Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Daintree Rainforest - Travel with Ella Parlor
Join us as we chat with avid traveler Ella Parlor, who turned her solo honeymoon in Sydney into an ecological escapade in Cairns. After a lackluster cultural outing in Sydney, Ella shares how a retired travel guide and Airbnb host helped her discover the wonders of the Daintree Rainforest, revealing its stunning beauty and deep significance as a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the Kuku Yalanji tribe for over 50,000 years. Discussing the challenges of trekking through this remote yet historically rich area, we underscore the importance of guided tours for ensuring safety and cultural respect.
You can find Ella Parlor's website here.
Ella's LinkedIn here.
Ella's Instagram here.
Ella's YouTube channel, Eavesdrop with Ella, here.
Ella's TikTok, ellayourbella, here.
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. So today we have Ella Parlor here and she is going to talk to us about the rain tree. Did I get that right? Rainforest? No, Dane Dane tree rainforest in Australia, which I have never heard of before. So you're a pretty avid traveler, Ellen.
Ella:Yeah, I actually just got back from island hopping in Europe around the French Riviera and Mediterranean, which was really fun, and I actually got proposed to on the trip, which was also really fun.
Ella:Oh my goodness, that is very fun. Yeah, so I am an avid traveler. I took my first flight when I was seven years old, by myself, which a lot of people don't fly alone in their thirties, let alone at seven years old. My mother is a travel agent. My father was in the military, so very much an avid traveler, I will say. Like ages 14 to 18, I didn't want to travel, I was over it, had a little bit of bitterness about it, but I think we all kind of go through that. But I actually went to Australia by myself on my honeymoon, on the note of getting engaged in a previous engagement.
Ella:Yeah, A different yeah, so this was yeah, this was a very. This was about eight. It was, oh my gosh, nine years ago. Holy cow, yeah, nine years ago. So this was November 2015. I had a wedding that didn't happen, my very sex in the city moment, and I went on the honeymoon by myself because, as an avid traveler, I wasn't going to let this expensive plane ticket go to waste. I'm really proud of myself overall for that journey, but I traded in my ticket to go to Australia because I tried to pick a place that would be the least romantic possible so I didn't have to see a bunch of other couples on their honeymoons and I went to Sydney, australia, and I will say as a Californian I'm a California girl, grew up on the beach.
Kristen & Carol :I land and I you know.
Ella:I'm from Orange County, California.
Kristen & Carol :Where are you? Okay? Well, I lived in Marina Del Rey for just a year, but Kristen's from Redondo beach, nice, okay.
Ella:Yes, Well, I love Redondo and Marina Del Rey. I think that the South Bay is not really LA Um. So I grew up on the beach and love it. And here I am. I travel 16 hours to get to Sydney and I land and I open my eyes and I look around and everybody looks American, everybody's English, and then I step into the ocean and I'm like I traveled 16 hours to get here. What ocean am I in, I asked him what ocean is this, sir?
Ella:What ocean are we in right now? And he's like the Pacific. And I'm like I traveled 16 hours to be in a place where everybody looks like they do at home, speaks like they do at home, with a bit with an accent, surf culture, same ocean Are you kidding me? I was so annoyed, I was like this is not the cultural experience I was thinking. And so a friend says you can't be in Sydney. I mean, sydney is beautiful, just like Southern California is beautiful, Right, but you don't travel that far to feel like you're at home. And so I ended up taking a fly up to Cairns, which is spelled C-A-I-R-N-S but it's pronounced Cairns like cans of soup.
Ella:Yeah. So I fly up to Cairns and I stay in an Airbnb and this is when the host says, oh, you want an experience that doesn't feel like home. I got you. And she actually was a retired travel guide, my Airbnb host, which was a blessing, that's awesome. And so she set me up for a tour at the Dane Tree Rainforest.
Ella:And while I will say, growing up in Southern California, you have a very hyper awareness of ecological impact because we are so hyper aware of protecting our mother earth and our oceans and all of that, but I would say that I'm not the most eco-friendly. You know, outside of that, like I have a bit of awareness, I don't think of myself as the most eco-aware individual and I learned so much and it was such a humbling, just wild experience and I was like I think that it could be really interesting experience and I was like I think that it could be really interesting and I would encourage anybody who has the means and the time to go. It will really put into perspective how small and insignificant we are. This, this beautiful ocean, and then also for for anyone who doesn't isn't aware, the Great Barrier Reef is also located outside of yeah, outside of Cairns.
Ella:So if you go to Sydney.
Kristen & Carol :it's down there too, Okay.
Ella:Yeah, you're not up there. So if you go to Sydney, you're not going to see the Great Barrier Reef. That's not where the Great Barrier Reef is. The Great Barrier Reef is in the Northeast corner, where Cairns is Okay, and so yeah, I was. I wanted to talk a little bit about Daintree, rainforest and maybe Nudie beach if we have time, which is not a nude beach, for the record how do you spell that one?
Ella:the nudie beach? Nudie beach is spelled like nude n-u-d-e and then a y. Okay, named after a man, apparently the man who discovered it, or found it. It was named nudie, that was his name, but it is not a nude beach, but if we get a chance. I would love to tell you about that as well okay, funny.
Kristen & Carol :I was in um, maui and there's a nude beach but it's called little beach. There's like there's this mechanic big beach and then over on the side there's little beach, and when you walk over there it says clothing is optional or something, or no. It says you must wear clothing. I'm like what? Why would they say that? I'm like this must be a nude beach, this must be a nude beach. Yeah, yeah, like, how long were you in the rainforest? Is it just day trips or yes, it was a, it was a long.
Ella:It was a long day trip. You. You got a trek to get up there, um, so you're driving for about to get to get to the rainforest. It's about a three hour drive we took. We were in this again. I was on a tour which was oh, okay, what are? Your? What are your thoughts on paid tours when you go to a city like, how do you feel about that, like if you go to rome or somewhere?
Kristen & Carol :I this is my general opinion if it's a very unique place like egypt, where there's like all these cultural differences and maybe women aren't treated, you know the right way. If you a certain way you could get harassed or something, definitely do a tour. But if it's like very Western, I don't like doing tours personally, cause I just like just kind of go with the flow. But these, but the tours, the insiders, they just know so much. Right, some of that's lived there their whole entire life. You're not going to be able to figure that out, you know they'll tell you a hidden gem. So, especially if you don't speak the language, I would definitely do a tour.
Ella:Yeah, well, and so I feel the same way. I'm anti tours. I'm like like when I see all the especially when you go to Italy and France, you'll see a lot of these tour guides with their brochures. Hi, kristen, hi sorry.
Ella:So nice to meet you. We're just getting started. I'm so happy you're here. It's so nice to meet you. We were just discussing our opinions on guided tours because growing up, especially because I'm from California, I spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and they have a lot of guided tours. Like the brochures are in your face Come here, come here, try this tour, try this tour.
Ella:And I've just, I am, I am conditioned to say no, thank you, leave me alone. No, thank you, leave me alone. And I'd always done that. And so this was my first guided tour and I will say, of the few that I've done, because I've maybe done maybe four or five, because, again, I still have this apprehension against wasting money on something I can learn myself using Google. You're right, when you have a local, the insider knowledge, the historical, they can call out certain things that Google just isn't going to know or have the wherewithal to have. And I really enjoyed this guided tour and I don't know that it would have been the same experience had I just found it on a map or a brochure and tried to take myself First of all.
Ella:I think you can get to the Daintree rainforest unless you know how to drive for there.
Kristen & Carol :We were like rough road.
Ella:We were in like a Jurassic park Jeep.
Kristen & Carol :Oh awesome. Yeah, and there's probably a lot of creatures there that you might not know how to handle, Like are the. Is the snakes going to jump out at you or don't like step out? Yeah, there's probably so much to know, but and there's no food up there, right?
Ella:So if you didn't, if you don't know how to like, we weren't allowed to bring food, but there's no food up there. So you have to know the one restaurant on the way there to stop at um or we stopped at a banana plantation as well, on the way up there too, to like, get a quick bite. But if you don't know, those are. That's the type of local insider knowledge. I do think that a lot of the guided tours are a lot like I did it at the rome Coliseum. I could have googled that myself. I feel, um, but you know I, I understand it, um. So that's why I was curious Kristen, where do you stand with guided tours?
Kristen:um, you know, it's funny, I, when you were saying that, I actually, when I was in Italy and Rome and it was all the students and it was a free tour, it was free, we just walked around and learned and it was amazing and this was 99. It was a long time ago, I guess. I'd say I'm split, although I'm, I am more towards it, because then you get to learn, and so I think with our podcast it's been a lot of connecting with the locals so we get that insider knowledge. So it's not typically like a, an actual guided tour company, but I see the value. I mean, I would want to learn more like that. When I was in Rome, it was one of my highlights was to be able to talk with the people and find that out, and that's why I love this podcast so much is because we talk to people who are actually living it and we really dive in deep, which is what a guided tour was.
Kristen:And specifically, if you're in a very remote place, like I, would die if I couldn't eat, and I, you know, I work out a lot, so when I am hungry, I am hungry and I need to eat now.
Kristen:So you know, hence the reason I look like this, because I either showered and I didn't have time after my swim to get it all done. Because I either showered and I didn't have time to, after my swim, to like get it all done. So but the rainforest, I mean the pictures look incredible and I was really excited to learn sort of you know this tour and what it is, and um, yeah.
Kristen:I would love to get caught up to speed on you know, and so you guys talked about the, the rainforest we're just talking about, like, how to get there, how we got there so, or how I got there.
Ella:So I did take a guided tour, and it was my first guided tour after years of always declining them. But my Airbnb host insisted you do not want to do this on your own, and so I want to echo that as well. For anybody who is inspired to visit this amazing place, I can't wait to go back. Who is inspired to visit this amazing place, I can't wait to go back. It's truly usually when I visit somewhere, I leave and I'm like all right, check the box, I'm ready to move on, unless I want to live there, which is totally different. But this is somewhere where I want to take my family there, I want to take my friends there, because I think that from an existential perspective, it is so, so, very special.
Ella:So I will say some of the facts, because I took this tour nine years ago are disputed on the internet. So, for the sake of argument, everything I'm saying is going to be regurgitated from what I learned on the tour, and then I will flag anything that might be a little up for debate. But my understanding of Daintree when I went is that it is the oldest place on earth. It is the oldest standing place on earth. It is verifiably older than the Amazon rainforest. It is verifiably over 180 million years old, which means that literal dinosaurs walked there and I mean, our earth is Earth, so it always existed that long.
Kristen:But this is what? One that was documented, because even where we live, like California, it existed, I'm assuming. Or what do you mean by that?
Ella:It's the same. It hasn't changed. What's the same?
Kristen:The forest.
Ella:Yeah, yeah, ok, so like where you live right now was not what it looked like 180 million years ago, it could have been underwater yeah.
Ella:So the reason why this is the same is because it has an extremely diverse ecosystem. So what is so fascinating about the Daintree rainforest is they haven't been able to do a long form documentary on it. You can't do long-term studying in the rainforest. You have people who set up shop to live there. But the problem is the rainforest is so alive that even as you're walking through the trees have these beautiful dangling, almost like spider webs, and they touch you and grab you as you're walking through the rainforest and you can just brush them off like a spider web. But if you stand there, put a post up there, build a temporary shelter there the rainforest will absorb it. Nothing can sustain, Not a metal pole, not a camera. You can't just set up a camera and have it record, because the rainforest will consume it.
Ella:Um and so this is where it's different than like a california or anything else that's been there like. This is what so there's no camping allowed huh, you can't there.
Ella:Yeah, I mean, people try. There was a camper, there was a camp shut up, but they were shutting down shop because their their setup got was decaying, um, after however many days. So it is such a moist, alive forest and and I mean it you're walking through and you feel like the trees are talking to you. There are over 400 birds, 400 birds species in this rainforest so it just gives you Truly, it's very akin to what you see in Avatar. It's beyond, it's beyond, and that's why it's really hard even today to find a lot of footage of it.
Ella:You have to go there to experience it in this beautiful, almost spiritual way. It is unlike other areas of earth, like the pyramids of Egypt, where you can photograph and get a concept. You really have to go there to understand how tall the trees are, how alive everything is, all the noises, all the colors, the vibration. But there are not just 400 species of birds. There are insects and bugs and all of these amazing things that are just living freely and they're a part of the rainforest's ecological system. So it's really, really interesting, because anything that tries to stay in that forest, that doesn't belong, disappears.
Kristen:I was curious about like are there? I have so many questions like are there tribes that are there? Do you die in there? Are there insects that are larger than you, that are larger than normal size, that can kill you? Like, where did you? How long were you there? How long? What did you sleep?
Ella:yeah, no, no. So I was only there. I was only there for a day trip, so we were there for about six hours. I don't fully understand who regulates the Wren Forest. I don't know the proper names for Australia, it escapes me at the moment. But what I will say is that we were on like we got the shallow end of the forest, if that makes sense, like we did not go too far deep. I think we walked maybe about a mile and a half in and a mile and a half out, so we did not really penetrate.
Ella:You know how, how deep it can go when you talk about the indigenous people. So the conversation about the indigenous of australia just honoring, like australian history, is a very hot topic in australia. In north america it's not as much of a hot topic because we've completely wiped out the indigenous population and kind of put them away. I don't say that to sound political, but I'm saying it's a very stark difference. Um, in australia it's a lot more we'll your face, I guess, like this idea of the indigenous versus the Westerners or settlers, colonizers, whatever you want to call it. And again, I'm not saying that to be political, I'm just saying from a cultural perspective, as an American. Again, we have an idea of an indigenous population in our nation, but they're not around, they're not on our streets begging for food the way that it is in Australia. And so the indigenous people of the Daintree rainforest it's. I don't know the full studies of them and I wouldn't be equipped to like fully talk about them, but what I will say is, actively, there are indigenous people who live in the rainforest. Um, they are of a tribe that is called the Kuku Yanali. I might be saying that correctly, um, but they have been there for over 50,000 years and they are a part of the rainforest stories.
Ella:As far as safety or not, I will say, like, if you're with a guided tour guide, they probably have. Yeah, I, I again, I don't think you can even go by yourself if you try, um, but if you could, right, like, these are things to be really considerate of of, because this is much bigger than you, this is much bigger than like oh, this is much bigger than like oh, I have some dollars and I want to go visit this really amazing rainforest. I also think, in some ways, it's kind of a best kept secret to prevent any type of hostility or confusion or cultural clashes. So I don't fully understand the indigenous population of the rainforest, but what I can say is it's really hard for us to study the rainforest, including the indigenous people that currently inhabit it.
Kristen:So I'm curious, because it sounds like you were saying that the forest would absorb them, so they didn't absorb them.
Ella:Figured out like how to live in it. Yeah, and again I don't fully understand, like, if they're, I, I don't fully know because I that's where I'm not a um, I'm not an anthropologist, so I don't fully understand. But what we were told is just you're not going to see them, but they're probably watching us. That's what I was told oh wow, that's very interesting Say like how big it
Ella:is you said you're just on the edge. We were just on the edge. Um, let me look it up, cause I forgot how big it is. To be honest, I totally forgot.
Kristen:And then it's on the. It looks like the coast of Queensland up at the North end.
Ella:Yes, which is exactly what I was going to talk about yes, so it's 460 square miles, um, so sizable, but not, you know, the largest ever, but still very sizable. Uh, pretty hard to walk in a day. Um, but what is so incredible? And what really blew my mind? Because it's so dark and dense when you're in there, I mean it's beautiful, the the sunlight comes in so you can see the birds, you can hear so many amazing things and spiders, and it's so incredible.
Ella:But then what we did was the trail that we took brought us to the beach, and so you land on the beach. I mean, this is a forest that, as you said, is sitting on the Cape Tribulation Beach, and so what we ended up doing? Because they gave us the option that we can either take the Jeep with them back, but when you get to the beach, like basically, you're spit out from the rainforest and you're on the beach, you can hitch a ride with an Uber, which is what we decided to do Everyone else hopped back in the Jeep. It was just my girlfriend and I that were like, we'll stay on this beach, we're not scared. And so it was just her and I on Cape Tribulation, by ourselves, on this beautiful beach, with the forest, you know, as our backdrop, but again, bearing in mind, we were, we were on the periphery.
Ella:We weren't like super deep into it. I'm sure there are ways and you have to work with the local rangers or whatever it may be, but we were just there for a quick day tour. Cape Tribulation is kind of like the entire beach. It's like saying Southern California coast, if you will, and then there are these little beaches in between, so you have like the Wonga Beach and the Thornton Beach and Imogen Beach, so you have these other beaches like within it, almost like what we have in Southern California right, where it's like yeah, there's Huntington, but then there's also sunset and seal and you know. So we have the beaches within the beach. My understanding, cause I was using Google maps to figure out where we were too, cause I didn't fully understand where we were. Um, it was just good.
Kristen & Carol :Oh, so you had internet. You had, you did have wifi out there. Yes, that's good yeah, once you're on the beach.
Ella:You're kind of in the mainland again. Right, it's when you're in that rainforest that there's. You know, there, uh, I, I don't even think that I looked at myself. You're just absorbing everything. You're not even looking at yourself everything.
Ella:You're not even looking at yourself to check. Yeah, it is, it is. It's very akin to meow wolf in the sense. I mean, when he said to us you know there, you're not going to see them, but they can see you, like that sends a shiver down your spine because you're wondering am I welcome here, am I going to be safe, am I? You know, your head starts to go because again, it's such, it's such like meow wolf. You know that there's so something so much bigger than you happening, like you feel so small and so insignificant in the sense of you're like oh, dinosaurs literally stepped here, like actually lived here. They've discovered dinosaur bones here and we're feeding off of this very vegetation, right and just for anyone that doesn't know what Meow Wolf is.
Kristen & Carol :it's a museum. There's one I don't know if there's one in Dallas, there's one in Denver, I think it started in New Mexico and it's like the people that did, I think Burning man, all these artists and then they grabbed all this cool art and it's just crazy, crazy art, like in this walking museum that just blows your mind away. And then just to get a little perspective, like what is 460 square miles, like I, I can't like figure out what that is, you know. So I looked Disney World is 43 square miles, so it's 10 times as big as Disney World. La County, which you ladies know is la county, is 4 000 square miles and los angeles, proper city, is 468 square miles, so that's how I love that, thank you interesting.
Kristen & Carol :So there's probably a lot more to explore than than a day trip, so you probably could spend, but if you did multiple days, you'd go in and out, in and out probably.
Ella:So my understanding again, I was there nine years ago but my understanding was that you cannot stay there like at all. You have to get very special permits to try to do studies and the studies I think like our maximum one month or a couple months, like it's not anything um long term again. So when we see a lot of these beautiful because I have a few friends who've filmed for nat geo, national geographic- when you see these beautiful footages of nat geo.
Ella:That is anywhere from 18 months to 5, 10 years of footage. One month of footage really isn't sufficient, especially from an ecological standpoint. So they have people who come in set up shop. They're mostly focused on one species within the forest, not the whole forest as itself. It's just so a mass that it's kind of I don't want to say impossible, but again you're covered in, in in just a few hours. You're covered with these like they almost look silver, like, um, they're like, uh truly like a spider web. But then they have these little sticky things that are like tiny sticky hands that just stick all over you, because already the four is just saying, saying welcome, you're here now and you're a part of me, so, um, you just really do get absorbed into the rainforest what are the trees, the, what are they uh called, like the species?
Ella:um, let me see, I'm gonna look that up because I don't remember exactly what that is called. I will say that they also have, because there are thousands of species in this forest. They have, um, there's a dinosaur that is alive there. Um, it's called the green dinosaur and I don't believe it exists anywhere else on the planet. Naturally, the green dinosaur sorry, that's the one it was the green dinosaur is the tree, sorry okay, okay, yeah, yeah, so they have the ribbon tree fan palm.
Ella:I'm trying to find the one. Let me see. Oh, the strangler. That's called the strangler of course. How could I forget? Yes, oh yeah, the strangler tree, if that gives you an idea of what it does when you're walking so you don't want to sit still too long, huh? It's cool, I mean, and again, how poetic is that? Don't sit still too long or you will die. I mean, i's like it sounds really awful to say it that way, but isn't that a metaphor for life? We are not meant to stay stagnant.
Kristen & Carol :Right, that's what they always say about like aging, you know cause denial, like empty nesting soon and um, but they're like oh, when you get old, you slow down, and it's like no, when you slow down, you get old.
Ella:That's right. Yeah, it's so true. It's so true. And that's where I say like I think it's a very, it's such, it's truly a place where I'm like I want everyone to experience this because I think you just see the world truly so differently, and not from a religious perspective, which I am very. I am very religious and faith filled. But I think just beyond that, like remove religion from the scenario, because I can almost guarantee that my religion doesn't match the religion of the indigenous people who habitate this Daintree forest. But the fact that you can just really think, wow, this is so much bigger and older than him. We think we have an idea of dinosaurs because we grew up going to museums and seeing the bones. But when you're in a space that is tech free and I mean truly tech free, I mean, besides the devices on yourself, it's just a different type of it's. It's very, very awe inspiring.
Kristen:I was in the Osa Peninsula, which is pretty heavy rainforest and the strangler tree like that actually looks like when I was hiking, and the trees they were kind of different not entirely, I'm sure they're totally different, but that feel, you know, is really, and it's so dark. I was so surprised because it was so hot and blue skies but dark and there were just like all these macaws flying all over the place and, uh, monkeys swinging from the trees.
Kristen:And it was pretty amazing. I was curious how, when did you go? And I don't know if you spoke about this already. Um, what was the weather like? Was it humid? Um, what's the best time? Best time to go, you know to where you went.
Ella:So I went in November of 2015, which is Australia's summer, so overall, really hot and a little humid up in Cairns. So down south in Sydney, not humid, but up north it does get a little bit more humid. Sydney, not humid, but up north it does get a little bit more humid. That said, they told us to pack a sweater, which I thought was kind of crazy because I'm like a sweater.
Ella:It's daytime in the summer and it's hot and humid, but because the forest is so dense, you don't get the same humidity or light or warmth from the sun. So you have this cold chill when you're walking through. And that's where I say like it's almost like when you're walking into an ac room, but logically, you're like well, of course it's cooler in this room than outside because there's an air conditioning running, but this, this, if you can imagine, you know, walking from a hot space into a cooler space, because the trees just kind of encompass you, it's very interesting. So, yeah, we, we brought sweaters, light, light sweaters, nothing, nothing too heavy. You don't need a parka, but it is the. The weather definitely changes when you get closer to the forest.
Ella:And that's pretty probably close to the equator right, so it's probably warm all year around, I would think, as great as my geography is, I guess Australia always throws me off because it was so much closer to exactly Bali and China than I really envisioned in my head. And as far as the equator goes, I don't really understand. They don't have snow, tropical icebergs. I remember getting that speech from when I was scuba. I'm a scuba diver, so of course you are nice.
Ella:Yes, um, of course, diving the great barrier reef, which is, for anyone who doesn't know, um christian. We had said earlier, the great barrier reef is up north, where kansas, where the daintry rainforest is. It's not near sydney at all, it's about a three hour flight away. They were like you don't have to worry about our tropical icebergs, like they don't have. I guess they've never had an iceberg out in their oceans, so it probably does stay, does stay warm, but close to the equator, I mean, I don't. I guess that's just relative to what we consider close. It's not on the equator, right.
Kristen & Carol :Okay, and then? How did you get to Cairns? Did you have to fly there or did?
Ella:you drive? Yeah, so I flew Train would be significantly longer. So Australia, which again, it wasn't until I went there that I learned this it's about the same geographical size as the United States.
Kristen & Carol :Oh, okay.
Ella:So how do you get from Florida to New new york or florida to maine? Oh okay, yeah, right.
Ella:So if you, think of it in that context like sydney would be where florida is and cans would be up in maine, like you could take a train, but it's gonna take a while. And then you have to also understand there's a lot more um, desert and plain and and like less, we'll say commercialized stuff. But so, yeah, you're most likely going to take a flight and it was a very rough, bumpy flight. It was the most. It was the oldest, scariest plane I'd ever been on. I will say that. But I also booked it last minute because, like I said, I went to Sydney and I was like this feels too much like California, get me out of here.
Ella:So it was like a whatever cheap last minute flight. Maybe there are nicer options, but I took tiger air and never heard of that airline and the. I would not be surprised if that plane was from the 1970s Like. It was a very rickety ride for everybody.
Kristen & Carol :It was very like all right, we're doing this and then, once you got there, did you rent a car or just get drivers, or what makes the most sense?
Ella:I did not rent a car. I'm trying to remember what side of the road they drive on out there yeah, I'm trying to remember right now everyone does.
Kristen & Carol :I think it's like the UK is the only one that does it oh, really okay okay yeah, um, I've never driven in Australia.
Ella:Yeah, yeah, but they, so I, they have uber. Like uber was available back then. It's only going to be available now. But so to get to the Daintree rainforest like I, like I had to, I had to ask my Airbnb host to drive us there. Yeah, I met up with a friend in Australia who came with me to this. She had to drive us because the Uber wouldn't take us to the spot where we're meeting. So where we met for the tour was not at the Daintree Forest, it's we're meeting at another area, but Uber wouldn't go that far. I don't remember exactly where we were meeting for that. But again, if you're looking for a tour, like, they will give you all that information of what you need. So renting a car might've been prudent, but luckily my Airbnb driver did come, come clutch and was able to give give us a ride.
Kristen & Carol :Yeah, oh, I did just look.
Ella:They do drive on the left side, so yeah, yeah, I feel like I remember that because I was thinking I don't know if I'd want to rent a car, but I remember feeling that way, but I couldn't remember why I might've felt that way.
Ella:Um, where I stayed in cans was about walking distance from other stuff outside of like the you know off skirts. Um, so, like there are so many ways to get to the great barrier reef, if that's what you're interested in, I will say, um, I do want to tell you about nudie beach only because, again, it's just a special gem and it's so hard to get to that. Okay, it's one of those places in the world where you're like, not too many people have been here it's, and if you can make it happen, I would be disappointed to know I went all the way to cane cans and then didn't hear about nudie beach and didn can make it happen. I would be disappointed to know I went all the way to Cairns and then didn't hear about Nudie Beach and didn't make it to Nudie Beach because it's like you've already gone that far.
Ella:Just go the extra couple miles. And this is where we talked about guided tours earlier. I'm a big proponent of staying in Airbnbs or VRBOs, verbos, because when you stay in an Airbnb or a verbo, compared to a hotel, you have a local who is invested in your enjoyment of the trip. Because there's this mutual I'm going to rate you, you're going to rate me. We're in a mutual partnership here. So in my experience, I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences. But they want you to have a good time and they're happy to help you with whatever you're trying to do. And it's a local. They're also going to keep a closer eye on you. As a female myself who travels alone a lot, they're going to keep a closer eye on you than a hotel who doesn't know who's coming in and out, like my Airbnb. I've had Airbnb hosts like text me and say hey, like, not your mom just checking that you're okay, cause it's midnight, you're not home yet, right? Like those type of extra rides, no, but I'll say that I will say like hey, if I'm not home by midnight, check-in. But like, because, again, I'm a female alone in a country and I just need to be vigilant about my safety, right. So I'm a big proponent of Airbnbs or VRBOs, like renting from locals, but a big part of that is because they will know the like secret stuff. So Nudie Beach was one of those secret spots.
Ella:To get to Nudie Beach is quite the trek. So you got to. You know you fly into Sydney. If you're coming from the States, take another flight into Cairns. Then from there you're going to hop on a big ship which will take you, uh, by the great barrier reef, right, because that's where you want to go.
Ella:The great barrier reef is about an hour off the shore, so it's an hour cruise. So you take like a big ship, um, towards fitzroy island, which is a mid-sized island, um, smaller than catalina island for anyone who's familiar with california. From there you go to fitzroy island and from fitzroy island you take a little dinghy boat to nudie beach. Nudie beach is not a nude beach, but if you wanted to get nude you totally could, because it's a small, private, desolate island that just is really, you know, difficult to get to, in the sense of how much you've got to travel to get there. Locals will go there for, like, a quick lunch break just to tan on the reef. So the beach is white, white white because when the Great Barrier Reef dies and breaks off, that reef, as we know, turns white right. So it goes from pink a coral to then white and washes and washes up.
Kristen & Carol :You've probably seen white coral? Yes, I never knew. Okay, thanks for that. Yeah, so when?
Ella:it dies, it turns white and then it washes up on shore. So this beach is very rocky. It's going to be uncomfortable, like think about walking on rocks but it's absolutely beautiful. Uncomfortable, like, think about walking on rocks, but it's absolutely beautiful. Um, and I'll send you. I'll actually send you a photo, because it's probably the photo was so beautiful that my friend took of me that my, my mom blew it up and hung it in her living room. No one knew it was me in the photo, but it just looks like a real.
Ella:It's a really incredible scene, so I'll send that to you if you want to post it for for your listeners. It's just again. You're in a space where you turn around, do a 360. There is no one else, nothing but ocean. So if you look up nudity on the map, it is like the middle of the ocean just yeah, so far away.
Ella:Climb up to see the 360 uh, there's, there are rocks, there are these big rocks, yeah, and you can climb up and it's just ocean. Okay, you'll see a little bit of Fitzroy Island, like um, you'll see a little bit of Fitzroy Island, but yeah, it's just ocean okay it's so and I just I love how big like the world is so small in so many ways, but it's still so big. It's so big and we're the small one.
Kristen & Carol :Yes, we are the small one.
Ella:Okay.
Kristen & Carol :Well, we need to wrap up. Unfortunately, this was so great. Ella, thank you so much. I'm going to skip the fire questions today, but you have a consulting service, is that right? Do you want to talk a little bit about what you do?
Ella:You're so inspirational and so positive. Every interaction with you has been amazing. You're so kind. I'm going to send you this nudie beach photo right now. I yes, I do own a consulting firm.
Ella:I recently wrote a book called high tolerance, and what I love it's about my career and what I. What I love is that I've been so blessed that I've been able to find a career that allows me to travel and visit the world, and so I'm really grateful for that. But what I want to do is empower more people, women, everyone to just think outside of their own little world, whatever that might be. Whether it's the city you live in, the town you live in, the state you live in the country you live in, we are never going to be peaceful, kind people to each other. It's through traveling and learning others, like whatever other might look for you, someone who doesn't look like you, who doesn't eat like you, who doesn't speak the same language as you do. This is where our compassion is deepened, and I think we get so self-absorbed. Because we live a world in our own four walls, with our family. We think the world revolves around us, and when we travel and extend ourselves into other spaces, we can realize there's so much more happening in this world.
Ella:I just put it in the chat for you, that is beautiful, so yeah, my book Looks really amazing.
Kristen:Yeah, it's, it's. Oh, there we go. Oh, that's cute, You're laying on a rock rock.
Ella:Yeah, I'm laying on a rock yeah.
Kristen & Carol :Yeah, that's great yeah so we'll post that if you're okay with that, or yeah, of course, of course it's one of my favorite photos, just because it's so.
Ella:That's my peaceful place when I'm in a really stressful time. I remember sitting there on nudie beach, going just soak every feeling up soak, the coral under your butt, the sun in the sky, the smell of the clean ocean, and just remember this for any stressful moment and I go back there every time I'm like really stressed.
Kristen:Oh very good.
Kristen & Carol :All right, and so we'll put your. If you send me your like, any social channels that you want us to share, we'll put in the show notes as well.
Kristen:So what is the consulting business that you do that allows you?
Ella:to travel. Yeah, so I started EP Consulting officially about six, seven months ago, but I've been doing it about nine years. So I, by trade, I am a marketing executive for CPG, like Fortune 500 companies, and then what I do is I really just help empower leaders to fix some of the mess within their business. So that could be from an operational standpoint, sales standpoint or marketing. Those are the three verticals where I'm the strongest. So, working with various CEOs or founders who are trying to figure out where the bottlenecks are in their business, helping with team morale if, like, the team is struggling there, giving some strategies and tactics on proper marketing, because I've had I've worked for a multi-billion dollar company, so I've had really big million dollar marketing budgets and what happens is, with a lot of smaller, medium-sized businesses, they're spending money where they don't realize. Like that's not how you should be spending and allocating your budget.
Ella:So, with my big experience of like look, when I worked for a $5 billion company, we weren't spending this much money on social media, neither should you being able to have those kind of like real talks about effective marketing, because marketing is such an elusive concept and it's so necessary, especially from a digital standpoint today. It's a great way to build communities and a great way to build your network and get more clients, but you want to make sure that you're doing it in an effective way where you're not losing a ton of profits because you're getting caught up in whatever the hot TikTok trend is of the day. So really offering like effective tactical ways to market it's beyond like a digital ad. It's going to be a lot of relationship building, making sure you're in the right room, making sure that you have the right relationships, and so my book is a lot less expensive than my services.
Ella:So I wrote the book really to help smaller business owners kind of have an idea of how big business works and thinks in terms of marketing. I've worked with a lot of celebrities, sports teams, influencers, things like that, and so a lot of people have sports teams, influencers, things like that, and so a lot of people have asked questions about my career. So I was like, let me just write a book. I wrote the book from a hospital bed, which is also in the book, so that's kind of like the yeah you found the silver lining.
Ella:Yeah, well, I had. I had time to think about my life and the meaning of it, so I was like, let me just write this book now while I have the time. So it's been a really great project. It landed on several bestseller lists and it's been a really interesting, fun thing. But, yeah, if you just go to ellaparlorcom, it's going to have all the things. And if anybody does want to work with me, I'm always happy to help and empower smaller business owners. That's what I'm hoping to do. I really want to help empower people to fill their purpose and feel good about whatever.
Kristen & Carol :Whatever it is that they're doing, getting them out of bed, yeah, I just started working on this New York nonprofit called the acceleration project. Their whole thing is to get consultants and leave a train consultant Some are volunteers and some are, like paid but to get them to learn these skills, to go in and help all these small businesses like locally any you know hairdressers, car shops, etc. So many like let's keep the small business world alive.
Kristen:So yeah, sure, so I'll have to reach out to you a lot of oversized large companies on a daily basis love that.
Ella:Yeah, no, I get it I see you, I get it.
Kristen & Carol :Yeah, that's wonderful, we'll definitely connect.
Kristen:Yes, that would be great, that's our goal, for sure me and carol, and carol also does all the marketing for companies and things as well. So yeah um, yeah, a lot of synergies.
Ella:I love that. Well, yes, I would love to continue connecting and talking, and thank you so much for letting me bring Daintree to more ears, because I really mean it. It's the one place on the earth where I'm like everybody needs to experience this, and I don't feel that way about the Colosseum in Rome or the Eiffel Tower.
Kristen & Carol :So that'll give you perspective. Okay, very good, all right, I've got to run to a call, so I'm going to okay, all right. Thank you, ladies, bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app, and if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at where next podcast? Thanks again, thank you.
