Day 147 April 5th 2007, Sunglasses required - Perth

Recovering from last nights excess we took it pretty easy today and spent time planning our trip up to Monkey Mia which we plan top visit over Easter. At the end of April we will be flying up to Japan and then onto South East Asia, one of the vaccines required is for Japanese Encephalitis. A total of 3 jabs are required and we managed to get our second today, ouch no not the injection the price. I reckon with the Rabies jabs, Malaria tablets and all the other vaccines we have got so far our spending in this region will be approaching £1,000 by the end of the trip.

After eventually recovering from last night I met up with Tim for a quick beer at the "Lucky Shag" pub on the swan river, the pubs name perfectly innocent over here and refers to a seabird that's had a good catch of fish.

Highlights: The "Lucky Shag"

Day 146 April 4th 2007, Rats Nest - Perth

The good old Dutch when discovering a small Island just off the coast near Perth believed it was infested with Rats and named it Rottnest Island. Rottnest translating to Rats Nest. The Rats were in fact Quokkas which are members of the Marsupial family and despite being nocturnal there were plenty to see on the Island.



It takes about an hour to get from Perth to Rottnest by Ferry along the Swan River which links the city to the sea. On arriving at the island we hired bikes uh oh, I managed to break the chain on my bike half way round and had to get a replacement brought out.

As today was Den's penultimate day with us before she flys off to Tasmania we sought out the best nightlife in Perth, starting at the Brisbane hotel or the Brisso as locals call it we eventually ended up in the roughest night club in Perth. Ironically called "Black Bettys" the song that was playing during my first bungy. It was quite an amusing venue with people regularly being thrown out. Luckily Kirsten was on her best behaviour.

Highlights: Rottnest Island

Day 145 April 3rd 2007, Who is Mary Gilmore - Perth

With Shelley's friend Den arriving today from Dubai via the UK we spent the morning exploring Freemantle, or as the locals call it Freeo (Most names here are shortened with an o or an i added at the end) after a short trip to one of the beaches I let the girls catch up and took refuge in an Internet cafe.

Despite not finding any Filby's on the list of initial immigrants to Oz it would appear the genes are here somewhere as on closer inspection of a $10 note I found a picture of myself.

So who is this lady with such fine looks? Mary Gilmore was a prominent Australian Poet, Socialist and Journalist. I am sure If I had ever met here we would have got on fine.

Highlights: Seeing myself on currency

Day 144 April 2nd 2007, Old Friends - Melbourne to Perth, 3,434km

Having not seen my old mate Uni mate Tim for nearly 2 years since he skipped the UK and settled in Perth I was looking forward to catching up over a few beers. It only really took us about 2 mins to catch up, hows it going? Yep great you? Great lets get a beer. As always the few turned into the many and the World was soon put to rights as we sampled nearly all of the local beverages available in Perth's bars. With one of my other Uni mates Adrian also moving to Perth in a few months Tim was keen to impress on me the benefits of living over here (but who would keep Budgie in order back home)

For the first time since leaving the UK I managed to find a Kebab shop after we finished drinking. This combined with the Chinese from earlier in the evening and all that freshly brewed beer I was lucky to be let back into the apartement by Shelley and Kirsten.

Highlights: Meeting up with my old buddy Tim

Day 143 April 1st 2007, A Real Man's Game - Melbourne

After spending the morning spinning various April Fools Day pranks (Honestly Kirsten, Colin Farrell was sitting next to us at Breakfast) we headed off to meet an old work colleague of Shelley's.

Kevin lived in one of Melbourne's nicest suburbs St Kilda which allowed us to see another side of the city, after a very posh lunch at a restaurant called The Baths in Middle Brighton we headed off to see an AFL game. I have never really been into Cricket (its sooo slooooooooooow) so I was glad to see that the Aussies have come up with an alternative use for a cricket pitch.

Every aspect of the game must stretch its players strength and endurance to the limits, at any one time there are 18 players from each team on the pitch and the match consists of 4 quarters each 25 mins in length. The pace of the game was rapid with very little stoppages comparable to Ice Hockey with end to end action.

Scoring was fast and frantic with almost 200 points scored during the game. As Kevin had been such an excellent host we got behind his team the Carlton Blues for the 1st round of the season. Despite being behind by 20 points to Richmond Tigers they eventually came through to win 115 to 98. The Aussies appear to be obsessed with this game way beyond the level of enthusiasm there is for football in the UK. There were 60,000 people at the game and despite the aggression on the pitch there was a perfect family atmosphere in the stands well almost the lady in her 60's sitting next to me was a little scary at times.

Highlights: Seeing another side of Melbourne and having a great time at the AFL game

Day 142 March 31st 2007, Not quite the Tour de France - Melbourne

Myself and Shelley are not know for success when it comes to cycling. A weeks cycling in the Azores around extinct volcano's left me needing a week off work and we ended up having to push our bikes most of the way round the Queen Charlotte Trek in New Zealand. So it came as no surprise that on hiring our bikes today all the was left were the most ridiculous bikes you have ever seen.

Luckily for once the cycle path was very flat indeed so the lack of gears wasn't really a problem. One of the highlights of Melbourne has to be the food, there are streets dedicated to restaurants from each corner of the World so one things for sure you should never go hungry here

Highlights: A cruise along the river

Day 141 March 30th 2007, The Balance of the Universe - Sydney to Melbourne

I am a great believer that everything in the universe is balanced. After living it up for the last few weeks and buying luxury items such as his and hers Maui Jim Sunglasses the balance was today restored in Melbourne as we checked into out $75 a night room at a hostel in the city center. Our recent expenditure was not the only reason for this choice of accommodation as Melbourne is currently hosting the World Swimming Championships and a hotel room is pretty much impossible to come by.

The synchronised swimming display in the city square was quite a performance

Maybe it was the accommodation or perhaps the rainy weather but I didn't warm to the city at all. Sure it has more culture than Sydney and you certainly wont ever go hungry here with almost every country represented by a restaurant, but something I can't put my finger on is missing from the city. Perhaps its the modern waterfront feel you get in Sydney and Auckland that I like so much.

The river Yarra is very nice and the city boasts some of the best sports facilities I have ever seen in one place. After a leisurely walk around the city we found Captain Cooks old house, strange I didn't know he ever lived in Melbourne, in fact the house was shipped brick by brick from England and reassembled here. It was brought in 1933 and shipped in 253 packing cases, arriving in April 1934 it was fully restored by October. (below: Captain Cook and his English Cottage)

Highlights: Spending as little time as possible in the Hostel

Day 140 March 29th 2007, No Convicts in the Family - Sydney

The rocks district is where it all started for the first British settlers in the 1800's, as its widely know the first settlers were convicts and there is a museum dedicated to their arrival. One of the exhibits allows you to search for ancestors who came over on the convict ships. I can gladly say that there were no Filby's but plenty of Curtis, including a high way robber. There were also quite a few Burton's and Hughes on the list.

Whilst on the subject of history I finally checked out where the name Filby comes from, around 800AD a Viking called File the Dane settled in Norfolk setting up a small village which is know today as Filby. In 2002 this little Norfolk Village one Britain in Bloom, Village category WOW

The beach at Dee Why

Shelley spent some time living in Sydney 15 years ago in a little beach town called Dee Why, so we took a trip up for lunch. Finding that her old apartment had been knocked down we spent a bit of time on the beach (which used to be only a 10 minute walk from the apartment, now 20mins)

Shelley outside Australia's oldest pub

For our last night in Sydney we had a quick beer before dinner at Australia's oldest pub "The Fortune of War", a sign on the wall points out in official terms that the pub is currently subject to police surveillance. With a police station across the road hardly a difficult task for the local police.

Highlights: Phew no Filby's exported to Oz

Day 139 March 28th 2007, Back on the Trail - Cairns to Sydney

Originally we had planned to travel round Oz in a clockwise direction starting in Sydney and finishing in Cairns, so the last week or so was a bit of a detour, by the time we leave here in about a month the map above will look like spaghetti as we now have a trip booked to Aries Rock and Brisbane after we get round to Cairns again. Not the most optimised route for sure. Staying again in Sydney we found a place on what appeared to be the only decent road in the Kings Cross area of town, yep its just like the Kings Cross in London.

Back in the big city the sun was shining & we spent some time walking about the botanical gardens, full of beautiful trees, water birds, Cockatoo's and of course Fruitbats. Hundreds of them, like giant flying rats.

Highlights: A sunny afternoon in the botanical gardens

Day 138 March 27th 2007, Backwards Bungy - Cairns

After my bungy jump in New Zealand I was keen to do another, this time from 50m and diving off backwards. Whilst standing on the platform facing backwards with only my toes still touching the platform this suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.

Composing myself for a few seconds I fell backwards with the tower zooming rapidly away from me, not quite the same experience as the first jump but still pretty exhilarating. I don't know how but I managed to convince Kirsten who gets Vertigo to jump.

The video of the jump above and below after the jump

Kirstens Bungy Jump

As always Shelley did a fantastic commentary job

Highlights: The view from the bungy tower over the forest

Day 137 March 26th 2007, Here Fishy Fishy - Great Barrier Reef, Cairns

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted a Marine Aquarium, about 2 years ago I finally brought one and spent many weeks setting up my own little reef. Pretty pleased with this little world I had created (now in the safe hands of my parents) I could only have imagined the overwhelming sights I would see today.

Before we went anywhere a quick Star Trek audition was in order

Our first stop of the day was at a sandy cay (below). From here we saw our first turtle swimming just off the shore. Above is a photo of our boat. As soon as we dived into the water with our snorkeling gear we were instantly surrounded by fish, a short swim and we were above the reef, equipped with a waterproof camera I tried to get a shot of one of the giant clams (photos to follow) I was soon reprimanded by Shelley who thought I had used up the whole film already (did this in the Galapagos) The conditions weren't perfect but with so many fish and coral to see I was the last out of the water.

After a short break it was time for our dive, there were 2 of us to each instructor so we couldn't get into any trouble. I wanted to go off an explore but apparently this is a very dangerous thing to do when diving you always need to stay near your buddy. Shelley has already refused to be my buddy when we do our PADI here in a few weeks due to my adventurous nature. We only dived for half an hour, I could have stayed down for hours it was sensory overload with so much to see.

Hey wait for me

I don't know why I didn't take up diving before, the sudden realisation that I could breathe underwater must be like suddenly realising you can fly, a whole new world beneath the waves suddenly existed. After finishing the dive I quickly got my snorkeling gear on and headed back to the reef. What an amazing day!!

Here are some facts about what lives at the Great Barrier Reef

30 Species of Whale are know to visit the reef
6 Species of Sea Turtle visit the reef to breed
200 Species of bird
5000 Species of Mollusc including the Giant Clam
1500 Species of Fish
400 Species of Coral
17 Species of Sea Snake
500 Species of Algae and Seaweed

Highlights: Do I have to say?

Day 136 March 25th 2007, Crap Music - Airlie Beach to Cairns

Being kids of the ipod generation we were equipped with over 3,000 tracks for our 6 hour drive to Cairns. However our grooving was stopped short when our hire car came with a cd player giving us no way to connect our ipod (have a tape drive adapter). This wasn't good and as a result we had the choice of an 80's dance album that I picked up in Chile and Kirsten's new Take That album, it was a long drive.

We stopped for lunch at a small town called Townsville where Julie managed to provide some excitement for the local bakery, after asking for something without meat in she was greeted with the response "your not a vegetarian are you? I've never met one of those before" (note: Jules not vegetarian)

Rarer than a Possum in Oz a sleeping vegetarian

We finally arrived in Cairns and with a bit of gentle persuasion from Julie we checked into a decent hotel rather than a damn cheap one across the road

Highlights: The gaps between music tracks

Day 135 March 24th 2007, Mermaids - Hamilton Island to Airlie Beach

After giving the boat a quick wash down we had a few hours before we had to catch the ferry back to the mainland, we took the opportunity to check out some of the holiday homes for sale on the Island, overlooking catseye bay the view was impressive but the apartments a little dated. After a quick bit of lunch we caught the ferry back to Shute Harbor, a short taxi ride later and we were in Airlie Beach. Back on dry land we had an easy night before our long drive to Cairns tomorrow.

Only businesses are allowed cars on the Island making golf buggies the best way to get around

A view of the marina

One of the Islands on route to the mainland

It's official mermaids do exist

Not wanting to waste any drinking time the Aussies invented the drive through off license

The Girls at Airlie Beach

Highlights: The ferry ride from Hamilton to Shute was very scenic

Day 134 March 23rd 2007, Frying Pan- Return trip to Lindeman Island from Hamilton Island

Being the Captain of a boat one doesn't usually get involved in such tasks as washing up but given that the rest of my motley crew was feeling a bit sea sick today I was the only one able to go below deck for any length of time. It was whilst crossing from Hamilton to Lindeman Island that I made a very interesting discovery. Whilst washing the frying pan I noticed that where usually a tefal logo would be there was a Woman's Weekly Australian Edition one instead. Perhaps it came free with a copy of the magazine. Either perhaps to hit drunken Bruce's with or to encourage women to cook their men a decent breakfast every now and again.

Being a rufty tufty sailor I wasn't feeling any of the effects of sea sickness and no matter how many times I told the crew we were in calm conditions I couldn't convince them. After staying a couple of hours anchored off Lindeman Island we headed back for our last night on Hamilton Island.

Highlights: A nice sail back from Lindeman Island

Day 133 March 22nd 2007, Wow White Sand - Return trip to Whitehaven Beach from Hamilton Island

Whitehaven without a doubt is the most amazing beach I have ever been on, the sand is pure white with a powder like texture. Here's a bit of into to explain how the beach was created.

The photo doesn't really show how white the sand was

"The sand is minute powder-size grains of quartz and has been assayed at 99.89% pure, well above the minimum requirement for glass-making and suitable for the finest glass for optical lenses for binoculars etc. Its origin is not known definitely but geologists say it does not have a local origin as rocks of the Whitsunday area are quartz-poor. They think the most likely explanation is that it is the result of a long shore drift system which brings sand from the south along the Queensland coast, very evident in the Gold Coast/Fraser Island area. The Whitehaven sand is so pure it indicates that during the drift all heavy mineral sands and other impurities have been winnowed out leaving the quartz sand. Probably there is an eddy effect in Whitehaven Bay which causes the sand to drop out and accumulate there"

Seaplane with Turn 12 anchored in the background

Me and Shelley took a long relaxing walk along the beach it was pretty quiet except for the occasional sea plane that came into land, quite interesting.

Highlights: Whitehaven Beach

Day 132 March 21st 2007, Taking it easy - Hook Resort to Hamilton Island via Cid Island


After covering quite a bit of ground in the last couple of days and the events of last night we decided to take it easy and spent the day anchored off the West coast of Cid Island, returning to Hamilton Island in the evening for the shelter of the Marina. I think I have just about recovered from the snake incident now.

Highlights: A nice relaxing day

Day 131 March 20th 2007, "Lost" Season 2 Epsiode 23 - Stonehaven Bay to Hook Resort via Blue Pearl Bay and Butterlfy Bay

Running off an island in the middle of the night totally freaked out and having to drink the best part of half a bottle of gin, was not what I had in mind when I signed up for this trip but thats how today ended. Think eposode of Lost but first the prelude.

Just North of Stonehaven bay is Hayman Island and the beautiful Blue Pearl Bay, we managed to get in some reasonable snorkelling here and spent some time feeding the bat fish which were hovering round the back of our boat.

After a quick trip to Butterfly Bay on the North of Hook Island we headed South East towards Hook Resort. With wind against tide and gusts of upto 25 Knots it was a little on the rough side, not wanting to loose any of the crew I had them sitting in their lifejackets.

On arriving at the mooring off Hook Resort we were unable to reach the guys on shore so myself and Shelley took the tender out for a look. There was an underwater ovservatory on the Island which looked like it had been built in the 70's, the only building to survive a huge cyclone that came though here some time ago. This is when the Lost feeling started to creep in.

Opening credits for episode of Lost!!

To access the underwater observatory you had to climb down a set of spiral staircases into a dark room with small port holes, occasionally a fish would swim past. We then headed onto the Island and found the hotel owners sitting round having a beer, it turned out that their radio was off, with no ice either due to the ice maker being broken it did seem that this place was a little in disrepair.

On returning to our boat the crew we left on board were feeling a bit of sea sickness so after a quick dinner we decided to go ashore to relieve the symptoms. Before we left we decied to check out if the resort had any rooms, instead of reaching the resort Shelley managed to get in touch with somesort of Russian research vessel moored off our port bow on the other side of the channel.

They were happy for us to come across and stay but we thought better of it. Given it was now dark we had to make our way back to the pier on the tender via torchlight. After scaring Kirst and Jules with a visit to the underwater observatory we started to make our way along the pier to the start of the short bush track to the resort.

A huge gust of wind nearly blew us of our feet and we had to work to get to the end of the pier, climbing the steps to the start of the track I froze before quickly backtracking and nearly knocking over Kirsten, there in the path was 3ft long brown snake, not scared at all of us it started to advance. Sankes being my worst phobia I was outa there, running quickly back to the observatory where we had left our life jackets.

About to head for the tender a large rat, Shelleys worst phobia appeared in the middle of the path staring at us, shortly followed by an appearence of Kirstens worst phobia a cockroach. Not waiting for Julies' phobia to appear we were back in the dingy with the outboard running in seconds. Not before Mr Rat swam past the boat.

Back on "Turn 12" I manged to quickly put away almost half a bottle of gin to calm my nerves. We later found out that the snake we saw was more than likely an eastern brown, one of the most deadly in the World.

Highlights: Blue Pearl Bay

Day 130 March 19th, Finding Nemo - Whitsunday Island to Stonehaven Bay via Nara Inlet and Longford Island

After last nights anchor shenanigans I made sure that we would end up at a mooring tonight as I really needed to get some sleep. On route to Stonehaven bay we stopped off at Longford Island and got our first good snorkeling session in, plenty of corals and small reef fish on the North side of this small island. I have wanted to visit the Great Barrier Reef for as long as I can remember and it was great to get a taster of what the area has to offer, managed to catch a glimpse of the famous Nemo before he hid away in an anemone., slightly less aggressive than the one living in my reef tank at home.

Longford Island

Highlights: Our first glimpses of marine life