Recent Blog Posts
Guess who got an early birthday present?
post a comment | posted 3 weeks ago
Toby's birthday came early last weekend in the form of a motorcycle. Now he can finally stop asking "Can I have one? Can I? Can I?" In fact, I didn't see him all weekend. Seems I've been replaced by a machine.
Now all he needs to do is get a road worthy certificate, register it and get his license. Once all that's done, I don't think ever see him.
Swimming in a fish tank
post a comment | posted 3 weeks ago
We've finally made our first trip out to the reef while Toby's parents were visiting. It was amazing. Like swimming in a tropical fish tank. There was that much life out there, that I had trouble deciding which way to look. We're already planning our next trip out. We'll probably head to Cairns and go out to Green Island. I reeaallly want to swim with turtles, maybe I'll have more luck there...
My thumb muscles hurt
post a comment | posted Sep 9
We went sea kyaking around Dunk Island over the weekend. My shoulders hurt, but my thumb muscles hurt more. We spent nearly the whole day paddling. We've worked it out to be 18-20 kms of paddling.
Lowlight of the day was the rain. It was rainy and overcast all day which meant that snorkling in the fringing reef was pointless. Highlight of the day was seeing a rather sleepy sea turtle wake up and then shoot away underneath us.
Not-So-Recent Blog Posts
We've been on a couple of excursions
post a comment | posted Aug 16
Apologies again for being so slack. The working world has engulfed our lives. We have been on a couple of excursions though. The first was to Maggie Island 3 weeks ago. Maggie is only 8 kilometres off the coast and I can see the island on my walk home from work everyday!
Our first experience on Maggie was a 3 hour circumnavigation on a Jet Ski. Tobes and I shared a ski and were supposed to share the driving, but it scared the shit out of me, so I put my bum in Toby's "safe" hands. (OK, enough jokes). After 3 hours of bouncing along the water I felt like I'd been riding a horse (I don't like those either). Toby, on the other hand, was ready to go round again, but in two hours this time. The highlight of the trip was seeing a dugong in the wild. Now, that is the strangest creature I've ever seen. He/she was feeding off the sea grasses on the bottom and would surface every minute or so.
Our first taste of the barrier reef came on Maggie. We went snorkling off the coast at a place called Arthur Bay. This was my first time snorkling and it was awesome. We couldn't get enough.
Our second excursion was back to the Gold Coast to meet up with Lana, Damien, Blake, Taya and Tye to celebrate my birthday. And what a birthday it was. We spent the day at Seaworld, followed by a yummy dinner and a wee too much wine. Thanks to an extremely happy and slightly drunk English man who bought us shots of Opal Nera to celebrate my birthday, I was feeling quite happy myself before we even got to the restaurant.
Now to start planning our next excursion... I reckon it's time to head north. Maybe Mission Beach?
Back to the real world (at least for a bit)
post a comment | posted Jun 1
The realities of real life have finally caught up with us. With fuel costs eating into our budget, it's now time to find a job and earn some dollars.We contemplated joining the foreign backpackers in the strawberry and pineapple farms on the sunshine coast, but decided that looked too much like hard work (particularly after hearing stories from fellow travelers about the pay rates and general working conditions). So, we decided to look for 'real' jobs. This decision led us to drive 1500 kms from the Sunshine Coast to Townsville in just 3 days. This may not sound like a big achievement, but considering that the previous 1500 kms took us a few weeks, it was quite a challenge for us.
So here we are in Townsville, where we'll be for a while. We've both got jobs (Toby's working as a sales clerk/storeman and I'm working for the Townsville Council as a software developer), and we're in the process of trying to find an apartment to rent.
Right about now I can hear you all asking 'why Townsville?' Well, there's a few reasons. So, here goes - we've both got good jobs, the weather is great (it was 26 degrees and sunny today), the Barrier Reef is just a little boat ride away, Maggie Island is just off the coast, the city is full of cafe's and restaurants (yum), and the Whitsunday's is 3 hours drive south and Cairns is about 3.5 hours drive North. I could go on, but I can feel the jealousy from those that are shivering away in SA. By the way, welcome to Winter!
A quick catch up
post a comment | posted May 11
I know, I know. It's about time I added another post. But, here's what we've been up to:
- Keeping dry at the Beach Hotel in Byron - it poured with rain for a week while we were there
- Enjoying the culture in Nimbin - well, we did go to the hemp museum while we were there
- Hanging out with my brother Chris on the Gold Coast - and being reminded just how comfortable it is living in a house
- Free falling 120 metres in 5 seconds at Dreamworld - right now my heart is fluttering a little just thinking about
- Feeding elephants at Australia Zoo - this was awesome
- Body boarding and swimming at Burleigh Heads in Surfer's
- Eating yummy Thai food at one of the best Thai restaurants in Australia - YUM!
It's finally here - coffee in a can!
post a comment | posted Apr 18
We've never heard of coffee in a can, so we thought it was our duty to inform as many people as possible about this little known culinary travesty. Toby thought it was passable (but he's not that fussy), I thought it was awful.
Familiar Faces
post a comment | posted Apr 5
We've just spent 10 days eating and drinking our way through Wollongong and Sydney while catching up with family and friends. The "feast" started just before Easter when we arrived in Wollongong to visit Tails. OK, so maybe this can't be counted as a feast, unless you include the large quantities of beer and wine that was consumed.
Next stop Sydney - Bondi Beach cafe's, fish and chips at Manly, yummy home cooked meals ... and cocktails and beer and wine and whiskey (did I mention the cocktails?). Note to self - never try to keep up with the Irish, they'll drink you under the table every time.
Final stop Penrith, where we had lunch with Adam and Hannah as they zoomed their way back to SA. Adam and Hannah have managed to drive over 3000km in just eight days compared to our 10 000 kms in 14 weeks.
So now it's just the two of us again. I guess it's a good thing we kinda like each other!
Introducing Bessy
post a comment | posted Mar 25
After months of careful consideration, we've decided that it's time that the van (otherwise known as 'the ban' or the 'mystery bus') receives the recognition she deserves - in the form of a name. So, in memory of her long lost cousin 'The Runaway Pig', we finally settled on 'Bessy - The Runaway Cow'. Don't cancel your plans expecting an official naming ceremony (remember, we haven't even set a wedding date), but any and all gifts will be gratefully accepted.
Aventures big and small
post a comment | posted Mar 22
First came Ben and Amy, traversing the unknowns of South America. Then came Toby and Lisa (that's us!), navigating their way way around Oz in a campervan. Finally there's Pete the cat, who spent 13 weeks in the wilds of Evanston Park, before returning to the comforts of his new home. Yes, our cat Pete has returned back to my parent's house after his own little adventure. He's a little travel weary, but nothing that copious amounts of cat food won't fix. Yay!