Diving SS Yongala

We should dive the Yongala at 23.07.07. But unfortunately they have canceled this dive because of rough sea.... so we had to change the date and drive back 200km from Airle beach for this dive.... but it was worth it! It was amazing... a 100 years old shipwreck which is now a beautiful reef!!! We saw big marble rays, logger head turtles and sea snakes!!! I Even had one of this sea snakes in my own hands!!! It's the worlds most deadliest snake!!! Just 2 dives, that was just not enough! It is announced as one of the top 10 dive spots in the world. Then after the dive a good old ozzy barbie at the familiar diving company... all that was already perfect, but there where also the two sweet dutch ladies, Jess (my dive buddy ; ) ) and Iris (hi ladies) which made it even better. Thanks to the whole crew it was all perfect, would come back if it wouldn't be that f* expensive :)
Cheers Claudio






Later on we drove to the town of 1770 (Agnes Waters). The things are less hectic in the beautiful and tranquil town. Very nice beaches, actually we wanted to go for a surf, but the waves were not that good.
By the way, one of the reasons why it is good to travel with a campervan is to sleep where you want, to go where you want and to always be comfy with a microwave, fridge, cooking facilities. So it didn’t matter what happened, we were always cruisy on the road. Not to forget Homer J.Simpson who was showing us he right way in front of the windscreen!!!

Withsunday islands

Next place to be was Ayr and Alba Beach to go diving the SS Yongala, but they postponed the dive, because of the strong current and windy weather.
So we rode down to Airlie Beach and caught our sailing boat to Whitsunday Island. Our ship was the SV Whiteheaven. We had an awesome trip, met lovely people from France, Chile, Netherlands (the best Borad imitation i have ever seen), Sweden, England, Australia and Denmark. Saw sand, whiter than white, laughed that our six pack hurt and ate that our assholes burnt. On our return way to Port Airlie Beach we had that luck to see some humpback whales jumping out of the water. Amazing!!! The last hours of the day we finished at the beautiful Airlie lagoon with the guys from the sailing boat and then we had to drive back to Ayr to go diving the SS-Yongala.

River-Rafting / Dunk Island

Splash and wild, or a bit less. Rafting near Mission Beach on Tully River. By accident we met the the couple (Helen & Dan) from England again, which we were diving with on the Pro-Dive boat. Yeah awesome! So the group was founded and we were keen to go. Put your helmets up, put the nice yellow live-jacket on, look stupid and take a picture (good work Manny). Our instructor was awesome, a small Japanese guy, with sunny's, overdressed and looked really funny. I guess it was the best one we could get. Great fun…. And we got him wet as well...

The Day after we went to Dunk-Island which is about a 30min ferry ride from Mission beach.





It is a small island with a camping area and a resort. One night in the resort would cost about 200$ up to 1000$. Camping ground we're coming, yuhuu! Anyway we had the possibility to explore the resort by our own, which we were not allowed to do if we not stay in the resort. Not to bad this resort! It was all for free. We played night Golf watched tennis, had a quick dip in the pool and were impressed how much the people will spend to stay on this island. We got in touch with interesting people, one bestseller author Edge Meier and Captain Maza from the Navy (which was a bit destroyed from the drugs he took) at the lovely campsite we stayed. We had good chats with Edge and spent funny hours on Captain Mazas’s boat. The original reason why we wanted to stay on the Island was a friend of me from Melbourne, however we just saw her for a couple of minutes. To much to do with the Captain...
Harrrrrrr...Seemann!

Cape Tribulation and back to Mission Beach

Cape Trib we are coming... ready to start the huge journey along the east coast. We drove up to Cape Tribulation, have seen the Daintree Rainforest and walked around the beaches. It was really nice to see the change of the landscape from the rainforest to the beach. We whiled away our first night in the campervan. Before we went to bed we had an awesome BBQ, made with our on board facilities. The next morning Manny realised that we had a fart-monster (my self) and a snore - monster (Chris) on board. Manny, you snoring as well pretty good! Oh my god, that will be really long three weeks. So everybody got an ice cream and we headed down (Aber zuerst geht jefer nochmal aufs Klo und dann reiten wir weiter). We watched the spectacular Mossman Gorge, lookouts, boardwalks and a visit to Port Douglas. Then we drove through Kuranda (nice alternative town) and had a look at the Barron Falls. Later we passed the Millaa Millaa Falls, sadly at night. It sounded beautiful but don't ask me how it looked! (Sorry Manny, half of the story is stolen from your site!)

The trip down to Brisbane

Me, Chris (Dive Buddy) and Manni (friend of Chris), we decided to rent a van together and drive down to Brisbane. I just know Chris from diving, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna be great fun!!!! Probably not 2 Germans, there are two too many!!! We got a three bed camper van with a little kitchen and a fridge. Pick up the van, load that peace of sh* with our stuff, close the door and hit the throttle. (nasty skit marks, if you are going to Cairns, you are probably still able to see them) Take care QLD the three Cowboys are on the way!!!! Yepycaye Schweinebacke!!!

Pro-Dive

My training for the diving licence starts. Two days of pool and classroom training and 3 days on a boat. It was great fun and the instructors where good fun to.(Thanks Maddy!!! Ride on "swiss"bro) The three days on the boat included a night dive, which was awesome. We saw sharks, big turtles and devil rays. I also went one step further and singed up for the adventure diver. Which included a deep dive of 30 meters and a rubber boat trip to an outer reef! I would like to say thanks to the hole crew and especially to our cook Erin. She made the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten.

Dinner and Drinks back in Cairns at the Rattle 'n' Hum, Good Fun!!!

First days in Cairns

After 3 houres flight I arrived in Cairns. At the Airport I already met a dutch guy. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it. I'm bretty sure something with van de burg or so... What ever we had a few drinks and went to bed at 3 or 4 or so...! After that Night it was relaxing on shedule. Because my diving was starting soon.....

First Post

This is the start of my first post. That's the start of my 6 month trip, which is hopefully gonna be great! I just packed my Backpacker and grabbed my Surf board and that was it!!!! My housemate gave me a lift to the Airport, which saved me the money for the taxi! I took the plane on the 15.07.2007 from Melbourne to Cairns at 8.00am. A sh* but cheapcheap flight!!!
Let's let the 6 month endless summer for El Krebsy begin.

Cheers ElClod