wow. it has been FAR too long since we last blogged. but in some ways, we're not sorry - we had lives to live. anyways, it's currently 11pm on april 17th, and I (Henri) am by myself in australia (and i just realised that sounded far more depressing than it needed to be). Chris left on saturday to first head back to sydney, then head back home to switzerland. i'll get to the details later. first of all, here comes a looooong blog post about the awesome adventures we had at the end of our "east coast trip", as well as our time in melbourne.
we left you in agnes water, where we traveled on an overnight bus to airlie beach: the gateway to the beautiful whitsunday islands. let us first inform you that greyhound overnight buses are AWFUL. we were stuffed (literally) into the seats furthest in the back of the bus, which happened to be on top of some sort of hot box. as well, the air-conditioning hardly worked, so we were basically melting whilst trying to sleep on a bus with 50 other people. fun times. oh, and on top of all that, it smelt WONDERFUL. regardless, it did get us to airlie beach and we did save on what would have been a nights accommodation at some random hostel in some random aussie town.
we arrived in airlie at 7AM the next morning, completely smelly and sweaty and feeling like we hadn't slept in about a week - but we arrived to SUNSHINE. it felt amazing seeing our long lost friend after a week of rain. because we were both in a bitchy mood and were hungry, we went to Capers (owned by Airlie Beach Hotel) for breakfast - and it was an amazing (but expensive) breakfast. SO worth the 20-plus dollars. since we couldn't check in to the hostel before 11AM, we spent the rest of our time chilling on a random dock, soaking up the sun and the bliss of being in such a beautiful place (note, we had gotten far enough up the coast to reach the turquoise, crystal clear waters…). after checking in and taking a well deserved shower, we went to the lagoon - ironically, the only place you could swim (too many stingers and other stuff that can hurt you in the ocean). we spent the day there with two german roommates who were very nice and chill people. we also decided to have a budget BBQ dinner with these two roommates which was fun. the next day was our whitsunday's tour start, meaning we went to bed early and woke up early. here comes the essay on our stunning 3 day sailboat journey through the whitsundays!
we checked in around 11.30AM, then began to "board" at 12ish. we were met by our crew aboard the AVATAR trimaran sail boat - it was an epic boat. our crew, consisting of Sam & Eric (they were the deck hands and basically ran the show - which we were reminded of constantly by them saying "this boat is our bitch - we run this shit" [PG13]), the Skipper (who turns out, was the CEO of the boat company and didnt say a word the whole trip), and then there was (foxy) Roxy, the volunteer. coincidently, there were 7 norwegians (including myself) onboard this vessel. we hadn't bumped into any norwegians at any stage of our trip, and then BAM - there were 7 of us on a boat for 3 days. funny. anyways, the whitsundays - where to begin to describe this trip. for those of you who don't know, the whitsundays are a group of islands at the southern edge of the great barrier reef, and they are absolutely stunning. they're perhaps most famous for the Whitehaven beach, which is made of 98% silica, not sand. it feels like walking on flour. it looks like flour too. but i'm getting ahead of myself. we began sailing - well it wasn't sailing really because there was no wind - out in-between these islands, just soaking up the sun and wonderful sensation of being in paradise. we stopped at a coral reef where we got all suited up in our stinger suits then jumped in with our masks and snorkels. it was like nothing we'd ever seen. stunning clear waters, countless fish, corals, anemones, turtles, and anything else you'd imagine you'd see in the barrier. after snorkelling around for an hour or so, we headed back to the boat and had a very relaxing and yum dinner prepared for us by Eric, whilst watching the sunset. without going into too much detail (otherwise this will be a VERY long post), the nights aboard the boat weren't exactly smooth - hot cabins, early sunrises, drinking, etc… the next day we went to do some more snorkeling, as well as stopping off at and island that would take us to whitehaven beach. we "exfoliated" for 3 hours on the beach. here are some facts we learned about silica: it comes from deep trenches in the ocean bed, where volcanic-like eruptions shoots the silica (a mineral) up to the surface of the water. with the surrounding currents in the shallow waters of the whitsundays, the tides eventually washed the silica around and around, thus forming a beach. silica is very pure and can be used in many different ways. eg. the original hubble telescope lens was made out of melted silica - literally, NASA payed the Oz government millions of $$ for enough silica from whitehaven to be able to send our beloved hubble into space. I guess the aussies like to say they can be thanked for space scientific history taking place. ANYWAYS. silica is also really good for exfoliating your skin, and believe it or not, ever-so-softly brushing your teeth.
moving on, the beach was beautiful and very relaxing. basically, our whitsundays trip consisted of seeing amazing marine life, witnessing stunning landscape and beautiful beaches, drinking cheap wine ("goon"), and having the best time of our lives. let us not forget, CHRISTOPHER GOODMAN, your wide range of snoring. i think i recall someone asking "is that darth vader?" and "is he burping instead of exhaling?". we'll leave it at that - I'm hoping you can imagine the rest for yourselves.
so after such a peak on our trip, we headed back to the mainland, where we then moved north towards mission beach (a tiny beach town 2 hours south of cairns). this is where more fun continues. despite weird staff, and an interesting, yet very beautiful, rainforest hostel, we did the most amazing thing (in our opinions.. or maybe just henri's) - SKYDIVING. over the great barrier reef. just saying. words cannot describe how much i loved it, and i am SO glad chris ended up doing it too! on another note, mission beach is a beautiful area. we've gotten far enough north in queensland to have reached the rainforest area, so basically the tropical woods met the ocean. stunning! we did some hiking one day, and encountered the proper australian wildlife (MASSIVE SPIDERS).
after mission beach was cairns, where we also experienced a lot of amazing things. first of all, the hostel we stayed at was amazing - probably one of the best - it's called Dreamtime Traveler's Rest and is HIGHLY recommended to anyone traveling to cairns on a budget. anyways, we spent our first full day on a road trip with some of the friends we made along the way. we rented a car, and headed towards the Mossman Gorge. this stunning river is located in the heart of the oldest rainforest in the world - the Daintree. yes, it may be beautiful and it may be ancient, but sweet jeeeeeesus it's humid. you couldn't walk anywhere without dripping in sweat (yes, lovely image). we did a short walk on a guided path in the forest, then decided to go swimming in the gorge (freezing water!). we then headed further north to the daintree river - known for its vicious inhabitants! we did a 1.5h river boat tour where we got to see so many crocodiles! and even cannibalism.. which wasn't as lovely. but overall a very cool experience and definitely recommended! next was the drive through the rainforest up to cape tribulation. really beautiful scenic drive and an even cooler destination. cape trib is renowned for its mangroves on the beach. when the tide goes out, the roots of the mangrove trees are left bare and it looks amazing. on the way back to cairns, chris and i were dropped off in Port Douglas (45min north of cairns) where we spent the night in order to go scuba diving the next day :) we booked with Poseidon Outer Reef tours, a family owned business, and everyone onboard were very lovely. we did 3 dives, and they were amazing. we saw some incredible marine life - sharks, sting rays, lion fish, boxfish, eels, etc. we got to experience what the great barrier reef is known for. and it was worth every dollar. after a full day on sea, we headed back to cairns. on our last full day we took another day trip, this time to a collection of waterfalls just one hour inland of cairns. again, the scenery is spectacular and it was a really nice day.
we flew back to sydney on march 5th, where we were to spend a week before going down to melbourne. that week was really nice, we got to see some old friends we had made there at the start of our Oz trip, as well as meet up with friends we had made along the way. Thanks to the mulcahy family for all your hospitality, and providing us with a home in sydney. we have loved spending time with all of you, as well as feeling so comfortable in your home. we're eternally grateful to you all, and we love you!
as all things go, the week went by very fast, and before we knew it we were waiting at avalon airport (1h outside of melbourne - close to geelong. oops, sorry ben!), where Ben Chipp was VERY KINDLY picking us up. we spent the first night having dinner with georgie, ben and alex at a cool restaurant called Rococos. excellent food. it was surreal seeing them again, after being so excited about it for so long!
since march 12th, the time has FLOWN by. it has been 5 weeks and i have no idea where they went. we met up with roger (we met him in verbier with filippa over new years) and his close friends, john & liang, who are awesome, and who we've hung out with on multiple occasions. (chris remains a good man.) we have spent our time enjoying the family comfort and hospitality of the Chipp's (the most loving people we know), seeing melbourne, drinking countless cappuccinos in quirky little side streets in the city centre, going to an amazing aussie rules football game, fashion shows, having 3 really fun nights down at the beach house on philip island with Ben and his mates, receiving interesting nicknames from ben's mates (apparently i'm Haz now...), going to funky bars all around the city, and really just having an amazing time. i don't wish to speak for christopher, but i personally love it here in melbourne, and i got the feeling chris loved it too. the culture here is incredible, and so comfortable. definitely something to think about in the near future, for both of us!
i still have two weeks to go in melbourne. originally, so did chris, but due to financial issues, he had to jet home earlier than expected. this means he won't be going to india this year unfortunately, but hopefully sometime in the future :) after my last two weeks here, i will be heading to fiji for 5 weeks, to relive the beach life, go diving every day and just be blissfully happy (more than i am now) - mind you, without internet connection, so dont expect any blog updates. i'll write when i come home.
i would also like to take this opportunity (one of many to come) to thank the Chipp's for everything they have given us: a home, a family on the other side of the world, comfort, support and most of all, great friendships. I cannot express how grateful i am for being able to stay (so long) with them all. under the circumstances, it's amazing to feel like a part of this family, one i consider to be the best i've ever met. thank you thank you thank you. (by the way, if any of the chippy's are reading this, i'm nowhere NEAR done expressing my gratitude.)
ok, i've managed to write this in a hour and i am actually really proud of myself for that! chris, you've probably landed in CH now, so welcome back, and just telling you that i miss you. after all, you are my brother.
that's all from chris and henri. we've come to the end of what has been the best experience of our lives, and although the time has gone by very quickly, we're so lucky to have had each other through it all, and we're happy to have been able to share it (through what turned out to be a very slow process) with all of you loyal readers.
this is where i need to stop being cheesy and just go to bed.
ADIOS AMIGOS, lots & lots of love.
p.s. yes, the title of this post is a reference to Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings III. haters gonna hate.
