We land in cairns airport around 4am, pretty tired so we curl up on a couple of benches and get a couple of hours sleep before getting a shuttle bus to drop us at JJ's backpackers. What a great decision to stay there, cheap, clean but the best things about JJ's was the people. We met Serge on our first boat trip to the reef and we'd hang out with him, Xavier, Phillip and Jan (the worlds tallest teenage Germans!) most evenings. They also gave us a free evening meal of Chilli, Bolognaise or pasta at the Woolshed but Veronika and i chose to upgrade to one of the excellent proper meals most evenings, ah, how good to taste steak again. Quite often the evenings would go from Boxes of wine "Goon" at the hostel, evening meal and then party on in the Woolshed. Alot of days were then spent recovering by the pool back at JJ's, expect for the boat trips and one other day at the beautiful botanical gardens.
Do Cairns jsme prileteli ve 4 hodiny rano a protoze jsme vedeli, ze nic nebude otevrene, tak jsme se na par hodin umistili na lavicky a snazili se spat nez byl cas, aby nas autobus odvezl do JJ's Backpackers. Vyborne rozhodnuti, kde se ubytovat. Ne jenom, ze hostel byl cisty a levny, ale co jsme tam potkali za super lidi. Se Sergiem jsme se seznamili na nasem prvnim vylete pri snorchlovani v Barierovem utesu. Pak tam byl Xavier, Jan a Filip ( 2 nejvyssi Nemecci teenageri!).S temito osobami jsme stravili skoro kazdy vecer v tydnu. V JJ's Backpackers jsme taky meli vecerni jidlo v baru, ktery se jmenoval Woolshed. Spagety Bolonese, Mlete maso s chilli a ryzi a vegetarianske testoviny byli kazdy vecer zadarmo. Kdyz jsme si ale priplatili nejaky ten dolar, dostali jsme kralovske porce opravdickych dobrot. Jak moc se Pete tesil ze steaku a kuratka. Vetsina veceru probihala stejne, pitim krabicoveho vina, pak vecere ve Woolshed a party po veceri. Behem dne jsme se dostavali z opic v bazenu, ktery byl taky v JJ's. Jeden den jsme si udelali vylet do botanicke zahrady a cekali az se pocasi umoudri a my muzeme na vylet do utesu.
We did two trips to the Great Barrier Reef, the first of which saw us out on 6 meter waves, which at the count of the crew involved me being sick 8 times just on the way out! They were brilliant though and despite jumping around in the worst conditions, patting backpackers backs whilst they chuck up everywhere they managed to keep spirits high and smiles on all our faces. But it was all worth it as the reef was stunning, the most beautiful either of us have seen, and thanks to serge we have some decent underwater shots of some of it. We were planning to move down the coast but a cyclone meant we were forced to stay put in cairns so we decided with Serge and Xavier to go back to the reef this time on a sail boat. A completely different experience, but in my opinion, one of the best i've ever had. The journey was smooth and relaxing, the crew very chilled and easy going, we moored up just out from green island, done some good snorkling, had a delicious lunch, took mini boat over to the island and then the fun began. Back at the boat just Veronika, myself and one other girl came back to find 9 black tip reef sharks circling the boat. Although they are harmless, at 1.5 meters any shark looks pretty intimidating, we weren't sure about more snorkling. Untill the girl with us just ran and jumped in! It was amazing, feeding the sharks and then getting in for a snorkle, in fact even more scary was the 2 meter fish known to the crew as "darf vader" one of the ugliest looking fish i've seen. On the way back to land they got the sails out and we had cake, wine and cheese, delicious. After a week, it was time to move on, we felt genuinely sad to leave Cairns and our new friends behind, before the midnight bus though there was still time for one last dance and drink game in the woolshed, and would you believe veronika wins some free drinks!
Do Barieroveho utesu jsme zavitali dvaktrat. Pri prvnim vylete se nase lod probijela 6 metrovymi vlnami. Cela posadka byla ve strehu a doporucila tabletky proti nevolnosti. Coz ne v kazdem pripade pomohlo. Chudak Pete se pozvracel asi 8 krat, coz ho vyhodila na nejvyssi pricky ze vsech cestujicich. Ale i pres Peteovu nevolnost, vsechno, co jsme pozdeji videli, stalo za to! Ani jeden z nas nikdy nevidel tak prekrasny podmorsky svet plny zivota a barev. Diky Sergiovi mame z prvniho vyletu i super podmorske fotky. Planovali jsme, ze by bylo treba se zase o kousek posunout, ale diky cyklonu, ktery radil na jih o nas, jsme se rozhodli zustat dele a zajet na nas druhy vylet do utesu. Tento vylet byl sice taky snorchlovaci, ale uplne jiny. More bylo poklidne a my si uzivali pomalou jizdou na jachte. Jak jsme pripluli na urcene misto, skocili jsme do vody trosku si zasnourchlovat, pak se naobedvali, naskakali do motoroveho clunu a na par hodin byli odvezeni na maly ostrov, co byl pobliz. My s Petem, jsme se nachali privest trosku drive, abychom jeste mohli do vody a snorchlovat. Cekalo tam asi 9 Utesovych zraloku, kteri sice neji lidi, ale budili respekt. Krmili jsme je skoro primo z ruky a dokonce i naskakali do vody. Pete skocil mezi ne, nez jsem do vody skocila ja uz byli dale, co mi zase az tak nevadilo. Taky kolem plavala velika cerna ryba, ktera nevypadala mile a pratelsky. Super plavani! Na ceste zpet jsme dostali zakusky, sklenici vina a syry na tacku, hmm jaka dobrota. Pak uz to byl tyden, co jsme byli v Cairns a my se museli hnout z mista. Posledni vecer pred pulnocnim autobusem jsme stravili s kamarady ve Woolshed, kde jsem posledni noc vyhrala i drink zadarmo!
After our goodbyes and before getting on the road the driver read out some warnings from Airlie Beach that they had been in a cyclone and we all had to sign disclaimers about travelling there, scary. We hadn't travelled on an overnight coach since Vietnam, the drivers are nowhere near as insane but i think they still believe that we are meat that might go off unless we are stored below freezing! The aircon is ridiculous, and the jets from above seem to always end up shooting straight down my throat as i sleep. Anyway, the next morning we arrive to quite alot of carnage in Airlie beach. There were a fair few boats smashed and washed up, lots of trees down and minor flooding. There was also alot of talk around as to how visibility out around the whitsunday islands was very bad and the waters choppy, we decided not too spend a large chunk of our money on more boat trips and quickly moved on to Noosa.
Pote, co jsme se rozloucili jsme byli pripraveni na cestu na Airlie plaz. Nez jsme vsichni naskakali do autobusu, byli jsme pouceni o situaci, ktera tam nastala diky cyklonu a museli podepsat, ze tam cestujeme na vlastni risk. Nocnim autobusem jsme nejeli od Vietnamu a ikdyz se opatrnost ridicu absolutne neda srovnat, zdalo se nam, ze i ridici v Australii maji pocit, ze prevazi maso a aby se jim nahodou po ceste nezkazilo, tak klimatizace proudi naplno primo do nasich tvari. Jak jsme rano dojeli na Airlie Plaz, videli jsme, co cyklon zpusobil. Lode vyplavene na brehy, vyvracene stromy a stale nektere ulice mirne pod vodou. Protoze kazdych 5 minut prselo, more nebylo klidne a viditelnost koralu miziva, rozhodli jsme se nevidet Whitsunday ostrovy, ktere jsou tak popularni. Vylet na tyto ostrovy zrovna neni nejlevnejsi a nema cenu to podstupovat za kazde situace. Proto jsme hned dalsi den vyrazili opet na cestu do mista z nazvem Noosa.
Noosa is a quite, relaxing town, with great surf and beautiful costal scenery. It was also the place we meet up with my old friend from my first Australian adventure, Dutch Paul! He came up for the weekend from Brisbane with the lovely Rosa and we had some beers and a meal at the hostel. The following day we took a brilliant walk 5km along the coast through a couple of nudist beaches, through costal rain forest and leading us to see our first wild koala. Paul then kindly drove us to brisbane via a couple of cool beauty spots and a waterfall where we stayed a couple of nights at his place. Whilst in Brisbane we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to cuddle a koala and feed the kangaroo, a fantastic afternoon out.
Noosa je pekne poklidne a relaxacni misto, kde lidi hlavne surfuji a prochazeji se po vyznacenych stezkach na utesech podel more. Take to bylo misto, kde se Pete sesel s jeho kamaradem Paulem z Holandska, se kterym cestoval pred 4 lety, seznamili se v Australii. Paul prijel i s jeho kamaradkou Rosou a stravili tak s nami vikend v Noosa. Jeden den jsme se rozhodli projit si jednu 5 km stezku. Byla to krasna prochazka, narazili jsme i na nudistickou plaz a videli nasi prvni neochocenou koalu. Dalsi den jsme vsichni naskakali do Pauloveho autoa a vyrazili na cestu do Brisbane. Udelali jsme si par zastavek na fotky, obed a prochazku pres les. Paul nam nabidnul prenocovat u nej na 2 noci, ktere jsme meli v planu stravit v tomto meste. Jeden den jsme si zajeli na misto, kde chovaji hlavne Koaly. Bylo jich tam alespon 150. Taky jsme si je za poplatek mohli pochovat. Mimo jine jsme tam taky meli moznost krmit klokany primo z dlane. Bylo to super odpoledne plne zazitku.
Then before we knew it it was time for more goodbyes and off to Byron Bay and Nimbin. . . To be continued . . .
A nez by clovek rekl svec, uz byl zase cas sbalit si par svestek, rozloucit se s Paulem a vyrazit na cestu do Byron Zalivu a Nimbinu. . . Pokracovani priste . . .
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