We stopped at 150 year old Townsville for 3 nights and stayed in the CBD (Central Business District) at the Holiday Inn. It was easy to see the sights of this town on foot as there was not a huge amount to see! We strolled along the seafront (The Strand), walked around the city centre and popped into another chocolate bar (how could you not). Overall Townsville was pleasant enough but to be honest we renamed it ‘Deadsville’ which we put down to the time of year we visited (between Xmas and New Year) as most offices / shops were closed and who only knows where most of the people disappeared to!

The upside of Townsville was that we took the ferry over to Magnetic Island or ‘Maggie’ Island as the locals call it for a day trip. We hired a little topless car which was a lot of fun to drive (it felt like a go-cart!) Magnetic Island is only 32 sq miles so a day was more than enough to potter round (to think I was worried about running out of petrol!) Half of the island is a National Park so we were able to park up and follow some of the walking trails where we got to see a couple of wild Koala’s, huge Kites (birds of prey) and lots of colourful Parrots. We also saw some wild dolphins whilst crossing to the island on the passenger ferry!

Next stop is Mission Beach.

*Front page news was that Townsville is the fattest city in Austraila!

We arrived at Airlie Beach on Christmas Day and were lucky enough to get a room upgrade at the Club Crocodile Resort. We spent the day round the pool with lots of locals and had a buffet ‘roast’ dinner in the evening (let’s just say it was not the Xmas dinner we were hoping for – yuk!)

Overall Airlie beach was a very small town which had a certain busyness to it that we enjoyed (even on Boxing Day). It was full of holiday makers just like us and we indulged in some seriously nice seafood at a local restaurant called Fish D’Vine which also specialised in rum (Dean was over the moon!)

You can’t go in the sea between November – May due to numerous marine stinging creatures but there was a pleasant freshwater lagoon to laze around.

Airlie Beach is the mainland gateway to the 74 Whitsunday Islands. We booked a one day boat tour which included a go on a glass bottomed boat looking down at the tropical fish and coral reef, a stop at the famous Whitehaven Beach and a resort called Daydream Island. The best part of the day by far was Whitehaven Beach which really was breathtakingly beautiful. Its whitest of the white sand combined with the clear blue sea was phenomenal. (Check out the following short video, you need to copy and paste the link into your browser https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9eoElCQ5vr8 ) To go in the sea we were encouraged to put on stinger suits (safety first!) just in case of any box jellyfish / other stingers and despite it looking a little unflattering (!), it was worth it. A swim in the shallow waters was like being in a hot bath where we came face to face with numerous rays, fish and even baby lemon sharks (two of them took a disliking to Dean and started prodding his leg, little did he know they are harmless and went running out of the water like a scared girl!)

Captain Lisa, Whitsunday tour

Coral, Whitsunday

Whitsunday Islands

Whitsunday Islands

Selfie at the Whitsunday Islands

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Selfie, Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Shark @ Daydream Island, Whitsunday Islands

Love notes @ Airlie Beach

Whitehaven Beach

Rays @ Daydream Island, Whitsunday Islands

Onwards and up the East Coast we continue to Townsville next, where we are hoping to pop over to Magnetic (Maggie) Island!

We stayed two nights at Hervey Bay (The Beach Motel – reminded me of Butlins 😬) which is located on the Fraser Coast. We used it as a gateway onto the World Heritage listed Fraser Island. There is not really a great deal to say about Hervey Bay other than it has a quiet costal community which boasts long sandy beaches and a calm blue ocean (we sound spoilt but comparing it to Noosa, our previous stop we thought this had far more going for it!)

Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island (created over hundreds of thousands of years from sand drifting off the East Coast of mainland Australia) and is the only place where rainforest grows on sand. After our visit we finally believed the locals when they say it is paradise! We stayed at the Kingfisher Bay Resort which was similar to Centre Parcs, but surrounded by beaches and forests all in one.

The ferry from Hervey Bay to Fraser Island

The balcony at our hotel room on Fraser Island

The best part of our stay on the island was by far the Beauty Spot 4WD trip. We travelled deep into the heart of the island on what can only be described as a roller coaster ride – there are no roads as such so the 4WD was challenged with soft sand making it a very bumpy journey to say the least!

We enjoyed floating down Eli Creek (a real life lazy river), exploring the giant sand dunes (measuring over 200m high), walking through the lush rainforest, driving on 75 Mile Beach – it’s a real sand highway (policed in the peak season), stopping for a dip in Lake McKenzie – a strikingly blue fresh water lake and last but not least a scenic flight in a little plane over the island. The flight was really cool as it gave us a perspective of the island as a whole. (Check out our little video via this link. You will have copy and paste the link into your browser. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s5obnkGKPwg )

The plane! Fraser Island

The plane! Fraser Island

With our pilot, Fraser Island

The plane! Fraser Island

Selfie in the plan, Fraser Island

The plane! Fraser Island

View from the plane, Fraser Island

View from the plane, Fraser Island

View from the plane, Fraser Island

Butterfly Lake, Fraser Island (view from the plane!)

View from the plane, Fraser Island

View from the plane, Fraser Island

75 Mile Beach, Fraser Island

75 Mile Beach (beach highway!), Fraser Island

75 Mile Beach, Fraser Island

The Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

The Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

The Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

The Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

The Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

The sand ‘roads’ on Fraser Island

View from the plane, Fraser Island

Forest walk, Fraser Island

View from the plane, Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

Squiggles from insects getting the sap out, Fraser Island

Fraser Island

Sand dunes, Fraser Island

As you can imagine tHere is lots of wildlife on the island (we actually saw a wild dolphin), but most importantly are the Dingoes (wild dogs). Dean was desperate to see one as everywhere you went on the island were warnings about them but unfortunately we were not that lucky!

Next stop is an overnight coach journey to Airlie Beach.

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Almost walked into this on a walk around the island, we quickly turned back!

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

On the beach, Fraser Island

Fraser Island

Dean – waiting for the sunset!

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Bike ride, Hervey Bay

We stumbled upon this little one in a bar in Fraser Island

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Sunset from the jetty, Fraser Island

Noosa is located on the Sunshine Coast of Austraila and the beaches did not disappoint, they were absolutely stunning. We spent two nights at Peppers Noosa Resort & Villas which was quite plush (we were delighted after our early start and long coach journey from Brisbane). It is centrally located in the green hills (we weren’t loving this when we had to drag our cases up them the first time!) and was at one end of bustling Hastings Street which had numerous boutiques and swish restaurants.

Whilst our trip here was short and sweet we did meet up with my Uni friend Sam and his wife Christie who are currently on their honeymoon travelling down the East Coast.

Overall you couldn’t help but fall in love with Noosa, it is such a perfect beachside town.

Noosa, Aus

Little Cove, Noosa, Aus

Little Cove, Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Hastings St, Noosa, Aus

The walk to our hotel

Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Noosa, Aus

Coach pit stop!

Noosa, Aus

Up the coast we go next to Hervey Bay.

After a bit of a hooha with our luggage being overweight at the airport (!) we arrived in Brisbane. We stayed for three nights at the Brisbane Riverview Hotel, which was lovely (the wallpaper sold it!) It was located outside of the Central Business District but as it was on the river it meant we could jump on the ferry at Bretts Wharf (like a local Brisbanite).

Nearby was a new development of riverside apartments, restaurants and shops. We had dinner here a couple of times and even managed to squeeze in a couple of pudding stops at a chocolate cafe and a Movenpick ice cream bar (when in Rome and all that!)

We spent a day exploring the centre of Brisbane and as expected it was an energetic river town – very cosmopolitan with lots of high rise buildings. We strolled through the Botanic Gardens and across the river along the Southbank. The gardens on both side were beautiful combined with a man made beach, views of the river / city on one side, a beer / ice cream stop and of course the sunshine made it the perfect day! Our last stop was more of a pit stop in the Gallery of Modern Art (it was nearby, free and air conditioned). Much like the Tate Modern at home, the classification of ‘art’ is definitely in the eye of the beholder (the architecture of the building itself was probably the most impressive thing). One artist we did think was cool was Lawrence English. He wants to capture wishes from all over the world, so we went into a little booth and uploaded our wishes to the ‘wish cloud’ where they can then ‘rain’ down on other visitors when we are not there!

We also spent a day at Australia Zoo, home of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. Dean used to love watching Steve wrestle with crocs on TV and was muttering a lot of his sayings throughout the day (crikey this and crikey that!) so it was well worth a visit. The zoo was huge and we were lucky to catch a lot of the feeding times. Best thing of all was that I got to hold a Koala bear (adorable but I did smell for the rest of the day because of it!) Dean would argue that the croc show was better!

On the coach we go to Noosa!

After our tenth flight in just under four weeks we were over the moon to land in Sydney! We had an Airbnb apartment booked in Pyrmont close to Darling Harbour. Dean’s Mum, Julie, joined us for the week and was pleased by the sunshine after a grey week in Perth!

As with any city break we crammed a lot in and started with a potter around the famous Sydney harbour which included the Harbour Bridge (locals call it the ‘coat hanger’) and the Opera House (facts we can remember include; architectures design was inspired by the segments of an orange, it’s made up of over 1m little titles and went 14 times over budget to build!)

We also hopped aboard a boat to give us a perspective from the water and purchased a two day hop on hop off bus ticket which really helped get our bearings! There are two tourist bus lines, one red (city sights) and one blue (Bondi tour). We used the bus to get to Bondi Beach and were not disappointed. The beach was busy but perfect and we understood why the Aussie surfers love it so much! We even had authentic fish and chips there.

Bondi Beach

Surfers at Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach

Rose Bay was another place we stopped at on the bus and it was well worth it. It was more peaceful than Bondi and was very shallow so you could walk a long way out into the water with views across the city including Harbour Bridge.

Rose Bay

Rose Bay

Rose Bay

Rose Bay

Rose Bay

We also jumped on the local ferry to spend a day at Manly beach, which we thought had a similar feel to Brighton. We paddled in the sea and strolled along to the smaller Shelley beach which was in Cabbage Tree Bay (what a name!)

Manly beach

Shelly beach

Shelly beach

Shelly beach

Shelly beach

Lunch!

The Boat House, Shelly beach

The Boat House, Shelly beach

The Boat House, Shelly Beach

We went on a day trip to the Blue Mountains National Park, which was brilliant. Our first stop was a charming mountain village called Leura which consisted of tree lined rows of cafes (a brownie and a hot chocolate were a must) and quaint shops. Next stop was a place called Scenic World where we crossed the 545 metres into the Jamison Valley via the Skyway (cable car) and went on the worlds steepest train (scary stuff!) We moved onto Echo Point to admire the Three Sisters peaks and watch a show about Aboriginal Culture (they actually played the didgeridoo!) Last but not least we visited Featherdale Wildlife Park where we said hello to the native Koala bears (my favourite), Kangaroos, Wombats, a Tasmanian Devil, Dingos and a Crocodile.

Jamison Valley, Blue Moutains

Jamison Valley, Blue Moutains

Three Sisters Peaks, Echo Point

After countless delicious meals out with a spectacular view of Darling Harbour and a number of well deserved ice creams throughout our stay we are done in Sydney, it’s time for us to move to Brisbane and for Julie to head to Melbourne.

Darling Harbour

Sydney Harbour

Darling Harbour

Our last stop in Cambodia, Siem Reap. Overall we found it similar to the capital, Phnom Penh, with a busy centre full of markets, restaurants, bars, motorbike tuk tuks and fruit stalls galore (they did have something different in the form of ‘pub street’ a clear favourite of Dean’s!)  Our hotel (Suorkear Boutique) was located down a county lane opposite a field of friendly Water Buffalo which was a five minute tuk tuk ride from the centre and as a result the hotel put on free rides too and from (we felt like we had our own chauffeur for a few days!)

One evening we got tickets to Phare, the Cambodian Circus. The show was set in a ‘big top’ tent where we were crammed in to watch the hour show which was full of dance, acrobatics, magic tricks and music. The show is part of a social project set up to help young Cambodians from disadvantaged backgrounds and was well with the money.

We also did a very full on day trip visiting the impressive temples of Angkor, where apparently there is no greater concentration of architectural riches / ruins anywhere in the world (it really was endless, we visited six enormous temples in one day but there are many more). The first (which only took a casual three hours to see the ‘highlights’) is the worlds largest religious building and Cambodia’s national symbol called Angkor Wat. Whilst we can imagine the National Trust deeming some of the areas ‘dangerous’ to explore (the odd wooden poll holding things together and stairs so steep you were lucky to fit a few toes on) we felt it all added to its charm. Its amazing to think that these temples were built back in the 12th century and took thirty odd years to complete. Imagine that, its literally a lifetime! You couldn’t help but be impressed with the detail that has gone into the stone work, the religious stories carved into the walls and the temples built so high in the sky it was difficult to reach them (all this in the heat that we struggled just to walk around in).

Tree roots growing over the building

Another wedding!

The guides idea!

Sunset

Cambodia to us was slightly more relaxed (less beeping ringing in your ears from the traffic!) than Vietnam (Hoi An being the exception) and it was great to see a country with such a rich history really coming into its own. May be one day we will be back (once we can face rice and noodles again that is!)

Healthy lunch

Healthy lunch

Dean holding the cases on our motorbike tuk tuk!

It took less than an hour by plane to arrive in Cambodia from Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. We barely shut our eyes and we were being prepared for landing!

Our hotel was called The Pavilion and was a perfect little boutique number a few streets behind the Mekong River which is where all the restaurants, bars and markets are situated. We negotiated with the tuk tuk drivers each evening on a price of between $2-4 to get us there (Cambodian currency is Reil but they trade mainly in American dollars). We were lucky enough to visit one of the last authentic Chinese Houses in Phnom Penh which was a fancy Asian fusion restaurant. We would thoroughly recommend it and it would certainly make a good party venue!

Pavilion Hotel, Phnom Penh

Pavilion Hotel, Phnom Penh

Pavilion Hotel, Phnom Penh

Chinese House

Chinese House

We spent a day visiting the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, (Buddhist temple literally made of silver), Wat Phnom (aka Hill Temple built around 1373AD discovered by Lady Penh) and the National Museum. The palace was beautiful and the gold sparked against the bright blue sky. It did remind us of a previous visit to the palace in Bangkok as it was built in the same style (the Thai palace is more spectacular).

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

At Wat Phnom temple it was bizarre to see the locals offering delicacies to ‘God’ which include anything from a whole cooked duck (feathers were still present), raw pork meat, beer poured into shot glasses, oh and the throwing of eggs at the statues was the norm too! We are clearly very naive to all the rituals of the Buddhist faith but we did pay $2 to free two birds, we wished them well and off they went.

We also visited the Killing Fields where we learnt about the horrors of the Khmer Rouge (communist party who took over in 1975). A man called Pol Pot was in charge and under his leadership his followers slaughtered around 17,000 innocent people. Pol Pot apparently wanted to transform Cambodia into a rural, classless society, where there were no rich, no poor and no exploitation, but his way of doing this was to cleanse (murder) and force people in the countryside to work like slaves. Of those 17,000 people the majority were held at a prison called S-21. They were tortured beyond belief for anything up to one year and then finally executed at the mass grave site Choeung Ek (just outside Phnom Penh). We can’t possibly say that this was a ‘good’ trip but it did give us an understanding of the struggles the Cambodian people have suffered. What is even more difficult to comprehend is that this only happened 35 years ago.

On a brighter note (!) we were getting so desperate for some chocolate that we found a pretty French looking shop which was our saviour!

Siem Reap is our next stop which is where Angelia Jolie is said to be directing a film for Netflix about the Pol Pot regime.

Pavilion hotel, Phnom Penh

National Museum, Phnom Penh

Sunny Cambodia

Cute shops in Phnom Penh

Meat sold on the street!

Praying to Lady Penh

Enjoying a cold glass of red vino!

Risked our lives exploring by bamboo bikes!

National Museum, Phnom Penh

Cute shop in Phnom Penh

Killing fields

Praying at Wat Penh

First things first, Nha Trang was full of Russians! We hadn’t noticed this anywhere else in Vietnam and according to Google it’s because of nearby navy ties but it’s now where they come to tan and we were in their peak holiday season!

Nha Trang itself is known as the beach capital of Vietnam surrounded by lush green mountains with a party town atmosphere! Whilst it was beautiful it is currently the wet season and we did experience a storm or two. We were lucky as we had one beach day (despite the loungers being taken by the early risers).

Rainy days

Anyway the restaurants and bar selection was vast and knowing we were getting a little tired with spring rolls, Pho (noodle soup) and rice meant we tried to avoid the cuisine altogether (yes we may seem uneducated but after two weeks enough is enough!) We managed to indulge in Sushi, Italian, Spanish and Indian! Oh and Dean even tried a Shisha from a Russian owned bar (withdrawal symptoms from the lack of the electric puffer!)

The biggest trip we did in Nha Trang was a day at the hot spring resort (I-Resort). It was amazing and we would definitely recommend it! The resort itself was a short golf buggy ride away from our hotel (Michelia, Nha Trang) and is set within 6 hectares of shaded mountains. We had a little hut for the day where we enjoyed a mineral rich mud bath (apparently the mud has certain chemical characteristics and is fab for the skin!) after this we moved onto a herbal bath followed by a massage each! Lunch was included and we spent the rest of the day lounging around the hot springs. This is what happiness is made of!!

Our hut at I-Resort (loved the tiles!)

The mud bath!

Even us tubbies floated in the mud!

Hot spring view

Herbal bath

Over and out for now, Cambodia here we come!