My first trip Down Under

What better way to celebrate my 40th birthday than having lots of plans ahead the whole year...

As I had to start somewhere I planned to celebrate my birthday in Australia and attend a conference at the same time. I left on a sunny spring morning on the 2nd April 2007...

After a lovely and smooth 7 hour flight I arrived in Dubai, on Emirates (my favourite airline). I spent 3h in transit at Dubai airport, sassing out the goods (not buying any) and working on a course assignment… yes can’t really get away without doing some work.

I finally arrived in Melbourne 14 hours later and you may be surprised to know that there it is already the future, I am 9h ahead of the UK… 

My friend who lives in Sydney came to join me and we met at the hotel. As I am one of those fortunate people who do not suffer from jet lag we hit the town as soon as I arrived. We went in and out of trams, checked out the local fashion, took pictures and went on a river cruise.

The next day I rented a car and we left on the my first Aussie adventure… 

The Great Ocean Road. WOW!

What a coast line! We may all be very proud of our own little seaside roads but this is the real thing. The 12 Apostles are 12 rock formations in the sea lying a few meters from the cliffs and at every corner there is a lookout, needless to say we took the whole afternoon to cover 100 km… and we had not yet arrived at the 12 apostles but the coastline is so gorgeous we had to stop at every corner and take pictures of every little bit of scenery.

We stopped in Lorne, a lovely small but busy seaside town, for dinner and spent the night, so we could drive the rest of the way during the day. After a quick breakfast the next day we set off again. 

The 12 apostles arose unannounced after one corner, we stopped and walked to the lookout to take pictures and stare in amazement. We drove to another seaside resort for late lunch and decided we would do the helicopter ride … what a great experience. The helicopter was small (for 4 people) and very smooth (not like the one I took over the Niagara Falls, which trembled the whole time and I was not amused). This one was worth it. A must!

We stayed over night on the way and enjoyed a spa bath before going to bed. The way back was quick and sweet and we hit the town upon arrival. We stayed at a lovely hotel for next to nothing, a bit out from the centre but with a car it was just a question of getting lost a couple of times… it all adds to the amazing experience. 

Soon it was time to fly to Sydney. I was due to attend a conference in Parramata… My friend lived in posh Vaucluse, (between Rose Bay and Watsons Bay), a beautiful neighbourhood as it sits on a hill and the views over the bay (one of them) is to die for, however it is very far from the centre and 3x that far to Parramata where I had to be every day at 8.30am for the conference. I am not complaining, far from that, I was quite happy waking up very early every morning, look out into the most beautiful scenery, seeing the boats and yachts float in Rose Bay and listening to the birds, which were a beautiful black, and their head colour changed from bright green to bright blue, they almost look like black baby parrots.

The conference was very interesting and my claim to fame is having met a judge from the supreme court of SW Australia, one of the key speakers at the conference. I met people I already knew from England and from the US, which was great. I also visited the Sydney Broadcasting Service and saw how they add the subtitles to films. Not as easy as it seems.

Time flyes when you are having fun and so Cairns, in Queensland, my next stop awaited me. My reaction upon arrival was ok… looks fine, I will make the most of my week here, I am melting… just need to find the beach. However the beach is inexistent in downtown Cairns, they have a pool instead.

Later, looking at the 1078 brochures available at the hotel reception… I opted for a hot air balloon ride the next day, with pick up at 4.10am… I must be really mad, it took an hour to pick up everyone and drive up to the field, some of us had a little nap on the way.

WOW! It’s not that it is painfully slow it’s just like walking on clouds… the feeling is amazing. The group was funny and the guys that run the tour were also very witty and welcoming. Landing was an adventure and I was lucky to have been asked to get out of the basket, as the basket then had to lean sideways with everyone inside or the guy in the balloon would fly straight up if everyone started to leave the basket. It was fun. At the end, and before breakfast, we all helped rolling in the balloon, putting it in the pick up van that drove us drove to the nearby breakfast site, where a champagne breakfast waited for us…

In the afternoon I visited Kuranda a village in the rainforest. I took the sky rail (a cable car) on the way down. It runs for 7.5km yes 7 and a half km. Amazing views!! of the rainforest, the different types of trees are well explained in the small leaflet given at entry, and there are also gorges, a river and a waterfall.

The next day it was time to meet the reef inhabitants and I went for a day snorkelling tour. Again Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef in this case, were exceeding my expectations. The boat went to 3 different reefs and I snorkelled in all 3, we were provided with wet suits just in case the stingers were still around and fancied a kiss… I snorkelled in the Maldives before and found it an amazing experience but here I just could not take on the immensity of the area that is the Great Barrier Reef, I was just on a tiny spot… the coral and fish varieties here were astonishing too although I assume one can get better views of the corals in a dive.

I decided to drive to Port Douglas the next day and spend the rest of the day leisurely there and at the beach which meant I stayed another night in Cairns before heading down south to the Whitsunday Islands. I drove through Mission beach and Cardwell beach, oh dear what can I say but where can I find a house to rent?… 

The more I saw of this beautiful stretch of coast the more I felt I have to come back to Australia again. I am only scratching the surface of this country, and if I am so bewildered with three spots on this continent imagine if I could stay longer to appreciate it better…

I stayed overnight in Bowen another picturesque vacation place and caught the last rays of sun at a magnificent location at the beach. In the morning I drove the remaining 60km to Airlie Beach the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands.

I spent the morning swimming at the lagoon and at 2pm hopped on a scenic flight over the 74 islands.

I took hundreds of photographs and when the famous Heart shapped reef appeared I was lucky enough to bring a copy back with me in my camera… What an amazing place. Seen from the air it is hard to describe, I lack the appropriate adjectives because it is so beautiful that it is beyond words.

The reef stretches over an enormous expansion of water and looks like lace from the air, miles and miles of dark and light green lace.

Pictures never do any justice to the real place. The blue was captivating the green subte and playful.

On the drive back I realised how far I had driven and how empty the country is at some places. I dread to think how the middle of the country is… Unfortunately I only had time for this amazing trip… but I’ll be back...

...soon I hope!!!