Christian November 16th, 2008
After a not so bad ten hour bus ride from Cairns we arrived in Airle Beach. It was cloudy outside when we went to check into the YHA hostel, but they soon cleared up when we were waiting for our room. To kill some time while our room was being cleaned, we checked into Southern Cross Sailing for our three day cruise starting the next day. Upon check-in, we were told that wetsuits are mandatory to go swimming due to the risk of contact with one of the deadly jellyfish. If that doesn’t make you just want to jump right into the water, I don’t know what would. Heading back to the YHA, we were greeted with a decent room with AC and a bathroom shared with just one other room. A nice shower was in order to get the ten hour bus ride smell off. After showering and relaxing for a bit we ventured out to explore Airle Beach. The sun was out now and we walked down to the beach. The water was much nicer here than in Cairns, and they even had a “Danger Croc Spotted” sign posted on trees near the beach. Continue Reading »
Christian November 12th, 2008
After a short 3 hour plane ride from Sydney, we were welcomed with a warm sunny day in Cairns. It was suprisingly easy to get in from the airport. Thirty minutes and fifteen dollars later, the both of us were checking into our hostel. Complete with a swimming pool, air conditioning, guest kitchen, and a helpful staff, the place ended up being quite nice. We dropped our bags and set off to explore the city. It is considered a city, even though it is the size of a town. It is touristy, but very nice. It seems that everything in the place stems from the Espalande, the road along the ocean. The beach was not idealic, but they did have a free lagoon (large swimming pool) that was extremely nice. Cairns is lined with many shops, tourist agencies, and restaurants (enough to satisfy all of the tourists). We stopped by the Pro Dive shop to check in for our dive the next day. Continue Reading »
Christian November 10th, 2008
The weekend was soon upon us again. I forgot what it was like to look forward to weekends. Even prior to the trip, I was working a second job as a waiter so I did not really get to enjoy them. We had to be up early on Saturday for a wine tasting tour of the Hunter Valley. The trip was through the YHA Sydney, including transportation, tasting at five wineries, and a tasting at the smelly cheese factory. The hunter valley is located a couple of hours outside of Sydney and is home to many, many wineries. On the way to the hunter, we grew nervous as the weather turned worse and worse. Luckily, by the time we reached the YHA in the Hunter Valley, the weather cleared and the sun was out. We enjoyed some tea and bikkies (biscuits or cookies) at the hostel before jumping in a big purple minivan that would wisk us to all of the wineries.
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Christian November 4th, 2008
Our plans for the weekend were set. Janine was taking us to see the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. Our first stop was at a place called “Scenic World”. The first thing we did here was take the world’s steepest incline railway down into the valley. It was a bit cheesy, but good fun. As the ride started, the Indiana Jones theme music started to play, making the Japanese tourists go crazy. The ride was much steeper and shorter than we had thought. It lasted about a minute and a half, but it was really steep, almost feeling like a roller coaster. Once down in the valley, we started off on the walking trails through the forest. It was nice and quiet, with the occasional yell from other tourists. Then the rain started. Continue Reading »
Christian October 30th, 2008
After 6 weeks in Europe, it was time to move on to Australia. After a month, we decided to post something for those of us who have been waiting to hear about our time in Oz. We arrived at the Frankfurt airport around 10:30am and were lucky enough to squeeze into the check-in line just ahead of a large tour group of high school students. After a quick check-in we continued past the food court and through security. Once by the gates, we quickly realized our mistake. There were no shops to look at books, magazines, or to buy a snack. Our gate wasn’t even open yet to sit down, so we had 2 hours to kill sitting on a bench with nothing to do. Finally, about an hour before take off our gate opened and we raided the only vending machine around with our last euro cents for a twix bar and a snickers bar. We were flying Cathay Pacific whom we had never flown before, we were very happy with what we found. Continue Reading »
Christian October 26th, 2008
While in Europe in October, one must of course visit Germany during Oktoberfest. Having decided this months ago, we also decided that staying in Munich was way out of budget. Hotel and hostel prices are extremely exaggerated and booked months ahead of time. Some places charged almost $600 a night in the city ($200 or more for a hostel). So we opted for staying about an hour outside of Munich by train in the little known town of Garmish-Partenkirchen. We knew very little about the town before arriving as most guide books devoted about one paragraph to this city to mention that it hosted the 1936 winter olympics. We were a little scared by what we might find since my only experience with Germany was 5 years ago and left me with a vastly different impression.
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Christian October 19th, 2008
A quick 50 minute train ride took us to Zurich. Known to most as home of swiss bank accounts it is Switzerland’s largest city and considered by most to have Europe’s highest standard of living. Getting off the train we navigated our way through the huge station to the main entrance. The walk to the hostel was not far, just a few blocks into the old town district, but then up 3 very narrow winding flights of stairs. On the way up we passed a kitchen for one of the restaurants that shared our building. The door to it was open, the cooks were hard at work and it smelled so good. Our hostel was the cheapest we could find in all of Zurich for a huge $100, our most expensive hostel in all of Europe. We were immediately disappointed to find it cramped and old.
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Christian October 17th, 2008
On the train ride into Switzerland from Italy, one thing was very obvious, mother nature had spent a little extra time here and created some very beautiful scenery. Our train chugged along slowly through mountain passes, crystaline lakes, sheep dotted hills, and the snow capped alps. All throughout the 5 hours it took to reach Luzern, we constantly had our noses pressed to the window. We were not disappointed by our destination. Luzern or Lucerne, is situationed on Lake Luzern and surrounded by mountain views, which rarley appear from behind the clouds.
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Christian October 11th, 2008
The journey from Naples to Venice was very long even when spent in a nice first class seat on the train (only Eurail ticket we could buy, what a shame). The good news was that once we arrived at the Venice train station our hotel was only a few short blocks away. We were quickly checked in and then shown to our room, which turned out to be down a maze of corridors, steps, and so many turns you weren’t quite sure what direction you were headed. It was very odd, the walk to the hotel was actually shorter than the walk to our room. It was almost like some sort of illusion, since the hotel looked very small and unassuming from the street. Our room was small and had some ruby red wallpaper, but was nice enough at first glance. Continue Reading »
Christian October 2nd, 2008
Upon arriving at the Naples train station we were greeted by a red eyed crackhead when trying to buy tickets for the local train. We assumed he wanted money, or Casey. He was talking very fast and not making any sense. We shrugged him off and continued to wait for our train to our hostel. While waiting, we noticed there were many “shady” characters around. It did not help our feelings about the place when there are “watch for pickpockets” signs and an audio announcement in english every five minutes saying the same. Our hostel was located only a 10 minute train ride away. As we got off the train, we were stuck behind these two older men. Something shiny caught my eye when walking behind them. As soon as I figured out what it was, I was not surprised but received confirmation about the safety in Naples. Continue Reading »
