My Whitsunday Sailing Adventure...

HIGH winds that never stopped; choppy seas that led to more than a couple of mouthfuls of slightly salty sea-water; occasional rain periods and the ceremonial regurgitation of food off the edge. Sound like fun to you?

Try wiping the smile from my face though!

My trip through the Whitsundays began with a run out to Cannonvale to pick up essential supplies like contact lens solution, sunscreen, and a couple of boxes of goon. Had I half a brain I probably would have picked up some sea-sickness tablets, what with all that wind about and my being so susceptible to motion sickness that I nearly threw up watching The Bourne Ultimatum at the Sony Centre in Berlin one time. But yay, goon!

We met the crew of the Emperors Wings down at the marina, climbed on board and were treated to a lettuce, cheese and ham wrap just to kick things off. After going through the safety with our captain Stu we were introduced to dive masters Pete and Steve and hostess Harriet before setting sail for the Whitsunday Islands.

Even at this early point we could tell we were in for some rough seas. Standing on the front of the boat was always interesting, if only to see which unlucky sod would get drenched by the next wave we crashed through! Most of us got through ok though before arriving at our first dive stop on Hayman Island. A number of punters took the chance to make their very first scuba dives while the rest of us took advantage of the smooth bay to do a spot of snorkelling. Either way, all of us came out comparing what we'd just seen - corals that ranged from miniature "trees" to giant boulders; clownfish that scooted in and around sea anemones; and being completely surrounded by schools of fish, all quite happy to pop in and say g'day to the mysterious wet-suited things floating around their habitats.

Of course the hot tub on the boat made things even better again!

Day 2 saw us pop over to Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island. This beach is regularly voted one of the best in the world, with its 98% silica sand. Most of the group went out and explored a bit while some of us took the chance to enjoy a nice sun-bake...

A few funny photos later and it was back on board for the journey out to our next dive stop. Most people went snorkelling this time, with the hot tub again proving a hit once we'd finished. That night we parked up at Hook Island in preparation for our big day sailing.

And what a day that was too! It took us a few hours through choppy seas to get to the outer reef, where you could see the water breaking over the outer edge of the reef. The diving here was spectacular; the snorkelling much harder work - especially if you float like a brick! A few mouthfuls of water convinced me that the hot tub would be more appropriate...

After a couple of hours it was time to head back to shore for one last night on board. By now most of us had figured out the best way to avoid sea-sickness was to lie down somewhere. This works best though if you can fall asleep for most of it instead of nodding off for 20 minutes. After sitting up the back of the boat for a couple of hours I felt brave enough to grab a party pie, only to find that it didn't want to be digested and had in fact encouraged the banana cake I'd had earlier to join it in a mad dash for freedom!!!

Half an hour later we pulled up into a sheltered bay for dinner, drinks, Mega-Uno (don't ask) and pictionairy - a great way to end a great few days.

Still can't wipe the smile from my face!

Finally There!!!

We resume our story at a rest stop some 170km south of Mackay, Queensland. Our hero has managed to set off his car alarm and try sleeping in about 30 different positions before the sun comes up and awakens him for the last time...

WITH just over 300km to go until Airlie Beach, I decided to try and push straight through in the hope there was already a spare bed waiting for me. This was naturally foiled by my stomach wondering just where the hell breakfast was, and with that threatening to bring other parts of my body on strike, it was into another little service station for what was actually a half-decent bacon and egg roll.

This part of the Bruce Highway is dominated by sugar cane: all around were signs warning of cane trucks and train crossings. Eventually though I got through Sarina, Mackay and Proserpine without any problems before taking the turn-off to Airlie Beach itself, only to discover that a) the main road was closed and we had to detour; and b) I was stuck behind a large campervan whose driver had apparently forgotten the accelerator was the pedal on the right...

The scenery made up for Captain Slow though. Tree-covered hills rise over the town itself as you drive in while the blue waters of the Coral Sea tease you on the left. Even better than the view though was the available bed at Base Airlie Beach, complete with bath! One relaxing soak later and it was off to Whitsunday Sailing Adventures to check in for my cruise the next day.

The rest of the day was pretty chilled. I'm staying in Airlie Beach again after the cruise, so after a quick mission out to the docks to see where I leave from it was back to Base for a snooze before heading to their very own Down Under Bar for a $10 meal and pint deal, a few beers - and most importantly of all a few cracks at the pinball machine.

Next stop: Great Barrier Reef!!!

Up To Airlie...

WORD of warning for those driving through Queensland. Before you go any further into this blog, I want you to go to Google Maps. Now find directions from Brisbane to Airlie Beach. (Alternatively, if you're feeling a bit slack then click here). Now have a look at the direction the road goes either side of Rockhampton (about the middle of the map). This is pretty much north-west, which by coincidence is the exact direction the sun sets in, making driving at the exact time I was somewhat of a dangerous task...

But I digress. It's a little over 1100km from Brisbane to Airlie Beach and takes you past some of Queensland's major attractions, including the Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island. The Bruce Highway also takes you past some historic old towns that are well worth a look, including Childers, my first sight-seeing stop.

Childers itself is an attractive, old-style country town located on the Bruce Highway south-west of Bundaberg. Walking down the highway you get a glimpse of what Australian towns must have been like over 50 years ago (at least until you see the multi-national takeaway store); my destination was one such building.

Back in 2000 a deranged man set fire to the old Palace Backpackers Hostel, killing 15 people. Today it is rebuilt, with an art gallery and memorial open to the public. The memorial itself is extremely well done, with a large painting showing the victims in poses from photographs provided by the families, while on the back wall are small collages containing photos of all 15 victims. To see those photos, of people enjoying their Australian experience - including cuddling a koala at Lone Pine, something we encourage down in Brisbane - then realising these people would never make it home to share their experiences with friends and family was somewhat jolting. The lady at the desk was very informative about what exactly happened, and if you are travelling through Childers I highly recommend stopping in.

THE rest of the journey was a little less memorable. Driving through country Australia you realise a couple of things: 1) service station food is terrible; and 2) some people should not be allowed out on the road. Overtaking lanes are few and far between, so just north of Gympie I took the chance to fly past a truck that had been holding me up. Problem was a woman in a 4wd decided to jump into the right-hand lane for no reason and hold me up, which meant the truck zoomed back past me on my left before it went back to one lane each way. Seriously.

At Rockhampton I'd planned on stopping at the Tropic of Capricorn, but as the sun was shining directly in my face pretty much the last 50kms into town, I missed it completely. Oops.

After Rockhampton I kept driving north towards a very small town called Marlborough for possibly the worst chicken and chips at the local service station, before pulling into a rest area 66km up the road for some much-needed sleep.

To be continued...

Life Is A Highway...

... AND for the next three weeks I'll be riding it all night long!

This trip is a little different to just about every other one I've done in the last seven years though. Those trips have been around Europe, Asia, South Africa and the USA; this time around though it's my home state of Queensland.

In many ways it's a bit of a homecoming for me. My first road trip was at the grand old age of one month old, as we headed south from Townsville to Mum's family in Brisbane. Since leaving Townsville at age 2 I've been back a total of once, with most family trips being down south to visit Dad's family in Victoria.

What a trip it is too! Two days of leisurely tootling up the Bruce Highway to Airlie Beach before four days on a cruise around the Whitsundays before four nights relaxing just off the coast of Townsville on Magnetic Island. After that it's up to Cairns and Cooktown for a couple of nights each, before taking a week to get back to Brisbane - quite possibly looking at going through Atherton, Charters Towers and Emerald to change things up.

Three weeks off, the iPod at the ready, Great Barrier Reef and some beautiful tropical winter weather: what more can you ask for?

Time to hit the highway...

Innsbruck's Mega-Mountains...

THERE’S something about mountains that just does it for me.

Now I’m guessing that’s not the same for everyone. Some people like rainforests, others tropical reefs; a very select few really have a thing for industrial parks. These people are generally industrialists and should probably be avoided at parties.

But I digress.

So given the above information, you can imagine my delight upon arrival in Innsbruck to find the whole city is encircled by snow-capped mountains – as well as rain-bringing clouds.

The weather though was strangely appealing. I’d spent the night before in Munich, doing as the locals do: visiting the Augustiner Biergarten, eating a delicious pork knuckle (a half-shank of roasted pork covered with crackling), and drinking the world’s best beer. Several litres of it in fact, before heading back to Wombats and drinking in the Wombar with a friend there.

All this meant that a rainy day gave me the perfect excuse to chill out for most of the day. When the rain eased later in the afternoon I ducked into Innsbruck’s pretty town centre, wandering the streets and hoping like hell the next day would be better.

The next day dawned with the weather indeed a lot better: nothing for it then but to head up the hills to the Alpine Zoo. Not only would I be able to find out the answer to that age-old question of whether a bear defecated in the woods, but it would probably be the only time I’d get to see European wildlife outside of nightclubs.

The zoo itself was more than bears going potty, with vultures, wolves, lynx, warthogs, farmyard animals and a mummy elk looking happy as Larry with her baby elk. Fish were boring though.

Afterwards I jumped on the funicular back into town before heading up the other hills to a ski jump. This wasn’t just any ski jump though – this one was used in the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, and besides, we don’t have any ski jumps in Queensland. While I didn’t go in on account of cost and dark, threatening clouds appearing stage left, you can head in for about €8.50, which includes a trip up to a café at the top.

The clouds held off long enough for me to head back home and have a wander through a festival that had sprouted outside my hotel – a nice way to finish off my sojourn in this picturesque Tyrolean town.

Love those mountains.

A Mythical Place Called Prague...

GROWING up, Prague was one of those mythical places.

Well, not mythical as such, but somewhere mysterious that was the capital of every spelling test nightmare, Czechoslovakia. Sited on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain Prague was one of those places you were unlikely to go to anytime soon.

Nowadays things have changed. Prague is one of the more popular European tourist destinations; Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993; while the latest country to give students cold sweats on spelling tests in Kyrgyzstan in central Asia.

There’s always the feeling though that Prague is still somewhere a bit different. Even the language when you enter the Czech Republic goes from vaguely understandable to a mish-mash of z’s, y’s, ř’s, ň’s and š’s. Our guide Amy told us a bit about the language on the way in, with a couple of useful tips to try and remember a couple of words (cheers in Czech sounding a lot like someone saying “nice driveway” quickly).

Before we even hit the Czech Republic we stopped in Dresden, home amongst other things to porcelain, the world’s longest tram and the Wonderbra. Although I didn’t stay here, it is a city rebuilt in the last 60 years after being ¾ destroyed at the end of WWII and was disappointed to miss out after Amy’s description.

Just over the border we then stopped at a former concentration camp at a small town called Terezin. Despite being an internment camp rather than an extermination camp as per Auschwitz 2/Birkenau, it’s still confronting to look at the way the Nazis kept prisoners – and in particular Jewish prisoners – in inhumane conditions.

Eventually we arrived at Plus Prague, our home for the next few days. The first night was pretty quiet, just catching up with a few people that had gone on ahead after Daniel and I left the circuit. The first day in was pretty quiet too, not least because after travelling with Daniel around Scandinavia I had to a) sleep, and b) launder!

Important stuff aside though it was time to head across to the Pražský Hrad (Prague Castle to for us monoglot English speakers). Despite there being a direct tram between the hostel and the castle (tram #12 for those playing at home), Cath and I walked across, not least because the walk entails the Letenské sady, a park superbly located overlooking the Vltava River and the old town. That it’s also a good way of working off those Czech beers (pivo) is another bonus…

After meeting Cath’s friend Jaime in town we then had a wander through the centre, with someone deciding that since it was a relatively nice day and it should only be about 30 minutes or so, we should walk back. Five or six detours and at least one very smelly underpass later and it was decided that someone (me) was an idiot… C’est la vie!

My final day was pretty chilled as well. Stupidly I decided to go to the Communist Museum: not a bad move in itself, but because I procrastinated so much earlier that day I was in the museum while the Czechs played Sweden in a World Cup Ice Hockey semi-final, and missed seeing the Czechs win on penalties on the big screen in the centre of town!

The museum was well worth the effort though. It doesn’t just look at the Communist-era Czechoslovakia, but goes back further to the formation of Czechoslovakia before going right through to the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Throughout it examines what life was like under Communist rule, shows propaganda posters used to discredit the West, and gives examples of how Communists used things like sport to promote their way of life.

For me though the most confronting – and disturbing – part of the museum was the TV room. Here on continuous loop is a film that shows demonstrations, includes footage of Wenceslas Square eerily free of McDonald’s or any other western stores – and police savagely beating their own people. For anyone who thinks that Communism was worthwhile, watch this video and be shocked.

To look at Prague nowadays is to realise how much has changed – and how accessible it really is. The beauty of the city still makes it mythical, but in a better way.

Berlin. No Need For A Witty Title.

THERE were only two things I really wanted to do on this trip.

We’re not talking general wouldn’t-mind-checking-out or hey-that’s-kind-of-interesting things, but two things I really, really, wanted to do.

The first of these was a watch a cricket match at Lord’s in London. Unfortunately that particular pilgrimage for cricket tragics like myself cut short by a bout of weather so foul that the only possible way to alleviate the pain was to go to the pub and watch Australia play in a very warm-looking West Indies.

The other thing was to do Berlin.

Berlin – and Germany’s recent history – has fascinated me since I first looked at an atlas as a young fella and saw maps of Germany over the years. Being very young I had no idea about world history, so couldn’t quite understand how this country had gotten smaller over the years; indeed how it ended up being two countries for a while there.

I don’t remember the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 (major world events skipping past most 9-year-olds living in Toowoomba) but even back then the concept of a divided city was, well, weird.

And now I was heading there.

Our first glimpse of the scars of Germany’s recent past was actually our final service stop at a little place called Marienborn. Had we been travelling just over 20 years earlier, this is where we would have stopped to go through East German immigration before continuing onto Berlin. The former customs houses are now an open-air museum, while the masses of light towers and a guard tower meant that it didn’t take too much imagination to realise this wasn’t a place you would’ve wanted to linger back then.

It was then onto Berlin, where after a relatively quiet night at the CityStay hostel bar (only open 23 hours a day!) Daniel and I jumped onboard an Insider/Fat Tire bike tour to learn more about this fascinating city. Amongst the strange things Berlin has to offer was just up the road from the TV tower where the East German parliament used to stand. Authorities have dismantled that old piece of junk as it was full of asbestos, and have decided to replace it with – and I’m not making this up – a replica of the royal palace that used to stand there until just after WWII, even though Germany hasn’t had a royal family since Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated in 1918. Go figure.

During the tour we got to see Checkpoint Charlie, the Jewish Memorial, the Brandenburger Tor (in the death strip during the years of the Berlin Wall), and the Reichstag, as well as a stop in a Tiergarten beer garden for a refuelling stop. That had been the main reason for doing the bike rather than the walk, although everyone who came off the walk raved about it as well!

That night most of the crew – plus a few guides and drivers on days off – came along for the Insider pub crawl. Once again memories are hazy, although what does spring to mind is Daniel doing the caterpillar, and an awesome kebab at ??o’lock after coming back from the Matrix nightclub at the end.

The next day was a mixed bag; although that was always on the cards. Some went down to the Eastside Gallery (the largest bit of the Berlin Wall still remaining); others checked out the Jewish Memorial and the Topography of Terror. I went out to near the bombed-out church near the Zoo to pick up a car for Daniel and I to take us around Scandinavia.

That trip is for another blog away from here… But I tell you what, I’m glad I did Berlin.

Now if only I could get back to Lord’s for a match…