Melbourne Photos

I’ve reached my free upload limit on Flickr for this month, so the next selection of photos are here instead. As you’ll see there’s something of a family/sports bias and not many sightseeing photos. Click the thumbnails below or scroll down to scroll through the images.

Yarra River

Yarra River

Federation Square

One of Melbourne’s laneways

Melbourne Street Art

Melbourne Street Art

Melbourne Park, MCG in background

Rod Laver Arena

Locker Room

Trophies

Trophy

Rocket Rod

Watching Aleksi’s basketball team.

Aleksi

On the beach at Franskton. Jonathan, Emma, Aleksi, Me.

AFL @ the MCG

Watching the footy at the ‘G

Celebrations after a Melbourne goal.

Me, Jonathan and Aleksi at the ‘G

Long Way Down

Uncle Jonathan at the ‘G

Aleski and Me

Sammy

The Roberts family and me. Jonathan, Aleksi, Me, Hannele, Emma.

At home with the Robertses. Hannele, Emma, Jonathan, Aleksi, Me.

1 Yarra River

2 Yarra River

3 Federation Square

4 One of Melbourne's laneways

5 Melbourne Street Art

6 Melbourne Street Art

7 Melbourne Park, MCG in background

8 Rod Laver Arena

9 Locker Room

10 Trophies

11 Trophy

12 Rocket Rod

13 Watching Aleksi's basketball team.

14 Aleksi

15 On the beach at Franskton. Jonathan, Emma, Aleksi, Me.

16 AFL @ the MCG

17 Watching the footy at the 'G

18 Celebrations after a Melbourne goal.

19 Me, Jonathan and Aleksi at the 'G

20 Long Way Down

21 Uncle Jonathan at the 'G

22 Aleski and Me

23 Sammy

24 The Roberts family and me. Jonathan, Aleksi, Me, Hannele, Emma.

25 At home with the Robertses. Hannele, Emma, Jonathan, Aleksi, Me.

Part IV – Brisbane to Cairns

Here’s the story of the last major leg of my Australian journey. There were no big hiccups after Brisbane: the weather was fine so all of the roads remained open and all of my journeys were smooth, if rather long. I had a slightly traumatic experience in Noosa when I ran out of Vegemite, and I got stung by a jellyfish on the Great Barrier Reef, but apart from that I really enjoyed Queensland’s east coast. After Brisbane I stopped briefly in Noosa, a nice but unexciting town on the Sunshine Coast, before continuing to Hervey Bay. As far as I could tell, there is nothing interesting to do in Hervey Bay apart from whale watching (which I didn’t have the time or money for) or getting a boat to Fraser Island.

Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island, and it’s one of the most diverse places I’ve ever been. We arrived on the west coast and boarded our four-wheel-drive bus (one of the joys of travelling out of season is sharing a 40-seater bus with 11 people) to drive along the rough and bumpy track through the rainforest to 75-Mile Beach on the east coast. After a short drive up the beach we went inland to walk across the golden sands of the Hammerstone Sandblow to go for a swim in Lake Wabby. After lunch we went for a walk through the forest along Wanggoolba Creek, then for a swim in the amazingly clear blue water of Lake McKenzie from its white sandy beaches. We stayed at a resort on the east coast, then in the morning we drove all the way up 75-Mile Beach to Indian Head, stopping to admire the Maheno shipwreck and the coloured sands of the Pinnacles on the way. We walked to the top of Indian Head to see the stunning views of the beaches and the rest of the island, then continued to the Champagne Pools to go for another swim. We then drove back down the beach to Eli Creek for yet more swimming, although the water was rather cold so I decided to just go for a paddle. On the way back to the resort we passed one of Fraser’s famous dingos.

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

Maheno Shipwreck, 75-Mile Beach, Fraser Island

Dingo on 75-Mile Beach, Fraser Island

Back on the mainland I made the 14 hour bus journey up to Airlie Beach. Airlie Beach is a bit more interesting than Hervey Bay, but it is still basically just an access point to the ocean, and in this case the Whitsunday Islands. I spent 2 days and 2 nights aboard the Samurai, a former racing yacht and participant in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. We did a bit of sailing around, stopping several times to go snorkelling and scuba diving. We stopped at the beautiful Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island for a few hours: the sand here is incredibly white and the sea is an unbelievable mixture of blues and turquoises. It’s a near-perfect beach, and almost as good as Wineglass Bay in Tasmania. The only thing lacking here was the solitude. The snorkelling and scuba diving from the boat were great as well. Back in Airlie Beach I went out for a few drinks with the other Samurai passengers, then got an early bus the next morning to Townsville.

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island

Samurai shipmates

Once again, Townsville was, for me, merely an access point to the sea. In fact I only saw Townsville’s bus station and ferry terminal, which happen to be in the same building. After a short ferry trip to Magnetic Island, I went for a walk through the forests to go snorkelling in a couple of the island’s secluded bays. On my way I saw a koala with (I think) a joey in her pouch at the base of a tree, although she climbed up pretty quickly when she spotted me. I spent a night on Magnetic Island and did some more snorkelling and koala-spotting on the next day, then went back to the mainland to catch an overnight bus to Cairns. As I’ve already indicated, my excursion from Cairns was my most eagerly anticipated activity on my trip so far. I’m going to ramble on about it for some time, so I’ll put it in a new post.

Kookaburra on Magnetic Island

Part III – Sydney to Brisbane

I survived my diving trip with nothing worse than a minor jellyfish sting, so here’s part III.

After my return to Sydney I went to Darling Harbour to watch a fun jetski firework display – some of the fireworks were actually launched from the jetskis! The rain was really heavy that evening, which was a shame, as I think only about 20 people were crazy enough to make the trek to the harbour to watch. I spent the next morning looking around Glebe and the nearby Sydney University, which is very pretty and very Oxford-esque. I am jealous of Sydney physics students, as the physics department is right next to some nice grass tennis courts, although a distraction like that would probably have had an adverse effect on my studies.

My idea of heaven: physics department on the left of the road, tennis courts on the right.

I spent my last weekend in Sydney staying with Lovina, a friend from Poole, who lives in the suburb of St Marys. On Saturday evening we went to a music and dance performance by some Pacific Islanders. This was a very enjoyable cultural experience, with some involuntary audience participation – thankfully I wasn’t chosen. On Sunday I went to the St Marys Hillsong Church with Vina and her housemates, then in the evening we went to the main Hillsong church, a massive building seating several thousand people. 

Pacific Islander Performance

I wanted to continue my journey up the coast to Byron Bay by bus, but my plans were scuppered by more of Australia’s extreme weather. There had been severe flooding on the east coast and parts of the road were closed. My only option with Greyhound was to go all the way on the inland road to Brisbane and then take the coastal road back down to Byron Bay. A very long and monotonous route and not one that I liked the sound of, so instead I booked a last minute flight from Sydney to Ballina, and spent a day there before resuming my bus journey to Byron Bay. I spent a couple of days there not doing very much other than relaxing on Byron’s huge and very pretty beach and in my hostel. 

Byron Bay

From Byron Bay I went further up the coast to Surfers Paradise. I quite like Surfers, as the locals call it. It has a really nice beach, but unfortunately I spent most of my time there sheltering from the rain in a shopping mall. I just spent the afternoon there then continued on to Brisbane.

In Brisbane I stayed with my dad’s cousin David and his family, who I had never actually met before - the last time David has seen me was at my Aunt’s wedding in (I think) 1994, just before he moved to Australia. I had a really nice weekend with them, eating delicious food and being really well looked after (I’m going back to stay with them soon so I have to say nice things about them in case they read it, but I mean it). On Saturday we went for a walk by the sea, then David and I cycled through the mangroves to the marina, the largest in the southern hemisphere. On Sunday we drove down to the Gold Coast Hinterland and went for a nice walk by a river and waterfall, then went to have lunch with some of their friends. 

Me on a rope swing in the back garden.

On my last day in Brisbane I went to the city centre to see the sights. Brisbane has nice art gallerys, museums and a river, but the thing that makes it unique is the Brisbane River’s South Bank, which has some really nice and varied sculptured gardens and a big swimming lagoon complete with an artificial beach.

Lagoon on the Brisbane River's South Bank.

I’ve now completed my marathon journey from Adelaide to Cairns. I should have time to write about the Brisbane-Cairns sector soon, and I promise to start uploading my Australia photos within the next week. I’ve just returned from my diving trip, which was an incredible experience - it was everything I hoped for and more, and I think it will turn out to be one of my most memorable experiences since I learnt to dive in the Red Sea.

Brief update

I seem to be falling pretty far behind with my blog updates and even further with my photos. Here’s a brief update of my recent travels: Sydney -> Ballina -> Byron Bay -> Surfers Paradise -> Brisbane -> Noosa -> Fraser Island -> Whitsunday Islands -> Magnetic Island. I’m getting the boat back to the mainland tonight then a bus up to Cairns from where I’m doing a 3 day dive trip. I’m really excited about this trip. It’s the main reason I ventured into northern Queensland, and it may even have been my main reason for coming to Australia at all. If you care about me and are at all worried about the safety of diving then don’t read this article about an American couple who were left behind on the reef in Queensland. It’s ok, I’ve heard that some of the dive boats actually count the people on the boat these days.