Sydney Harbour

Time for Wine

One thing we were really looking forward to about coming here was our visit to Hunter Valley, an area about 90 miles out of Sydney packed with vineyards.
Hunter Valley is the oldest wine region in the country and is best known for it`s Shiraz and Semillon varieties. Some of the vines there have been going since the 1820`s! And it`s not just the grapes that thrive in this fertile land, Hunter Valley is also a region known for its cheese, chocolate and olives.

There were over 140 vineyards to visit but we were advised to select four or five from the very exciting visitors brochure we were given (we had to leave some time to visit dairies and chocolate factories too). We stayed in a cabin in a caravan park and relished having our own little kitchen area in which to cook delicious meals to enjoy with our wine & cheese purchases!

At one vineyard called Tyrells we met our `wine guru` - an enthusiastic Scot who showed us around the winery, demonstrating how wine is made and tested our knowledge along the way. At the end of the tour, he was determined to make us try as many different wines as he could, eager to educate us on different varieties.

It was frustrating (albeit good for our bank balance) that we couldn`t walk away with cases of our favourite wines, especially as there were some excellent deals.

The scenery in the Hunter - as it`s known by the locals - was spectacular too. Driving around from one winery to the next (I gallantly volunteered to drive and `spit` my wine) you are surrounded on all sides by rolling hills and miles of beautiful green fields and trees, as well as the occasional kangaroo.

Tie me kangeroo down, sport

You may have noticed that Adrian and I have a bit of a penchant for wildlife...

After leaving Byron Bay we picked up a car and drove down the coast in the direction of Sydney stopping off at various places along the way.

One of our detours was, of course, to Billabong Wildlife Reserve which is dedicated to native Aussie critters. We were able to stroke the koalas and feed some very curious and friendly Kangeroos.

Surf`s up dude!

We left Cairns and flew to Brisbane (yes - flying was actually cheaper than the bus) where we hopped on a connecting bus which took us to Byron Bay. We nearly didn`t get a room as there was a huge festival going on (which we sadly missed out on - tickets apparently sold out months ago, in 20 mins!) and ended up with two dorm beds which we shared with some very boozy teenagers. We felt very old!

I decided it would be a good idea to have a refresher surfing lesson after I`d been defeated by the big waves in Bali. You cannot come to Australia and not surf properly! Luckily it made all the difference and the instructors were so good Adrian and I both went back for more the next day. By the time we went out alone we were better than we have ever been - cruising all those waves in to shore! We felt very pleased with ourselves.

A megalopolis for fish - The Great Barrier Reef

One of the main reasons for visiting Australia is to see the Great Barrier Reef. Larger than the Great Wall of China and the only visible living thing that can be seen from space, the Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

We visited this place from our first Australian port of call - Cairns. From here, we jumped on a fast boat for an hour long trip to a site about 100kms from the city. As we lay on the sundeck, we spotted a puff of water which turned out to be from a humpback whale. In fact, we ended up seeing three humback whales on our way to our dive site - the first whales we`d ever seen.

All of a sudden, the water turned bright green and we could see the ocean bed. We kitted up ready for our first dive. Amy and I descended into the sea and saw the famous Reef up close. A massive coral mass, where every single inch is occupied by a living creature. A megaloplis for fish that streches 2,300kms down the coast of Australia. Along with this coral reef, we saw hundreds of clownfish (Nemos), stingrays and giant clams. We also spotted a turtle, although sadly only from the boat.

We went on to another dive site where we snorkelled. As the tide went out, the tips of the coral from the reef stuck out from the sea and just below the surface, the reef was teeming with colourful, smiling parrotfish, munching away at the reef (see above!).

One of the unfortunate things about travelling is that you become quite hard to impress. We agreed that there are prettier and more diverse dive sites around, but for pure scale, you cannot beat the Great Barrier Reef.

Australia - the happiest place on Earth?

We've made it! We're now DOWN UNDER! Officially, the furthest we've ever been from home. And you know what, this place is STRANGE! I mean, really strange.

When Captain Cook arrived on the Endeavour and found Australia, he wrote that the Aborigines 'are far happier than we Europeans'. A view we shared with Cook when we first experienced the natives of this land.

We arrived in this country of opposites at about 2am and our first Australian encounters were with the airport staff at Darwin airport. We expected to be snarled at by gruff immigration and customs officials, jaded by the fact that they have to work through the night, but they were all, without any exception, so happy! They were joking with us, telling us to have fun, smiling and even looking us in the eye. And this trend for happy Aussies has continued unabated for the last few days. Quite extraordinary - especially for us Londoners whose main aim for any human interaction is to make any exchange with strangers as quick as possible.

The second big, big difference here is that it is ridiculously expensive. We're used to paying anywhere between three to ten pounds for a room. Here, we're paying around 30 quid EACH for a bed in a smelly dormitory! We went to the supermarket (a Woolworths if you must know) to stock up on food so that we could save money by not eating at restaurants and discovered that grocery shopping prices are OUTRAGEOUS! A regular block of cheese is three to four pounds, orange juice is about three pounds per carton - more than London prices!

In rounding off his account of the natives of this land, Cook wrote 'They think themselves provided with all the necessities of Life and that they have no superfluities'. Well our route takes us through quite a few of our new 'necessities of life' - diving on the Great Barrier Reef, surfing in Byron Bay, organic hippy villages and the vineyards of Hunter Valley before arriving at the bright lights of Sydney Harbour - if our experience over the next two weeks lives up to its expectations, then this really will be the Land of Plenty in our eyes.