Discovering the east coast

Mission beach

Paluma National Park







Kookaburra man

Magnetic island



Townsville (Frangipani i aranya)



Looking for fruitpicking
(we tried...)



Bundaberg (famous for Ginger beer and Rum)



Boris pesca el 1r (i últim...) peix! mmm bo, però escàs.



Rainbow beach
(sorra de 72 capes de colors)
Veiem balenes!!





Noosa
(surf and seafood)
Una mica de menjar bo després de tantes baked beans!



Australia Zoo

North of Cairns and Cape tripulation - days in the paradise -

Palm Cove

Costa del Daintree National Park

Nit al cotxe, sota un arbre de mangos (je tenim postre!!)

Port Douglas



Mossman Gorge (aigua congelada!)



Platges de Cape Tripulation
Sobrevivim dels cocos que cauen de les palmeres



Aigua cristalina i calenta





Free river cruise on Mulgrave river
No luck, no crocodiles

New car

Compra del cotxe nº2, Ford Fairmont wagon 1991, $2000. Preguem perquè ens porti fins a Sydney i vendre'l a algun backpacker per, com a mínim, el mateix preu!

Great Barrier Reef

Después de 5 dies de sol a Cairns, ens despertem emocionats perquè és el gran dia de DIVING a la Barrera de Coral i resulta que el cel està ple de núvols i plovisqueja... gafes!

Tot i així, pugem al barco de 40 persones (ens han recomenat aquest, després d'estar mirant les mil opcions de tours) i al cap de més d'1h i mitja arribem, marejats, al punt on farem snorkling i diving. Aquí el cel és clar i fa molt sol :)

Ens vestim per l'ocasió i els guapos del barco ens ajuden a posar la bombona, els pesos, etc.. Farem 20 min de submarinisme amb un monitor, nosaltres dos sols perquè ningú més s'hi atraveix avui.

La nostra primera experiència sota l'aigua a uns 6m de profunditat i durant tant temps! És una mica agobiant, però ràpidament veiem tot el coral de colors, els peixos, petxines gegants - sembla que estiguem a la peli de Nemo! -

La resta del dia anem amb els peus de pato i les ulleres pel nostre conte. Nadem amb una tortuga gran que no té por de nosaltres.

Una experiència fantàstica!

Cairns

Cela fait déjà 6 jours que nous sommes à Cairns. La ville est beaucoup plus animée que Alice Springs et ça fait du bien! Tout ici est fait pour les touristes, il doit y avoir 40 auberges de backpackers et plus d'une centaine de boutiques pour réserver une croisière dans la Grande Barrière de Corail.

La déception que tout le monde aura en arrivant à Cairns et qu'il est interdit de se baigner dans la mer (cf photo :S )

Cependant il existe le Lagoon! Une grande piscine salée de 4800 m2 au bord de la plage, dans le centre ville. Tout le monde se retrouve là durant la journée avant de reunir au differents bars animés des alentours.

On a bien pu profiter de tout ça: nuit fish and chips, casino ( gain $7 ), pizza, glace, bar, music en directe, discotèque...

Au nord de Cairns city il y a de plus jolies plages entourées de palmiers et de riches maisons.

Notre objectif était trouver une nouvelle voiture ( again! ) donc on a aussi passé les jours à chercher et à les examiner (maintenant Boris il est un expert en sistème de refrigeration et verification des liquides haha). Finalment, on part avec un Ford Fairmont 1991 wagon, pour 2000 dollars (moins chère que la Camry), et on espère avoir plus de chance.

Direction le nord, on vous écrira pour raconter des nouvelles aventures!

Transfer Alice Springs - Cairns

After a good stop in Alice Springs it was time to hit the road again. The 29th of October our relocation car was ready to go : 2500 km in 5 days to reach Cairns.
The big 4 weel drive came with lots of options, as we discoverd along the way....

First of all, we crossed the tropic of capricon, just north of Alice Springs, and continued our journey far away in north.

The first day we visited Devils marbles, big round rock formations in the middle of the desert.

A great day, it's good to be on the road again. We made about 600 kms and the dusk had already fallen when we went to sleep. We were told that there was a tent on the roof, so it was time to figure it out. Actually this is a great tent, ideal to sleep under the stars.

At Three ways, we took the Bruce Hwy to go to Mt Isa and Cluncurry, the landscape didn't change so much.. no mountains, no green at all, but a lot of cows (that we wonder what they really can eat there!)

After arriving at the small town of Normanton, we took the Savannah way, a beautifull road that cross Australia from Broome to Cairns. There we saw lots of kangaroos, driving after the sunset was quite dangerous!

600 km per day, only time to stop to eat and sleep, but was amazing to see how the landscap changes along the way. Suddenly after Ravenshoe, where we stopped for a quick swim (very quick) at Millstream falls, the small mountains appear with green grass and tall trees and palmtrees- we are in the Tropic - Only 100 km to reach Cairns.

2 weeks of Wwoofing at Bond Springs Station

Now we know what's wwoofing like!

After being locked in Alice without car, while we were waiting for the relocation one, we decided to do some wwoofing and get dirty in a farm! So we started working in Bond Springs, a huge cattle station (1500 km2) 20 min from Alice Springs, helping with the cattle work, painting, gardening and house hold chores.

The first week was quite exhausting, 10h per day under the sun with the cows, doing drafting (separating them for selling after) - under Grant instructions - and helping with marking the small cows/bulls and castrating the males! hehe (was funny to see Grant or Ben cutting and throwing the testicles of the poor animal in the air). We spent our spare time going to the pool or doing bird watching...

The second week was more relaxing, the cattle work was done (almost 500 cows sold), and our new job was painting Ben's truck in red, blue and white (Boris was happy...french flag...) and putting some manure in the lawns. Also we could spend more time with Ben and Laura what was great and listen to Ben Slip on live!

The food was good, the family also and the place quite and nice.

That's an extra picture of our 1h work recolecting cans (mostly beer cans from aboriginal people) for the recycling centre which gave us a total of $50 (5 cents/can, 1000 cans)!!! uuuu! All money welcome :)

PS: the fancy white is not our new car (that we would like to have...), it was only a hired one. Toyota camry, ves per on!