Around the World 1998; Australia
Note; this post is recreated from the original wired2theworld website post with the dates below. The old posts were reformatted in 2018 for the 20th anniversary of wired2theworld. As much as possible, the content is unchanged and unedited from the original, only some formatting, spelling, and link errors have been corrected.
AUSTRALIA: Sydney
US$1=A$1.62
Kristina’s Journal:
October 3, 1998 Why I Love Air New Zealand, Part 2
We got to the airport a little early (as usual so it seems) so we went to check in our bags. There was no one even in line yet. We had our seats already, but we figured we’d ask for better ones, maybe near the exits? The guy behind the counter said, “Oh, I already gave you really good seats. The flight is full so I bumped you into Business Class.” He said it was because we were so “tidily dressed”. Nice, eh? And I thought their Economy Class was good, Business Class blows it away. Better food, better wine, bigger seats, private movie screens. It’s the difference between plastic cups and glass and china. So, I sat back and watched Lethal Weapon 4, and David proceeded to drink his way through the flight.
When we got to the airport we set about trying to find a place to stay. Turns out not only is today the first day of school holiday here, but it’s also a three day holiday weekend. First, we went to the accommodations booking desk, but they said they didn’t book budget, only 3-star and up. But, she had a room available in a nice 3 star for $A75 a night. Out of budget. So then we went over to the big accommodations board and called a five or six of the hostels. Full, full, full, full, and “yeah, we have one twin share ( two beds) left for $A50 a night. At that point it wasn’t a very hard choice, hmmm, nice hotel with bed, our own bathroom, TV, phone…or youth hostel? What would you do? Yeah, here’s my credit card.
The hotel is called the Rex and it’s in an area called Potts Point, right at the edge of Kings Cross. In fact, most of the hostels we called are right around the corner. Luckily for us, they had vacancies and book what they call “standby” here. I think this room normally goes for over $A200 a night. Anyway, turns out to be a really nice hotel in a decent area. Loving it!
The area known as Kings Cross, on the other hand, reminds me of Times Square in NY before they cleaned it up. Strip bars, prostitutes, junkies, sex shops, fast food, and backpackers. Sydney is a very interesting city, it’s quite large and spread out, separated by harbors.
Our first night here we went out on a quest to find dinner and found a great Japanese noodle shop right down the road (where we actually didn’t eat noodles, but had great gyoza).
October 4, 1998
Today we walked around and wound up down at Darling Harbor which is a nice, touristy area that has the Sydney Aquarium, Maritime Museum, and an IMAX theater. We walked around, enjoyed the nice weather and then took the ferry to Circle Quay and the Rocks area for more strolling. Sydney has a metro system, which we used to get back to the hotel, but it’s very confusing.
October 5, 1998
We discovered that because of the holidays there are no trains available to go to Cairns. This made us a bit nervous so we went in search of airplane tickets. We wound up at the Backpacker’s Travel Agency on Victoria St. in King’s Cross where we bought plane tickets, booked a 3-day dive boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef, and a 3-day jungle trip up to Cape Tribulation from Cairns. Good thing we did too because the dive cruises were all starting to book up full and it was more a process of elimination than picking the one we wanted. Zoe at the Backpacker’s was a wonderful help and oh so patient with us as we agonized over our choices. She was a fountain of information and advice and was the one that recommended the Cape Tribulation trip to us. She also booked us into youth hostels for our various days in and out of Cairns.
David’s very excited about the dive trip which has 10 dives, including one night dive. I’m nervous. I just hope I remember to breathe properly and not rise to the surface too fast. What’s this facination/obsession that all divers seem to have about seeing sharks. That seems to be the big draw everywhere, “Dude, did you see a shark? I did and it was huge!” I’d rather see some pretty, colorful fish that don’t bite!
We had a great meal tonight in an Indian restaurant called India Down Under! We had Naan, Raita, Chicken Tikka Masala, and Lamb Vindaloo. Good food, excellent service.
October 6, 1998
Today we went to the office of PADI Australia to pick up our official PADI certification cards. Two train rides and one bus later, way out in the suburbs, we had our cards in our hot little hands. It’s great when a plan actually works (we were afraid after getting certified in Fiji and sending the application from NZ, that they might not be there).
We also went to American Express here to get some cash and while we were there decided to buy a little Indonesian Rupiah for our upcoming trip to Bali. Only US$60 equals 500,000 Rupiah! Wow! We’re almost millionaires!
Back to the unnamed noodle shop tonight for dinner for some yummy
Tomorrow up to the Great Barrier Reef…..
Kristina’s Notes: The Sydney Fish Market
This is a great place to go if you like seafood. You can go early and watch the boats unload at the dock or watch the seafood auction. Or, like us, you can go for lunch and wander the stalls until something looks good to you. There is all variety of fresh raw and cooked seafood. There is also a bottle shop there with a great selection of wine where they’ll even sell you plastic wine glasses and open the bottle for you. We started here with a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and then bought a dozen Tasmanian freshly shucked oysters and a quarter kilo of cooked large prawns.
We took this out to the wharf where there are benches and table set up (try to go during the week, we went on a holiday and the place was packed with people). The oysters were from the cold water of the Tasmanian Sea in Southern Australia and were very briny and good. (raw oyster tip; only eat raw oysters from cold water. Make sure they have been freshly shucked-preferably in front of you and that they still have their natural juices are not dried out.) David made me peel and clean all the shrimp for him, of course, because after years of practice (and hundreds of pounds of shrimp), I can do it much faster than he can.
Next course, we went to the sushi stall and got a small assorted box of sushi and then over to one of the fish fryers to get a mixed fish and chips plate. All was good. Also very affordable (example: oysters were A$8 a dozen there vs. A$18-22 in the Sydney restaurants).
Note from 20 years in the future; both David and I remember taking photos in Sydney, yet we cannot find any, and none are on the original web page for Sydney.
AUSTRALIA: Cairns
Kristina’s Journal:
October 7, 1998 The Mad Irishman of Cairns (or, Sex and the Single Coral)
If the flight to Sydney in business class and the nice hotel were a little slice of heaven, the flight on Ansett from Sydney to Cairns and the hostel here must be some sort of penance. The flight was bumpy, crowded, and the food, well, pitiful (literally bread and water).
We’re staying at the Caravella 77 Backpacker’s Hostel right on the Esplanade here in Cairns. I’m sure it’s fine as Youth Hostels go, but the room is a bit scary. There’s a bed with a bad mattress, a sink, a single bulb light,
When we got into town we had lunch at one of the many local Lebanese Kebab places and then went looking for the dive shop, CDC (Cairns Dive Center), that is running our dive trip. We were reassured to see that they are a 5 star PADI dive center (something our instructors were not).
When we were booking this trip back in Sydney, Zoe at the Backpacker’s Travel Center told us that we had to go see “Reef Teach”, a presentation about diving the reef here in Cairns. When we got here, we saw a flyer for it and given our other plans, decided to go see it tonight. It was well worth it.
For A$10 per you get a 2 1/4 hour presentation on the marine life of the reef by Paddy, this completely mad Irishman. He’s a certified dive instructor as well as a marine biologist who specializes in temperate waters. He does a slide show packed with information about the various types of fish and coral that live on the reef, tells you what you can and cannot touch, and completely enthralls and entertains while he does it. I think I learned more in two hours than I did in an entire semester of Marine Biology in high school. This is absolutely a must for anyone planning on snorkeling or scuba diving here. Reef Teach is located at 14 Spence St and the show is Mon-Sat at 6:15.
So, some of the interesting things we learned about the reef…The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living organism on the planet made up of thousands of tiny coral reefs and islands. It can be seen from the moon with the naked eye. We learned about many of the fish we might encounter and how to tell them apart; Damsel fish, Wrasse, Angel Fish, and about the differences between soft and hard coral. For those of you that don’t know, coral is a very delicate living animal, not just a plant or a rock as some people think. Simply brushing up against it can damage it or even kill it. We also learned that all coral on the Great Barrier Reef spawns at the same time every year; 3 to 6 days after the 11th full moon of the year. This is how coral has sex and reproduce. They do it all at the same time to increase their chance of survival, the more eggs floating out there in the water, the more likely at least some will survive and not be eaten.
Paddy pointed out to us that the reefs of the world are being destroyed at a faster rate than the rain forests, but this goes mostly unchecked because underwater is “out of sight, out of mind.” Most of this damage is manmade; pollution in the water, global weather changes due to global warming, and worst of all destructive fishing methods like dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing. On an up note, many of the reefs are now being protected, so that tourists like us will come here and spend money to dive them. One last fun fact, sea cucumbers, already probably one of the ocean’s more disgusting creatures, breath through their anus using sticky tentacles that they push out and then suck back in. Thought you’d like to know…..
David’s Diary:
October 8, 1998 In the jungle, the mighty jungle….
Cape Tribulation, Daintree Rain forest, Tropical North Queensland, Australia
I know that we have oohed and aahed the New Zealand ad nauseum, but let me return to the subject of rain forests with a fresh new look. The NZ forests are all ‘sub-tropical’, which simply means that they are located south of the Tropic of Capricorn, an imaginary line which borders all that is ‘tropical’ south of the equator (to the north, you will find the tropic of cancer). Now we are in THE REAL THING.
This is the jungle we have all seen on National Geographic and dreamed of in our fantasies of being stranded with Harrison Ford or Anne Heche on some tropical isle. Thick, lush, and moist. The trees, banana and all fruits tropical, as well as Jurassic fern trees, coconuts, and mangrove, lay like thick carpet right up to the water’s edge. There is a small stretch of beach in some places, but most of the coast is swampy, with the mangrove trees growing right out the 85-degree water, their shallow roots above ground like an overturned basket. The sounds of this jungle here, as compared with Hawaii, Fiji, and NZ, are like nothing I have ever heard with the exception of that ‘jungle noises’ tape that you can buy, with ocean sounds on the B side… There are things crying out, howling, hooting, chirping, cawing, cooing, and it just doesn’t stop! The sound does, however, cycle up and down in intensity, building slowly to a crescendo, and then -cut- near silence. One by one, the birds and insects and everything else out there begins anew, each with a distinct song or sound, all in time, and all as if part of an arrangement prepared by mother nature herself.
This is one of the three oldest rainforests on the planet, along with the Congo and the Amazon, and the only one which connects directly to another of earths true wonders, the great barrier reef. We saw the reef from the plane, and I am still in awe of the whole thing. It is not, contrary to my previous misconception, one single reef. It is 2700 kilometers of sections of reef all lined up next to one another. It is the single largest living organism (a reef system, although made up of zillions of little animals, is considered a single living entity, as it relies on all of its members to continue living and growing) on the planet, and, as I think Kristina mentioned above, can be seen without a telescope from outer space! I can not wait to get out there and scuba dive the reef. The rainforest boasts one hell of a collection of rare species of life, animal and plant, including crocodiles (up to 8 meters long), tree kangaroos, koala bears, and Cassowary birds- a Jurassic leftover not unlike an ostrich or emu.
Today we have seen Ulysses Butterfly, a large, cobalt blue-winged butterfly of indescribable beauty, bats by the thousands at dusk, a host of birds whose names I just don’t know (can’t know everything, eh..), and yes, the infamous CANE TOAD! Those readers who are either family or old friends will understand the significance of this sighting, and the rest of you should go out to your local video store and rent this most fabulous documentary, called “Cane Toads”. We saw the little bugger from our mini tour bus, en route to Cape Tribulation from Cairns. As the driver of the bus, Blackie (a white guy), swerved to try to squash it, he briefly narrated the history of the cane toad, and at once confirmed the truth of this little bit of folklore I have always held dear. I am serious. If you have not yet seen this documentary, do so right away, and invite all your friends. It is more fun than anything now showing at the cinema, I guarantee it.
In addition to being beautiful, it is humid here. If it were not humid, it would not be a rain forest I suppose, but, damn is it humid. After dinner, a camp-like feast of pasta and salad, complete with camp songs- CCR: fortunate son (that’s me), Dylan: everybody must get stoned (that’s not me), and the Beach Boys: Sloop John B. (a definite sixth grade camp song), I got into a game of pool on a billiard table with a local.
By billiards, I mean all the balls were
Tomorrow, we seek out the elusive and dangerous snapping handbag Crocodile St. Laurent.
Kristina’s Journal:
October 10, 1998 Cape Tribulation
Well, since Dave gave you all the flowery jungle stuff, I guess it’s my duty to give you the details about what we did and where we stayed. Odds are, if you come to Cairns you will be offered a budget trip up to Cape Tribulation. There are a few resorts, but only one “backpacker’s ” accommodation, PK’s Jungle Resort along with PK’s Jungle Inn, across the road.
The Jungle Resort has all the single’s dorms, 8 beds in a wooden hut. They also have a mildly overpriced restaurant and bar that definitely does have the summer camp feel to it. This is the place for the 18-25 singles set. Across the road is a take-away food stand which is the only other food around. Both the resort and the Inn have small pools and the beach is only a 400 meter walk away.
The Jungle Inn is also called the Cape Homestead and has toilet/shower block along with cabins that are actually steel and canvas tents with large awnings over them. They have wooden doors, screened in windows, and a fan. They are only slightly more expensive and only come as double or twin rooms. Much quieter and less of a party atmosphere than the resort.
Jungle Tours is the company we used for the bus ride up and back and they did a good job. On the way up we stopped for breakfast in the little town of Mossman and then off we went to get to the cape with plenty of time to do those activities!! That seems to be the goal, to sign you up for as many activities as possible. There was horseback riding, bush walks, sea kayaking, reef diving, all really out of our budget. So, we went to the beach, which is why we went up there in the first place (note: Cairns has no beach! It’s built on mud flats, so don’t expect any fun on the sand there). And a magnificent beach it is, I might add. Fine, powdery sand, shallow warm water, jungle and swaying palm trees right up to the beach. Amazing! We built a giant lizard in the sand on the first day.
One of the other things we did was go to the Bat House. This is a rainforest conservation hut across the road where they take care of wounded and sick flying foxes, also known as fruit bats. For a small donation, you can go in and meet one of their resident bats. We met Alexis, and had the chance to feed her a banana. She was very tame, sweet, and friendly. So friendly, after we fed her, she wanted to lick the salt off our hands! Fruit bats have a wingspan of over 3 feet with thumb-like claws on the tips for maneuvering around. She even reached out and grabbed us with them to bring us closer! She had soft black fur, wings that feel like leather, and very smart eyes. The picture you see of her is not upside down, that’s how they are at rest; they hang from their feet and fold their wings around them. In fact, they only turn “right side up” to go to the bathroom.
On our second day at the beach, David decided he wanted to build a big sand castle. It took a few hours, and with only a little help from me, he finished his masterpiece!
On the way back from Cape Tribulation, we stopped at a local place where they make ice cream from only the local fruit. Good stuff, weird flavors.
We also stopped to take a one hour cruise down the Daintree River, supposedly to see crocodiles, but they all seemed to be hiding. So, it was a hot, humid, one hour cruise to see lots of mangrove trees and a few birds. Oh well.
The highlight of the trip back to Cairns was the stop at Mossman Gorge where we had our choice of rainforest walk or a swim in the gorge. We took a swim and it was just wonderful! The water was so cool and clean and refreshing and the gorge is quite big enough for swimming, even with the 50 or so people that were there.
All in all, the trip was a good one, and worth the money (A$128 per person for transportation and lodging). If you go, I would recommend, bringing food to cook in the kitchen, because the food was overpriced and only mediocre. Also, the optional activities were expensive, but everyone who went horseback riding into the ocean said it was well worth it. Tomorrow we have a day in Cairns and then it’s off to the reef to dive.
David’s Diary:
October 15,
As the shadow of Calypso fades into the distance, David and Kristina Cousteau descend further into the last great unexplored frontier, the undersea world of The Great Barrier Reef. Our quest is to seek out the last of deep sea giants… or something like that. Actually, the ship we were on is named Stella Maris (Cousteau’s famous Calypso sank several years ago, I believe), and she has as much class as any that I have ever sailed on. The Stella Maris was commissioned 25 years ago for the Sydney to Hobart race, and used as the radio vessel during the completion. Unlike most of the new dive boats out of Cairns, Stella only holds 20-22 people max, including crew, making for a much more intimate and personal dive experience. She is currently owned by a five star PADI dive company called Pro
The first mate, Gavin, was just as mellow as Zonker Harris, from Doonesbury comics, although definitely not a hippie, or as the Ozzies say, a feral. No, Gavin was more like Aquaman, from the Superfriends. This guy was, in my eyes, a diving superhero. He dove with no wetsuit, even to 100 ft. No worries, mate. He could stay down for an hour and a half!! 90 minutes, on a single tank! Most of the newly certified divers were out of
Kristina and I had the pleasure of diving with him once, and it was a great learning experience. He moves like a fish in the water, slowly and deliberately, inches from the reef, or the bottom, but never actually touching a thing, he is perfectly neutrally buoyant. “I am a lazy diverCelsius he says, modestly. We know better. With over 3000 dives in 16 years, he is an experienced diver.
I did my best to emulate his style, or as Kristina put it “try to be a stud like him”, and by my last dive, I had shed the wetsuit, and most of the weights on my belt. I moved as slowly and calmly as I could, breathing with control, and I was able to hit 50 minutes with one tank, and majorly increase my buoyancy control. I probably had ten minutes more worth of air in my tank, but everyone else was on the boat already, waiting for me so I stopped playing with this enormous Batfish that I had befriended, and surfaced.
The reef itself is even more impressive in real life than on TV!! (can you tell what generation I grew up in?) The visibility was extraordinary, from 20 to 30
Kristina’s Journal:
October 15, 1998 Back from the Great Barrier Reef…
First, let me say this; the Great Barrier Reef is all that you’ve ever heard and more. It was truly stunning, beautiful, amazing.
We were blessed with beautiful weather, clear, hot, little wind. It was probably 85 degrees outside and 80 in the water (my dive gauge showed the water temperature at 27-30 degrees
The first day we were picked up at the YHA early in the morning and met another couple from Southern California, Suzanne, and Peter. They are traveling around the world for 6 months and are experienced divers taking their advanced course on the boat. We have met very few Americans here in Australia.
We were then taken down the day boat, where we would do two dives and then meet up with the Stella Maris. The first two dives were great and Dave and I kept to the shallows for fear of getting lost (this was a reoccurring theme). When we got to the other boat we were assigned our rooms, which for us was a 6 bunk cabin in the back of the ship where the air-conditioning was broken. We slept on the top deck of the boat that night.
That night we did our first night dive, accompanied by instructor Tom, Peter, and Suzanne, who were doing a navigation skill. It was interesting and a little scary at the same time. All you can see is what’s lit by the flashlight. Not much. We did see bioluminescent particles when we turned off the torches and it felt like outer space.
The following day, four more dives, first one, seven AM. Not the best dive because my mask kept filling with water. Then we got lost down under and came up far from the boat and had to swim against the current to get back. We were fortunate on that day to be accompanied on two of our dives by a dive master, Vicki, on one, and Gavin (Aquaman), on the other.
Our last day on the boat we woke at 6 AM to dive and did two more by 2:30 in the afternoon. We dove at Millin Reef at an area called The Whale. On the first dive, we went down to our limit, 18 meters and it was so clear! I couldn’t believe how far down we were and it didn’t feel like it. We saw a huge reef shark first off and a giant clam. Tons and tons of colorful coral and fish. Our following dive was there too and very much the same.
October 16, 1998
Today was spent in a flurry of activity getting ready to go to Bali. Repacking, organizing and culling our belongings was the first order of the day. We managed to significantly reduce what we had (I had to give up a pair of shoes!!) and we sent a big box home from the post office. Then, nervous about landing in Bali at 12:30 AM, we went to an STA office to get a hotel reservation for the first two nights. Mission accomplished.
We also went back to Internet Adventure where Micheal Caspaney, the owner, has graciously allowed us to use his fax line to make a call to hook up to iPass. He’s located at 31B Shields Street in Cairns and he’s got the best online rates around (A$6 an hour), good machines, ISDN lines, and a great, airconditioned facility. Here we added in all the photos from the dive trip. All those pictures were taken with an underwater camera. We then took photos of the photos and put them on the page.
Go here for the original page for Cairns.
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