Yesterday morning... finally some sunshine!
We were facing a 14hour drive back to Sydney, so we really should have left at 7-9am when we all crawled out of bed. However... we decided we wanted to jump out of a plane =)
From the facebook photo, you probably already know i've done it. So should you.
The dive was obviously in Noosa, diving from 14,000 ft, covering 10,000 in free fall in approx 60 seconds hitting 130mph+ and landing by my cousins and niece's feet on the beach below after approx 5minutes.
I cannot emphasise how great of an experience it is. I've got the dvd and photos to prove it, so anyone that wants a look is more than welcome when i get back. I really can't say much about it, nothing much you can type does it justice.. go do it!
The wall of the 'diving shack'? had a quote from Da Vinci... on the wall.... now, I'm not exactly one to quote Da Vinci and at the time I did wonder if they were taking the piss with it:
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - L.D.V
Even following the jump, I did think it was a little dramatic... but seriously... relevant.
What followed was 13hours of sheer pain. The drive home, which ended at approx 6am Sydney time back at cousin's house happened with no sleep, as is customary for me. Now, don't mean to sound soppy... realise that it does sound soppy... but the night sky from the S.Hemisphere on a clear night is something to behold. I've seen starry skys in Tuscany, Harrow etc etc... but really... I wish i'd been able to take a photo, looked truely amazing... I go back to the quote...
Enough of that, I'm going to get on with my day, which will contain no little amount of sleep =)
till tonight
xxxxxxxxx
Oh by the way, happy end of term
Saturday, 15 December 2007
The 'Sunshine' Coast - Noosa
Day 6... evidently i'd brought the rain with me. We booked the skydive onto the beach... but the rain did not relent. Black skies, heavy rain... black mood... mood! I pretty much spent the day at Coolum beach, watching the sufers... looked like good fun, but not for the less than enthusiastic swimmer... that'l be for another pseudo suicidal trip =)
Kiddies and parents went home, but having come all the way to Noosa myself and the non child bourne cousins decided to brave the monsoon and go to the beach. We'd have had a bbq too, but we had no meat.... but not just any beach... no.... we went to the 'private beach'. I'd google it and attach a link, but i cant be bothered. Basically, we parked at the bottom of a big ass hill... walked up the big ass hill... then walked back down the other side of the big ass hill through terrain i've only ever seen on my Duke of Edinburgh exped. However, this came with the promise of venemous snakes and spiders and all sorts of other living hell. Genuinely.... not a smart idea to walk through there. Nevertheless, we did, ended up on the other side.
The beach/bay was absolutly stunning. Completely deserted, not to any small part because of the rain im sure, but regardless, completely ours for the time we wanted it for. After a spot of sprinting, I dived in... to be told there were no shark nets providing this one beach.
I was not in there for much longer.
We crawled our way back up the hill, myself taking half the beach with me in my shorts/boxers.. to continue onto the next beach. I forget what it was called, but it was phenomenal. Even in the rain, the sea, surf was brilliant. We had blue finned white fish swimming around our ankles and the view, as ever, was breathtaking.
Oh and they have ready mixed JD and Cola in bottles and cans here... its good =)
Kiddies and parents went home, but having come all the way to Noosa myself and the non child bourne cousins decided to brave the monsoon and go to the beach. We'd have had a bbq too, but we had no meat.... but not just any beach... no.... we went to the 'private beach'. I'd google it and attach a link, but i cant be bothered. Basically, we parked at the bottom of a big ass hill... walked up the big ass hill... then walked back down the other side of the big ass hill through terrain i've only ever seen on my Duke of Edinburgh exped. However, this came with the promise of venemous snakes and spiders and all sorts of other living hell. Genuinely.... not a smart idea to walk through there. Nevertheless, we did, ended up on the other side.
The beach/bay was absolutly stunning. Completely deserted, not to any small part because of the rain im sure, but regardless, completely ours for the time we wanted it for. After a spot of sprinting, I dived in... to be told there were no shark nets providing this one beach.
I was not in there for much longer.
We crawled our way back up the hill, myself taking half the beach with me in my shorts/boxers.. to continue onto the next beach. I forget what it was called, but it was phenomenal. Even in the rain, the sea, surf was brilliant. We had blue finned white fish swimming around our ankles and the view, as ever, was breathtaking.
Oh and they have ready mixed JD and Cola in bottles and cans here... its good =)
The Home of Steve Irwin
Day 5, we left The Gold Coast and headed for Noosa. (A ridiculous name, but you get used to them after a while).
En route, we passed through, well, spent the day at Australia Zoo the 'home' of Steve Irwin. Now.... I dont know about you, but I thought animals were the order of the day in Australia. We did see a bunch of exotic ones, Komodo Dragons, Tazmanian Devils, all manner of birds and the obligatory Koalas, 'Crocs' and Kangaroos... but im not gonna lie, it was all a bit disappointing. The shows were far too environmental and not nearly enough about watching crocodiles devour live chickens, or helper's heads... the snake show was with a rubber snake! But never mind, the kiddies loved it and I did make friends with some kangaroos subsequently having my lunch stolen out of my hands by an elephant.
We left the zoo having socialised with the animals to our hearts content to finish out journey to Noosa. (Past Brisbane... over 10,000km in total... bloody ages in the car) We got there at around 8pm... tired, hungry and locked out of our apartment.... so naturally we went for Chineese. Which was terrible.... We then got into the apartment, and crashed.
What followed was the most beautiful 8hours sleep, the first i've had in around 5 weeks. Possibly the most noteworthy occurance of the trip to date =)
xxx
En route, we passed through, well, spent the day at Australia Zoo the 'home' of Steve Irwin. Now.... I dont know about you, but I thought animals were the order of the day in Australia. We did see a bunch of exotic ones, Komodo Dragons, Tazmanian Devils, all manner of birds and the obligatory Koalas, 'Crocs' and Kangaroos... but im not gonna lie, it was all a bit disappointing. The shows were far too environmental and not nearly enough about watching crocodiles devour live chickens, or helper's heads... the snake show was with a rubber snake! But never mind, the kiddies loved it and I did make friends with some kangaroos subsequently having my lunch stolen out of my hands by an elephant.
We left the zoo having socialised with the animals to our hearts content to finish out journey to Noosa. (Past Brisbane... over 10,000km in total... bloody ages in the car) We got there at around 8pm... tired, hungry and locked out of our apartment.... so naturally we went for Chineese. Which was terrible.... We then got into the apartment, and crashed.
What followed was the most beautiful 8hours sleep, the first i've had in around 5 weeks. Possibly the most noteworthy occurance of the trip to date =)
xxx
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Water World
I'm not sure what day of the holiday it is... or was... or what day.... but yesterday we went to water world.
It was a water park... pretty self explanatory! Good fun, lots of roller coasters, a few steep drops, a fair bit of water (you'd hope so really). The kiddies loved it, the 'adults' *shudder* were a bit bored at times, but definitely worth a look.
Queensland is definitely different, compared to Sydney the place is even more relaxed. Hotel swimming pool is very very nice and you can tell the place is a surfing town.
Having come back from Water World, we (I and a couple of the cousins without kids) went bar hopping in central Queensland [i'm not sure if Queensland is the state, or if we're actually in a town called Queensland]. Booze as it turns out is just as expensive over here... but they have a strange idea of what a long island iced tea is. Unless i'm seriously mistaken, they're all alcoholics here! After watching the concluding bar brawl, we came back at around 3am... to be woken this morning at around 7:30 am... chirpy chirpy as always
off to Steve Irwin's zoo....
It was a water park... pretty self explanatory! Good fun, lots of roller coasters, a few steep drops, a fair bit of water (you'd hope so really). The kiddies loved it, the 'adults' *shudder* were a bit bored at times, but definitely worth a look.
Queensland is definitely different, compared to Sydney the place is even more relaxed. Hotel swimming pool is very very nice and you can tell the place is a surfing town.
Having come back from Water World, we (I and a couple of the cousins without kids) went bar hopping in central Queensland [i'm not sure if Queensland is the state, or if we're actually in a town called Queensland]. Booze as it turns out is just as expensive over here... but they have a strange idea of what a long island iced tea is. Unless i'm seriously mistaken, they're all alcoholics here! After watching the concluding bar brawl, we came back at around 3am... to be woken this morning at around 7:30 am... chirpy chirpy as always
off to Steve Irwin's zoo....
Monday, 10 December 2007
Sea World
The London habit of not sleeping seems to have followed me around the globe. Got about 4hours last night and was chucked into the van at around 8am this morning....
Off to sea world, strangely Queensland was overcast today, but no rain and thats the main thing =). Sea world was a bit of a kiddie haven (we all know who would have been in their element), but there were some pro points. The shark tank at the end had to be seen to be believed. The photos once again will be up later..
We found Nemo!!!!!
Back to the hotel and we hit the pool, great fun.
Thats all for tonight...
xxxxx
Off to sea world, strangely Queensland was overcast today, but no rain and thats the main thing =). Sea world was a bit of a kiddie haven (we all know who would have been in their element), but there were some pro points. The shark tank at the end had to be seen to be believed. The photos once again will be up later..
We found Nemo!!!!!
Back to the hotel and we hit the pool, great fun.
Thats all for tonight...
xxxxx
Saturday - Sunday: Port Maquarie - Byron Bay - Queensland
Because I didnt feel like I'd travelled enough, we went on a roadtrip to Queensland as soon as i landed (on the 8th)....
We ended up in Port Maquarie, staying at a motel where there was a couple of 'man made' lakes, sounds awful, was actually very very very nice, put it this way, they offered water skiing and power boating etc etc on them! Saw the obligatory wild kangaroos, beetles in the shower, regressed to a 7 year old child on the trampoline etc etc... managed to fit in a victorious bike ride away too. All in all, a very very relaxing start to the trip.
Second morning, unbelievable heat... My winter has never been so warm =p.
Unfortunately, my blood remains ridiculously sweet. Combine this with December's mosquito crop's Victorian tendancies and you'll know why my ankles currently look like pin cushions.
Anyway, day 2, the trip from Port Maquarie to Queensland. Lets just say it was long... very very very long. Definitely the most noteworthy part of the trip was our final detour to visit Byron Bay (location of Home and Away).
The place is absolutely breathtaking. I'm not one for site seeing ordinarily, but my God (athiest et al). I'll attach the photos later, I've never seen water so blue and such 'dramatic' scenary (we could see dolphins too). It is the most Eastward point of Australia and even here we were unable to avoid the kangaroos! Very very very nice.
Finally, having seen such landmarks as "Bald Knob Street" and "Bent Street" we arrived in Queensland. Driving through, you get the sense you're in the Aussie version of 'The Strip', which is so surreal having just driven through the most *whats a better word for countryside* you could hope to see... but its interesting!
Hotel is amazing, its like a lil penthouse, again, by Aussie standards. We do get a view of palm trees and the pool, and en suites everywhere though... very comfortable. Here is home for another 3 nights.
Oh, and turns out the Aussies are better than us at fish and chips too... how upsetting!
xxxx
Tharsh
We ended up in Port Maquarie, staying at a motel where there was a couple of 'man made' lakes, sounds awful, was actually very very very nice, put it this way, they offered water skiing and power boating etc etc on them! Saw the obligatory wild kangaroos, beetles in the shower, regressed to a 7 year old child on the trampoline etc etc... managed to fit in a victorious bike ride away too. All in all, a very very relaxing start to the trip.
Second morning, unbelievable heat... My winter has never been so warm =p.
Unfortunately, my blood remains ridiculously sweet. Combine this with December's mosquito crop's Victorian tendancies and you'll know why my ankles currently look like pin cushions.
Anyway, day 2, the trip from Port Maquarie to Queensland. Lets just say it was long... very very very long. Definitely the most noteworthy part of the trip was our final detour to visit Byron Bay (location of Home and Away).
The place is absolutely breathtaking. I'm not one for site seeing ordinarily, but my God (athiest et al). I'll attach the photos later, I've never seen water so blue and such 'dramatic' scenary (we could see dolphins too). It is the most Eastward point of Australia and even here we were unable to avoid the kangaroos! Very very very nice.
Finally, having seen such landmarks as "Bald Knob Street" and "Bent Street" we arrived in Queensland. Driving through, you get the sense you're in the Aussie version of 'The Strip', which is so surreal having just driven through the most *whats a better word for countryside* you could hope to see... but its interesting!
Hotel is amazing, its like a lil penthouse, again, by Aussie standards. We do get a view of palm trees and the pool, and en suites everywhere though... very comfortable. Here is home for another 3 nights.
Oh, and turns out the Aussies are better than us at fish and chips too... how upsetting!
xxxx
Tharsh
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