My OZ Expedition

When one travels, the beginning of every country is the beginning of a new chapter. No country is like another, even if the differences seem minuet and unimportant, like the names of the convenience stores, the beer brands, the accent the locals speak in, etc.

About a month after I parted from my NZ friends and after 12 days in sunny paradise, the last thing I wanted was to start a new country. By the time I left Fiji, I had only about a month to spend in Australia, which is not enough to see enough, but still an opportunity to experience some of the things this huge country has to offer.

After a short 3 hours flight out of NZ, I landed in Cairns international airport, and took the shuttle bus to the city center.
Cairns is located at the north of the east coast of Australia, and as I only have 4 weeks to spend in OZ, I decided to concentrate on the east coast - to be perching on sandy beaches, snorkeling and diving, and partying in every town I stumble upon.
The city of Cairns itself is nothing much, but it has a nice artificial beach, where huge amounts of young tourists gather every day for a couple of hours of sun, music, see and be seen.

On my second night in Cairns, as I was sitting in the hostel reading a book, I suddenly heard a shout: "Siven!". I looked up, and there was Sarah, the Canadian girl from diving course in NZ. It was the most random thing to meet a person you've traveled with for a week, almost 4 months after you last seen him, so we had a nice couple of days catching up.

After a couple of days I decided to wait another day for Keith, the Irish guy I met in Fiji, as he was flying in from Sydney to look for a job in Cairns, and maybe persuade him to go on a road trip with me south to Brisbane, and delay the job search for two weeks. The next morning i went and rented a car for my 3 weeks down the east coast, and after meeting with Keith, I was happy to be able to convince him to come with me.

Keith is a 25 years old guy from Northern Ireland, coming to Australia to work and travel. The first thing you notice about the guy is his size, as he is 1.95, and not surprisingly is a rugby player, because he is, as we say back home, “built for TALPIOT”. From our first chat on the beach in Fiji, I knew will get along great. He’s a smart guy, and we share a lot of interests. His only flaw is that he’s taller than me, but I’ll try to work around it.

After a couple of hours of spotting topless chicks on the lagoon, we went to a travel agency to book our little road trip’s adventures. I heard about an amazing ship wreck dive on the east coast, just south of where we were, but they required the divers to have at least 6 dives under their belt, so because I have only dived 4 times in NZ, I had to complete 2 more – so I booked a day’s trip for the great barrier reef, which is the biggest reef in the world, across half of Australia’s east coast. The reef is world famous for its dive sites, and amazing variety of underwater life and vegetation.

The next day I took the bus to Port Douglas, to board the diving boat. I met a nice group of people, and after an hour’s boat ride, and another hour of briefing and gearing up, we were in the water. The dives were really nice, but first of all, it took me a while to become confident again with diving, and second, we didn’t get to see really special things, so all in all it wasn’t what it was built up to be, so I was just happy to get the 2 dives I needed for the ship wreck dive.
The next morning we got our bags packed, and started our way down the east coast.

A Complete Wreck

We arrived to a small town called Alva Beach, from where I was about to go on the dive. As we got to the hostel at around 8pm, we found that the travel agent didn’t book the hostel for us and the dive for me, as he was supposed to do, but very fortunately for us, there were 2 beds left, and another spot at the following day’s boat trip.

Next morning, I got up at 7am, and went to eat breakfast and attend the briefing for the ship wreck dive. The ship is called “The S.S Yongala”, and was in service between 1903 and 1911, when it was drowned during a level 5 cyclone on the shores of Australia’s east coast. The ship was discovered only in the 1960’s, by 2 recreational divers. All 134 crew members were found dead in the chambers, and were moved to a single hall, which was locked and declared as a grave site by Australia’s department of conservation. The Wreck is completely covered with corals, and it’s not allowed to enter the wreck, only to dive around it.

We boarded the dive boat, and took a 45 minutes ride to the site of the ship wreck. The wreck is on the sea floor, at a depth of 30 meters, so because I’ve only completed the “Open waters” course, and not qualified to do deep dives, the instructor took me to the bottom of the ocean, and had me practice a skill for deep dives, which was to show me a board of 16 numbers, and have me point at every consecutive number, and then my nose, just to show you how slowly you think under the influence of nitrogen, when deep diving. I thought I did it rather quickly, but he showed me his stopwatch after I finished, and it showed 1:07 for counting up to 16. To hide my wounded pride, I told him I am dyslectic, and demanded a test out load. After the small test, we started our dive around the ship wreck.

Up to that point, I looked at diving as a new exiting experience for me. Although I enjoyed every single one of the dives I’ve done, I’ve always had a general inconvenience when diving, and most dives I even had problems with my gear, usually a leaky mask, because of my beard.

This dive was different in any way possible. My gear was perfect. I had no leaks in my mask, the amount of weights I was carrying was just right, and I was free from worrying about that. We started our way around the wreck, and the sight was magnificent. The old metal body was tilted on its side, completely covered with brilliant colored corals, and everywhere around were thousands of huge fish swimming a touching distance away. We started our way from the bottom, where the anchor was still deep in sand. Under the vessel there were amazing huge fish resting on the bottom, in the shade of the boat. We swam on, and made our way up to the deck, stopping to peek through dirty glass windows inside the ship. We were just able to barely see the rooms in the dim light, but could still notice two toilet bowls completely covered with corals.

On my way up the side of the ship, I suddenly saw two divers in front of me pointing below me. I turned my head, and then I saw one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life – a HUGE old sea turtle was swimming 1 meter under me. I can’t really describe the sight, but I still have goose bumps writing these words. Without a drop of cynicism, it was fucking majestic.

On the way up to the surface, we managed to see a manta rey swimming calmly around us in its beautiful wavy manner.

I felt free and mesmerized like I’ve never felt before, and that experience was without a doubt, the best thing I’ve done my whole trip. It’s hard for me to think of a better diving experience than this, but I will sure as hell going to look for it.

We ended the dive with a big barbeque back at the hostel, and jumped into the car to head down south to our next stop. After a couple of hours drive, we arrived to Airlie Beach, where we booked a trip to the Whitsundays, which is a group of islands. In these islands, hundreds of young tourists embark on 2 or 3 days cruises, to experience a bit of the sea life, and mainly to drink alcohol.

A Free Spirit

The next morning we drove to the wharf, to check in for the cruise we booked (called “The Pegasus”), when we found that our asshole of an agent made a mistake in the booking for the cruise, and the boat is already full. After calling and arguing with the guy, we had to settle for a different boat, called Habibi.

Before boarding the boat we were told that we cannot take our bags, because of bedbugs we might have on them, so we have to put our stuff in a canvas bag, and also it’s not allowed to take glass bottles on the boat, so we had to pour our rum and whiskey to empty water bottles.

We boarded the boat, along with 20 other people, settled into a tiny room under the deck, and went on to bask and bake in the sun. I read, listened to music, chatted to the other people on the boat, and all in all, chilled out. Every couple of hours, a bell ring was heard, announcing another meal being served.

That night we were taught the drinking card game which was the main motive for the following week, called “the ring of fire”. In this game, the whole pack of cards is set in a circle on the table, and each person takes one card, which has a rule to it. “2 is for you”, meaning you nominate someone else to drink. “3 is for me”, meaning you drink. “4 is the floor”, so everyone has to put their thumbs on the table, last person to do so drinks. “5 is for the guys”, so the guys drink. “6 for chicks”, so girls drink. I can go on and write all the insightful rules this game offers, but as you can guess for yourself, after a very short time, no one cares about the cards, rules, sea, boat, cruise, beaches, other people, or anything else, to be honest, and either finds someone to sleep with, or fall asleep alone, with dreams of clubs and diamonds, hearts and spades and a set of rules that no one really needs.

The next morning, after shaking the hangover, we arrived to the most attractive beach on the Whitsundays group, called “whitehaven beach”. The most amazing thing about this beach, is that the sand contains 99% silica, which makes it’s texture unlike anything you ever saw. First of all, the sand is completely white, secondly, it sticks to your feet life flour, and thirdly, when you walk on it, it makes a squeaky sound, like basketball shoes on a court, when you fake.

As I wrote before, Keith is a rugby player, thus he claims to run fast, so after a short while on the beach we decided to race. We grouped a couple more guys, drew two lines on the sand, 90 meters apart, and went to the start line. A girl was standing on the finish line with her arms in the air, and when she lowered her arms, we started running as fast as we can. Apparently Keith wasn’t ready when we started (or so he claims), because when I started running, I saw him still in his “about to start running” position, and all I heard was: “oh, tits McGee!”, which is Irish for “oh, shit!”.

I won’t say who won, but there is a photo finish shot for you to guess.

We went back on the boat, and continued our journey of doing nothing for that day, and the next day we went back to Airlie Beach. Keith and I agreed that although it was nice, the cruise itself wasn’t what it was built up to be, because except going to the beach, we didn’t do anything off the boat.

The next day we drove to a small town called 1770, which is the place where captain cook first disembarked on the land of Australia, named after the year of that event. We met a girl I was at the Yongala dive with, and we had a nice day at the beach, and a fun evening in the hostel, playing – you guessed it – the ring of fire.

Fraser Island

The following morning we drove to a place called rainbow beach, which is the base town for the Fraser Island self guided tours. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world, meaning that it’s made only from sand. No rocks. The huge trees and bush life filling the island is rooted in white and yellow sand, throughout the island. The tours to the island are self guided, meaning you and 10 more people are received a huge jeep and a map, and you tour the island on your own time and will. The island has numerous camp sites scattered, and you can choose to camp wherever you wish. That night we met our group, a mix of 5 Germans (4 chicks, 1 guy), 3 English girls, and one Finish girl.

The group had instant chemistry, and after the briefing we stayed chatting and laughing together. Fortunately, only one girl was vegetarian, no gluten intolerants, no glucose intolerant, and no fun intolerant, so shopping for the trip was easy. Keith and I bought 3 boxes of goon, which is the cheapest Australian alcoholic drink, which is basically the worst cheapest disgusting box wine, which is 4.4 liter, for $12 (making it 3.3 liters of wine each, every night...)

All together we were 3 groups of 11 people each, from all over the world. It wasn’t surprising for me to discover that I’m the oldest among these 33 people.

The next morning, after packing all of our stuff on the top of the huge monster jeep, we drove to the ferry, to go to Fraser Island. Except me, only Keith and another girl signed as drivers, so I volunteered to start driving, being the oldest in the group.

After a short 15 minutes ferry to the island, we started our journey on the long stretchy beaches. The drive was smooth and fun, and being the oldest in the tribe, our jeep was leading the way through. We took a turn off inland, and drove until we got a beautiful lake called Bujouwaan Lake.

In the middle of the sandy island, there are about 30 fresh water lakes, green and blue amidst the brilliant yellow sand. We had lunch on the beach, and went on to camp on a close by campsite.

That night, after raising our tents and preparing a big feast, made out of burgers and vegetables, we sat the whole group together, and played “the ring of fire”. The game went on as planned, because after a few rounds, everyone was blissfully drunk, barely making his way to the tent.

The next day, after a quick breakfast, we drove to McKinzy Lake, which is the most famous lake on the island, and rightfully so. It is a hidden paradise, with a brilliant turquoise waters turning into deep marine blue in the deep. The cloudy sky cleared up for a sunny hour of basking on the hot sand.

We went on to prepare lunch, drove to the main town on the island, called Eurong, where we made a quick stop to the shop, and drove on to the beach, to camp for the night. Although we weren’t doing too much, the overall relaxed atmosphere was great, and we had a lot of fun in the campsite, eating and drinking together.

The group got along great, and we had a really fun night.

The next morning we packed our stuff for the last time, and we drove on the beach to another lake called “Wabby Lake”, which we got to after a 30 minutes’ walk through the woods. The lake itself was unique, as it was deep green, and surrounded by massive dunes of beach sand. We couldn’t really understand how that scenery was created, but it was indeed very beautiful.
We walked back to the car, and drove back to the ferry, to be taken back to rainbow beach town.

That night we all got a hot shower, hot meal, and after sorting our stuff, assembled in the common room of the hostel, for another karaoke night. Now, I know that the last time I’ve posted a video of me singing drove everyone watching it, out of the room screaming, but this time I recruited Keith to my help.

Keith is a very good singer, and a relentless one too, so I hoped my voice will be disguised by his, even if just a bit. We looked for an appropriate song for our trip together, so “the ring of fire” by Johnny Cash, was an obvious selection.

Announcer: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Mister Johnny Cash!”.

The next morning we said goodbye to all of our friends from the group, and drove down towards Brisbane, to stop for a visit in the “Australia Zoo”.

“Oh, Crikey!”

Steve Irwin was one of Australia’s favorite celebrities. He had a nature TV show; where he used to catch crocodiles, fight with alligators, which brought him world acclaim. Before dying in 2006 from a stingray accident, he built the Australia zoo, just north of Brisbane, which holds amazing animals. I thought that although I have only a month in Australia and I won’t be able to see much wildlife here, I have to go and see it, even if in captivity.

The first thing you see when you enter the zoo is the massive crocodile pools. The huge monsters inside these cages are frightening even to look at.

We went on to see a koala show, and I cannot even begin to describe how cute these creatures are. They look like stuffed puppets, or like robot dolls. They sleep for 18 hours a day, and the rest the use to eat and mate. I took a hundred photos of the poor things in about 3 minutes.

After that, we went to the Cassowaries cage, which is pretty much a huge colored Bat Yaana, with a black hat. After that, we went to see a Tasmanian devil, but on the way we stumbled upon a weird looking lizard...

The devils are a strange looking animal, reminding you of a huge mouse combined with a mole.

Next, we went on to see a crocodile feeding show. The show was very touristy, but before they brought the star croc out, the displayed an amazing array of beautiful birds, some with brilliant colors you can’t believe exist.

The main attraction was a 3.5 meters long crocodile, age of 41, caught in the 80’s. It can sweep as fast as 5 meters per second in the water, and it uses its huge 1.5 meters tail to push itself out of the water for a fast deadly jump on its prey. The trainer gave the monster a small chunk of meat, which didn’t really impress the giant, but after a couple of growls it just turned away and crawled back to its den.

The next thing we did was the main attraction of the day. You walk into a huge roaming zone, where around 30 kangaroos live. You can come as close as you want and even pet them. The encounter with such famous but distant animals was amazing. You grow up hearing about these animals, like Koalas and Kangaroos, but you never expect to see one in real life. The Kangaroos are really calm and relaxed, or maybe just bored.

We finished the trip to the zoo in the Koala sanctuary, where I got to pet a koala, which was also really cool.

We drove down to Brisbane, where I will meet Celine, the French girl I met in Fiji, and we will leave Keith for his job search, and make our way to Sydney.

In 10 days I will board my flight back home. I miss everyone, and can’t wait to come back and start the new chapter in my life, but at the same time I know how much I will miss the feeling of freedom in travelling. I’m not drawing conclusions yet. That’s what the last week is for.

Have a good 10 days; see you sooner than you think.

Love,

Sivan