, huh? We then went on a tour of the rainforest. Fascinating overall. We also saw our first forest dragon. Here is another picture of him. Overall though, I liked the strangler trees. These trees use another tree as their host. Slowly, over a period of a couple hundred years, they suck the life out of the other tree. No picture though.


Driving South From Cape Tribulation
Mossman Gorge
Port Douglas
Hitchinbrook Island


Mission Beach

We spent the day driving down the coast from Cape Tribulation in the rain. Our guide book described Mission Beach as the perfect place to rest and relax. We were ready ... We were ready to get out of the rain. We splurged on this great beachfront hotel. The ocean view was fabulous, and the palm trees swayed in the wind and rain. We were out of the rain, warm and dry, enjoying cable. We stayed for three days. It was a little slice of heaven.


Finch Hatton Gorge

Our next step was to see the Whitsunday Islands. We made our plans and then took a side trip to Eungulla National Park for the platypus and Finch Hatton Gorge for the swimming holes. It was a lovely drive out there through the valley and the sugar cane fields . We passed through the small town of Finch Hatton towards Eungulla.

So, there was this huge mountain, and we decided that we could make it to the top. I was driving, of course, and the car started to overheat. I pulled over as soon as it was registering way too hot. We opened the hood, and steam was pouring out. We looked closer, and one of our radiator hoses sprung a leak. Worse yet, we were not close enough to town.

Thanks to Jim's quick thinking, we turned the car around, went back downhill and hoped to arrive in Finch Hatton without ruining the engine. We made it with no coolant left. We then waited in front of the mechanic shop on a Saturday. We had a long day waiting for Dave (the local mechanic) who ended up going camping for the weekend with his family. Thankfully though, Dave's dad was a mechanic too. He agreed to fix Betty the next morning. Yay!

We had a wild night hanging out with the locals in the pub. We ate some burgers and fries with gravy. We also played lots of pool and listened to some classic Australian tunes, like Silver Chair, Jet, AC/DC (which we just learned is from Australia, not England).

Early in the morning, Joe, our retired mechanic, started working on Betty. His eyes were not so good, but Jim helped him here and there. He fixed it though. $40 and Betty was as good as new.

After the car was running again, we decided against climbing the mountain to see the spectacular views from Eungulla National Park. Why risk it again? Instead, we crossed four flooded creeks to see Finch Hatton Gorge. We did finally swim in the refreshing, but freezing cold, water there.