Paul and Vicky go bush. (01Apr.03)

Subject: Fwd: Travel Update - Coral Bay to Byron Bay - just a few kms!

Paul had a bit of an accident in Coral Bay - whilst out windsurfing over the reef he fell off his board whilst coming in to the shore and trod on an oyster shell - cut his foot down to the bone and had to have stitches. Paul was on crutches for 2 weeks and we stayed in Coral Bay for that time - Vicky snorkelling and swimming and Paul being patient and reading - not allowed in the water for 2 weeks - unfortunately it was windy every day.

Eventually his stitches came out and we headed for Exmouth and went swimming with a whaleshark. Was an amazing experience - they spot the shark (7m) from a spotter plane, the boat rushes over and you throw yourself over the side not sure what you are going to see - the whaleshark is spectacular - massive mouth, beautiful blue colour with white spots and is massive. There are alot of other fish that swim along with it and it does not seem to care that there are 20 snorkellers swimming along with it. We had 1.5 hours in total with it.

After Exmouth we carried on heading north but unfortunately the van developed a nasty noise and we got stuck in redneck Karratha over Easter. Not going to say much about it but we hated it and stayed in a ferral backpackers until we'd had enough and moved out to Point Samson and then back into a hotel for a couple of days - guess we are fairly yuppy travellers. Anyway after a new cylinder head we carried on up to Broome.

Broome was beautiful - our campsite was right on the beach and we could watch the sunrise and sunset from bed. Went crab racing, sailing (trimaran) on cable beach and surfed and body boarded. No wind, but the water was warm.

After Broome started heading East through Fitzroy Crossing and on to the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu national park) - Did a day trip into the bungle bungles - amazing beehive rock formations and colours. Still pretty untouched by tourism.

Next we crossed the border to NT and spent some days in Katherine Gorge walking and doing a river trip. Very beautiful. Next stop was Darwin - still box jelly fish around so we were reluctant to get in the water - luckily the campsite had a pool as it was over 30 degrees every day and humid. We celebrated Paul's birthday by going out for dinner at the marina (interesting mensroom - urinal has a 2-way mirror looking out into the restaurant!).

On the way to Kakadu National Park we went on a spectacular jumping crocodile tour - not very hippy and environmentally friendly - they feed the crocs from the boat - literally right in front of your face - but fantastic. Massive crocodiles - a couple of 5m crocs with such evil eyes that you feel that they are sizing you up for dinner.

Camped at Cooinda in Kakadu National Park and did some beautiful walks and river cruises - the wetlands are trully magnificant and so many birds - quite a few crocs but these are a bit more natural (still evil however).

After Kakadu we stayed at Mataranka and swam in the natural spring/spa and then headed to Queensland. Lots of driving through hot, dusty, desert landscape - so flat that you can see for miles and miles. We did the mine tour at Mount Isa and arrived in tropical North Queensland. Could not believe how green and lush everything was - so used to dusty, hot sparse landscape. Also a lot more people on the road!! Caught up with family in Townsville then headed North to Cairns.

At last there was wind - no windsurfing for at least 6 weeks and Paul was starting to go mad - even the callouses on his hands had disappeared! We went to Yorkeys Knob - well known kiting and windsurfing beach and both had a go. Wind was pretty good. Still some box jelly fish around so we wore black opaque tights - very sexy and Vicky bought a stinger suit.

Headed up to Port Douglas and stayed for a week - Port Douglas is a fantastic place - great restaurants, places to stay and four mile beach - another great windsurfing spot - shallow but gets some quite good waves. We arrived just as the tradewinds were coming through and had a week of 20+ winds - Paul's hands again got calloused. North Queensland is a fantastic winter windsurfing place - they regularly have strong winds over the winter as the tradewind patterns come through. We also went out on a snorkelling boat to the outer reef and snorkelled 3 sites. Beautiful fish, different coloured corals, etc, etc. The great barrier reef is trully amazing.

From Port Douglas headed to Airlie Beach and joined up with Ewan, Phil and Dan for a week of windsurfing and sailing in the whitsundays. We had a fantastic week - sailing was brilliant, the boys got some good windsurfing in (20+ winds) and lots of sunbathing and a bit of snorkelling. We all got on really well and it was very sad when we came to the end of the week and had to say goodbye.

From Airlie headed down to Noosa - lovely but cold!! We have been used to 30+ degrees every day and it was a real shock to get to Noosa and have 8 or 9 degrees over night. We bought some winter clothes and Paul bought a surfboard. Have realised that we can get the GST off when we take things back to the UK now so he has also bought 2 new sails!!

From Noosa went to Brisbane for a few days and took a trip to North Stradbrook island - lovely and great surf (no wind). Brisbane to Byron Bay where we are staying on the beach - again good surfing but no wind.

From Byron we head to Emerald Beach to stay with family and then down to Sydney via Gosford. Can't believe our trip is nearly over - anyone want to buy a van???

We leave Sydney 7 July to start our next adventure back in the UK. Paul is upgrading his windsurfing instructor qualification at Club Vass as soon as we get back. Sad to be at the end of our travels.

Love and kisses Paul & Vicky