Then on the 12th of Oct we set off for our trip to Oz under the pretence of my half-sister's wedding. We had a day stopover in Singapore on the way there, to help alleviate the jetlag, where we visited a jewellery shop (£250 ring - whoops) and then wandered the streets (which are bedecked with rainforest trees and with the back ground noise of cicadas!) to the Botanic Gardens. This contained a section of rainforest, which was amazing, and also the Orchid Garden, which was beautiful. Difficult to take it all in in 100% humidity and 30+ degrees!
We then arrived in Sydney at 5am, picked up the motorhome, got supplies, then pottered around the National Park (Lane Cove River) next to our campsite - first peek at cockatoos and lorikeets! By night, the site also had the obligatory posums, as well as bandicoots.
The mornings were heralded by kookaburras and noisy miner birds. After that we headed off to the Blue Mountains - a sort of forested Grand Canyon, with tremendous views.
Our final day in the area was spent in the city itself, seeing all the sites, and freezing as the temperature had dropped by at least 10 degrees since yesterday.
Our next stop was Newcastle, to visit friends of the family, some of whom took us around the Hunter Valley the next morning, where we saw our first kangaroo.The wine was also very good - we only made it to one vineyard, as we sampled the wines there for over an hour!
Continuing on, we made it to Nambucca Heads for the night.
The following morning we retraced our steps for a brief stop off at Cape Byron for fabulous views of Byron Bay - on one side we had bottlenose dolphins playing in the surf. On the other, quite far out, we could see the enormous flippers of humpbacks splashing down into the water.
Our next stop was Dorrigo National Park - beautiful sub-tropical rainforest, with lots of birdsong, and again great views.
We spent the night in Brunswick Heads, next to the pretty Simpson River, with pelicans, egrets and ibis.
En route to Brisbane, we detoured to Tamborine NP - more lovely rainforest, dominated more by palms, with trickles of water that in the wet season would be spectacular waterfalls and more wonderful views across the plains, including views of bush fires.
The sat nav took us on a strange route to the campsite at Redcliffe, on the other side of Brisbane, but we got there nonetheless! The next morning we hurried down to the jetty for our trip to see humpback whales in Moreton Bay. Amazing views of the islands, which are basically huge sand dunes, and then the whales were upon us - a mother and a calf travelling (i.e. not breaching), but great views. We then saw another whale a bit further off, before catching up with the same pair later on, who were then breaching some distance in front of us (hence no pictures, plus by this time I had spent so much time looking through the view finder with my 300mm lense, I was not in the best of health!). Heading back, we stopped off at a turtle breeding ground, where they would be seen in the 5m deep water, but who refused to come up - apparently they can only hold their breath for 5mins, but these managed for at least 15!! Our journey back was unremarkable, except for the dolphins travelling along with us for a short while.
The next day we flew to Cairns, picked up the hire car, found the apartment then headed off to Tom's (the groom) parents rented house for the evening - the first of the parties. A great evening, but too much alcohol perhaps consumed by some members of the family (not me)...
Despite the late night and hangovers, we managed to depart for Mossman Gorge at a decent hour - this was proper tropical rainforest, with huge butterflies of the brightest blues to be seen in abundance, and clear waters strewn with picturesque boulders.
That evening was the wedding, which we were almost late for - we were just about going to make it when we encountered a couple, one of which had fallen and gashed her knee badly - the firstaider had to be fetched, which involved myself dashing down the street in my finery, avoiding the sprinklers (drought, what drought??). All was well, and the wedding on the road verge opposite the hotel (but also next to the beach) was great, and the reception after even better - great food and the cheesiest music to be found!
After a leisurely morning to recover from the previous night, we departed for Cairns, where were were to catch the boat to Green Island. This beautiful coral cay was to be the closest we were to come to the Barrier reef proper - snorkelling here was amazing, with humongous clams, brain corals and rays, with the nibbling of parrot fish on coral very audible. Just amazing, and capped off by a meal with Tom, Eleanor and my uncle Tim, ending at Tom's parents - another late night!
We just about had time to visit Kuranda the next day, before we had to catch our flight to Brisbane and then to home. Our method of transport to Kuranda was cable car, and we were able to get amazing views of rainforest as far as the eye could see. The town itself was very quaint, and after a quick walk by the river looking for crocs (none seen, though perhaps a suspect log), we headed back the way we had come.
The flights back to Singapore were ok, and we arrived at 5am again - by the time we got to the hotel, it was still too early for our rooms to be ready. So we dozed in the foyer for a couple of hours, before having another breakfast and then heading off to the island of Sentosa, again via cable car. This was very touristy, but there was a rainforest walk, which was quite nice, and we pottered round the 200 year old fort for a while, before we collapsed for lunch - this was the hottest and most humid we had encountered. We managed to find the main reason for coming here - the long-tailed macaques, which were very cute indeed. We then braved the metro back to the city, where we went on a short river cruise, before staggering back for food and bed.
The last leg of the journey back home was relatively uneventful, and we got back to the house at 10pm, ready for work the next day! A great trip, and I cannot wait to go back in 2009 with Hayley to explore more!
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