Travel: AIRLIE BEACH & THE WHITSUNDAYS - East Coast Australia Adventures Part 2

Following my restless night on the bus from 1770 (read about my adventures there here) and I arrived in Airlie Beach. Things  were already looking up. I headed to GST Aviation for something I was very excited to do. I first thought I’d do a skydive over the Whitsundays, but figured I’d ticket that off the bucket list in Noosa. What could be better then? How about a scenic flight?

I checked in and hung around a while before we were collected on a bus and brought down to the airfield. Six of us were brought to a tiny plane by the pilot. ‘Who wants to co-pilot?’ he asked. My hand shot up. ‘Hop in.’ I felt cool as anything sitting up front with dials and switches galore as we took off over towards the coast and the Whitsundays.

Glorious blue water speckled with white sand islands stretched before us. I was living. We flew over the shifting sands of Hill Inlet and to the edge of the Great Barrier Reef. The pilot warned us as we approached The Heart of the Reef, which is what it says on the tin – a heart shaped reef which is really something to look at. The different shades of blue on the reef were stunning and a smile was plastered on my face all the way until landing.

I was having a great day, and even great days can be improved by food, so I caught up with a girl I’d met in 1770 for lunch at Cook’s Bar & Grill – a thick halloumi sandwich coupled with a yummy iced chocolate. We wandered along the coast before heading to the Marina to watch the sunset by the luxury yachts of the rich and famous. Airlie Beach had my heart.

The last thing I want to do when I’m travelling is feel like I’m wasting time, so I was up early the next morning to see what I ought to do in Airlie. I opted for the Honeyeater Hike, which was challenging enough to get to in the first place as it was perched at the top of a hill. I endured a sweaty hour or so of just me and the goanas and cockatoos before it was time to head back to Magnums hostel to pack up and head on.

After lunch we made our way down to the Marina to board our home for the next two nights, Wings catamaran. We were met at the group by our host Robyn we brought the twenty-something of us down to the boat where we surrendered our shoes for the next few days and hopped aboard. We were served a light lunch of pizza whilst we were introduced to Robyn and our skipper Christian and given a brief itinerary of what we would be up to for the next few days.

It was then time to head to our quarters. I was in one of the pointy parts of the catamaran (boat fans, I’m sorry!) along with 7 others. It was a tight squeeze, but by the end of our time aboard Wings, everyone aboard would be as close as anything. We chilled aboard the boat, getting to know our fellow travellers and playing cards before arriving at our first snorkel destination.

We decked ourselves out in snazzy Wings wetsuits and snorkels and hopped in to spend some time with the fishies. Again, life was good. Back on board we were treated to sunset snacks artfully prepared by Robyn and then to the front of the boat to watch the sunset before enjoying dinner and each others company until the wee hours of the morning.

It felt like I’d just gone to bed before I woke up again to watch the sunrise over the ocean. I mean, you don’t get that many chances to do that, so you’d best believe I was going to take every opportunity I could get. We were anchored on the back end of Whitehaven Beach, and watching the sunrise near to the glistening white sands was a sight not to be missed.

A few hours later and the rest of my new pals rose for breakfast and a morning swim before we took the dinghy over to Whitehaven. A little walk later and we arrived at the stunning silica sands that make up just about every photo of the Whitsundays. We had a few hours of free time to swim, take Instagram photos and play beach football. Like Fraser Island’s Lake Mackenzie, this was undoubtedly the place to see and be seen in the Whitsundays.

We walked up to the three lookouts to get the best views of the beach and the inlet before getting back on the dingy to return to the boat and be swept off to our next snorkel destinations. We docked at Hook Passage for dinner and sunset.

I woke up early the next morning for another sunrise, although this one was less spectacular than the last as the sun rose behind the land mass we were docked behind. After breakfast we had a final chance to snorkel – now if you’ve been keeping up with Aussie news, the name Hook Passage might be familiar to you. This is where a shark attack which resulted in a mans foot being bitten off took place, less than two hours after we’d been swimming there. The thought that we were swimming in the same waters as that shark still gives me the heebie-jeebies…

Alas, we weren’t to know this, and were blissfully ignorant as we sailed back to port to bid farewell to our crew and fellow passengers. Having so much fun over the past few days had caused me to build up quite the appetite so we headed to Anchor Bar for burgers overlooking the ocean. Bliss. That evening I walked back over to the marina for another sunset before a Wings after party at Beaches Bar.

 Thanks for reading today's blog! I loved spending time in the Whitsundays and would absolutely recommend it - is it on your list of places to go? Let me know by dropping a message in the comments and be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to be notified of upcoming blog posts!

Travel: 1770 & AGNES WATER - East Coast Australia Adventures Part 1

I’d been in Australia for over 6 months and yet had seen little more of the country this time around than my adopted hometown of Noosa, and Byron Bay (you can read about that here). It was about time to change that, and so I booked myself an East Coast adventure that would take me from Brisbane over 1,600 kilometres to Cairns, and then on to the Northern Territory for good measure.

All about getting maximum impact for minimum money, I’d booked myself onto the cheaper of the two coaches which take you around the country, the Premier Bus Service. I packed light, with just a backpack and string bag to last me over two weeks, but this sure made travelling around a hell of a lot easier, even just in getting to Brisbane Coach Terminal to start my adventures.

And so we began, driving North. The bus driver kindly allowed me to hop off the bus at Noosa to say hello to my friends, and then it was straight on through. Having left Brisbane at 2pm that day, I didn’t arrive at my first destination, the town of 1770 / Agnes Water, until 12:10am. To say it had been a long day would be an understatement, and it wasn’t even over yet.

Now, one of the disadvantages of being as frugal with transport as I am is that it doesn’t always take you exactly where you need to be, and so I was dropped off 25km outside of town. I’m not really sure why the Premier can’t head into town like the Greyhound does, but this did mean ordering a $50 return shuttle to take me to my hostel.

Things didn’t get off to the best start when I arrived at Southern Cross Backpackers in the middle of the night, as no staff were around, and apparently no arrangements had been made for me to stay the night. Thus, I was placed in the first empty room to be found (Southern Cross is bizarrely a ‘keyless hostel’, meaning none of the doors get locked…) sans any linens or comfort that I wouldn’t have strange animals or stranger people walking into my room in the middle of the night.

Circumstances didn’t necessarily improve the next morning when I was up bright and early to check in as soon as reception opened, which it didn’t until 40 minutes after advertised. Delightful. Alas, I was here and it was time to see all of the delights that 1770 had to offer. The hostel kindly offered free shuttle transport to town at various times throughout the day, so I hopped on the shuttle at 10am and was dropped off in the small town of Agnes Water.

First (and only) stop – the beach. I spent an hour or so wandering along the beach as it is indeed one of my favourite pasttimes, and to be quite fair, there really didn’t seem to be very much else to do here. The bus returned after midday and I headed back to the hostel to prepare for the first of the activities my travel agent had persuaded me to get involved in – Scooteroo.

Where do I begin with Scooteroo? If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know that I do sometimes get myself involved in strange situations – the Moulin Rouge being a notable example – and yet even that pales in comparison to Scooteroo. On paper, it’s a scenic tour of Agnes Water and 1770 via chopper bike. In reality, it’s what seems to be a drug-fuelled hallucination.

We lined up at the bike shed and were greeted by our instructor Craig, who had undoubtedly ingested every kind of drug known to man, quite possibly that day alone. I make no exaggerations when I say that all of us were slightly concerned that this man was to be in charge of our safety. But then again, pretty much all of the people I’d met on this leg of my journey so far appeared to be on drugs, so maybe it was just their way of coping with living in 1770…

There was a brief trial period on a dirt track for us to get used to riding a chopper. It was at this point that I wondered why I, who is not even confident driving a car, had decided to sign up to this. Here we were, already feeling pretty shaky on a dirt track, and we were about to be released onto the roads.

Deemed road-safe (ha), we filed single file out onto the roads and started tearing off at 50-60 kph. Trust me when I say that the less you thought about what you were doing, the better. We stopped at some kind of forest area for a brief walk through the woods, not seeing an awful lot, and then back off we went.

Riding along straight roads was fine, but corners were hard for me. The bike was heavy, and I found it very difficult to steer the handlebars enough to make a tight corner, sometimes veering into the other lane and panicking to pull myself back straight before I headed off the road. Apparently I wasn’t the only one, as we took a corner and behind me I heard an ear-piercing scream. We were going fast, and didn’t know what to do until Craig zoomed ahead of us, flagged us to stop, said ‘there’s been an accident’, and zoomed off again.

Down the road behind us, one of the girls had been thrown off her bike taking a corner. We waited up the hill as she was taken off to hospital. Let me tell you that it was at this point that we became very aware of our mortality, and that perhaps this hadn’t been the smartest thing to do Day 1 of my tour, when I still had so many activities that would be so much better without a broken arm, and indeed, still alive.

The rest of the ride was tense, and the main topic of conversation as we stopped for potato wedges and sundown at the port of 1770 was hoping the girl was alright. We raced home before the sun fully set, and were all relieved to arrive home in one piece and find our compatriot safe and sound.

I’ll be brutally honest – I’d had more than enough of 1770 by this point, and indeed was rather confused as to why I’d been sent there in the first place. My travel agent had been so adamant that 1770 was not to be missed, but I can’t say I’d agree. And here I was, with another full day ahead of me before my bus onwards arrived to pick me up at 12:10am that night.

What was I do to with myself? Head back to the beach, I guess. But even that didn’t last long, and we found ourselves back at the hostel by lunchtime. With nothing to do, we wasted time watching a movie before the kangaroo sanctuary nearby opened for the brief period of 3-4pm. I walked over and spent a little time feeding the kangas sweet potato slices before heading back to the hostel.

You’ll know I’m a big fan of sunsets, so that was my next idea, and I found myself accompanied by one of the hostels resident loons who offered to take me to his secret ‘beachside workshop’ where he was building a raft to sail to Indonesia… You’ll be pleased to know I declined. I’m not sure I’d still be writing this blog post if I’d agreed.

Thank God that a full Greyhound full of people arrived at the hostel that night as I’m really not sure what I would’ve done otherwise. The tour group happily integrated me into their ranks, and we spent the night playing cards and chatting before my shuttle returned to collect me and take me far away from that town.

Thanks for reading today's blog! I hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventures in 1770 and Agnes Water - have you visited these towns before? If so, was your experience any different to mine? I'd love to hear about them - drop me a message in the comments below and make sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to stay up to date with future posts!

Travel: HONOLULU, HAWAII (Part 4) - Pride Parade, Manoa Falls, & Tantalus Lookout

*Check out my previous Hawaii blogs here first!*

The following morning was a little different from usual Waikiki mornings because it was the Honolulu Pride Parade. The hostel was organising a group to head to Main Street to watch, so I joined the various rainbow-coloured attendees.

After a few photos with the hostel Pride mascot, a multicolored caterpillar, we watched the parade go by with rainbows galore, and danced in the street. I hadn't had any rainbow kit on when I left, but by the end of the parade was decked out in rainbow stickers, sunglasses and leis, all thrown from the floats.

Dancing in the streets will work up a bit of an appetite, so I decided to go in search of an acai bowl. Again, I consulted my trusty TripAdvisor, to Tropical Tribe. In retrospect probably should just have opted for something closer to home, as the forty minute walk each way in the midday sun was a lot. I ended up getting sick later that day, which I attritube to heat exhaustion, and what's worse is that the acai bowl was just a fairly standard acai bowl, probably not worth the trip.

I trudged the long way back and got ready for that afternoons excursion, a hostel organised trip to Manoa Falls and Tantalus Lookout. I was so pleased with the hostel for offering trips like this, and for that would put it at the top of all of the hostels I've stayed at. Who cares what your room is like if they have tours you can join?

We hopped in the van and drove out to Manoa Falls, where it was about a 40 minute walk each way to reach the waterfall. The landscape was very Jurassic Park like with verdant greenery here, there and everywhere.

As it began to rain, the terrain became very slippery and I wondered how some people were doing it in flip flops when I was finding it hard enough in hiking boots! The falls were a thin stream of water, but very high so we stood to admire it for a few minutes in the pouring rain before heading back.

We went next to Tantalus Lookout which offered views across Honolulu and particularly the Waikiki area where we'd come from earlier that day. The view was nice, but by this point I was feeling so sick I could only stay out for a few minutes before I retreated to the van. .

I did manage to make it out that evening to watch the sunset for my final night in Hawaii, and felt much better as the night wore on. Just in time to head back home the next day!

Had I planned my Hawaii trip all on my own, I'm not sure I would have had such a good time. The days I was in charge (and sans car) were the worst, but having a hostel which organised trips for you was fantastic, and subsequently I ended up enjoying myself a lot.

I'd be interested to return to Hawaii some day and check out the other islands, but Oahu was a great place to start.

I hope you enjoyed today's blog and my Hawaii series! It's back to Australia for me now with plenty of great content to come, so make sure to stay tuned to my Twitter @CiarasCountry and feel free to drop me a message in the comments for any recommendations of where I should visit next!

Travel: HONOLULU, HAWAII (Part 3) - North Shore, Haleiwa, & Dole Plantation

*Check out previous editions of my Hawaii series here first!*

Having had such a great experience on my hostel-run tour the day before, I’d opted for another one the following day, this one that I was greatly looking forward to. For just $30, I’d be granted a full day trip to the North Shore, an area of Oahu that I would otherwise not have had access to. Our driver, Mike, picked us up at 9am and drove us about an hour out to Waimea Bay.

The main attraction of this beach is the 30ft cliff that the brave and/or stupid can jump off of (although of course not endorsed by the guide), and I was more than happy enough to watch people jump of rather than do it myself. The waves which rolled in beside the cliff were half as high as the cliff itself, and it was those I was more scared of than the jump itself.

After a little internal persuasion, I managed to convince myself to climb to the top of the cliff, a feat in itself, particularly as it started raining shortly after we set off, making for a slippy ascent. Still, I had achieved what I had set out to, and that was enough for me.

On we went to Sharks Cove which, with a name like that, I definitely would have been more wary of after my experience in East Coast Australia (coming soon to this blog). I can neither confirm nor deny whether sharks do indeed reside here, but food trucks certainly do, so we stopped here first to pick up fish tacos or, in my case, more shave ice – this time the more traditional small chunks of ice doused in flavoured syrup.

Refreshed, it was then down to the cove itself for some more snorkelling, made even more fun by the super strong current which constantly threatened to drag us out to sea if we weren’t careful. Still, the fish didn’t seem to mind.

We were then due to visit Turtle Beach, so called because it is often home to green sea turtles like the ones I’d seen the day before. However, a cursory glance at the beach as we drove by suggested that the conditions weren’t quite right for the turtles, and we’d be wasting our time if we stopped off there.

Subsequently we headed on to the surfing town of Haleiwa, which I was pretty happy with having already seen turtles before and keen to visit the well known Oahu town. We were given free time to roam around, and so I walked along the touristy streets, past the famous Matsumoto Shave Ice (cheaper and bigger portions than what I’d bought earlier, but who was to know we’d have visited this later in the day) to the Bob Marley mural and into a number of the town’s stunning art galleries. Had I been a millionaire, I certainly would not have left empty-handed.

Our final stop of the day was the Dole Pineapple Plantation. My main focus of visiting was the Dole Whip, a famous pineapple flavoured soft serve ice cream found only here and at the Disneyland parks. The plantation hosts a very extensive gift shop with anything and everything pineapple themed that you could possibly want, the aforementioned pineapple soft serve (yes, it was wholly delicious, particularly with fresh pineapple draped on top) and a garden outside with, you guessed it, pineapples. If you’ve never seen how a pineapple grows before, this is indeed fairly interesting.

Pineapple curiosity peaked, it was time to head back home as the sky began to darken for another sunset on Waikiki Beach, as there are indeed very few things that make me happier than a sunset. Afterwards, it was time to eat, and something that I'd been keen to try whilst in Hawaii was a poke bowl, usually made with raw fish, rice, and heaps of toppings. Obviously I wasn't going to settle for any old poke bowl and found the best one on my beloved TripAdvisor, which turned out to be The Poke Bar, about a twenty minute walk from my hostel.

The Poke Bar is essentially a Subway for poke. You start by choosing your base (half sushi rice and half brown rice for me), your protein (tofu for me), toppings (wakame, edamame, crispy garlic and shallots, cucumber etc), and sauce. Let me tell you, they don't skimp on the portion side. We brought our poke bowls to the beach hoping to see some fireworks which never materialised, but tell me if there's anything as nice as sitting on the beach at night eating delicious food. 

I hope you enjoyed today's blog! There's one more Hawaii blog to come, so make sure to stay tuned to my Twitter @CiarasCountry and feel free to drop me a message in the comments for any recommendations of where I should visit next!

Travel: HONOLULU, HAWAII (Part 2) - exploring Waikiki

*Check out Part 1 of my Hawaii series here*

The following day was all about exploring Waikiki, so I spent the morning wandering up its expansive Main Street, most of which is filled with shops I didn’t have the faintest chance of affording, but I enjoyed window-shopping the designer clothes and jewellery anyway. A girl can dream, right? Indeed, most of my shopping ended up coming from the numerous ABC Stores that line every corner, convenience stores where you can get everything from food and drink to souvenirs.

In the afternoon, I’d booked onto one of the hostel activities, an afternoon catamaran tour for $40. We were picked up from the hostel and driven down to the waterfront where we boarded a catamaran and head out to sea. As we cruised, we had great views of Waikiki from a different angle than one would get from walking along the streets. After a while, we stopped and were given free rein to snorkel, or use the provided ocean trampoline, stand up paddleboards or kayaks.

There was a green sea turtle swimming around our boat, so I immediately chucked on a snorkel and jumped in to follow it (at a safe distance of course!), hovering at the surface of the water as the turtle dived and watching it munch on delicious sea floor for a while. This was a really special experience as they aren’t the most common of creatures and once they dive, are pretty impossible to find, unless you catch them in the act, like I had.

Having admired the turtle for long enough, I headed back to the boat and hauled a kayak into the ocean where I spent a while cruising the high seas and being glad that I hadn’t opted to take a SUP out instead as it would have been near impossible to stand up with the shallow waves that rolled across the ocean.

All that activity had worn me out, and so I spent the rest of the afternoon draipsed across the ocean trampoline, chatting and laughing with some of the girls from the hostel. I thought such a trip was a great idea, as it gave us the opportunity to immediately get to know people in our hostel, something which isn’t always the easiest thing to do. This made such a difference to the rest of my time in Hawaii, and definitely added to my enjoyment.

Shave ice was top of my list for things to eat in Hawaii, and I’d asked at reception earlier that day where was best to go. She had suggested a spot in downtown that served superb shave ice, but in portions large enough you’d need someone to share with. Lucky for me, the catamaran tour had found me a friend I could share with, and so we headed off to Ice Monster.

Outside the store, a member of staff sat with a ‘spin the wheel’ to win various toppings or money off your ice. Being so very lucky, I of course didn’t win anything, but my friend did, meaning we’d be able to top our ice with boba. What’s more, is that we were permitted to try as many flavours as we wanted, which of course we did, before settling on mango.

What an excellent decision, as we were presented with a mountain of delicious mango ice served with fresh mango, panacotta, and mango sorbet. What’s special about Ice Monster’s shave ice is that it’s silky smooth, and I loved every bite. Definitely recommend. Suitably fed, it was about time for my nightly occurrence of watching the sunset. What a perfect way to end the day. It looked like my time in Hawaii was on the way up. 

I hope you enjoyed today's blog! There's more Hawaii blogs to come, so make sure to stay tuned to my Twitter @CiarasCountry and feel free to drop me a message in the comments for any recommendations of where I should visit next!