A year in Australia

Yes - that's me snorkelling, having a whale of a time. Which is pretty appropriate given that I appear to have put on about a stone in weight since I've been in oz.

Today is the anniversary of my arrival in oz and somebody asked me to sum up my experience so far. Erm... it's a bit hard but the photo speaks volumes.

I was asked if the experience had lived up to my expectations. In truth, I didn't have any. I just hoped that going off for an adventure would open up some opportunities and make life a bit happier.

Having Diver Dave as my personal escort helped of course! No jokes about his welcome package, please. But life in Brisbane, where we started off, was fairly easy to settle into. Pleasant, tropical city with some fabulous restaurants. Apart from having a slight weeping malfunction after my first programming class, my course turned out to be fairly straight forward. Although I do have my suspicions about how my 'boat race' managed to get on the university's 'star' board for achieving top marks in one class, after having been a distinctly average student on previous university courses.

The opportunity to move to beautiful Noosa was too good to turn down and, although it meant me commuting back to Bris 3 days a week, I thought it was worth it - and it was. Life in Noosa is great; it's easier to get to know people and most people are pretty friendly and laid back. It's just a shame about the death defying roundabouts!

In lots of ways Australia is a few years behind the UK in terms of services, bureaucracy, technology and some aspects of education, for example. But that's not always such a bad thing. On the flip side of that there is courteousness and helpfulness in shops and restaurants which in the UK was probably easier to find 50 years ago.

In discussing this with other poms, the general opinion was that day to day life here isn't so much different from the UK, apart from the weather. Culturally, it's bound to be similar with all the poms settling here week after week. One area of Perth is even known as Little Britain. Australia isn't necessarily any more beautiful than the Motherland but the weather makes all the difference and it also enables more outdoor activites. So rather than being cooped up next to a fire, trying to keep warm in the UK (although I know climate change is making it warmer), everyone down under is in the sea trying to keep cool. And in Queensland, the daytime temperature rarely dips below 20 degrees in the winter. But, having said that, I would enjoy a few changes in seasons since it is always either hot or DANG hot.

What have I missed about Blighty? The important people know who they are but here's a definitive list of other stuff:
Hellman's mayonnaise, a bloody good curry, history, bisto, British telly, frosty mornings, autumn, British telly, cheap broadband, British telly and, most of all, my beloved little car.

Early last year I remember trying to describe to my bezzie mate back in the UK the notion of popping down to the beach to do a spot of snorkelling: I used to be a primary school teacher in Northampton. A good weekend might involve going out with friends or going shopping. Most of the time I was working or watching TV. Now I can go swimming with turtles and leopard sharks in the Pacific Ocean - it's 20 mins away.
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So that, as they say round here, is bonza.

Places to visit: Lady Elliot Island

We have just come back from spending 3 nights on Lady Elliot Island at the southern most tip of the Great Barrier Reef. The photo I took from the plane says it all, mostly.

We took a 30 min flight there from Hervey Bay which I understand can be extended to have a nosey at any passing whales during the right season. Flights also go from Brisbane, Maroochydore and Bundaberg. Unfortunately, when we went all the whales had finished their holidays and scooted off back down south until next year.

Lady Elliot is a great place to go if you enjoy:
(a) snorkelling or diving
(b) bird watching
(c) great food
(d) excellent friendly service
(e) getting away from it all.

Do not go to Lady Elliot if you don't like:
(a) Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"
(b) the smell of bird poo
(c) being woken up by screeching birds
(d) being crapped on from a great height
(e) being cut off from the outside world until your flight rescues you from the bird colony you accidentally had a holiday on.

Seriously though, I did enjoy my holiday in an eco hut. An eco hut is a part timber, part canvas construction with power, two sets of bunk beds and a polished wooden floor! This was the cheapest accommodation on special offer at $99 per person per night, including a glass bottom boat trip with snorkelling, buffet breakfast and dinner each day, but excluding flights.

I got quite attached to the little bird who was sitting carefully on her egg and quietly chirping to herself at the back of the hut. I found myself worrying that she was in a rather exposed place and I kept popping round the back to see if she was alright and whether her egg had hatched yet. It didn't hatch while we were there and as we were about to leave on our last day, she left her egg briefly to pop round to the front of the hut and have a look in through the doorway at us for a change.

On a tiny island surrounded by coral, Diver Dave was in his element, as you can imagine. Booking on for a dive seemed to be a pretty casual affair since the boat appears to go out just off the island four or five times a day so you can pretty much go whenever you want. I was happy just to snorkel and although I had my own gear, use of the resort's snorkel gear is free. Snorkelling through the coral gardens was beautiful. The local green and loggerhead turtles may not have been ready to come ashore to lay their eggs yet but they were certainly out and about in the shallow waters. I also saw cuttlefish, clown fish, reef sharks and an eagle ray. Diver Dave came back from his diving with photos of lion fish and eagle rays. Diver Dave's Dad, a.k.a. Not Diver Jim, was content with pottering about on the beautiful beaches and taking advantage of free tours around the island.

So all in all, a really enjoyable, relaxing and interesting trip that I can recommend. Just remember to bring a large hat!