Dominican Republic

Today is the day before leaving for a new trip: Puerta Plata, situated on the Dominican Republic island. 2 goals: relaxing and doing some beachsports. It's been more than half a year ago since visiting the surf of Australia. Now it's time to get some action in the Caribbean..

I found a very interesting website of a hotel hosting extreme sports fans that I would like to check out: Extreme Hotels

Some impressions from their webcams:




Time to pack now!

Fraser Island

Just back from Fraser Island. It was supposed to be one of the highlights and it surely was. Swimming in Lake McKenzie is just like being in a TV commercial on a bounty island. Perfect white sandstone and crystal clear waters! We had a 2-day tour that showed also the other points of interest of the beautiful sand-island (180km long) in a 4x4 car. To get that "flying doctors" feeling, we could jump into such an airplane and have a flight over the island. That was awesome!
The people we met on this adventure were really nice which made it a very good experience as a whole.
Tomorrow there's a long drive ahead towards "Rockhampton" ...

Surf!

It's been a while since I checked onlne. After the last post we had a safari in the outback which was really great. The guide was a true control-freak and could act like an atom-clock, but aside from that the trip itself brought us breathtaking views and panoramas. The 7km basewalk around Ayres Rock and the Kings Canyon climb were the most impressive ones I think.
After the safari we took the plane to Brisbane from where a rental car was waiting. Driving on the left for the first time was really scary!! Getting on a roundabout still feels weird but in the meantime I got used to this way of driving pretty well.
The first stop was Surfers Paradise where we even had an ocean view! Just the weather was a downer: raining all the time. The place itself was also a bit too commercial and expensive actually, so we moved on to Brisbane for a couple of nights from where we could visit the Australia Zoo (with a special service for Steve Irwin who passed away just 2 days after arrived here). This zoo was impressive, but I preferred the Koala Sanctuary were we could cuddle a koala. The proof is here: http://www.koala.net/photo/1409018217en.htm :)
It was one of those things that I really wanted to do here, so one more wish actually came true. Brisbane didn't really impress me too much, the people here don't look too happy. It's just another big city like Brussels where people are stuck in their ratrace. So it was time to move on again direction: Sunshine coast. Right now I'm actually sitting at ease in the youth hostel of Noosa Heads. This time a real Surfers Paradise! Seeing all these people surfing here really incites me. Also the weather finally became better, so hopefully I`ll get the chance to also get onto a board...

No worries!

Yesterday and today have been really relaxing days. Going to the iMax theatre, eating fastfood, doing some siteseeing and testing our luck in the casino. You might say this wasn't really the most creative way of touring, but it was for sure fun and relaxing.
Tonight probably still catching a movie called "thank you for smoking"
What strikes me the most here in Sydney when seeing people walk by is their way of life: wearing a pair of sunglasses (even almost all senior people) and really having the attitude of "no worries" :) Stress still must be invented here I guess...

Bright lights, big city

Yesterday the nightly boot cruise was fantastic but shouldn't have taken so long. Maybe it was still due to the jetlag, but a little nap on the boot seemed to be really necessary although the view was really magnificent. Bright lights, big city!

Today in the morning I finally had a 'real' breakfast. When talking about such a breakfast I mean the 'whole' thing: eggs, bacon, sausages, etc etc. Not the anorexic type of breakfast being a yoghurt and a whole-wheat crumb of bread...
The scenery was great: a darkish dining place where a guy who'd you think of being just released from jail, serves you that real breakfast you have been dying for.
Immediately you get the feeling of being in some New York Italo restaurant where suddenly a gangfight might occur. In this case a neighbouring pub-owner came to complain about nightly visitors not being able to keep things tidy on the pavement... .

First impressions

After a dissappointing delay of the NMBS railways, a supercool taxi driver - who used to work for Sidmar (Arcelor) in a former life - brought us right on time to the Thalis railway-station where the trip could finally start.
24 hours of flying to Sydney was quite some experience I must say! Luckily there was a stop in Hong Kong where I could eat chinese food on real chinese premises :)
Sunday 2 september late in the evening, a Russian taxi-driver took us for about 10 AUD to the hotel. Even around 11 PM there was still a bookstore open where I could finally find a book about 'playing poker'. The next day we went for a city-trip by bus which gave me the idea that Syndey is a mixture of San Francisco - USA style and several European cultural influences. One of the highlights of course was the Opera House and its beautiful surroundings. The aquarium we visited in the afternoon was amazing: they showed all kinds of exotic and extraordinary fish (including sharks swimming right on top of your head). Even the Hardrock cafe we visited and a new glass for beer can be put in the cupboard with souvenirs :)

Some inspiration

While preparing and gathering information for the trip, I found this interesting website: carliving

Itinerary is fixed, the countdown can start...

Itinerary
*********
1 sat 02-09-2006 Depart from Amsterdam at 14:00h
2 sun 03-09-2006 Arrival in Hongkong at 07:40h
Flight Hongkong-Sydney 09:00h-20:05h
3 Mon 04-09-2006 Stay in Sydney
4 Tue 05-09-2006 stay in Sydney
5 Wed 06-09-2006 Vlucht Sydney-Alice Springs 09:40 uur - 12:35 uur Desert Palms Resort
6 Thu 07-09-2006 3 Days Ayers Rock - Olga's - Kings Cany
7 Fri 08-09-2006 3 Days Ayers Rock - Olga's - Kings Cany
8 Sat 09-09-2006 3 Days Ayers Rock - Olga's - Kings Cany Desert Palms Resort
9 Sun 10-09-2006 Flight Alice Springs-Brisbane 11:30h-14:30h
10 Mon 11-09-2006 Roadtripping
11 Tue 12-09-2006 Roadtripping
12 Wed 13-09-2006 Roadtripping
13 Thu 14-09-2006 Roadtripping
14 Fri 15-09-2006 Roadtripping
15 Sat 16-09-2006 Roadtripping
16 Sun 17-09-2006 Roadtripping
17 Mon 18-09-2006 Roadtripping
18 Tue 19-09-2006 Roadtripping
19 Wed 20-09-2006 Roadtripping
20 Thu 21-09-2006 Roadtripping
21 Fri 22-09-2006 Roadtripping
22 Sat 23-09-2006 Roadtripping
23 Sun 24-09-2006 Roadtripping
24 Mon 25-09-2006 Roadtripping
25 Tue 26-09-2006 Roadtripping
26 Wed 27-09-2006 Drive to Bay Village Tropical
27 Thu 28-09-2006 Stay at Cairns Bay Village Tropical
28 Fri 29-09-2006 Stay at Cairns Bay Village Tropical
29 Sat 30-09-2006 Flight Cairns-Hongkong 15:15h - 20:20h
30 Sun 01-10-2006 Flight Hongkong-Amsterdam 00:05h - 06:45h

Exactly 2 months later...

Yes!
The light turned green for ONE MONTH of a holiday :-)
September will be the timeframe.
The location is defined on Asia-Oceania. More precisely a 30-day road-trip in Australia is preferred. More details will follow... .

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