A lot of things

We’ve done a lot of things from the last time I posted.

21 December – Transfer to Cairns

We wake up at 3 am to go to Melbourne and take the airplane that leave at 7 am. The way is quite long, about 1 hour and half and we also had to give back our car to Hertz and to phone to the CityLink to pay our passage.

We arrive in Cairns at 9.20 am (3 hours of flight minus one hour of DST). In Queensland they are on the tropic, so no need of DST.

Cairns is more relaxed of the rest of Australia: you can touch that they are at the warm for the whole year. No customers at our arrival, the bus shuttle is incredibly in late and the man at the booking desk makes some mistakes in booking and so on.

We arrive, finally, to the Gilligans. Our Lonely Planet Guide says The Ritz of all hostels. Effectively, it is. Inside there is: the most incredibly fruit market I’ve ever seen, pool, internet café, casino, gaming room, night, disco, BBQ for self-cooking, wet T-Shirt contest on sunday and so on.

We leave luggage and make a city tour. It is fantastic. It is like to be in an American movie, but with Australian features (boomerang, didjeridoo, Australian with big leather hats…).

On the Esplanade there is the Lagoon. A pool with crystal water, degrading from 10 cm to 1.5 m. There is a park, public BBQ again, picnic facilities.

But why a pool in front of the ocean? Because this is period of killer jellyfish and it is not a good idea to take a bath in the ocean.

In the evening we meet Debi and Gunn, our Cairns exchangers. They are friendly and nice (I’m starting to think that all Australians are friendly and nice) and the home is so big that can contain main at least three times. And it is completely surrounded by tropical rainforest.

In front of the bedroom windows there is a spider. It is 7 cm long, but it only eats fly. Whew…

22 December – Green Island

Ok, the Island is surely Green. It has rainforest also on the beach.

Here we can swim in the ocean (no jelly-fish) and Gianni and Santi does some snorkelling. Alessandra doesn’t like putting her head under the water. On the boat we take, they give us the snorkels and also a lycra suite (no photo at all, I’m perfectly spherical inside that suite).

We take a walking tour on the island. It’s hot, but we fear worst. The rainforest is fantastic.

Before leaving we have a tour on a glasses submarine, and we see a lot of strange fish and corals.

We arrive finally at the new home. We have a lady cat (Smookie), 5 chickens, frogs in the garden, noisy insects and birds in the forest.

23 December – Kuranda

We go to Kuranda via Skyrail. It is a cableway with gondolas which passes just meters above the rainforest canopy. Two times, going to Kuranda, you can stop and walk on rainforest panoramic boardwalks.

The rainforest is really a fantastic place to see. We also have a nice view of Barron Falls.

Kuranda is nothing special. It is a tourist village and its markets have things that you can find in all souvenir shops.

There is a Conservation Centre inside, but the Phillip Island one is incredibly better. This one seems more a zoo.

Before coming back to Cairns we have a walk along the river and in the rainforest and it is really amazing.

At the end we take the Kuranda Scenic Railway. A train that resembles an ancient one and a fantastic view during the trip.

Trip to and from Kuranda are the better trips we could have in the rainforest.

24 December – Atherton Tablelands

Tablelands is a very good name for this place. This land is a green table. You can see the sky as you are on the ocean. It is a astonishing view and you can feel the infinity.

We stops in Mareeba to go to the Coffee Works. It is more than a Coffee shop: they have a museum of coffee-related devices, you can taste over 20 kinds of different coffee blend, you have a guide that explain you how them work with coffee.

Have you seen their brochure on the web? It is all true. Eventually also better.

The Curtain Fig Tree is an amazing thing. It resembles an old sleeping giant, dressed only with his own beard.

We go on the Milla Milla Falls circuit. Better for us are the Ellinjaa falls.

We have a bath in Lake Echam and than we go to see Lake Barrine and Lake Tinaroo. But we are really tired at the end.

Finally, this morning, on 25^th, we have phoned our family via Skype. They are having dinner while we are having breakfast.

It is very strange for us a Christmas with warm weather. It seems more a summer holiday (and it is, effectively).

Merry Christmas to all our readers.

Phillip Island

Yesterday we left to Queenscliff at 10 o’clock and we took a ferry to… Sorrento. It is very nice, but “Italians do it better”.

The we drove to San Remo (again? Here there isn’t the song festival), then to Phillip Island.

First of all we stopped to the Koala Conservation Centre and saw a lot of koalas and parrots. There was also a small kangaroo amongst trees.

Second stop to the Phillip Island circuit. Here the best thing we viewed was a group of kangaroos under a tree. They were caged, probably to not let them go on the circuit while cars were running.

To the Nobbies we couldn’t see the seals (too late to get a ferry) but there was plenty of seagulls (and fly, obviusly).

Dinner in Cowes and we went to the Penguin Parade. Small penguins are really small (20 cm tall). They are very funny: arrives to the beach in small groups, then return to water, then back to the beach, moving as they are exploring and cheating seagulls.

As we went back to the parkway, we saw many penguins going back to their barrows and many other watching peoples going to their cars (and I wonder: did the penguins pay the ticket too?).

Amongst the penguins, a small kangaroo was watching people with suspect. Suddenly, with two jumps, was out of sight.

We left the Penguin Parade Centre at 10.00 pm and we was back at home at 1.00 am.

Today we will relax and write blog. Alessandra has already done two washing machine. We have to find an internet point to publish our posts.

Great Ocean Road

Yesterday we drove on the Great Ocean Road. We left so early that the first Information Point was closed.

If the coastal line near Barwon Heads was beautiful, here it is amazing. We took a lot of photos.

First stop in Aires Inlet to see the lighthouse, Eagle Rock, Table Rock and Sentinel Rock. They were a small taste of the Twelve Apostles.

Next stop: Lorne. Teddy’s Lookout has a nice view, but Erskine Falls were fantastic. We also did some bushwalking near the river. We only can hear the sound of silence (nothing to do with Simon and Garfunkel, obviously) and the water flowing.

We left the Falls and we went to the beach. Oh, no!!! We left our swimsuits in Barwon Heads!!!

We had lunch in a restaurant in our guide book. Roasted salmon for Alessandra, fish and chips for Gianni and squid’s ring for Santi. All good and cheap.

We leaved to go to Cape Otway. Another lighthouse. Very nice, but in Victoria, they raise fly, not only cows.

Leaving the lighthouse we stopped to see some koalas who are sleeping on Eucalyptus trees.

We passed Princetown and stopped at Twelve Apostles. It was a breath breaking view.

Just to say: Apostles are not twelve, because some of them crushed down with time.

Melbourne

Today we went to Melbourne. We get up at 5 o’clock a.m. (it is jet-lag, not good will).

We took a McHarry’s bus to Geelong and a V-line train to Melbourne.

At Melbourne station we went to the tourist information point. The lady was incredibly kind and she speak a perfect slow English (we understood all she said at the first try).

She gave us a map of Melbourne and some tips on what to do. We asked about a car rental and she phoned to three car rental for us and, when she found one car she gave me the phone.

The city is great: very old building merged with skyscrapers (like in Frankfurt, but incredibly much more), department stores which occupies one or sometimes two blocks, an incredibly narrow streets full of coffee shop at the end of whom there is a Galleria like the one in Milan.

Federation Square is astonishing, amazing. It seems to me as being both in an impressionist picture and in an Esher pictures. Buildings has unlikely shapes and incredible colours.

Then, for lunch, we went in Chinatown. We tried a restaurant, but we were not satisfied. Perhaps we would like more an Australian steak.

Being a little bit tired, we decided to take the tourist bus.

We get off at the Shrine of Remembrance. It is designed like Alicarnasso’s Mausoleum (awful, here and now), but inside is very touching.

Then we went to Royal Botanic Gardens, but there was really too much fly, so we taken the bus again and went to Hertz to take the booked car.

They also were very kind (and cheaper than Italy): they asked us where we wanted to go, than gave us a lot of map with tips on how to go from Melbourne to Barwon Heads and on how to get to the Great Ocean Road.

The man who gave us the car was a little bit worried: “Have you ever drive an automatic?” “Yes, of course” “Whew, Italians have a lot of problems with automatic”.

Of course. We said we are poets, saints and sailors, not drivers. If we were drivers we wouldn’t need Schumaker or Massa to drive Ferrari.

Driving in Australia is not so difficult: they have signs everywhere to say. KEEP LEFT, and In Australia drive on the left. And I wonder: if they would drive on the right, how much money they can save on road signs?

In the evening...

After a bit of rest, we go to the beach and we have a walk to the promontory. It is wonderfull. We are in the exact edge between the immensity of the ocean and the immensity of Australia. We think we’ll have the same emotions in the next days.

A seagull poses for us, floating in wind over our heads.

At the end of our dinner we have had the first taste of local fruit: avocado (Santi says: “it is like peanut butter, but more fatty and less tasty”) and a ripe mango, sweet and juicy. If we’ll become able to peel it properly, it will be perfect.

Arrived in Barwon Heads

We are in Avalon (no fog, no Merlin) and we go in Barwonh Heads with a shuttle (a little bus with a very old driver).

We find Merryl at the bus stop and we introduce ourselves. Santi: “I’m Santi, Alessandra’s sister”. Ok, jet-lag is on. Santi, with hands on head: “what i’m saying…..”.

Merryl understand immediately: “Let’s go home, so you can rest”

The home is really fantastic.

In the supermarket we find things we should never imagine (pizza with ham and pineapple, coloured popcorn…).

Now we are resting on the sofa.

Arrived, but so tired...

We leaved at 6.40 am, 14th December. Ale and me from Florence by train, Santi from Catania by plane.

We met in Fiumicino Airport (Rome) and we dealt with something (tell to the customers that we are taking laptop to Australia, have lunch, and so on). At the end we went to the gate.

Our plane leaved at 2.30 pm. As a first thing, on board, hostess give us headphones and menu for first and second meals.

Time went by really good, but on a 10 hour’s trip to Bangkok, I slept half an hour. Alessandra and Santi, instead, slept soundly.

I saw some movies: Surf’s up (ok, surf is not my sport. And I wonder: how can I balance without a sail on the table?), Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (and I’ve seen it in English. You can ask me: have you understood anything? Yes, a little bit, is my answer) and The Bourne Ultimatum (in this film I’ve understood all the three words they spoke. And I aslo slept half an hour. Let me say this: I didn’t like the movie).

In Bangkok, we wait a couple of hours before boarding on the second flight. Again headphones, menù and other two meals.

Effectively, I think there is a problem with the fuse, so you have to eat also for the departure fuse and for the arrival fuse. If my hypothesis is correct, coming back to Italy we have to fast for two days.

We landed in Sydney at 22.30, 15^th December. We feared a lot for our luggage: did we bring something strictly forbidden? No, all things was good. Australian customers are incredibly kind and, also, our customer speak Italian fluently.

We transfer at Airport Sydney International Inn. I don’t recommend this inn to my friends, but it is really cheap.

On 16^th morning, we’ll leave to Melbourne Avalon (did we find fogs and Merlin?)