SHIT HAPPENS - Australia (part 1)
Sorry (not sorry) if I put you on the wrong track, but no, the vacation wasn’t shit at all. However, shit does happen, going to the toilet is one of the most human things ever. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, after some time, you will have to go.
You’re probably thinking ‘Astrid, why the hell are you talking ‘bout toilets and pooping if you went to Australia?' Well it’s quite simple, I’m going to tell you ALL about my trip on the basis of all the toilets of (all) the hotels, apartments and lodges at which we stayed. But I’ll warn you, I’m not good in this kind of stuff.
Stay for day 1
Typical airplane toilet
DAY 1
Rough start of the day, wayyyy too early to get up (it was only 7 ‘o clock or something), but anyway too early. We jumped in the car on our way to the airport of Frankfurt (3h drive).
Once we got through all the checks, it was time to fly *fly me to the moon* aka Hong Kong, China (11h). Although it didn’t feel that long, for me.
Stay for day 2
Hotel in Hong Kong
DAY 2
I can’t really say my day just started, cauz my day already started 24h ago and just keeps going.
As soon as we got out of the airport, we dropped our luggage at the hotel and went for a walk. We explored the area we were staying in: Tsim Sha Tsui. At midday, we went back to the hotel to change clothes. It was terrribly hot!
Althought we had to move on because we had tickets for the peak, we had a quick stop at a Michelin star dumpling restaurant to get some lunch. WE HAD TO WAIT IN LINE FOR FOOD. As soon as our bellies were filled up again, we made our way up to the peak. It’s the highest place in Hong Kong, where you can view the skyline of the city. It was pretty A.F. .
Meanwhile, it got quite late and jetlag was kinda killing us (already awake for about 48h). So we went back to the hotel. Me and my mom and dad went searching for some food, while Axel was already sleeping. After that, we went straight to bed.
Stay for day 3
Airplane toilet (again)
DAY 3
Found my greatest love = MY BED!
After a good night's rest, we were still kinda sleepy, but whatever. New day, new adventures. The first stop: Big Buddha aka the biggest sitting Buddha in the world. This place was magical!
We lunched at a typical Chinese tearoom. It was delicious, even the tea! After that, we went to visit another temple that was located in the middle of the city. It was so impressing and pretty. Done with the culture, it’s shopping time! Although I didn’t buy anything :).
Around 5 we got back to the hotel, to get to the airport. Let’s go to Australia!!! (6h flight)
Lil’ funny thing: Chinese people are so nice to me; they insisted that I took their super good photospot. There was even a random boy who asked if he could make a picture with me! So sweet!
Stay for day 4, 5, 6, 7
Hooleys Beach House
DAY 4
Our plane landed in Cairns (Australia) around 7am. We immediately picked up our rented car. On our way to our beach house in Mission Beach (2h drive).
We arrived at 11:30am, but the owners of the house were still cleaning it, so we decided to go to the grocery store first.
When we were back at the house, we just chilled and I went to explore the beach with daddy. The beach was like paridise, a super long white beach with almost no people.
After the walk, it was BBQ-time!!!
DAY 5
2day is just a chill day. We drove to Tully and booked something for Sunday.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach. In the evening, we went to a restaurant called ‘The Garage’.
DAY 6
OMG today is the day you've all been waiting for, THE number one thing if you think about Australia. The Great Barrier Reef.
So, early in the morning, the water taxi brought us to Dunk Island, where the bigger boat was waiting. We needed to ‘drive’ 1:25h to the first stop on the reef. But on our way there we saw WALES! It was so pretty, you saw them jumping, you could easily see their tail splashing into the water.
The first stop was beautiful, my first time in the Great Barrier Reef. Damn it was good! We saw a sea turtle, lots of beautiful fish and I even saw a white tip reef shark! But no worries, these are friendly sharks ;). Back on the boat we got BBQ. The second stop was also wonderful! After that, we started our trip back home. We kept seeing wales btw.
DAY 7
Slept like a rose! Lucky, cauz' I will need it! In the morning, we went to a lil’ Rotary market, where people sell their stuff like avocado’s.
At midday it was time, time for the big activity. Rafting on the Tully River. They picked us up with a lil' van and brought us to the river. Me and my dad shared a rafting boat. It was crazy! Our ‘boat’ was full of water, we went down in every possible way. Frontal, backwards, sideways, ... name it! Mom and her rafting partner had a meet up with every stone possible in the river :). We saw a BIGGGG spider. Honestly, I don’t know how big exactly, but the fact that I could see it without my glasses, says it all. The guide also told us that there used to be crocodiles in the river. Cosy A.F. Luckily we didn’t see any.
As soon as we reached the end, they brought us back to our beach house.
Stay for day 8 & 9
Lodge in the rainforest
DAY 8
Hello early birds, today we’re leaving Mission Beach for the Tablelands, so gather your stuff and jump in the car!
On our way, we stopped at different places: a banana, a sugar cane and a tea plantation. We also did a rainforest skydeck walk, so a high skydeck through the rainforest. All that walking did us crave for some good food, so we got something to eat in a lil’ milk and cheese factory. It was simply delicious.
We arrived around 4 at the lodge, dropped our bags and went to a near river that was known for his platypusses. We were sitting there for half an hour already, when a man passend and told us we had to walk down the river. So of course we followed his advice and yup! we saw one! I expected it to be as big as a sea cow, but it ended up to be as big as a duck. LOL. Time for food mate!
After we filled up our stomaches, we waited for some animals. We waited for 2 hours in the cold. But after all we saw:
- 3 sugar gliders
- 2 possums
- 1 long-nosed bandicood
I think it was well worth the wait!
DAY 9
Damn. Yungaburra, a small town, is so idyllic. It looks like you’re in a Disney studio for some old Texas movie or something.
Anyway, after our breakfast in a local café, it was time to hit the road! First three stops: waterfalls where I forgot the name of. They were beautiful! After that, we had a lil’ snack and drove further to the vulcane crater. My brother swam in the bassin of the waterfall in the same park. When we were walking back to the car, my dad suddenly says ‘Astrid, a snake’, so I just started running like I was going to die. Till he said ‘don’t run, come and take a look’. It was a thin black snake with a lil’ red bottom. Well, this tiny innocent looping snake turned out to be a Red-Bellied Black Snake, one of the most venomous and dangerous ones in Australia.
Lunch is welcome please!
We went looking at a curtain fig tree and after that we did a 3km hike around a lake and it was again time to eat! (It’s always time to eat)
Stay for day 10 & 11
Probably a very eco-friendly toilet at our B&B
DAY 10
Another day on the road, but first things first: breakfast!
On our way, we stopped at a golf-course cause we've been told that there are many kangaroos. So we hired a golf cart to chase around the course. That was so funny. We saw A LOT of kangaroos. You could stand sooo close to them, they wouldn't even hurt a fly! Besides kangaroos, there were also many gorgeous birds flying around. Birds you can only see in cages with us, just casually flying around.
Time to get back on track!
Then we took the ferry to go to the other part of the Daintree, the part where our B&B was located. It turned out that our B&B wasn't just a B&B, it was an ECO B&B. Because the government doesn't provide electricity, water or anything, all to protect the nature. Therefore, the people who wanna live there, need to generate their own electricity and stuff. So for us that meant that we weren't allowed to brush our hair, or shower too long. Another small thing, there was no internet connection at all, you couldn't even make a call or send a message. After all, it was quite nice having not to think about all of that.
In the evening, we went to have dinner with the other guests at a local restaurant. It was nice to talk with other people!
DAY 11
Good morning eco-friends, I'm about to ruin your eco-friendly day by taking a not eco shower to start off my day!
The breakfast contained multiple sorts of jams, from classic strawberry to passionfruit and pineapple.
First we went off to a beach nearby for a short walk. When I realized I forgot something, we went back to the B&B. When we went back on the road, we realised we forgot something else. We went back to get something 3 freaking times! As soon as we were sure we had everything, we did a crocodile tour. Pretty nice creatures, I think. We saw 2 big ones and 1 lil' one.
After all that, we went to do an ice-cream tasting. We tasted 4 crazy flavors of fruits that are so uncommon I can't even remember the names. But it was good!
After lunch, we drove all the way up, over dust roads to get to a natural swimming hole. We parked our car and walked on a tiny path through the rainforest to the swimming hole. When we got there, our parents didn't allow us to swim in the water because there was a sign that there could be crocodiles in the water.
On our way back to the car, we stood eye to eye with a cassowary, an animal who lived with the dinosaurs! The 'bird' was as big as my lil bro, my mom stood right next to it and when she tried to walk away from it, it followed her! Of course, my dad, my brother and I already ran away. It turned out that that big friend of ours we met was just a lil' baby... -_- . WTF.
After that we took a walk at the second most dangerous beach in the world, hahahah not kidding at all. Risked my life a lot out there.
At night we had a jungle walk planned. That walk started off with releasing a freaking python. The guide said "Oh don't worry they're not dangerous, they only bite like a lot, but really a lot" ... again wtf -_- . We saw a lot of freaking spiders, it was disgusting. Really. Gross. I was scared A.F that there would jump a spider that big on me. But you see, I survived.
Stay for day 12
Just a normal toilet at our apartment
DAY 12
Today was not that exiting. We just drove to Cairns.
But had lunch in Port Douglas.
When we arrived in Cairns, we went to tho public lagoon, in the middle of the city, to take a quick evening swim. That was so nice! The lagoon was clean, there even were life guards. Wish I had a thing like that in my city.
Sooo, on your request, I'm splitting up the journey in multiple posts. This one is obviously the first, the other part(s) will follow soon!
Please let me know what you think of it! Requests are always more than welcome! Don't forget to subscribe to my blog & keep hangin' around here, read some other posts...
Kisses Astrid
xxx
