My first trip across the Equator - "The Real Thing - GBR"

(...Contd. from "Sydney Stories 2")

Okay, the sudden momentum that had propelled me through the first 4 installments of my "tripologue", had disappeared just as suddenly. That, in itself, is not very surprising as I am quite prone to such bursts of activity followed by a period of total inactivity.

What is surprising, though, is that it's happened at a point, I had been practically rushing to reach - as much during my trip, as while writing about it!
Anyways, now that I am back at it - there's no stopping now. Even breathing can wait. :) :)
So - straight to the chase - we're at Cairns - our gateway to the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!!! It was a short flight from Sydney, and we reached the Cairns airport around 7 in the evening. We were booked at the Travellers' Oasis Backpackers Inn and they would pick us up, we just had to call once we'd arrived. The call was answered by a cheery voice on the other side, and once the initial hurdle of spelling out my name was crossed, we were promised a vehicle in the next 10 min. Soon enough, a van pulled in and a cheerful girl hopped out, looking for "Muleenee" :)
Husband in tow, "Muleenee" couldn't get in fast enough - The Adventure had begun!!! My heart was already beating faster, I couldn't wait for the next day! Dreams of a distant childhood, all those years of gaping open mouthed at NGC shows - OMG, it was too much to even think that I was actually on the verge of really being there! Almost hyperventilating, we reached Travellers' Oasis, to be greeted by John - such an affable person, that you're instantly convinced that you're in good hands. Check-in was quick and efficient, and we set about planning the next day. John sat with us through it all, and kept pulling happy surprises at regular intervals, with his great suggestions and some really cool deals! By the end of the half hour, we were booked with "Passions of Paradise" for a day of snorkelling at the reef (OMG! OMG! OMG!), and had a handful of discount vouchers at a bunch of places to eat and drink in Cairns.
All that was put to good use during our stay at Cairns, but the biggest draw of it all was, of course, the all day snorkelling trip on the outer reefs, on board the Passions of Paradise!

The crew on board was incredibly friendly, and considering the fact that the husband and I were probably the only ones on the boat who had ventured out into the high seas but couldnt swim to save our lives, we did have to count on them...heavily! :) We were the only ones who asked for a "guide", basically someone to tow us along while we just held on to a floatie with all our might - and there he was, our guide for the day, fittingly called Angel!!!

Oh! What an angel he was indeed.....the next half hour was just pure bliss, once the initial moment of hesitation was defeated, the beauty beneath us was almost too much to take in. How was it even possible to have so many colours in one place?! God must have gone crazy with his palette, the day he decided to create the GBR! :P
The only problem was that I kept getting water into my snorkel mask every 2 minutes, and it took me a while to figure out why....you cannot expect the poor masks to handle your constant wide grins underwater, you're supposed to keep your mouth shut for once!! :P
Anyways, having had a glimpse of everything between giant blue clams, radiant neon fish, fierce-looking unicorn fish, colourful starfish, cute little clownfish peeking from their wispy homes of anemones, a huge Maori wrasse and even a reef shark, I was still swooning when we came up on board for lunch! Lunch was great, and so was the rest of the day! Emboldened by the mid sea experience, and sufficiently buoyed by the sturdy life jackets - we ventured out on our own at Michaelmas Cay, where you could just walk into the underwater heaven right from the beach! With Angel keeping watch from the shore...we soaked in the beautiful coral gardens some more.
The time to return seemed to have come too soon....and as we lay on the boat deck basking in the last rays of the day, I was possibly The Happiest Person on the planet right then!

Back on the mainland, it was time to plan for the next day - and after the underwater wonders, the mighty rainforest was on our radar. Off we went on an exhilating journey over the HUGE trees on the Skyrail - our destination was Kuranda, a tiny (totally touristy) settlement right in the heart of the rainforests.

That's where we got our second heavy dose of colours - this time, they were the areal kind! The Kuranda bird park was fascinating, even if a little too tiny compared to our expectations. The husband proved to be a great favourite among the birds, I tend to agree to a friend who very wisely deduced...the birds were most likely all girls! ;)

The rest of our time in Cairns was spent exploring the local town, and as we finally left for Melbourne again, it was with a bunch of incredible memories...to be cherished for life!!

P.S. Exasperated "Gawwwd! Men!!!" moment - We're at the Cairns airport, waiting for our return flight. I go on and on and on...just can't stop talking about what we'd done and seen. The husband responds with polite nods and smiles and mostly mono syllables. I almost give up, but just then...
"NISTELROOY!!!!"
The husband's super excited voice makes me spin around like a top, expecting to see the star footballer somewhere close....and what do I see?? A match, probably 5 years old, on TV. And THAT is what gets a man really excited....even after a trip to arguably the awesomest place on the face of the earth!!
Gawwwwd! Men!!!!! :P

My first trip across the Equator - "The Beginning"

We were on the plane, hours away from the destination when the thought first struck me and sent a funny shiver of excitement through my spine. I had just crossed the Equator, literally travelled to the "opposite side of the world"! By the time the husband's expression changed from an involuntary frown (as my urgent nudging interrupted the movie he was watching) to slight bewilderment, finally turning into an indulgent smile at this "revelation", I was already grinning ear to ear! And "The Grin" just stuck on, all through the 10 magical days spent in that strange part of the world which celebrated Christmas in summer!!
Yes, we were on our way to Australia, a trip planned on an impulse following a crazy conversation with a friend, and I had a very simple 4 point agenda at hand.
So basically, I just HAD to see -

1. Kangaroos
2. Koalas
3. The Sydney Opera House
4. The Great Barrier Reef

This trip was a little different from any other "major" trip we had taken so far. For starters, we had a bunch of friends in Melbourne, our first destination, who were also our hosts (one of them ending up on the couch as we happily plonked ourselves in his beautiful bedroom).

Secondly, the husband did not have a minute point to point workplan for this one, and most of the "planning" had actually been done by me! That was a real indication of how busy the poor man was just before the trip, considering that for him any trip starts with an excel sheet being created and you can see his eyes getting shinier with every detail that goes in there and every hour spent looking for those details.

I had always curled up my nose at this "excessive planning syndrome" that I liked to call it and waxed eloquent how travelling should also be about uncertainties, surprises, spur of the moment decisions and the like. What I had not reckoned was that "surprises" sometimes had a sense of humour, and not to your advantage.

As we stepped out of the Melbourne airport, took the bus for the city, and got down at our stop, we realized that while I had the building number and street name for my friends' address, I hadn't remembered to check their flat number and to top it, our phones weren't working!!

Umm..okay....so that's when I realized I did not really have a very strong stomach for "uncertainties", and certainly not after a 13 hour flight!!

A short walk, a wrong turn, and a few random people later, we were at the building - and it dawned upon us that the 1403 of 1403/8 Waterview Walk could actually be what we were looking for. We dialled into the intercom and there was my friend, indeed!! The Grin reappeared, we got into the lift, and were welcomed into a stunning apartment - my senses torn between the rich fragrance of Chingri Malaikari and the breathtaking view out of the glass walled living room!

As we settled down, I realized one of my friends wasn't there. Well, guess what, the poor guy was apparently waiting for us at the airport - a 30 min drive away!

We'd had a facebook conversation earlier, by the end of which I had thought I had convinced him not to be at the airport, but obviously, I was wrong!

Anyway, we made a call and he eventually arrived, and as we all sat down to a wonderful dinner, I already knew we were going to have one hell of a trip!!!

Here I am, and that...is The Grin :)

Read on - "The Ocean and the Road" :)

My first trip across the Equator - "The Ocean and the Road"

(...Contd. from - "The Beginning")

Okay, so we had a wonderful night's sleep, and the morning saw us raring to go - after all, we had a date with the Great Ocean Road today!

We had packed and had gone over the day's itinerary the previous night, not leaving anything to chance. However, a look at the met department's website had put worry lines on all our foreheads - the weather gods did not seem very interested in playing good hosts to us. There was a lot of rain and thunder predicted, and apparently the met department had the (dis)reputation of being (annoyingly) spot-on all the time!

Oh! How I wished they were wrong this once, and the bright and sunny morning would indeed show the day!!

(And that they had secretly outsourced the weather forecasting process to our charmingly unreliable "Abahawa Daftar", back in Kolkata.)

Anyways, with the threat of foul weather looming large, 8 of us started off in 2 cars - setting up multiple "converging points" where we'd meet, take pics and re-embark on the journey.

However, the "converging" did not really happen - as the Great Ocean Road stretched out in its full glory, unscheduled stops and multiple photo-ops were inevitable, and the best we could do was meet at our destination for the day, a lovely little place called Lorne. :)

The dazzling beauty of GOR:

However, by that time, the weather was playing out the met dept's prophecy - sure enough, there were ominous dark clouds in the sky, and the brilliant blue of the sea had turned into a depressing leaden gray. :(

Our original plan of taking a short break at Lorne, and heading on towards Port Campbell to catch the sunset at the majestic 12 Apostles did not look very likely. We did go on till the very charming Apollo Bay, but by then the rain was coming down in sheets, and the sky had melted into the sea in a dull, dreary haze. Conceding defeat to Mother Nature, we sought consolation in the next best thing - what else could that be, but food?!

A lavish dinner restored the smiles on our faces and the vigour to our voices, and even though it kept pouring well into the night, we retired happy people, thinking "..tomorrow is another day"!! :) :)

I woke up the next day to the husband's cheerful face, and it took me a second to realize that was just how the day was too! Flooded with sunshine, Lorne looked lovelier - and once again, I dared to hope the met office would go wrong. We all got ready and started for our onward journey in record time - and the roads kept winding along the coastline, springing breathtaking views at each bend!

However, it wasn't long before we spotted the dark corner in the distant horizon - and next thing we knew, we were once again driving through rain. By the time we reached the 12 Apostles and managed to scurry into the visitors' center from the parking, the wind was chilling, the rain relentless, and we were drenched (our umbrellas, a weak joke).

But by then, we could no longer be bothered. So out into the bone numbing rain we marched, and as the massive limestone stacks made their first appearance, all we felt was wide eyed wonder!

We now knew why people travelled half way across the world for a glimpse of these rocks, and could only wonder how much more majestic the apostles would look against a placid sea and a bright blue sky!

So my trip to the Great Ocean Road did have its share of dampeners (quite literally!!), but throw in a fun loving group of 8, some good food, good music and a chatterbox or two - and it did not really feel any less than just purrrfect!

Up next: "Sydney Stories"

My first trip across the Equator - "Sydney Stories 1"

(...Contd from: "The Ocean and the Road")

3 days into our trip, we had covered quite a bit of the beautiful city of Melbourne, driven through the jaw-dropping Great Ocean Road, stuffed our faces with yummy homemade food at my relatives' place and given our vocal cords and facial muscles some serious workout.

And now, it was time for the two of us to venture out on our own - Sydney beckoned!

An early morning flight out of Melbourne got us to Sydney around 10 am, and in another half an hour, we were at Big Hostel -our crash pad in the city.

This was to be my first "hostel" experience ever - while the reviews on the net were very encouraging, i still had a tiny niggling doubt at the back of my mind about what I'd actually see. Check-in was quite quick, and the moment we stepped into the common lobby past the reception, I just loved the place!

A lovely cozy room with warm cushioned sofas, people lounging around watching TV, playing board games or animatedly exchanging their experiences with fellow travellers - the vibes were great.

Our "private double room" was more functional than cozy/welcoming, but that was kind of okay since we didn't intend to stay in too much.

However, there was this tiny problem - after effects of taking all that rain and chilly winds in the Great Ocean Road trip had started showing - I felt a raging fever coming on, with the familiar fuzzy feeling in my limbs, and a dull ache all over. We had only 2 days in Sydney, and a mile-long travel wish list. It felt like what this website called "foot on the ball time", and retiring hurt was just not an option. So in went a Wikoryl followed by a Saridon, and out went we - into a bright sunny day in Sydney!

A 15 min walk through sprightly streets and the bustling China Town got us to the much-heard-about Darling Harbour - a vibrant place teeming with people, sky high office buildings vying for space with the Maritime Museum, the Aquarium and even a Wild Life World thrown in for good measure!

Partha, at Darling Harbour:

We decided to visit the Wild Life World, and my first thought - "Hey! I get to strike the top 2 things off my agenda - kangaroos and koalas!!!"

The Wild Life World turned out to be an extremely entertaining place, what with we being startled by Rex, apparently the world's largest croc - one which had the reputation of gobbling up other crocs - menacingly gliding in the water, as soon as we'd stepped in! Any other crocodile/alligator I had ever seen in my life would probably look only slightly bigger than a garden lizard beside this monster!

Rex:

Keeping respectful distance, we made our way in - past colourful butterflies and cutesy birds, slithering reptiles and playful wallabies. We had reached the terrace, and there they were - 4 cuddly fur-balls, blissfully oblivious of the milling crowds, napping away to glory on treetops! They'd wake up and look around occasionally, decide there was nothing worth staying up for and promptly slip back into seemingly peaceful - if not deep - slumber! And I secretly wondered, what did they smoke?!

Having had my fill here, it was Kangaroo-time next! With visions of mommy kangaroos hopping about - joeys in pouch (Nat Geo style), we reached the kangaroos' enclosure.

But all that we got to see was this, Nat Geo be damned. :)

Clearly, it was not just the typical Bengali who relished his afternoon siesta!! I had half a mind to get this guy a pillow to rest his elbows on.

Anyways, back in the human world, we had a ferry to catch. It would take us to Circular Quay, and I could strike off the 3rd point in my "agenda" as well - The Sydney Opera House! :)

However, by this time the medicines popped in earlier had started wearing off....and all I could do to keep going was think of all the wonderful photos my facebook album would miss if I didn't, and hoping that my pics would get more comments than those of the husband! (Mark Zuckerberg, what an idea Sirji!!) :) :)

So there we were on the quay, the Opera House in full view - and well, I couldn't help but feel a little let down. It was an extremely elegant building for sure, but the tiles were darker and duller than I had expected, the structure way smaller that I had imagined. I wondered what the fuss was all about, and remembered how I had felt similarly on my first visit to the Taj Mahal.

Over-expectation is such a spoilsport! :(

With more than just a little disappointment, I turned my attention to the Harbour Bridge on the other side, watching the day melt away into darkness and the imposing bridge come aglow with neon lights, under a starry sky.

As the lights started coming on, we glanced back at the Opera House; and whoa! It was pure magic!

The building glittered in all its glory, its delicate outline shimmered against the night sky.

It was instant redemption, and by the time we finally left the Circular Quay, it was with a lasting impression of the understated, yet elegant beauty of the Opera House as it glowed into the night.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, until I decided to order a spicy sea food soup to help clear my head. Oh well! Clear my head it did, but not with its spices. The realization that "sea food" was not just about shrimps and prawns struck (almost literally) with a specimen such as in the pic below making an unexpected appearance on my soup spoon - and while the husband put up a brave face as he poked and prodded around the tentacles for a while, I swore off any more experiments when it came to food! :)

Next: "Sydney Stories 2"

My first trip across the Equator - "Sydney Stories 2"

(...Contd from "Sydney Stories 1")

Day 2 in Sydney, we were on our way to Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach! Having heard a lot about this place, we were super excited - the husband pretty kicked about clicking surfers in action, something he had missed during the Great Ocean Road drive.

I, on the other hand, was having a great time people-watching. Excited teenagers - surfboards in tow, an animated group of tourists speaking a strange sweet lilting tongue, a young girl who could make even a brinjal cringe with her purple hair and purple nails, purple sweater and leggings to match - the local bus that we had taken from Sydney to Bondi was fascinating enough to keep me engrossed through the 1 hour journey.

The landscape outside changed as well - busy city roads gave way to wide tree lined streets, pretty row houses with their colourful gardens and picket fences replaced the high-rises and high end city stores turned into quaint looking shops and cafes, as the bus made its way.

Alighting at the Bondi bus stop, we lost no time skipping down the steps straight to the beach. It was a wonderful sunshiny day, the sea was a brilliant blue and the beach, bustling with life.

"The Grin" firmly in place, I looked on cheerfully as the husband got busy with his camera. But suddenly, the look on the husband's face was like that of a kid who had walked into an exam hall only to find out that the subject of examination was totally different from what he had prepared for!

Turned out the situation at hand was no less critical, while the camera and all its lenses had made it to Bondi, the camera batteries were apparently still cooling their heels in the hotel room, charged and kept ready to be packed at the last moment!

The day lost much of its colour for the poor husband, after all a major source of his enjoyment on trips these days is the collection of photos at the end of it. We did hang around for a bit, walked along the "Coastal Walk" pathway for sometime, but with each step that took us farther away from the hotel, the poor man's face fell some more.

So we finally decided to abort Mission Bondi, and trained our sight on a beach that we had originally ruled out for lack of time - Manly.

Bondi (taken on a mobile camera):

Batteries retrieved, we set off for Darling Harbour - from where we'd have to take a series of ferry rides to Manly, a good hour away.

However, this slight mishap actually worked in our favour, right from the ferry ride to Manly itself - it was a charming expedition. The husband got his surfers in action, I had loads of interesting people to watch, and the beach - though not as "happening" as Bondi - was extremely relaxing.

Manly Beach:

Surfer in action at Manly:

We came back happy people with a camera full of nice pictures, and a different view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from the ferry was a definite bonus! In fact, I enjoyed the ferry ride so much that I even convinced the reluctant husband to let me put my $20 all day pass to maximum use, and repeat the same trip at least once more, the moment we reached Sydney.

Only, I hadn't looked at the clock, and it turned out that while we could surely take the ferry out to Manly, we wouldn't reach in time to catch the last one back. The husband was quietly sympathetic, but just as I was turning away, I thought I heard a sigh of relief.

Of course, he wouldn't agree! :)

The next day, it was time to visit the Sydney Aquarium. We had high expectations from this place, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Right from cute little clownfish to the extra large manta rays, fierce looking sharks to the very benign Dugong, the aquarium was a fascinating place.

Moon jellyfish, Sydney Aquarium:

The Dugong:

The high point, however, was the "Reef Section" - considering that the Great Barrier Reef was pretty much THE REASON for my Aussie trip, the coral gardens with its myriad marine life on display here was almost like a 3D trailer ahead of the magnum opus. I was ecstatic, and I couldn't wait another day to actually face The Real Thing!!!

Up next: "The Real Thing - Great Barrier Reef"