Conquering Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the largest sand covered island in the world. As such, the Aussies decided not to pave any roads on it and leave it up to the 4x4 vehicles they love so much. We took a shot at driving one around the island and it was as much a study of group dynamics as it was a sightseeing tour.
We reached the Dingos hostel at Rainbow Beach on Tuesday and were divided into groups of eleven. Six of us were Israeli (the first Israelis we'd met in Australia) and the other five were European girls (two Danish, a German, an Austrian and a Swede). Wednesday morning, we packed up the jeep and took the ferry over to Fraser Island, which is where the adventure started.
No one really knew how to drive a 4x4, and when each Euro-girl wasn't driving, she was busy freaking out. After a while, we kind of calmed them down, but then came the spiders and the bats and the sand in the coffee, which got them off their nerves again.
The first day we visited the beautiful Lake Mackenzie and swam in the crystal clear turquoise and blue waters. The drives were slow due to lack of proficiency, but they were very adventurous. That night we camped midway up the island and got drenched by torrential rains that broke our tents. The adventure continued.!

The next day we visited the shipwrecked Maheno and then the beautiful Indian Head. The views from way up there were marvellous. That night we slept with the spiders at Koogari Aboriginal Village and dreampt of rain and arachni.

The third day took us to Eli Creek for a dip, and then we realized we had read the tides wrong, so we found ourselves stopped on the side of the beach for a couple of hours, stranded until the tide would recede. Finally some of the group took a run to Lake Wabby, and we caught the ferry back to the mainland.

It was an exciting adventure with many experiences and stories to tell the grandkids. One word of advice - don't go camping with spoiled Euro-girls...

Sailing the Whitsunday Islands

Ah, the Whitsundays. Known as the leisure spot of Eastern Australia. Go, take a sailing boat, and cruise around the islands. Go visit the beautiful white beaches and snorkel on the reef.
We booked this trip as part of a multi-attraction deal we did through the infamous "Peterpan" travel agency for backpackers. They told us we didn't want to go on a "party boat" and that we should take a sailing boat. Because of Christmas, everything was booked except for one double room on the "Ron of Argylle" the next week. We took it, forgetting to ask what the price was and not exactly understanding what we were getting. When we realized (it was part of a package so we didn't immediately see it) that we paid $420 each for this trip (plus about $60 they collect when you get there), we almost freaked. At least, we decided, that we'd leave our campervan for some 5-star accomodation for a few days.
When we reached the dock, our eyes almost popped out, and our stomachs dropped. This five-star boat was tiny. It didn't look like it would fit 5 people, and there were 15 on-board. Our hysteria grew when we found out that there was no electricity on board, our double room was truly double (two couples!), we were allowed to take one three-minute shower a day in the lone bathroom that was the size of a cupboard, and there were no recliners, or even benches to sit on, just a very crowded wooden deck. 5-star quickly turned to 1-star and it got worse when Hadas started to get sea sick.


But we decided we'd try to relax and enjoy, and ultimately we did (though it was tough). We sailed the seas for three days, snorkeled (which was as good as the dives we did the week before), went to the beach, hiked a little and ate well. We made some new friends - mostly British, led by the hilarious couple of Alice and Andy. The crew was excellent, and somehow, they enabled us to enjoy the clostrophobic conditions.
Hadas said that in the end we wouldn't want to leave the boat. I wouldn't say that that's what happened, but we did have a good time.

The Atherton Tablelands

West of Cairns is a beautiful area that is much less traveled for the typical backpacker - the Atherton Tablelands. Starting at the touristy Kuranda, with it's markets and views, we travelled inland, through small towns full of lakes, waterfalls and termite hills.
We visited Lake Tinaroo, an enormous man-made lake and dam that generates electricity for the region and great water skiing for the locals. We visited the Curtain Fig, a spooky tree that looks like a prop from Lord of the Rings.
We saw a number of waterfalls, including Millaa Millaa Falls, and a beautiful crater lake turned big swimming pool, called Lake Eachem.

We finished off our day of driving around with a view of the Tablelands from above Millaa Millaa, just as the storm was moving in from the west...

Visiting Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest

North of Cairns lies one of Australia's rainforest, and a must see place for visitors of the area. The Daintree Rainforest, that covers the areas north of Port Douglas up towards Cape York, through Cape Tribulation, is covered with mangroves and many varieties of Aussie wildlife, including crocodiles, and the dinosaur bird called the Casowary.
We visited this area of Australia before we had a car, and so we took a guided tour, or rather a BTDT tour (...been there done that). A rickety old bus with a crazy Aussie Sheila (the word for a girl in Australian) picked us up bright and early in the morning and headed up the winding road towards Port Douglas. This girl did it all. She drove (like a maniac), she guided (at 500 words per second) and she chatted with the people next to her. Somehow, we survived without crashing or puiking.

The trip took us to a river cruise to look for Crocodiles. We had an even nutsier Aussie guide on this trip, and we thought we were back at Disneyland on the jungle river adventure. But we did get to see four crocs - the first two were tiny, but the next was 2 meters long and the last was a 4.5 meter giant. We didn't go anywhere near it, as they are very dangerous and aggressive.

From there we headed up into the rainforest and took a guided walk, where Cindy (the guide) showed us how the aboriginals lick a green ant's ass as their candy (I'm not kidding!). Then we hopped up to Cape Tribulation, had lunch, saw the beach, and headed back down. There were a few more BTDT stops along the way and a couple nice viewpoints.

To summarize, if you're in Australia, don't miss Cape Trib, but do it on your own!

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Going through Northern Australia without diving the Great Barrier Reef would be heresy, especially since both of us are licensed scuba divers. The only problem with that, of course, is the Aussie price for such things. The cheapest one-dive excursion was about $150, with three dives running over $200. Those were to the "inner reefs" which are supposedly ruined. The only available two-day excursion was around $500 and also to the inner reefs. There was a three day trip to the supposedly spectacular reefs way to the north (the first day was mainly sailing), but that was over $1000. So we compromised on the one-day, three-dive excursion to the "outer reef" which cost a hearty $250 each.

We took a boat called the SilverSwift, and were there bright and early for boarding. The trip came with "tea" (a light breakfast) and lunch, so we were well fed. All the dives were guided, and we were in a group of five with another couple and a Dutch kid, and we had a japanese guide who didn't speak much English.

All three dives were pretty shallow (between 10-15 meters) which is where most of the good stuff is. We saw a large abundance of fish (especially when the guide released food...) and a ton of coral, though it wasn't very different than what we were used to from Eilat. On one of the dives, we saw a small shark, which was very cool. Altogether, the dives were nice and enjoyable, but not anywhere near as spectacular as we expected.

To summarize it, you don't need to come all the way across the world to see some nice coral, when we've got some right near home (and it's alot cheaper too!).

Arrival in Australia

After a very long series of flights and layovers, we arrived in Cairns, on the North Eastern coast of Australia, on November 27th.

Cairns is a tourist town that is generally a gateway to all kind of other places, but in itself is pretty boring. We used Cairns as a starting point to settle in Australia, and we thought it would be a good place to get set up. We found out that starting in Cairns before X-Mas isn't a great idea, as all the locals and alot of backpackers do the same. As Ofer Manor says - for us, tourist traps are packed during the Jewish holidays, because all of Israel is on vacation. But on XMas, the whole rest of the world is on vacation, which packs in the vacation areas a little bit more than our 6 million...

In the end we found the last available campervan in Cairns and rented it (or as they say here - "hired" it) for well over its regular price. But the alternative was buying a 1988 Ford Falcon for $4000, so that is the choice we took. From here, it's trekking down the east coast in our new home!