High up in the gums
Kookaburra laughs madly,
Magpie's notes ring clear.
Well, it's been a couple of weeks of culture shock but we've finally become accustomed (or is that enured?) to hearing the Australian accent, to cycling on the left side of the road and to having more than two sets of clothing to wear.
Relaxing at my mother's house in Brisbane's bayside suburbs, we were awoken early every morning by an avian chorus – magpies, butcher birds, kookaburras, rainbow lorikeets, scrub turkeys and top knot pigeons all vying for her attention and for food.
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| Kookaburra on mum's front patio |
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| Hungry magpie and butcher birds |
At night randy koalas grunt from the tree tops and flying foxes chatter and screech in the trees out back. A couple of large blue tongue lizards roam the back yard. And there's a redback on the toilet seat. Only joking - the redbacks are in the garage.
It's nice to see wild life again.
Our first task once we arrived (after sleeping off the long flight) was to find a replacement bike for Neil. Unfortunately we had to leave Neil's bike behind in Istanbul. It was either that or pay €1000 excess baggage – we flew with Emirates and had to include the bikes in our 30kg luggage allowance. Despite bringing barely any clothing back with us, the bikes (boxed), panniers, camping gear and a few souvenirs had us weighing in at nearly 40kg each, sans carry-on.
At €50 per kilo for excess baggage, we decided it was easier (and cheaper) to replace one bike than our camping gear. So Neil's bike, having had the most problems along the way, lost out. We stripped off the Tubus and Old Man Mountain racks and the Brooks saddle before leaving the bike in a box with a sign 'free to good home'. Hopefully somewhere in Istanbul, someone is now enjoying riding a free mountain bike they found near the airport.
As luck would have it, the second bike shop we visited, on Middle Street in Cleveland (can't remember the name but it was something like RT's Bikes), had a second hand Trek 520 touring bike for sale – one of the models we had been thinking of upgrading to. Neil snaffled that quick smart. We also got plenty of good advice on where to ride and where to avoid (very handy as Brisbane and Australia in general does not seem to have a good reputation for driver tolerance of cyclists – a couple of cyclist deaths in the first week we were back made us more cautious than usual on the roads).
After a couple of rides around Wellington Point, Cleveland Point and Victoria Point, I was keen to go further afield – to North Stradbroke Island. Or Straddie, as the locals call it. A large island in Moreton Bay, North Stradbroke Island has kilometres of sandy surf beaches - Main Beach on the eastern side is 32km long. After Fraser Island, it is actually the second largest sand island in the world. Point Lookout, on the northeastern corner, is at this time of year a popular place to watch for migrating whales. I hadn't been there since my university days more than 25 years ago and figured it was time to revisit.
We waited for my sister and her family to join us from Sydney, the kids on school holidays. Then we all trooped over one fine Saturday on the water taxi, to join more family already camped at Adder Rock near Point Lookout. They had already seen whales and dolphins off the beach near Adder Rock but we weren't to have the same fortune.
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| On the water taxi - Neil's bike's first proper outing |
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| Neil, not happy at being on the other side of the camera |
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| Keen to arrive at Straddie |
The road from Dunwich (there is only one road) where the water taxi terminates is fairly smooth with a hard shoulder, that we used as a cycle lane, most of the way to Point Lookout. Through bush all the way, it undulates diagonally across the island for close to 20km. A lot of the bush has been regenerated after sand mining. The majority of cars passing us were four wheel drives, festooned with multiple fishing rods, kayaks, surf skis and surf boards. It is possible to drive along Main Beach by four wheel drive, after purchasing a permit. In the centre of the island is Blue Lake National Park, which we didn't visit this time.
However, we did enjoy a lovely refreshing swim in the surf under the warm sun (our previous sea swim was in Donegal last October which was hypothermia inducing rather than refreshing). And had some fun on the sand dunes at Cylinder Beach. Did I mention the Gelati van that comes around to the campsites? Mmmmm.
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| Toby digging in the sand while Neil and Ethan wait for a wave |
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| Ethan and Sam catching a wave, Toby still digging |
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| Lisha chilling out, Home Beach |
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| Sam surfing the sand at Cylinder Beach |
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| Riley, speed demon |
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| Great view from the top |
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| It's not as easy as it looks on the coke ads |
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| Neil and Riley on the walk back to Cylinder Beach |
We'll be back for a longer trip another time, I think.
Meanwhile, we have now decamped to Wagga Wagga via Sydney where we are catching up with Neil's family. And unfortunately the time has come to stop lazing in the sunshine and start heading back to the real world – to the rat race, to start looking for work. Where we will be in several weeks time is anybody's guess...
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words - Gabby, photos - mostly Neil
