Last Blog for a while

Ok so here is the deal I have had One Kickass time In Australia due in part (in a large Part) to tall the fantastic people I have met.

Greta has been a star for the past week here in Melbourne so visit her site
handsupwholikesme.blogspot.com.

Just this morning we had a lazy think in and came up with a genius idea for a short film about a girl who has soap for arms...

Yes I will be writing it soon

And they say the drugs don't work

More importantly I fly to Singapore today, for 2 days then off to Japan. Talk about crazy! I have a rail pass for Japan that will let me travel any where in japan for 1 week!

So Since I don't know when I will be able to Blog again in the immediate future let me just say that I am still alive, well and fit (cycled 24KM yesterday... Long story).

Any way... Will catch you all later.

and if any one can find me a job by the time I get Back I would be grateful!!

Some new photos up online now

Just to say that I have now loaded up a new images to my Flickr account.
Check them out:

Sydney - Part 2
Melbourne
Canberra- Australia's capital
Great ocean road Day trip

Canberra

Ahh this is so good I am now getting virtually up to date here!

Ok so I spent about 4 days in all in Canberra and obviously the main reason for this was to visit Questacon, THE Australian Science centre.

Day 1:
It was an early bus that left around about 8.00 am, especially with the night before being my last night in Sydney. But it did get in to Canberra at about 12.00. it had been a while since I had carried so much stuff with me.

Mainly since I had the opportunity to store stuff with kath and Emma I had been traveling light down the East Coast. Since I had Not heard from my contact in Canberra/Questacon, I booked into the Hostel accommodation for 2 nights I knew I would probably stay more than that, but at least it meant that it was out of the way.

I do believe that I bummed a little bit around town all day and then promptly found myself falling asleep at 20.00. but not before I made contact with Lish and arranged to meet up with her the next day.

Day 2:
The morning saw me going to the local park where they had a flower competition/display on. All very nice but the weird and the cool bit was finding a gnome coloring/painting competition. Schools and businesses had submitted a load of rock and roll inspired gnomes... My favorite was this kiss one.

But the afternoon was more important than kiss ( I know what a thing to say!). That was of course me Visiting Questacon. It was great to see Lish Again. I hadn't seen her since London just before I quit my job there.

Any way she got me into the science centre and I got the chance to look around the centre, it is so good they have genuinely good interactives. Ones that actually get people to think. But enough of my old shop talk. In the afternoon they gave me the chance to use the internet and talk to some of the teams there. They indigenous communities programme is pretty amazing, I would so love to be involved with that programme.

Lish then lent me one of her cycles for the night and before I headed back to my hostel we had a quick pint at her local. Oh and some great beer batter chips!

Day 3:
The previous day I had agreed to do a talk for a questacon about adult programming and the Dana centre. So at 12.oo at sat down at a computer terminal and about 1 1/2 hours later I had Put together an amazing 24 slide power point presentation. I then gave a 40 min presentation of what they should and shouldn't be doing as well as an amazing history of the Dana centre Project.

What was most amazing was the fact that after not having been working at the place all the information was still in my head like a form of brain washing.

Then I was introduced to the Director of Questacon, Graham Durant, who I had a beer with up in his office, talk about classy.

The evening saw me having a lovely meal with Lish and one of her friends who worked at csiro, another science communication place in Canberra. I was good to have a good old gossip about Science communicators in the UK. Then It was off to a local folk playing bar for a quick bevy. Then to sleep at Lish's House for one night. Lish was kind enough to let me stay at hers and it meant I did not have to spend more money at a hostel.

Day 4:
Ok time for some serious tourist stuff around Canberra on what was to be My last day. I went and headed to the New parliament buildings as well as the old one and the portrait gallery.

I saw an Exhibition of Cecil beaton Photos as well as some thing about foreign reporting by ABC.

Ahhhh the culture flowing through my veins.

It was a late night Bus to Melbourne and got there the following day at 07.30 in the morning!phew

OK I am going to get this one done quickly

A week in Sydney.

For the purposes of trying to drag this blog some where relatively near to where I am time wise. I am going to purely write up the highlight of my last days in sydney before I headed off to Canberra and the south.

The only problem Is that I did not keep the extensive notes that I should have on my time there so this will have to be brief.

• Went to the Maritime Museum.
• Spent loads of time in the Global Gossip on george street doing net stuff
• slept badly on the overnight bus from Byron bay and arived wasy to early 5.00am
• Last two days Angelika caught up with me again and we did loads of tourist stuff
• Had an amazing dinner/night out, in Darling Harbour
• Crashed at Kath and Emma's again
• Went to see the Syndey Football/soccar team play (they have Dwight Yorke)
• Got into a free Architects party (with a free bar) and huddled underneath the heater all night
• Went to the top of the brick pylons on the sydney harbour bridge.
• Purchased a cheesy $100 bill design towel from Paddy's market.
• Went to the old observatory in Sydney.
• Said goodbye to Angelika, My semi travelling companion of the east coast, I was heading to Canberra, She was flying back to Switzerland from syndey.... Boo hoo.

• Left for Canberra

I am sure there was more stuff that I did, but to be honest I don't have the time to go into all of it now. So I will leave it as written above.If you want o know more ask me when I get back.

Byron Bay

Sept 12 - Day 20
Phew getting through this so well This was the day I went surfing then left for an over night bus to sydney.. So since I already have written about this I can skip to the next day. hooray! I have so much to write up on this damnable blog.

Brisbane leaving

Day 19 - September 11th
So I Had the morning of doing pretty much doing exactly what I had been doing the night before. Absolutely bugger all. I knew Angeleika was getting into town for about lunch time, but that I was also going to be heading on at about 17.00. Which was cool because it meant I got to spend time with some one I knew. I did However see this Psycho old guy who was annoying everyone in Noosa. And pretty much looked like he was doing the same thing again in this hostel as well.

Lunch was at an Irish pub and a cold pint of Guinness was exactly what I needed. After walking around town and going through the Botanical Gardens with Angelika. We suddenly realized that I might miss the Bus. it was Like Magnetic Island all over again. it was a mad dash across town to collect bags, then to the bus terminal with 5 min to spare. Phew....

Byron bay was the next destination for me, I wouldn't bump into Angelika until a week later in Sydney. When arriving at the hostel was a little bit out of town so myself and two French people had to call them to collect us. It was not a nice hostel. Especially when I got the room I put down my bags and put some stuff on the bed. Then later on I went back to my room and there was someone sleeping in it.

I found out that the miserable bastard who was at reception had given me the wrong key. What an idiot.

Jesus!

Any way got to sleep after watching Australian Idol.. Though my sense of taste and culture felt sullied.

Brisbane Bound

Day 18 - 10th Sept
After all the time in Noosa it was time to head on tothe next destination. Bisbane. Angelika was going to stay there for a day extra so as to able to go to the australia Zoo.

I myself was off brisbane for one night only. I had a free night there with my package deal for the whole of this leg of the travels. I did not care much for doing anything big in the city since i have allready done a big city llike sydney and also I knew I would be spending time with Greta in Melbourne.

I basically got to the city and spent a good 2 hours uploading and blogging.
I really should have moe to report on this but it was a day of nothing ness. I spent the evening watching a bad UK film called Purely Belter. It was around this point in time that I was starting to realise that my shoes where starting to get a bit funny.

I like to ride my Bicycle.

Day 17 - September 9th

We had a plan Angelika and myself, we wanted to cycle around town and see some more of te coastline. With outhe ability or legal right to hire a car we went for hiring bikes. which at $15 for the day was a bargin.

We headed out early and cycled west first of all andsaw some of the great house's that I am sure cost a bomb. Noosa is also known for it's fine dining/cuisine and witheh restaurants we saw along the way that would not surprise me.

Unfortuntely we made a sort of a wronf turn and we spent about 1-2 hours going through the less nice side of Noosa. The area where all the building centres are. But we did get back to the nice part fo town ad go around some nice bits of parks. A quick stop at coles to collect our lunch/picnic.

Off to the end of the spit of Noosa Beach. An afternoon spent just lazing in the sun... In fact i lazed out so much that I fell asleep. Angelika took advantage of this to cover me in sand. Lovely.

I prepared another dinner for us and yet again (unintentionally it was pasta again, how mundane) and we jsut had alvely night together watching noosa from the balcony of the hostel.

New day

Day 16 -8 September
Again there was not much to do early in the morning so I sat and read some more Of Henry Miller. I knew that Angelika would be coming along at about 10.00am and that after having got an over night bus would be completely out of it.

Went down to meet her at the bus stop and helped her carry the stuff up to the hostel. It has to be said it is good to have a semi-traveling companion for this part of Australia.

Angelika was pretty much ready and raring to hit the beach early on. So we grabbed some boogie boards and headed for Noosa beach.

Though unlike Aeirlee and magnetic island it was now m turn to be un tired and listless. Which did eventually get to the point were there was a sand fight... I lost... i had sand in every part of my body.

One of the best things about the hostel in which I stayed was the fact they had deal sand coupons for all over town. This included the ice cream parlor. I did not think it was possible to eat too much ice cream... But I think I did at this place..ow ow ow.

the next stop during the afternoon was the national park (again for me) but for angelika the first time. it was a beautiful walk along the coastline mainly because we could tick off more animal that we had seen wild in Australia. Out in tea bay there was a pack of Dolphins swimming around, Koalas hanging around, possums moving through the trees and wild turkeys all over the place.

On the way back I took some amazing pictures of the sunset that I won't ever forget.. The sun turned to this tangerine orange as it set over the sea and sand.

Back at the hostel it was an evening filled with the following
1/2 bottle of shiraz
Pool games
Table football (I want one for my own house)
a shooter cocktail
and about 2hrs of playing the card game shit head with some of the English crew in the hostel.

Sleep beckoned soon after.

New video

Just to let you know that I have created another video from my photos. This one is from Fiji and the music is a traditional fijian dance/song type thing... enjoy.

http://www.gaetanlee.com/video/fiji.wmv

Melbourne

I should also just say that I have made it to Melbourne and am staying with hertill the end of the week and when I head to Singapore.

Next day

Day 15 - Sept 7
It was a quiet start , I pretty much just sat in bed listening to the news on my radio till about 9 in the morning, God i love being a news junkie.. If i can't get the radio it has to the newspaper... But i digress.

One of the good things about the hostel was that there was free boogie and surf board hire.

So we headed (Rhona and Myself ) headed to Noosa Beach, and spent the morning body boarding. It was a great wake up cure.. Revitalizes you.. After this we headed to the Hostel, Rhona then headed on to her next destination of Cairns.

Bummed around Noosa National park in the after noon and then in the evening I spent playing shit head with Richard/Donna and 2 other guys I have no idea what their names are. Better after some wine in my system.

Noosa bound

Day 13 - 5 September
It was an early bus for me to Noosa. Which involved watching.. Now for the 3rd time the brilliant film 'Bulletproof Monk'. The bad bit was that I missed out on saying goodbye to the great crew that i had on my fraser island trip. I think they were more of a laugh then the people on the whitsundays crew... But these things are always hard to judge.

It was 6 hours to Noosa and I arrived at 16.00, a little tired and disoriented. So I had a bit of a walk around town. I always find it a good thing to do on my first day in an area/town. It means that I get a feel for a place... And the feel I got was good.

In fact at about 17.00 I decided to have a dinner early and to use the some of the 5 avocados i bought for $2. But mainly I was little board. I did get talking to this one south African girl called Rhona, who was going to be around for a few days in Noosa. And we proceeded to do the whole travelers tales.. Where/what/how/who etc.

Day 14 - Sept 6
ow ow ow.
So last night I discovered that the YHA hostel in which i was staying in, had a cheap bar with wine at $14 so 2 bottles later and a glass of G and T later. I woke up at 6.30 am with a slight hangover slouched over the sofa up on the verandas. With Rhona on the other sofa. Apparently we had both fallen asleep from our wine the night before.

The irony is that I had paid for 3 nights to stay there and the first night there.. I froze my ass off on the sofa. Rhona was faring less well, and suddenly I get the memory that she is the worst... (worse than angelika) pool player i have ever seen

Any way the day had in store for me the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin, Crikey.
A little bit about he zoo.. it is a fantastic zoo with some great demos but it does feel a little bit like the cult of Steve Irwin is a little bit all pervasive. And from an outsider kitsch perspective that is ok but.. it starts to become worrying afterwards.

It has to be said that there is a huge amount of development that has gone and still is going on at this visitor attraction. But it never misses a chance to sell something to us the visitor...

On the subject of Steve Irwin is exactly what he says he is. And that his upbringing has made him all he is now.

An once I had got back from the bus/ferry, that had taken us there and back, I did some food shopping and decided that I would like to stay in Noosa a litle bit longer. so I booked in an extra couple of nights. I had a feeling I would also be able to meet Angelika again despite the fact she was about 3 days behind. Spent sometime in evening just reading some Henry miller (Nexus) which I bought at the book exchange in Noosa

Day 12- Sept 4

Forgot to mention that we had the rangers pop round us and let us know that the place in which we camped the dingoes... Where a little bit more 'aggressive' so we should throw stuff at them.

and in fact during the night we spotted some of them and did just that.

In the morning as we left our tent we saw that the dingoes had come round to our campsite and had tried to dig up the food that we buried close to our camp.

We only had a half together on the Island, so we headed nice and early to our final destination on the island Lake McKenzie. Yet again a beautiful sand filled fresh water lake...

On the way there we caught sight of this 1.5m long lizard just wandering around the lunch prep area.

In fact speaking of lunch, we had pretty much wiped out the food they provided us, so we improvised with the remnants of what was left.

But somehow we made do with Turkish bread with spaghetti hoops!

a ferry and drive later on the mainland we were back at the car depot to check that our car was ok.. And thankfully the only thing lost was a potato peeler. But while we were waiting we had a bit of a kick around with a football/wembley. But Jaime kicked it a bit to hard and now there is a cheap green football located on a industrial park roof in hervey bay.... :(

That evening our car crew went to the BYo Chinese restaurant with eat as much as you can buffet.. Talk about a bunch of gluttonous and drunk crowd...! White wine is my new poison. But it is so cheap over here. I stopped off briefly in the TV Room in the hostel and started to semi drift off in front of the TV.

I think I even woke myself up from a small snore I had just done.

Some more while I have the Internet

Day 11 - September 3.

It was an early start for me at 06:30am just missed out on sunrise. So the second day I went to the front of the 4x4 and become nominal navigator for the day our first stop was tthe champagne pools past indian heads.

It was the first time that we really got bogged down int he sand but not the last for that day.

A crazy bit of rock formation with volcanic metal with streams of pure steel/iron. I have no idea how it could form.. it messed with my geological head.

We must have spent about 2-3 hours there.. swimming and just chilling out with wembley.

Then off to K'gari camp ground to prepare our lunch. It was a Aboriginal camp and so no drinking of alcohol for us. At the camp though they did have tame dingoes just hanging around.

They even apparently feed them round the camp fire at night. So I can tick that animal off my list of aniamls from Australia.

We spent the night near lake Wabbby and joined up with another group of 4x4 car people. It was at this point that we had a 2-3 hour long conversation about fingering dingoes.

It was a weird and drunken conversation that the rest of the details couldn't possibly be revealed with out me getting censored or something. but i thinki took video of neil and the rest of the crew on my video phone saying stuff that was fairly explicit.

Where was I.

Day 8- 31 August

Oh yes I was up to my time in the Aierlee beach in Queensland. Now after not doing much the night before apart from dancing like a fool till 12.30, I now had nothing to do All day till 20.05 when my grey hound would take me to Hervey bay. But I knew that Angelika would be getting back from her boat trip so I decided to meet up with her in the afternoon.

So up until then It was trip to the shops... Develop photos... And generally bum around on the beach.

Angelika turned up, around 14.00 and we had lunch together on the beach. A true back packer lunch involving a tomato, a French stick, a pen knife and pack of Philadelphia cheese. Sorted.

It was then that I infected her Swiss mind with the Spoon game. Where you start calling everything around you a spoon.

Yes, it is entirely possible that I have gone mad.
But a fun day none the less. Angelika came down to the bus with me, saw me off before heading out with her new friends from her boat trip. I then had to look forward to an overnight Bus trip to Hervey bay! Oh the Joy of trying to sleep in a space that is unsleepable. No matter how much you recline those chairs.

Day 9- 1 September
The next adventure.. Getting ready to visit Fraser Island.
I would be sleeping in the a hostel before we left the next day and have to have a briefing in the afternoon. But until then was again free time. So I went and did some much needed food and a little clothes shopping. Thankfully I have come to love the clothes (and prices) of Target over here.

Also having spent some time with people who had done the Fraser trip with the same company, I knew that the food they were going to give us would be basic and inadequate.. And I knew that I would want to eat well on the trip there.

But the best bit of info I had from people was that the briefing would be a little crazy.

Let me give you an example:

Breifing Guy: Whose vegetarian?
Gaetan Lee: I am
Breifing Guy: So do you eat tuna?
Gaetan Lee: No I don't eat Meat or Fish.
Breifing Guy: What about ham?
Gaetan Lee: That would come under the category of meat!

The guy leading the briefing was this utterly mad and scrooge like geyser who looked like a cross between Santa clause and Captain nemo. He had no charm and was constantly putting the fear of god into us about what we could and couldn't do on the island. And less about what we could enjoy about it. The part of my brain that used to deal with people and the public, had alarm bells going off like crazy and I had to resist telling him to develop a bit of charm! Not a people person.

The briefing was also a chance to meet with the rest of our Fraser crew before we headed in the unknown the next day. A good bunch of people it has to be said!

Devina/Steve, Sam/Jamie/Neil, Cornelia and Kev/Eamor

Day 10 - 2 September

Yes we were all looking forward to tea early start of 06.00 in the morning.

We all got loaded into our car. And Pretty quickly divided up who was going to be driving for the next 3 day/2 nights. I had already volunteered for guess what.. Yes that is right the cooking.

On the 30 min trip over to the Island we just lazed around on tea ferry soaking up as much sun as possible...

find out more about Fraser island here

The amazing thing about Fraser island though is that it is made entirely out of sand, yes that's right all sand. Our first 30 mins leg was going to the interior of the island and going to basin lake and then heading back and making lunch. We then headed to the eastern side of the island and headed north stopping off occasionally to do some 'photo stops' like the Wreck of the Maheno above. A beautiful spot, I took some amazing shots there.

We also stopped off and purchased a cheap green football who would later on become the 10th person on our 4x4 Toyota land cruiser crew known as 'Wembley'.

Our first night on the Island was quite interesting as we desperately looked for a spot to camp out along the beach. There are camp sites but there is a strict lights out policy at 21.00.

We picked a spot next to these older Australians guys out on a week long fishing trip. Jesus was it a mad night. At one point 2 of the guys in the car disappear and then they reappeared with a car load of girls.. .Then these two German guys turn up. Two of the Ozzie guys got into a fist fight and one guy lost 4 teeth.

This was the sort of night that you can't plan. Thank fully I managed to stay in some degree of control by looking after the music all night long!

I went to sleep quick quickly into our tent at about 12.15.

Behind...again

Ye I know i am behind in updating my blog and i am about 2 weeks behind again.. but there are lots of reasons for that. but just to say I am alive and well in Canberra at the Mo for a few days. will update fully later on.

Not going to do a lot of blogging today

Because I am bored... what I have been doing is cataloging my phot's online more and uploading more... ( yeah I know sooo exciting!!)
And in terms of touristy stuff I went and saw the Maritme museum yesterday.. it was free. Which was a good thing! Any way nuff said, back to my photos.

The Boat.

29 August 2005 day 6
As I have previously described I slept really well on the boat, I bet it is some bizarre sort of fetal memory. So are first stop was the Whitsunday island Itself, with Sand of pure white silica. Absolutely stunning natural beauty, Breathtaking. Nuff said.

I Had a theory that I might be going into the water on a semi regular basis. So I purchased some goggles and nose clip before I left for Cairns a few day earlier.

And a good thing I brought them along for this part of the day since it meant that I could catch the Sting rays that skimmed past our feet in the water, Diving in after them and seeing them flee.

Other wise we all sat on the beach and just soaked up the sun. Gloriously hot as it was. And in fact at this moment in time at the end of my trip. I have two tan lines. One where my shorts are and where my thong (flip flops to you English) are.

But less of my tan vanity.

Walking on the sand here is weird almost like walking on a cookie dough mixed with sand. And in the after noon it was a trip to another place... I can't remember where. But it wasn't too far and the afternoon had an exciting session of snorkeling on the reef and then diving on it.. it was fantastic. Fish of every description.

the really cool bit for me was the noise you could here under the water. The fish where eating the coral and you could hear them biting away at it. And in places it was a feeding frenzy of 10-20 different fish all having a go at it. Check out my diving photos for more info. But let's just say as you may have guessed... It was fantastic..

Then the evening came.

This was going to be a heavy night of drinking and mess... I could feel it in bones. Maybe it was the large amount of booze the Irish had brought on, or the lively atmosphere of everyone. All I am going to say I just was not into he mood to get completely hammered.

So a couple of G & Ts sorted me out well. They have this almost sobering effect on me, which was what I needed. Especially after I saw what sort of things happened on that boat... All I will say is that what happened on the boat, stays on the boat.

Day 7 - 30 August

I am a sick sick person, who does love the drama of the morning after with other people. You know when people wake up having slept with each other when they shouldn't have. The Grim hung over faces. When you have been up for hours. Ah the joys of being sanctimonious.

I would Like to thank my G and T drinking for me avoiding this particular odious response in the morning from other people.

That I the fact that I could enjoy retelling the night to people who did not have the slightest memory of it. We did some morning snorkeling in a place called Blue Pearl Bay. Beautiful again. And the sun was with us this morning, as was this giant (1-2 m long) fish that we chased and touched gently in the water.

The crew also were putting out bread to feed and attract the fish. It is a really weird sensation to snorkel through a load of fish and feel them swim past you and hit you with their fins.

Any way it was back to shore and then chilled out and watched some TV before heading out for drinks with the crew and the rest of the people on the boat. But about 12.30 I decided I wasn't in the mood for a big old night. Admittedly it was after 2-3 schooners of beer and a bottle of wine.
ps I feel I am supporting the Australian wine industry well at present more to come tomorrow. Still in Sydney for a while yet, Canberra & Melbourne are to follow soon.

Saturday 27-28th August- before the boat

Ah so where was I up to.

Saturday 27th - Day 4
After having bummed around the beach on horseshoe bay for about 3-4 hours before our bus was due to leave. first of all with Magalie then afterwards with Angelika. we sat down around 12 ish in the bar and had a glass of wine, I had a feeling we were too relaxed possibly. Then magalie and myslef, after a while suddenly looked around and saw the bus, that should be taking us to the ferry, . We had that 10 secs of looking at the bus leave with out us then we looked at each other and just shook our heads.

There was then the desperate panic as we booked a taxi to get us to the ferry, the Taxi driver was from Rhodesia (not Zimbabwe apparently). Thankfully there was no problem.. we got the ferry with plenty of time then the grey hound afterwards heading towards our next stop Aeirlee Beach.

As I was to find out later out it kept Angelika amused for hours. Apparently it was the expressions on our face. The greyhound film of the day was 50 first dates. A pretty good funny rom com.

At 18.00 Magalie and myself rock up to town eager to find out where and what she can book for here own boat trip (mine was allready organised). The dorm room was allready filled with some gals and guys from Ireland. And as I found out they were also going to be on the same boat with them... "krackerjack" for the next few days. Any way we spent the night with them kciking back a couple of Gin and Tonics, and then we headed to Magnums the local bar.

Sunday 28th August - Day 5

the boat was not due to leave till 16.00. So we had time to chill out and also to organise myself. Since for the next few days I would not have access to anything communications based. I had to transfer my gin to a plastic bottle, well what was left. Went to the local book exchange and got myself two boks... one for the intellect, one trash.

Ernest hemmingway: A death in the afternoon
Robin Cook: chomosome 6

But as I had said previously the main reason for getting these was that it was getting very annoying that everyone and thier dog was bloody reading Dan Brown's books.

Anyway I headed off with the irish outside Magnums to the quay and to our boat. Magalie was to do her ownday trip the following day.

Actually we were all quite anxious about the weather during the day as it was looking overcast. On the boat we had a roughas helll time getting out to the whitsundays. We had 1-2 metre waves hitting us, sending one way and the other on the boat.

We had a couple of people (we were 16 in all, including 4 crew) getting a fair bt seasick and then they proceded to throw up overboard. apparently the winds were 30 knots... what ever that means.

I found that standing up was the best option and just adjusting myself tothe shifting of the boat. But when we got to the islands the waves calmed down and I had a ralaxed and good night's sleep. I reckon it was the gentle rocking of the boat once anchored that helped.

Back to the beginning- Gaetan lee

As promised from my extensive beer soaked notes here are the in detail exploits for the last 2-3 weeks.

24th August
Not much happened on this day except that I finally got the Internet sorted for Emma and Kathryn At their house right after they had organized the phone and got it working... There was much jubilation and subsequent surfing.

And because I was getting sucked into a techno moment, I left a little later than I had intended to get to the Airport to get to the flight, but most importantly was the fact that I got to the flight. Which by the way I got for the bargain price of $120 , one way to Cairns. Nice! The flight though was sheer genius. There was only 80 people on a flight for 300. Oh yes did I ever just relax out over 3 seats.

Got to Cairns and promptly got a cab to the hostel. My plan had always been to do bugger all in Cairns. As I wanted to leave the next day... I know it is a complete party town but still. It was a pretty shitty hostel I stayed in But it didn't really matter as it was only a stop over.

Thursday 25th August.
An early start at about 07.35 in the morning, though having lived for the past few days with Kath and Emma and their early morning medical starts, I was used to it. The grey hound down to my next destination of Townsville, wasn't too bad especially since they show films on the buses. Today's choice was The notebook, which had all the trappings of being a trite piece of sentimental rubbish, but by the end of the film I had actually quite enjoyed it. Damn me for saying so.

Along the way down the east coast I discovered the fine Australian tradition of creating big and unnecessary statues in glossy paper machier.

The trip Introduced me to a giant Captain cook, a giant emu and a giant Gum Boot.

It was a brief stop as townsville as it was really only a gateway for me to get to magnetic Island. The ferry over was really nice except of course that it was the end of the school day and all of the kids Where going home... On the island.. So it was a little bit like the museum at times (though I do know several people back home who would have had an immense Urgge to throw them all over board!). But I sat up on the deck at the back of the boat watching the Australia coastline disappear.

And I started to talking to one of my future traveling buddies (for the east coast)for part of my journey. Magalie . From Marseilles in France. It also meant that I could practice speaking French (yep using my French tongue), which I have not had too much of an opportunity to do.in the evening Made dinner the usual and just a had nice couple of drinks with her while looking out over magnetic Island's Horseshoe bay to the north.

The Hostel (maggies beach house) was excellent and the food they did their was great. Though Magalie was dead keen to try some kangaroo before she left. But appartently it was not going to be at this hostel. magalie and I spent most of the nicest looking to see what her options were for getting a boat at Aeirlee Beach, were we where both heading next.

Friday 26th August
Now I had heard form many people that magnetic Island was kinda of Special and definitely worth another night. So I Booked myself an extra night there at my own expense. It was definitely worth it. By the way who ever said that girls don't snore.. You are so wrong. I awoke at 06.30 to a cacophony of snoring form these two German girls that where in my room... So bad!

After all the usually onward booking and organizing, myself and magalia and Sebastian form Germany ( I had spotted him from the ferry yesterday) went on a 6 hour hike around the north part of the island. The plan was to hit all of the local beaches, go for a swim, lie on the beach for a while;e then move on to the next beach.

All I have to say is that this was the first real point where my tan got topped up on my 2-3 weeks down the coast.

We Hit first of all Baldies (the Nudist Beach), then Respite, by which point we were already 4 hours into our walk/swim/relax, so when it came to the next two beaches Fortune and Arthur we took it pretty easy and just walked along them really.

By the way for future reference magalie could really swim! She dived into the water then 30 secs later she would turn up 40 meters away practically! Damn it was impressive. By the time it came to walking back to town we had considered visiting the Fort at the top of a large hill... But we were all just too knackered. The only thing that was driving us was the thought of buying some ice cream from the local supermarket there.

Dinner was next and as always I offered my delectable services to prepare something for Sebastian and Magalie. Then we started playing some pool, drinking some beer and then some wine (or was it the other way round), then we started to talk to this Swiss girl called Angelika, Who is possibly worse than me at playing pool... If such a thing is possible. There was also another bit of origami frenzy in the bar with people wondering where it was all coming from. In the drunken state that I was in Angelika started to take me through her photo's of Uluru and Kakadu, during which I was falling asleep on her shoulders. Classy! Hopefully I wasn't dribbling. But anyway I got to bed at about 01.00am and I do remember seeing a lizard on the wall about 10 cm big... Sort of a little bit bigger than the cockroaches I remember from my days living in New York.

Any way I would be bumping into Angelika several time on my trip since she was 1-2 days behind me in terms of travelling down the coast.

That will do for today. As you can tell I am in sydney and spending a fair old time internetting. I have been uploading photos like crazy to my Flickr account As I now Have have upgraded my account and can store more online... be sure to check out my under water rubbish photos from the whitsunday island and Great Barrier reef!

Surfing Oz - Part 2

HPIM1727
Originally uploaded by Gaetanlee.

Just before I head to Sydney... Here is a photo of me riding the waves in Byron Bay today! Yeah Baby! Surf up Dude!

Surfing Oz

So after having surfed in California and having surfed in Cornwall... I will now be surfing the beachs of Australia and not just with a boogie/body board. Proper full on surfing for me today here at byron bay. Though it will cost me $55, it will be so worth it!!

Oh the endless joy of paddling and more paddling and then... yep you guessed it ... even more paddling. But I will stand up for a wave oh yes... it must be done.

Byron Bay

Hey just got into Byron Bay last night and will be here for the day only... then I am off back to sydney (on an overnight bus) for a few days.. before canberra and melbourne.

Gaetan photo's

HPIM1691
Originally uploaded by Gaetanlee.

Just another test image load form my online photo store. I am having fun trying to perfect my uploading procedures

slide show

If you are so inclined and bored you can also check out my Flickr photo account slide show.

How much can you have.

ps my photography has greatly improved!

OK

So I am back in a major metropolitan city so Rather than visit the museum etc ... I thought I would have some down time and sort out some internet stuff.... Fear not I will try to do some tomorrow.

I have uploaded a load of new photo's to my Photo site at Flickr...Check them out here
Let me briefly summarize my trip so far... I have a full version that will come soon.. When I have 5-10 hours to write it all up... Maybe when I am back in Sydney staying with Emma and Kathryn.

Flew to Cairns... And did nothing there.. It was merely a stop off point for my next destination of

Townsville: spent 2 days on this idyll, made friends with Magalie and Angelika, nearly missed the bus to tak eus the main land ferry to take me to.

Aerlie Beach: traveled down with magalie for the day and the night. For one night where I met with some of the Irish guys and gals I would be spending the next part of my trip on the boat round the whitsundays.

Boat trip: on a boat called krackerjack... Lots of drinking and good times and good people. Even bumped into magalie from the other boat trip she took. Had a blast for 3 days then

Back to Aierlie Beach for one more night then bumped into Angelika again. Spent an afternoon discussing the merits of spoons.

Grey hounded over night to hervey bay then Did some new clothes shopping... So needed. Met up and was briefed on the Fraser (all made of sand) island

the one more night in Hervey bay hostel before leaving for Noosa

Recommended to me by a variety of travellers... Stayed there for 5 nights!!! And slept in my bed on 4 of the nights.. (one on the Sofa). damn the cheap white (but Tasty) white wine. Went to Australia Crikey zoo (home of the Steve Irwin crocodile Hunter) Angelika was down again for a day which was cool.

Arrived in Brisbane ... Um now. And I am desperate need to sleep so I will mainly do doing nothing tonight!! on a saturday I know.

so check out my selection of photo's from the trip so far... Thankfully I purchased a large memory card to take so many more as well... Oh the slide shows I will be able to do.

main trip blog to follow in about a weeks time.

justa quick one once again...

justto say still in noosa... this town asa hypnotic effect on you... it is great. will be heading to brisbane then byron bay tomorrow onwards... 5 days inthis town don't seem like enough.

Noosa on my mind

Currently in Noosa. Staying here for 3 days at least...

Plan to go mountain biking... taking some surf lessons... going to steve Irwins (australia Zoo) Zoo and most excitingly I will be doing some laundry soon... Pee yew!!

Fingering a dingo

Back from Fraser (dingo) Island.

had a great time will blog later as with the who;le of my trip down the east coast. but tonight I am currently staying here in hervey bay. ... the title will also be explained as well.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

On the subject of spoons

I would like to point out that this will only make sense to one person in the world!