Houseboat Holiday 2007 - 2008
This is a special post for my international friends out there.
I told many of you that I was going on this waterskiing trip, and found it majorly difficult to describe what the Australian countryside is like. Perhaps some pictures might help.
So, myself, my family, so more relatives and my best friend went on a 10 day houseboat trip on the Murray river near Wentworth on the border of New South Whales and Victoria.
Here is a map reference for you to look on google earth if you want an idea of where this is.
34° 6'47.00"S
141°54'32.64"E
(typing “wentworth Australia” into the search works just as well)
Its 6-8 hours drive north west out of Melbourne city.
So what’s a houseboat?
Well, this is.
Its basically a river cruiser that you can rent and will sleep about 20 people (although its only licensed for 12). We had 7 for half the time and only 5 for the end of the trip. Two of my cousins got eaten by crocodiles.
Anyway the boat has all the facilities a regular house has, including the, oh so important, air conditioning to ward of the 40 degree days we experienced.
Notes:
1. Some more fancy houseboats have fully stocked bars and inbuilt spas, although I don’t see the point of the spa since there is water all round the boat.
2. There are no crocodiles in the Murry river, or anywhere south of, like the middle of the country. Yes, I said it was hot, but its still too cold for Crocs. So nobody got eaten if bitten by anything dangerous the whole trip. We almost all got bitten by a bull ant at some point. And there are a lot of flies and bugs.
Anyway, this is the family and the family ski boat in the water.
This boat is older than I am, but its still a total beast.
This is the river. We took about 1000 photos in 10 days, but most of them are of people skiing, so you will have to look in the backgrounds of all the photos to get an idea of what the river is like.
On the end of the roap is my sister learning to ski.
This photo shows the Aussie “bush” a little better. The bush is mostly twisted gum trees and low to the ground “scrub”, like prickly bushes and nasty grasses with spiky ends on it. But most of it isn’t very dense, so you can walk around without too much fuss.
Of course from the river it looks like you are often in the middle of the wilderness, but just beyond the banks is farmland. When the british settles 3 houndered years ago, m ost of the country basically got ripped up and turned into farmland. This has created all sorts of issues.
Australia, on the whole, is basically really dry and suffering from about 10 years of drought. The river here is only full because of a great big dam. But the flow over the damn is pretty low and many parts of the river are suffering. Its even getting a little bit smelly in some places.
Anyway, in the foreground is me and Jeremy (dads cusin) trying out what is called a “dry start” knee board. Dry starting is where you try to go from a muddy bank, rather than get pulled out of deep water. (It useful for people who are a little heavy).
Knee boarding is one of the easier things to do behind a boat. This is my sister and I.
I have to wear spray goggles (made for jet-skis) so my contact lenses don’t fall out. Its useful when the other person is a real shit like this and sprays water up in your face.
Easier still is tubes and inflatable stuff such as “the fuels”. These are majorly fun and a bit of a challenge between you, the other guy (in this case, Ben) and the dirver of the boat.
It got pretty extreme
This is going at about 30km/h I would guess.
The doughnut is more about the driver vs the riders. Of course, I doesn’t “have” to be extreme, but, well we are all a bit crazy.
It takes quite a bit of driver skill to make this thing fly.
Its not all extreme sports actually. Because of the heat, we would typically get up at about 10am and sit around reading and playing cards inside or on the deck. The water is the best place to go, but due to the hole in the ozone layer 30 mins in the sun without protection will give you are really nasty burn and you have to go crazy with sunscreen to make it work in the water and it still feels like burning.
And shade over the river is really hard to find at this hour.. I think this is because most of the trees that overhang the river have been ripped out at some point. At about 4pm, the shade comes off the bank far enough for swimming.
Typically this what the whole days activity (that and driving the houseboat around on adventures) until about 6pm when the winds are the lowest and the river water becomes flat like glass. Then we ski until sunset.
This is a rare sight of me skiing,
I actually prefer wakeboarding.
Because you can jump
And do 180s
Actually this is really a photo of me falling while attempting a 180. I’m really not very good at wakeboarding. Still I looks like I’m pulling of some awesome stunt.
Just like this photo looks like I’m going backwards.
But ½ a second later, this happened.
I’m in there somewhere.
No people or ducks were harmed in the making of this holiday.
Anyway, at the end of the day we make sure the boat is all tied up to trees. Its really the only time you touch the land in the whole trip.
This is the part where you keep a keen eye out for deadly snakes and spiders (didn’t see or get bitten by any) and dry not to step on nasty prickles and bull ants nests (saw and stood on and got stung by many). All part of the fun.
Anyway, there’s a rare sort of Australian Holiday for you.
Ill probably do it all again at some point. Friends are welcome.
See you somewhere in the world!
I told many of you that I was going on this waterskiing trip, and found it majorly difficult to describe what the Australian countryside is like. Perhaps some pictures might help.
So, myself, my family, so more relatives and my best friend went on a 10 day houseboat trip on the Murray river near Wentworth on the border of New South Whales and Victoria.
Here is a map reference for you to look on google earth if you want an idea of where this is.
34° 6'47.00"S
141°54'32.64"E
(typing “wentworth Australia” into the search works just as well)
Its 6-8 hours drive north west out of Melbourne city.
So what’s a houseboat?
Well, this is.
Its basically a river cruiser that you can rent and will sleep about 20 people (although its only licensed for 12). We had 7 for half the time and only 5 for the end of the trip. Two of my cousins got eaten by crocodiles.
Anyway the boat has all the facilities a regular house has, including the, oh so important, air conditioning to ward of the 40 degree days we experienced.
Notes:
1. Some more fancy houseboats have fully stocked bars and inbuilt spas, although I don’t see the point of the spa since there is water all round the boat.
2. There are no crocodiles in the Murry river, or anywhere south of, like the middle of the country. Yes, I said it was hot, but its still too cold for Crocs. So nobody got eaten if bitten by anything dangerous the whole trip. We almost all got bitten by a bull ant at some point. And there are a lot of flies and bugs.
Anyway, this is the family and the family ski boat in the water.
This boat is older than I am, but its still a total beast.
This is the river. We took about 1000 photos in 10 days, but most of them are of people skiing, so you will have to look in the backgrounds of all the photos to get an idea of what the river is like.
On the end of the roap is my sister learning to ski.
This photo shows the Aussie “bush” a little better. The bush is mostly twisted gum trees and low to the ground “scrub”, like prickly bushes and nasty grasses with spiky ends on it. But most of it isn’t very dense, so you can walk around without too much fuss.
Of course from the river it looks like you are often in the middle of the wilderness, but just beyond the banks is farmland. When the british settles 3 houndered years ago, m ost of the country basically got ripped up and turned into farmland. This has created all sorts of issues.
Australia, on the whole, is basically really dry and suffering from about 10 years of drought. The river here is only full because of a great big dam. But the flow over the damn is pretty low and many parts of the river are suffering. Its even getting a little bit smelly in some places.
Anyway, in the foreground is me and Jeremy (dads cusin) trying out what is called a “dry start” knee board. Dry starting is where you try to go from a muddy bank, rather than get pulled out of deep water. (It useful for people who are a little heavy).
Knee boarding is one of the easier things to do behind a boat. This is my sister and I.
I have to wear spray goggles (made for jet-skis) so my contact lenses don’t fall out. Its useful when the other person is a real shit like this and sprays water up in your face.
Easier still is tubes and inflatable stuff such as “the fuels”. These are majorly fun and a bit of a challenge between you, the other guy (in this case, Ben) and the dirver of the boat.
It got pretty extreme
This is going at about 30km/h I would guess.
The doughnut is more about the driver vs the riders. Of course, I doesn’t “have” to be extreme, but, well we are all a bit crazy.
It takes quite a bit of driver skill to make this thing fly.
Its not all extreme sports actually. Because of the heat, we would typically get up at about 10am and sit around reading and playing cards inside or on the deck. The water is the best place to go, but due to the hole in the ozone layer 30 mins in the sun without protection will give you are really nasty burn and you have to go crazy with sunscreen to make it work in the water and it still feels like burning.
And shade over the river is really hard to find at this hour.. I think this is because most of the trees that overhang the river have been ripped out at some point. At about 4pm, the shade comes off the bank far enough for swimming.
Typically this what the whole days activity (that and driving the houseboat around on adventures) until about 6pm when the winds are the lowest and the river water becomes flat like glass. Then we ski until sunset.
This is a rare sight of me skiing,
I actually prefer wakeboarding.
Because you can jump
And do 180s
Actually this is really a photo of me falling while attempting a 180. I’m really not very good at wakeboarding. Still I looks like I’m pulling of some awesome stunt.
Just like this photo looks like I’m going backwards.
But ½ a second later, this happened.
I’m in there somewhere.
No people or ducks were harmed in the making of this holiday.
Anyway, at the end of the day we make sure the boat is all tied up to trees. Its really the only time you touch the land in the whole trip.
This is the part where you keep a keen eye out for deadly snakes and spiders (didn’t see or get bitten by any) and dry not to step on nasty prickles and bull ants nests (saw and stood on and got stung by many). All part of the fun.
Anyway, there’s a rare sort of Australian Holiday for you.
Ill probably do it all again at some point. Friends are welcome.
See you somewhere in the world!