I would just like to say that in terms of sweat, Brisbane has nothing on Townsville. Townsville is the second biggest city in Queensland, but I think I can safely say it is ahead of Brisbane in the heat stakes. But how did I get to this incredibly hot place, you might ask?
After I left Rainbow Beach with Charlie and Mona, we headed north to Rockhampton. Rockhampton, besides being the beef capital of Queensland (and quite possible Australia! according to the tourist information centre), is halfway between Rainbow Beach and Airlie Beach. That is about all it has going for it. I would highly recommend avoiding it if possible. We met up with an Israeli couple who had a spare tent and spent the night being bitten by midges. Which can, apparently, get through screens. The next day, I looked like I had a weird skin disease, and was itchier than I've ever been in my life.
So we weren't sad to see the back of Rockhampton, and we headed to Airlie Beach. Once we got there, I checked into my hostel, where my bed was four stories up. Oh, the sweat! However, I was rewarded at the top with gorgeous, gorgeous air conditioning. That night we met up with a guy from our Fraser trip, Chris from Greece. The four of us met some Germans, and got pretty drunk.
Our first full day in Airlie was a bit of a bust. The guy at the travel agency told us about this great beach, where we could rent kayaks and paddle out to an island. After 45 minutes of driving, we got to the beach, only to discover that we couldn't rent kayaks, nor could we swim, due to the jellyfish. No problem, we thought, we'll head out to the amazing waterfalls the same travel agent told us about! Except that Australia is experiencing a massive drought, and the waterfall was a small trickle into an algae filled pond. Hmm. Time for a drink? We thought so!
The next day we checked out of our hostels and spent some time at the lagoon. Which is a sort of fake beach with chlorine water, where you can actually swim, because there are no jellyfish. After a few hours of that, we went to check in at the marina, in order to board our boat, the Tongarra. Altogether, there were 24 passengers on the boat, including a large, rather anti-social Irish contingent. The first night everyone got quite drunk, which can be rather dangerous on a boat. I have some pretty serious bruises, and some hilarious pictures.
Day two on the boat we got to go see one of the top ten beaches in the world on one of the Whitsunday islands (I can't remember which one, though, to be honest). It was gorgeous, though we could only swim with stinger suits on. In the afternoon we were taken to a little reef and got to do some snorkelling, which was very cool. Next up: more drinking!
The morning of our last day, we did some more scuba diving, and then sailed back into the harbour.
We all spent the night in Airlie Beach again (ah, the aircon!), and in the morning, Charlie, Mona, Chris and I headed up to Townsville. Today, Mona and I went for much needed haircuts, and then she and Charlie headed north to Cairns, while Chris did some scuba diving. I'll be here for another few days before flying down to Sydney to meet up with my family for Christmas (yay!). Hopefully it cools down a bit, though I won't be counting on it.
After I left Rainbow Beach with Charlie and Mona, we headed north to Rockhampton. Rockhampton, besides being the beef capital of Queensland (and quite possible Australia! according to the tourist information centre), is halfway between Rainbow Beach and Airlie Beach. That is about all it has going for it. I would highly recommend avoiding it if possible. We met up with an Israeli couple who had a spare tent and spent the night being bitten by midges. Which can, apparently, get through screens. The next day, I looked like I had a weird skin disease, and was itchier than I've ever been in my life.
So we weren't sad to see the back of Rockhampton, and we headed to Airlie Beach. Once we got there, I checked into my hostel, where my bed was four stories up. Oh, the sweat! However, I was rewarded at the top with gorgeous, gorgeous air conditioning. That night we met up with a guy from our Fraser trip, Chris from Greece. The four of us met some Germans, and got pretty drunk.
Our first full day in Airlie was a bit of a bust. The guy at the travel agency told us about this great beach, where we could rent kayaks and paddle out to an island. After 45 minutes of driving, we got to the beach, only to discover that we couldn't rent kayaks, nor could we swim, due to the jellyfish. No problem, we thought, we'll head out to the amazing waterfalls the same travel agent told us about! Except that Australia is experiencing a massive drought, and the waterfall was a small trickle into an algae filled pond. Hmm. Time for a drink? We thought so!
The next day we checked out of our hostels and spent some time at the lagoon. Which is a sort of fake beach with chlorine water, where you can actually swim, because there are no jellyfish. After a few hours of that, we went to check in at the marina, in order to board our boat, the Tongarra. Altogether, there were 24 passengers on the boat, including a large, rather anti-social Irish contingent. The first night everyone got quite drunk, which can be rather dangerous on a boat. I have some pretty serious bruises, and some hilarious pictures.
Day two on the boat we got to go see one of the top ten beaches in the world on one of the Whitsunday islands (I can't remember which one, though, to be honest). It was gorgeous, though we could only swim with stinger suits on. In the afternoon we were taken to a little reef and got to do some snorkelling, which was very cool. Next up: more drinking!
The morning of our last day, we did some more scuba diving, and then sailed back into the harbour.
We all spent the night in Airlie Beach again (ah, the aircon!), and in the morning, Charlie, Mona, Chris and I headed up to Townsville. Today, Mona and I went for much needed haircuts, and then she and Charlie headed north to Cairns, while Chris did some scuba diving. I'll be here for another few days before flying down to Sydney to meet up with my family for Christmas (yay!). Hopefully it cools down a bit, though I won't be counting on it.
posted by bookstore girl at
5:29 PM
1 Comments:
4 days til we leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i just have to get through my last f-ing exam. one might think having your 2, yes i only have 2 exams, being spread out over the exam period is a good thing....but whoever is thinking that is so very WRONG. i cant study for 2 weeks straight. its just not possible. and plsu, everyones going home because they are done. F people who are done. F the world!
im done ranting.
i miss you but only a few more days till i get to see you again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not looking forward to this ridiculously long ridiculous flight, but itll be worth it.
By
Anonymous, at 11:19 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home