COCONUT TRAVELS

M O M E N T S I N M A N L Y

2011-01-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

We spent a week in Manly and it was perfect, being a 30 minute ferry ride from Sydney's CBD it would be an amazing place to settle; you have the best of both worlds- a place near the ocean thats on the doorstep of a big city. The ferry ride is a far better commute then the London underground thats for sure!

S N A P S H O T S O F A N I N N E R C I T Y W O N D E R

2010-04-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

So many memories bumming around Sydney, spending time in our favourite little Cuban coffee shop in the centre of Kings Cross, the fireworks on valentines day at Darling Harbour, the Malaysian restaurant we had to cue for, hanging out at the bar in the Kings Cross Hotel overlooking the Coca Cola sign, the ornate decor of the Queen Victoria Building, wishing we were rich whilst window shopping in Paddington to name but a few. The more time we spent there the less we wanted to leave.

L I F E S A B E A C H

2010-04-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

I found that a lot of people who haven't been to Australia know very little about the place. But one name that nearly everyone has heard of is the infamous Bondi Beach. Only a hop,skip and a bus ride from Sydney's CBD is the once small beach community that is now thriving with life and one of the most sought after areas. Bondi offers the quintessential city-come-beach lifestyle, it's the extension of the city but in a bikini. And everyone, everywhere looks fabulous.

When the you need to evade the heat there's one bar that offers the best views around: Bondi Icebergs. The home of Bondi's swimming baths and social club. We spent a few afternoons there escaping the sun and sipping on alcoholic ginger beer whilst admiring the spectacular views from it's glass fronted balcony, looking over the swimming bath, the beach and the ocean.

Because Bondi is world renown you can guarantee that you won't ever be the only one on the beach. Tourists and Sydneysiders alike flock to Bondi for a bit of beach action. Fortunately it has such a wide beach so there's room for everyone, however if you want a bit more seclusion there are the local beaches only a short walk away; and Bondi, like so many other places in Australia has considered the out door life style and created the Bondi to Coogee coastal path, offering a great running or walking track with views to the destinations along the coast line.

H A R B O U R T O W N

2010-04-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

SYDNEY!!!!
My impressions of Sydney changed over the course of time we were there. When we arrived we missed Melbourne, a city that we loved from the minute we arrived. With Sydney it was a slower infatuation but by the time we left I was hooked. Seeing the Sydney Opera house was one of those moments when you aren't sure if it's real, having seen it so many times before in magazines and on the tv, it was surreal to see it up close. I remember having the same feeling when I saw the Hollywood sign in LA (which if it is torn down like planned it will be tragic to lose such an iconic part of America).

Sydney central business district reminded me of London, the hustle and bustle, everyone on a mission, but on seeing the Harbour we were reminded we were along way from the River Thames. There are so many great areas surrounding the CBD in Sydney, theres the well known areas like Circular Quay which is the location of 2 of Sydney's Iconic landmarks- the Opera House and sydney Harbour Bridge. There's also The Rocks which holds the oldest pub in Sydney as well as many original building from the 19th Century, its only about 100 ft from Circular Quay but suddenly you feel as though you have stumbled across a historic village. We were staying in Potts Point which is the other side of Sydney's Botanical Gardens to Circular Quay, so when heading to seeing the Opera house we would walk through the Gardens which gave us our first glimpse of the Opera House, possible even more astonishing then the sight of the Sydney Opera House was the giant bats hanging in the trees above our heads. Thousands of them, everywhere. When it got to dusk they started to wake and would fly all around the park. It was truely spectacular to see. We later found out after that they are actually called grey-haired flying foxes. Like London there is a Kings Cross in Sydney, the one in no London no longer holds the seedy reputation that it used too, however the Sydney one does. It has a great selection of bars, clubs and restaurants but it has a big problem with drugs, and the sex clubs don't help the image. However if you look past the neon lights, the girls on the street and the users in the alleys then Kings Cross is pretty damn fantastic. What we found wierd about Sydney is that you get a street like Kings Cross which is only about half a mile long that is minutes away from an area like Potts Point which is full of quaint little deli's and coffee shops or at the other end of Kings cross strip is Paddington which is a shoppers dream with lots of high end boutiques. It's almost like they took a city and condensed it into small areas closely packed together.

C A S T A W A Y S

2010-04-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Fiji is actually made up of over 30 islands, and one of these was the setting for the Tom Hanks film 'Castaway'. We decided that a trip to the Island otherwise known as Mordriki was in order. We had to board a large vessel to take us to one island to change onto a sail boat to continue the voyage to Mordriki. The Islands we saw along the way are all part of the Mamanuca group, and if you envision paradise this was it. Beautiful Islands where you wouldn't mind being shipwrecked. I tend to get sea sick on boats and this wasn't an exception, sailing is not the smoothest ride. We anchored around 200 metres from Mordriki grabbed our snorkel gear and swam to shore, we saw the rocks where Tom Hanks first got washed up, the cliff top where he tried to commit suicide, the beach where he wrote SOS (it now says castaway). We snorkeled off the beach and saw some beautiful fish,the sea was so clear you could have seen the coral from above the water. The sun was hot and the water cool. After Lunch we sailed to another island to meet the locals that call the place home, we had a traditionally Fijian welcoming ceremony with the chief of the village, we then looked around the market they had prepared for us. The Island had been hit by a cyclone not that long before and they were still in the process of repairing it, you could see the damage that had been done, where the trees had been torn down. It's a self sufficient island so they work together to make island life work. There was also a boarding school on the beach front for the children from this Island along with the neighbouring islands. The views from their shacks on the beach was phenomenal, the life they lead is very different to the life we know. It is simpler life; they aren't caught up in the world where your career establishes who you are, or your measured by what you own. They work as a team to create a community and for that they get the most stunning scenery around.

2 5 B I T E S

2010-03-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

When we arrived into our hotel in Fiji it was 10pm so we decided to eat in the hotel for convenience, we sat outside and I had foolishly changed out of my cowboy boots I traveled in to put on some flips flops. In the morning we woke up to the sun shining and my feet burning, I had been bitten 25 times and mainly on my feet and ankles. I swear it was so uncomfortable, I would wake up in the night because they itched so bad, every evening for the rest of the holiday I wore my boots but even walking made my feet hurt they were so sore, I used the strongest repellent I could find and doused myself in it and tried no less then three different bite relief creams. By the last day the bites had just about healed. But don't feel too bad for me I still managed to lie in a hammock each day under the palm trees and read. And at night once the Fiji bitter or mojiti kicked in I could barely feel my feet anyway!

T H E S K Y I S N O T A L W A Y S B L U E

2010-03-23T03:31:00.000-07:00

I have never experience a more beautiful sky than the one above Fiji, the blue was the brightest blue, at sunset the sky would turn varying shades of pink until the yellow sun would brighten up the sky for one last farewell at the end of a day, before the sky turned midnight blue and would light up with hundreds of stars. At dawn you would gradually see the purple in the air until the sun appeared bursting with orange so bright you could feel it. Even in the late afternoon when the sky would occasionally become overcast it had the presence of mythical creatures in the air and the clouds.

C O C O N U T N U T

2010-03-23T02:46:00.000-07:00

FIJI

As you can imagine Fiji is covered in palm trees, and when there are palm trees there are coconuts! One friendly local wanted to show us how to climb a palm tree, and whilst he was up there he fetched us a drink.

T H E S P A C E I N B E T W E E N

2010-03-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

Melbourne and Sydney are the two largest and well-known cities in Australia, we decided to take the 12 hour drive and see the space between the two. We stayed in Sorrento where the first Europeans to come to Victoria settled and had the most delicious breakfast near the sea, we stayed in Eden where the restaurants close by 8:30pm but in this sleepy town you can see every star in the sky so we settled for a take away pizza, and sat in the car by the beach. Believe it or not Eden was actually one of the larger towns we stopped in. On some stretches of the road we would be driving for an hour and see only a couple of other cars. We saw more greenery on this trip than I have ever seen in England, another misconception I had of Australia was how many fields I would see. But I wasn't mistaken about the Kangaroo situation, we spotted a couple along the edge of the motorway as the sun started to set and made sure we didn't drive after dark as this is when the Kangaroo's come out and roam, and if you hit a Roo your insurance doesn't cover it! The places between Sydney and Melbourne are often overlooked by travellers who fly between the two but sometimes it's the journey and not the destination thats important.

T H E O P E N R O A D

2010-03-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

We drove from Melbourne to Port Cambell along the Great Ocean Road. The weather wasn't the greatest (although I'm not complaining as it was probably snowing at home in London that day) but it turned out to be one of the most memorable trips so far. The drive was by far the most beautiful drive I have ever been on, the road hugs the coastline offering beautiful views of the ocean. We stopped for the night in a lovely quaint town called Port Cambell in a hotel a few metres from the sea. The following day we started early taking in the spectacular rock formations of the Twelve apostles and London Bridge, where the evidence of erosion and the power of nature is clear to see.

T E D D Y B E A R S P I C N I C

2010-02-26T01:37:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Queen Victoria Market on a sunday morning, walked away with Yarra Valley goats cheese, olives, baby octopus, chilli prawns, turkish bread, eggplant dip, Yarra Valley Merlot and a couple of cupcakes and headed to Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens. We found a semi-secluded spot, and spent the day lazing in the summer sun with the most delicious picnic.

T H E G R E A T E S T

2010-02-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

The things I will remember most about Melbourne; the amazing food, the beer at Mrs Parma's Microbrewery, Federation Square, the fire lanterns on the Yarra River, the fashion and the fashionable people, St Kilda's beach, the fairy penguins, Brunswick street bars and how much I will miss it.

T A G G E D

2010-02-24T05:31:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite things about Melbourne is the colourful and exciting alleys dotted around Melbourne enchanting you to take a closer look.

F I R S T I M P R E S S I O N S

2010-02-08T04:33:00.000-08:00

First night in Melbourne. Checked into hotel, showered, found relatively un-screwed up clothing, met Katie and Micheal in lobby, walked along southbank to federation square, settled in Taxi bar, 1 bottle and 2 glasses of wine, 6 beers, back to hotel a little bit tipsy and a lot in love with Melbourne.

H I C K T O W N

2010-02-06T03:57:00.001-08:00

We had to stay in Mackay for one night before our flight from their local airport, it was a Sunday and all the shops were closed. We walked around for a while barely seeing anyone, it was a ghost town. The motel we were staying in was less than pleasant so we wanted to spend as much time out of it as possible so ended up going to the cinema and to the pub which was full of locals who all stared at us like we were aliens from out of space. The only thing good about this town was this guitar I spotted in a music shop that I am sure Charlaine would love!!!

B E S T I S L A N D I N T H E W O R L D

2010-02-06T00:55:00.000-08:00

Remember that competition about a year ago for 'The Best Job In The World', the winner got to live here on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. Lucky sod! We went there for a day, arriving early in the morning. There are very few vehicles on this island so we did as the locals do and hired a golf buggy for the day to explore the island- I even had a go at driving it! The Island has a population of under 5000, it may be small but it has everything you need from post office to five star restaurant. For lunch we decided to get takeaway fish and chips and head to One Tree Hill and enjoy the spectacular view of the surrounding islands. If I had a spare million or two I would definitely call this place home.

T H E G R E A T B A R R I E R R E E F

2010-02-06T00:19:00.000-08:00

New years eve 2009 was spent scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. On the last day of the Noughties we had one of the best experiences of our lives. It was one of the most memorable days for us both. We hadn't originally planned to scuba dive we were just going to snorkel, but when the staff on board the Cruise Whitsundays ship explained how easy it was we decided it was a chance of a lifetime, so we bit the bullet and signed up. The pack itself was really heavy so after they put it on us I tried to stand up and fell back down, once you enter the water it becomes lighter but then you have to worry about the breathing under water factor. At first it felt really bizarre and I just wanted to come back to the surface and take a big gulp of air but the instructor took both our hands and took us down into the reef. The reef itself was spectacular, we went about 7 metres deep and saw more life the deeper we went. The area is home to a friendly 2 metre Mauri fish which comes right up so you can stroke its slimey skin. I had an underwater camera which we still haven't had developed but I'm hoping that I managed to snap a few photos of it, particularly one of Ben with it. The photos of the reef are from inside the semi submersible boat we went on, which was good for non-swimmers but the blue tinted windows took all the colour out of the reef.

W H I T E H E A V E N

2010-02-03T20:52:00.000-08:00

Whitehaven Beach is widely recognised as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and is on the Whitsunday Island off the coast of Queensland. A few days after Christmas we took a trip there with Ocean Rafting. The inflatable speed vessel prides itself on an exhilarating, adventure ride to Whitehaven. As it took one of its many high speed turns I fell off my seat flying across to the other side of the boat and landing on fellow passengers legs. The outcome...a very bruised sore bum. We stopped twice to do some snorkelling in the turquoise waters of the Coral Sea, we saw some incredible fish and one particular fish that was a kaleidoscope of colour making it look like it belonged in the 80's! On our onward journey we got soaked in the rain but fortunately just after we reached the island the rain subsided leaving us with the beautiful blue sky we have become accustomed too. We took the scenic walk to Hill Inlet lookout point which over looks the pure white silica shifting sand; there are small deep natural channels that run up from the sea to the beach creating these shifting sand patterns. Hill Inlet sits at the northern end of the 7km Whitehaven beach. This post card perfect paradise island is uninhabited surrounded by forest, clear calm aquamarine sea with views of the surrounding islands. Not a bad place to be washed up for the day.

1 S T S U M M E R B I R T H D A Y

2010-01-11T21:07:00.001-08:00

1st December 2009

My first birthday in the sun spent hanging out in the 32 degree heat (thankyou Queensland), relaxing by the pool, seafood on the waterfront, two deserts and too many cocktails. Wearing my present from Charlaine...thankyou chicka!!

C R I K E Y I T S A K O A L A

2010-01-06T15:16:00.001-08:00

Getting up close to Animals in Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo

I L E F T M Y H E A R T I N N O O S A

2009-12-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

Noosa is on the aptly named Sunshine Coast about 2 hours north of Brisbane. The Lonely Planet guidebook wasn't wrong when it said you may fall hard for this beach resort. We had booked just 5 days here, but as soon as we arrived we realised we didn't want to leave. Noosa is a picture perfect town, lazy days are spent soaking up the sun on the beautiful beach, afternoons shopping and sipping coffees on tree-lined Hastings Street, Dinner on the river or a night out at Noosa Junction. Couldn't ask for more from this chilled out seaside town.

B Y R O N B A Y I N A D A Y

2009-12-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Drove south of Gold Coast to Byron Bay crossing the Queensland/New South Wales border and jumping an hour forward without realising. Who knew that an hours drive would put us an hour in the future. We had high expectations for Byron Bay and unfortunately it didn't meet them. The area is known for it's laid-back new-age vibe but with swarms of backpackers it seemed like maybe we arrived a few years too late. It was a wonderful little town but was over crowded, stealing away the beauty of this hippy village. The accommodation prices are sky high so decided we wouldn't stay, so after a mooch around the shops, a visit to the beach and a coconut ice-cream we got back in the car and drove back to the Gold Coast arriving at the same time we left.

A N T A R C A L I A/////A U S T A R T I C A

2009-12-26T00:33:00.000-08:00

This tree is a piece Antarctica leftover from when Australia and Antarctic where joint millions of years ago. It still stands proudly in the rainforest of Springbrook surrounded by more tropical bushland.

O N T O P O F T H E W O R L D

2009-12-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

We are having way too much fun to be updating this blog so are very behind - these are from the end of October when we went to Springbrook National Park. The views were phenomenal, the photos don't do the place justice, it's so incredibly high that on the drive up your ears pop! At some points you could see the coastline which was over an hour drive away. The waterfalls are pretty spectacular too, apparently even more so when its raining.

As we were walking to one lookout point we heard a rustling by our feet, i screamed, Ben jumped about 2 foot off the ground and then we saw this huge lizard creature about a foot and a half long.

B L U E C H R I S T M A S

2009-12-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and will be thinking of you from our sun-loungers. It's wierd to imagine the snow at home when we are in 32 degree heat! Our christmas this year will be extremely different from every other one, lounging by the pool, sunshine, suncream, seafood and a hot tub.

S E E P I N G T H R O U G H T H E T R E E S

2009-12-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

SPRINGBROOK NATURAL BRIDGE, QLD

In the Gold Coast hinterland you will found Springbrook Natural Bridge within Springbrook National Park which is part of the northern rim of ancient volcano Mount Warning. The drive to Springbrook was part of the adventure, the road is on the edge of the cliff and winds round each corner and at various points goes into one lane, if you are in the passenger seat do yourself a favour and don't look down- I was gripping on to my seat, it certainly didn't help when some of the white posts on the edge of the cliff on each bend had been knocked down! When we finally got there we headed to the Natural Bridge region where you pass a small village with a few houses and the smallest Primary School I have ever seen. Once my heart rate had slowed down we got out the car and went to explore, there is a walking track taking you through part of the sub-tropical rainforest, round to the waterfall which goes through Cave Creek where at night you can go inside to see glow worms.

W H E N T H E S U N G O E S D O W N

2009-12-06T00:50:00.000-08:00

From the nights spent hanging out at the beach with a couple beers and a pizza, a trip to the cinema to see New Moon, stracciatella ice cream on the boardwalk and the most delicious meal at Thai Thai. If you ever find yourself in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast Queensland make a trip to Thai Thai the food was amazing (try the red thai curry with coconut rice) and like many other restaurants here its BYO, which is great when you are on a budget especially as it's conveniently next to an off-licence !

2009-12-05T16:07:00.001-08:00

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S U N D A Z E

2009-11-14T00:07:00.000-08:00

When any Londoner thinks of November you conjure up ideas of dark evenings, grey days and cold mornings, it's the month where you say goodbye to autumn, hello to winter and start your christmas shopping. This year it is a different story for us. November in Australia means getting ready for summer, hot days and warm nights. Yes there's still the matter of christmas presents but this year we won't be panic shopping either.

S E A S I C K N E S S

2009-11-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

Between June and November thousands of Humpback whales migrate to and then from the warm Queensland waters, we managed to spot them on their annual commute back to the Antarctic. It was truelly amazing to see such large animals in their natural habitat, I stupidly only took my digital camera rather than my SLR which had a better zoom on it, and in the bright sunshine I couldn't see the LCD screen on the digital camera so was snapping away blindly at the ocean whenever the mammal came to the surface, so was pleasantly surprised that I managed to get some half decent shots-including one of the infamous 'blow'. However the whole whale watching trip was tainted by me getting really seasick, we were warned when we got there that it was a really bad day for seasickness, I smugly turned to Ben and said I will be fine I don't suffer from seasickness- not quite sure how I came to this conclusion since I haven't been on a boat/ferry since before the Eurostar! Once we were off the boat I started to feel better and as part of our whale watching ticket we got access to Seaworld, as we have been to the one in Florida we didn't bother with the shows as it was quite late in the day by this point instead we went and had lunch overlooking the dolphin nursery-spot the baby dolphin in the first photo-that little one was only 6 months old-cutest thing I have ever seen (except maybe my cat when he was a baby)! I could have spent the whole day staring at the dolphins (and they were definitely staring back at me), but Ben dragged me off to see the Polar bears. Seeing the white furred bears was quite amazing, they are beautiful creatures and you really want to give them a big cuddle- which obviously you can't because they would crush you! Then it was off to the shark aquarium.....dun dun dun

Disclaimer: the photos are in the post below; these weren't taken at our local beach nor did we learn to scuba dive- the sharks were safely behind glass.

S H A R K I N F E S T E D W A T E R S

2009-11-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

The marine life at our local beach!!!!!

T H E R I V E R C I T Y

2009-10-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

Done a lot of walking in Brisbane; got many blisters to show for it, its got beautiful walk ways all along the river so we must have walked about 5 or 6 miles a day. There are a few different parts to see and everyday there seemed to be a different market. The centre was bustling day and night so fortunately Ben managed to find a 24 hour sports bar for us to watch the Manchester United game which started here at 11:30pm!

In the Valley there was a free mini festival on so we got to see some live music, and had the most delicious 96% fat free passion fruit and lychee ice cream. Was told the fashion wasn't much in Australia (except maybe in Sydney and Melbourne) but found some wicked clothes shops, we were tempted by many items but uncharacteristically of us both we walked away empty handed.

All over Brisbane you can see these Lavender blossom trees and hot pink flowers and these slightly gothic looking trees where the branches wind up each other. The only wildlife we saw in Brisbane was a few lizards and some birds..surprisingly no bugs or spiders yet! After seeing the little lizard we saw a huge one about a foot long but wasn't quick enough with the camera!

D A Y O N E B R I S B A N E

2009-10-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

After our 22 hour flight we landed in Brisbane, we got to our hotel at 2am; which was closed, woke up the manager eventually, to be told that they didn't have our booking until 2pm and were fully booked so to return in 12 hours! Every other hotel in Brisbane seemed to be booked as well. Eventually found a vacant room for a nice dent in the wallet!

Brisbane is situated on a river, so our first day we had a stroll along the long river paths. The weather was great really sunny and our hotel was in a really good position for all areas. The jet lag kicked in around 6pm when we both fell asleep on the sofa!!

S&B x

The coconut travellers

2009-10-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start a blog to keep you all updated on our travels, those of you who are unfamiliar with the blogging world here's how it works..we post photos and text and you can comment on the posts by clicking on comments below. Its like an online travel diary! You will also find in the sidebar my email so you can email direct if you want, and of course we have facebook too. We'll try and post often so you can get jealous of the blue skies and sunshine!!!

S x