Length of Stay: Twenty-four days
Miles Traveled to Enter: 1,200 by plane from Queenstown, New Zealand
Miles Traveled: 2,200 by Jucy Choppa + 450 by plane = 2,650 total (21,420 since landing in Quito)
Places Visited: Sydney, Brisbane, Mooloolaba, Paluma National Park, Wallaman Falls, Airlie Beach, Eungella National Park, Whitsunday Islands, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island
Intercity Buses Taken: 0
Flights Taken: 1
Kangaroos Seen: 2 alive, at least 10 dead
Rankings in the full post.
Jeff's Top 3s
Meals - Like in New Zealand, we cooked for ourselves most nights due to the cost of eating out.
1. Tay-Po Chicken Curry @ The Rice Pot, Sydney. Sydney is full of Thai restaurants. This one was the best we tried.
2. Chick pea stew @ CouchSurfers, Sydney. Simple and delicious home cooked food.
3. Chicken, rice and vegetables @ Jucy Choppa. Our staple.
Stays - This is an easy one, as we didn't stay in many places.
1. Tereasa and Charles, our CouchSurfers / Lorena and Nina, Sydney. It's always great to not have to stay in a hostel. Our two sets of hosts in Sydney gave us a very comfortable stay during our first week in Australia.
2. Jucy Choppa. Sure it was cramped, got hot at night, and started to smell a little funky by the end of our two weeks, but it was home.
3. Aussie Way, Brisbane. Not bad. Not great. Just third on this list by default.
Experiences
1. Walking over Hammerstone Sandblow on Fraser Island.
2. Swimming in waterfalls.
3. Seeing large coral formations for the first time while diving around the Whitsundays.
Honorable mention: Eating Tim Tams. We got hooked on these Australian cookies while in New Zealand and didn't stop eating them until our stash ran out in Singapore. They don't quite displace Oreos as my favorite cookies, but they come close. My favorite three flavors: Original (easily #1), Cookies and Cream and Honeycomb. We tried nine flavors in all.
Magge's Top 3s
Meals
Like New Zealand, this is a hard one (not in a good way).
1. Rice Pot in Bondi with Lorena and Jeff. Our first night staying with her, we got take away at one of Lorena's favorite Thai places and it did not disappoint. It was great fun to sit and enjoy great food with the great views from the apartment she was house-sitting. That of course was followed by the hilarious attempt to fix the blinds. Oh, Lorena . . .
2. Any one of my wonderful meals cooked from the back of the Jucy. I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but I think I turned out some impressive meals considering what I was working with. Much to Jeff and Lorena's chagrin, this included many healthy veggies, along with scores of mosquitoes that I am sure found their way into the food as well.
3. The food on both our tours really was nothing to write home about - Italian disguised as Mexican, anyone? I would probably have to put my third favorite meal as McDonald's considering how many times it became our "go-to" while in Australia. I will not reveal the number of times, because Jeff and I agreed that what happened with McDonald's in Australia, stays in Australia, but I will say that we did not visit a McDonald's in Singapore because we were worried about the health of our arteries.
Stays
1. Jucy Choppa??? ummmm . . . Well at least it got more comfortable as we got used to it. But seriously, that was an experience of a lifetime that I will always remember.
2. Crashing at Lorena's. Probably is first in terms of comfort (our very sweet hostess let us use her bed). It was so great to be in the same place for a few days!
3. Cool Dingo Tour, Fraser Island. After so many nights either in the Jucy or on a boat, it was really great to get a couple nights in a real bed with cool air and a shower whenever I wanted one. Heaven!
Experiences
1. Uh, riding around in the Jucy, duh. I think exploring a country (even your own) with friends in a camper should be a mandatory part of every person's young adult life. Yeah, I'm still counting myself as a "young adult" even though I know Jeff would say that I no longer am.
2. Little Crystal Creek. Or, Cripple Creek, as Lorena called it. Those waterfalls were simply unreal. I had the best time scrambling up them with Jeff and Lorena, who was the biggest trooper ever. So much fun.
3. Relaxing on the deck of the Wings 3. Cruising around the Whitsunday islands, the amazing sights (sunrise and sunset), the wonderful company (well, Jeff and Lorena at least).
4. Symphony at Sydney Opera House. How many people can say they attended a performance there?! I was so glad Jeff and I did. I love classical music and the whole experience was just so surreal.
I could write many many more here. I am so glad to have had such an awesome couple weeks cruising around with Jeff and Lorena.
Posts
Wahoo! First comment;) Australia seems like it was a lot of fun. Can you believe your half way into your trip? Time must fly when your having fun! Oh Magge, cooking food with the mosquitoes was not a bad thing, it simply gave the food more protein. Yum. Love you guys! (|) Mwah!
ReplyDeleteDid I miss it, no blog about McDonald's in awhile now? Great wrap up, I cannot begin to tell you how many folks I regaled with stories about the Jucy -- rich, full, wonderful..............Lots of love
ReplyDeleteRight on Marcia - you stole my first line about McDonalds. Boy we think alike. After eating all this fat-loaden food I hope you are on a strict fruit/vegetable/bean diet! Bring on the jack fruit and such. Jeffrey, even if it doesn't taste good it must be good for your arteries!
ReplyDeleteWHERE'S THE PICTURE OF EVERYONE (well, at least Magge and Lorena) in the jucy? Did you not promise me one?
Do you realize if you were on a frequent flyer program for all miles traveled, whether it be by plane, bus, jucy, rafter, foot,etc., you would easily earn another trip around the world! That's funny.
I would love to go the symphony at the Sydney Opera House. It is such a cool building. How was the inside? Were you able to take pictures? I know you can't put up everything you do and see but make sure you have loads of pictures and more stories to tell us when we finally hug and kiss in Nashville and Chapel Hill and sit down for a great cup of hot cocoa for Jeffrey and Starbucks coffee for us Magge!:-)
It's not the food per se that has captivated my imagination and interest this trip (as I can live on soup, salad and fruits) but these great beautiful physical destinations minus the mosquitoes and other bugs. I don't need those pests to animate me!
For you it's off to Borneo now, so the adventure continues for you! Enjoy the diving and keep all your wits about you with those turtles,
barracudas, sharks, and whatever else is swimming around. Poise your camera Magge for more action. Love ya, xo
I wrote a lot, heh? Well, that is what happens when I lose power for four days and can't commununicate with you guys (and Marcia). I can't stay bottle up too long. LOL
ReplyDeletewhat a great continent! You have made me want to visit, if I can only talk Marcia into going that far.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the good info.
Lee
Jeff you saw three kangas not two! and apologies to everyone about the lack of Jucy pictures, they are all on my camera and I'm doing a full guest post about the campervan I'm just having technical difficulties loading the photos onto my computer. Promise it will be up in the next day or two!
ReplyDeleteWe'll do a combined NZ/Aussie McD's post eventually. I figured they wouldn't be that different from each other (and was right) so I figured I'd wait to eat at both and put it in the same post. Once we got on the road, we barely had enough time to post on the roadtrip, so McD's got put on the backburner.
ReplyDeleteMom, the Sydney Opera House interior is nice but not nearly as striking as the exterior. The accoustics are very good, or so Im told - my ear's not sophisticated enough to make that judgment.
Lorena, I have no recollection of this third kangaroo. You sure it wasn't a wallaby?
ReplyDeleteOh wait. You saw two kangas and two wallabies, but that really makes four because they are almost the same thing. Time for me to work on the Choppa... be back shortly
ReplyDelete