Vacation rundown 3 - Kayaking mishap and Australia Zoo

I realised that posting so many photos has caused my blog to take forever and a day to load, so sorry about that, guys. That's the problem with holidays, just so many photos, I wanna put them all in my blog!

Sunday was a of an exciting day. Exciting in a stressful way, and not in a fun way, due to my own silly misjudgement. The free Australia Zoo coach taking me to Australia Zoo was to arrive at the closest bus stop to my backpackers at 9.15am. Yet I knew the backpackers I was staying at offered free kayaks and I wanted to try kayaking as I had never tried it before. I couldn't try it later on, because I was to check out that day and head back to Brisbane after the zoo. So I could only do it on Sunday morning. But the backpackers office only opened at 8am, so if I were to make it in time for the bus, I would have to get the kayak at 8am, do as much kayaking as possible, head back to the backpackers and be ready by 9am to get to the bus stop. Had it all planned out. Would not be a problem. Or so I thought.

So that morning I woke up nice and early, but only managed to get the kayak out at around 8.10am. The nearest place to kayak was just across the road, where there was a nice calm lagoon, which at one point, opened out into the ocean. But even that wasn't close enough for me, coz' I can tell you, the blady kayak weighed a tonne, and probably more. And I had to carry the paddle along with it, which isn't an easy feat when I only have two hands and haven't been working out too much lately. So by the time I had carried, lugged, and dragged the kayak all the way to the lagoon, it was about 8.25am. Still had time, I thought. I could go out for about 20 minutes, come back by 8.45am, and start lugging the heavy bugger back.

So off I went in my kayak, paddling along the lagoon, and taking a few moments here and there to lie back and enjoy my surroundings. Out in open water with no one but myself, drifting along. This was the life. 5 minutes into it, I thought it was pretty easy, as I went a pretty good distance in just a short time. I thought it would be equally easy to make my way back to shore, so I went out further into the waters.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of heading out a bit too close to the part of the lagoon leading out to the ocean. And when I decided to head back to shore, I found it wasn't as easy as I expected. I was paddling and paddling and paddling, but the shore didn't seem to be getting any closer. The seemingly calm currents were carrying me out to the ocean! The closest people were too far away to hear any calls from me. And my arms were getting tired. Not good.

Of course, I had no choice but to keep on paddling. But it still seemed as though the shore was so far away that I would never reach it without help. I was on the verge of panic. Tried to paddle harder and faster, but every now and then, I would use the paddle at the wrong angle, causing the kayak to turn in the wrong direction, sometimes almost tilting it over, and wasting more valuable time. It was getting close to 8.45am, but I wasn't just worried about missing the bus, I was worried about being washed out to the ocean!

Finally, I took a few seconds to calm myself down, pray for strength and steadiness, and continued on, focusing on paddling correctly, in the right direction, and ignoring how tired my arms were. The shore was inching closer and closer, and the closer it got, the more tired I became. I just wanted to stop and rest, but I knew I couldn't coz' that would waste more time and the current would carry me back out again. So I kept going and going and going. Miraculously, thank God, I reached the shore at about 8.52am. Which meanted I still had time to catch the bus. But now I had to carry the kayak back to the backpackers. I dragged it across the sand a few metres before letting it collapse. I was too tired, and it would've taken me forever to carry it back on my own. There was only one thing to do....

A few minutes later, I had reached my backpackers, carrying my paddle while a nice strong guy whose help I enlisted on the beach was carrying the kayak back for me. I was soooooo grateful, I was ready to kiss the guy! God bless his soul, man.... It gave me just enough time to return the kayak, wipe myself dry, packed my stuff, return my keys and run to the bus stop 6 minutes away. But it wasn't over yet.

The bus stop was about 100 meters around the corner from the street where my backpackers was, and as I was walking along that street, I could see the big bus coming down the road, heading for the bus stop. I hit the panic button again, and started dashing down the street. Didn't help that I was dragging along my suitcase and a backpack. I turned the corner and could see the bus waiting at the stop, too far away from the bus driver to see me coming from behind. So I ran some more, and was praying that it wouldn't leave without me. Please please PLEASE don't leave without me.

Thank God again that I did manage to reach the bus in time, where I saw the driver walking along the street, looking for me. Fortunately, he had my name listed to be picked up since I had called the zoo earlier. I probably looked like a massive mess at that point. But I didn't really care at the time, coz' I was just happy that I managed to reach the bus on time. Soon I was on board and on my way to Australia Zoo.

So much excitement and it was only 9.15am! Even the zoo wasn't as exciting as all that. Although, of course, the zoo was fun in it's own way. I've always loved hanging around animals. They're such fascinating creatures. So diverse, yet so simple in that their sole purpose in life is merely to eat, sleep and have babies. For the uninformed, Australia Zoo is the home of the Crocodile Hunter, Mr. Steve Irwin and family. I didn't get the chance to see Steve Irwin coz' I guess he was off in some other part of the world shooting another show or saving some big mother of a croc or something. But I DID get a chance to see and meet his wife, Terri Irwin and their cute 6-year old daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin. They were in fact, at the first attraction I saw as soon as I walked into the zoo, the Galapagos tortoises. Terri was in there feeding a tortoise a bunch of flowers (and the fella was really chomping them down!) while little Bindi Sue was doing the commentary on the tortoise.

I tell you, even at that age, it was obvious that Bindi Sue doesn't have a shy bone in her body, coz' she was doing that commentary just as good as her dad would, being all animate and excited about it. Made the whole crowd giggle like crazy! Even the story of how her parents named her was funny. Apparently when she was born, the first name that came to Steve's mind was Bindi, the name of his favourite croc, while Terri thought of the name Sue, the name of Steve's pet dog. It's not everyday that a kid is named after a crocodile and a dog, but then what else would be expected from the Crocodile Hunter?

I took quite a number of cool photos with some of the local wildlife at the zoo, most of which were taken by myself, which explains why you can mostly just see my face in the photos. Hey, when you're alone in a place like that, it's so much easier than hassling strangers to help you take photos for you! Here's a good one of me with a koala being carried by a zoo helper.



And another me getting up close and personal with a snake!



I like this one with the camel coz' it looks like she's (or he, can't tell...) posing for the camera!



Didn't really feel like getting too close to a croc, so this would have to suffice...



Got to pose with a couple of macaws...





Got a pic with a human being. Ooooooo.....Unfortunately, I couldn't get the little person on the left in my photo coz' apparently her favourite koala had just died at the time and she wasn't looking too photogenic. Ah well...



And finally, I managed to get REAL up close and personal with a tasmanian devil!



That photo, unlike the others, cost a little extra to take coz' I paid extra to get to spend some time with the tazzy. For $20, I was taken into a pen with a female tazzy kept on a leash and whose name I can't really remember...went along the lines of Jimbi....anyway, for about 20-25 minutes, I was allowed to take the cute fella on a walk around the pen while a photographer took some photos of me and the tazzy. Wasn't allowed to carry the tazzy though, coz' these little buggers can bite, although I could pet its back and feel its tail. Was very cool!



A zoo helper watching out for me the whole time also told me some interesting info about the tazzy. Like the real tazzies aren't as nasty as the Warner Brothers cartoon character, and they don't go around in whirlwinds, snarling like a rapid dog. Although the fact that the tazzy was hissing and snarling at another tazzy in the pen at the same time, with another girl on the same tazzy tour, didn't help me believe that. And although they don't go around making whirlwinds, they do go around a lot, literally! A little later on, I was at an enclosure where another tazzy was allowed to run around, and man, that fella was just running and running and running and running around in circles! It would go a long the same route for a while, and on occasion, turn around and go in the other direction, or go in a slightly different route. But it would keep on running and running and running, like it was on a morning jog or something. No kidding! Here's a few photos I took of the hyper fella going on its first lap.



And its second lap.



And its third lap.



And its fourth lap.



No wonder I fell in love with these guys so quickly, eh? Anyway, I would love to show all the other pictures I took of the animals, but due to laziness and not wanting to overload my blog with photos so it won't take forever to load, I'll only put up the best. here's a super Kodak moment with a koala!



And a handsome looking gecko that posed just for me.



A dingo that was pretty photogenic as well.



Some super cute goats at the kid's petting zoo. Yeah yeah, I know it's kinda lame to be at a petting zoo when I could see some more exotic animals, but hey, they're cute!



A little sleeping calf at the kid's zoo. One of those "Awwww....." moments, isn't it? :)



And some piggy butts. Man, these guys were probably the noisiest animals in the whole zoo!



Of course, what's a visit to the home of the Crocodile Hunter without croc photos?









Plus a pic with Steve Irwin himself...:)


Yup, it was a busy day all right. And at just 3.20pm that day, I had to hop on a Croc Connection bus sending me back to Brisbane city to get my beauty sleep at my cousin's place so I could tackle the next part of my holiday itinery....sky diving!

Vacation rundown 2 - Fraser's Island

I've just noticed that all my blog entries so far except for my my second entry has had the word 'Holiday' in the title, so I've decided to change it to.... vacation! Dadadaaaaa.....*insert drumroll here*. Sighhh....the story of my life...

I woke up pretty early on Saturday to catch the 6am bus (which is actually more like a big van, but for some reason, Aussies don't use the word van here, they call them buses. Don't ask me why) that would take me on my day tour to Fraser's Island. Was pretty worried when after waiting until almost 6.30am, ths bus still hadn't shown up, so spent that time hoping that I hadn't been cheated out of my money and having a little chat with God, something that I haven't been doing much at all lately but that's another story. The bus eventually did show up, and I was on my way up north from Sunshine Coast to Fraser's Island with a bunch of other sunscreen-covered tourists. Along the way, we small bunch of sunscreen-covered tourists were transfered over from the small little van/bus to a real bus, the type that holds 40-plus people. And for small part of the trip, I was sitting next to this elderly Asian lady and her granddaughter, with the parents of the girl being on the other side of the bus. I think they were Thai, but I didn't hang around long enough to find out coz' I was smart enough to move to the front seat of the bus. Smart not because I wanted to get away from the cute kid and her grandma, but because there was nothing much to do during the tour except go ga-ga over the beautifulness of the beaches, and the front seat was the best seat from which to do so. Yes, the big 40-seater bus was actually driven along the beaches of Sunshine Coast as we made our way up to the island, and were driven along the beaches of the island itself once we got there. Most scenic bus ride I ever took, that's for sure. The windscreen was acted pretty much like a big screen tv, from which I would sit back and stare at miles and miles of magnificent view and just go "whoooaaaaa....". I can tell you very truthfully that the pictures I took, even the best ones, do little justice these beaches. The photos can only show water, sand, sky, clouds and hills...no life and no movement. What I saw on the bus as it drove up to the island were waters with differing shades of deep blue and green, it looked perfectly untouched and unpolluted. I saw seagulls and other birds flying in their flocks over the ocean, fishing for food. I saw waters shimmering as though millions of small diamonds were floating on the surface, as the sun shown brightly from above....

Along the beaches would be miles and miles of hills rising above the sands, and fading into the distance as the oceanic spray would rise and create a fog shrouding the hills....



Halfway through, we came to a place called Rainbow Beach, named as such because of the coloured sands of the surrounding cliffs. Sands that were yellow, white, orange, dark red and even pink. Pink sands! I don't think I'll ever see such sands anywhere else in my life!

Even on the ride back from the island, we drove along the same beach but I noticed even more things about the scenery. Like how the puffy white clouds would form strips over the clear light blue sky. And in the distance I could see small bery dark blue clouds, probably rainclouds, that added more colour to the sky. The horizon just over the ocean even appeared to glow white before fading into the blueness of the rest of the sky...

As the rolling waves washed back and forth across the beach, it would create a layer of water on the sand that acted like a mirror showing a reflection of those clear blue skies....

As the sun began to set, its rays would reflect of the water on the beach, making the whole beach shine so bright and creating the ultimate "ooooh!" effect!

And if the beach wsn't enough to blow me away, on Fraser's Island, we were taken to Lake McKenzie, which is listed as a World Heritage spot for obvious reasons. The waters in this lake are just so crystal clear and blue, and so clean and pure that the tour guide even said that after coming out from a swim in the lake, our hair would be silky smooth and our skin would be baby soft. And the sand was so fine that it could be used to rub away rough skin and even scrub jewellry to make it shine like brand new! Well, I don't know about the baby soft skin part, coz' my skin isn't usually all that rough, but usually after a swim, my hair comes out all tangled up. That didn't happen after I went for a dip in Lake McKenzie, so I guess the tour guide wasn't kidding. Also gave me a chance to wear my new bikini. :P



Might notice from the photo that the water behind is much more deep blue than the waters close to the shore. That's because the waters close to the shore are very shallow, but the floor level gets deeper very quickly just a few steps away from the shore. It's so deep that even though I wanted to swim out further to the middle of the lake, the darkness of the waters made me think twice. Didn't quite fancy the thought of some lake creature popping out from under me and trying to take a bite out of me or something!


Of course, apart from the very nice beaches, we also got to see one of the native wild animals, a dingo. It was running around on the beach, and as soon as we saw it, the bus driver tried to block it's way with the bus so it couldn't run away and we could get a better look at it. Poor fella. Must've scared the bejesus out of it.




And later on, on the way back, we were lucky enough to drive by some dingo puppies, resting by the side of the road. So cute!

Also saw some other, not-so-native wildlife, like this little fella who found himself on my tour bus window.

Ok, ok, obviously I don't have much more better photos to show. But all in all, for the $100 I spent on the trip, I wouldn't say it was completely worth it coz' we didn't have much time out of the bus to enjoy the beach. I have to say that going on a day tour to Fraser's Island is simply not enough, and by the end of the day, I was wishing I could have spent at least another day there to sit by the beach and just relax, or go camping there. A very good place to go with family and friends to spend time together, I would think. But unfortunately, I didn't have that opportunity. Next time, when I come back to Australia with a real bf in hand, I'll definitely drag him there with me! :P

Holiday rundown 1 - Steve and Brisbane city

I'm back from my holiday in Brisbane, which was a pretty good one at that. Experienced quite a lot of things - hung around Brisbane city from Wednesday to Friday, went to Fraser's Island on Saturday, visited Australia Zoo on Sunday, went for my first ever skydive on Monday, took a much needed sleeping break on Tuesday and finally went for dolphin feeding at Moreton Island on Wednesday before I hopped onto my flight back to Melbourne. It was a busy one week alright, and even a bit stressful sometimes coz' I had to rush a bit here and there due to bad planning on my part. But that was part of the fun as well, as I will hopefully get around to explaining soon. I definitely wanna go through the details of what happened on each of those days, starting first of course, with Brisbane city.

Brissy city, quite frankly, was boring. In the first three days that I was there, I saw pretty much everything there was to see on the day I arrived. That day, me and Steve met up with his younger brother Ben. Perhaps the most interesting part of that day was seeing the differences in personalities between the two brothers... Steve is the loud, rather obnoxious type while Ben is quiet type. I would have rather high volume arguments/discussions with Steve on that day while Ben would just walk with us, keeping a low profile. I don't agree with quite a few mean things I've heard people say about Steve (which I won't go into)...he is a nice, friendly, easygoing guy and would make a good friend. He is strongly opinionated and outspoken about many things, which is probably one reason why a lot of people aren't too fond of him, but which is something I like about him coz' it's hard to find such strong characters to go up against. The thing I really can't stand about him (and this is not anything I haven't said straight to his face) is that he is pretty full of himself. Correction, VERY full of himself. Example 1: When we were at a bar a few weeks ago with some friends and we were talking about gay guys (don't ask me why), I asked him who he thought was the hottest guy there and he kept pointing to himself (Although in Brisbane when I mentioned that, he said he meant it as a joke. Ugh) Example 2: Whenever he took some photos of me, he would look at them and always think they looked fabulous just coz' he took them. And if that wasn't bad enough, he'd make fun of the photos I took. Example 3: When I wanted to buy some buns for breakfast, he said I didn't need to coz' he had two of his own. Now that comment crossed the line from obnoxious to downright disgusting in my books. And he also has no qualms about making fun of overweight people, which is why I got into the a big argument/discussion with him in the first place. I was pretty amazed the whole time that Ben hardly added anything to our discussions. Unlike Steve, he seems a lot less likely to clash with people. It's no surprise that only one of the brothers is attached, and no prizes for guessing who.

Anyway, back to Brisbane city now, which as I said was rather boring. It doesn't help of course that I'm no big fan of city life. I mean, what's the fun with looking at a bunch of buildings and inhaling car exhaust fumes and getting caught up in all the hustle and bustle everyday? I could hardly wait to get out to the beaches, or go bushwalking (a.k.a. hiking) at the parks and mountains outside of the city. But of course, there were a few nice sights to see in the city, including of course, the city itself. Which of course, calls for some photos!

That's me and my cousin Evelyn a.k.a. Evie, with Brissy in the background. If my memory fails me not, this was taken on Thursday, the day after I arrived.

That's Brissy at night, taken a few days later. Doesn't it just make you go "OoooOOOooo...preeettyyyyy...."?

That's the Steve next to me, and yes, that is a beach in the city. A man-made beach right in the heart of Brisbane city. Cool eh?

Of course, one of the nicest things I've found about Aussie cities is that most of them have nice big rivers running right through them. And here's Brisbane River! The big bridge is called Storey Bridge. Quite nice at night when it's all lit up.

One of the main modes of transportation is on the CityCat, which is a big catamaran that runs back and forth on the river. Very cool. I'd love to ride a big boat to work everyday!

And here's another nice bridge along the river, of which the name I didn't bother to find out.

Steve, Ben and I went snooping around the city for some interesting places and found the Customs building, which had a nice Victorian look. Couldn't help but take a couple of photos here.

And we also came across some big metal hands sticking out of the street. Wonder what happened to the rest of it...

We then wandered aimlessly around until we came to this nice Athens-like structure. Apparently some Anzac memorial thing. Quite cool.

Then we stumbled across (ok, ok, Ben took us to) the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, where I had some fun in the bushes, climbing trees and admiring big LOTR-like trees.

The next day when I went walking around with Evie, we took a few more piccys, including one nice flowery structure just around the man-made beach, and some of the local birds called Ibis. Very naughty birds these. Saw them stealing some poor little kid's food. Oh well.

Of course, I have more photos, but wouldn't wanna bore you all with the boring stuff. Anyway, I haven't even gotten to the fun bits yet, which were the other days of my holiday. But since this post is long enough, I'll leave that for later. Hope you enjoyed your tour of Brisbane city. :P