World Tour 2000 - 2002
We chilled out for the day on the 3rd to recover from all the early starts on Fraser Island and headed up to Bunderberg on the 4th. Here for the next four days we were busy first completing a Medic First Aid course and then our Rescue Diver course with Bunderberg Aqua Scuba. Due to the miserable weather, we had to completed our diver search and recovery exercise in the local river which had about 30cm visibility. Not exactly the experience we were hoping for but it definately tested our skills! One evening we took a drive out to Mon Repos which is the home of a turtle rookery. We waited patiently with loads of other tourists in the waiting area until something happened on the beach and then all headed on out. We saw the emergence of 50 baby flat back turtle, which were checked over by park staff before being allowed to continue there journey down the beach to the sea. This is the second time Sharon and I have seen this amazing wonder of nature and I don't think we will ever tire of watching this happen.
On the 9th we gladly left Bundberg, as we were both covered from head to toe in sand fly bites. These little bastards are worse than mosquitoes and their bites last for days. We got to Airlie Beach two days later and were lucky to find a trip that was leaving that evening so, after investing in two really sexy dive computers, we were straight out onto a sailing trip around the Whitsunday's which just happened to include six dives as well. The Whitsunday's are beautiful and it is so peaceful to cruise around there torquise waters under sail with no noise at all. We stopped one morning at this amazing beach called Whitehaven which was 8km long and nothing but fine white sand, we even had it to ourselves for a while. We did some dives which were OK but not spectacular, the sites were a bit lacking on the fish front but some of the corals were spectacular. Sharon has developed this amazing ability to spot sleeping White Tip Reef Sharks left right and centre which is kinda handy. When we arrived back on shore on the 13th all the crew and guests on the boat all went out for the night and once again we woke up the next day with massive hangovers.
On Valentines Day it was time to head up north again to Townsville and our expected rendevous with Lisa who was arriving from Thailand that day. Our hangover were pretty spectacular from the evening before so it was a bit of a mission to get there and we checked into a dodgy backpackers. On the 15th we got up real early to find a better backpackers, Sharon wanted one with a pool (snob), and we also had to take Dingo to the doctor's as he had developed a rather worrying oil leak which we had detected in Hervey Bay. Later that day we met Lisa at the bus stop and after hugs and a few hours catching up on our diving escapades we hit the bar next to the hostel for a big session.......
Another day and another blinding hangover this is beginning to become a bit of an east coast theme !! Townsville turned out to be a bit of a prison town, the rain came pouring down and the dive we wanted to do was postponed until the weather was better. We also seemed to have picked the most stupid mechanics on the planet as it took ages to have Dingo serviced and the oil leak fixed. We amused ourselves by seeing Hannibal (twice), visiting the local Aquarium (twice) and going to the pub (more than twice) Eventually Lisa had to return to Cairns and we were left alone in Shitsville. Luckily the weather then turned nice and we were able to get out and dive the wreck of the SS Yongala which is why we came to this town in the first place, and it turned out to be worth the wait. The wreck has been down since 1912 and is covered in corals and in places the fish are so thick you have to wave them away to see the wreck. Gary had a face to face meeting with a green turtle and on the second dive we saw four spotted eagle rays hovering in the current above the wreck - awesome.
Originally our plan was to now turn inland at Townsville and head to Uluru (formally Ayers Rock) but two cyclones had ripped through the Northern Territory and the roads in were flooded, we also worked out we would be spending 9 days driving nearly 1500 miles to see a rock. So on the 22nd Feb we turned around and started to head south overnighting in a place called Camilla (population 10). Then we spent two days at the rather posh holiday town of Noosa Heads where we reluctantly did a For Sale ad for Dingo and stuck it to his windows (sob sob) Whilst in Noosa we also took the opportunity to go out for an awesome meal in a posh restaurant. During the meal the waitress said to Sharon "I hope you don't mind me asking but what perfume are you wearing?" To which the truthful reply was "Well actually it's not perfume but mosquito repellant". At which point the waitress went scarlet and left the room, it seems 100% DEET Jungle Formula Mosquito Repellent can really pull the birds down here.
On the 25th we left Noosa Heads and headed inland to a place called Beaudesert where we met up with friends Alan and Helene who are travelling around the world in the opposite directionto us. We enjoyed a very agreeable sunset picnic and beers under the stars swopping travelling tales. The next day we headed down to South West Rocks in order to dive another of the east coasts top dive sites, called Fish Rock. This dive was brilliant, you basically swim through a small island via a cave who's entrance is 24m under the water. The cave was full of crayfish, crabs and huge Wobbegong Sharks.
Then finally on the 28th February we headed back to Syndey arriving late in the evening and being rescued on the accomodation front by our mate Rav (superstar)