"No worries!" a Australia Travel Page by backpackerbaby

17.05.2006: HKG -> Sydney, Qantas
18.05.2006: check-in Sydney Backpackers, ended up in a 10-bed shared dorm (details in Sydney Page); studied the whole day; met my Korean roommate; bought some food from Woolworths and met a crowd of anti-Da Vinci Code people outside the Hoytes Cinema; studied while chatting with the Korean
19.05.2006: woke up at 7.30a.m.; took a train to Milsons Point for the exam at 10a.m.; got the result at 11:05a.m. (& I passed!!!); went to Luna Park & took pics; back & changed clothes; emailed everyone; wandered around: Hyde Park, Macquarie St, Botantic Garden, Opera House, Circular Quay; back to meet the Korean but she didn't appear, met a group of HKCU students, hanged out together to Darling Harbour and Harry's meat pies!!!
20.05.2006: fish market with the students (ate lots of sashimi); Glebe Market (bought a nice T); walked on Harbour Bridge; the Rocks Market; night pics with them; back, out to check emails, on the way back met Baby on the street! dinner@Oxford Street: my favourite Northern Indian Curry! then Hyde Park & Darling Harbour with my Darling!
21.05.2006: Bondi Beach; fish market with my baby; night pic@Botantic Garden
22.05.2006: Blue Mountains:Charles Darwin Walk+National Pass @ Wentworth Falls; shopping@Woolworths (dun wanna go broke in the Outback!)
23.05.2006: flew to Ayers Rock (aerial view of Ayers Rock!!!); base walk; sunset viewing; cooked dinner; star gazing– amazing!
24.05.2006: sunrise viewing at Kata Tjuta; hiking @ Olga Gorge and Valley of the Winds (AWESOME!); the Cultural Centre; sunset viewing at Kata Tjuta (the last one to leave the park… under the escort of the Park Ranger, haha)
25.05.2006: sunrise viewing at Ayers Rock; drove to Kings Canyon (I drove for the major part!); stopped at Mt. Conner Lookout; checked in Kings Canyon (got the whole room without sharing with others!); Kings Canyon rim walk; dinner and watched the Amazing Race (that episode was in Katherine Gorge!)
26.05.2006: sunrise viewing at the viewing platform; breakfast with some birds; check-out (met a handsome receptionist called Olivier (half-French))~headed out to Tnorala (Gosse Bluff) Conservation Reserve on the Mereenie Loop Road (met a car of lovely Aborigines); then to Palm Valley (an oasis & awesome 4WD ride) & Hermannsburg (chatted with some Aboriginal kids); headed to Alice (based in Annie’s Place); dinner at Annie’s Café (chili con camel and thai curry kangaroo, green salad and toohey)
27.05.2006: Woolworths for food (got a nice shot of a lovely girl) ->West MacDonnell Range: Simpson Gap -> Glen Helen Gorge (nice waterhole but impossible to cross) -> Mt Sonder Lookout (wonderful view) -> Ormiston Gorge (very gd hiking, met a German x Irish couple and 2 wild wallabies!!!) ->Orchre Pits (colour pigments used by the Aborigines) ->Serpentine Gorge ->Ellery Creek Big Hole (it must be a great place for chilling in summer! Viewed sunset here) ->Annie’s Place (cooking this night, funny kitchen)
28.05.2006: Desert Park (saw some funny animals/plants)->Rainbow Valley in the afternoon (it’s lovely!!!) -> Anzac Hill for sunset(unbelievable)->Woolworths for food (cooked again)
29.05.2006: Anzac Hill:breakfast & pic->Standley Chasm (must see it at noon) met a lovely 3-yr old girl Alicia at the carpark, she chatted with me; climbed some rocks ->East MacDonnell Range: Emily & Jessie Gaps (w/. some Aboriginal rock carvings)->Corroboree Rock ->John Hayes Rockhole ->Trephina Gorge ->drove back to Alice (lots of wild kangaroos crossing the roads at night! Also cows!!!) ->dinner at Overlander Steakhouse (tried a Platte of croc, emu, camel and kangaroo) ->back & packed
30.05.2006: explored Alice Springs ->wrote a postcard ->flight to Sydney ->Sydney Backpackers again -> met 2 Korean who slept at 5 p.m. ->crossed the Bridge to Luna Park ->ferry to Circular Quay ->Royal Copenhagen ice-cream (cappuccino and honeycomb)->Opera Hse ->curry dinner->Woolworths (bought lots of Tim Tam!!!) ->back & packed
31.05.2006: Observatory Hill for the final photo hunt ->airport ->meat pie ->HKG

This trip came 1 year eariler than I planned. When I was planning how to spend my annual leave which would expire by the end of July 2005, I saw the attractive airline promotion to Australia. I just called to check whether an open-jaw journey could be made and the travel agent said YES, so I just booked the ticket to Brisbane and back from Sydney. Everything was not planned at that moment, I was simply attracted by the offer. At that moment, I just knew that my best friend and her bf lived in Brisbane. At that moment, I just knew that I had to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in my first trip to Australia. That's why the ticket was booked. Despite I was a bit shock when I knew that the tax was about 25% of the ticket price later, I was still very excited about the trip. I still remember how nervous I was when I asked my boss for his permission of my holidays, I still remember how much I was distracted when I was supposed to be busy studying for my AE Board Interview, I still remember how happy I was when I could get some replies from different Forums when I posted some questions.

Time is never enough for travelling, especially for me, who wanna see and do everyth' at one time; especially for travelling to Australia, which is not merely a country but a continent. Australia is just too huge and has too much to offer. It's impossible for me to cover everything in this trip - a 17-day trip - which was so short that every backpacker I met believed it's a joke. I didn't feel upset about this, as I believe, I'll be back.

It's a hard time when I was planning where to go. Things are pretty expensive in Australia and it seems that most places cannot be easily reached on your own unless you've a car. It's too much for me to rent a car solo but it's too boring for me to join a tour. It's really not easy to make every decision.

I struggled for quite awhile for whether visiting Cairns or not. I really wanted to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef but it's not quite possible to do it near Brisbane. On the other hand, I wanted to spend my time with my friends in Brisbane. After I knew that they would be busy most of the time, I booked a return Jetstar ticket to Cairns. Yes, a return ticket. I chose to spend all the weekends in Australia in Brisbane so I could hang out with my buddies. Then I also booked a Virginblue ticket to Sydney, which was a bargain I believed, just AUD90 one way. (Please don't tell me if it's not!)

Then I started to do research on Cairns as I basically just needed a day or two for snorkelling at the Outer Reef. I heard about Cape Tribulation - the place where the Reef and the Rainforest meet, that sounded really cool to me and I proceeded to ask tonnes of questions about Cape Trib, including sending tonnes of emails to different transport operators. It seemed too troublesome to go there by myself and the time-table of the coaches didn't match well with my plan. I just kept searching and I found a tour agency offering packages (transportation + hostel) starting from either Cairns or Port Douglas. OK, that came into my bookmark. I wanted to see the famous 4-Mile Beach in Port Douglas too. I was really lucky to find that one Backpacker Hostel provides free transportation from Cairns Airport to Port Douglas, so I booked a bed for a night, and booked the package departing the next day, stayed in Cape Trib for 3 days, back to Cairns and did the snorkelling the next day, just before my flight departed to Brisbane!

I was so glad that I could stick to my plan.

Cairns/Port Douglas/Cape Trib were the middle part of my trip. Let me go back to the beginning. Right after I landed in Brisbane, I caught a coach to Noosa Heads, which was a luxurious place, but I didn't regret going there as I met some nice people at the YHA and more importantly, I headed to Fraser Island.

So my trip started in Noosa, then Brisbane, then Cairns and finally to Sydney:

29/06/05: Flight to Brisbane
30/06/05: Noosa Heads (Noosa National Park!)
1/07/05: Fraser Island
2/07/05: Eumundi Market, then to Brisbane
3/07/05: Mount Cootha and Brisbane City
4/07/05: Flight to Cairns, then to Port Douglas
5/07/05: to Cape Tribulation (night-adventure in the rainforest!)
6/07/05: still in Cape Tribulation (hiking and sunbathing)
7/07/05: Daintree River Cruise, Port Douglas, then Cairns
8/07/05: Snorkelling at the Outer Reef, then flight to Brisbane
9/07/05: explore Brisbane
10/07/05: Gold Coast
11/07/05: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane City
12/07/05: flight to Sydney, city walk
13/07/05: train to Blue Mountains, 3 Sister, Jamison Valley
14/07/05: Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains (how amazing!)
15/07/05: Train to Sydney (Power failure!!! Had to change to a slow train in Blacktown... jesssssssssssss); Ferry to Manly, ferry between Circular Quay and Darling Harbour; Hyde Park and Oxford Street; Dirtcheap CD shopping
16/07/05: flight back

My schedule looks hectic but it wasn't. I did enjoy every moment of it. Hope you'll enjoy reading about my trip under different locations too.