Another year has passed, another book has seen daylight

We are glad to represent :)

All our stories in a funny, happy and colourful true-blue Aussie book "Austraalia - Down Under" by Publishing House Pegasus.

Our warmest thanks go to Ülla for disign and layout, Helle-Mai for the maps, all our friends, family and fellow travellers, and of course Pegasus for the whole book itself that has seen daylight.

Now in Estonian, one day ... maybe in English ;)

Read more: www.austraalia-downunder.blogspot.com

Goodbye Brissie, goodbye Aussie

Almost a year. 11 months long, yet too short. Our Aussie holiday and great adventure is about to end.. right where it started. In Brisbane. With Ash 'n' Arpi. Except that we've seen it all now, been to almost every corner of this beautiful land. It's been amazing, it's been crazy, and definitely unforgettable. It's been one of the greatest and most adventurous year of my life. Saved in thousands of photos and more memories..

So it's time. Time to say goodbye, or perhaps just see you later. Time to holiday after holiday. New Zealand, Thailand, Dubai and Istanbul, here we come! (H)

See you back home! Estimated arrival time: 4:25 pm, the 8th of November @ Tallinn Airport :)

Mates...

From the “True Blue”, Fair Dinkum Aussie digger, boilin’ up his cuppa in a blackened billy in the isolated outback, to the crowded surf beaches of the Gold Coast, and to the exciting bustling city of Sydney metropolis, Australians have such varied lifestyles, but at the end of the day are all “mates”.

Chillin' in Cairns

Till the 10th.

Go BANANAS

Truly, madly, deeply.. absolutely bananas. After another laidback week in Cairns when we decided to turn down a promising job offer at Gilligan’s, the Ritz of all backpackers.. being, I guess, a bit over and done with the work on the party scenes and the boozing backpackers. Ha ha, go serious! Anyways, after another week in Cairns.. we did something that we had never done before, left the dazzling city life behind and became soul mates with bananas at one of the Tully’s hundred banana farms. I’m still serious :D On Friday morning we checked into the famous Hotel Tully, in the afternoon filled in the contract and promised to love and cherish all bananas we were going to see the week after, and Monday morning at 5:45 jumped into the ‘banana bus’ with other ten fellow banana pickers, dressed in the dirtiest clothes and rubber boots. The 8-hour workday started no sooner or later than 6:35 and the first task we got to do was sorting already used banana bags to see which ones were good enough to be thrown away.. oops, to be used again I wanted to say :D Done with the bags, we lined up at the conveyer belt where good and bad bananas were floating in the water and needed to be sorted out before the bunches got into the hands of the evil banana packers, who became twice as evil when they found bad ones coming hand in hand with the good ones. And that happened with a 50-50 probability as half of the times they were evil enough to ‘screw’ the belt at the speed of 100 km/h, which left us just about enough time to break the bunches but no time to sort them out. Obviously, because the only thing we were shown ten million times over and over again was where the breaking point was. No, not ours’ but bananas’. Nicole, with 14 years of banana experience: ‘See that bunch? Break it here. Breaking point. And here. Breaking point. See that? Breaking point. Yes? Breaking point. No? Breaking point. Brrrreaking point!’ By the end of the day we were soaking wet and ‘blessed’ with the worst backache, but if you think we quit, you are wrong, because we went back the day after and after and after again, till on Friday we were moved from the shed to the paddock and given a 2-hour training course on how to strangle.. pardon me, string banana trees to help them through the storms of the coming wet season. And that, my dear friends, is a whole science (fiction) and a special technique. To hear more, please call Nicole on 1800-B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Friday, 3 pm, after 40 hours of hard work with more bananas than I’ve ever seen in my life, we resign the contract and promise we will love and cherish the bananas.. but only as long as they are on our dining table, ripe and ready.. small amounts preferred. Back at the hotel, we throw out the dirty uniform, jump into the shower, jump out, grab our three bags and hit the road the same night back to Cairns. Tully, that is written in to the Australian history as the wettest town Down Under, is written into our mind as truly, madly, deeply bananas, now and forever :) An experience that I’ll never forget and never regret, a week that makes part of my Aussie trip, and a job that has probably taught me more than many others. To appreciate proper work conditions, clean office environment, enjoy lunch breaks that don’t finish on half bite with a bell that reminds you that you gotta get back to work. To appreciate after work chats with colleagues, and not to leave the office at the speed of gone in 60 seconds as if an earthquake was emerging (because I hate my job). To use my brains, and not my physique, to accomplish and fulfill targets which are not set in the number of bananas that pass my conveyer belt every day. To appreciate my phone and my PC and regular team meetings as methods of communication and great brainstorming, and not to yell at each other from one end of the belt to the other. To drive a car, and not a tractor. To live without a continuous fear of snakes, spiders and big green ugly frogs that crawl over my workplace. And most of all, to enjoy my job and remember that the day I don’t have fun at work, will be the day I quit. And to respect all those other people that feel the same way about what they do, no matter if it’s computer science or bananas.

And now.. go bananas!!! :)

Life...

Around CAIRNS

Early Wednesday morning we hug and kiss goodbye to Kalle at the airport, and there we are again: just the two of us. Aww. The threesome was fun :D Love you, Kalllllleee!!! From the bottom of our great big hearts and from the bottom of the world. Sad and lonely, we take the first bus to the party town Cairns, shop till we drop, and finally retreat ourselves to a weekend getaway at Cape Tribulation and Atherton Tablelands. An Aussie version of Ms Spears :) Cape Trib is fab. Hidden in the rainforests, surrounded by palm trees and wild beaches, it takes us two brave hearts to get there on Friday night. Leaving Cairns in the afternoon with our new rental friend Holden, and with stops along the way: Palm Cove, Port Douglas, Mossman and Daintree, we cross the Daintree River at the sunset, driving right into the dark and unknown. A narrow road through the hills and towering trees of the tropical rainforest make sure no sunshine at the daytime and no moon or starlight at the nighttime gets through to lighten your way out of what seems like a scary movie. At the top speed of 30 km/h it takes a good hour and a half to find some sort of a civilization at Cape Trib and shelter at the Cape Trib Beach House where million mysterious voices and whispers lull you to a deep sleep with sounds of rainforests. Only your imagination sets boundaries to what’s going on out there. Cape Trib was as far as we could go with our friend Holden, further north from there takes you only a 4WD. But you get a good idea of the tropical rainforest at the local Daintree Discovery Centre with an aerial walkway and its Canopy Tower. Due to a staggering annual rainfall of up to 4.5 metres, the rainforest, which is home to over 3000 plant species including trees, vines, palms, ferns, epiphytes, is so lush you can almost see it growing. And if you’re lucky, you might spot a python curled up in a giant basket fern or one of the region’s most famous icons, a colourful cassowary. Lucky or unlucky, we saw them both on display only. Back on the south banks of the Daintree River, which you can only cross by an almost nonstop river ferry (catch me if you can!), we drive into a completely different environment of Atheron Tablelands with its little country towns and beautiful waterfalls. Mossman Gorge, Mt Molloy, Mareeba, Atherton, Yungaburra, Malanda, Milla Milla and Kuranda, and the most beautiful of them all, KAIRI :) My very own town Down Under with Kairi Hotel, Kairi Store and Kairi Public School. Anyway, jokes aside and being honest, because Kairi is just another country town, one of the most beautiful was probably Yungaburra, where the village has existed largely unchanged since 1910 with many of the original buildings still remaining, like the historic Lake Eacham Hotel, fondly known as the Yungaburra Pub. Fascinating, just like a step back to the history. And the village seems to know the truth of the life. A sign at a local teahouse says: ‘Life is uncertain.. Eat the dessert first.’ Or did they want us to try one of their delicious cakes? (a) The Milla Milla waterfall circuit is definitely worth to see as well, and so are the enormous Curtain and Cathedral Fig trees close to Yungaburra. The only place we missed out on, but that looked like a nice village in the rainforests, was Kuranda where we arrived late and unable to find accommodation on Sunday night had to turn back to Cairns one day early.

Yey! Go Sean Kingston and 'BEAUTIFUL GIRLS', the song of the weekend! :)

MAGNETIC

The next stop on our way up the coast is a town called Townsville. It’s Kalle’s final destination Down Under before he flies back home to greet the colours of the fast arriving fall. The magic of four seasons, something you won’t have in Australia. At least not to the same extent. To add the final touch to Kalle’s holidays, we take off to the Magnetic Island. Close to Townsville, but so different. So little, so peaceful, so magnetic. And so adorably cute, just as the island’s world famous family of Mokes. We rent one called Tinkerbell (she’s baby pink and has great big eyes!), and Tinkerbell takes us around anywhere we wanna go: is it the Italian restaurant down the beach, or Horseshoe Bay, or Nelly Bay’s Super IGA – Moke knows the roads. Even when we are delightfully tipsy of Lambrusco and filled with the 3-course Italian dinner, Mokes takes us back to our beach front bungalow for a good night sleep. The question is: who was driving? Tinkerbell!! Of course :)

THE WHITSUNDAYS

Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsundays, is humming constantly to the tune of party. Backpackers are tripping into town to embark on the mandatory island cruise, or simply cruise through the night in the glut of pubs, bars, clubs and cafes. Our dream yacht, sold in a brochure as a romantic tallship that has sailed seas and oceans, turns out to be a ‘fish boat’ that used to sail the Antarctic’s. Brrr :) The crew of the ‘fish boat’ consists of a comic skipper, a Mr Muscle diving instructor and a cook with 3-week cooking experience. But the ship can navigate, the intro dive and plenty of snorkeling goes without glitch, and the food exceeds all expectations. Except for a little sea-sickness and its after-effects after the 2-day-2-night sailing experience :D Alcohol? :) And the islands are a natural wonderland – a drowned landscape, these continental islands are the tips of mountains fringed with coral. Plenty of reef and plenty of fish everywhere as soon as you stick your mask and snorkel into the blue-green waters.

BRISBANE & NORTH STRADDIE

The city that first saw us arriving Down Under still feels like home away from home. Friends Ash’n’Arpi, and their never-ending hospitality, and Kirit with his alcometer :) Nights in Fortitude Valley. Days on South Bank. The September Riverfire. Probably one of the best places in Oz to live, and to visit. The big-city package exists here but the pretensions and speed are refreshingly absent. So Brisszzzie :P And it’s got ‘Straddie’ – the tranquil sand island just a stone throw away from Brisbane.
Naa-naa [singing].. I’ve still got sand in my shoes, and I can’t shake the thought of you.. :)

Something about BYRON

As cool as the ocean breeze, as yummie as the freshly baked nachos, as chill as the beer at the Beach Hotel, as hot as the Curry House, as fresh as the freshly squeezed OJ, as ‘amigos’ as the Amigos Guest House, as.. [the list goes on, and on]. There’s something about Byron that never changes, and thank God it doesn’t. The Cape Byron walk. The hammock in the backyard. The old bikes. The pimped cars. The Pass and the Watego’s. The lighthouse and the most easterly point of Australian mainland. The surfers and their surfboards.
There’s something about Byron…