Update from Townsville
G’day!!
We are loving Australia…it’s been quite a culture shock, coming from South East Asia though - we felt very self conscious for the first few hours, what with everyone speaking the same speed as us! Emily is still struggling to adapt to Western style toilets, only yesterday she could be found squatting in the grass behind the public toilets rather than inside…
We have a hire car, which means we’ve pretty much got the freedom to go where we want rather than depending on public transport and tour buses. Highlights so far included Cape Tribulation (tropical rainforest), the Undara Lava Tubes and the Atherton Tablelands.
The variety of flora and fauna is amazing. We’ve only been here 7 days, but we’ve already seen crocodiles, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, snakes and kookaburras, all in the wild.
There is a new contender for ‘highlight of the trip so far’ - the Great Barrier Reef. We spent a day snorkelling in a couple of locations off the coast of Cairns, and it exceeded all expectations. More fish and coral than you can shake a stick at. The underwater photographer took a couple of snaps of us - these can also be seen here.
Since he turned 30, Emily thinks Phil is turning into a Dad (no offence meant to any parents out there!). Main reasons include, but are not limited to: stopping every minute to take a picture of flowers/birds/rocks with the new camera; wanting to buy an ‘authentic’ bushmans hat; calling cold weather “bracing”; an unhealthy interest in museums; and the like. All worrying trends, she’s sure you’ll agree.
Captain Cook sailed up the East coast during his first voyage of discovery, before plonking the British flag on the Northern-most tip of the York peninsula and claiming the whole lot in the name of King George. We’re pretty much retracing his steps in the opposite direction. We started from Cape Tribulation (where Cook’s ship ran aground the Great Barrier Reef), and will spend 3 weeks making our way down the coast before flying out of Brisbane.
We’ve got so much more to say about Australia, especially the friendly welcome! But we’d better save something for the next email…
In other news: Since last time, we’ve had a Singapore sling at Raffles, Phil can feel abdominal muscles for the first time in eight years (!), Emily’s Dame Edna Everage impression is ‘improving’ - Spooky, Darling!!
PS We’ve changed our plan slightly to take advantage of good weather. New plan is as follows:
- 21/7-13/8 Cape Tribulation to Byron Bay
- 13/8 Fly to Alice Springs
- 13/8-30/8 Alice Springs to Adelaide
- 30/8 Train to Sydney
(2023 update: photos from the East Coast can be seen on Flickr here)