All who knows me know that I love going on the internet looking for information and investigating :) So by reguest here is some more information about what happened to the Great Barrier Reef after the Chinese coal ship crashed right into it in the beginning of April. I hadn't even heard about this until my brother mentioned it.

This is the story:
On April 3rd a Chinese oil carrier run aground leaking oil on the GBR. The ship ran aground on Douglas Shoals, a protected part of the reef were shipping is restricted. The vessel hit the reef at full speed, 15 km outside the designated shipping lane.

The 230-metre bulk carrier was carrying about 65,000 tonnes of coal to China and ran aground within hours of leaving the Queensland port of Gladstone.

When the ship first crashed there was a big concerne that the ship would break into parts and cause a major oil spill causing environmental damage to the world's largest coral reef, listed as a World Heritage site for its environmental value.

This is the result:
The oil spill ended up being minimal only about four tonnes leaking out (it was carrying 975 tonnes) but the ship left a 3 km scar up to 250 metres wide on the reef. Experts said the damage to the reef and the marine life will take at least 20 years to recover. The biggest threat slowing down the recovery of the reef is the toxic anti-fouling paint from the ship used to prevent barnacles and other marine organisms from attaching to the hulls of ships. The paint was scraped off the ship as it ran across the reef.

The paint is killing corals and it needs to be removed. Douglas Shoal has a strong tidal current, so divers could only ever work underwater for quite limited periods a day, so it will become quite an inefficient and very expensive operation. This process can't begin until the chemistry of the paint is determined. Samples have been sent to laboratory and hopefully scientists will have an answer by mid-June.

The captain, is charged with liability for a vessel causing damage in a marine park, an offence carrying a maximum fine of 55,000 AUD (~360 000 SEK). The man in charge of the vessel when it hit the reef, faces a maximum three years' imprisonment and a fine of 220,000 AUD (~1.5  million SEK).

The preliminary transport report says the crew decided to take a short cut but failed to correct course as planned. By the time they realised they were in a dangerous area it was too late to turn and they ran into Douglas Shoal. The question about forcing freight ships to hire a local pilot familiar with the area is once again up to date.

Idiots, that's all I can say!

I know, I've been bad. I just have been very busy since I got back to Sweden and without Internet at home updating the blog as not been prioritised I'm afraid. I do apologize.

Not really a proper update now either but I just thought I will share the link to the photos from my holiday in Queensland with you since I’ve uploaded them to my web album at Picasa.

---

Queensland Holiday (2009-10-01 to 2009-10-21)

And that goes for this holiday too. But it's not quite over yet. We just arrived in Byron Bay south of Brisbane and we plan on staying the last couple of days here before we depart from Brisbane back to Melbourne on Wednesday. The weather is a disappointment today. We are used to 30 degrees and sun and today's weather is about 24 degrees, cloudy and with risk of showers :( To add to our disappointment both Maria and I have managed to catch a nasty cold. Stuffy nose, headache, fever and soar throat is not something that enlightens your holiday, trust me.

Enough complaining, my update has to be short as always since it's rather expensive at the Internet cafe's (especially in Noosa where you had to pay $8 an hour...which me and Maria though was outrageous). So what's been going on since last time...well we sailed in Whitsundays which was awesome and we visited the most gorgeous beach I've ever seen, the Whitehaven Beach. I can totally recommend going sailing in Whitsundays, we had a great time and met lots of cool people. We ended up staying in Airlie Beach another night once we got ashore again and drove south towards Town of 1770 on the Wednesday.

Agnes Water and 1770 are very small but nice towns but we ended up not staying at all. The plan was to stay and take surfing lessons since they are only $17 but since we both started to get sick we decided not to and continued our trip south to Bundaberg instead. Stopped in for a short visit at the distillery were they make the famous Bundaberg Rum and then continued south. We spend the day on Friday in Noosa doing absolutely nothing which was nice. Noosa is a very posh place but really nice. Very expensive though. Found a great camp site to stay the night at right by a lake and got of to an early start yesterday visiting a big market in Eumundi (really nice and worth a visit if you have the oppportunity, over 500 stalls and it's held on Wednesdays and Saturdays). After the market visit we spent the rest of the day yesterday at Australian Zoo (the crocodile hunter's zoo). A really nice experience and we got to pat both koalas and kangaroos.  And now we are here, in Byron Bay.

That's the very short and somewhat boring update people (sorry about that). I will give a better travel review once I have more time (probably once I'm home in Sweden again) and I will upload pictures as well. But until then here is a sneak peak :P

Rum tasting at Bundaberg Rum Distillery

Super short update. Currently in Airlie Beach and heading out on a two days, two nights sailing trip in the Whitsundays Islands just after lunch. I can think of worse ways to spend my birthday on. It's truly beautiful here with azur blue water and sunny. Airlie Beach is what I thought Cairns would be. Very touristy though with a lot of backpackers but still nice for a short period of time. Warm weather, beautiful views and pubs to party at, what else do you need :) Starting to get a little bit of a tan too and hopefully it will be even better after the sailing. The sun is very strong though and sunscreen is used A LOT....imagine using SPF 30+ back home in Sweden.

Since last time we picked up our Jucy campervan and have been driving south visiting Townsville and Magnetic Island (not very impressive) among other places on the way down. It's a great way to travel, we can go were ever we want whenever we want which is great. We try to combine nightly stays at camp sites with nights at rest stops (were camping over night is allowed and above all free). The only downside to the holiday so far is that it's rather expensive to travel in Australia but other than that I have no complains!

Airlie Beach is only about 630 km from Cairns so we still have a long way to go (about 1100 km I would guess) and we continue our journey on Tuesday when we get back from the sailing. Not sure if we'll end up visiting Fraser Island but Noosa, Town of 1770 (said to have the cheapest surfing lessons in Australia), Brisbane and Byron Bay are on the schedule. We leave the campervan in Brisbane on the 21st and head back to Melbourne the same day.

That's all for now folks. Take care!

Finally, it's here....my update that is. You have been waiting haven't you?!

Don't have that much time so I'll try to keep it short. Sitting at a really nice backpackers in Yungaburra about 80 km west of Cairns. My fifth day of travelling is almost at an end. All is good and Maria and I are having a great time so far.

We begun our journey on Thursday morning flying up to Cairns. It was quite a chock stepping out of the plan into the heat (about 29 degrees)...but a nice chock ;) We got our luggage and caught a shuttle bus that took us right to our hostel. Changed our clothes, went out and got some lunch and then we explored Cairns a little bit. Not much to explore though. We were both a little disappointed about the fact that the city didn't even have a beach close by (you have to catch a bus to get to the nice beaches). They do have a lagoon though wich basically is a public pool by the water :P Anyway, we went to the tourist information center to get some more information about what to see and do both in Cairns and for the rest of the trip. With lots of broscures we went for a cold beer and decided to go on an overnight tour to the Great Barrier Reef. We chose the company Rum Runner which I truly can recommend, it was a great experience.

The reef trip was Saturday-Sunday so we had to find something to do for the Friday. We soon realised that we didn't want to spend it in Cairns so we rented bikes and went for a nice bike ride to Crystal Cascades, a secluded freshwater swimming hole, hidden in a tropical rainforest. A series of small waterfalls flow into large pools surrounded by boulders, just around 20-25 km from Cairns I would guess. A nice day indeed but my butt was sore after that :P We had an early night since we had to be at the pier to go on the reef tour at 7 am.

The reef tour was truly an amazing experience, don't really have time to explain it in detail now but I believe it will be one of the absolute highlights of the trip. Since the Rum Runner is a sailboat that carries a maximum of 16 people it is a nice small group which means the water isn't crowded when you're snorkelling/diving, you get to know the people and have a great time. The food was great, you got a lot of time in the water at a couple of different locations of the reef, the crew was wonderful and the reef.....the reef was absolutely AWESOME! We hired an underwater camera so we took lots of pictures (will show you later) which was fun. Saw beautiful fishes, corals, turtles and sharks.

But enough about that, I'm running out of time here. We got back to Cairns Sunday arvo and picked up the rental car that we booked before the reef trip and then we headed up north towards Cape Tribulation, the goal of the day being Port Douglas were we stayed at another nice hostel, Dougies.

We got of to an ealy start today driving from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation were we went for a walk in the rainforest (which is very dry at the moment since it's just before the wet season). It was still nice though and before leaving we went for a boat tour on the creek were we spotted some crocs. Very cool!! After these adventures the trip continued to Yungaburra were we're right now. We'll spend the day tomorrow driving around on the Tablelands looking at some nice waterfalls among other things before we head back to Cairns tomorrow arvo.

We decided to drive the distance down to Brisbane and we've booked a campervan that we'll be picking up in Cairns tomorrow. The story about the decision to drive is long and I don't have to tell you about it either right now. But from tomorrow our mean of transportation will be a Jucy campervan and I'll think the trip will be great doing it that way (driving that is instead of taking the Greyhound bus). It will be more flexible, we can see and do whatever we want and we can sleep in the car (= don't have to pay for accomodation unless we have to stay at camp sites). :)

That's all for now folks, only 3 minutes left on my internet time. But at least you know that we are alive and well, starting to get a little tanned or should I say pink?! Hopefully I'll have a little bit of a tan to show of before I get home :P

P.S Sorry about all my spelling mistakes...no time for proofreading

---

ACCOMODATION
Cairns
Dreamtime Travellers Rest $24 pp

Port Douglas
Dougies Backpackers Resort $25 pp

Yungaburra
On the Wallaby Backpackers Lounge $24 pp

Our first two nights of accomodation in Cairns are now booked - two beds in a Triple Share room for $24 per person. According to forums that we've read it's suppose to be a nice hostel. A bit of a walk into the "fun part" of the city (only about 10 min) but we don't mind walking! Click on the picture above to go to their website.

 

Organised as I am of course I made a packing list for my upcoming trip. Please help me and remind me if I forgot something or if there might be things you think I really don't need on it. And yes it is written in both Swedish and English to make everyone happy :)

VIKTIGT/ IMPORTANT

• Pass (+kopia på pass)/ Passport (+ copy of passport)
• Kontokort/ ATM/credit card
• Körkort (svenskt+internationellt)/ Driving license+International driving permit
• Försäkringshandlingar/ Insurance papers
• Hänglås/ Padlocks (for bag and lockers at hostels)
• Mobil+laddare/ Mobile phone+charger
• Biljetter/ Tickets
• Adapter/ Plug adapters
• Kamera m tbh (+laddare, xtr minneskort, xtr batteri)/ Camera (+charger, xtra memory card, xtra battery)
• Bankdosa/ Banking device
• Ev portabel hårddisk/ Portable hard drive (maybe)
• Reseplånbok/ Travel organiser

KLÄDER/ CLOTHES

• Bikini
• Linnen/ Singlets
• Shorts
• Kjolar/Skirts
• Underkläder+BH/ Undies+Bras
• Strumpor/Socks
• Byxor/ Pants
• Varm tröja/ Jumper
• Gore Tex Jacka/ Gore Tex jacket
• Keps/ Cap
• Sarong
• Tunn långärmad tröja/ Long sleeve shirt
• Mysbyxor/ Trackies
• Sjal/ Scarf
• Kofta/ Cardigan

SKOR/ SHOES

• Gympadojjor/ Trainers
• Flip flops/ Thongs
• Sandaler/ Sandals (for walking)
• "Finskor" (för utekvällar)/ Dress shoes for nights out

NECCESÄR/ TOILETRY BAG

• Solkräm/ Sunblock
• Aloe Vera kräm/ Aloe Vera cream
• Plåster/ Plasters
• Compeed/ Compeed blister plaster
• Myggmedel/ Mosquito Repellent
• Våtservetter/ Wet wipes
• Handdesinfiktion/ Hand sanitizer
• Schampo+balsam+tvål/ Shampoo+conditioner+body wash
• Hårborste/ Hairbrush
• Alvedon/ Pain killers
• Ev Mediciner eller P-piller/ any medicines or contraceptive pill
• Smink/ Make-up
• Tandborste/ Tooth brush
• Tandkräm/ Tooth paste
• Parfym/ Perfume
• Deo/ Deodorant
• Rakhyvel/ Razor
• Glasögon/ Glasses
• Linser/ Contact lenses
• Nagelfil/ Nail file
• Manikyrset/ Manicure set
• Pincett/ Tweezers
• Tamponger+trosskydd/ Tampons+sanitary towels

ÖVRIGT/ MISCELLANEOUS

• Ryggsäck för dagsturer/ Daypack
• Handduk/ Towel
• Guidebok/ Guide book
• Mp3 spelare +laddare/ MP3 player+charger
• Tvättmedel/ Laundry detergent
• Öronproppar/ Ear plugs
• Ögonmask/ Sleep mask
• Dagbok/ Journal
• Kortlek+spel/ Pack of cards+travel games
• Penna+block/ Pen/notebook
• Bok/ Book
• Solglasögon/ Sunnies
• Plattång/ Hair straightner
• Adresslista/ List of addresses (though I'm not very good at sending post cards)
• Klädlina/ Travel washing line (maybe)
• Toapapper/ Toilet paper
• Ficklampa/Torch
• Sykit/ Sewing kit
• Handväska/Hand bag

---

Only 8 days until my holiday....

It's begun, the planning of mine and Maria's October holiday that is. I'm very excited and I can't wait for you to come down here, Maria :) We have just began talking about what we want to do. Queensland is our destination and it looks like we'll be flying up to Cairns and then work our way down along the coast towards Brisbane, a distance of just over 1700 km. We'll fly back to Melbourne from Brisbane and spend a couple of days in Melbourne. We only have just over three weeks to do all this, before we head up to Thailand and Bangkok, so we need to prioritise. Of course I'm interested in all kinds of tips regarding places to see, things to do, accomodation and so on. It's a popular route so there should be plenty of tips on do's and don'ts from you guys out there.:) I want my holiday to contain experiences of beautiful sceneries as well as lazy days in the sun and roaring nightlife.

This is what my list of choices has to offer so far:

1. Cairns
2. Great Barrier Reef - diving or snorkling, would love to take a diving certificate
3. Daintree National Park, Cape Tribulation - tropical rainforest just a couple of hours north of Cairns
4. Palm Cove
5. Townsville & Magnetic Island
   
6. Airlie Beach
7. Whitsundays
8. Whitehaven Beach - a over seven kilometres long beach with crystal clear aqua waters and pristine silica sand on Whitsunday Island
   
9. Hamilton Island - part of the Whitsundays
   
10. Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world, World Heritage listed by UNESCO
    
11. Great Sandy National Park (Cooloola)
12. Maroochydore (middle of the Sunshine Coast, 98 km from Brisbane)
13. Brisbane
14. Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast)