5 December 2005: The Tropic of Capricorn

New Photo Galleries:
http://www.whereismark.fotopic.net/c748413.html (Weeks 34-37)
http://www.whereismark.fotopic.net/c748415.html (Weeks 38-41)


G'day folks,

I hope everyone in the home country (&other warmer places) are doing really well? And another congratulations must go to Emily&David, Kathleen&Dominic, Paula&Dale, Lisa&Phil, Pete&Charlotte, Ralph&Sarah, Andrew&Chantal, and Julie on their new arrivals this year. And also, sorry to everyone for the junk email from the Where Are You Now (WAYN) website. Before I knew what it was doing it had emailed everyone in my address book. How embarrassing!! So I'm not using that site.

Anyway, after much procrastinating, I've finally arrived in New Zealand after taking 9 1/2 months to get here, and going "flat out like a lizard drinking" in Australia. Although most people wizz round Oz (bigger than all of Western Europe) and try to do everything, I wanted tried to see some of Queensland (more than three times bigger than mainland Britain) in the 7 weeks I had. And the culture shock on arrival in Brisbane from the Indian subcontinent was a... shock. After meeting up with Martin again, and his folks who were on holiday, it was time to get out of the city & start scrambling on Tibrogargan in the Glasshouse Mountains and then learning to surf in Noosa. A great place where the national park meets the sea, and the surf is steady. Although when you're trying to catch a wave, it's distracting to have to paddle back to shore to chase the bush turkeys away when they raided out bags - 3 times - and have all the other surfers fall off their boards laughing at us!

Then up the coast onto Rainbow Beach to paint boomerangs & kayak at dawn with dolphins. Not bad! Travelling on the Greyhound bus is a good way to get around, but other people sign up for the "Oz Experience". A coach tour that takes in the doubtful delights of "goat rodeo", pretend goat branding or similar. Afterwards, it's traditional to go on a 3day self-drive 4x4 tour of the world's biggest sand island, Fraser Island. Lake McKenzie perches high above sea level, a freak result of vegetation stabilising the dunes & then the wind piling up the supporting sand dunes. It was the most clear waters I've ever swum in, and it was nice when the wild dingos came & said hello. Phenominal place. Humpback whales can be seen off the coast at this time of year, migrating to Antarctica with their newborns.

Travelling North through the Tropic of Capricorn to Mackay & Eungella National Park, we camped at Finch Hatton Gorge and enjoyed campfires, plunge-pools jumping & curious Bandicoots hopping around. It was also a great place to go to see the preposterous Duck-Billed Platypus, and get off the usual backpacker circuit for a while. Back on the coast at Mackay, I wanted a taste of home so set off for fish&chips on Shelly Beach. And it was so good there I had both barramuni & cod. But the chips were still definitely better in Brid.

Another long bus journey away, it was time to go sailing in the Whitsunday Islands. To begin with, 3 days of cruising aboard "British Defender" - an ex-Whitbread round-the-world boat - which was more of a booze-cruise with stunning snorkeling & beaches thrown in. The snorkeling was so amazing, looking down on the reef & life below, weightless like you're flying, or powerfully diving in amongst them. Afterwards, back on shore, I was lucky enough to borrow some brand new RS200 & RS400 dingies and put them through their paces, as well as to take Martin on a HobieCat dingy, threading between the extremely expensive moored yachts in the bay at high speed.

The bay is stunning there, with all the Islands in view, and so it seemed a good idea to do my Open Water Scuba Certificate on the Great Barrier Reef, with Pro-Dive from the boat Oceania out of Airlie. Sharks, rays, huge wrasse & batfish, as well as cuttlefish were waiting there. Even the seasoned divers thought it had been a superb place to dive :^)) After three days living on the boat and a day recovering after the final party, it was time to get back to nature & go island-camping on Henning Island. 5 days of being completely self-sufficient with just the beach, forest, reef & Martin. The most relaxing 5 days I've ever had, whilst the November full moon meant that offshore the whole Great Barrier Reef was spawning at the same moment! Nice. Afterwards, back to civilisation - or at least the YHA Mission Beach Treehouse in the forest for company & boardgames, and then up to the city of Cairns where a crazy Irishman teaches you all you need to know about life on the reef.

The final part of the trip was taking a hire car up to the fashionable Port Douglas, and then to Cape Tribulation (named when Captain Cook hit the reef here) for camping, hiking (Mount Sorrow), good snorkeling & amazing table tennis in the tropical rainforest.

In short, Australia is exactly what you see from the postcards even on the popular Queensland coast. Quite stunning & mostly empty! That being said, I'm looking forward to finally seeing New Zealand, on the edge of the world. Once again I hope I haven't rambling on for too long, and very best wishes to you all wherever you may be as Christmas approaches. And look for the song at the message end :^))

Mark-In-Auckland

Previous Photo Galleries:
Week1 (1st Week in India),
Weeks2-4 (Kerala & Karnataka),
Weeks5-8 (Karnatarka, Goa & Rajasthan),
Weeks9-15 (Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & Nepal),
Weeks16-20 (Nepal & Tibet),
Weeks21-23 (Tibet & Shangri La),
Weeks24-28 (Kathmandu, Delhi & NW India),
Weeks29-33 (Jammu&Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab & Delhi).



"Traveling in a fried-out combie
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said,

Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.

Buying bread from a man in brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscles
I said, do you speak-a my language?
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich
And he said,

I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover.

Lying in a den in bombay
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said to the man, are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty? And he said,

Oh! do you come from a land down under? (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover".

Men At Work - Down Under