Kayaking to Monkey Island!

We stayed the night on Cat Ba island. The next day we took kayaks and went kayaking among the karsts.

Well, Rohan did most of the kayaking while I focused on sunbathing. It was a gorgeous place to go kayaking.

We had a break on Monkey Island, yep that's right, and saw some cute little monkeys. 

Kayaking back to Cat Ba island we passed floating fishing villages where people live in floating houses and live through fishing.

Halong Bay was stunning and it would have been nice to be able to spend more time there. Unfortunately we had a boat to catch.

Back in Hanoi it was time to say goodbye to our tour group. 

The Vietnam tour was coming to an end. Most of the others headed to their home countries the next day, but Rohan and I still had one more day to spend in Hanoi. 

Anna in Wonderland - The Grampians part II

We spent two days in the Grampians. Spectacular cliffs, weird rock formations, lots of wildlife, waterfalls, lakes, forests, beautiful walks...

The second day we did the Wonderland walk around the Pinnacle lookout (below). The walk was long, around 10 km but the views over Halls Gap were absolutely breathtaking!

It was sunny but the weather was really chilly so I had to borrow Rohan's clothes to stay warm. After all, I had only packed tiny clothes for the tropical weather of Queensland! The next night I was shivering from cold the whole night despite wearing 5 LAYERS of clothes!

The morning before we left we saw a pack of kangaroos and emus by a lake. One of the kangaroos had a baby joey in her pouch.

Katso kenguru loikkii... Did you know that kangaroos use their tails as an extra leg? And they can't move backwards!

The Grampians were impressive and I could have spent more time there, at least if I had had some warm clothes with me. But it was time to move on, back to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road!

Anna in Wonderland - The Grampians part I

The Grampians is a series of mountain ranges 235 km west of Melbourne. Yes, we were getting closer to home. And it was getting really cold, too! We arrived during sunset and saw heaps of kangaroos.

The next day we started exploring. First we went to see the MacKenzie Falls. 

After that we did some walks and saw some amazing scenery.... 

Space to breathe!

More pics coming up soon!

Waterfall Way

The trip towards the centre of Australia had begun. I felt a little bit alone without the support of my girls. Southwest from Cairns lies Atherton Tablelands, which is a part of the Tropical Tablelands region. World heritage listed rainforests, mountains, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and charming little towns. We had breakfast in the small town of Atherton. After that we took a really winding but scenic drive through the beautiful Misty Mountains. On Waterfall Way we found four big waterfalls within a walking distance from each other. 

Millaa Millaa Falls.

Millaa Millaa Falls is Australia's most photographed. Of course we had to go for a dip, too, after all, it's not often that you get to swim under a waterfall! But the water was freezing. 

Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

We had lunch in another small town, Ravenshoe, which is the highest town in Queensland. There had been a big change in weather since we left Cairns. Up in the mountains the temperatures were much cooler. 

On the way to our campsite we stopped to check out Australia's widest waterfalls, Millstream Falls. I thought we had seen nicer ones before, but I can imagine that after some heavy rain it would be more impressive. 

We stayed at Innot Hot Springs for the night. We had great expectations of these natural hot springs, but they ended up being just pools. But still, it was a relaxing way of spending an afternoon, hopping from a hot pool to a cooler pool and then into a spa, and then do it all over again. 

The good life. :)

Tropical Paradise of Mission Beach

We spent one night in Bingil Bay, which is next to Mission Beach, a popular tourist destination. Mission Beach is close to the Great Barrier Reef. It has got some beautiful islands just offshore that we had to skip, this time, due to lack of time. 

We slept literally only a few meters from the beach, and fell asleep listening to the waves. Here we also got a first taste of the heavy rains of tropical North Queensland. In the evening we went to get dinner in Mission Beach, expecting it to be full of backpackers and tourists. But it was very quiet, even though it was weekend, perhaps because of the rain. The backpacker town has a nice laid-back atmosphere.

In the morning, when the sun came out, we went to check out one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen. Palm-fringed long white beach stretching 14 kilometers, surrounded by World Heritage rainforest. The best thing? It was empty. Only few tourists having a morning walk on the beach, like us. 

We didn't have much time to explore Mission Beach. There are heaps of things to do in and around this tropical paradise and it is definitely on my list of places where I want to go back to.