The Great Barrier Reef then off to the Outback

After our lovely little journey with Precious kaleidoscope had ended we had only one thing left to do in beautiful Cairns, see the almighty reef!! Yes, they call it one of the great wonders of the world for a reason; a self sustaining mecca of marine life miles away from the mainland. It's quite a sight seeing waves crashing into an invisible barrier of coral in the center of the ocean. And the marine life... phenomenal. Jordan and I both took advantage of the opportunity by doing some diving and snorkeling; seeing "nemo's", bright fish and reef sharks. Really cool!!!

After our day on the ocean and a last party with the farm crew and precious kaleidoscope, it was time to hop on another plane...Destination????

The Outback

The Creation of the D.Q through and through...

From Cairns we jumped on a Qantas flight (the Spirit of Australia.......They payed me to say that) to the center of Australia and the city of Alice Springs. Now for those of you who don't know their Australian geography very well, Alice Springs is about 2000km from anywhere, in the middle of the desert. No joke, it is truly the outback. But it is also the jump off point for some amazing Aussie monuments; Ayers Rock, The Olgas and Kings Canyon. One thing's for sure, we were not about to leave this country without a glimpse at the red center.

Upon arriving at the airport and taking a deep breath of the 37 degree dry desert air, we promptly rented our chariot for the next couple of days, the beautiful Toyota Corolla we would soon refer to only as "Vicki". Where does the name come from you ask, well, it is derived from the D.Q through and through. Confused? Hold on, i'll try and explain...

Now, try and stay with me...

For us Canadians, D.Q refers to the fast food chain and colossus of both hot and cool treats, Dairy Queen. Now Dairy Queen has a little slogan that plays on the whole it's "so hot" it's "cool" thing. Well that's what the outback is folks, "It's So Hot It's Cool". Still with me?? And Vicki, well that comes from the Queen part, referring to the great (I know, debatable) former British monarch Queen Victoria who led Britain in it's great imperial years. Well, in our little adventure "Vicki" would be our transport of choice as we were out to conquer the outback.(This is what goes on inside Jordan's disturbed little mind...) There... Story told, now to the adventure...

Our first day was spent driving west of Alice Springs, visiting gorges, gaps and rock formations before returning to the city for a good nights sleep in preparation for our excursion down South. Upon awaking the next day, we hopped in Vicki and began our journey 450km to the south-west to Uluru National Park and the world's largest monolith Ayers Rock and the Olga ranges. The drive was as they say "most excellent", coasting through the desert with barely a soul on the road. We arrived at the park mid-afternoon and first visited the Olgas where we took pictures and went on a little hike, then it was off to Ayers rock in an attempt to see a glowing sunset. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky as the clouds began to roll in, but the cold spaghetti was excellent and the beer and goon more than satisfying.

Luckily, the next morning was bright and sunny, as we witnessed the sunrise at Ayers Rock before driving to the other side of this huge monument to climb up it's great edge. The climb is arduous to say the least but people from all over the world take on this great challenge, some with better outcomes than others. The top of the rock offers a magnificent view of the desert countryside, but it is incredibly windy. An awesome time was had though and it made for some great photography.

From Ayers Rock we hopped back into Vicki and headed for Kings Canyon about 300km away. The kilometers melted away in a marathon of "Tool" in the high 30 degree sun. By the time we arrived at Kings Canyon it was 2pm and the temperature was a pleasant 40 degrees. As it was incredibly refreshing we decided to take a 5.5 km hike around the canyon's edges with only the wind and many desert flies to accompany us. Sounds tough I know, but the scenery can only be described as breathtaking. After the completion of our climb we hopped back in our chariot and drove back to Alice Springs as the sun set over the desert savanna, simply amazing.

Our next morning was spent east of Alice Springs before we returned to the city itself, had a much needed shower, said our goodbyes to Vicki and caught our flight to Sydney. Yes, this great adventure will end where it all began 8 months ago, but first we have 6 days to tie up all the loose ends.

The Outback of Australia is something that has to be seen to be believed and in retrospect no trip to this great country would have been complete without it. The D.Q through and through, like the adventures before it only served to remind us of the values of traveling and the marvels of this great world. But enough philosophical psychobabble, off to Sydney!!!

Precious Kaleidoscope goes camping...

Cairns, The Tablelands and Cape Tribulation

Upon arriving in Cairns and checking out the party scene for a couple nights we decided to rent a van, a few tents, get some hot dogs and beans and go on a good old fashioned camping trip. But before I discuss that I must relate an experience of Jordan's, who went to a local bar with a couple of friends and ran into none other than Matthew McCaunahey. That's right all you ladies, Mr. Rothe was within 10 feet of the sexiest man alive himself - I can feel the jealousy through the fiberoptic cable. But on to the trip...

We picked up our Toyota Taurago in the morning and off we went to the tablelands, a beautiful stretch of countryside filled with beautiful gorges, waterfalls and lakes. Day 1 was spent viewing these beautiful landscapes before making camp next to a majestic lake.

As the sun lightened the morning sky on day 2 we were already on the road, passing through small towns on our way to Kurunda, where we took a gondola tour overtop of the rainforest canopy, stopping to view rainforest animals, flora and fauna. We then boarded our van once again and made the trip up towards Cape Tribulation, a world renown beach location about 100km north of Cairns. Our night was spent cooking hot dogs over the fire and camping in the rainforest next to the beach. Simply marvelous!

Day 3 took us to Cape Tribulation and then back down towards Cairns, stopping at a crocodile, snake and animal farm for a tour, some crocodile feeding and an all around good time. Soon another day had passed and we were back camping on the beach. Oh, what a life we lead.

Camping was an awesome time for all; sociables in the car, beach sing songs, roasts, definitely an awesome way to see tropical North Queensland.

From Brisbane to Cairns...


The Creation of Precious Kaleidoscope

As the last week of our farm experience passed, Jordan and I began discussing where to go next and how to get there. The decision for a location was Cairns in far north tropical Queensland and the method of transport we chose was a good old fashioned camper van relocation courtesy of our good friends at Apollo van rentals (remember team Apollo folks?).

As we Canadians are so fond of saying..........................ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The trip from Brisbane to Cairns is a beautiful 1700km journey along the Australian East Coast, but in order to make it economically viable we needed a few traveling companions. Thus the creation of Precious kaleidoscope; consisting of members Jordan, Caroline, Sarah, Hayne and myself. I'm sure you're wondering about the name, the truth is like many things in this trip, it makes no sense! Just a simple boredom induced collaboration of minds between Jordan and Sarah. But we thank them whole heartedly.

We had 3 days to do it and the memories piled up with the miles. Nights in the camper watching Family Guy, games of sociables over boxes of goon and good old fashioned road trip music and conversation. This would be the beginning of an adventure that would continue through Cairns...

Return to OZ...

The Farm




After our 5 or so weeks in Thailand it was time to return to the mighty country of Australia, so after a few last meals of pat tai and spring roles, we boarded a plane back to western civilization. Upon arriving and smelling the amazingly fresh (by comparison to central Bangkok) air we were off to stay with our good friends the Penner's for a week or so. It was there that we searched and found a job that every backpacker has experienced and most dread, the almighty fruit and vegetable picking job.

Our choice product was vegetables and our choice location was a little town called Forest Hill about an hour or so outside of Brisbane. I'll tell you the metropolis that is Brisbane fades very quickly into back country Australia. We stayed at a quaint little working hostel called "Woodstock" where we met loads of great people, some there to make a little cash, some there to extend their visas (which takes 3 months of farm work in this country) Slave labor, I tell ya.



Life on the farm is a world unto its own folks; 4:30am wake up calls, long days cutting cauliflowers or lettuce or sugar loaf or cabbage or whatever in the hot sun... It is not for the faint of heart. But as good Canadian "blokes" we were not about to be deterred by a little back-breaking labor. As time tends to do, it passed, some days quicker than others, but it passed. The main thing that helped? People people people, Irish friends Allan, Fergal, Mullarky, Jane, Laura, Barbarra, Sean, Paul (there was a lot of Irish), English friends Senghi, Caroline, the Scots Jon and Kenny, The Koreans and Japanese (Nikki and Jimmy), Sarah and others....Great Memories!





One things for sure, our tans are better for the experience, we now have intimate knowledge of where our produce comes from and we know every native Australian swear in the book (though we never use any of them). After 3 weeks though, it was time to say goodbye, we had picked our last vegetable in this great country and more adventures beckoned...