Day 39: Cairns

It seems we have left one hell (the arid outback) only to have entered another...

We have arrived safe and sound in hot, humid, hot, sticky, overcast, hot, drizzly, Cairns.

I really don't think I drank enough on the aircraft as I have had a terrible, terrible headache since we arrived. Pills and potions do not seem to be working and even though I am now drinking gallons of water (but not too much to get hyperhydrated and die) I still can't shift the bugger.

We discharged a can of Raid (bug killer) into Henry last night in the hope that if there were any extra passengers in him with more than two legs it would encourage them to leave and take all their belongings with them.

So today we emptied him out, every last bit of him, onto the grass. We threw away 2 bin bags of food that had been sweltering in the high 30's since we left and a few kitchen and toilet rolls that were sodden. There was mould growing on the wooden spoon, cabinet, salt and pepper grinders (which were also split and cracked) and even our maps. In fact there was mould growing on us by the time we had finished.

At 1PM, while we pondered our next move (by this time I was getting a bit fed up and Oly had his camera taking a picture every minute which was distracting and stressful as everytime the camera clicked it was "damn it" as only then did I remembered to suck my stomach and my chins in) the heavens decided to open and stupidly we had nothing to cover our gear and had to put it all back in Henry. Up went our tent, in went our belongings and off went I to bed.

Emelie

Mobile: Cairns

Finally, 27 hours later!

Mobile: Sydney

Nearly there, only one more flight...

Mobile: Bangkok

Mobile: Return of the Phantom Foot

She actually had her other foot on our middle arm rest as well.

I can't believe people have the gall to do this!

Mobile: Heathrow

Good old BA, only delayed 40 min so far!

Mobile: Shrove Wednesday

A bit like orange wednesday but with bananas.

I have worked out how to do a new paragraph now.

Today we celebrated pancake day, better late than never. Does anyone know why you throw away the first pancake?

Em

PS you may want to google orange wednesday if you are not in the uk for explanation.

PPS Upon rushing back to my laptop and viewing the blog is it very apparent that I have not yet worked out how to do new paragraphs... Whatever I thought was the symbol for new paragraphs seems to be "??"

I will try again next time!

Em

Mobile: Blogging test

Here is my 1st attempt at this mobile blogging. I have not worked out how to do a carriage return yet and typing is painfully slow. We; oly, james and I are currently in wagamama in camden so if you're close come join us!

16 days...

...and counting

So we are still here.

Something to do with a BA strike that was threatened and then didn't happen, some flights were cancelled resulting in a backlog of passengers.

In our wisdom we decided to change our flights and the earliest return date was the 5th of March.

We would rather not talk about it!

At least we have stopped gorging on delicious foods... that novelty wore off after a month.

I have a new phone which enables me to upload pictures from the phone direct to the blog so maybe I will do a bit of photo blogging until we go back to Australia...

Emelie

The first 4 weeks in the UK (OJG)

*** Happy New Year ***

Hi everyone,

I know it has been a while, but as most of you know we have been in the UK for the last 4 weeks, and although we planned to keep the blog running with interesting articles on UK life, it never happened. Let's just blame jet lag and heavy commitments.

So, what have we been doing?

Well I will give you all a quick summary, and also our next set of plans for Oz.

We arrived at Heathrow airport around 5am, and the temperature outside was 5c. The temperature in Cairns, where we boarded had been close to 40c. The mammoth flight over had not been that bad at all. The plane from Cairns to Darwin had been almost empty (So Emelie and I sat with an empty seat between us). Then we picked up a few passengers in Darwin, including a truly enormous sweating American with a ton of carry on bags, who had somehow managed to piss off the check-in girl, and was promptly seated between the two of us, even though there were plenty of completely empty rows! It took a few chats with the stewardess, but in the end they could see how silly it was, and moved him. Emelie had to wipe his seat with a towel.

So apart from an anxious first 20 minutes, the rest of that flight to Singapore was pretty easy going. I saw some really amazing cloud formations from the window, it looked like a set of islands in the sky.

Singapore was it's usual busy self; get the transfer sorted, buy as many gadgets and Christmas presents as possible, run to catch the next flight. After a little bit of wrangling we got a set of 2 seats together at the back of the plane, so although this last long leg (14 hours) was painful on the body and the mind, at least we didn't have people constantly wanting to get past us, or falling asleep on us. We arrived in the UK fairly fresh... more or less.

The day after arrival we had an amazing Christmas lunch with loads of close family from both sides. A true Christmas feast with an enormous turkey (which caught fire in the oven, but that is another story), a huge gammon, and what must have been at least a dozen vegetables and side dishes, all cooked (and smoked) to perfection. Boxing day and New Years Eve were both similar.

And that was the beginning of our downfall with regards to food!

Since we arrived in Oz, we had slowly but surely been eating much healthier. We ate a lot more fruit, more fresh meats, even more vegetables. And there were no processed dishes to be seen anywhere. Also we had been eating smaller amounts, in some cases in the outback probably too small, but overall we had found a nice new happy medium. And we felt wonderful for it, we had both lost weight, for me personally about 12kg, and 3 inches off the waist! And that was without even trying. Seriously.

So, coming back to the cold land of the UK, lots of time indoors, socialising, etc... food and drink always available. I have no idea if we have put on weight since being back, but it sure feels like we have, the body feels slow and cumbersome again. For that reason alone we cannot wait to get back to Oz :)

Oh, and yes I realise that this is all our own fault, and with a little... well a lot of self control this should not be a problem, but we have just succumbed to all the delicious dishes that we have missed since being away. We are weak, but it tastes so good!

So apart from eating half our body weight each day, we have been fairly busy meeting up with all our friends and family in their various abodes. So far we have been to London, Crawley, Balcombe, Guildford and of course Brighton. And it has been really great. Just like the good old days, except that we were never this social, so really like the old days x 10.

In addition to that, we have been busy sorting out all the bits that we left behind from last time. As most of our close friends in the UK will know, it all got a bit hectic in the weeks and days before our original departure to Oz, especially with the flat sale. I am sure some people would use other words to describe it. Anyway, what wasn't sorted, got put into storage and left for us to sort out upon our return. So plenty of eBay, lots of bin bags, paper filing, phone calls to various companies, and of course a complete re-sort of our storage. In all seriousness our goal is to make sure that when we return to the UK in future visits, we don't have to worry about any of this stuff. What fun.

With regards to weather... well I guess it would be a little unfair to have a major dig as it is winter, but in all seriousness, apart from a few good days, it has been a constant grey in the sky. Sometimes with drizzly rain, sometimes without. And two days ago we had the worst storms for 10 years, with between 10 and 14 dead (depending upon which paper you read). Apart from the first few days it hasn't been too cold, yet.

And that is pretty much the last 4 weeks in a nutshell.

Although we had originally planned to be out here for only 3 weeks, I got it all wrong booking the flights back, and we will not head back to Oz until the 5th of Feb. As it turns out, getting all the bits done has been fairly time consuming and our remaining 2 weeks are going to be chocka!

Although nothing is set in stone, when we get back to Oz we hope to spend a bit of time in Cairns, do a bit of diving, get Henry tuned (we hope that is all he needs, the little bugger), go up North a little bit, and then head down along the coast, back to Townsville, and on to Brisbane, Sydney and so on.

We really can't wait!

Touchdown... Christmas Eve, London UK

We are here in London!

I think it is unlikely that we will be updating the blog much while we are here as we have so much to do and so many people to see we won't have much time.

We haven't booked a flight back yet but will update this when we know what we are doing.

Merry christmas!

Emelie & Oly

Cairns - London

Our Jetstar flight Cairns to Darwin had only 35 people on it...

Oly and I managed to get three seats in a row. The check-in girl said she would block off the seat in the middle as there were only 60 more people getting on the flight in Darwin. Hurrah! This flight was going to be great, with a bit of luck the Singapore - London sector wouldn't be too bad either.

hmm

We stayed on the aircraft at Darwin while everyone else got off to stretch their legs.

I am sure you can imagine my horror when the aircraft was re boarded a very large, saturated in sweat, American informed us that he was sitting the seat between us.

As he squeezed in to the seat and Oly made small talk with him while I counted to ten...

It turns out that he had an argument with the check-in chick in Darwin and it she decided to get her own back. There were approximately seven totally empty rows on the aircraft and around 50 free middle seats. With odds like that I really need to start gambling.

When everyone was seated I asked the cabin crew to reseat him and breathed a sigh of relief. The seat was left with an imprint of his sweaty body and drips of sweat running down the head rest.

Singapore to London was a dream, we jumped on an earlier flight instead of hanging around for four hours and slept most of the way.

We landed at 5AM GMT. I think we travelled for around 26 hours and It really wasn't that bad.

Em

Day 38: Townsville - Cairns

We decided the seats in Henry are unbearably uncomfortable as we drove to Cairns.

It was strange driving up. We have scurried across the outback to make this flight back to the UK for Christmas and we are finally at the end of this part of our adventure.

The landscape is luscious the further north you go. Every few mile there are trailers and tables full of fresh watermelons, mangos, pineapples, bananas and lychees for sale. Despite all this water plumped opulence I had yearned for since the "Day of the Locusts", we agreed we were missing the outback in a strange thirsty way already.

We are arrived late afternoon at Sue and Darren's who are kindly looking after Henry while we are in the UK. They gave us such a warm welcome and really looked after us, we know Henry will be in good hands!

A good nights sleep is in order, it's going to be a long long day tomorrow.

Emelie

Miles: 340km
Time: 6 hours
Location: Click Me!
Temp: 30c

Day 37: Townsville

Today we picked up Henry... of course I mean the Royal "We". As Oly cycled off to pick him up I took a walk on the esplanade.

While we wait for Oly's return I will tell you about a little episode that happened a few days ago.

Oly & the Magpie-Lark

Oly had be badgering me to go with him to take photos of the Magpie that keeps attacking him when we cycle past it. I respond to these requests by looking at him incredulously and stating he is mad and I have no intention of going anywhere near that bird.

Soooo... for some reason Oly had to go that way again and decided he would take the short cut past the bird. Crazy fool! He came back to the apartment, wired on adrenalin, terrified, bleeding from his ear. The bird had dive bombed him 12 times hitting his cycle helmet and clawed and pecked his ear.

I offered lots of sympathy and detol and was pleased to hear he came around to my way of thinking, he did not require my photographic services in the near future.

Oly finally returned with Henry and we went to do some last minute xmas speed shopping.

Henry still does not feel very well, he stalled a few times and whenever we stopped at traffic lights he stuttered and threatened to stall.

Lets see how he goes on the drive to Cairns. We were told he would be a little bit delicate and a tune-up would be needed once we get up there.

The next few days and going to be very long...

Em

Oz Life (XII): Christmas (OJG)

"Go to the beach, have a beer and put a shrimp on the barbie". Well joking aside, that is close enough to what a lot of Aussies actually do.

Christmas is right in the middle of summer, so it is really hot. The last thing anyone here wants on Christmas day is a large roast turkey with all the extras. Maybe a snag (sausage) or shrimp (prawn) on the barbie, with a bit of salad on the side, but probably no more. A dip in the pool and plenty of ice cold drinks (beer/stubbie).

We heard a funny tale about an Aussie girl who went to the UK over Christmas and called home to tell them how "un-christmassy" it felt because of the cold weather and huge meals!

And on the TV they have an advert with a guy saying that Christmas Eve is one of their busiest nights with nearly everyone buying barbecues, which they then make that night in preparation for the Christmas BBQ with all the relatives!

So yes, they celebrate Christmas just as much here as they do the in the UK, they have the sales, the adverts, the street lights, the houses with tons of decorations, even Santa in the shopping malls. They have the same basic ingredients, they just use them a little differently.

Merry Christmas everyone,

Oly & Em

Oz Life (XI): Utes (OJG)

Utes as they are called here in Australia, Buckies in South Africa, and Pick-ups in the US. It's short for Utility, or more specifically Utility Vehicle.

The vehicle type basically does not exist in the UK, but over here, it owns the largest slice of the car market cake, and is pretty much dominated by Ford and Holden (The Australian arm of Vauxhall)

As far as I am concerned all Utes can be categorised as follows;

Age: Classic, 80s, or Modern.
Looks: Practical, Pimped, or Frankenstein.


As you'd expect in the middle of a city nearly all Utes are Pimped Modern. whereas in the outback you get a lot more 80s Practical and 80s Frankenstein.

Before some of our Australian readers get too angry with me, I feel it important to mention that I have seen truly nice examples of every possible combination. At the same time some have not been so truly nice.

Age speaks for itself and cannot be modified, but looks on the other hand are unique to each vehicle and can be modified until the roos come home!

Practical: Aluminium Flat Bed, Gloss paint job (usually with little knocks), lights along the front and on top of the cab, various tool boxes at the front of the bed, High suspension.... again fairly common ingredients. These Utes are pure utility, and are used by individuals as much as large companies to get jobs done!

Pimped: Aluminium V-8, Tinted windows, Pearl paint job (absolutely perfect), lights along the side and underneath, Speakers and amps completely filling the rear bed, lowered suspension... all of these things are fairly common. Of course, these Utes have no utility left in them whatsoever but I don't think that is the point!

Frankenstein: Well, I'm not sure of the basic ingredients for one of these, except that it just looks a mess! It can have any combination from the previous two types, and then some. Usually these abominations do not even look road worthy let alone able to carry things, and yet they zoom along the roads with their payloads just as well as everything else. I do wonder if they need a lightning bolt to get started? (Some sound like it!)

I will post more pics as I get them, but for now this will have to do as a taster.

Oz Life (X): Time Zones (OJG)

Most of the things that I have seen (and therefor written about) in Australia have had a bit more common sense applied to them than other countries... well here is a prime example where that all falls apart!

The time zones in Oz are really crazy, I still have no idea how it all works, I doubt if all Australians know all the peculiarities, and in order to write this with any sort of factual content I had to do a fair bit of research!

Ok, first of all the basics, Australia traverses 3 time zones, and as such you would be right to expect some time differences. Of course even this is not simple, and although the West part adapts GMT+8 and the East parts uses GMT+10, the central strip decided to go with GMT+9hrs 30mins. So when going from Northern Territory to Queensland there is only a 30 minute difference, hardly seems worth it!

So far then, 3 time zones to remember...

Now, the next piece of the puzzle, daylight saving! Most of the Southern based states of Australia use Daylight Saving in the summer, which creates two new time zones of GMT+10.5 and GMT+11. Western Australia which is the only state to stretch from the South to the North did not have daylight saving until a few months ago, when it was suddenly put forward a trial in state government, and within 2 months it had been passed as law and put into action with almost immediate effect.

Most of the areas start their daylight saving at the same time, but some do not. Tasmania specifically starts theirs nearly a month earlier. I believe some smaller areas stop later.

So now there are 5 zones to remember, and plenty of dates (and don't bother writing it stone, things change very quickly)...

Now the final piece, peculiarities! There are too many to mention, but I will try and give a few examples. Some small towns that are close to the borders adapt the time zone of their neighbouring state, such as Broken Hill in NSW. Other remote towns have decided to create a time zone of their own, specifying that it be half the difference of the two closest time zones; GMT+8hrs 45mins !!! Finally, when special events have taken place such as the Olympics and more recently the Commonwealth Games, the daylight savings dates have been changed in order to accommodate the event.

So, 3 time zones for half the year, 5 time zones the other half, several mini time zones, plenty of different dates (which can change at a moments notice), and I haven't even mentioned any of the islands. Yes, this has definitely been designed to confuse.

Taking a breather

It's been a bit quiet around here as I have not been very well.

We have changed our flight to the 23rd of December and are heading off to Cairns on the 22nd.

Hopefully we will be in Henry, but as he is not fixed yet (waiting for parts) it may be a long walk!

Either way, I am back...

Em

Oz Life (IX): Mosquitoes (OJG)

First off, I feel it is my duty to tell you that I HATE mosquitoes. Really really hate them. I do not think twice about killing one, and if I have seen one that got away, I will hunt it down for an almost disturbing amount of time!

I guess I could try and justify my hate by talking about malaria and other diseases that mozzies spread around so effectively, but in all honesty, my hate is purely selfish. I guess I have just been bitten too many times in the past.

I would have found it shocking to tell you that in every location apart from Uluru (middle of nowhere), I have seen mosquitoes. Would have, except for the fact that 1 month before we left Brighton, I killed 12 in one night (well once you see a couple, you know that it is time to don the hunting gear!). So I guess they are everywhere, and that is just part of modern life.

For the most part they come out at dawn and dusk, but in several locations I have seen them throughout the day. Particularly if it has been raining recently.

However, there is good news. Very good news! Australians have what I can only describe as a "Wonder" product; BushMan Plus ! BushMan, which is sold and praised by nearly all camping shops, is also used by the Australian army. But regardless of all that, the important thing is that it works. 7 hours protection, water resistant, and it even has some sunscreen thrown in!

The only issue with Bushman, or more specifically with the user applying it, is that every so often small areas get missed. And sure enough mozzies can always work out where. Devious little buggers.

So, yes I have had the odd bite, like on my lip, the side of my little toe, and a few other places that you would assume automatically safe, but for the most part I have been bite and itch free. Emelie of course gets no bites at all, and as such has no sympathy for my odd bite. Just once...

Oz Life (VIII): Caravan Parks (OJG)

Ok, I realise that this particular topic is probably not limited to Australia, but it is a major factor in our current every day life, and I am sure there are nuances that are Oz specific!

Straight off I will tell you that all caravan parks can be rated on one thing alone; The Ablutions (Toilets & Showers). Sure there are lots of other things that caravan parks have to make your stay that much more enjoyable such as pools, sports activities, wildlife, beaches, wireless Internet, etc. But really they are just nice to have extras, not part of the "must have" list!

So, ablutions, obviously they come in all shapes and sizes. We have seen ones not much bigger than a tiny hut with very little inside, and at the other end of the spectrum fair sized buildings with dozens of showers, toilets, sinks, changing areas, washing areas, the works!

The following is a list of what I believe makes a good ablution!

1: Cleanliness. It is something that the smallest and biggest need to be on top of, and most do. There is nothing more off-putting when you are trying to get fresh for the day.

2: Four or more sets of showers and toilets. All sorts of reasons can make you not want to enter one of those cubicles, the most common being that a huge bug has setup refuge there.

3: And following on from the last one, Bug Control. I don't know how they do it, but some places are just 100% bug free. And others are not. We have seen giant queen ants flying, giant beetles fluttering, giant grasshoppers hoping, armies of ants carrying, swarms of locusts jumping, geckos, spiders, hornets and of course the old favourite mozzies.

4. Decent toilet paper. I am sure you are all chuckling having just read that, but you all know it is true, and there is nothing worse than nearly transparent toilet paper. Thankfully I think only one place we have been to needed to skip corners that much.

5. Soap Dispenser. This is a funny one, because we have been to excellent sites with no soap, and really bad ones which had it. But basically having it available in the sink area is a real bonus, especially if you have been working on a kombi all morning and you are covered in grease.

6. Good Lighting, both inside and out. It's nice to see what you are doing, and what is around you! Also, when it is the middle of the night and you really need to go, you really don't want to start getting lost.

And that is all there is to it. Too easy!