My last post was when i was headed to brisbane where i spent a couple days. Didn't do much. Mostly walked around the city, which i enjoyed, it was a great size and feel. I think if i had to live in one of the "big" cities i might choose brisbane. The evening of the second day i did a brewery tour at the XXXX (four x) brewery, which was fun and came with plenty of free tastings. later that evening i hit the town with the guys in my room, a couple of irish guys i could hardly understand. but the town was pretty dead so we headed back pretty early, they took the train and i walked which was a little scary but i actually got back just as fast.
My next stop was in Byron Bay, another place i want to return to and spend a little more time, its exactly what you would think of a surfer's town. another one main road towns, but they have done a good job keeping out the big businesses really only a big woolworths grocery store, no McDonalds, no mall or big department stores. and at night the few pubs and bars that were there had great energy, too bad it was raining and i didn't feel like getting soaked and spending money on drinks i couldn't afford at this point. The second day in town the weather was a little questionable to I decided last minute to take a tour of a nearby town called Nimbin... kind of the Amsterdam of australia. Where a certain herbal refreshments are illegal but laws aren't enforced. The bus ride was great! it was a bus from the 70s but a modern sound system blasting a great soundtrack to the adventures we were having. Most of us on the bus bought some baked goods but were a little disappointed, but we all had a fun time checking out the crazy museum and funky shops in town. the bus also took us to visit a hippie guy out in the middle of the woods, guess it was all farm land that he returned to jungle and the guy was crazy and funny. next the bus took us through world heritage forests to minyon falls. we also stopped at a few pubs and roadhouses along the way. in all it was a great day and had lots of fun. too bad i didn't get anyones email addresses they were a fun group.
when i returned to my hostel i found my stuff missing from my room and all the beds taken by other people! but luckily i was moved to a private room since a family had reserved the entire room for themselves and i was accidentally put in there too. so my that night i had a room all to myself, always a bonus in a hostel. even though this was probably one of the nicest hostels i stayed in, i think it was almost brand new.
from byron i headed back to sydney for my final stop on my trip!
after over 13 hours on the bus i arrived in sydney, quickly found my hostel and was checked in by midnight... a long day and i was ready for bed... too bad my bed was in probably the grosses room i've had yet... it smelled bad (think moldy gym socks and wet dog) and i'm pretty sure there was blood stains on my pillow, and the floor was covered in clothes and junk! i managed to fall asleep before they came back to i got woken up by the drunken laughter of 2 irish guys and a irish girl... never got their names. then they preceded to whisper loudly for the next hour, at one point the guy got in bed with the girl in the bed below me (hooray for top bunks o_O) he was begging for a some loving and luckily she was like not with these others in the room... BUT after i finally fell back asleep i was awaken by a violent shacking bed as they finished the final thrusts of passion.... eeeew gross... it was done and over before i could say anything and i was just waiting for one of them to say something to me but they never did. but on the up side in the morning i checked with the front desk to see if my case of wine from sevenhill showed up and it did!!! that made up for anything disturbing that may have happened. and even more exciting was i went on a mission to find a platypus before i left the country... and i did!!!! i went to the sydney aquarium where last time i was in town was unsuccessful in spotting any platypus, but this time spotted 3 separate ones!!! even though it was in a cage i didn't care! my "last night" in town i went out with a group from the hostel to the side bar (which i had a fun time at last time i was in town) ended up hanging out with a couple guys from holland all night and did a good job spending the rest of the cash i had before my flight in the morning.
so in the morning i grabbed my heavy box of wine, big backpack and little backpack and made my way to the lobby to wait for the shuttle to the airport... saw one of the dutch guys and when i went to say hello nothing came out! i completely lost my voice... i dont think i've ever lost my voice like this. when the bus arrived i juggled my gear out to the bus and after a short ride to the airport i began my search for the correct check in line... what luck a big united airways sign... and what better luck a big sign saying "san francisco flight cancelled" umm thats my flight! after waiting in line for like an hour i finally got to talk to a counter person and they were going to put me up in a nice hotel for a couple nights while waiting for the next flight! sweet! 2 more days in sydney! too bad i had no voice, was starting to feel pretty sick and the weather was rainy... but hey at least it was a free fancy hotel room! my own bathroom, big fluffy bed with clean sheets and 4 pillows, a big tv and an amazing view! and $15 a day for meals and drinks at the hotels bar. after i got all checked in, took a nap, i decided i had just enough time to get down to bondi beach and watch the sunset. which ended up being a little more tricky then expected... trains and buses and walking aimlessly... but i got there just in time and it was beautiful! the next day was kind of a waste, i was planning on going to the blue mountains (on most peoples don't miss list, which i did) but since it was rainy i decided it was better to explore china town and watch "transformers" that just came out... but as soon as i prebought my ticket for a later show the skys cleared enough that i regretted it... and for $18 or whatever i paid i wasn't about to just forget it and buy another bus ticket up to the mountains for +$20... i guess i have something to look forward to next time i'm in sydney. but the movie was awesome so i can't complain too much other than i could have seen the movie back home and the blue mountains are only in australia. still not feeling well i didn't do much at night, had a couple beers and fish and chips at the hotel, there was a guy playing keyboard in the bar but it was a little too weird for me so i headed back to my room and watch tv and took it easy.
next morning made my second attempt to leave the country. and was successful! all flights went smoothly except for my cough was keeping me awake so i was up nearly the entire time... i think it was nearly 24 hours of travel. Customs was fun! was worried they were going to charge me a ton for the 14 bottles of wine i brought with me but i think the guy i had was confused or something because i wasn't charged anything extra! there was a sign right there saying something like 1.5 L duty free... well i had over 10 L and still no duty! score!
Well i'm home now, still feel a little sick and my voice is finally almost back... still have a bit of a cough though. feel a little (ok alot!!) overwhelmed by what I NEED to get done in the next 6 weeks (or so) before i have to move to california and start work with pat at Jordan Winery. I have all my photos to sort through, i really want to send an email to ever person i met and make sure i keep in touch (thinking if i make an effort now, in a year or 2 when i finally can go visit they will remember me, its easy to forget or drift apart and most of the people i met i genuinely became friends with and do want to see again, its jsut a bonus if i can use that friendship to couch surf across europe :)) and theres the house... which is more of a psychological block than anything... just thinking about everything i still need to do brings on a anxiety attack and shuts me down... i need help! (in every way:-/)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Fraser island fourwheeling!!
I'm currently cruising down the east coast in the greyhound bus on the last leg of my trip, less then a week left. I can't wait to get home yet know I will be missing Australia as soon as I leave. Just said my goodbyes to my group I travelled around Fraser island with, what an adventure!!! I'm glad I had no expectations because some of my group was expecting the best part of Australia on this tiny island... Although it wasn't the best, it has to be on the don't miss list! Very unique, the whole island is a sand dune (saying I have sand everywhere would be an understatement, just praying my camera wasn't contaminated), its sand yet covered in thick jungle. The tour was a self guided trip, so basically 11 random strangers were given the keys to a jacked up toyota land cruiser, a map and camping equipment and set free to fend for ourselves! A totally different experience then a tour bus... Can't say which way I enjoy more but for a short trip like this it's the way to go. All but three English birds in our group totally clicked and we had so much fun. We had to take a ferry to the island and as soon as we got there we had to shift into 4wd and couldn't take it off till back on the mainland! All the roads were soft sand, surprisingly only getting bogged down a few times, and the best part was during low tide we could travel along the east coast beaches. Not much wildlife besides the dingos which we saw a couple of (including one while we were partying on the beach that came close to check us out), there were migrating whales off in the distance jumping out of the water which was totally amazing but could only get a couple fuzzy pictures, and also quite a few crazy birds. Also just after we finished lunch the last day a goanna came to visit, A big green spotted lizard, very cool. There was a very spectacular tranquile lake, lake mckenzie, think of a blue lagoon paradise surrounded by white sand beaches and gum trees.
My group was zach (N or S Carolina), ben(uk), kori(BC), nicky(uk), maryan(Germany), scott(uk) and his girlfriend from Spain who's name is slipping my mind, sorry. Oh and the English girls hanna, hanna and P.
-- Post From My iPhone
My group was zach (N or S Carolina), ben(uk), kori(BC), nicky(uk), maryan(Germany), scott(uk) and his girlfriend from Spain who's name is slipping my mind, sorry. Oh and the English girls hanna, hanna and P.
-- Post From My iPhone
Whitsundays sailing
I think I'm starting to get tired of travelling or I've been spoiled by having such amazing tours before but I was a little disappointed by my sailing trip.
The crew was questionable, boat well worn and weather cold and windy. Food wasn't very good, mostly prepared salads from grocery store. Most of us got bed bug bites. But besides that it was a blast! Made some great friends with the others, snorkelling was fun, nothing like diving but saw great corels, beautiful fish and others saw a shark but I missed it, and although the times we did put up the sails we almost tipped over from the gusts, that's what made it fun. If the weather would have been nice it would have been so relaxing just to lay out on the deck resting, taking the time to take in the clear blue water and pure white beaches. We made a stop on whitehaven beach which was not only beautiful but fasinating, the sand is nearly 100% silica, it made it super white, very soft, extra squeeky to walk on and always cool to the touch.
-- Post From My iPhone
The crew was questionable, boat well worn and weather cold and windy. Food wasn't very good, mostly prepared salads from grocery store. Most of us got bed bug bites. But besides that it was a blast! Made some great friends with the others, snorkelling was fun, nothing like diving but saw great corels, beautiful fish and others saw a shark but I missed it, and although the times we did put up the sails we almost tipped over from the gusts, that's what made it fun. If the weather would have been nice it would have been so relaxing just to lay out on the deck resting, taking the time to take in the clear blue water and pure white beaches. We made a stop on whitehaven beach which was not only beautiful but fasinating, the sand is nearly 100% silica, it made it super white, very soft, extra squeeky to walk on and always cool to the touch.
-- Post From My iPhone
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Airlie beach romance
Isn't it great how spending time with someone special makes only a couple days feel like a week?! Well after my long bus ride from cairns, through sugar cane fields, banana plantations and various tropical scenery, I arrived in airlie beach! Greeted by Tine in the lobby! Checked in, freshened up and headed out for a couple beers, trying Tine's fav Pure Blonde. Ended up having a couple at a little pub that had great female soloist playing covers of classic rock songs. And that's were the romance began haha... It was a long day for me and was fairly tired so wasn't up for a big night out drinking and headed back to the hostel before too late. I went in for a good night kiss, and to my surprise I got a kiss back.
Oh I really like this girl but have to play it cool and not get attached, I mean she's from Denmark. I had the best time I've had in a really long time with her. We basically spent every moment together for the next 36 hours, looking back now all I can do is smile. It's sad but so happy at the same time. I travel halfway round the world and connected with someone like this and even though I don't know where to go from here, I'm not sad she's gone but happy to have shared the time that we did. But I do keep on struggling with a thought (and sorry this might get mushy), I am trying to figure out what I did so right to get such an amazing person like her (who I feel is out of my league) to look at me like she does, someone that makes me smile deep down, someone I want to know everything about but find myself not saying a word and enjoying the comfort of the silence... and what can I do back home so I can meet someone else to feel that exact same way again... But there's the struggle... I already met someone with all those attributes and feelings for... Tine :-/
But that's life, what will happen, will happen. I don't exactly believe in fate but I feel blessed our paths did cross. And hope to spend more time together soon.
We spent the next day either laying at the lagoon, walking along the ocean, spliting a pizza and watermelon, or through the town, then a night in watching a movie and being close. In the morning I prepared for my trip, another nutella breakfast, shopping then leaving Tine sunbathing by the lagoon to catch my sail boat.
Like I said it was sad to go but so happy for the company and time spent.
-- Post From My iPhone
Oh I really like this girl but have to play it cool and not get attached, I mean she's from Denmark. I had the best time I've had in a really long time with her. We basically spent every moment together for the next 36 hours, looking back now all I can do is smile. It's sad but so happy at the same time. I travel halfway round the world and connected with someone like this and even though I don't know where to go from here, I'm not sad she's gone but happy to have shared the time that we did. But I do keep on struggling with a thought (and sorry this might get mushy), I am trying to figure out what I did so right to get such an amazing person like her (who I feel is out of my league) to look at me like she does, someone that makes me smile deep down, someone I want to know everything about but find myself not saying a word and enjoying the comfort of the silence... and what can I do back home so I can meet someone else to feel that exact same way again... But there's the struggle... I already met someone with all those attributes and feelings for... Tine :-/
But that's life, what will happen, will happen. I don't exactly believe in fate but I feel blessed our paths did cross. And hope to spend more time together soon.
We spent the next day either laying at the lagoon, walking along the ocean, spliting a pizza and watermelon, or through the town, then a night in watching a movie and being close. In the morning I prepared for my trip, another nutella breakfast, shopping then leaving Tine sunbathing by the lagoon to catch my sail boat.
Like I said it was sad to go but so happy for the company and time spent.
-- Post From My iPhone
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Great Barrier Reef S.C.U.B.A. Adventure
Wow the past 5 days have been nothing short of magical! Haha
First I had 2 days of classroom work and pool training. My group started out with 5 people but one guy failed the medical physical because he had low lung volume or something and another girl couldn't get up the courage to drop to the bottom of the pool (15ft) and breathe from the scuba tank. So my class ended up being 3 strong! Derryn, my 1st scuba partner, who is a young pilot with Qantas on a forced week vacation do to cut backs. And the lovely Carolina, my 2nd dive partner after derryns wife met us on day2 on the boat. 18 or 19 y/o german just starting her 9 month or so travelling and working around Australia. And there was our instructor Morgan and an assistant Ryan, who were very fun and because of the small group we got great training from them, skill tests like mask removal and replacement, regulator mouthpiece removal and recovery, out of air buddy breathing, BCD (vest,hoses,tank) removal and replacement... all things that could accidently happen underwater 50ft down so must be confident can be fixed safely because going straight to the surface could give you the "bends" or kill you. We finished our skill tests underwater so fast we had plenty of extra air to play/practice at the end of the day.
The third day we headed out to sea! Boarded the Sunkist which was the companies day trip boat and transfered us to the Kangaroo Explorer! The livesboard vessel I lived on for 3 days! Although it wasn't in the best shape, the food and equipment not state of the art... I honestly couldn't imagine having a better experience!!! The weather was perfect, visability in the water was unbelievable! Seriously amazing and unforgettable!
After we checked into our rooms, had a quick bite to eat, we had a pre-dive brief for the 1st of 4 required dives we needed to make to become open water certified, given info like what skills we were going to be testing and a map of the reef. Before putting on all the equipment we were tested on snorkelling skills only wearing our wetsuits, fins and masks... Giving us our first glimps of the reef! Oh and the water was so warm, at least 26C on ever dive. This site was West Timor (I'm hoping I can find all our sites on google earth when I get back, I think I heard we were like 50 kms off shore so there's nice point of reference when we moved to boat.) we hopped back on the boat, geared up, buddy checks, then jumped back in for a 30 minute dive down to 12 meters. A little exploring but basically we were just tested on skills, we actually got all of them in this first dive so the remaining dives became guided fun dives (need to be with instructor till certified, always with a buddy). Found out I am a heavier breather than everyone else I always was running low before anyone else... Required by law to return with 50 bar remaining, which rarely happened for me. After the boat moved to a new site we all prepared for the next dive, another brief then suited up! This site was called club 10, this dive also was to 12 m for about 25 minutes. But this time is was all exploring! The colors were so vivid, the blue of the water was unreal and the coral, plants and fish had incredible colors! Highlights included a black lion fish, quite a few "nemo" clown fish hiding in aenonome (sp?), a blue spotted stingray and a couple huge triggerfish... Plus tons more but too many to know names. That ended day1 on the boat and the best intro to the GBR I could have asked for.
Next day we were awoken @ 5:30 and briefed and in water before sunrise so we could watch it just before decent... One of those bucketlist worthy experiences!!! And we had the camera guy following us around all morning so we did fun things like a james bond entry into the water... A front flip in off the back of the boat, surprised none of us lost a mask or something. This dive site was at three sisters @ Milne reef. It was a 18meter dive for 27 minutes making a few laps around the 3rd sister. Highlights were seeing my 1st green sea turtle (nearly pet it but swam away), literally millions of fish all shapes and sizes!!, my fav was a little bed of aenonome with about 3 different types if clown fish (nemos). After breakfast and a rest we jumped back in this time being video taped the whole time underwater. Did a couple funny things for the camera like we could take off our mask and put on sunglasses or take out our reg and pretend to drink a beer, the assistant Ryan wore extra weights and tried to walk along the ground. And since this dive completed our course requirments we all were also presented with our certification cards underwater for the camera! Highlights were my 1st white tip reef shark! Over a meter in length, parrot fish munching on the coral, more stingrays, a purple flat worm the guide picked up and dropped so we could see it swim which was very interesting and cool, they tried to get a puffer fish to blow up but didn't and i even played with a nemo fish till it bit my finger! Caught on tape! This dive was down to 15 meters for 35 minutes, the last 5min I actually was breathing off the guides tank because I got down to 25 bar (50 minimum by law, oops, but my buddy derryn did too).
At this point we were certified which meant we could go dive just with a buddy... Which meant I lost my buddy derryn for his wife but I got Caroline for my replacement... I think we both got an upgrade ;-) at least better looking haha did I mention Carolina was smoking hot haha after lunch and a brief we jumped back in, still at the three sisters site, not exactly sure where we went, was planning on the 1st sister but think it might have been the 2nd... But we had fun getting lost, following other groups and were very excited then when we did head back we found a mooring line, to bad it was the front of the boat which meant I was way confused, but hey we found our way back to the boat on our 1st dive together and alone. My 6th dive might have been my most interesting and gave me the most anxiety... My first night dive! The full moon didn't offer much help 10 meters down so all we had to rely on were our flashlights. It where up being great, maybe the most interesting, as you shined your light over the coral you could see all the eyes of little critters, mostly shrimp like things, I found a puffer fish, saw lots of blue spotted stingrays, the red bass were using our lights to help spot little fish to catch, best if all we saw a shark (scary eye reflections) and a turtle that I caught up to and pet. After a shower and a couple beers I couldn't be bothered with the fun up on the moon deck, playing cards and more drinking, looked at the stars fir a while and promptly went to bed. Up again @5:30 for the sunrise out on the water... Just me and Carolina... Couldn't have been more romantic.... Too bad she had no interest in me :-/ but it didn't matter cause it was so freaking beautiful! One of a few reasons to get up that early and put on a cold damp wetsuit and jump in the ocean (which was actually warmer than the air temp) at the three sisters still, same dive as previous morning at 3rd sister, this time as we decentrd Carolina pointed out a sleeping shark just below us on the ground, was itwaiting fir breakfast?!?!!! Haha I found the perfect angle which had the sunrise colors shining down through about a million fish overhead.... Hard to describe how awesome of a sight! Dive 8 Carolina and I attempted to not get lost with success and I think I'd have to say it was my favorite dive!!! Saw a couple turtles (maybe same one circling back round) but we both gave it a big back rub that they love they close their eyes and stop swimming away, followed one turtle around for a few minutes as our personal guide, played with Christmas tree worms which look like a multi color christmas tree sticking out of a hole in the coral and if u reach for it they retract and hide in their little hole, and I'm pretty sure we saw at least 2 if not 3 different white tip sharks! The biggest of them was our closest encounter, as we turned a corner of reef it was just there eye level with us, I swear Carolina tried to jump back behind me but I was there ready to punch it right in the face if it touched my girl! Haha and during our safety stop (@5m for 3min) I played with more nemos trying to get them to bite my finger:-) so awesome! Only part that was bad was the tiny jelly fish that were stinging me on my legs and hands. Our last dive (my #9) was at a site called manyaray bay, with hope of seeing a manta ray! They can be huge! But no one saw any. I guided Carolina and I around fir the most part with the other dives so I told her I was going to follow this time, it was a fairly shallow site so lots of light and all the colors popped (deeper the reds and oranges don't make it so everything looks a little blue monotone)saw a couple big bright blue starfish, huge giant clams (2-3ft) with bright colored lips, and played with more nemos, Christmas tree worms and the clams. Best part was since it was mostly a shallow dive my air lasted much longer, we actually stopped early because we were getting tired.
So that was it, my trip to and living on the great barrier reef for 3 days. Again I can't imagine it being anymore amazing, the conditions were perfect!
Last night everyone that left the boat headed down to the woolshed in cairns for a bit of free beer and pizza, goldfish racing and dancing on the tables!!!! I left about midnight since I'm currently on a 11 hr greyhound bus ride that left 9am to airlie beach where im going to meet up with Tine again, hopefully dinner and a nice walk down the beach then its off on my next adventure aboard the Habibi sail boat for 3 days!
-- Post From My iPhone
First I had 2 days of classroom work and pool training. My group started out with 5 people but one guy failed the medical physical because he had low lung volume or something and another girl couldn't get up the courage to drop to the bottom of the pool (15ft) and breathe from the scuba tank. So my class ended up being 3 strong! Derryn, my 1st scuba partner, who is a young pilot with Qantas on a forced week vacation do to cut backs. And the lovely Carolina, my 2nd dive partner after derryns wife met us on day2 on the boat. 18 or 19 y/o german just starting her 9 month or so travelling and working around Australia. And there was our instructor Morgan and an assistant Ryan, who were very fun and because of the small group we got great training from them, skill tests like mask removal and replacement, regulator mouthpiece removal and recovery, out of air buddy breathing, BCD (vest,hoses,tank) removal and replacement... all things that could accidently happen underwater 50ft down so must be confident can be fixed safely because going straight to the surface could give you the "bends" or kill you. We finished our skill tests underwater so fast we had plenty of extra air to play/practice at the end of the day.
The third day we headed out to sea! Boarded the Sunkist which was the companies day trip boat and transfered us to the Kangaroo Explorer! The livesboard vessel I lived on for 3 days! Although it wasn't in the best shape, the food and equipment not state of the art... I honestly couldn't imagine having a better experience!!! The weather was perfect, visability in the water was unbelievable! Seriously amazing and unforgettable!
After we checked into our rooms, had a quick bite to eat, we had a pre-dive brief for the 1st of 4 required dives we needed to make to become open water certified, given info like what skills we were going to be testing and a map of the reef. Before putting on all the equipment we were tested on snorkelling skills only wearing our wetsuits, fins and masks... Giving us our first glimps of the reef! Oh and the water was so warm, at least 26C on ever dive. This site was West Timor (I'm hoping I can find all our sites on google earth when I get back, I think I heard we were like 50 kms off shore so there's nice point of reference when we moved to boat.) we hopped back on the boat, geared up, buddy checks, then jumped back in for a 30 minute dive down to 12 meters. A little exploring but basically we were just tested on skills, we actually got all of them in this first dive so the remaining dives became guided fun dives (need to be with instructor till certified, always with a buddy). Found out I am a heavier breather than everyone else I always was running low before anyone else... Required by law to return with 50 bar remaining, which rarely happened for me. After the boat moved to a new site we all prepared for the next dive, another brief then suited up! This site was called club 10, this dive also was to 12 m for about 25 minutes. But this time is was all exploring! The colors were so vivid, the blue of the water was unreal and the coral, plants and fish had incredible colors! Highlights included a black lion fish, quite a few "nemo" clown fish hiding in aenonome (sp?), a blue spotted stingray and a couple huge triggerfish... Plus tons more but too many to know names. That ended day1 on the boat and the best intro to the GBR I could have asked for.
Next day we were awoken @ 5:30 and briefed and in water before sunrise so we could watch it just before decent... One of those bucketlist worthy experiences!!! And we had the camera guy following us around all morning so we did fun things like a james bond entry into the water... A front flip in off the back of the boat, surprised none of us lost a mask or something. This dive site was at three sisters @ Milne reef. It was a 18meter dive for 27 minutes making a few laps around the 3rd sister. Highlights were seeing my 1st green sea turtle (nearly pet it but swam away), literally millions of fish all shapes and sizes!!, my fav was a little bed of aenonome with about 3 different types if clown fish (nemos). After breakfast and a rest we jumped back in this time being video taped the whole time underwater. Did a couple funny things for the camera like we could take off our mask and put on sunglasses or take out our reg and pretend to drink a beer, the assistant Ryan wore extra weights and tried to walk along the ground. And since this dive completed our course requirments we all were also presented with our certification cards underwater for the camera! Highlights were my 1st white tip reef shark! Over a meter in length, parrot fish munching on the coral, more stingrays, a purple flat worm the guide picked up and dropped so we could see it swim which was very interesting and cool, they tried to get a puffer fish to blow up but didn't and i even played with a nemo fish till it bit my finger! Caught on tape! This dive was down to 15 meters for 35 minutes, the last 5min I actually was breathing off the guides tank because I got down to 25 bar (50 minimum by law, oops, but my buddy derryn did too).
At this point we were certified which meant we could go dive just with a buddy... Which meant I lost my buddy derryn for his wife but I got Caroline for my replacement... I think we both got an upgrade ;-) at least better looking haha did I mention Carolina was smoking hot haha after lunch and a brief we jumped back in, still at the three sisters site, not exactly sure where we went, was planning on the 1st sister but think it might have been the 2nd... But we had fun getting lost, following other groups and were very excited then when we did head back we found a mooring line, to bad it was the front of the boat which meant I was way confused, but hey we found our way back to the boat on our 1st dive together and alone. My 6th dive might have been my most interesting and gave me the most anxiety... My first night dive! The full moon didn't offer much help 10 meters down so all we had to rely on were our flashlights. It where up being great, maybe the most interesting, as you shined your light over the coral you could see all the eyes of little critters, mostly shrimp like things, I found a puffer fish, saw lots of blue spotted stingrays, the red bass were using our lights to help spot little fish to catch, best if all we saw a shark (scary eye reflections) and a turtle that I caught up to and pet. After a shower and a couple beers I couldn't be bothered with the fun up on the moon deck, playing cards and more drinking, looked at the stars fir a while and promptly went to bed. Up again @5:30 for the sunrise out on the water... Just me and Carolina... Couldn't have been more romantic.... Too bad she had no interest in me :-/ but it didn't matter cause it was so freaking beautiful! One of a few reasons to get up that early and put on a cold damp wetsuit and jump in the ocean (which was actually warmer than the air temp) at the three sisters still, same dive as previous morning at 3rd sister, this time as we decentrd Carolina pointed out a sleeping shark just below us on the ground, was itwaiting fir breakfast?!?!!! Haha I found the perfect angle which had the sunrise colors shining down through about a million fish overhead.... Hard to describe how awesome of a sight! Dive 8 Carolina and I attempted to not get lost with success and I think I'd have to say it was my favorite dive!!! Saw a couple turtles (maybe same one circling back round) but we both gave it a big back rub that they love they close their eyes and stop swimming away, followed one turtle around for a few minutes as our personal guide, played with Christmas tree worms which look like a multi color christmas tree sticking out of a hole in the coral and if u reach for it they retract and hide in their little hole, and I'm pretty sure we saw at least 2 if not 3 different white tip sharks! The biggest of them was our closest encounter, as we turned a corner of reef it was just there eye level with us, I swear Carolina tried to jump back behind me but I was there ready to punch it right in the face if it touched my girl! Haha and during our safety stop (@5m for 3min) I played with more nemos trying to get them to bite my finger:-) so awesome! Only part that was bad was the tiny jelly fish that were stinging me on my legs and hands. Our last dive (my #9) was at a site called manyaray bay, with hope of seeing a manta ray! They can be huge! But no one saw any. I guided Carolina and I around fir the most part with the other dives so I told her I was going to follow this time, it was a fairly shallow site so lots of light and all the colors popped (deeper the reds and oranges don't make it so everything looks a little blue monotone)saw a couple big bright blue starfish, huge giant clams (2-3ft) with bright colored lips, and played with more nemos, Christmas tree worms and the clams. Best part was since it was mostly a shallow dive my air lasted much longer, we actually stopped early because we were getting tired.
So that was it, my trip to and living on the great barrier reef for 3 days. Again I can't imagine it being anymore amazing, the conditions were perfect!
Last night everyone that left the boat headed down to the woolshed in cairns for a bit of free beer and pizza, goldfish racing and dancing on the tables!!!! I left about midnight since I'm currently on a 11 hr greyhound bus ride that left 9am to airlie beach where im going to meet up with Tine again, hopefully dinner and a nice walk down the beach then its off on my next adventure aboard the Habibi sail boat for 3 days!
-- Post From My iPhone
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
My 2day cape tribulation & Daintree jungle adventure
The first stop we were making was in port Douglas and was so happy to hear we would have time to get a coffee or breakfast because they meant I would have enough time to meet up with Tine (perhaps one last time) and I did. Had coffees with her and her cousin, too short tho :-( funny thing was as we were walking back to the bus the were talking about where they might get breakfast, and we past a place with a sign for pancakes, tine's favorite, I laughed... Later found out she did go there.
After a beautiful drive along the coast and through sugar cane fields through to the rainforest we stopped in mossman gorge for a short walk. Wow this is true jungle, thick and dense. Then headed deeper in, catching a ferry to cross another croc infested river, stopping for lunch where I walked down to the beach to enjoy mine. Then I was dropped of at my hostel, this could be a full day trip or 2 days, I'll be getting picked up same time tomorrow. My place was only a short walk from the actual cape tribulation that this area gets it's name from. Spent all of the afternoon roaming the beach and checking out a few hidden spots, it's beautiful here... Paradise! The hostel was crazy, I took a short nap but it was already starting to get noisy by 5 so I headed in to the bar to see what was happening. Crazyness was happening! Had a drunken fun night if drinking games and nearly getting kicked out... But when your in a group of 25 and all buying lots of drinks I think your untouchable! Started out with simple kings card game but turned to much louder hand clapping, tabletop pounding games. Something called f#%-ya... It was not east drunk. Later they started to play the questions game, but it turned into stripping questions... I kindly disappeared and played pool but could see most if the girls stopped at their bikinis/underwear but a couple guys went all the way, quickly asked to put it back on or leave by the bar staff tho.
In the morning I checked out of my room and headed off to explore the beach south of the hostel and go on an interpretive jungle walk. Kept myself busy till I needed to meet the bus at 12:50. Was walking up to the pickup point @ 12:45 just in time to see my his drive away!!!! I about pissed myself! The rest of my trip is back to back so I can't get stuck in the jungle 5 hours from cell reception! But luckily after about 15mins he came back after he dropped off a few other people. From there we drove a little and went for a walk on the marrdja botanical boardwalk... Bit of the same as I saw earlier, mangroves, ferns, vines you could swing on like Tarzan and weird wildlife, 2 new ones though, a jungle dragon and an archer fish. Another quick stop at the Alexander lookout to see the mouth of the Daintree river then back to where the ferry crossing was fir a awesome river cruise! Huge croc nsmed scar face was incharge if this area and we found him, all 15 feet! Also saw a few snakes and interesting birds and other small crocs chilling on shore. Then back on the road back to cairns. I decent tour but lacked the fun and friendship I was spoiled with on my long tours.
Hung out at my cool hostel, watched then play coconut bowling and I had the BBQ ribs for dinner and a couple beers. Turned in early and prepared for my scuba adventure that starts in the morning.
-- Post From My iPhone
After a beautiful drive along the coast and through sugar cane fields through to the rainforest we stopped in mossman gorge for a short walk. Wow this is true jungle, thick and dense. Then headed deeper in, catching a ferry to cross another croc infested river, stopping for lunch where I walked down to the beach to enjoy mine. Then I was dropped of at my hostel, this could be a full day trip or 2 days, I'll be getting picked up same time tomorrow. My place was only a short walk from the actual cape tribulation that this area gets it's name from. Spent all of the afternoon roaming the beach and checking out a few hidden spots, it's beautiful here... Paradise! The hostel was crazy, I took a short nap but it was already starting to get noisy by 5 so I headed in to the bar to see what was happening. Crazyness was happening! Had a drunken fun night if drinking games and nearly getting kicked out... But when your in a group of 25 and all buying lots of drinks I think your untouchable! Started out with simple kings card game but turned to much louder hand clapping, tabletop pounding games. Something called f#%-ya... It was not east drunk. Later they started to play the questions game, but it turned into stripping questions... I kindly disappeared and played pool but could see most if the girls stopped at their bikinis/underwear but a couple guys went all the way, quickly asked to put it back on or leave by the bar staff tho.
In the morning I checked out of my room and headed off to explore the beach south of the hostel and go on an interpretive jungle walk. Kept myself busy till I needed to meet the bus at 12:50. Was walking up to the pickup point @ 12:45 just in time to see my his drive away!!!! I about pissed myself! The rest of my trip is back to back so I can't get stuck in the jungle 5 hours from cell reception! But luckily after about 15mins he came back after he dropped off a few other people. From there we drove a little and went for a walk on the marrdja botanical boardwalk... Bit of the same as I saw earlier, mangroves, ferns, vines you could swing on like Tarzan and weird wildlife, 2 new ones though, a jungle dragon and an archer fish. Another quick stop at the Alexander lookout to see the mouth of the Daintree river then back to where the ferry crossing was fir a awesome river cruise! Huge croc nsmed scar face was incharge if this area and we found him, all 15 feet! Also saw a few snakes and interesting birds and other small crocs chilling on shore. Then back on the road back to cairns. I decent tour but lacked the fun and friendship I was spoiled with on my long tours.
Hung out at my cool hostel, watched then play coconut bowling and I had the BBQ ribs for dinner and a couple beers. Turned in early and prepared for my scuba adventure that starts in the morning.
-- Post From My iPhone
5/30-31 Darwin sweats and cairns showers
What a pleasant surprise! Tine and I ended up both at the same hostel and randomly have the same flight to cairns the next day!
Once again I did the same thing I always seem to do on my free days... Sleep off a hangover, laundry, call mom and wander the town aimlessly. At least this time I had someone to meet back up with later. Darwin was discustingly hot and humid, the kind of day as soon as you get out of the shower and dry off you feel like you need another shower... So tine and I hung out pool side most of the afternoon, she was looking smoking in her bikini trying to bronze up her pale Danish skin while I was chasing the shade to I didn't burn haha. Later the 2 of us headed for the wharf to get some fresh seafood for dinner. It was fun to finally get lost with someone else! It's the best! We had a great night, dare I say romantic, we sat on the wharf's edge and there were lights shining into the water so you could see fish when a fry or something "accidently" fell in, huge fish and later dolphins were playing there too. We split our meals she had a great platter of fish and chips and I had the mix basket of calimari, shrimp, fish and crab... All over a couple beers. Took our time walking back (getting only a little lost) and even stopped for icecreams. Meant to be to bed early since our flight was at 5am pickup at 3 but we were having too much fun.
Didn't even feel like I fell asleep, should have just stayed up all night having fun and not paid for a room. The flight went well, we were able to change seats and sit next to each other.., not that it mattered though we both slept the whole flight haha. But that's where our paths parted, I was staying in cairns but she was headed north to port Douglas to meet up with her cousin at a resort. It was fun to travel with tine, she's very positive, a great smile, very interesting and smart, I can't wait to visit her in Copenhagen.
Cairns didn't have the best weather, assuming it was only cloudy I went fir a walk to downtown about 2kms from my hostel... But halfway there it started to pour rain! Grrr... Here I am in paradice on a water front board walk running for cover! Darn tropics! :-) didn't do much the rest of the day, chilled out, played on the Internet and caught up on sleep and prepared for my jungle adventure!
-- Post From My iPhone
Once again I did the same thing I always seem to do on my free days... Sleep off a hangover, laundry, call mom and wander the town aimlessly. At least this time I had someone to meet back up with later. Darwin was discustingly hot and humid, the kind of day as soon as you get out of the shower and dry off you feel like you need another shower... So tine and I hung out pool side most of the afternoon, she was looking smoking in her bikini trying to bronze up her pale Danish skin while I was chasing the shade to I didn't burn haha. Later the 2 of us headed for the wharf to get some fresh seafood for dinner. It was fun to finally get lost with someone else! It's the best! We had a great night, dare I say romantic, we sat on the wharf's edge and there were lights shining into the water so you could see fish when a fry or something "accidently" fell in, huge fish and later dolphins were playing there too. We split our meals she had a great platter of fish and chips and I had the mix basket of calimari, shrimp, fish and crab... All over a couple beers. Took our time walking back (getting only a little lost) and even stopped for icecreams. Meant to be to bed early since our flight was at 5am pickup at 3 but we were having too much fun.
Didn't even feel like I fell asleep, should have just stayed up all night having fun and not paid for a room. The flight went well, we were able to change seats and sit next to each other.., not that it mattered though we both slept the whole flight haha. But that's where our paths parted, I was staying in cairns but she was headed north to port Douglas to meet up with her cousin at a resort. It was fun to travel with tine, she's very positive, a great smile, very interesting and smart, I can't wait to visit her in Copenhagen.
Cairns didn't have the best weather, assuming it was only cloudy I went fir a walk to downtown about 2kms from my hostel... But halfway there it started to pour rain! Grrr... Here I am in paradice on a water front board walk running for cover! Darn tropics! :-) didn't do much the rest of the day, chilled out, played on the Internet and caught up on sleep and prepared for my jungle adventure!
-- Post From My iPhone
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
The rest of my outback safari!
I hate to do it but since I was having so much fun and didn't keep up on daily blog entries I gotta do one massive one. But I do have to say I'm having one of those "best time if my life" moments! Seeing incredible things and meeting amazing people. Seem to always feel a little heartbroken at the end of each tour. It's a little too much actually, I'm trying to remember back through all the different tour groups I had and I'm a little fuzzy on names and places I went to! But I'm sure once I slow down, have a chance to go through my pics (thousands of them!) and catch up on facebook it will all sort out. Anyways it's so much at once!
End day 6
I last left you just as I pulled on to alice springs, the end of my tour with the drive Kiwi (who now despise, but I won't go into that, but u can guess why). The whole tour group went out for dinner at a great western theme saloon pub called Bojangles, I had a lamb shank, almost got a camel meat pie. Since we all had the next couple days free and had been travelling hard it turned into a long night of drinking and dancing!! I left at the first chance I saw someone leaving since I was exhausted! Sandra, Anne maria, kiwi and I walk... Skipped and piggyback rode our way back to the hostel. K&S sprinted away at the last moment and disappeared :-/ ... Guess you could say she got away
Day 7&8
Free days in alice springs. Did the usually on my free days slept off a hang over, laundry and roam the town aimlessly! Basically took it as easy as possible and rested. One of the nights we went to a little hippy pub/hostel called annie's and I feel like really got to know Anne maria (german), anna and emeile (both swedish). It was magic pitchers of beer that night, never seemed to run out but nine of us were buying.
Day 9
New tour! Alice to darwin, new guides (Scottie and michelle) and a couple new faces a few austrians that kept to themselves (besides to complain) and amy from perth funny (but loud). Next couple days we covered so many miles it was sickening! Didn't matter when we saw amazing things we just wanted to be done for the day! Our 1st stop that day was as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn (u know that latitude line on the globe? Basically we were entering the tropics!) Stopped at an old (out of use) telegraph station, interesting history there about aboriginals attacking the operaters. Stopped at a funky town Wycliffe Well, sort of the roswell of OZ, "secret" airforce base nearby, lots of alien yard art and paintings and roadhouse filled with clippings and fuzzy pics of UFOs. I loved it! ;-) next stop was a highlight!, Devils marbles, huge sphereical rock formation in the middle of nowhere, hiked around and on them, super strange. Lots more driving, stopped for firewood, saw huge spider and arrived in tennet creek at our camp late... Had lots of alcohol related rules since the owners of the cattle ranch we were staying at hated us backpackers ruining the peace out there. But fireside that night I finally got to learn how to play a didgerido!! And I was able to play, voted the best that night!
Day10
Up before the sun again for another day of driving! But the sunrise thatmorning made it worth it. A few roadhouse stops aka pee and coffee while they refueled the bus. Funny side note: not allowed on the bus during refueling! The roadhouse in dunmarra had reptiles for us to hold, black headed python and big monitor lizard. 1st major stop was at Daly Water, at it's very famous roadhouse. Even got a special tour guide, 9 year old bailey. Kept us entertained while he showed us around the old postoffice, school, store, jail (all one building). Then we all chilled out at the pub which was filled with things stapled to the walls by travellers...currency, ID cards, badges, patches, heaps of underwear. I left a US dollar bill. More driving, stopped at one roadhouse with cages of exotic birds and even a croc in a cage next to the swimming pool(not sure I would swim if given the chance). Lunch was late @3 again, had the chance but didnt float down a creek heated by hot springs (too hot and smelt like eggs) End of the day was in Kathrine. Before heading to the camp site we spent time at an aboriginal culture center. Taught to do paintings, I did a cool kangaroo. Pet an emu. And in the dark we saw a few animals, cane toads and a huge green tree frog which sandra tried kissing to see if it became a prince. Night came to a close fireside, drinking and playing didgeridos.
Day 11
I was peer pressured into taking a helicopter tour of Katherine gorge since 2 people were require and Anne maria really wanted to go... It was a fun experience but not really worth the money. Later met up with the rest of the group for a boring hike with a huge reward! Swimming up to and under a waterfall! It was amazing! The best was to float facing up about 10 yards from the fall... Water was falling over 100feet. A little driving to another falls but no swimming, but had lunch. A few short stops here and there till a cool purple sunet before arriving in Darwin. Met up with most of the group for pizza and beers... As usual sandra, Anne maria and I ended up passing a bottle of wine around chatting till bed time.
Day 12
Start of the 4wd kakadu tour! New guide Deblin. New group, out with the rude Austrian in with a german couple, a german filmmaker and Tine (pronounced Tina) and a new bus! This thing is heavy duty, look like more if a dump truck than a tour bus.
1st stop was at some giant termite mounds, huge! Over 15 foot tall, made by bugs small as ants! Too cool. Even saw weird ones made my magnetic termites, flat, looked like tombstones. Spent most of the morning playing in the water, first a rocky waterhole/slide then again swimming around waterfalls. This waterfall was much larger and powerful, but I had to swim through it! Haha which wasn't easy, the closer I got the more mist was blinding me and making it hard to breathe then just as I finally got to ur the water starts to push down on you... Extreme! But i made it! Rested afterwards with my bikini babes. I think it was called Florence falls. Just as we were finishing out hotdogs over campfire lunch a big water moniter lizard came out of nowhere to check us out, very unusal looking. The ride was starting to get rough, but that's what we wanted! Over bug rocks, through river crossings and around billabongs. Learned about the 2 seasons here...the wet and the dry... Basically alot of the land we are visiting is underwater 1/2 the year. And to help prevent big bush fires they do control burns, which just started... Cooling seeing all the fire but very smokey... But did make for a better sunset, very red! But before that we went on a river cruise before dusk looking for crocs! And did we see them! Both freshwater (nice) and salties (bad,aggressive). That night the mozzies were aweful and attacked everyone... Still covered! And there were a few geckos on our tent walls, sandra tried to grab one but it lost it's tail (which is a normal defence) but we told her she killed it!
Day 13
More rough riding. Tried sleeping on the bus but impossible. Saw some wild horses (not sure I mentioned the wild camels we saw near Uluru) more river crossing and 4wd through twisting sandy roads, very fun. Stopped to hike to twin falls, which required a short ferry ride through more croc infested water, which we actually saw one and when we returned they caught it because it was a bad saltie. The falls was massive and we all rested and hung out enjoying the surroundings for a while before heading back. Next we headed to jim jim falls another waterfall to swim up to. Only this time it was twice as tall and twice as far to get to... Not to mention I was freaking myself out about halfway there thinking just below me in the black cold deep water a croc (like all the signs at the beginning of the hike mentioned) was hiding waiting to pull me under! The hike there and back was extreme, basically walking in giant boulders, one slip and you could really hurt yourself. Camp at Jabiru was a welcome site, very exhausts after the days activites... Again sat up late drinking with my girls.
Day 14
Our last day :-(((
Slept in ha ha just after sunset we broke camp and headed out. Checked out the east alligator river, no crocs. Then went on a walking tour of Ubirr, a aboriginal rock art site. Amazing stuff! Some ancient some modern (less the 50 years). Ended up top a great lookout and took the opportunity to get group shots. Had so much fun. Sad because we all knew it would be goodbye soon. Lunch near a beautiful billabong then back on the road headed back to Darwin!
That night we went out in style. It was me and my ladies! Sandra, Anne maria, anna, emeile, and Tine (and the goofy Italian vinchenzo sp?) we decided to find a place serving crocodile! And we all agreed it tasted like chicken. Haha sandra and I also split a dozen oysters. Afterwords we headed to a nightclub for a bit more drinking and dancing. Turned into a crazy night! Sandra and I even ended up partners on stage for a game...later ended up on the table dancing. Later still had to take the girls to be picked up by a taxi headed fir the airport and say my final goodbyes.., lots of kisses for tommy but still was very sad.
-- Post From My iPhone
End day 6
I last left you just as I pulled on to alice springs, the end of my tour with the drive Kiwi (who now despise, but I won't go into that, but u can guess why). The whole tour group went out for dinner at a great western theme saloon pub called Bojangles, I had a lamb shank, almost got a camel meat pie. Since we all had the next couple days free and had been travelling hard it turned into a long night of drinking and dancing!! I left at the first chance I saw someone leaving since I was exhausted! Sandra, Anne maria, kiwi and I walk... Skipped and piggyback rode our way back to the hostel. K&S sprinted away at the last moment and disappeared :-/ ... Guess you could say she got away
Day 7&8
Free days in alice springs. Did the usually on my free days slept off a hang over, laundry and roam the town aimlessly! Basically took it as easy as possible and rested. One of the nights we went to a little hippy pub/hostel called annie's and I feel like really got to know Anne maria (german), anna and emeile (both swedish). It was magic pitchers of beer that night, never seemed to run out but nine of us were buying.
Day 9
New tour! Alice to darwin, new guides (Scottie and michelle) and a couple new faces a few austrians that kept to themselves (besides to complain) and amy from perth funny (but loud). Next couple days we covered so many miles it was sickening! Didn't matter when we saw amazing things we just wanted to be done for the day! Our 1st stop that day was as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn (u know that latitude line on the globe? Basically we were entering the tropics!) Stopped at an old (out of use) telegraph station, interesting history there about aboriginals attacking the operaters. Stopped at a funky town Wycliffe Well, sort of the roswell of OZ, "secret" airforce base nearby, lots of alien yard art and paintings and roadhouse filled with clippings and fuzzy pics of UFOs. I loved it! ;-) next stop was a highlight!, Devils marbles, huge sphereical rock formation in the middle of nowhere, hiked around and on them, super strange. Lots more driving, stopped for firewood, saw huge spider and arrived in tennet creek at our camp late... Had lots of alcohol related rules since the owners of the cattle ranch we were staying at hated us backpackers ruining the peace out there. But fireside that night I finally got to learn how to play a didgerido!! And I was able to play, voted the best that night!
Day10
Up before the sun again for another day of driving! But the sunrise thatmorning made it worth it. A few roadhouse stops aka pee and coffee while they refueled the bus. Funny side note: not allowed on the bus during refueling! The roadhouse in dunmarra had reptiles for us to hold, black headed python and big monitor lizard. 1st major stop was at Daly Water, at it's very famous roadhouse. Even got a special tour guide, 9 year old bailey. Kept us entertained while he showed us around the old postoffice, school, store, jail (all one building). Then we all chilled out at the pub which was filled with things stapled to the walls by travellers...currency, ID cards, badges, patches, heaps of underwear. I left a US dollar bill. More driving, stopped at one roadhouse with cages of exotic birds and even a croc in a cage next to the swimming pool(not sure I would swim if given the chance). Lunch was late @3 again, had the chance but didnt float down a creek heated by hot springs (too hot and smelt like eggs) End of the day was in Kathrine. Before heading to the camp site we spent time at an aboriginal culture center. Taught to do paintings, I did a cool kangaroo. Pet an emu. And in the dark we saw a few animals, cane toads and a huge green tree frog which sandra tried kissing to see if it became a prince. Night came to a close fireside, drinking and playing didgeridos.
Day 11
I was peer pressured into taking a helicopter tour of Katherine gorge since 2 people were require and Anne maria really wanted to go... It was a fun experience but not really worth the money. Later met up with the rest of the group for a boring hike with a huge reward! Swimming up to and under a waterfall! It was amazing! The best was to float facing up about 10 yards from the fall... Water was falling over 100feet. A little driving to another falls but no swimming, but had lunch. A few short stops here and there till a cool purple sunet before arriving in Darwin. Met up with most of the group for pizza and beers... As usual sandra, Anne maria and I ended up passing a bottle of wine around chatting till bed time.
Day 12
Start of the 4wd kakadu tour! New guide Deblin. New group, out with the rude Austrian in with a german couple, a german filmmaker and Tine (pronounced Tina) and a new bus! This thing is heavy duty, look like more if a dump truck than a tour bus.
1st stop was at some giant termite mounds, huge! Over 15 foot tall, made by bugs small as ants! Too cool. Even saw weird ones made my magnetic termites, flat, looked like tombstones. Spent most of the morning playing in the water, first a rocky waterhole/slide then again swimming around waterfalls. This waterfall was much larger and powerful, but I had to swim through it! Haha which wasn't easy, the closer I got the more mist was blinding me and making it hard to breathe then just as I finally got to ur the water starts to push down on you... Extreme! But i made it! Rested afterwards with my bikini babes. I think it was called Florence falls. Just as we were finishing out hotdogs over campfire lunch a big water moniter lizard came out of nowhere to check us out, very unusal looking. The ride was starting to get rough, but that's what we wanted! Over bug rocks, through river crossings and around billabongs. Learned about the 2 seasons here...the wet and the dry... Basically alot of the land we are visiting is underwater 1/2 the year. And to help prevent big bush fires they do control burns, which just started... Cooling seeing all the fire but very smokey... But did make for a better sunset, very red! But before that we went on a river cruise before dusk looking for crocs! And did we see them! Both freshwater (nice) and salties (bad,aggressive). That night the mozzies were aweful and attacked everyone... Still covered! And there were a few geckos on our tent walls, sandra tried to grab one but it lost it's tail (which is a normal defence) but we told her she killed it!
Day 13
More rough riding. Tried sleeping on the bus but impossible. Saw some wild horses (not sure I mentioned the wild camels we saw near Uluru) more river crossing and 4wd through twisting sandy roads, very fun. Stopped to hike to twin falls, which required a short ferry ride through more croc infested water, which we actually saw one and when we returned they caught it because it was a bad saltie. The falls was massive and we all rested and hung out enjoying the surroundings for a while before heading back. Next we headed to jim jim falls another waterfall to swim up to. Only this time it was twice as tall and twice as far to get to... Not to mention I was freaking myself out about halfway there thinking just below me in the black cold deep water a croc (like all the signs at the beginning of the hike mentioned) was hiding waiting to pull me under! The hike there and back was extreme, basically walking in giant boulders, one slip and you could really hurt yourself. Camp at Jabiru was a welcome site, very exhausts after the days activites... Again sat up late drinking with my girls.
Day 14
Our last day :-(((
Slept in ha ha just after sunset we broke camp and headed out. Checked out the east alligator river, no crocs. Then went on a walking tour of Ubirr, a aboriginal rock art site. Amazing stuff! Some ancient some modern (less the 50 years). Ended up top a great lookout and took the opportunity to get group shots. Had so much fun. Sad because we all knew it would be goodbye soon. Lunch near a beautiful billabong then back on the road headed back to Darwin!
That night we went out in style. It was me and my ladies! Sandra, Anne maria, anna, emeile, and Tine (and the goofy Italian vinchenzo sp?) we decided to find a place serving crocodile! And we all agreed it tasted like chicken. Haha sandra and I also split a dozen oysters. Afterwords we headed to a nightclub for a bit more drinking and dancing. Turned into a crazy night! Sandra and I even ended up partners on stage for a game...later ended up on the table dancing. Later still had to take the girls to be picked up by a taxi headed fir the airport and say my final goodbyes.., lots of kisses for tommy but still was very sad.
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Outback safari day 6
So much for that good nights rest, tossed and turned all night and when I started to get cold I had no chance. Best part was after we had breakfast and were cleaning up camp the sun started to rise and reveal the dingo tracks around and through camp! It was only the guide, sandra, ann marie and I sleeping not in tents this night so luckily I didn't have to fight off the dingos!! :-)
After a short drive we arrived at kings canyon! Another amazing and interesting rock formation. It was quite exhausting for me being on no sleep and didn't enjoy it to the fullest... In fact everyone says it's their favorite of the 3 places we visited in the red center. We hikes straight up to the top of the rim and walked for about 3 hours exploring many different and strange geology. I really liked the parts called the garden of Eden (out of place lush greenery and even a native fig tree) and the lost city (which looked like a couple hundred dome huts). Over all a great adventure this morning... Just tired and can't seem to get comfortable on the bus to sleep. I think that's about it for this leg, were currently headed for alice springs with part of another group headed the same way, where we get a couple days rest and start off for Darwin and kakadu with a new guide... Saying goodbye to a few people not doing the entire 2 week trip and picking up new people only doing the last half. We'll be having a little going away party for Kiwi and the others... Sounds like a goodtime at a "real" outback pub!
-- Post From My iPhone
After a short drive we arrived at kings canyon! Another amazing and interesting rock formation. It was quite exhausting for me being on no sleep and didn't enjoy it to the fullest... In fact everyone says it's their favorite of the 3 places we visited in the red center. We hikes straight up to the top of the rim and walked for about 3 hours exploring many different and strange geology. I really liked the parts called the garden of Eden (out of place lush greenery and even a native fig tree) and the lost city (which looked like a couple hundred dome huts). Over all a great adventure this morning... Just tired and can't seem to get comfortable on the bus to sleep. I think that's about it for this leg, were currently headed for alice springs with part of another group headed the same way, where we get a couple days rest and start off for Darwin and kakadu with a new guide... Saying goodbye to a few people not doing the entire 2 week trip and picking up new people only doing the last half. We'll be having a little going away party for Kiwi and the others... Sounds like a goodtime at a "real" outback pub!
-- Post From My iPhone
Outback safari day 5
Woke up freezing! Didn't have the best nights rest either. Up and on the road by 6 to go see sunrise at the rock! First stopped at one lookout to see the first light of day and siloette then on to the real show. Not as impressive as the sunset but still one of those things that makes you smile and feel blessed to see. Same situation with the sun at our backs and as soon as it peaked up over the horizon, the rock glowed an amazing color. The rest of the morning was spent walking nearly the entire base of Uluru (ayers rock). It was interesting, the government gave the land back to the aboriginals but sneaked in a few hidden things that related to the tourism. If you don't know the aboriginals believe photos are magic and take a but of your life or soul with it. During the walk there was heaps of signs asking you not to photograph specific sacred sites and to honor their beliefs. And there's actually a hike/climb to the top of Uluru, which is one of the most sacred and everywhere it has signs asking people not to go up, but it's a huge marketing thing, our guide was saying when a tour company (like ours) stop allowing their passengers to climb up they see big drops in numbers. Sad, and since it's in the lease of the land they can't make it illegal or close it. I guess the view up top is pretty lame too, we're in the middle of nowhere...scrubby desert in all directions.
After another BBQ kangaroo lunch we headed to kata tjurs (the olgas) another very strange rock formation out in the middle of no where. This ones more like a bunch of rounded boulders and rounded mountains. I thought this was more impressive than Uluru. Had a very fun hike with sandra, ann marie, sarah, and emeile. Lots of joking and bonding... I need to keep in contact and go visit them!!
Rest of the day was basically driving to our camp near kings canyon... More hours of driving. Arrived after dark, threw together some spegetti for dinner and finally got a shower in. Had another night under the stars, which were even better!!! Milkyway extra milky! The night started out much warmer than last night so was hopeful I would get a needed good nights rest...
-- Post From My iPhone
After another BBQ kangaroo lunch we headed to kata tjurs (the olgas) another very strange rock formation out in the middle of no where. This ones more like a bunch of rounded boulders and rounded mountains. I thought this was more impressive than Uluru. Had a very fun hike with sandra, ann marie, sarah, and emeile. Lots of joking and bonding... I need to keep in contact and go visit them!!
Rest of the day was basically driving to our camp near kings canyon... More hours of driving. Arrived after dark, threw together some spegetti for dinner and finally got a shower in. Had another night under the stars, which were even better!!! Milkyway extra milky! The night started out much warmer than last night so was hopeful I would get a needed good nights rest...
-- Post From My iPhone
Outback safari day 4
After our early start which wasnt actually that rough and I'm still going strong after 8 straight hours of driving, only dozed off a couple times. The terrain really hasn't changed at all...but we did see some wild dingos just after sunrise. From about lunchtime yesterday it's been rolling desert with little scrub bushes, random small trees and flies! It's awful, worse today then anything I've ever seen. And what's really bad is they go straight fir your eyes, nose and ears!!! And they love black, which all of seem to be wearing, they just swarm everyone is gross! Most of us bought fly net things fir our heads which was quite fun to eat while trying not to take it off. And the guide says this isn't bad, in the heat of the summer it's even worse! I got a pic of anna maria's back with about 50 flies on her. today our destination is Uluru! (aka ayers rock) it's the big red dome shaped mountain you might have seen picture of, guess over 75% of tourist that come to Australia head out here.
As you might be thinking we're driving a LOT this place is huge. Guess this whole trip will be about 5000 kms! (which is about 3200 miles, I think)
After a while visiting the cultural center at the rock that had a few displays explaining this areas aboriginal beliefs and stories how how it was formed we headed to watch the sunset and have dinner. We were situated so the sun was setting at our backs casting the bright reds and oranges on Uluru! It was beautiful! The BBQ was great and we even had a couple bottles of the bubbly. But the day wasn't over! Ha. We still had to setup camp... We slepted out under the stars which were amazing that night... Crystal clear sky and no city lights for hundreds of miles! It was incredible. Snuggled in between sandra and ann marie. Some people said they heard the dingos howling in the night! Scary.
-- Post From My iPhone
As you might be thinking we're driving a LOT this place is huge. Guess this whole trip will be about 5000 kms! (which is about 3200 miles, I think)
After a while visiting the cultural center at the rock that had a few displays explaining this areas aboriginal beliefs and stories how how it was formed we headed to watch the sunset and have dinner. We were situated so the sun was setting at our backs casting the bright reds and oranges on Uluru! It was beautiful! The BBQ was great and we even had a couple bottles of the bubbly. But the day wasn't over! Ha. We still had to setup camp... We slepted out under the stars which were amazing that night... Crystal clear sky and no city lights for hundreds of miles! It was incredible. Snuggled in between sandra and ann marie. Some people said they heard the dingos howling in the night! Scary.
-- Post From My iPhone
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Outback safari day 3
Been driving all day! A couple short stops but no longer then for a quick pee, a bit of a leg stretch and one stop at a salt lake for a short walk out on the salt... The army used to use this area for bomb testing so we were warned not to touch any bits of metal poking out of the salt...
After a quick lunch in Glendambo (pop:30) and a few more hours of driving we finally made it to our destination, Coober Pedy. Possibly the oddest town I've ever been to and where we spent the night in the strangest "bunkhouse". Coober Pedy is the worlds largest opal mining site and because is so hot year round most people live underground! Our accommodation was basically a dug out cave. Felt like the Taliban or something living in the hillsides! We went on a pretty good tour of an old mine and were able to explore some of the old tunnels... Very interesting history and current operations, I guess there's no fear of cave-ins because if the rock composition, very similar to concrete. Just dig down and start picking away till you get rich! Giftshop had a piece of opal worth $250,000! It was about the size of a fist. Beautiful stuff! Afterwards we got a little lost trying to find a place where you can dig through rock piles looking for your own free opal...never found it. Met up back at the bus and headed out for a night of pizza and beers! The group is starting to finally open up and we had a great time. There's an Italian couple on there honeymoon (which is funny because all of our sleeping situations are share bunks, hostel style or camping) and another Italian that knows very little english so their always gabbering on in italian. There's a couple girls from Sweden that I guess would have toured tassie with if I starred a day earlier! An older Israeli lady and British guy both traveling alone. An 18 or 19 y/o belgium girl that is an easy target for a lot of joking around, but a good sport, very cute French assent. Anna maria from germany and there's Sandra from Switzerland, very sweet girl and been hanging out with her mostly. She's got a diamond in one of her front teeth, bling!
After pizza we headed to an underground pub for more beers and pool, foosball and poker machines, I tripled my money! Won a whole $3! Met another Aussie traveller that we brought back to the cave with us to finish off a couple bottles of wine. This guy, sandra, anna maria and I all stayed up till about 1am drinking in the srperate dug out kitchen area... Normally ok but we knew we had to be up around 5 and on the road by 6 sharp!
-- Post From My iPhone
After a quick lunch in Glendambo (pop:30) and a few more hours of driving we finally made it to our destination, Coober Pedy. Possibly the oddest town I've ever been to and where we spent the night in the strangest "bunkhouse". Coober Pedy is the worlds largest opal mining site and because is so hot year round most people live underground! Our accommodation was basically a dug out cave. Felt like the Taliban or something living in the hillsides! We went on a pretty good tour of an old mine and were able to explore some of the old tunnels... Very interesting history and current operations, I guess there's no fear of cave-ins because if the rock composition, very similar to concrete. Just dig down and start picking away till you get rich! Giftshop had a piece of opal worth $250,000! It was about the size of a fist. Beautiful stuff! Afterwards we got a little lost trying to find a place where you can dig through rock piles looking for your own free opal...never found it. Met up back at the bus and headed out for a night of pizza and beers! The group is starting to finally open up and we had a great time. There's an Italian couple on there honeymoon (which is funny because all of our sleeping situations are share bunks, hostel style or camping) and another Italian that knows very little english so their always gabbering on in italian. There's a couple girls from Sweden that I guess would have toured tassie with if I starred a day earlier! An older Israeli lady and British guy both traveling alone. An 18 or 19 y/o belgium girl that is an easy target for a lot of joking around, but a good sport, very cute French assent. Anna maria from germany and there's Sandra from Switzerland, very sweet girl and been hanging out with her mostly. She's got a diamond in one of her front teeth, bling!
After pizza we headed to an underground pub for more beers and pool, foosball and poker machines, I tripled my money! Won a whole $3! Met another Aussie traveller that we brought back to the cave with us to finish off a couple bottles of wine. This guy, sandra, anna maria and I all stayed up till about 1am drinking in the srperate dug out kitchen area... Normally ok but we knew we had to be up around 5 and on the road by 6 sharp!
-- Post From My iPhone
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Outback safari end day 1 and day 2
The drive up from adelaide was a wet one, raining cats and dingos! We even made a pit stop in Clare! I sent a txt to everyone but no one ran to see me, haha. It's amazing what a couple weeks with rain did to the valley! When I left it was dry as a bone and everything was brown... Loads of fresh green grass everywhere!
The past couple days have been spent exploring the Flinders Mountain Range and staying both nights in the old mill converted in ti hotel in the town Quorn. An old railroad station town fir the ghan(Adelaide to Darwin) but now just has an old steam train for touring the local area.
First day we hiked to the town of Dutchman stern... With a great view for miles! Could see near 360 degree view of eroded (is that a word?) round top mountains, spencer gulf and port augusta in the far distance. The hike back down was awesome, the sun was setting and all the kangaroos were starting to appear, lots of close encounters! When we returned to the hotel we met the south bound bus of the same tour made dinner and watched wolf creek (again! If you want to see a bloody horror flick about backpacking in Australia based on true stories check it out, if not stay AWAY!)
Day 2 was full of history, a new terrain and heaps of animals. Most of the day was spent in the wiapena pound, a horseshoe shaped mountain range... Learned of it's past as a sheep farm then grain and now nature reserve. Also learned a few of the aboriginal stories of how it was formed. It was a foggy cool morning so most of us passed on the mountain top hike on the advice that the view will likely be not worthwile. So we took a easy stroll along a river into the pound and a short hike to a lookout which wasn't bad as the mist did clear slightly.
After a BBQ lunch we went out seeking wildlife! On the drive we saw quite a few wild emus, heaps of grey and red kangaroos (was told the reds can jump nearly 15 feet high and cover about 25 feet of ground in a single "hop") even saw a guy with a couple camels. In the warren gorge we saw the elusive yellow tail wallaby!!! A crazy little kangaroo! Jumping around the rocks all nimbly wunbly... And they have very interesting colorings, dark faces, grey body, yellow legs and striped yellow and black tail, snuck up on one and got some great shots of it feeding. On the drive back to the "mill" say a few wedge tailed eagles feeding on road kill, huge birds! 6+ foot wingspan and capable of killing full grown kangaroos with a sneak attack, swooping down right into the back of their heads and knocking them out cold. After a beautiful sunset most of us passed out on the ride home from the days adventures. Back at the hotel our bus made dinner for everyone.... Feral BBQ! Kangaroo steak, emu patties and camel sausage... All pretty good. To bed early for a early start for nearly a full day of driving.
-- Post From My iPhone
The past couple days have been spent exploring the Flinders Mountain Range and staying both nights in the old mill converted in ti hotel in the town Quorn. An old railroad station town fir the ghan(Adelaide to Darwin) but now just has an old steam train for touring the local area.
First day we hiked to the town of Dutchman stern... With a great view for miles! Could see near 360 degree view of eroded (is that a word?) round top mountains, spencer gulf and port augusta in the far distance. The hike back down was awesome, the sun was setting and all the kangaroos were starting to appear, lots of close encounters! When we returned to the hotel we met the south bound bus of the same tour made dinner and watched wolf creek (again! If you want to see a bloody horror flick about backpacking in Australia based on true stories check it out, if not stay AWAY!)
Day 2 was full of history, a new terrain and heaps of animals. Most of the day was spent in the wiapena pound, a horseshoe shaped mountain range... Learned of it's past as a sheep farm then grain and now nature reserve. Also learned a few of the aboriginal stories of how it was formed. It was a foggy cool morning so most of us passed on the mountain top hike on the advice that the view will likely be not worthwile. So we took a easy stroll along a river into the pound and a short hike to a lookout which wasn't bad as the mist did clear slightly.
After a BBQ lunch we went out seeking wildlife! On the drive we saw quite a few wild emus, heaps of grey and red kangaroos (was told the reds can jump nearly 15 feet high and cover about 25 feet of ground in a single "hop") even saw a guy with a couple camels. In the warren gorge we saw the elusive yellow tail wallaby!!! A crazy little kangaroo! Jumping around the rocks all nimbly wunbly... And they have very interesting colorings, dark faces, grey body, yellow legs and striped yellow and black tail, snuck up on one and got some great shots of it feeding. On the drive back to the "mill" say a few wedge tailed eagles feeding on road kill, huge birds! 6+ foot wingspan and capable of killing full grown kangaroos with a sneak attack, swooping down right into the back of their heads and knocking them out cold. After a beautiful sunset most of us passed out on the ride home from the days adventures. Back at the hotel our bus made dinner for everyone.... Feral BBQ! Kangaroo steak, emu patties and camel sausage... All pretty good. To bed early for a early start for nearly a full day of driving.
-- Post From My iPhone
Friday, May 15, 2009
Back on the road! Outback day 1
Well I'm back on the road again, with a fresh spider bite!! Worries me a little since I'll be in the outback soon, aka middle of nowhere! I dont think it was one I'd those deadly ones because it only itches and is swollen at this point. But I'm keeping a close eye on it!
Spent the last few days in Adelaide! Had a pretty good time, I'm basically down to my last couple hundred dollars after paying for all my tours so I found all the free stuff Adelaide had to offer,.. The free bus and tram made it so easy to get around. Botanical gardens were a highlight, quite a few flowers were actually in bloom. Also spent a lot of time at the central market, reminded me of the big open markets in Europe. And couldn't pass up Chinatown for a couple lunches of noodles (laksa was my fav) bubble tea.
Finally got all my travel plans arranged and paid for. So this morning I started a 14 outback safari from Adelaide to darwin(basically straight up the center of the country), with a lot if camping and hiking. From Darwin I fly to cairns and start part 3 of my holidays!!! So I've booked quite an action packed trip on the east coast! First is a couple days exploring the daintree rainforest up on cape tribulation, with a cruise of croc infested waters! Then I'll take a 5 day scuba diving course, 2 days of training in cairns then 3 days living on a boat out on the great barrier reef!!! Should have about 9 dives total, most excited for this and was my budget buster! Then I'm off sailing the whitsundays for a couple days, which is an archapelaco (sp?... A big group) of about 75 tropical islands... Awwww.... Then I'm off to Fraser island on a camping safari! Not sure what to expect but everyone says it's a must do kind of thing. Then a few days exploring Brisbane, byron bay, nimbin then back to Sydney to head home on June 23rd!
Don't worry I'm taking heaps of pictures... Already have about 8 gigabytes!!!! I need to make a backup, freaks me out only having one copy.
Might not have Internet for a couple days so till then wish me luck!
-- Post From My iPhone
Spent the last few days in Adelaide! Had a pretty good time, I'm basically down to my last couple hundred dollars after paying for all my tours so I found all the free stuff Adelaide had to offer,.. The free bus and tram made it so easy to get around. Botanical gardens were a highlight, quite a few flowers were actually in bloom. Also spent a lot of time at the central market, reminded me of the big open markets in Europe. And couldn't pass up Chinatown for a couple lunches of noodles (laksa was my fav) bubble tea.
Finally got all my travel plans arranged and paid for. So this morning I started a 14 outback safari from Adelaide to darwin(basically straight up the center of the country), with a lot if camping and hiking. From Darwin I fly to cairns and start part 3 of my holidays!!! So I've booked quite an action packed trip on the east coast! First is a couple days exploring the daintree rainforest up on cape tribulation, with a cruise of croc infested waters! Then I'll take a 5 day scuba diving course, 2 days of training in cairns then 3 days living on a boat out on the great barrier reef!!! Should have about 9 dives total, most excited for this and was my budget buster! Then I'm off sailing the whitsundays for a couple days, which is an archapelaco (sp?... A big group) of about 75 tropical islands... Awwww.... Then I'm off to Fraser island on a camping safari! Not sure what to expect but everyone says it's a must do kind of thing. Then a few days exploring Brisbane, byron bay, nimbin then back to Sydney to head home on June 23rd!
Don't worry I'm taking heaps of pictures... Already have about 8 gigabytes!!!! I need to make a backup, freaks me out only having one copy.
Might not have Internet for a couple days so till then wish me luck!
-- Post From My iPhone
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Back to the mainland!
So I'm back in Adelaide, took the first bus I could after I arrived in mebourne on the ferry, and in a short 11 hrs I was here.... So to recap, boarded the ferry about 6:30pm Sunday, arrived in Melbourne about 7am, made my way to the bus station in the tram, and caught the 9am bus to Adelaide arriving at about 7:30pm. A total of 25 hours in constant travel!!! Makes me wonder why I didn't take the 3hour flight for about the same money, hahaha
Ferry ride was a little disappointing, food was expensive, beer was about the same(which is crazy expensive everywhere) and the entertainment made me cry, first I played some slots in the casino and lost then watched "Marley and me" in the cinema... Saddest movie EVER, totally know how it had to end but thought some how it would end happy. Not much else to do so went to bed... Well to be correct I went to chair.
So I've been exploring Adelaide the past couple days, have my next tour starting Saturday and am very excited! Been trying really hard to get my final tour arranged but Im running out of money and the tour costs basically exactly as much as I have left... But it doesn't include all meals!! And I still have a couple days here and there I need to pay for a room. So I have to cancel one of the parts... But they all are basically top of the list things. Tour the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. 5 day great barrier reef scuba diving course (3 days living on a boat, includes 9 dives). Sailing around the Whitsunday island. 4wd safari on Fraser island. Already cancelled 2days at surf camp :-p.
So we'll see what happens, it's all so awesome I can't pass it up, but it's expensive travelling, I don't know how some of these people do a year or two backpack... Seriously I've met a lot of people that have been here since last year!
-- Post From My iPhone
Ferry ride was a little disappointing, food was expensive, beer was about the same(which is crazy expensive everywhere) and the entertainment made me cry, first I played some slots in the casino and lost then watched "Marley and me" in the cinema... Saddest movie EVER, totally know how it had to end but thought some how it would end happy. Not much else to do so went to bed... Well to be correct I went to chair.
So I've been exploring Adelaide the past couple days, have my next tour starting Saturday and am very excited! Been trying really hard to get my final tour arranged but Im running out of money and the tour costs basically exactly as much as I have left... But it doesn't include all meals!! And I still have a couple days here and there I need to pay for a room. So I have to cancel one of the parts... But they all are basically top of the list things. Tour the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. 5 day great barrier reef scuba diving course (3 days living on a boat, includes 9 dives). Sailing around the Whitsunday island. 4wd safari on Fraser island. Already cancelled 2days at surf camp :-p.
So we'll see what happens, it's all so awesome I can't pass it up, but it's expensive travelling, I don't know how some of these people do a year or two backpack... Seriously I've met a lot of people that have been here since last year!
-- Post From My iPhone
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tassie day 6 and 7
I'll catch you up on the end my tasmania tour. (currently in Adelaide, but I'll post another about getting here.)
After a morning of fighting for the shower, haha, only 2 showers and like 15 girls! We had the morning free to explore the town of strahan, I headed straight for this park with a hike down a stream to a waterfall, with the promise of platypus! We had a couple hours, enough to do the hike, walk around the old mining town and get a coffee or what ever... I spent the whole freaking time camped out hunting myself a platypus... And guess what? NO PLATYPUS!!! No coffee, no climbing to the lookout looking for south America (haha, I guess from this town if you head exactly west the first land you come to is S America). After a short bus ride we stopped at a beach to dip our toes in the southern ocean, a couple of the girls got soaked when a big wave came out of nowhere... Too bad they didn't have a spare pair of jeans and shoes, not to mention it's cold and rainy today. Next stop was the hently sand dunes, looked just like the dunes in oregon until we explored a little and found all the different tracks... Tons of tasmanian devil tracks! Very surprised, very cool. Passed on the quad tour... Was cold and rainy and they were a little expensive. After hiking around a while, learning about the flora and fauna we ran down this really steep part back to the bus and fried up a few sausages for lunch. The rest of the day was bus travel through very interesting (sometimes a little hillbilly scary) small town and made our way to the cradle mountain region. Made it just at dusk, which was perfect because that's when the animals come out! I got up close to a wombat! Think of a cross between a teddy bear and a potbelly pig... Very cute. Also saw lots of mini kangaroos. And watched the sun set... Couldn't get a good picture tho... No one could, weird. The bus driver dropped a few of us off early to walk the rest of the way back to the camp ground to see if we could spot any night activity. Not the safest thing, there was a full moon but that was about it! I did happen to take a picture of a mystery creature, I say it was that assumed extinct Tasmanian tiger! Saw a few other things, no positive identifications but assume either wombats or wallabys. Made it back to the cabins safe just in time for stew and played cards and drank beers, girls were drinking the goon (box wine)... Also a few possum sightings on the way to the bathrooms.
Next day we had almost the whole day to explore the cradle mountain area. Started with a hike around dove lake with great views of the cradle mountain! It was actually clear most of the day so I got some great shots of the peaks! Was told a cloud usually parks right in front. Finished the loop around the lake just in time for a lunch break! Hopped on the free shuttle bus back to the lodge for some coffees and hot chocolates, then anna, sabina and I headed out to do another hike while tatiana and amanda stayed warm in the lodge. Tariana was the Swiss girl and I had to laugh at what she wore for the hike... Very posh, white coat with fir hood and was carrying a designer handback instead of a backpack. The sign for our hike said it took an hour, we figured that was taking your time so we did it quickly since we barely had enough time before we had to meet the rest at the bus. By the way the rest of the group that didn't do the lake walk (easy hike) did the monster 5 hour up the mountain and back down trek that included a few points where you had to use a chain to pull yourself up. Well it took us just about an hour and we kept up a good pace. It was a beautiful day and thoroughly exhausting! We all basically crashed on the bus making our way to devonport for the night, just in time to watch the sunset next to the lighthouse. Saw a few aboriginal rock carvings. Ordered pizzas for dinner and played drinking games all night! Tina (the American) drank way too much and ended up puking in the middle of her dorm room! Haha, and kept saying "I'm so wasted, this is umm like the most wasted I've ever been" oh you know the type. Pretty sure she finally pass out waiting for the shower.
The next morning was sad, I was parting ways with everyone, my journey was over, didn't even get back on the bus! All the girls didn't understand I was leaving now and got back on but all ran off to give me one last hug... Very sweet. Instead of heading back to launceston and coming right back I was going to take the 12 hour night ferry tonight that leaves from here back to mainland Australia. So I tied up my bag around back of the house using my cool metal backpack netting and headed into town. Had a McD's breakfast... Walked around town, tried calling mom like 10 times but she never answered... It was mothers day here, but a day early there. Went to a movie to pass the time, star trek, it was freaking sweet! I only got about 1/2 of the inside jokes or references they made about the old movies and lots if camios of old cast. I'd give it two thumbs up! Way up. Spent the rest of the day basically exploring the whole town (it's not that big) Then I made my way back to the ferry terminal around 6ish to board.
-- Post From My iPhone
After a morning of fighting for the shower, haha, only 2 showers and like 15 girls! We had the morning free to explore the town of strahan, I headed straight for this park with a hike down a stream to a waterfall, with the promise of platypus! We had a couple hours, enough to do the hike, walk around the old mining town and get a coffee or what ever... I spent the whole freaking time camped out hunting myself a platypus... And guess what? NO PLATYPUS!!! No coffee, no climbing to the lookout looking for south America (haha, I guess from this town if you head exactly west the first land you come to is S America). After a short bus ride we stopped at a beach to dip our toes in the southern ocean, a couple of the girls got soaked when a big wave came out of nowhere... Too bad they didn't have a spare pair of jeans and shoes, not to mention it's cold and rainy today. Next stop was the hently sand dunes, looked just like the dunes in oregon until we explored a little and found all the different tracks... Tons of tasmanian devil tracks! Very surprised, very cool. Passed on the quad tour... Was cold and rainy and they were a little expensive. After hiking around a while, learning about the flora and fauna we ran down this really steep part back to the bus and fried up a few sausages for lunch. The rest of the day was bus travel through very interesting (sometimes a little hillbilly scary) small town and made our way to the cradle mountain region. Made it just at dusk, which was perfect because that's when the animals come out! I got up close to a wombat! Think of a cross between a teddy bear and a potbelly pig... Very cute. Also saw lots of mini kangaroos. And watched the sun set... Couldn't get a good picture tho... No one could, weird. The bus driver dropped a few of us off early to walk the rest of the way back to the camp ground to see if we could spot any night activity. Not the safest thing, there was a full moon but that was about it! I did happen to take a picture of a mystery creature, I say it was that assumed extinct Tasmanian tiger! Saw a few other things, no positive identifications but assume either wombats or wallabys. Made it back to the cabins safe just in time for stew and played cards and drank beers, girls were drinking the goon (box wine)... Also a few possum sightings on the way to the bathrooms.
Next day we had almost the whole day to explore the cradle mountain area. Started with a hike around dove lake with great views of the cradle mountain! It was actually clear most of the day so I got some great shots of the peaks! Was told a cloud usually parks right in front. Finished the loop around the lake just in time for a lunch break! Hopped on the free shuttle bus back to the lodge for some coffees and hot chocolates, then anna, sabina and I headed out to do another hike while tatiana and amanda stayed warm in the lodge. Tariana was the Swiss girl and I had to laugh at what she wore for the hike... Very posh, white coat with fir hood and was carrying a designer handback instead of a backpack. The sign for our hike said it took an hour, we figured that was taking your time so we did it quickly since we barely had enough time before we had to meet the rest at the bus. By the way the rest of the group that didn't do the lake walk (easy hike) did the monster 5 hour up the mountain and back down trek that included a few points where you had to use a chain to pull yourself up. Well it took us just about an hour and we kept up a good pace. It was a beautiful day and thoroughly exhausting! We all basically crashed on the bus making our way to devonport for the night, just in time to watch the sunset next to the lighthouse. Saw a few aboriginal rock carvings. Ordered pizzas for dinner and played drinking games all night! Tina (the American) drank way too much and ended up puking in the middle of her dorm room! Haha, and kept saying "I'm so wasted, this is umm like the most wasted I've ever been" oh you know the type. Pretty sure she finally pass out waiting for the shower.
The next morning was sad, I was parting ways with everyone, my journey was over, didn't even get back on the bus! All the girls didn't understand I was leaving now and got back on but all ran off to give me one last hug... Very sweet. Instead of heading back to launceston and coming right back I was going to take the 12 hour night ferry tonight that leaves from here back to mainland Australia. So I tied up my bag around back of the house using my cool metal backpack netting and headed into town. Had a McD's breakfast... Walked around town, tried calling mom like 10 times but she never answered... It was mothers day here, but a day early there. Went to a movie to pass the time, star trek, it was freaking sweet! I only got about 1/2 of the inside jokes or references they made about the old movies and lots if camios of old cast. I'd give it two thumbs up! Way up. Spent the rest of the day basically exploring the whole town (it's not that big) Then I made my way back to the ferry terminal around 6ish to board.
-- Post From My iPhone
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Tassie day 5
Today was an early start... Up at 5:30 to start the second 1/2 of my trip, up the west coast of Tasmania, spending a lot of time in the cradle mountain NP. First stop was in Mt. Field NP seeing a couple water falls, Russell falls was great, and also saw the biggest trees in Tasmania (perhaps all of Australia) on the tall trees walk through very old growth forests (+2000 yrs old). Next we headed to lake st clair, had a hike before lunch, got to know Anne a little better, a german girl who was travelling after being a nanny in Sydney for the past few months. This hike also beginning my frustration with the platypus!!! (still elusive!). Hiking, over lynch and on the bus I was starting to meet and make friends with my new group. So far I know Anna(Germany), dan(uk), tina and amanda(WA,WI =USA), there's also a couple from the UK, a couple Chinese girls, a girl from the Czech republic, a Swiss girl and a few japanese ladies. And carl, our crazy goofy dreadlocked bus driver... Much more interactive than erica (who happens to be his girl friend) so far I feel very lucky to get another fun group! After a lunch of tuna salad wraps we hit the road... Weather on the west coast is much more random, much more wet but have had luck with hikes, it did drizzle but cleared. Made a stop at the franklin river, in franklin gordon NP for a great hike and lots of exploring... The franklin is one of the last rivers in the world that starts and ends untouched entirely in a national park, pure mountain spring water!!! No human contamination, no farm runoff, no dams, very clean... In fact a few people filled up their water bottles, however it's stained brown from the tannins in the roots of the button grass that grow in the area. It's very damp here causing tons of different mushrooms to pop up everywhere. Our next stop was a beer run in the ugliest town in Australia, Queenstown. It was an old mining town that's refining process back in the day released toxic gas and created acid rain killing all of the surrounding old growth forest and wildlife, leaving the ground posioned! they said until recently not even a single blade of grass would grow (infact their footy field is still gravel). We stopped for the night in Strahan, a sleepy fishing village. Had a Aussie/Asian dinner, beers, goon and finished the night with ferris bulers day off. We all were very tuckered out, to bed by 11
-- Post From My iPhone
-- Post From My iPhone
Tassie day end of day 3 and day 4
Like i said the end of my day 3 was the end of the tour for everyone but me in the tour group so there was a plan to all meet for dinner and drinks. Most of us were at one hostel but Sivan was at another and was suppose to meet us at 7 but we never met up... Later find out that she basically went up one staircase while we went down the other... :-( she even went looking for us down where all the resturants were but didn't find us, so she didn't get to say goodbye to everyone. We had some great indian food, service was a little iffy, then we went to murphys irish pub for beers and a little live music, said goodbye to trine and anna (Denmark) then Ross(uk), christina(Germany), katinka(Netherlands) and I played pool till like 3 till they kicked us out...at one point a fight broke out between a few fishermen, I almost get in the middle of it, a little scary, funny thing tho they got kicked out and by the time they passed the window outside they were best buds again arms over each others shoulders.
The next day (day4) I had a free day in Hobart.., I slept in, did a little laundry, wondered the streets and around dinner time met up with Ross again and headed out. luckily with a well timed email and my amazing iPhone, Ross and I were able to meet up with Sivan for dinner! I thought I wasn't gonna be able to say goodbye. She was gone all day at a cruise along the coast so I thought I would try to run into her when it came back by waiting at her hostel's front desk but no luck. However half way through my burger I got an email that she was still in town and really wanted to meet up, she joined us, Ross left early and her and a I talked over a couple beers, even discussed current affairs regarding Israel and the USA. So at least I got to say goodbye and get a big hug! A good night for tommy.
-- Post From My iPhone
The next day (day4) I had a free day in Hobart.., I slept in, did a little laundry, wondered the streets and around dinner time met up with Ross again and headed out. luckily with a well timed email and my amazing iPhone, Ross and I were able to meet up with Sivan for dinner! I thought I wasn't gonna be able to say goodbye. She was gone all day at a cruise along the coast so I thought I would try to run into her when it came back by waiting at her hostel's front desk but no luck. However half way through my burger I got an email that she was still in town and really wanted to meet up, she joined us, Ross left early and her and a I talked over a couple beers, even discussed current affairs regarding Israel and the USA. So at least I got to say goodbye and get a big hug! A good night for tommy.
-- Post From My iPhone
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Tassie day 3
Oh it's a lttle sad, tonight is the last night with this group, have a free day in Hobart tonight then back up the west coast with a new group... And a new driver, oddly enough I met him last night, he's erica's boyfriend.
Last night wasn't much of a party persay but we did have a lot of fun. There was a pool table at this house and the proved to be a real party starter... We all were pretty bad so it was always a surprise who was going to win. After a few games dinner was ready, spegetti tonight... And more games after , till underbelly came on. That's a tv show I have been watching the whole time I've been in Australia and last night was the final episode. Later in the night we started to play Uno... But with strange rules, like if you gave multiple of a number (no matter color) you can play all of them (sometimes changing color) and the other odd rule was if you had a matching card (say a green 7 was played and you also had a green) anyone no matter who's turn it is you can play it and then the person next to them is up... Very confusing and fast paced... And if multiple "draw" cards are played on top if each other (even the wild draw4) it all added up for that one person. I finally gave up around 11:30 but heard the guys come to bed round 2:30!!!
Up by 7 for the adventures if the day! Mainly Port Arthur and the Tasmanian devil park. So basically Australia began as a second chance for British convicts to serve time then be given back freedom and become settlers. Tasmania was the place where the bad or repeat offenders were send, port arthur being the "prison" where the worse were sent. Lots of history lessons and exploring of the old buildings, most walked around with Sivan, but also Trine and Anna (from denmark) and always seemed to bump into Maki (the always goody Japanese girl, remember michinio?) after a couple hours we got a free boat harbor cruise showing us the island where the boy convicts were sent to live (at age 7 you could be tried as an adult for simple things like pickpocketing and sent here) and also the island were they buried their dead. Over all it was a little boring but showed how aweful it once was here and the small crimes that got you sent half way round the world to serve time for. After a quick lunch and loading up the bus we headed for what I might call the highlight of the trip as far as wildlife. It was the Tasmanian devil conservation park, which began with a pair chasing each other round and round till the keeper brought a little wambat over for their lunch and the real fun began! They make the crazyest noises, like a grawling scream... Can't imagine camping in the woods and hearing that late at night, would freak me out! Can understand why they call them devils! The rest of the park was filled with native animals, all a little lame till we got to the kangaroo and wallaby... Umm petting zoo? It was freaking amazing!!! Kangaroos up close in their natural enviornment! Got some great photos!
Just got to Hobart and ready for a drink! I'll talk to y'all later!
Here's a pic I took with my phone of one if my new friends!
-- Post From My iPhone
Last night wasn't much of a party persay but we did have a lot of fun. There was a pool table at this house and the proved to be a real party starter... We all were pretty bad so it was always a surprise who was going to win. After a few games dinner was ready, spegetti tonight... And more games after , till underbelly came on. That's a tv show I have been watching the whole time I've been in Australia and last night was the final episode. Later in the night we started to play Uno... But with strange rules, like if you gave multiple of a number (no matter color) you can play all of them (sometimes changing color) and the other odd rule was if you had a matching card (say a green 7 was played and you also had a green) anyone no matter who's turn it is you can play it and then the person next to them is up... Very confusing and fast paced... And if multiple "draw" cards are played on top if each other (even the wild draw4) it all added up for that one person. I finally gave up around 11:30 but heard the guys come to bed round 2:30!!!
Up by 7 for the adventures if the day! Mainly Port Arthur and the Tasmanian devil park. So basically Australia began as a second chance for British convicts to serve time then be given back freedom and become settlers. Tasmania was the place where the bad or repeat offenders were send, port arthur being the "prison" where the worse were sent. Lots of history lessons and exploring of the old buildings, most walked around with Sivan, but also Trine and Anna (from denmark) and always seemed to bump into Maki (the always goody Japanese girl, remember michinio?) after a couple hours we got a free boat harbor cruise showing us the island where the boy convicts were sent to live (at age 7 you could be tried as an adult for simple things like pickpocketing and sent here) and also the island were they buried their dead. Over all it was a little boring but showed how aweful it once was here and the small crimes that got you sent half way round the world to serve time for. After a quick lunch and loading up the bus we headed for what I might call the highlight of the trip as far as wildlife. It was the Tasmanian devil conservation park, which began with a pair chasing each other round and round till the keeper brought a little wambat over for their lunch and the real fun began! They make the crazyest noises, like a grawling scream... Can't imagine camping in the woods and hearing that late at night, would freak me out! Can understand why they call them devils! The rest of the park was filled with native animals, all a little lame till we got to the kangaroo and wallaby... Umm petting zoo? It was freaking amazing!!! Kangaroos up close in their natural enviornment! Got some great photos!
Just got to Hobart and ready for a drink! I'll talk to y'all later!
Here's a pic I took with my phone of one if my new friends!
-- Post From My iPhone
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Tassie day 2
Had a Great sleep, quick shower and breakfast then loaded up bus and headed further south down the east coast for our major hike for the day, Wine glass bay! First stopping off at a surf blowhole... Always fun. We had a couple of choices, a major hike to the top of the mountain, near 1500 foot climb with quite a bit of scrambling up smooth granite and sliding back down but would have a 360 degree view OR a hike 1/2 up the mountain to a lookout then back down to the white sand beach. I chose the easier hike with beach. It was actually a moderate hike, but a good challenge. I walked most of the way with Sivan the girl from isreal. Haha a little flirting going in. She says she's famous back home and can't believe I've never heard if her... Says I'm the poparatzi with my nice camera. She's fun. The whole hike there and back took about 3 hours with about 1/2 hr hanging out on the beach... Sivan got hit by a small sneaker wave when she got close to dip her toes in... She wasn't happy with me laughing at her all wet. It was thoroughly exhausting. A short trip to a picnic ground for lunch, sandwiches, and a visit to the info center we started on a long drive to our place for the night a couple hours further south. First stopping at a bottleshop for a little booze, then Sivan and I got an icecream (her vanilla was a bit meaty ?, or so she says LOL)
Tonight is erica's (bus driver/guide) last day after 3 years so it's going to be a party tonight.
-- Post From My iPhone
Down under the land down under
Day 1 Tasmania (may 3):
Night before flew into launceston from Sydney, a short 2hour flight. After the flight landed there was a fruit and food check that involved a beagle which actually sat on my bag which got me worried, but ended up being the bag next to mine... Thought "oh great what did I pack?". Headed outside to find a shuttle into town and what much, was the last to fit on the shuttle into town, next bus, 30 minutes! Made it to the hostel ...Backpacker hub...but was a bar down stairs that i think was having strip club night, there was a cover charge so I didn't check it out but there was Loud music till late, plus it was hard to sleep cuz so excited.
Next AM met bus at doorstep, met erica the driver and introduced to rest of group that has been traveling together for 3days already, I will continue on with new diver and group once I get to Hobart where they finish their trip. a great mix of people... A few Korean girls, a couple girls from denmark, a couple Italian girls, a couple girls from Germany, a few guys and girls from japan, a girl from isreal, a guy and his mom from Austria, an older Australian lady and a couple of English guys. All very nice and friendly... Small enough group everyone is becoming close, friendships forming fast. Morning drive was a little rough, winding roads and a bumpy bus. A few people were actually getting a little car sick, but I did well. Totally different terrain... Similar to Oregon but no evergreens, all gumtrees but much more mountainous than anything before. Our first stop was at St columba falls, claiming to be tasmanias biggest, over 90 meters. It was beautiful. Was a nice walk down to the base and when we got back lunch was just about ready... Aussie BBQ! Burgers prepared by the guide. After lunch we drove a couple hours to our next stop, the bay of fire. Named because the original explorer that found it saw many fires burning along the beaches at night as he was approaching, some say it's because of the orange/red lichen that grow on the rocks here... Spent a couple hours exploring tide pools and climbing on the rocks. Took a few amazing pictures. Found a weird alien pod... Maybe a shark egg... Don't know. Back on the bus for a couple more hours driving, stopping for a few shots of the setting sun and arriving at the house in bicheno where we would be staying for the night to unload quickly then we all headed to a special place to watch the little (fairy) penguins come up the beach... Only saw a few but they were damn cute. Guess it's the wrong time of the year, earlier they say hundreds come up and rust here. Headed back to the house were dinner was just about done, rice, chicken & veggies. Played a little ping pong.... But it turned into a 8 or 9 person game where we all were rotating around the table taking a single shot then the next person hits it and round and round you go... Later turned into elimination and got real exciting. A little chatting and drinking then bed time.
-- Post From My iPhone
Night before flew into launceston from Sydney, a short 2hour flight. After the flight landed there was a fruit and food check that involved a beagle which actually sat on my bag which got me worried, but ended up being the bag next to mine... Thought "oh great what did I pack?". Headed outside to find a shuttle into town and what much, was the last to fit on the shuttle into town, next bus, 30 minutes! Made it to the hostel ...Backpacker hub...but was a bar down stairs that i think was having strip club night, there was a cover charge so I didn't check it out but there was Loud music till late, plus it was hard to sleep cuz so excited.
Next AM met bus at doorstep, met erica the driver and introduced to rest of group that has been traveling together for 3days already, I will continue on with new diver and group once I get to Hobart where they finish their trip. a great mix of people... A few Korean girls, a couple girls from denmark, a couple Italian girls, a couple girls from Germany, a few guys and girls from japan, a girl from isreal, a guy and his mom from Austria, an older Australian lady and a couple of English guys. All very nice and friendly... Small enough group everyone is becoming close, friendships forming fast. Morning drive was a little rough, winding roads and a bumpy bus. A few people were actually getting a little car sick, but I did well. Totally different terrain... Similar to Oregon but no evergreens, all gumtrees but much more mountainous than anything before. Our first stop was at St columba falls, claiming to be tasmanias biggest, over 90 meters. It was beautiful. Was a nice walk down to the base and when we got back lunch was just about ready... Aussie BBQ! Burgers prepared by the guide. After lunch we drove a couple hours to our next stop, the bay of fire. Named because the original explorer that found it saw many fires burning along the beaches at night as he was approaching, some say it's because of the orange/red lichen that grow on the rocks here... Spent a couple hours exploring tide pools and climbing on the rocks. Took a few amazing pictures. Found a weird alien pod... Maybe a shark egg... Don't know. Back on the bus for a couple more hours driving, stopping for a few shots of the setting sun and arriving at the house in bicheno where we would be staying for the night to unload quickly then we all headed to a special place to watch the little (fairy) penguins come up the beach... Only saw a few but they were damn cute. Guess it's the wrong time of the year, earlier they say hundreds come up and rust here. Headed back to the house were dinner was just about done, rice, chicken & veggies. Played a little ping pong.... But it turned into a 8 or 9 person game where we all were rotating around the table taking a single shot then the next person hits it and round and round you go... Later turned into elimination and got real exciting. A little chatting and drinking then bed time.
-- Post From My iPhone
Saturday, May 02, 2009
[beep]ing car! Ok I'm over it ;-)
What a stress! And waste of money, I totally think i went about that the wrong way...so instead of just hanging out in Adelaide and selling my car I thought it would be a much better choice to just go back to Sydney and sell back at an agreed 40% of the purchase price... Thinking it's be less stressful, no paperwork hassels, get to do a mini-road trip getting there seeing a couple cool out of the way things and in the end have a good time... Well I'm not sure I did the right thing. So I think I last left you in Canberra... Had a pretty good nights rest, got up early and hit the road headed to Sydney. Wow was the fog bad! Reminded me of the fog in grants pass. After a couple hours of uneventful driving I began to enter the suburbs of Sydney and gave Murray (the car dealer) a call. Said he was busy this afternoon and as long as I got there by 2:30 everything would fine. Informed me I needed to get a pinkslip and wash/clean the car before I returned it. Pinkslips are a pre-sale safety inspection to basically prove it's roadworthy and your not ripping off the other person. Cruised around the town of Liverpool and found a Tyre shop that sign said they did the inspections... Great, easy! Thinking only another $30 or so and I'd be set... Wrong! Both rear tires were too bald to pass... What luck I'm at a tire shop that had cheapo retreads for $50 a piece. Ok all set... Just need a carwash... No do-it-yourself places to be found but for $30 I found a place that did an amazing job! Washed the outside, shined up the tires, hand dried, vacuumed and wiped down the whole inside! ....but... It took freaking forever! It was actually funny, they kept pulling cars outside and I started to think mine got lost or something coming down the wash tunnel... Can't really take a wrong turn on a track. Plus they were having a special on hand polishing and all the cars ahead of me got that... So by the time I finally got my car back it was too late to make it to the dealer... Grrr... It was like 2 hours! Gave Murray a call, he said he was busy tomorrow, I said I had a flight and he said to call him in the morning and we could arrange something... At this point I had a feeling I may be totally screwed. So I started looking for a hostel as close to the dealer as possible so getting to the lot at a moments notice wouldn't be an issue. What a pick!! Hahaha I think I found the old folks hostel! Not to mention it was on the approach path for the airport like a mile away! Haha When I made dinner there was a couple of oldies in the kitchen that had to have been in their 60s and a couple more already eating. Slept alright, awoken by the morning flights and also in the middle of the night was jarred awake by someone's night terror scream, but it was all 20something guys in my room and this was very little girl like hahaha. Shower was great! Had some hot water issues past couple days. Even got a shave in, figured my tassie trip might involve a little roughing it so better get a good shower and shave in while I got the chance. Called up Murray again and said we could meet at 11 after his daughters netball game... No clue what to do for 2 hours. Made a few calls, confirmed my tassie trip, called mom and called Megan... Went for a walk to find an Internet cafe but was in a very ethic part of the suburbs, just weird shops and resturants... Mix of Greek, Italian, Vietnamese and Pakistani... I think, also a little Portugese, Korean and Lebanese... Food smelt amazing but couldn't afford. Never did find Internet. But wasted enough time so I headed to the car lot... Perfect timing! And all was right with paperwork and got my cash and headed for downtown! A free man! Can't believe how much it cost me to get it here and for the services! Was a pretty long drive, filled up 3 times (each time $75+, gas is about $1.20 a liter, so about $4.50 a gallon). But I feel liberated!
And at the moment am on my flight to wild Tasmania!!! :-) with a grin!
-- Post From My iPhone
And at the moment am on my flight to wild Tasmania!!! :-) with a grin!
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, April 30, 2009
I totally forgot!! They took chad!!!
So as I was sleeping in this morning there was a knock on the door, there was a couple other guys in the room but no one got up, heard a key go in & unlock the door, it opens and in walks a couple cops and a lady in uniform... She asks for a chad, a guy on the bunk across the room says yes, then she introduced herself as immigration!! Chad's visa ran out or something and they came to take him away! I almost laughed, it's like that customs show in tv. He looked like a terrorist anyways ;-) just kidding! Never met the guy.
-- Post From My iPhone
-- Post From My iPhone
Lost in Melbourne and the $200 oil change!
Started of the day getting up early to drop off my car at the auto shop to get my oil changed. Said it might be a couple hours till they get back to me with an estimate after they do a thorough inspection, said I only wanted an oil change but they said the inspection was included... Handed the keys over and out the door I went. Wasn't sure where I was headed but I still managed to get lost... Eventually found myself at the queen victoria markets again, but it was closed today, like a ghost town! It was one of those open air markets that took up like 2 square blocks or more with merchants yelling out specials, old women pushing around little carts full of fresh veggies... But today nothing but a couple of the produce stands open, actually wanted to look at the shoe stands for a deal on hiking boots, my shoes suck. Since the market was closed I decided I would just hop on the free bus which stopped there... Well not till 10:30! So I wondered around a little while, sent a couple emails, booked my Adelaide to Darwin trip and finally hop on the bus... Destination unknown! Just the way I like it. Decided it was a nice enough day to check out the royal botanical gardens, stop 14 :-) and just before I got off the bus I got the call from the car place, I need new tires, new shocks, a couple bulbs, wipers... Stopped him before he said any numbers and said ok just the oil, bulbs and wipers today... How much? Bla bla bla, No, just that... Well $225!!!!woh?!? $75 for the oil change, $50 for the oil and filter, wipers, bulbs, more labor... What could I do? But hey this is the 1st thing besides gas I've had to spend so I guess it's fine. So on I went into the gardens. Much better weather than the day before, a little chilly and cloudy but dry. It being the end of fall not many flowers in bloom but it was still a nice way to spend the morning, it was big enough that it took me a few hours to explore most of it. Hopped back on the bus to check out something else... Maybe federation square? But before I could get there, the car place called and said it was ready for pickup....umm now where was that place. Took the bus as close as it got to where I thought it was and started walking, quite aimlessly. It was at the edge of town so the city maps I had didn't show it. But eventually I found it, paid and drove the car back to the hostel. Got ahold of Ryu and Sarah to see what there plans were for tonight, said they were thinking of heading to the casino in a little while so I said I'd meet them there, beside I still wanted to check out the funky modern art buildings at federation square which I though was really close to the casino. I don't know how I did it but I found the hotel for the casino but took a wrong turn and got lost again! Ended up in the back alleyway. Basically circled the entire building which took up like 5 blocks. Met up with my friends, had a beer...hoegarden! And we hit the casino... Well we just played the slot machines, 2c ones mostly, but I did play a 5c one and ended up winning $35! In the end I think I was up about $25. It was about dinner time so we headed out, all quickly agreed on one if those sushi train places in china town. And guess what happened we all got lost! Wondering around and around, finally finding a place but it was way too expensive, like $4 for 2 pieces. So we just wondered around and around china town looking for a good deal. We ended up finding a place they saw the night before which was a dumpling house in a scary alley, but the place was packed which is always a good sign. Food was awesome, little pork dumplings, fried and steamed, steamed buns and a round of tiger beer. Next we headed out looking for this place that they said had $10 jugs (pitchers) well after 3 pitchers trying to figure out which one it was, we left...paying full price for all if them hahaha. They needed to find a place to stay for the night so we wondered around a little more... It was starting to get late and streets were filling up with the young crowd looking for fun. On one street corner we met a Latino cutie that gave us tickets to a new dance club, ffour club or something like that... Well it was a hell of a party...Coronas, tequila shots, mojitos, long island ice teas... And all 2 for 1 pricing. Too bad the mojotos were $16 a piece, so $32 for 4 and a little light on alcohol and heavy in the sugar but the long island ice teas later made up for that. Glad I didn't buy that round.
All that drinking made my walk home very very interesting...haha and to top it off my phone was dying to I couldn't use it to navigate me home. I know sad. But I made it. I wanted to head out early in the morning and possibly make it all the way to sydney but wasnt feeling too hot. Slept in till check out time, hopped in the car and well, got lost. Lost lost lost all morning, i was trying to avoid toll roads so I just stayed on main roads headed east...but!!! Should have been heading north, grrr, seriously. Thought I needed to take the Princes Hwy but should have been the Hume Hwy. Did I mention I was staying in the north part of town?
Finally after an hour and a half got out of the city and was back on the open road. Weather was perfect, drive was a little boring, nothing really to stop and look at or do. Stopped for lunch in the town where ned Kelly made his last stand (need to resaerch who that was, they mentioned him also during the Melbourne tour when we passed the jail) I did see a little of the damage from recent bushfires.
Im in Canberra, australia's national capital, at the moment, stating at a hostel aka backpacker aka I'm sleeping in a room with 9 other stinky travellers! But hey it's only $30 and the kitchen is always open.
So anyone got the pig flu thing? I keep thinking I'm going to get stuck on Tasmania because it's going to start taking over and I'll be one of the remaining survivors because I was isolated on the small island... And yes, I will help repopulate the world!
Ok bed time, sweetdreams!
-- Post From My iPhone
All that drinking made my walk home very very interesting...haha and to top it off my phone was dying to I couldn't use it to navigate me home. I know sad. But I made it. I wanted to head out early in the morning and possibly make it all the way to sydney but wasnt feeling too hot. Slept in till check out time, hopped in the car and well, got lost. Lost lost lost all morning, i was trying to avoid toll roads so I just stayed on main roads headed east...but!!! Should have been heading north, grrr, seriously. Thought I needed to take the Princes Hwy but should have been the Hume Hwy. Did I mention I was staying in the north part of town?
Finally after an hour and a half got out of the city and was back on the open road. Weather was perfect, drive was a little boring, nothing really to stop and look at or do. Stopped for lunch in the town where ned Kelly made his last stand (need to resaerch who that was, they mentioned him also during the Melbourne tour when we passed the jail) I did see a little of the damage from recent bushfires.
Im in Canberra, australia's national capital, at the moment, stating at a hostel aka backpacker aka I'm sleeping in a room with 9 other stinky travellers! But hey it's only $30 and the kitchen is always open.
So anyone got the pig flu thing? I keep thinking I'm going to get stuck on Tasmania because it's going to start taking over and I'll be one of the remaining survivors because I was isolated on the small island... And yes, I will help repopulate the world!
Ok bed time, sweetdreams!
-- Post From My iPhone
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I know what I'm doing tonight!
Just walked into the lounge room in the hostel I'm staying at tonight and they're watching close encounters of the 3rd kind... Freaking awesome! Hahaha, just wanted to share my excitement!
-- Post From My iPhone
-- Post From My iPhone
On the road!
Well I started my journey. Left yesterday (Monday) morning about 6:30. The weather sucked the whole way, bad rain, windy and clouds. After leaving the Clare valley I entered the barossa valley, and the heavens openned up, my windshield wipers couldn't keep up. I was actually excited to drive through the valley and check out the wineries... But no stopping in this weather. Might have another chance in a couple weeks but likely not. Guess I'll have to come back. Haha I also had a goal to find a place to get an oil change... Thought "easy task, just need to find the Aussie version of jiffy lube, 15 minute delay, easy!" well found the biggest city along the way, Murray Bridge, drove around for about an hour with no luck, so gave up, filled up with petrol, grabbed a farmers union ice coffee (only in south australia & would be leaving SA soon) and continued down the road. Weather at this point wasn't bad, intermittent rain and clear skys. Next stop was in Bordertown, you guessed it on the border of the states SA and victoria. From here I headed to the Grampians, a mountain range and national forest. Really wish it would have been clear, what I could see was awesome though, big jagged peaks, dense forests (been in rolling hills of drought stricken Clare for too long). Oh yeah and I saw more wild kangaroos!!! One actually jumped across the road in front of me! Cool but I think it would cause major damage, like hitting a deer low to the ground. Took a nice hike to the bottom of the Mackenzie falls... Got me pretty winded but great to get out of the car after driving for hours!!! By the time I finally got down out of the mountains it was just about 6 pm and starting to get dark... Looking back I should have stopped for the night but really was looking forward to meeting up with my buddies Ryu and Sarah in Melbourne... Should have realized driving in heavy rain in city traffic would be hell!!! But I made it, only 30 off schedule! At 8:30. That's right I drove from Clare to Melbourne in one shot, 14 hours on the road. I'm still tired, haha. But today was pretty relaxed. Ryu, Sarah and I took the free tourist bus all over the city checking out the sites...MCG, victoria market, a bunch of cool art & statues, this massive ferris wheel, federation square and ... Ya the whole city! Finished it off by getting a beer at this famous bar with a nude painting called chloe. Can't remember the name at the moment, right across the street from the flinders train station.
Tomorrow more of the same, finally getting my car in for an oil change (hopefully nothing more) so will be car-less. Might just find a quiet cafe and people watch in one of the ethic neighborhoods, maybe the Italian one. Thursday I'm headed for Sydney to sell back my car then fly to Tasmania on Saturday. I'm pretty excited, used my iPhone to book both the tour and flight all over the Internet... I love technology.
-- Post From My iPhone
Tomorrow more of the same, finally getting my car in for an oil change (hopefully nothing more) so will be car-less. Might just find a quiet cafe and people watch in one of the ethic neighborhoods, maybe the Italian one. Thursday I'm headed for Sydney to sell back my car then fly to Tasmania on Saturday. I'm pretty excited, used my iPhone to book both the tour and flight all over the Internet... I love technology.
-- Post From My iPhone
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Last night in Clare...
Had some what of a fun night. Started out slow, had a couple and watch the end of the football game on tv... Called up Will invited him down to join me at the bentley pub. Thought it would be fun to do a pub crawl, getting a drink at every pub in Clare... All three of them! I know big night.
Today I slept in one last time, drove around town looking for a place to get my oil changed, failed. I'm planning to take off very early tomorrow to meet up with my friends in Melbourne for a couple days before I head to Sydney to sell my car and head to Tassie (Tasmania) to start my journey. Been researching flights online but scared to book without having my bus tours confirmed. I just need to jump.
-- Post From My iPhone
Today I slept in one last time, drove around town looking for a place to get my oil changed, failed. I'm planning to take off very early tomorrow to meet up with my friends in Melbourne for a couple days before I head to Sydney to sell my car and head to Tassie (Tasmania) to start my journey. Been researching flights online but scared to book without having my bus tours confirmed. I just need to jump.
-- Post From My iPhone
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Burrrrrr
Wow what a change in the weather. The rain came and took all the heat away! They say this rain is the most they've had for a few years. It's funny, on the news they keep forecasting more rain and smiling and saying "but no ones complaining".... Well I sure am! I finally finish up work, get some free time to check out the local sites before I head off and it's a freaking monsoon out there... Looks like Oregon out there!
But I beared the weather and headed out to watch another footy game (Aussie rules football) between north and south clare. Today is Anzac day, which I gather is like veterans day so there was a special service before the start of the game, a veteran said a little something, some sad trumpet music and a moment of silence. It was sad, the rain slowed as they lined everyone up but just as the old guy was giving his speech it started to dump buskets and the wind picked up and flipped his umbrella inside out, he said "that's not good" and everyone laughed. The game was a good one as most wet games are, no one could hold the ball and bodies were sliding everywhere... One guy even slide off the field slamming his head into the fence, he got up slow but was ok. What was really funny was when one of the goals that was kicked went flying through the uprights it smashed the windshield of a skyline (a sports car) he was actually sitting in his car and jumped out right as it happened. Sucks to be him... Smashed window in the rain.
Anyways this might be my last night in Clare so I think I'm going to go out and check out the pubs one last time. But it's cold and rainy so I'm not sure how long I'll last.
Holla!
-- Post From My iPhone
But I beared the weather and headed out to watch another footy game (Aussie rules football) between north and south clare. Today is Anzac day, which I gather is like veterans day so there was a special service before the start of the game, a veteran said a little something, some sad trumpet music and a moment of silence. It was sad, the rain slowed as they lined everyone up but just as the old guy was giving his speech it started to dump buskets and the wind picked up and flipped his umbrella inside out, he said "that's not good" and everyone laughed. The game was a good one as most wet games are, no one could hold the ball and bodies were sliding everywhere... One guy even slide off the field slamming his head into the fence, he got up slow but was ok. What was really funny was when one of the goals that was kicked went flying through the uprights it smashed the windshield of a skyline (a sports car) he was actually sitting in his car and jumped out right as it happened. Sucks to be him... Smashed window in the rain.
Anyways this might be my last night in Clare so I think I'm going to go out and check out the pubs one last time. But it's cold and rainy so I'm not sure how long I'll last.
Holla!
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Goodbye Sevenhill Cellars! XO!
Well I made my last trip to work today to pick up a couple bottles of vino and say goodbye to everyone one last time. Showed up just in time for smoko so I had a cup of coffee with the admin crew ... :-( a little sad as I drove away.
After having me manage the bottling line and crew all day, Liz took the winery whole crew out for a dinner at the sevenhill pub. I usually get the chicken parmi but went for the kangaroo striploin (parmi is better, ha) we had a fun night, lots of free beers for tommy! :-) the funniest part of the night was Richard telling stories, what a weird one. But kept us laughing.
Anyways doing laundry and starting to pack up. My time in Clare is coming to an end and I'm so excited get travelling... Which I still don't have planned out much but really how do you plan 6 or more weeks on the road?
I'll keep in touch!
-- Post From My iPhone
After having me manage the bottling line and crew all day, Liz took the winery whole crew out for a dinner at the sevenhill pub. I usually get the chicken parmi but went for the kangaroo striploin (parmi is better, ha) we had a fun night, lots of free beers for tommy! :-) the funniest part of the night was Richard telling stories, what a weird one. But kept us laughing.
Anyways doing laundry and starting to pack up. My time in Clare is coming to an end and I'm so excited get travelling... Which I still don't have planned out much but really how do you plan 6 or more weeks on the road?
I'll keep in touch!
-- Post From My iPhone
Monday, April 20, 2009
Forgot to mention...
This weekend I went to a Australian rules football game with my coworker Will. It's totally different then American football, ball looks about the same but white, the field is an oval, there's 4 goal posts so 3 openings (6 point goal through the center, a single point through the side uprights), it's played more like soccer with non-stop running and passing the ball, passing must be done 2 ways either "hand balls" which is kind of like a underhand vollyball serve or by drop kicking it. If it's kicked and caught by a teammate then the player gets a mark and no one can touch him for like 10 seconds. You can only run with the ball for a couple paces the you gave to pass it (handball or kick) or you can bounce it (which isn't easy with a football, not round & on grass) anyways I'm sure there's more rules but that's what I understand... It's very confusing, the tackling rules make no sense to me. It's fun seeing new sports, like cricket, is actually pretty cool.
Before the game Will and I hit up a couple Clare valley winerys and what luck, the first place we went to had a Hen party there!!! Hen parties are what they call a group of crazy girls for a day out, and in this case drunk hot ones!!! Haha they were on a wine tasting tour and the bus driver was cool and asked if we wanted to join them for lunch that he was making... Umm... YES! They were very interested in our jobs and exacty where Oregon is and what it's like there. Wish I could have got a big group picture with them, or at least any photo to remember it.
Oh and thought I would post a link to the winery I got a job at this fall... Jordanwinery.com
Peace out all!
Before the game Will and I hit up a couple Clare valley winerys and what luck, the first place we went to had a Hen party there!!! Hen parties are what they call a group of crazy girls for a day out, and in this case drunk hot ones!!! Haha they were on a wine tasting tour and the bus driver was cool and asked if we wanted to join them for lunch that he was making... Umm... YES! They were very interested in our jobs and exacty where Oregon is and what it's like there. Wish I could have got a big group picture with them, or at least any photo to remember it.
Oh and thought I would post a link to the winery I got a job at this fall... Jordanwinery.com
Peace out all!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Overload!!! Mucho informationo!!!
So I've been super busy with work and trying to have somewhat of a social life (almost destroyed both with a embarrassing drunken call walking home from the pubs late one Friday night...gulp O_o). The past month has flown by... Didn't realize I haven't updated my blog for so long... So what has been going on...
Work has been crazy busy but super fun and interesting, plenty of learning new and different winemaking things... Like making dessert wines that involved fermenting whites on skins, vinomatics, and overnight cold soaks in the press. Helping shovel open fermenters. I got to do another run of 10 liter box wine fillings, Liz called it zen time, it's very mind numbing and a solo job. Heaps of juice and wine racking. Bentonite adds!! And quite a few other random jobs... Crushing, pressing, pumpovers, barreling... A little of anything and everything!!! And only making a couple mistakes like addition errors and temperature probs...grrr... Took those a little personal, feel like I'm letting Liz down and that I'm better then that.
But it's starting to slow down, heard we brought in over 270 tons so far and the end is near, either end of this week or next... At which time I will take my leave!! I can't wait to hit the road. I think I made enough to take 3 great tours. One of the east coast, Sydney to Cairns which involves a couple days at surf camp, 4wd around fraiser island, sailing the whiteundays, diving the great barrier reef and 4wd daintree rainforest and more. Second is down the center through the outback, Darwin to Adelaide (or Melbourne) with a mix of camping and hostels, 4wd through the litchfield and kakadu national parks (lots of waterfalls I heard), katherine gorge, a few days in the center at the big red rock Uluru, kings canyon, olgas, visit the flinder ranges and other national parks, includes lots of hikes, aboriginal culture and sleeping out under the stars. And third a week long tour of Tasmania! Heard it's awesome down on there. A mix of camping, hiking and loads of outdoor fun... But possibly very rainy this time of year.
Over the long Easter weekend had fun with my friends working at another winery in town that all finished up work and were in a partying mood. On Sunday we all went to the horseraces in town (won't with about 5000 others, it was massive! Last time we went there was a few hundred) had a bad time at first because I lost everyone for like an hour and could call or txt since everyone else was trying to use there phones. But finally found them n the parking lot tailgating, where we stayed the rest of the races, they agreed too many people and none of us were winning. After the races and it got dark it turned into a dance party... Had a lot of fun. Took the drunk bus home and back in town the only place to eat ran out of food just as I got up to the counter!!! Had to wait to get home and make a ham and cheese toastie, yummm
Like I said my friends all finished up work and had to say goodbye to them this past week, I hope to run into them again, they are also traveling around Australia for the next couple months.
Today I met a goal I've been workmg on for the past 3 weeks. I walked the entire Riesling trail! It's a walking/ bike path that runs the length of the Clare valley, 25 km in total but I basically did it twice since it's not a loop and walked about 8 km at a time and back to where I started. Found the beginning in Clare then to sevenhill and back. Next did sevenhill to watervale and back. And today I did 10 kms from watervale to auburn and back... And it was a hot one today. But it feels good, maybe I will get a bike from work and ride the whole thing next weekend, which should be pretty easy to do in one day.
And the biggest news of all!!!
I awake yesterday morning to find an email from my old boss Pat Fallon who was winemaker at Edenvale who is now cellar master at Jordan winery in Alexander valley north of sonoma. He asked if I would be interested in working with him again for the upcoming havest in California... Umm yes!!! I actually have been worrying about what I was going to do when I get back home. No worries now mate, I got a freakng J O B
Well it's getting late, should head off to bed... That's all for now.
Work has been crazy busy but super fun and interesting, plenty of learning new and different winemaking things... Like making dessert wines that involved fermenting whites on skins, vinomatics, and overnight cold soaks in the press. Helping shovel open fermenters. I got to do another run of 10 liter box wine fillings, Liz called it zen time, it's very mind numbing and a solo job. Heaps of juice and wine racking. Bentonite adds!! And quite a few other random jobs... Crushing, pressing, pumpovers, barreling... A little of anything and everything!!! And only making a couple mistakes like addition errors and temperature probs...grrr... Took those a little personal, feel like I'm letting Liz down and that I'm better then that.
But it's starting to slow down, heard we brought in over 270 tons so far and the end is near, either end of this week or next... At which time I will take my leave!! I can't wait to hit the road. I think I made enough to take 3 great tours. One of the east coast, Sydney to Cairns which involves a couple days at surf camp, 4wd around fraiser island, sailing the whiteundays, diving the great barrier reef and 4wd daintree rainforest and more. Second is down the center through the outback, Darwin to Adelaide (or Melbourne) with a mix of camping and hostels, 4wd through the litchfield and kakadu national parks (lots of waterfalls I heard), katherine gorge, a few days in the center at the big red rock Uluru, kings canyon, olgas, visit the flinder ranges and other national parks, includes lots of hikes, aboriginal culture and sleeping out under the stars. And third a week long tour of Tasmania! Heard it's awesome down on there. A mix of camping, hiking and loads of outdoor fun... But possibly very rainy this time of year.
Over the long Easter weekend had fun with my friends working at another winery in town that all finished up work and were in a partying mood. On Sunday we all went to the horseraces in town (won't with about 5000 others, it was massive! Last time we went there was a few hundred) had a bad time at first because I lost everyone for like an hour and could call or txt since everyone else was trying to use there phones. But finally found them n the parking lot tailgating, where we stayed the rest of the races, they agreed too many people and none of us were winning. After the races and it got dark it turned into a dance party... Had a lot of fun. Took the drunk bus home and back in town the only place to eat ran out of food just as I got up to the counter!!! Had to wait to get home and make a ham and cheese toastie, yummm
Like I said my friends all finished up work and had to say goodbye to them this past week, I hope to run into them again, they are also traveling around Australia for the next couple months.
Today I met a goal I've been workmg on for the past 3 weeks. I walked the entire Riesling trail! It's a walking/ bike path that runs the length of the Clare valley, 25 km in total but I basically did it twice since it's not a loop and walked about 8 km at a time and back to where I started. Found the beginning in Clare then to sevenhill and back. Next did sevenhill to watervale and back. And today I did 10 kms from watervale to auburn and back... And it was a hot one today. But it feels good, maybe I will get a bike from work and ride the whole thing next weekend, which should be pretty easy to do in one day.
And the biggest news of all!!!
I awake yesterday morning to find an email from my old boss Pat Fallon who was winemaker at Edenvale who is now cellar master at Jordan winery in Alexander valley north of sonoma. He asked if I would be interested in working with him again for the upcoming havest in California... Umm yes!!! I actually have been worrying about what I was going to do when I get back home. No worries now mate, I got a freakng J O B
Well it's getting late, should head off to bed... That's all for now.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Finally!!! I can breath through my nose!
I'm finally over the cold that has worked me over the past couple weeks. Started as plugged up ears, in to my sinuses then it's been phlem city for the past week straight. I even bought some good meds that they made me fill out a form to get ( had psudoephedrine which is controlled) but really did do the trick.
But just before I got sick I had an awesome 3 day weekend, well mostly just the sunday of it, Saturday I don't think I even left the house and Monday I was hungover and forced myself out in the afternoon just to take a cruise around the valley.
Oh and I had a bit of a confusing Friday night... Worked kind of late and before my boss liz took off she mentioned she was headed to the watervale pub... So when I got off about an hour later I asked if she was still there and she txt'ed back saying she was and if I came down she would buy me dinner... Umm interesting. We had a fun night, lots of laughs, had a few beers, got to know each other better, had a tasty dinner I had the "fin and flipper" plater which I was hoping had dolphin... And the night ended with me wonder if that was just my boss buying me dinner and drinks and thanking me for the effort I had been putting in at work (and if u read this liz, it felt more than that to me, :-] )
Saturday was a lazy day... But Sunday was great, a full day of fun. The day started out meeting up with Luke, Sarah and Yuri and heading to the Clare horse racing track for the big labor day races, which was a lady's day theme... They thought it was close enough to walk but after walking for a while I called my roommate and asked how far... Would have taken over an hour to trek out there!!! Took a shot at hitchhiking... And lucky for us a guy that lived just before the track had room for all of us, the AC was a great relief the day was starting to heat up. The track was great fun!! There were about 8 total races and we decided it was a good idea to buy a beer after each time we placed a bet. Let's just say by the time the races were over we were all wasted, burnt up by the sun but I was lucky enough to win about $50!!! But that only covered my beers. During the races we hung out with who I was told was a local celebrity, johnny haysmen, I think he used to be a AFL football player and is working with my friends at leasingham, he's the first Aboriginal I've got to know. And lucky for us his dad had room for us so we had a ride back into town. We had a few hours before we were heading out so we again made the bad decision to have more to drink... And white wine at that... This is the point in the night it went down hill for me. Our plans were to have dinner at a place called Citadel which play a movie on a big screen out front while you eat, felt like a mini drive-in. That weekend it was Gran Torino (which I need to rent cause I can't remember how it ended) We caught a ride with Ryu and sara and met a couple others there. And Liz showed up too with a friend... During intermission I moved over and watched the rest of the movie with her. Which I'm a little embarrassed about because by they point I was 3 sheets to the wind and I'm sure it was very clear. After the movie we all headed back home... Which was a little difficult for Sarah, luke and I because our ride walked home, so we decided to walk back too, likely another hour walk... Sarah tried hitchhiking again, randomly a cab stopped, but we would rather walk then pay for a cab but for some strange reason we got the ride free because the cab was going back into town anyways, good deal. Sadly I still had a 30 walk ahead of me from their place... It was a long walk so i did something im not sure i regret or not which was I sent a few flirty txts to Liz which were well recieved :-) but 2 weeks later kind of feel like I might have said too much... In Vino Veritas... I couldn't help it she's awesome.
Since then we have been working super hard and long hours and coupled with my cold it's been a couple of very tough weeks. But I've been having heaps of fun and been giving the responsibility of one of my favorite tasks... Yeast innoculation!!! Also I've been the one to rack all the white juice off it's lees (gross sediment), which is a tricky & sticky job but feel honored she trusts me to do all of them. :-)
This week we put the first red grapes in our open fermenters which are made of slate, as in big stone slabs!!! They are super old and amazing. We also had some trouble with our cooling system and our first 3 tanks of shiraz are already done fermenting and Friday we made a huge mess pressing the 1st tank... Glad I was off warming up a couple cold white juice tanks getting ready to add their yeasts so I got to watch them pull their hair out and lend my assistance when I could (or wanted to, I mean Richard gets scary frustrated sometimes, more than his usual amount of talking to himself, didn't help he got splashed in the face and front with red wine so it looked like be just killed someone or bit their neck) I'm sure I'll have to do one myself this week... I'll take pictures of my hands to show u the fun it is.
Anyways I'm sorry for not posting in a few weeks, sure I forgot to include a few great details and I need to be better about taking pictures too. Hope everyone is doing well.
But just before I got sick I had an awesome 3 day weekend, well mostly just the sunday of it, Saturday I don't think I even left the house and Monday I was hungover and forced myself out in the afternoon just to take a cruise around the valley.
Oh and I had a bit of a confusing Friday night... Worked kind of late and before my boss liz took off she mentioned she was headed to the watervale pub... So when I got off about an hour later I asked if she was still there and she txt'ed back saying she was and if I came down she would buy me dinner... Umm interesting. We had a fun night, lots of laughs, had a few beers, got to know each other better, had a tasty dinner I had the "fin and flipper" plater which I was hoping had dolphin... And the night ended with me wonder if that was just my boss buying me dinner and drinks and thanking me for the effort I had been putting in at work (and if u read this liz, it felt more than that to me, :-] )
Saturday was a lazy day... But Sunday was great, a full day of fun. The day started out meeting up with Luke, Sarah and Yuri and heading to the Clare horse racing track for the big labor day races, which was a lady's day theme... They thought it was close enough to walk but after walking for a while I called my roommate and asked how far... Would have taken over an hour to trek out there!!! Took a shot at hitchhiking... And lucky for us a guy that lived just before the track had room for all of us, the AC was a great relief the day was starting to heat up. The track was great fun!! There were about 8 total races and we decided it was a good idea to buy a beer after each time we placed a bet. Let's just say by the time the races were over we were all wasted, burnt up by the sun but I was lucky enough to win about $50!!! But that only covered my beers. During the races we hung out with who I was told was a local celebrity, johnny haysmen, I think he used to be a AFL football player and is working with my friends at leasingham, he's the first Aboriginal I've got to know. And lucky for us his dad had room for us so we had a ride back into town. We had a few hours before we were heading out so we again made the bad decision to have more to drink... And white wine at that... This is the point in the night it went down hill for me. Our plans were to have dinner at a place called Citadel which play a movie on a big screen out front while you eat, felt like a mini drive-in. That weekend it was Gran Torino (which I need to rent cause I can't remember how it ended) We caught a ride with Ryu and sara and met a couple others there. And Liz showed up too with a friend... During intermission I moved over and watched the rest of the movie with her. Which I'm a little embarrassed about because by they point I was 3 sheets to the wind and I'm sure it was very clear. After the movie we all headed back home... Which was a little difficult for Sarah, luke and I because our ride walked home, so we decided to walk back too, likely another hour walk... Sarah tried hitchhiking again, randomly a cab stopped, but we would rather walk then pay for a cab but for some strange reason we got the ride free because the cab was going back into town anyways, good deal. Sadly I still had a 30 walk ahead of me from their place... It was a long walk so i did something im not sure i regret or not which was I sent a few flirty txts to Liz which were well recieved :-) but 2 weeks later kind of feel like I might have said too much... In Vino Veritas... I couldn't help it she's awesome.
Since then we have been working super hard and long hours and coupled with my cold it's been a couple of very tough weeks. But I've been having heaps of fun and been giving the responsibility of one of my favorite tasks... Yeast innoculation!!! Also I've been the one to rack all the white juice off it's lees (gross sediment), which is a tricky & sticky job but feel honored she trusts me to do all of them. :-)
This week we put the first red grapes in our open fermenters which are made of slate, as in big stone slabs!!! They are super old and amazing. We also had some trouble with our cooling system and our first 3 tanks of shiraz are already done fermenting and Friday we made a huge mess pressing the 1st tank... Glad I was off warming up a couple cold white juice tanks getting ready to add their yeasts so I got to watch them pull their hair out and lend my assistance when I could (or wanted to, I mean Richard gets scary frustrated sometimes, more than his usual amount of talking to himself, didn't help he got splashed in the face and front with red wine so it looked like be just killed someone or bit their neck) I'm sure I'll have to do one myself this week... I'll take pictures of my hands to show u the fun it is.
Anyways I'm sorry for not posting in a few weeks, sure I forgot to include a few great details and I need to be better about taking pictures too. Hope everyone is doing well.
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