Melbourne and Australian Open

Visiting Melbourne wouldn't be complete without attending a major summer event in here. There is a lot of going on in this city all year around but we were lucky, as usual ;p to be here during Australian Open!

Pobyt w Melbourne bez doswiadczenia zadnej letniej sportowej imprezy jest wrecz karygodne ;) Przez cale lato ciagle sie cos dzieje w tym miescie. My mielismy okazje oraz szczescie by byc tutaj podczas Australian Open.

 

Melbourne - Great Ocean Road

In the morning we have left Frankston B'n'B and hit the road again. This time Great Ocean Road was on the map as a next destination. It's about 260km long coastal road. A big tourist attraction with few highlights which we wanted to see.

Melbourne Phillip Island and Penguin Parade

We landed in Melbourne in the mid afternoon and quickly made our way south toward Phillip Island to see a very promising evening show called Penguin Parade! Just after the sundown whole colony of penguins are coming back from the sea with food to their nests on the dunes. You can see them coming off the water gathering at the edge of the sea assessing security levels and when they are ready they make a run towards the dunes! it's a hilarious view and amazing at the same time. Hundreds and hundreds of them appearing from the sea, and gathering in groups. They never go through the beach alone. Always are waiting for bigger group to arrive and together they are making their way home. Also there is always one at the back looking like he is lost or missed the "run!" instruction and he is trying to catch up with the group screaming "heeey! wait for meeee!!!" :D Hilarious!

On the way back from the beach you can actually pass them near their homes and watch them closely. That was a very nice experience and worth going to. It's about 1.5h drive south from Melbourne. Unfortunately there will be no pictures from that event as Park Rangers were closely watching and enforcing "No Cameras" Rule. Well, the experience will stay in my head :)

Tomorrow we are ready to see the Great Ocean Road!

Alice Springs, Uluru and very green Red Centre

We've arrived to Alice Springs in the mid afternoon. Feeling small change in the air. Hot and dry. Finally I wasn't sweating like a pig :) It is just nice and warm 35'C... in the shade. That night we were staying in Alice Lodge - a very nice and small backpacker place with old camping trailers parked around the back yard, converted into to rooms. They have a swimming pool and hammocks :) Brilliant place and not that far from the city center. Actually we weren't going anywhere that evening anyway, but if you fancy a small and dry town with the river of sand flowing in the middle, you can have a walk :)

Thunders in Darwin

While still in Cairns, I was checking weather forecast for Darwin. During the Christmas there was a big storm passing through the north. So just in case I want to know what we have to prepare for. In the matter of fact it is a very dry "wet season" this year, but still there is big possibility of cyclones, storms and other violent and extreme weather conditions in the north of Australia. So far we been very lucky and had absolutely amazing weather:) sun sun sun all the way up.

But let's go back to the Darwin 7 days weather forecast... it goes like this: thunders, thunders, thunders, thunders, thunders, thunders, thunders.

I think this is the only place where weather girl have 100% accuracy.

Cairns and Tablelands

I have to catch up with my posting, as we are flying to Alice Springs now. I have a time to write and hopefully I'll post it once we land in the red center. But first I have to come back to Cairns.

Action Packed Mission Beach!

Yeah!!! Now it's time for some action!! As I said before We booked some stuff back in the Byron Bay to get some fun out of life. As it' turned out Mission Beach is perfect place for thrill seekers!
First thing we've done in here was White Rafting on Tully River!! Yeah!!! Absolutely amazing!!!!! I'll just post the pictures because there is nothing to say here, you just have to experience it! More than 40 rapids over 4 hours of rafting on that river! And another tip - it gets better after the rain as the water levels are higher! That mad man at the back it's Ash - our tour guide!

Magnetic Island or Maggie (as the locals say)

That place was mentioned by few of our friends and seems to get a lot of good PR around. So we've decided to pay a visit to Maggie and find out how is she doing.

Whitsundays Boomerang Cruise and Airlie Beach

After a night in Mackay we finally arrived to Airlie Beach. Gateway town to Whitsunday's Islands. All the trips and excursions to the islands are going from here. It is a lovely little town with some cafes, bars, restaurants and lots of travel agents. Every second shop was a travel agent selling variety of trips and excursions in the area. Sailing, Snorkeling, Scuba diving, helicopter and seaplane flights and more. You can experience Islands in million different ways.

Hey hey hey I'm driving all the way...

2nd of January was a day of driving. We had to make a big leap up north to be on time in Airlie Beach. So I drove over 700km from Elliots Head, Bundaberg to Blacks Beach, Mackay. on the way up we past tropic of Capricorn! We have sun directly above our heads now!

Happy New Year from Brisbane!

We have 2012 already! This is it! I had the pleasure to celebrate New Years as a one of the first ones on the globe! Just after Samoa, New Zealand and Sydney. Surprisingly this year Samoa was the first country to celebrate New Years as their government decided to cancel the 29th of December :) That's the ultimate power! (thanks Liam for the first hand info! ;P)