Spring Break Installment 7

October 1-4

After an extensive clean-up sesh, we ditched the van and lugged our bags to the train station. We immediately went all the way back down to Surfer's Paradise and found this where the connecting bus dropped us off:

A shuttle bus from our hostel brought us from the bus stop near city center to our beachside hostel, where we moved into a room with two girls (who we weren't told we'd be living with). Long story short, one of the girls moved out after the first night. The other was a trooper and stuck it out, even coming out with us one of the ensuing nights. The next morning, we went out to the beach to find no surfers and hardly a paradise. The rain was pouring, the ocean was choppy, etc. etc. We abandoned our beach tendencies and wandered into town to find an interesting scene. I had been told Surfer's was a beachside city, and I'd seen it from a distance. What I did not know was that it would be lined with Guccis, Louis Vattons and Starbucks. This was hardly what I imagined a surfer would consider paradise. For those of you at home, this was Bridgeport Village on the beach. We also found the first Wendy's we'd seen in Australia, only it wasn't Wendy's (notice the rain coats):
After killing the morning, we found a large bar showing the (second) footy grand final on a bunch of flat screens and settled in. Collingwood smoked St. Kilda. I mean not even close. I bet on the line, with St. Kilda +35 points or something like that. Well, they didn't even cover the spread. I couldn't believe in a professional sport, the theoretically two best teams that tied their first championship game could be so unequal just a week later. I got screwed. That day as well as the next, which was as equally miserable, I found myslef either in a giant arcade called TimeZone, sitting at a random bar watching college football, or going out to one of the many student-filled clubs and meeting some awesome - and also rather interesting - people.
On the last day of our stay in Surfer's (and our adventure), the sun finally came out. Surfer's Paradise at least turned into somewhat of a paradise, even though there were still zero to few surfers on the waves. The beach was packed at intermittent swim zones where lifeguards barked orders through megaphones at the swimmers (us). Seeing as it was our last day of break and the first nice day in Surfer's, I figured I would get some sun before heading back to the rain in Melbourne. Dumb, I got burned. Not as bad as Hughesy and Gregg at the beginning in Cairns (I thought they had immediately contracted skin cancer), but still pretty bad.

The trip had come and gone in a blink of an eye, but it felt like it was time to head home to Melbourne. I was ready to stop living out of my backpack, but the trip had been absolutely amazing. It felt like we had really seen Australia, the kind on all of the adventure and tourist brochures (minus the yachts, cruises, and obviously the Outback). We got home by about midnight, and lucky for us we had to go surfing for a class (no joke) at 730 in the morning. After all, who needs sleep.

Spring Break Installment 6

September 28-30th

After listening to the strangest animals I've ever heard from inside the tent all night, we got up early to head over to Tin Can Bay, a short drive from Rainbow Beach. Every morning, a couple of volunteers feed two local dolphins, which return almost every morning to the boat ramp for a few kilos of fish before starting their daily feeding out in the ocean. We arrived just in time to catch a glimpse for a few minutes, and I got just this one picture before they left.

We loaded up and drove back over to Rainbow Beach to hang for a few hours, where we found bigger waves than anywhere before. After bodysurfing for awhile, we packed up and headed south towards Byron Bay.
We stopped in a town called Nimbin in the hills, a place everyone had told us to see. Turns out it is a tiny town but a huge hippie spot. The buildings were almost all painted like the magic bus or something, most stores sold rasta apparel and Che shirts, and the following business hours sign probably gives you an idea.

Anyway, the town was in a beautiful location in the hills that reminded me a lot of the farmlands of coastal Oregon. Feeling like I was at home somehow (the furthest I've ever been from home) was a great feeling.
When we got to Byron Bay, it was nearly impossible to find a place to stay. Apparently during school holidays, this was to place to go. We ended up in a caravan park down the road a few miles hanging with this guy:
He must've followed us all the way down from Crystal Cascades where we saw him in the rainforest. Anyway, Byron Bay proved to be a great spot. Except that someone stole my towel and board shorts (which were hidden inside the rolled towel) from in front of a coffee shop. Who steals a towel? Nice one ass hole. Good thing I had a backup pair. We got in some surfing on rental boards, although the waves were above and beyond what we could handle. It was a battle to run the gauntlet of waves just to get out and try to catch one. We also learned that there was a shark out past where we were surfing for most of the time, which was a spectacle for the people on the shore but apparently not really a concern for everyone surfing...?
Later on we drove up a small, winding road to the lighthouse to do something touristy. It was a good decision and provided a great lookout point to the surrounding area and the perfect spot for a group photo before heading back to Brisbane the next day.




The van got dropped off in Brisbane, Sam went his way into the city and the four of us remaining hopped on the train and went right back down to Surfer's Paradise, a seaside city complete with highrises, Starbucks and a looooooong beach.

The next blog will detail our time in Surfer's, but there was one thing I wanted to mention about Brisbane. The main motorway/highway is a toll road, but rather than using simple tollbooths or EZ passes like in the states (where we know how to do tolls, apparently), you have to call a hotline, give them your credit card information, and a complete, thorough description of your vehicle. In our case, that included where we had rented the campervan, where we were going, etc. The whole process must have taken ten minutes on the phone. Worst system ever.

Spring Break Installment 5

September 25-27

When I woke up about midday in Airlie Beach, disoriented as to exactly where we were and what was going on, I looked out the back of the old beater to see resorts and vacation homes sprouting from green hills and a full marina sitting over opal waters. We were in the Whitsundays, known as one of the most beautiful places in Australia. It definitely was. We drove around town, finding that there was actually no beach on the mainland (only on the boat-accessible islands nearby). After securing a campsite, we rolled back into town to find a bar to watch the AFL (Australian Rules Football League) grand final (championship). There were a couple of bars filled with loyal fans to either St. Kilda or Collingwood (boo...) and we picked one on the sole basis that it was closest to the van and had a bartender who was throwing bottles around like nobody's business. Anyway, the 4th quarter ended with the two teams tied. We figured we would grab another beer for overtime when people started to leave. There's no overtime in footy. The two teams would play, again, the next Saturday. Great.

The next day, after realizing we had missed any shot at getting out to the islands and the famous Whitehaven Beach, we screwed around for most of the day and I managed to do a half hour or so of fishing. Caught a handful of fish that aren't worth mentioning, and this was my last one:
Very interesting coloring, but what was crazy was that while reeling it in, a bigger garfish attacked it and just wouldn't let go. This is a garfish (obviously not my picture):

It eventually did loosen its clamp when the two fish were almost at my feet, and slowly swam off on the water's surface.

For the afternoon, we drove up a dirt road to a local swimming hole/water fall, kicked back with a couple brews and enjoyed the sun (probably too much - imagine in Billy Madison when he "falls asleep" by the pool for a few hours before dinner with all his dad's clients).

We headed over to Conway Beach before sunset and found a mucky, mussel-covered river mouth at low tide. I tiptoed through a colony of thousands of little crabs, can't tell you what they were, and took a few casts with the fishing rod. I didn't catch anything and couldn't see much because the water was so muddy. However, about fifteen feet out from me, something fairly large and incredibly creepy poked a set of nostrils and eyes out of the water to look at me twice, quickly submerging again when it realized I was looking right at it. I still have no idea what it was, but my best guess was a dugong, the Australian sea cow/manatee (also obviously not my picture):

That night I had some more incredible fish and chips and a lovely chat with a random Australian couple on vacation. That night, we set out on our all-night, 8 hour drive down to Agnus Water & 1770. Hughesy and I took the first shift, or I took the wheel with Hughesy "spotting" (falling asleep) in the front seat. Hughesy took a quick shift, I passed out in the back and didn't wake up until midway through Chris and Gregg's shift. They got lucky and had so much fog you could only see a car length or two in front of the van. I didn't wake up again until we were in Agnus Water, parked by the beach with Chris and Gregg sleeping on the beach. Must've been a beautiful sight for the morning beach goers and surfers. We only spent the morning there, since there was nothing to be seen but the ocean and the sun (which was fine, but didn't offer a whole lot past swimming and tanning). We spent the rest of the day driving towards Rainbow Beach, which looks like its just down the coast a few hours. It's not. We drove all afternoon through what looked like the Great Plains (no longer 'Nam) and made a nice stop in the po-dunk town of Rosedale, which I think is where Deliverance was filmed, and later 8 mile road, which I think is where 8 Mile Road was filmed.. We also realized the van was absolutely guzzling gas. I mean making a Hummer look like a Prius. That evening the oil light came on as well. Great, so we are driving hours and hours to a place that might not even exist and the van is breaking down. Well we made it after almost running out of gas a couple times. The next day we figured out the van was sucking because the O/D Off light was on. We were driving on nothing but 100-110 km/hr highways without our top gear. No wonder.

Spring Break Installment 4

September 23-25

We knew we had reached the city of Townsville when the seemingly eternal darkness beyond our headlights turned to a looming glow of traffic lights and street lamps. We took what was apparently the 'main' road into town, which barely had lane stripes and ran forever through warehouses and autobody shops until finally reaching civilization (marked by the first McDonald's we had seen in a couple days). We aimlessly drove around town, getting lost and retracing our turns over and over again, until we finally stopped at a gas station to sort things out. The clerk inside the station proved completely useless in pointing us in the right direction, and it wasn't until an old local came in that we had any idea of where to go. He gave us directions to the ferry landing, where we would catch a boat out to Magnetic Island. We left our van behind and hopped aboard the jetty/speedboat that put us on the island in just 2o minutes. We made our way to our hostel, Base, which seemed more like a surf resort to us. Complete with palms, a beachside deck and bar, Base was to be the location of a huge, infamous full moon party the following night, which we decided we had to stay for. After a good night's sleep in a real bed, we spent the next day exploring the island and beach (and health clinic in my case, dealing with that pesky coral poison infection that had my ankle swollen like a grapefruit). Maggy, as it is called by the Aussies, is a small, scarcely inhabited island surrounded by reefs just off the coast by Townsville. It is home to many exotic species of birds and mammals, including the rock wallaby that I was lucky enough to spot on a bus ride (the only way to get around the island).

Rainbow Bee-Eaters
Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo
The beach in front of Base

Lorikeets

At the hostel, these colorful lorikeets were frequent visitors to vacated bar tables. We sat with these two for awhile, who curiously wanted nothing to do with the mango juice I offered them but could not resist the dishes containing sandwich scraps. That night, the full moon party turned out to be a blast. Although the wind was blasting the beachside bar and deck as well, hundreds of people showed and the deck turned into a lit up, packed dance floor that raged until early the next morning. Though most of us were split up at 5 in the morning, we all rendezvoused at the ferry landing, catching a few hours of sleep outside on the concrete while waiting for the first ferry back to the van. I could hardly force the others awake when the boat pulled up, and I thought for a second they would remain there on their bed of asphalt for the entire morning. However, somehow we all boarded and made it back to the van. The others passed out in the back while I drove us into the early morning sun towards Airlie Beach*, our next destination. At a midway stop at McD's for coffee and breakfast, a couple of the others told me they didn't remember getting on the fairy earlier that morning. Thank god I took the first shift at the wheel.

Spring Break Installment 3

September 22-23

We left Cairns to head south on the 22nd, starting our drive through Borneo, wait I mean Queensland. Cane and banana plantations lined the roads all the way to Kirrumine Beach, our next stop, and would for most of our drive down to Brisbane. We pulled in to find a tiny, quiet town by the sea just north of the louder Mission Beach. The average age of this town was far and above what we expected, and the owners of the caravan park seemed both surprised and delighted to have our youthfulness around, though the other campers did not seem as excited. The woman working the front desk was extremely helpful with any questions we had, and even set me up/pointed me in the right direction for some fishing in the morning, though I didn't do any good. We hit the beach for the last few hours of sunlight considering it was the first beach we had been to thus far. We soon reverted to primitive tactics, throwing rocks and old coconuts at the tempting green ones hanging in the trees. We finally dislodged one and spent the better part of an hour working towards its delicious center, which we barely touched by the time we had accessed it. That night we watched Finding Nemo, probably because of our reef trip, as Cane toads hopped around and geckos echoed from the rafters and bathroom stalls. We went to set up camp and found that the tent that had been given to us, which two of us would have to sleep in beside the camper van each night, had broken tent poles and was utterly useless. We drove an hour round trip back to the nearest grocery store and grabbed the cheapest, tackiest tent I have ever seen to make due with.

In the morning we woke early to drive Hughesy to a free rafting trip on the Tully River that he had won in Cairns. On the drive back, I decided to take the long way to drive through Mission Beach, the self-proclaimed capital of the Cassowary Coast. For those of you who don't know, the cassowary is a large, flightless bird. Really it is the only remaining velociraptor. The thing is big, fast, and has a huge razor sharp claw on its middle toe. I was hoping to see one on the 50 km detour I took, but all I saw was this large replica (below) and about 200 road signs warning of cassowary crossing and how speeding kills cassowaries. In fact, I probably would have seen one of these magnificent beasts if I wasn't distracted by the multitude of signs. My favorite was one that read, "Do not feed the cassowaries," and I realized I had no shot anyway since I had not brought any small children or Jurassic Park characters with me.
After packing up camp and spending a few more hours on the beach with intermittent rains, we hauled back down to Tully and into the rainforest. On our drive along the river towards a seemingly nonexistent boat ramp/park area, we were lucky enough to see a German Shepherd-sized wild boar and its offspring, but they both hurled themselves back into the brush before a camera could be pulled out. We finally found the boat ramp and quickly dove into a nice swimming hole to avoid the vicious swamp flies that were swarming our unprotected skin. Apparently these flies have just a week-long lifespan and hatch only once a year. Thank god we were lucky enough to time our trip to this hatch.





After finding Hughesy back in town, I stumbled upon the best fish and chips I have ever had. This took me back considering we had been by the ocean our entire trip, and it was only was we ventured some 30-odd km inland that I found such a treasure. We loaded up the van and prepared for our drive down to Townsville and the hyped Magnetic Island full-moon beach party.

On a side note, Greg and Hughesy's terrible sunburns brought me to an interesting realization about Australia. When early human forms migrated out of Africa and into new parts of the world such as Europe and Asia, selection led us to having lighter skin because we still needed to absorb some UV rays to synthesize vitamin D in our bodies in new, lower light intensity environments. This means that by Europeans moving back to the tropics (Australia, where the sun is incredibly intense because not only is it closer to the equator but because the ozone layer here sucks), they essentially stepped backwards in the evolutionary timeline. No wonder this place has the highest rate of skin cancer, it's not just the ozone depletion.

Spring Break Installment 2

September 20-21

Monday the 20th Chris and I were scheduled to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, something I had dreamed of doing since my childhood. The dive center told us it was to be the calmest day (in terms of wind and waves) of the month, according to weather predictions. This equated to a glassy, undisturbed surface that would make viewing the reef even better. We staggered to the marina and Finger C in the morning, not in the best of shape from the night before. Chris was quoted saying, "I hope I don't puke on the fish." It took a couple hours to get out to our destination on the outer reef, where amidst the never-ending sea of blue some light green and olive patches appeared. Although these were small fragments, it's worth mentioning that the GBR is the only living thing visible from space. The current coral remains date back about 8,000 years, but the structure was formed about 500,000 years ago. What we see when we look at a coral reef are actually dead calcium carbonate formations left by the coral, while the live creatures live on the outer surfaces where light reaches. Coral itself consists of a mutualism between coral polyps and photosynthetic zooxanthellae, and these mutualisms, among others, are what make such a diverse and lively ecosystem in very nutrient poor waters. Anyway, enough nerdy stuff.

We hooked up to a larger overnight vessel that was stationed just off of our reef and suited up in flippers, wetsuits and snorkels. While Chris did an introductory dive, I swam off to the reef to explore. What I found was just as I had imagined, only more. The reef was incredibly complex, and just when I thought I had seen everything there was to see, something new would appear, or I would discover another niche in the reef or a new school of fish. I can't come anywhere close to identifying all of the fish I saw, but they include multiple species of clownfish, parrotfish, angelfish, butterfly fish, damselfish, wrasses, snapper, groupers, and a small (say 4 feet) reef shark. The reef was covered in sponges, clams and sea squirts. The dive instructor also brought up a large red sea cucumber from the ocean floor. In the afternoon dive session, we rented an underwater camera, which I took full advantage of. However, while putzing around with the camera I neglected to pay attention to my surroundings, and I floated over the reef. As I kicked my flippers to propel myself forward with the camera, I whacked my leg against the coral. Bad news. Coral is related to jellyfish and sea anemones, which almost all have poisons to kill or stun their pray. The coral formations are also limestone, which is razor sharp. This meant I scraped my leg up pretty good and also ended up in a health clinic a few days later with a nasty infection. Totally worth the battle wounds though.

The following day, we set out in the morning on a chartered fishing trip in the estuary. For the first part, we watched as our guide (rather unsuccessfully) caught a bunch of live bet with a hand-thrown net. The actual fishing turned out to be rather disappointing, with only Hughesy landing a good-sized Grunter. The rest of us landed a handful of fish that weren't much bigger than hand-size. Still, it was cool to spend some time out around the mangroves, although it would have been nice to see a saltwater croc.