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2023 Travelling trip
  • Amy Firth
  • Thomas Baxter

2023 Travelling trip

After years of conversations, saving and planning, we set off on our adventure on NYE 2022 and landed in Bangkok ready for 5 and a half months of adventure. Read more
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  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Fraser Island Eli Creek & Shipwreck

    April 20, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    Today was another early start with a 7am breakfast. We woke in our lovely private glamping pod where we were woken with the aromas of bacon cooking! We filled up with what was basically a full English before setting off on an 8am adventure! First stop was eli creek. We went in the lead car where we had to ensure more of Doug's unique personality and his music! The weather wasn't the best but we didn't let this stop us from Tubing down the creek... Not quite the same as in laos but fun all the same. The water felt amazing and so fresh which I would never have known what that felt like before to be honest! After this we went to the shipwreck where we learned how the Mehara?? Ship was on the way to Japan when it came loose and was shipwrecked on the island. The meaning of the name actually means Island so it's almost like the shop knew where it wanted to be. The ship was used for many years for parties etc as it still had the floors and chandeliers. People unfortunately started to steal from the ship for their own houses so a policeman was employed to guard the ship. Nowadays, rusty, metal remains are left and you are forbidden to touch the ship.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Fraser Island Champagne Pools

    April 20, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

    We headed to a lunch spot where we had wraps. As always, we found ourselves at the back of the buffet queue, resulting in half a falafel each whilst the young guns had 2 each! After lunch we headed to the champagne Pools. These are basically holes in the sand, surrounded by rocks. When the high tide's waves crash over, they fills the pools and the rocks at the bottom provide a plug. This felt much colder than Eli Creek and definetly tasted saltier. Earlier in the day, we'd stopped at a small spring you can see where we both tried some of the fresh water which we gave the seal of approval to! In the pools, it was full of fish, both big and small which we got to see thanks to Kevin and his goggles! Leaving here was my first stint of driving which began with some rocky soft sand. It was harder than I imagined and was worried I would crash but we survived! We stopped to see the pinnacles and to listen to the bushala story on how rainbow beach got it's name before Tom had another go at driving and we headed back to camp. Thai green curry for dinner and a few attempts at playing the 'didgeroo' which isn't actually the traditional name. We enjoyed an evening drinking and chatting to friends made on the tour and we're even the last ones standing!! (even though we're the oldest)Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Fraser Island > Noosa

    April 21, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    From here we went to enjoy our lunch at Central station before going to our final destination which was a built up areas with a shop and even a tennis court which felt pretty weird on a remote Island! I had my final stint on sand driving from here onto the ferry which I enjoyed and felt more relaxed this time. Tom did the final bit of driving to rainbow beach and back to Noosa which felt long but was brightened up with sightings of multiple kangaroos! Once back in Noosa, the over budget studio accommodation was soon forgotten about by the happiness of how nice it was! We went for an average pizza before heading to the main town to meet up with Shane and Sarah. A good night's sleep was then due!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Fraser Island Lake McKenzie

    April 21, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Today was another early rise with a 7am breakfast of pancakes. We set off at 7.45am and we're back in a car with most of the originals from black beauty. Today's drive was inland and a very bumpy one indeed! We learned throughout the day that our car had one thing after another wrong with it, which made me happier with my stall the day before! We went to lake mckenzie and arrived before any other tours, which made the early morning worth it. It was absolutely stunning with the clearest of waters! The lake is made up entirely of rain water. Again, it felt so refreshing and Tom and Kevin both agreed it tasted good! We had a go at paddle boarding, no surprise that Tom was much better at this than me.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Noosa Coastal Walk Lunch Spot

    April 22, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    Today we had a well needed lie in and a go slow morning with Tom going to woollies to pick up some bits for breakfast and lunch. We enjoyed breakfast on our balcony before setting off to get the bus into town. At the weekend they run free bused to reduce the amount of traffic in popular areas! We set off on the coastal walk and along the way enjoyed several stops of surf watching and had a lunch stop whilst watching and listing to the 'dumper' waves.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Noosa Fairy Pools

    April 22, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    After lunch, we continued on the walk along to the fairy Pools which I was looking forward to star fishing in. Unfortunately, there was a downpour just as we got there and the sea was pretty rough so we decided this was an insta vs reality situation and continued on to hell's gates. The wind here was wild! Due to our late start we decided to walk back along the same path rather than continue the coastal walk which meant more surf viewing! We went into a fancy version of a working men's club for some drinks which had all sorts of sport, betting and the pokies. Once we'd worked up an appetite, we enjoyed our first Betty's burgers before heading back on the free bus and ending the night with a bottle of wine from the biggest bottle shop we've been in yet!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Noosa > Agnes Waters

    April 23, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    Today we got back on the road again travelling up the east coast. We got on the bus at 11.50am and within half an hour there was a food stop (we'd only just had breakfast). We continued the journey going along the same roads to rainbow beach as we'd driven on twice already for our K'gari trip. Here, the German guy from the trip got on and we had a chat to him at the second food stop. We arrived in Agnes Waters at 8pm and our lovely host Joanne had come to pick us up. She drove us around the town to show us the main areas and then we settled into our first private room air bnb for the night.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Captain Cook's Lookout

    April 24, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    Our whole stay in Agnes Waters was lovely! Such a small town with only 2000 people living there and not much there at all, but a beautiful place all the same. We hired bicycles and cycled to Seventeen Seventy which highlighted that I'm not cut out to be a cyclist! Bring back those flat Hoi An roads. In the evening, we picked up some chicken (huge of course) and lamb and had a bbq at Joanne's which was delicious and such a lovely evening!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Agnes Waters Anzac Day

    April 25, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    This was the best check out day/bus wait we've had. We had a long day to fill with our bus being at 9. 30pm but after another peaceful sleep, we went to join the locals to watch the anzac parade, which turned out to not be a parade but a flyover. It took us both by surprise as it was so low and loud and flew directly above our heads. Had we known, we'd have got the camera out! We went on a walk which Joanne had directed us to and then spent some time chatting with Joanne on her porch. We were able to use the room until 3pm and Joanne let us keep our bags in her house until our bus! We went to the local tavern for some anzac drinks and food and felt very content at how lovely our day had been.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Airlie Beach

    April 26, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    We arrived in Airlie Beach at 7am, where our host met us to take our luggage. He showed us around the town and dropped us at a cafe to get some breakfast. We had a walk along the beach, the lagoon and to the port. Once checked in, we ended up having a nap before getting to the bus into town. We browsed the many shops and had a let down meal at hog's breath.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Skydive

    April 27, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    What a way to start a Thursday morning! We rose at 5am, no messages made us think all was going ahead (much to Tom's disappointed!) We made our way to the bus stop and just as we got there... A message! To let us know the skydive was postponed until 7am (cue the anxiety of missing the boat trip). We were picked up at 7am and we're slightly disappointed as we were told our skydive would be an inland landing. Airlie Beach is popular due to being the only coastal dive. We watched the safety video, met our tandem partners (Zach and Sergio), got suited up and off we went in the plane! There was no debate, I was up first!

    We both loved the insane experience (apart from the extreme dry mouth we got)!    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Whitsundays boat tour day 1

    April 27, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    Luckily, our boat trip went ahead! We met at the port where we made our first impressions on our fellow passengers. We were met by Ellie, who was going to be our hosty for the next few days. We put our shoes in a big bag and we boarded our boat, powerplay and met the captain Chris, who ran over some boat rules before we made our way to our cabin. We were joined by the young geordie couple in our room and unfortunately they beat us to the best bed, little did we know how bad this would be! First nights tea was fish, salad, veg and rainbow mash which was delicious! We were both wiped out from our busy so attempted an early night. The attempt failed! The broken air con, pitch dark room and being next to the ceiling made me extremely claustrophobic and Tom and I made our way out to the deck for some air and stayed there all night.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Whitehaven Beach

    April 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    Whitehaven Beach felt like an insta vs reality moment at first! We got the small boat across and the heavens opened up! This, along with the fact I'd just pulled an all nighter was not putting me in the highest of spirits, but eventually we all saw the funny side and still tried to get the Viewpoint photos! Once we arrived at the beach, the rain had gone and once we were suited up in our stinger suits, we waded through the clear blue water and found a stingray! We later found out that the sand is so white because it is 98% salica which is why the sand feels cool however hot it gets and is the best natural exfoliant and can be used to clean jewellery! If you get caught trying to steal the sand, you have to pay a whopping 75 thousand dollar fine!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Whitsundays Day 2

    April 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    In the evening, we moored up close to Hook Island which had views of a beautiful sunset! We had our first 'showers' which was an experience in the tiny toilet room where the handle came off the sink for a shower. Chris showed us the chart of our trip which showed where we had been and Tom and I were the classroom nerds answering questions (almost) correctly. He told us information about the islands around whitsundays and some fascinating facts about sea life and fish! We enjoyed a good dinner again, tonight with steaks (cooked to our liking), sausages and Greek salad and enjoyed another evening of entertainment from Ethan!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Whitsundays Day 3

    April 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Well what a different night's sleep we had. We woke at 7am for breakfast and gave each other a fist pump at a successful full night's sleep, if only the first night had been like that! After our fruit and scrambled eggs, Chris the captain said we had 2 hours until departure so us 2 and the geordie couple were the only ones who popped on our stinger suits and hopped into the sea. We attempted to share the paddleboard but after 3 failed attempts of falling in a near miss of a head bang we gave it up and decided to take turns. Tom worked on his paddleboard skills first whilst I floated and swam around, then I had a go. It was much harder than I thought but finally got the hang of it (on my knees) once Chloe and Tom explained how I need to swap sides each time I paddle. I did eventually make it to standing, but didn't go far! Once back on the boat, Ethan was put to shame by how many beers he had left so dished out the beers. Surprisingly only the northerners opted for the 9am beers giving absolute Brits abroad vibes to the fellow foreign passengers. We had a glorious sale back where Neil picked us up from the port along with Jeni, the best air bnb hosts!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Airlie > Townsville > Magnetic Island

    April 30, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We started the day with more kindness from our air bnb host Neil who offered to keep our luggage in his car, drop us into Airlie and meet us at the bus stop with our bags later on. When we got into Airlie I spotted 2 faces we knew, Matthew and Robyn who we met back on the slow boat in Laos! It was good to catch up with them and then we bumped into our friends off the boat, which was good to have a farewell chat with them! The bus was an easy breezy 4 hours which brought us to Townsville. We then had to wait an hour for our ferry crossing to Magnetic Island where we had a nice sunset.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Magnetic Island

    April 30, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    We arrived on the island when it had already gone dark and walked to our accommodation which turned out to be slightly disappointing! We quickly went to the shop round the corner but with 2 minutes and not a great selection ended up leaving and walking back to the ferry port to the IGA supermarket. En route, we bumped into the couple from Derry who'd been on our fraser island tour with us. Our first night cooking introduced us to the balinese hut possoms who continued to visit us here on a nightly basis, bringing more possoms each night!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Horseshoe Bay Creek

    May 1, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today was our first full day on Maggie and we decided to hire a 'barbie car' which set us back 130 dollars for a topless car which had an interior which reminded me of my old micra, and had the steering stiffness of it too! After our lavish salmon we treat ourselves to in the hut, we managed to drive around the whole island in not much time at all, and after failing to find a lagoon, headed to the Horseshoe Bay Creek. We've both learnt what a creek is this trip and have seen many since! We went to Picnic Bay jetty for sunset where Tom enjoyed watching the fishermen more than the sunset and we witnessed Nico catch a whopper! Tom had been eyeing up the brewery every time we drove past so we decided to go there for a post sunset drink as everything about it reminded us of magic rock brewery (unfortunately the beer did not).Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Arcadia Rock Wallabies & Hawking's Point

    May 1, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I had my first stint of driving and took us to the arcadia spot where we were instantly treat to rock wallabies! Some people were feeding them pellets, carrots and sweet potato. We saw a small baby one but unfortunately no joeys in the pouch! They looked like a mix of many animals and were smaller than I expected. They hopped like kangaroos but their faces were rather rodent like and tiny arms.

    From here, we drove to the Hawking's Point Lookout walking track which was a hot and sweaty one! At the top, we were rewarded with 360 degree views from the south to north and Rocky, Nelly and Geoffrey Bay.    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Forts Walk > Horseshoe Bay

    May 2, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we enjoyed a leisurely morning in the hammocks and Tom got ahead of tea prep in order to avoid the nightly possoms, whilst I had a field day with open access to the laundry room!

    After a quick coffee stop at Scallywag's, we spent 9 dollars 60 on daily ride passes for the bus and headed to Forts Junction for a 2hr walk to the forts and back. This is where koalas can be found and we saw a grand total of... 1!!

    Although the koala sighting was disappointing, the views and buildings from the war made up for it. On the way back, Tom decided to change the short walk to one with some of his famous 'shortcuts' which led us to a private Bay, followed by a lot of steps which in the 29 degree heat and no food, meant we were starting to flag, (this also led our walk to be more than 2 hours!)

    Thankfully, we came to a creek, saw 2 big eagles with brown wings and civilisation, just in time for happy hour schooners and chicken wings. One thing we've noticed this trip, is just how big the chickens are in Australia!

     We quickly departed the bar for our bus, which luckily stopped for us as we didn't quite make it to the bus stop and headed to the bottle shop for wine and made our way back to the possom hut for dinner (which actually had no possoms this evening!)    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Magnetic Island > Cairns

    May 3, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    The day came for the final greyhound bus!! We had to check out at 10am, but our bus wasn't until 5p from Townsville, so after a debate about how to spend the day, Tom was convinced Townsville would be the better way to pass the time.

    We got the ferry across, and Townsville felt even hotter than Maggie Island! The boardwalk was closed and most of the bars were closed until 5pm...

    Luckily, we did find a brewery which had aircon, so we took shelter in here to pass the time and Tom had too many beers considering we had a 5 hr bus ride to go still (this caught up with him).

    We had the same driver who'd dropped us in Townsville and life was made when he remembered us. Sadly, our final journey we didn't have the elite seats at the front, and Tom had to do the walk of shame to the hot box toilet after his beers!

    We arrived in Cairns just before 11pm and walked to the youth hostel, which replicated a prison room! A quick walk to the bottle shop and to bed, ready for the road trip the next day.    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Mossman Gorge

    May 4, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    This morning Tom headed to pick up the car and began the day by getting wound up by the woman who worked there. We quickly checked out of Cairns and decided to get straight on the road and head to Palm Cove.

    We indulged in a 61 dollar breakfast and had a short walk along the beach, with the palm trees along the stretch of it (hence the name).

    We continued up to Mossman Gorge where we were surpsied to have to pay for a shuttle to get the gorge. There were plenty of signs highlighting how dangerous it would be to swim in the river so decided not to take our swimmers out with us, but we continued to pass several sodden people and low and behold the river was full of people! We walked the circuit loop through the rainforest which felt humid, so the couple of fresh water splash stops were extremely welcome! This is the most southern point of daintree Rainforest, filled with some very large trees! After our walk, we checked into our home for the next couple of nights in Port Douglas and continued the indulgence with a pizza out!    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Daintree Rainforest

    May 5, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Today we set off with our podcasts ready on a road trip up north to Cape Tribulation. We had to cross the daintree River on a ferry crossing which cost 36 dollars for a 2 minute journey! At Cape Tribulation, you can see where the oldest rainforest in the world meets the Reef! Unfortunately, the day was pretty overcast which made our photos lack in quality which seemed to be a theme during our time in Australia! We stopped at many lookouts coming back down the rainforest, but sadly no sightings of cassowaries or (thankfully) crocs! We had a refreshing ice cream stop with ice cream made using fruits from the rainforest.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Barron Falls > Cairns

    May 6, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Today we were travelling back to Cairns from Port Douglas. Our original plan was to do the scenic railway from Cairns to Kuranda, but as funds were low, we decided to drive to the Baron Falls ourselves. This was a stunning view of the falls with 2 different viewpoints. Apparently, during the wet season, you see a different view with the water creating a cloud like view. We drove back to Cairns and dropped the car off. We stopped off at a bar/restaurant/hotel/cafe/pokies on the way back and lost another 10 dollars to the very popular pokies. One man had won 7000 dollars but the pokies just weren't meant to be for us! We went to a burger place for tea which was a stonking 76 dollars for a burger, salad, 2 fries, a beer and a coke. After spending nearly a days budget on dinner, we headed back to our room for a few hours sleep before our first flight in what felt like ages!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip

    Mindil Beach Market

    May 7, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Today we had an early morning rise with a 6am flight from Cairns to Darwin. We flew with jetstar and after hearing some negative reviews, were lucky that everything went to plan. After having high hopes for the day, reality struck with an early check in making it all too easy to go to sleep. With the early afternoon gone, we headed to the Mindil beach markets which had a variety of food. We got roti wraps and I finally had the laos mini pancakes! We watched the most beautiful sunset on the beach which filled the blue with amazing colours! On our way out we watched Mick from Mick's whips do an interesting whip show combined with interesting music, giving me Britain's got talent vibes! To finish the night, we went to the Irish bar, 'Shenanigans' for some drinks and saw a few drunk people escorted out, something we haven't witnessed for a long time!Read more

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