Whitsunday Islands and Airlie Beach

Whitsunday Islands


Happy Happy Carrie

1.30.10 - 2.01.10: My 3 day, 2 night sailing trip was dampened a bit (literally) from the piss-poor weather and rains on the first day and a half, but the beautiful sights in the end, beautiful sunshine in the end and the great group of people I met on the trip made it all worth while. We had about 25 in our group, we all had a teeny little bed to sleep on, 2 bathrooms for the group, and a captain/skipper, host/cook, and two dive instructors as well as two other crew members. Had great food, some diving (although not much because visibility was so bad), sun bathing, bush walk to aborigional caves, and just hanging out and having a good time. We missed out on a few great dive sites and the famous Whitehaven Beach because the weather was too bad to travel there, but we made the most of our trip anyway. Originally I thought this was my "Great Barrier Reef" diving... which technically it is still the GBR, but more of the outskirts. I guess the "classic" dive sights are from Cairns, but from what I hear the weather there was worse than in the Whitsundays so I guess it's all good.

View from Whitsunday Island, other side of WhiteHaven Beach

Capt'n Kurt let me drive the boat!

Hanging out enjoying the sunshine

Yeah Whitsundays!

Met some groups from Sweden, London, and Italy. We had a great time despite the gloomy weather in the beginning (as the 7 people who were sick on the back of the boat the last night can agree). Had a nice afternoon relaxing by the large salt water pool called the Lagoon which is right on the water (too many jellyfish to swim that area this time of year) with some of the people from the boat, enjoyed a nice lunch and got ready to head to the airport. Sad to be leaving Australia but looking forward to New Zealand!

*I love how the aussies shorten just about every word out there, (pressy for present, mozzy for mosquito, etc.) but here are the oz-isms I'll miss most: singlet/tank top, thongs/flip-flops, "good on ya!"/good for you or good going, "how are you going?"/how are you doing, "ta"/thank you, HEAPS/lots, and instead of saying good bye/see ya/later to someone you know you'll never see again (ie. flight attendant, waitress in restaurant you'll never bet at again, etc.) all say "SEE YOU!" in an optimistic, promising tone, as if I will really see them again :) you gotta love'm!

Group Shot

SCUBA Carrie

Brisbane/Moreton Island

super bummed I didn't get to see the koalas and kangaroos (at the time), so this statue had to do... until I saw heaps and heaps of 'roos on the side of the road on the way to the airport to New Zealand! :)


HEAPS of 'roos!!

Brisbane

Moreton Island



Leaving Moreton Island by ferry - in front of the Wrecks


Brisbaine from my hostel



Moreton Island


Moreton Island

1.27.10 - 1.29.10: Spent two nights in Brisbaine, tried the bars and restaurants around the hostel. Woke up bright and early to see Moreton Island, the 3rd largest sand island in the world. It was absolutely beautiful! I'm super bummed I didn't take a pic of the first beach we went to because it was absolutely stunning, but it was fabulous anyway. Driving in the 4WD cars on the sand roads (no roads on the island!) was super bumpy and totally crazy driving, craziest road situation I've been in, people needing to be towed everywhere and so on - it was fun! Went sand boarding down this really high hill in the Desert (it was SO hot, my feet were on FIRE). Did some swimming in gorgeous clear turquoise warm water, saw some turtles and rays in the ocean from Cape Moreton Lighthouse- very beautiful views! did some more swimming at Eastern Beach and saw some dolphins playing in the waves, then had some food out of the back of the truck, then went to a freshwater lake, "Blue Lagoon" which wasn't as beautiful but I cool as it's infused with tea tree oil and in the middle of a sand island. The next day I had planned to go to the koala and kangaroo sanctuary in Brisbane before my flight out to the Whitsundays, but I had major issues with my credit card and spent about an hour on the phone dealing with that and trying to straighten stuff out so I could have money for the next few days... so I'm super bummed I didn't get to see any, but that just leaves something else to do for next time :)




Moreton Island



in the Desert - here I go sandboarding... weeeee!!!


I did it! yahoo !!



Moreton Island

Byron Bay

fun beach day



celebrating Australia Day at Beach Hotel Bar


More Aussie day celebrations


this is my Match Day celebration - yes I'm red as a lobster, but you can see how happy I am! :) not my hat either, btw.

1.24.10-1.27.10: Byron Bay is beautiful! it's a cute little beach/surfer town (like many cities and towns on the east coast of Australia) with lots of cute restaurants and bars right on the water where there's fun waves to play in and nice white sand to lay in. Met some fun people to hang out with - actually oddly enough... so Sean, an Irish guy I met in Byron at my hostel, and I were sitting down at a computer going to add each other on facebook, and I saw we had a friend in common. I was like, "How the heck do we have a friend in common?" Turns out, the guy I spent a lot of time with in Hanoi and Halong Bay Vietnam, Tom from England, met Sean in Bali and they spent a lot of time together and became great friends. SMALL WORLD! Anyways hung out with him and a few others at the hostel for the next 3 nights... just fun beach days, being lazy then going out. Life is good! Then they were there to help me celebrate my Match Day success and we all celebrated Australia Day together with some other Aussies as well. Great people, great place, and fun times! I had planned to go to Fraser Island (one of the big touristy places in Aus) but the girl at the tourist center suggested Moreton Island as it's closer, has all that Fraser Island has but actually more beautiful (according to her) since it's less touristy, and it was cheaper so I gave it a go. Hopped on a bus and onto Brisbane!


on the phone spreadin the news :)



paddle ball and frisbee at the beach



Byron Bay


Byron Bay at sunset


last night in Byron - Australia Day!!


beach fun!

Sydney

Sydney Opera House


SOH + me

1.22.10-1.24.10: I am getting to this a bit late but pretty much I spent 3 days in Sydney enjoying the sights and planning the next few days of travel, as I completely changed my itinerary. Decided to cut out Surfer's Paradise to spend an extra day in Byron, as I am a bit sick of going from one place to the next (planning, packing, and traveltime-wise as well as meeting people and enjoying spending time with them). I did the good 'ol touristy red double decker hop on hop off bus where I got to see all of the main sights of Sydney and stopped for some shopping in some of the markets and some good fish and chips and local brew at one of the wharfs. Didn't do any shopping (as I had done plenty in Melbourne :) ) but I did walk through the Queen Victoria building which was beautiful. Saw the bridge and opera house as well as well as other sights within the city. Went out with some people from the hostel on my last night, the first place we went was just a huge backpacker hang out but we got free drinks and food so of course I was there. Then me and a few other people hit up King's Cross which is supposed to be the party hub of Sydney, but not the posh trendy part, I think more of the historically party area but now kinda trashy...? Either way it was quite a site to see, and we hopped in and out of a few clubs, and ended up at this one I really liked but now I can't remember the name... I was in my Havianas (as I only brought one other pair of shoes), but they wouldn't let me in without heels and closed toe, but the only store open to buy shoes was this straight up, legit stripper store. I reluctantly looked but I actually found a half way decent pair, just plain black and not too high of a heel, actually looked very cute (said the girl bouncer at the door) although they set me back a bit she let us all in for free which was $20 a head, so worked out in the end. Sydney was a great city but I ended up not being able to see Coogee and Bondi Beaches because I left it for the last day and it was raining and freezing cold that day (another down side to planning ahead, if the weather sucks the day you're supposed to see something, then too bad, you miss it!), so I figured no point to go there and just come right back. Next stop Byron Bay!

Down Undah!

St. Kilda

Me and the English couple I met at our hostel

1.20.10 - I made it to Melbourne in the morning after not sleeping at all on the flight (enjoyed the free wine and movies too much :) ) but made myself get out and see the city after checking into the hostel. I went from living like a queen in Cambodia to literally a frat house at the hostel in Melbourne. Ok it's not that bad but I was in a mixed 8 person dorm and when I walked in they hadn't cleaned it yet so it looked dirty but it was tidied up later. There was a 60 year old guy there, two british guys that claim they are 23 but I swear they are 14, and another guy who was in the war so he tells all these crazy war stories, and he has this huge knife he carries with him and also he is a masseus - very eclectic group to say the least! haha. So I stuck around the St. Kilda area of Melbourne, which is where my hostel is, and is on the water and has a beach town-city feel to it, very nice! I walked up and down the two main streets, Fitzroy and Ackland, and shopped, had drinks outside in the beautiful weather, and just enjoyed the seaside town. That night they had a free BBQ (which was great for me because at this point my ATM AND credit cards weren't working) and met a lot of nice people in my hostel. A British couple (who is on their honeymoon) and I went out and tried some of the other bars around us but we came back to the hostel and their bar was actually the busiest out of all of them. They had live music and it was just an all around good time. I was happy to finally get to bed when I did since it had been 2 days without sleeping.

Melbourne

Melbourne

it's true!

Melbourne

St. Kilda

1.21.10 - I originally wanted to see the Great Ocean Road today, but renting a car alone was too expensive and I tried booking the night before and it was all booked up so I had to just miss it... but instead I spent the day seeing the sights of Melbourne (city center) - it's a beautiful city! I really liked it. Great restaurants, beautiful gardens and buildings, pretty river running through - a very charming city! Started at Federation Square (where everyone was watching the Australia Open on a huge big screen, was in Melbourne while I was there) and then walked along Collins St. (their version of Boston's Newbury Street) and just window shopped - then went to some of the cheaper stores I stumbled upon as I did my walking tour of the city.Too many amazing stores though - seriously I can't let myself go into any more stores in Australia because I love their clothes but it's all very expensive. Bought myself a few cute things though :) Had a nice day hopping around the city and snapping tourist photos, then headed back and had a nice $4 Subway for a cheap dinner. One of the guys staying in my room actually is from 40 minutes outside of Port Huron in Canada - small world! We walked around this festival they had right outside our hostel and walked up and down the pier - didn't score a penguin sighting but I'm hoping for one before I leave. Our hostel had another big party, didn't really get the theme of it - they were auctionng off male strippers...? not sure for what exactly, and all the bartenders were dressed as pirates... so I didn't totally get it but it was a fun party anyway. We tried going to another pub as well but it wasn't as fun as our hostel so we went back there for the night.

St. Kilda view of downtown Melbourne

Luna Park - St. Kilda

1.22.10 - slept in, lunch outside, beach for a while, flight to Sydney!

Siem Reap: Temples, temples, and more temples!

dinner with Grace at Madame Butterfly's

kids of the village Treak

Treak Village

peace!

monkey trying to steal fruit from the kids selling it

1.16.10 - 1.19.10:

Siem Reap is a small town outside of the Angkor Wat complex - which is the largest religoius structure in the world (totally massive!). It primarily caters to tourists, so there is a lively night market, bustling city with day time market, and a few blocks of back-to-back bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs, shops, cafes, and street vendors. It's a cute, fun town and just a short walk from my hotel... did I say hotel? I'm sorry, I meant villa. Yes folks, I have upgraded from a 16 person in one room bunk bed dorm (all sharing one, sad bathroom) to a large, beautiful, clean, airy, and just plain awesome villa, with a shower separate from the toilet and hot water and my own room (even 2 beds!). The place is really nice and has a great vibe to it - and all for a measely 15$ more a night - totally worth it! After getting settled I went into town and poked around a bit to see what the town was all about but just had a quiet dinner with my first Angkor Beer and got to bed early ready for my tour the following morning.

one of the few times I woke up on this trip to see the sunrise

Angkor Wat - sunrise

one of about 200 pictures I took of temples in 2 days

Spent the next day going from one religious site to the next temple to the next temple and to the next. All of them are truly remarkable, but after walking around all day looking at them for two days straight - they begin to lose their luster, unfortunately. I was all templed out after 1.5 days of them, and I didn't even see half of them! I spent these days with an Ozzie I met in my Villa who is traveling on her own too. We tried a couple of great restuarnts together with great Cambodian food, delicious drinks, and ambiance and shopped through the night market as well. We trekked from temple to temple together in a tuk-tuk on the 2nd day as well, which made temple-seeing much more interesting, and much easier to get pictures of myself too! :) We left Monday morning at 5am to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, which is the "classic" photo that is shown of the complex, and it was really beautiful. There was a huge crowd there, they brought us coffee while we waited, and as the sun came up you could hear cameras going off everywhere. We also did a 2 hour walk and talk thing through a local village to find out more about how Cambodians live and give back to the community as well - it was cool to meet some local people and see how they live day-to-day.

Preah Ko

Cambodia has been really great - the temples were awesome (took 200+ pictures of them alone!), the people are incredibly nice and happy, and everything is dirt cheap (nice tshirts for $1, huge massive beer for $1). I'm glad I met someone to grab dinner and drinks with and go temple hopping with - but I'm off again tomorrow on my own for Melbourne. I leave on the 19th and arrive on the 20th!