The next morning I awoke with the others at 8:00. Dave was to pick us up at 9:00 or so and take us canyoning, which was largely the reason I’d spent 17 hours the day prior getting myself through train, bus, and car down to Katoomba from Brisbane. When I had last been in Katoomba, by the way, Brad and I checked out this really cool YHA with a life-sized chess board, art-deco stylings for the lounge area, pool, a theatre, and other fun stuff. This was where we were staying. But enough about the hostel. Dave came and grabbed us and we finally got out of Katoomba around 10:30. Two of the girls had to get back by 3:30 to catch a train up to Byron Bay, so this didn’t leave us a lot of time. Plus, getting to the canyon itself was something of an adventure. I followed Dave’s car in Betsy and we wove up dirt paths through the forest in what most certainly would’ve been specified a 4x4 track were there any markings at all, but we dogged along and finally got to a sign that announced we were in some national park.
Dave led us down into the canyon, where we walked, climbed, slid down natural waterslides, jumped from ledges, and basically did everything that makes canyoning so much fun in the first place. Sadly, it was over before we knew it and we hiked back up to the cars to return the girls to the train. Then we went out for dessert and hot chocolate as the canyon was a little chilly, returned to the hostel and showered and got some things done, and then went out for Thai. Dave loves Thai, it turns out. Afterwards, Katie, Dave, and I hung out in the lounge and I played a couple of games with Dave before we retired for the evening. Which, I should point out, was somewhere around 10:00. And man, was it chilly up in the Blue Mountains. Those back home will scoff at me, but it was only 7 degrees in the night and the wind sucked the heat right out of you.
The next morning, after getting our room straightened out, Dave took Katie, Kylie, and myself up to the Three Sisters. We’d seen them before, but today we had much more favourable weather and it was a beautiful view. We also walked onto the one sister and Dave showed us where he used to take groups climbing before they put a stop to it. I can understand not allowing commercial climbs but individuals? It seemed a bit much to me and Dave was likewise inclined, rather hilariously. Dave and Kylie were also Sydney bound that day, but they walked us partway along and then turned around, leaving Katie and I to walk the trails up to Ruined Castle. We walked all around the valley until we were on the opposite side of the Three Sisters and then up, some 7km. Ruined Castle is basically some rock remnants that you can scramble up, offering a full 360 degree panoramic view of the valley. I obviously took this opportunity to take such a panorama and several other shots on the rocks before Katie and I headed back down. In total, it was a 5 hour hike and well worth it. We went back, sat in a pub for a while and had burgers and beer, then went to the hostel where I attempted to outline the general strategy for chess on the big chessboard. Then, both of us tired, we returned to the dorm and went to sleep.
The weather was even better the next day, and we set out to find a hike that Dave had told Katie about. I’d also been asking around and heard good things about a hike of Wentworth Falls. We drove looking for a ‘C’ sign, found a fruit stand instead (mmm, fresh mangos, cantaloupe, and peaches), and then decided to do the Wentworth Falls hike. There are several tracks one can do, but I have to imagine that we chose the best of them. We hiked down to Wentworth Falls, which was absolutely beautiful (rivaling Earland Falls on the Routeburn) and hung around there for at least half an hour just watching the water mist and wisp and catch the sun. Then we set off on the National Pass track, which took us on a ridge midway up on the sheer cliffs that make up this valley. The cliffs themselves were spectacular and it was an amazing walk just to walk alongside them. Being halfway up meant that, essentially, every moment was a terrific lookout onto the valley below and the distant mountains.
We came to the end and found some people abseiling in another waterfall and that looked like a lot of fun, too. Then up a lot of steps where we found Conservation Hut, which was apparently the hut Katie had been on the lookout for in the morning. She had seen a place on the maps called Edinburgh Castle Rock and, I thought, had been hinting that she really wanted to see it, so we set out for that. It was a long hike to basically nothing, and we were both getting pretty tired by the time we encountered the rock, so we trekked back, taking the Shortcut Track instead of the Overcliff Track and went back to the car. I have no idea what we did for dinner that night, but I do know that I was in bed and ready to sleep before 9:00. It had been an exhausting few days since coming down from Brisbane on 3 hours of sleep, and I was paying for it. I would, it seems, pay for it with the equivalent of jet lag for the next few days.
Finally, we left Katoomba the following morning, or at least got in the car to do so. It wouldn’t start at all. It seemed to be a dead battery, though we’d left nothing on, so, since we were on a hill, Katie and I pulled a Little Miss Sunshine and pushed it down the hill and popped the clutch. Betsy was revived by our little ECG and we decided to drive to Syndey and hopefully charge the battery again, but as we were coming into Sydney, I gave the car a test and it still wouldn’t start. Another bit of CPR and we rolled on until we came to a sign for a Children’s Hospital. Katie postulated that anywhere that fixes kids must have a place where they can fix cars, so we hopped off the 4 near Wentworthville and hung a left at Olympic Batteries, where we found a small service station. Sydney Auto Repairs (for my reference, 02 98963599). Paul Raj, the manager of the shop, took a look at the car with me and changed the battery out, he was convinced that was all it was. He also pointed out a few things for me to keep an eye on and showed me some things I could try if the car died in the middle of nowhere. I mentioned the car had been hesitating a bit and he checked the fuel filter with me, which was disgusting. He did it all for pretty much nothing and I decided I’d come back and have him look over the car more thoroughly and give it an oil change before setting off south. It can be hard to find people who aren’t out to rip you off.
New battery and fuel filter installed, we made our way further into Sydney. We stopped on Bondi Beach and were laying in the sun when the lifeguard drove by announcing there'd been an earthquake in the Solomon Islands and there were tsunami warnings for the east coast. The beach was closed and all of us were there at our own risk. Very few people seemed bothered and he added a final, "If you see the water being sucked out, run." Needless to say, it wasn't a problem and we were on the beach for a few hours before heading to Manly, where we pulled into Dave’s and stopped for a shower and rest while waiting for him to arrive. He had said he might be able to take us climbing somewhere in Sydney, but he came in looking pretty beat and frazzled, so we didn’t bother to ask. We all went out for Thai again with Kay, a nice woman/semi-retired teacher, and then went back to Dave’s to get our stuff. Then we made our way to Diane’s, another friend of Katie’s who’d done Pacific Challenge sort of unofficially with Katie a few years back, having some trouble finding it on account of fatigue and more importantly, Dave’s directions. Quite tired (though it was only 10:30), we finally arrived at Diane’s to find she wasn’t home. We tried to call her but only got voicemail, and then decided to take a walk along the waterfront while we waited. Sydney harbour was on the horizon with the Harbour Bridge arcing over the Opera House and Sydney’s downtown reaching for the sky on the right and we strolled down to Luna Park, watched the boats for a while, and then walked back.
By now, it was almost midnight and we couldn’t even reach her voicemail. Of course the hostels would have shut down reception and we were kind of in a spot. Katie called Dave to ask if he knew where she’d gone or remembered where she’d put the key exactly, and as luck would have it, Diane came to the door, hearing Katie’s voice as she’d gotten up to use the washroom, and let us in. What a view she has. Her house sits right over the water and the living room faces in towards Sydney. We sat for a little bit with the lit up skyline of Sydney out the windows and then went to sleep. The next morning, Katie’s last in Australia, we walked to downtown, and what a great walk it is. You walk around the waterfront, past Luna Park and with Sydney’s opera house just across the bay. Then up, crossing the Harbour Bridge and into the heart of downtown. We walked around, along George St. and Pitt St. and, passing by a cocktail bar called Establishment, popped in to see how much a drink was. $13, and it looked it. We went further on to a place called the RSL club that the bartender had recommended for more reasonable fare. We had to fill out a day membership card, but drinks were $3 for a pint and we could sit on the fourth floor looking over George St, so we stayed there. It turns out, by the way, that RSL is a fancy acronym for veterans here, but it was actually a good time. We ventured back to Diane’s via train and had dinner with Dave, Kay, and Diane up the road, and then when Dave and Kay left, the three of us sat in the living room with some wine and chatted until midnight, which I really, really struggled to stay awake until. Tomorrow, after all, I’m on my own for the first time since leaving.
And that happened rather smoothly. Dave and I dropped off Katie at the airport the next morning and then went downtown. He had a doctor’s appointment so I got dropped off after an unsuccessful parking spot search, and there I was, on my own, on some street in Sydney. That’s how it happened, almost without me noticing. And now that I was alone, it was time to begin catching up on things. That day, I bought myself some new shirts and shorts and a pair of jeans. I got myself a long overdue haircut. And I got my pictures uploaded as far as I had captioned them while taking care of some internet stuff. Then I went to a movie, Hot Fuzz, starring and by Simon Peg, that was pretty hilarious. I didn’t know he had a new one coming out. I found my way back, eventually, up on the Harbour Bridge and crossed back home. The next day was equally busy. I did a whole bunch of laundry in the morning, then found my way to Paul the mechanic’s (no problem), and got my car looked at and serviced. New oil, new filters, new spark plugs, and the brakes seem to be good for some time. I also got it clean, finally, getting rid of all the dirt and sand and dog hair in the back seats particularly. I also had no problem finding my way back to Diane’s from there, though the traffic in both directions was pretty heavy. I picked up some hot cross buns for Easter and some supplies for Greek salad, did a last load of laundry, made dinner, and chatted with Diane for a while. Good Friday, and a hearty chunk of Saturday I caught up on my journal and photos some more, and also managed to watch Chinatown (great movie with Jack Nicholson), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (also good, Kevin Spacey and John Cusack), Dark City (I watched this one with Diane), and 300 (a movie about Persia's failed attempt to rule Greece). Molly Maguires and Presidio (both Sean Connery flicks) as well whilst captioning... it takes a loooong time and I almost gave up more than once, but it's done and I feel good.
Wrapping up the weekend, I spent one afternoon exploring the southern harbour, basically from McMahon Point to Watson's Bay (go ahead and zoom on the little map on the left sidebar), then met Dave for some juice in Bronte. I went out for breakfast with Diane and Terry. And I discovered that Mike, from Christchurch, is coming over to Australia this week, most specifically Sydney. He's coming for the Sydney Cup (horse races) and then doing a Hunter Valley Tour. Which, given my plan was to leave Sydney on Tuesday for the south, means a bit of a tweak. I will leave tomorrow for Canberra and check it out for a few days and then come back into Sydney to meet Mike on Thursday. I'm not sure if I'll stick around for the Cup or even go see it (I saw coverage of the Melbourne Cup, it looks like horse racing is HUGE here so maybe I should), but if it works out I'd love to do the Hunter Valley tour with him and his family assuming they don't mind a stray backpacker. If not, I head south and can skip over Canberra on my way down since I'll have covered it already.
And now we're up to date and you may have missed some posts. My pace has been rather frenetic and you could hardly be blamed. How do you go back and view older ones, you ask? Well, there are a few ways, and they're all on the left sidebar. You can go and select the month you want to read from the archives section. If you didn't get too far behind, the Previous Posts section might be enough. Or, supposing you want to just start from the beginning and read your heart out, you can use the labels (AKA tags) to read posts related to Pacific Challenge, New Zealand, Australia, and so on. Those are also on the left and the labels for each post are at the bottom of the post itself as well. Hopefully that's not confusing, there are lots of ways to find the post you want! See you in another week or so.
Following Chris and my sojourn to Mt. Warning and our night out in Surfer’s Paradies, the plan had been to pick up the girls and drive in to Brisbane and then check out some of the area to the north, but it turned out that Aaron wanted to go out bowling and for dinner with us the next day, which meant a change of plans was in order. We decided to head down to Byron for the day instead and spend the day and the following afternoon there before coming back up to Surfer’s to meet Aaron for dinner. As an added bonus, Dave, Katie, and some remnants of PC4 were also heading there from Brisbane that day, so we arranged to meet with them and for $20 we were able to stay in one of those cabins on the beachfront we’d had when we were last in Byron Bay. You can’t beat that and we certainly weren’t going to try, so we were set.
We had some time to kill and, having seen a sign for the natural arch driving the day prior, we decided to detour out there and check it out. It was only 36km or something. But that 36km is through winding mountain roads so it took a bit longer than expected. We got there and the girls had both fallen asleep and Alli seemed grumpy that we stopped somewhere en route, but we did have time to kill before we were to meet in Byron. It was actually pretty sweet. It’s a place where a waterfall has bored a hole into a cave ceiling, and so you have this big cave with a waterfall falling into it which looks like a big arch. It also offers a place to jump in from pretty high and, naturally, some swimming in and around the arch. We saw a few kids jump from the waterfall and so decided that we would check it out. Not knowing that swimming was allowed, none of us was in swimming gear but Chris went for it anyway and took the big plunge into the cave. Graceful landings doesn’t appear anywhere on his resume, and for good reason, but he was fine.
Then off to Byron. We came into Murwillumbah and there were no signs directing us as to which highway would take us in that direction. You may recall that Chris and I had been unable to find the natural arch yesterday and got somewhat lost in this area. It seems it happened again. We wound up taking a wrong way out of town into some small country roads and backtracked, driving along until we found signs. We made it to Byron by 4:30 which worked out pretty well. It was pretty cool to see Katie again and catch up. She has seen her share of the Keppel sun, that’s for sure. Dave and some girls from PC4 (plus Doug) were also there and we went into town for dinner at Paul Hogan’s old restaurant on the waterfront. It’s quite the setup they’ve got. A large lounge/dinner area (probably they could seat 500) and not a waiter or waitress in sight. People go to the bar to get their drinks and go to the counter to order their food. Which was pricey. And the place, it being Saturday, was close to full. Their kitchen was surprisingly small and all I could think was that money was being made hand over fist. I can’t see a self-service system being very popular for this type of food back home, but it seems quite big over here.
After dinner, a few drinks, and a stop with Katie and Chris for some rum and coke for the night, we headed back to our houses and relaxed and had some drinks. We had a bit of PC2 catch up and then joined PC4 in their cabin for some more shenanigans. Some of them left for town which we weren’t really up for, so we went to the beach for a while and then called it a night. Kate was falling asleep on the beach anyway and lately I’ve been really tired at night too. Maybe it’s the driving, but mostly I think I’m getting a little something cold-like. It was funny to have the exact same beds we’d made us of in the same cabin last time we were in Byron.
We split off with the others in the morning and spent the afternoon in Byron. After looking around at didjs with Chris for a while and getting yelled at for using free wireless when I could be inside using an internet café owner’s much slower wired connection, we met Megan and her friend Brin for lunch. They were both really friendly and it was a good lunch. It was funny, we were sitting at the restaurant eating and Chris looked across the street and there were Kate and Alli sitting on the sidewalk having sandwiches. We invited them to stay when they swung by (now Alli wanted us to hurry through lunch to get back to Surfer’s earlier as they were bored) but they went and got some more internet stuff done. We parted ways with Megan and Brin and went to get the girls when we discovered that the really good didj shop was open. I went up with Chris and the owner was giving free lessons (didj = didgeridoo, by the way) and invited us to sit in. We made some pretty decent progress I’m proud to say, though the breathing out and in at the same time still eludes me, and both of us wound up buying a didj. I pick mine up on Thursday as well as Chris’ (after I drop him at the airport in Brisbane) and I’m pretty excited to see it. It’s going to have a bit of a custom painting on it and, yeah, it should be pretty sweet.
That took us long, and to their credit, the girls were pretty patient about waiting even though we left after 4:30, which was the time I figured we’d be gone by. We got back into Nerang and, after some more flukey navigation, Aaron’s at 5:59 on the nose, one minute before the 6:00 we’d promised, and he brought us out to what he considers the best Thai restaurant in all of Queensland. It certainly was a pretty cool looking place, with fountains and little outdoor huts, and everything. They all had the pad thai and I went for something else and think I probably had the better meal. I didn’t really care for their dish at all, to be honest. Then, we grabbed a movie about three people who were abducted in the outback (two of whom were killed) and watched Princess Bride afterwards. Inconceivable! Then, bed beckoned and we slipped softly to sleep after a little alliteration. Tomorrow, Brisbane. Then up to the Sunshine Coast and Noosa Heads before making our way back to Brisbane via Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo and Chris, Kate, and Alli’s final night in Australia.
Our final morning on Keppel, we got up (some of us still weaving a bit), cleaned up, and hung out on the beach until our ferry. We left Keppel behind and said goodbye to our leader, Katie, then got on the bus for a really long journey with Dave at the helm. We stopped for lunch at a grocery store and Brad and I shared a chicken and some olives. The journey from Keppel to Brisbane is not to be underestimated. It just kept going and going and going, even when Dustin took the wheel and was really pushing hard to make time. Somehwere after dark as we were still on the road, Dave discovered that our hostel had given away our rooms because of a big game in Brisbane, so we found a backpackers’ in Mooloolaba, had pizza, and hung around the hostel. As you can imagine, we were all less than impressed with this particular hostel, but our replacement was decent even if it all but closed down at 10. I managed to get some laundry done, which was welcome, and otherwise, really, we were all wiped and called it a night very early.
Amie and Meridith were catching a flight to Fiji early the following morning, so we hightailed it into Brisbane to drop them off and then set off for the Lone Pine koala park. It was a pretty decent park considering it was included, and I got to hold a koala. There were kangaroos, wallabies, deadly snakes, wombats, and so on. I talked with one of the park employees that was walking by with a hawk and she gave me some interesting information on local wildlife. Then, after a quick hotdog and fries with Anthony, we headed back to Brisbane and said goodbye to Dave, who had a flight to catch to meet up with his group. We drove into Brisvegas as the locals like to call it at 4:00 and, as it was St. Patty’s day, found an Irish pub right on the main mall and I bought a round of Guinness for the four of us (Anthony, Brad, Chris). Well, wouldn’t you know it, they gave me a Guinness t-shirt which was the envy of the rest of the group. So, needless to say, it was necessary for everyone to procure one. That’s a lot of Guinness by my books, but then I’m not a huge fan. It wasn’t bad, though.
We went for dinner which wasn’t anything worth writing a blog about, but here I am. It was here that Anthony and Chris became generals, fairly easily if I may say. Not quite tipsy enough after their four beers, I suppose. There was another experience that neither Chris nor Anthony had had, and though we tried on their behalf, we did not quite succeed due to dress codes. So, back to the motel that Dave found where I thought we’d all hang out together for our last night, but apparently not. We got up the next morning and dropped almost everyone off at the airport. Dustin, Lauren S, Lana, Amanda, Norm, Myra, Rachel, Chris, Alli, Kate, and myself were left to journey further down the coast. Then it was our turn to say goodbye as the latter three and myself started our journey at a friend of Alli’s just outside of Surfer’s Paradise.
The Pacific Challenge is over, and we have survived; the challenges were sometimes physical and sometimes mental but definitely also social. In the end, we’re left with 20 people who know more about each other than even their friends back home, for better or worse. The trip would not have been the same without any single one of them. So, to those of you out there that spent the last two months with me, thank-you for your part in shaping what will undeniably be a collection of stories I will be boring audiences young and old with for ages to come.
An early morning departure from Hervey Bay was somewhat marred by people being tired and grumpy, maybe because of the party the night prior. In a bus with no assigned seating, Brad and I had apparently ruffled some feathers by sitting in someone else’s spot. For example. So we gave them their spot and that left me in the back of the bus which was rather quiet and not a great place to sit. Still, I did manage to finish my book, The Eight, just in time to pawn it off on someone else. Though I haven’t done so successfully yet. We pulled into a different hostel than where PC has stayed in the past, and man, it was not in good shape. The place looked old and haunted, there were lizards running up and down the walls, the bathrooms had two out-of-order toilets, shower heads that leaked more water in an arc onto the floor outside than down – if you were lucky enough to have a shower head – and broken windows covered with posters on the mangroves.
While the place, located outside Yeppoon, did have electricity, it didn’t have much else, so we ran into town hoping to get on the internet. Of course, the café closed right as we came into town, so the guys just hung around in the town’s pub and had a couple beer. It was actually a decent place and we were enjoying our solitary solidarity when 20 mins later, pretty much everyone else stumbled onto our pub too. This might sound negative but it was actually fun – we plugged the jukebox and hung out visiting. We went back to our hostel to have dinner and catch up on some odds and ends and just hung out at the dinner table some more. Bored on the bus earlier, I had checked my horoscope for the day and it recommended social activity, so I think I got my quota in.
It was a late night and a fairly early morning, but there was no time to feel too tired as we were off to Great Keppel Island. The ferry ride was raucous but I didn’t feel nauseous (unlike poor Kate) until after we landed, and even then not too bad. There was a lot of up and down and it was pretty fun to just stand in the wind, hat tied to my head, absorbing the sea spray. Now that we’re in island mode, it also seemed important to kick it off properly, so we all grabbed some beers and did so in style. Even the captain, when making his announcements on where things are located, mentioned us having already found the beer. When we arrived, we met PC1 as they were departing and discovered that Anthony and I (the only two certified divers on the trip) were going to be doing a dive at 11:00 that day. On the Great Barrier Reef. This was momentous because I’d been looking forward to this even before leaving Canada and also because it was our last big excursion as a group. Of two.
First, we unloaded our stuff in our beach house. Which is quite an amazing little place. A huge living room with leather sofas, some big round dinner tables, patios, adjoining rooms with separate bathrooms, and a sizeable kitchen. The guy who ran the place gave us a bit of talk and scared most of the crew about swimming by telling them things like there were marine stingers that couldn’t be seen or even felt and 20 minutes after being stung you’d go into shock and if there weren’t an ambulance and paramedics nearby, you were dead. Completely bogus, as we later confirmed. After his spiel and unpacking, Anthony and I set off along the paving stone path toward the dive shop, got our gear, and set off. Now, without sounding disappointed, because it was a pretty sweet dive, it wasn’t exactly the reef. Keppel is part of the reef, but it’s not really the part you go to see or hear so much about. Still, we saw some really cool stuff. Stingrays by the barrel full (including a blue spotted lagoon ray), a sucker fish (it looks like a shark because it has fins), a puffer, and tonnes of other fish. Plus lots of coral and so on. It was my first dive without anyone there leading the way. Pete, the dive instructor, basically told us the route to follow and Anthony, myself, and a German lady set off.
After the dive, we came back to the beach house and made lunch, which for me was three pieces of corn on the cob. The weather was pretty cloudy outside and occasionally rainy, which we’ve seen a lot of here – I guess when you kill a massive spider in Australia you get a lot of rain. Anyway, I went to use their internet quickly but their machines were having problems connecting, so I covertly connected my laptop and got through no problem. At $10/hr, covertly is really the only way to use the internet as far as I’m concerned. I’m so behind in my updates, though. I just finished Queenstown photos and uploaded all my Routeburn ones (plus the affiliated blog posts) and went back to our place. The bar has happy hour from 6-7, so most of us went there and got quite happy and then we went back for dinner and hung around the house for the night, attempting handstands and gymnastic feats that would probably have been easier without any alcohol. We stayed up just past midnight to wish Meredith a happy birthday and then fell quite soundly asleep.
Since Anthony and I had gone diving already, the rest of the group did their introductory dive for a good part of the next day. Which meant the place was kind of quiet and relaxing. The weather? Yup, still rain. I finished my secret kiwi stuff, which is one of those books you can make in iPhoto for Amie and then Katie and I went snorkeling around part of the island. We saw some cool things even though the visibility was pretty poor, like a giant sea turtle and a ridiculous amount of stingrays. I swam right over one at a depth of maybe three feet, which was close enough to scare it out of the sand and scare me out of my shorts. Katie heard me yelp underwater from a fair distance back. We stopped for a little rest on Monkey Beach before heading around the next cove and seeing some pretty big fish hanging around in the reef and finally were a little tired and made our way back home.
It was Meredith’s birthday, so most everyone went out for happy hour again where we discovered it was going to be karaoke later in the evening. Chelsea says karaoke the way that Frank Black does in Calistan, and that amused me, if you’ll excuse the random thought. Now, Brad and I have been vowing that we were going to do some karaoke before heading home and so the night was sealed. We went back home for dinner, which was baked potatoes with lots of fixings, and went back to karaoke. After some more drinks, Lana and Mer set the stage by heading up and singing Like A Prayer (Madonna) and then Brad and I did Daydream Believer (The Monkeys). It was pretty fun actually, but I guess only our group applauded us so I guess it wasn’t exactly amazing. Though, in honesty, I thought we did pretty well up there. Maybe I’ll check the video later and discover that is patently untrue. We all spent the night at the bar and unfortunately the karaoke ended pretty darned early, but we did get everyone up dancing and had a lot of fun. And hey, it was productive too. I discovered they have laundry facilities here. I don’t have to run around smelling of Fraser Island sweat. But I will.
Our final morning fully united and on Keppel brought the sun. It was a beautiful day with clouds hovering on the horizon in all directions but being held at bay by some merciful higher power or else some unusual winds. Regardless, we were grateful and definitely hit the beach to take advantage of it. Well, those of us not in class at any rate. Katie and I did another smaller snorkel adventure but the visibility was even worse than the day prior. Chris, Katie, Amie, and I laid on the beach and were joined by the rest of the group as they finished some tests. I took a break from the sun as I was starting to feel scorched and did a little internet stuff before returning at 3:30 to hit the banana boats. Dave threw that in for us because we’d had such shoddy weather in Australia, and it was pretty fun. I didn’t fall off though I was hanging by a handle at one point, and others most definitely did, whether with help or without.
We spent some more time hanging out on the beach and relaxing and when the sun was coming down on the horizon, it was time for some champagne on the beach at sunset. We went down to the beach and toasted and drank some more. Between Brad, Anthony, and myself we finished two bottles. Chris’ arm was really sore and he took some Excedrin which meant more for us and no alcohol for him. This would prove to be our undoing. As we sat enjoying each others’ company on our last night all together, and what is certainly one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen, a few dolphins swam up basically to shore. Were they our friends from New Zealand to see us off? For the sake of entertaining fiction I will say yes, but in any case, it was the cherry on top of the proverbial dessert that was our last day in Keppel. We tried to make a pyramid, took lots of silhouette photos, and then headed back for another final-night ritual: our secret kiwi exchange.
For those who’ve just tuned in, the secret kiwi is basically a random draw where you make a gift for someone that, I suppose, embodies their journey or something about them. Lana, who eats almost everything with chopsticks for some reason, got some homemade and wood-burned ones from Dustin, for example. Chris got a poster for his collection and Anthony also got a painting of his highlights. He gave Rachel, our resident coke fiend, a Coke bottle filled with sand and decorated in shells. Brad got two paintings from Lauren, Kristin got a box with shells from all over and some cool quotes painted on the side, Alli got a handmade picture frame, and, well, I could go on and on. For my part, Albrie is sending me a video of everyone leaving me a message. I can only imagine what they’ll be saying. As unappointed group photographer, I decided to give Amie a photo book that I think turned out really cool. I may make one for myself. We went through highlights of the trip and I, for some reason, felt it my duty to go through my highlight of each person. Which took a long time but I like to think, true or not, that it was an uplifter.
Then we headed out to the beach to look at the stars, which were pretty amazing that night, too. Of course. It was a perfect night. I guess I was trying to attract the dolphins or sharks or something, because I went and fed the fish. When I came back, we looked some more at the stars and Brad was passed out on the sand – this was at 10:00 - and was dragged back to the beach house by Alli and Mer. The rest of us went out to the bar and I definitely drank some water. A lot of it, largely thanks to Chris. I was getting pretty tired myself, so I wove my way home and, trying to feed the dolphins once more, fell asleep.
We had an uneventful but long drive out of Byron Bay the next morning, stopping only to pick up to 4WD trucks for our upcoming trek to Fraser Island. When we finally arrived at our campsite, it was pouring rain. Luckily, it had just started, so there were still some dry spots under trees. Everyone set up their tents in the kitchen shelter – it looked like some sort of Red Cross shantytown – and then we ran our tents out to a spot we’d picked out. As usual, I was camping with Anthony and he picked us a good locale. We had a bit of a tight timetable as we had to, after arriving and setting up in the rain, get groceries for the next couple days before the store closed and also get dinner from the restaurant across from our campsite. We managed to do both, however, and the rain had stopped by the time we got back to camp and went out to dinner. The rain didn’t seem to be getting anyone down, which is perhaps an indicator that we’ve all gotten a little more mature or at least less whiny. Or so one might think except that everyone was on edge because of an argument about taking the trailer vs. the van we’d had which had culminated in a bit of an argument between Norm and myself. Ah, it was going to be an interesting few days.
Luckily, it didn’t take him too long to get over it and he did apologize, so when we left the next day for Fraser Island, everything was back to normal, albeit a little awkward still. Fraser Island, incidentally, is an island made entirely of sand from many, many years of longshore currents depositing it there. Somehow, the island has become vegetated and contains fresh water lakes. Our first stop when we got off the ferry was one of these lakes, Lake Mackenzie. It was unbelievable. Pristine and crystal clear water that looked like it belonged in the Caribbean or something, shimmering white sand, palm trees, and fresh water. It may well have been the perfect beach. Added to the beauty of this lake wsa that the weather finally was perfect, sunny and hot, but not too hot. We all loved it and fooled around in the water for a long time. Some swam to the other side (I got a bit past halfway with my snorkel set on and had enough), and all of us partook in tossing each other as high or far as we could and trying to flip. Chelsea introduced Lana and Amanda to the rather disgusting act of eating sand and fun was had by all.
Speaking of fun, I should mention driving around the island itself. As it’s all sand, 4x4s are required and we bounced around in the back and had a great time. We got stuck once which was interesting, but apparently the differential hadn’t been locked. Still, we made wooden dams under the tires for traction and I like to think that they played a part. In addition to bumping up and down small trails bordered by trees, we took it out on the open beach and zipped across the surf’s edge at 80kph. We swam on East Beach and did some body surfing on some pretty tough surf – one of the waves jammed me into the ocean floor and I twisted my knee enough that bending it became painful. Brad thought he saw something that looked like a shark in the water, though none of us really believed him because he didn’t run out screaming. Still, it was a lot of fun and I caught some sweet waves that brought me all the way in. We also drove by an old shipwreck that had washed up and was pretty cool to see.
We went back to Lake Mackenzie and swam until after sunset and then took off to find our campsite. It took a bit of looking, but we found a spot and set up. In the ladies’ washroom, there were some massive bigger-than-my-hand spiders in the rafters that we took turns looking at. Apparently they were huntsmen and not poisonous, but I still wouldn’t want them crawling on me. I could only imagine Nicole encountering them. She’d better stay out of Queensland if she ever comes here. Katie and I wound up talking to a couple from Ottawa that were really nice and they informed us that the beach we’d swam on earlier was one of the most shark-infested in all of Australia, which basically means in the whole world. So Brad probably did see a shark, but all of us still have our limbs and/or blood, so we’re okay.
The next morning we woke early and went to Boolabera Lake, which was really nice but not as nice as Lake Mackenzie. We had a good long swim there and the sun was burning – it was definitely mid 30s. After a long time there, we went and grabbed a snack (mostly ice cream) in King Fisher Bay and hung around for a while before catching the ferry back to Hervey Bay. All our stuff was intact and we went out to dinner and met Norm’s son and girlfriend. After dinner and some drinks we wanted… some more drinks. Dustin was the driver and he drove us around until we found another bar and hung out there for a while before going back home. We walked around the beach and the clouds and moon were really cool though the beach was a bit ominous after learning about all the sharks on Fraser. It was not long after that we were waking up to head up to Yeppoon for our final city stop before heading to Great Keppel Island and concluding the Pacific Challenge. Coming soon to a blog near you…
We came into the fabled town of Byron Bay only five hours after leaving. In that four hours we stopped for lunch and I bought a scratch and win ticket which I also won at. I’ll take that as a good sign for Australia. Norm’s friend, Myra, who has joined us on the trip, created quite a scene as map hoarder this morning and it was somewhat amazing to me that someone so old could act so young. Still, we got to our hostel and the morning’s drama had long faded, and once we saw our accommodations, they were utterly forgotten. We have five cabins very close to the beach, tennis courts, a full kitchen, and all sorts of other good stuff. There are two rooms and, since it was Anthony’s birthday, we gave him the room with the queen bed while we took the bunks. Then we ran down to the beach to see what we had in store and were quite pleased to discover lots of big surf, gold sand, and well, we got excited. After some deliberations with the man of the hour, it was decided that we would hang out in our newfound paradise for the night and make a nice homemade dinner of steak and salad – given that we hadn’t had a good meat-centric meal in a while, this was an exciting proposition. We set off to begin what would definitely be a memorable night on the trip.
After grabbing our groceries, we came back home and since we weren’t quite hungry yet, we opened up a beer and watched some Simpsons before starting on dinner. Then we got started. Brad had some sort of cream reduction with rosemary and thyme that he wanted to do for our t-bones, and I did the salad, garlic toast, and cooked the steaks. Unfortunately, the grill was hot and our steaks a little thin, so we wound up eating medium steaks instead of medium rare, but I thought it was all delicious. A very tasty dinner like I’ve only had twice on this trip: the rack of lamb in Christchurch and the steak in Akaroa. We’d not even finished dinner when the other half of the birthday celebration, for Kristen, came into the cabin and the party really begun. They handed out streamers and noise makers (which we would later come to rue) and other implements of destruction. We found ourselves singing along to songs and playing our kazoos like trumpets for Sixteen Military Wives among other songs (like Final Countdown). We decided we were going to go down to the beach, which was probably a bad idea anyway, but we set off. No sooner had we started down the path then it started pouring rain. Hard. By the time we got to the beach, it was actually stinging us, and we called Anthony back and ran for shelter. Take it as a sign, swimming was not wise.
Not soon after we came back it let up and others came wanting to swim, including Anthony. He promised he’d not go beyond knee-depth and others went with him, but I figured I’d take my warning properly. Pretty much everyone went except for Katie and I, and we spent the ten minutes or so sitting on the deck and debating going or not. Then Anthony and Brad came back, Brad at least partially covering himself and Anthony missing a pair of trunks that the rising tide swept away with his modesty. He had no problem standing there and trying to convince us that we needed to go. They went away and soon the whole group was back to convince us and we caved in and went down to the beach. Pretty much everyone that wasn’t in town went skinny dipping, but I certainly wasn’t feeling like it and so I stood at the edge of the beach where I couldn’t really make out anyone and watched. I kind of wish I didn’t care, but I do so what choice did I have?
As a reward for my discretion, the owner of beach houses we’re staying in came onto the beach with a flashlight and was very upset at the noise (likely from before in the cabins, though we couldn’t hear partying in other cabins at all) and that other guests had seen a couple guys running around naked. He was all but ready to kick our group out of the place, which seemed a bit excessive as we were far from any cabins and not noisy enough to be heard anymore, but it was not the time nor my place to argue. I tried my best to calm him down (thankfully at this point I was clothed) and tell him it was not our wish to cause anyone displeasure and also that most of the people were clothed and swimming. I don’t remember what else was said, just that he said he’d be talking to us in the morning and I told him we’d stop everything now. And so we called everyone in and retired to our cabins for a more clothed atmosphere though the drinks didn’t stop at this point. Kristen was punching anyone that would let her, Chris went into the shower and was forgotten, and who knows where everyone else went. Heck, we forgot about Chris in the shower until an hour later when we discovered him asleep on the shower floor with hot water raining down on him. Waiting for rain, he said. We sent him to bed and decided to do so ourselves.
The next day we went into town early to use a little bit of the excessively slow internet. I got a few photos uploaded and went to the beach to watch some people surf hoping to see our group. I was in the afternoon class, so I grabbed a quick muffin and went to my class. It was my first time surfing and I was very excited to try it out. With a little bit of a lesson on how to get up, when to paddle, and so on, we were out in the water. I got on my board and the instructor told me what to do and helped me catch the first wave. And, on my very first attempt, I stood up and rode the wave almost all the way in! It was incredible to me. Unfortunately, all subsequent attempts were not as successful, but it was ‘heaps’ of fun and I did catch one really sweet wave which, sadly, I botched by putting to much weight on the front of my board and nose-diving in. My arms were tired but I was still craving lots more when it was time to call it quits. Maybe tomorrow.
We came back home and cleaned up the mess from the night prior and our ridiculous ant infestation. They first attacked when Anthony missed the toilet the night prior calling for Ruth, and now they were all over our counter. We sprayed the crap out of them and got the place looking like a cabin instead of a dorm, had some dinner, watched some shows, and just hung out and chatted until about 1AM.
Our final day in Byron some of the group had to wake up early for class, in part because some of the group wanted to go to Nimben (sp?). We, on the other hand, were going to stay behind and learn to trapeze. I called the place and set us up for some lessons at 2:00 and then we went into town and hung around until 1:30, using the internet and getting some errands done. I drove the bus for my first time today and did okay, but it’s a wider vehicle and second gear doesn’t particularly shift easily and I got stuck between gears in the middle of a traffic circle. Sort of funny, actually. We got to the trapeze place and after a bit of a wait passed by watching some Cirque du Soleil, we were on the low bar learning the basics of what we’d be doing some 8m above the ground. The plan was to basically start off with dangling from the knees, then learn to backflip down to the net below, then combine the dangling with a catch from someone else on the trapeze, and finally combine the catch with a backflip down. It was scary that first time crawling up the rickety ladder and leaping out onto the trapeze but definitely a lot of fun and while I managed to do most of those things, I failed in my one shot at being caught and then backflipping down – I wasn’t ready and just dropped instead. I sliced my toe landing on the net on my feet since it was already cracked.
With some time left, Brad, Chris, and I rented some surfboards and went to surf on the beach. We had little to no success getting any surf, though and naturally with us having surf boards, the sky clouded and was looking intimidating again. I was also stung by something in the water, maybe a small jellyfish or something. It puffed up and, well, stung, but wasn’t that bad. Just a nuisance. After unloading our boards on the bus, I went to help Katie load groceries and a girl walked by that looked very much like Meagan from Saskatoon. I knew she was supposed to be in Australia as well, but I thought the odds were definitely against running into her here s randomly. Still, the girls convinced me I should go find out and I did and sure enough… what are the odds, really? I find it difficult to contemplate.
We returned to our place and had dinner as the rain began, and hung around socializing. Jess, a girl I know that is living near Byron Bay, called me and came by the house for a little while and we caught up. So weird to just see someone and start chatting about the last year from where we left off in Budapest. She was gone almost before she got there, though, and we had a few slideshows and chatted in our living room before closing our eyes on Byron Bay for good.
Well, if I thought we were in the middle of nowhere in the Blue Mountains, the next few days would be quite enlightening. We left enroute for Cascade National Park, but stopping near a place quaintly named Coonabarabran called Warrumbungles to camp for the night. My flu wasn’t too horrible on the bus and though I felt some pretty serious nausea initially, it quieted into a sort of general lack of energy. Mer gave me some Immodium and Katie insisted that I and all the other sick patrons take some probiotics. Which are sort of the opposite of antibiotics, I suppose. Bacteria pills. Still, they seemed to do the job. We stopped for lunch at a place called Mudgee, and since I had no appetite and lunch I’d bought for the two days prior, I had a little bit of that. Chris and I found a shaded bench and sat there eating and discussing world affairs. After devising a solution for the Cuban Missle Crisis that would’ve resulted in a technological paradigm that would permit fusion-powered vehicles, we were back on the bus for more driving.
We passed some kangaroos and a dead wombat which was pretty exciting. They do hop, just like the legends say. And finally, our campsite. With all our excitement at seeing kanagaroos on the road, there were plenty hanging around the camp. Not really wild at all (au contraire) but still cool to see up close. They use their tails a lot more than I realized, sometimes crawling on their small front limbs and using their tails to support the weight. Sitting upright, they basically sit on their tails as well. And their legs are bent backwards at the knee, with their whole lower limb essentially acting as a foot, which gives them a lot of jumping leverage. Oh, and nice big claws, so if they don’t like you, they can sit on their tails and use their hind claws to gut you. Anyway, after a little trouble with some German campers, we settled in for dinner. None of us guys were hungry, so we just sort of hung around and then went for a walk in the woods.
On this walk we encountered some actually wild kangaroos, which was much cooler in my mind, and also some really crazy ant colonies that my compatriots felt compelled to stir up. There were a LOT of them. It was actually relatively insane. And they are not small ants. We walked back, and I had my first smore over a gas stove which was ridiculously good, even if their marshmallows here are a bit unusual. And then an early night as I still wasn’t feeling great and my sleep the night prior had been less than incredible. The next morning, we were up early and I was feeling pretty darned good. Close to 100%. Such a relief. We got back on the bus and headed into town to have breakfast in the park near a cricket game. I just had M&M’s, not wise necessarily, but you have no idea how tired I am of peanut butter and bread. Instead, I had peanut-filled chocolate candy. I wonder how I got sick?
Today was our longest trek of the tour, 7 hours of driving, and it went relatively fast. Tamworth was our lunch stop and we also got groceries for our next three lunches. Anthony and I went in together to make it nice and cheap and fast. Corn on the cob, a sandwich, and tortellini. Done, done, and done. We got in to Cascade at about 7:00, had grilled cheese and tomato soup, and just hung out. I gave some music to Amanda, Anthony, Chelsea, and Lauren, we watched some Family Guy, sat around chatting, and played a little Frisbee. Others played some basketball and did hair, and essentially it was a “chill” evening.
At noon the next day we took a nature hike through the surrounding woods where I was fortunate enough to have my first ever leech bite. And then two others. But I got off pretty lightly compared to the others – pretty much everyone had been hit by a leach before I was. We made our way through with our guide, Jeff, who stopped to explain a lot of the foliage and interesting things about the forest. We tried some pepper leaf and sarsaparilla and made our way to a small waterfall where we took a dip. I would never have jumped in back home as it looked rather dirty, but hey, when in Aus. We also crossed a 2m high termite mound, and looked at the way the vines grow and how some plants would get their seed up into a tree so that they were closer to the light. Very interesting and enlightening.
We came back and had an equally interesting dinner of local wildlife. But that was after a couple games like the helium stick and the golf-ball circle. The dinner was kangaroo burgers, some big nut that grows to be up to 20 lbs., local berries, an ice cream that was mashed with some leaves to make a lemony creamy myrtle, and alligator cakes (with meat from the tail). It was actually all delicious, though some of the berries were pretty much not anything but bitterness, mostly it was interesting and unusual and unlike any meal I’ve ever had. Today was definitely a great day.
Our final morning, we went white water rafting through the rainforest. It was really quite beautiful and something like what I imagine the Amazon to be – except not as wide. We were able to get out of our rafts and float down the river, which was good fun, and we got to a narrows that was so deep we couldn’t find the bottom. Admittedly, we were wearing lifejackets, but Dustin would dunk me and stand on my shoulders (which puts me almost 12 feet under), and then Brad would stand on his shoulders, then someone would push Brad down which put me about 20 feet down and with no sight of the bottom. The water here isn’t glacial and crystal clear like in New Zealand, so there was also little light and a lot of murk that deep. We did some splashing and dunking and also some small waterfalls (category 4 but we also had to walk past some category 6 ones) that were actually great fun. It was a beautiful way to spend a morning and afternoon. We had a BBQ after and saw a really large goanna lizard (probably close to 2m long) and spent the rest of the day hanging around our camp. Tomorrow is Anthony and Kristen’s collective birthday and we head off to Byron Bay for some surf and definitely party. We’ll see you there!
En route to our hall in the Blue Mountains, we stopped for a couple hours in Katoomba. As always, Brad, Chris, and myself took off, realizing very quickly that this town had some sort of collective deficiency. We walked behind a man who would stop, say something to someone (who was clearly invisible) beside him, and continue on, sometimes shaking his head angrily. More than once he peered into an alley and started screaming into it. We followed from a safe distance. We passed a woman on the street whose eyes were glazed and mumbled something to Chris and then a ‘nevermind’. Another guy on the opposite side of the street was also loudly talking to noone and everyone in particular and turned and shushed Brad. Meanwhile, thunder was cracking in the distance, and we took a wrong turn down an alley, finding ourselves in Soviet Russia, with graffiti and sketchy loosely wired fence and no sign of life aside from a lone cat. And that’s when it started to pour.
We ran back, trying to reach the more populous Katoomba St, but the rain poured harder and we took shelter in a little canopy over a doorway. The rain intensified further and lightning was cracking and booming all around us, lightning and thunder arriving within less than a second of each other. It began to hail and blow all the harder, and I wondered aloud if Australia ever got tornadoes. It was a decent-sized canopy but with the wind, it wasn’t enough, and we all fought laughingly for a spot in the corner. We were getting wet no matter what. The maelstrom continued for about ten minutes before quieting and subsiding. We ventured out and back to the main street where water was cascading down the roadway at an impressive rate. A drought, you say?
We had a hot chocolate/coffee at a café and met the others to do our grocery shopping before heading to The Edge. It’s an IMAX style film about the Blue Mountains, and wasn’t too bad actually. Really overdramatic, but still had its interesting pieces. Plus I love time-lapse photography. Right before the show, someone from another group rather rudely stood up and announced “Ladies and Gentlemen” as though addressing everyone in the theatre, then proceeded to ramble on about what his group would be doing for dinner, accommodation, and day-to-day life for the next week. It was somewhat amusing to me and I told Katie she should similarly apprise us of the coming days’ activities. She dared me to, and so when he finished, I got up and essentially gave a similar but abridged speech to our group. I didn’t really want to make fun of the guy, I just thought it would be funny to do it. The other group took it the way it was intended and the theatre burst into applause as I finished.
After a falafel dinner (by which point I was feeling worse than ever) we ventured to our residence. I was feeling a little off at this point, but nothing too serious. We all were set in the same room and I picked out a place near the fire that we never did get to lighting and settled in. We hung around for a while and a few of us watched some Family Guy on my laptop before I went to bed… really early. Bed wasn’t that comfortable, even with my camping mat. My pillow was too hard and so was the floor, but I did get a bit of sleep. The next morning I felt worse still, like I needed to empty my stomach from either end, but instead could do neither. We were supposed to go canyoning, which I’d had my heart set on, but because it had rained the night before, it was felt by our leaders that this was not a good idea. While I disagreed (rain is only dangerous when it starts pouring from nowhere, causing flash floods), I obviously wasn’t the one to call the shots, and anyway, we were still going to walk into another canyon. Which, I didn’t bother to point out, was equally dangerous, but at least it was something. The canyon itself was nice though the water moved pretty slowly and was kind of stagnant and rusty. Still, we had some fun and though my stomach ached a lot on the stairs up and out, it was worth it.
There seemed to be quite a few of us coming down with this stomach bug, so there weren’t many takers for our afternoon walk and ‘train’ through the Blue Mountains, but I did go anyway. That’s what I’m here for, after all. There was a massive and beautiful waterfall and we boys hopped the fence and fooled around in it and also looked out over the edge at a rather large and frightening drop before coming back to the path. We walked along some more and took what they claim (most likely accurately) to be the steepest rail on Earth. It was pulled up by a cable and was definitely a bit scary. We were probably looking down 70 degrees or so in parts, and we went through a crevasse in the mountain coming back up.
At the top, we looked out again at the Blue Mountains, which do look a bit blue, apparently from the vapour the eucalyptus trees give off. And, best of all, we ran into Chirs’ Scottish lass. What the odds are, I’m uncertain, but they were there and reunited in front of the group. We went back to our place and had dinner, which was pretty good. Chicken breasts, and beef/kangaroo mixed burgers. I’d not had lunch of anything as I had only a rumbly tummy and no appetite and wasn’t really hungry, but I managed to eat some fruit salad and chicken and try a couple bites of the burger. It was Dustin’s birthday, so some cake was brought out, but I didn’t have it in me to eat any. I played a bit of a game with Meridith where we would try to create expressions on our faces and take photos. I also finally started reading my book again, for the first time since coming overseas, and I did a few card tricks on Katie and Brad which I was happy to have work. We played a bit of cards too, and I laid around chatting with whoever might be unlucky enough to be in my vicinity before calling it a night. Tomorrow, we’re off camping in the Cascades and I add nausea to my list of symptoms: just in time for a six hour ride. Will Dean make it? Stay tuned…
I left New Zealand alone as I’d booked my own flights, stopping over in Wellington. It was sort of weird to be flying into a city I already felt like I knew, kind of like coming home and yet not at all the same. Coming into Sydney, on the other hand, felt like coming into Los Angeles. Beaches, water, surf, and city as far as the eye could see. Compared with New Zealand cities, which are generally smaller than 400,000, a city of 4.5 million was particularly sprawling. I was supposed to arrive 10 minutes after the rest of the group and was a bit worried about customs because I had no return ticket for leaving Australia, but customs was a breeze. Still, there was nobody there when I arrived. I worried a little then checked their flight and saw they were delayed and not due for another 20 minutes. About an hour later, they were peeling out of the gate and PC2 was rejoined, ready for Australian adventures.
We were supposed to take a Harley tour through Sydney to our hostel, but as is our custom when arriving in a new country, it was rainy and unpleasant outside, so we simply went straight to our new home in Manly. And what a home it was. Basically a bunch of condos with shared facilities, right on Manly beach, it was easily the best accommodation we’ve had to date. It was already dinner time, so I went out with Katie, Brad, Chris, Chelsea, and Lauren to a pretty decent Thai place by the wharf, walking along the strip crossing the peninsula. Then we grabbed some groceries for the group and hung out in our little nest for the evening. Another pleasant note about Australia, or at least Sydney, was that in that little walk we saw more pretty girls than in all our time in New Zealand combined.
The next day was still rainy – and Australia is supposedly in a drought. Still, it was warm enough and scattered enough that we went to the beach for a while and played in some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen, trying to body surf. Brad and I also found an internet café that easily beat any café we’d used up to this point. It was lightning fast, so much so that I ran out of photos I’d already captioned. We went back to the hostel to get on our bikes for the evening tour, and wouldn’t you know it, as I made my way back to the hostel the rain began. It drizzled initially but within 10 minutes of getting back, it was pouring. Still, danger or not, we were taking the Harley tour, so we loaded on our waterproof gear and hit the road. Thankfully, not literally. The tour was kind of interesting as it was in the rain, but otherwise we definitely missed out. We didn’t go into Sydney and so just toured the suburb of Manly and its various homes and freeways. Still, it was fun, but it would’ve been cool to roar across the Harbour Bridge. We stayed at home again tonight, and wound up watching the Academy Awards, which were actually pretty decent this year.
Finally, our third day in Sydney, and we were off to see the city itself. We took a ferry in the morning and checked out the opera house. Which isn’t white and painted at all, but is actually a mosaic tile that looks more yellowed unless reflecting the sun. It was surreal to be at the foot of this very foreign monument on the other side of the earth. We broke off into groups and Chris, Brad, and myself ventured around the city. We strolled through the botanical gardens seeking other views of the opera house and harbour bridge then made our way to The Rocks, an old quarter of Sydney. Though we well overshot it, stopping for lunch in the busy office district before finding ourselves at the end of Pitt St. in Chinatown. We supposedly had a pass for any transit, so we went to take the monorail back into town only to be scolded by a very angry tub when we asked her if our pass also worked for the monorail. I thanked her for being so polite, wished her a pleasant day, and we walked up to George St. to catch a bus back.
We looked around the Rocks, which weren’t all that incredible and stopped for a beer before heading to the middle of the Harbour Bridge. Brad had to get to class with his ignorant cultural professor (q: Why do we see more Canadians abroad than Americans? A: Because their country sucks.). Yup, she’s the one responsible for opening their eyes and minds to other cultures. Luckily, her students are more enlightened than she is. Anyway, Brad went back for more of that fun with her and Chris and I continued across the bridge to check out Luna Park. Which was closed but we were able to peek around because there was a wedding there. We found our way back and met up with Brad before deciding to head into Chinatown for dinner. But we hopped on the wrong bus and it took us across the harbour bridge and another into some suburb.
We debated exploring the suburb for decent and hopefully cheaper food and then some locals recommended we stroll along Darling St. to some decent restaurants. We wound up having Japanese food instead, walking about 8 blocks extra to bring our own wine in from a not-so-nearby shop. Dinner was good and reasonable and we’d certainly had an adventure to find it. This also marked the beginning of the Canadian drinking game. See, it’s considered rude to not lift a glass and drink when someone toasts, so basically you just take turns coming up with a lot of cheers. Pretty simply but potentially lethal. We got back into town and were making our way to the ferry when we passed these Scottish girls that started talking with us. We still had some time before the last ferry so we stopped and had a beer with them before escaping home, mostly unscathed. The ferry ride back was nice at night, Syndey has a beautiful skyline. We said goodbye to that skyline early the next morning, venturing to the Blue Mountains and a small Scouts’ hall near Katoomba where we would spend the next couple nights.
We were back in Christchurch again to catch our flights to Sydney, Australia, which was met with a mix of excitement and sadness since it’s hard to leave a beautiful and amazing place like New Zealand. Still, more adventure ahead and I am certainly more excited than sad. I called up Mike again since we were in town on the weekend and we met up at the hostel after my first shower in ages (I bought a new towel!), dinner, and who knows what else. We went out with Katie, Meridith, and us boys and had a good time but were all fairly tired. We started at Sullivan’s, which had some pretty decent live music actually. Then Mike took us to a place called Concrete which was quiet but a pretty cool underground club. We (by which I mean Anthony and Mer) did a little dancing and hung around a bit before wandering into a place I’d spotted walking that was in an alley and also underground, somewhere along Hereford St. It was likewise slow but cool and we hung out a bit until I wasn’t the only one tired and then got some BK before calling it a night. The next day, though, Mike was taking us on another sojourn into the NZ countryside – a French town called Akaroa(?).
I got up at 9:30, just in time to grab the hostel’s continental breakfast, shower, and caption some photos. Mike offered to let me use the net at his house so I wanted to upload as many photos as I could there. This was our last full day in New Zealand too, and I had to print off my itinerary and e-ticket for my flight among other errands. But that was later. He met us and we left the hostel around noon, stopping for petrol as they call it and some groceries for the trip. Which, itself, took about 40 mins through some very nice scenery. Rolling hills and all the stuff I would be missing from New Zealand very soon. The town itself clearly had some French history but was pretty well English by now, so it was more of a novelty, but it still had some pretty sections. There is a restaurant there called C’est la Vie that’s meant to be quite famous and we were hoping to have lunch there before heading back. When we finally found the place, not knowing its name, location, or anything other than the fact that patrons write all over the walls about their experience, we were understandably disappointed to find it was closed for lunch and all booked for dinner.
I tried in horrible French to ask the chef who we could hear and see working away at prep what time they opened for dinner, and he came to the door and spoke in English to me. Whew. Embarrassingly, he’s not actually French (I’d been told they were, but maybe his wife was) but German, and I tried to secure us a spot at dinner. At best he had my number and put us down for a phone call should anyone cancel and recommended another place we might want to grab dinner (Ma Maison) in case we couldn’t get a spot. Our reservation was for 5:45 at Ma Maison and we were supposed to have heard whether a spot had opened up by 5, so that left us some time. More time than we realized, because my watch was lacking a setting for New Zealand time and the time had been an hour ahead on my watch since arriving and I forgot this when quoting the time to the others. We strolled around the town and took some silly photos, warmed up in the car and got some rest, drove around to nearby outlooks and gravel roads and driveways, went to hilltop parks of unusual quality, and basically killed time until dinner. It was a lot of fun despite having no driving purpose or deeper meaning.
We drove back into town a little before 5:00 and discovered that the placard outside which had so coldly proclaimed the restaurant full for the night now had a seating time and phone number to call. I talked to the lady inside and they had just had some cancellations (apparently the cook hadn’t felt it worthwhile to call us) and so we got a table booked. We cancelled our reservations at Ma Maison then came back for dinner. I had a nice steak topped with spinach and blue cheese and marinated in some other sauce as well. Quite delicious and definitely worth the wait. The only way to get a better steak here would be to fly in my dad. Which could be difficult given my ever-dwindling funds, but I digress. Mike also had the steak, and Chris and Brad had the venison, which was also great (but not as good as my steak). We all felt the meal was terrific and worth any waiting that we had to do.
We drove back into town and stopped at Mike’s house for me to use the internet. It turned out he had some episodes of Family Guy I hadn’t seen so he copied me a DVD (which I just realized I forgot to pay him for!) and we watched a hilarious episode while I did my internet things. Then back to the hostel and the boys went out, tired or not, and hit the town running with what is probably the cheapest wine we’ll ever buy ($4-$5 NZ bottles). We went all over and got a little more zany as the night went on, and boy did it go on. We were at the Holy Grail for a while, we went to some place on the strip, and who knows where else before Brad and Chris went for BK and Mike and I took off to the casino. As is my fashion, I did well at the start off my last $5 and then lost it all, but it was fun even if late. I got back to the hostel at 6AM, just in time to get two hours sleep before an 8AM meeting.
We had our meeting about Sydney and what was in store for our big move to Australia, cleaned out the vans, and got packed. My flight was different than the others so I went to the airport early with Katie and got myself sorted. Now I’m sitting here waiting in the Sydney airport for the rest of the group to arrive (I was supposed to arrive 10 mins after them but our plane made good time), and I’m very eager to get out of my sweaty clothes and into our condos, which I hear are good, and of course the Sydney rain and humidity. We got some nice views of downtown from the plane too, and it was exciting to see those oh-so-remote monuments like the Opera building or the Harbour Bridge just sitting there waiting. Now, speaking of waiting, I’m going to go back to it. Next time, Sydney. All it’s cracked up to be or more?
It was a six-hour stint from Wanaka to Franz Joseph, home of the Franz Joseph glacier, ice climbing. We stopped midway for lunch at a salmon farm and had some salmon related luncheon paninis and such before arriving in Franz. When we got there we stopped by the activity centre to book our ice climbing and other options for those not interested. Unfortunately, there was only one spot left. I offered mine (quite reluctantly to be honest about it) to Lauren2 since she is a climber and though I had been looking forward to it since I heard about it she probably wanted to do it more. But there were others who also wanted to and she was also reluctant to accept, so we did a draw for the spot. Well, I won but felt pretty bad about it. Still, I suppose it was fair and in any case I was going ice climbing the next day.
The other Lauren swung by and invited us boys to happy hour at a nearby pub and so we went along and had some drinks with them. And then went elsewhere and grabbed some appetizers and dinner and, yes, more drinks. I went home a bit earlier with Lauren and Chelsea because I had to be ready for ice climbing at 7:45 and was in bed by 11:00, though I watched the last episode of the Office I’d downloaded before bed (Dwight and Oscar return). Chris came back towards the end and we watched one more episode, so I suppose I was asleep by midnight. In any case, I don’t know if I was nervous about sleeping in, ice climbing itself, or the room was hot and poorly ventilated (probably all of the above) but I got no sleep. Every hour or two I was up and debating going back to sleep or not, even though I’d eventually look at the clock and it would only be, say, 3 AM.
I got up to do some ice climbing on time regardless and hurriedly threw breakfast and lunch (bread and jam) into a container and walked over to the activity centre. We packed up our stuff, though I forgot to grab a rain jacket because I had the wrong-sized boots, and drove to the glacier. It was about 3 km to the glacier through rain forest and along the glacial stream all, I stress, in glorified ski boots. Not comfortable. Well, maybe they were a ski/snowboard hybrid but my point remains. We got to the base which I discovered had a staircase carved into it. Not my idea of ice climbing, I joked to myself. Not that the group was not friendly, they were all Scottish and quite nice, but I wasn’t up for being the outgoing one at that point. Remember I’d had no sleep, and anyone who knows anything about me knows that early mornings and bad sleeps are a bad mix.
We hiked another km up and into the glacier, arriving finally at our base where we’d do our climbing and set up. All said, we did 5 climbs, the last of which was actually greater than 90 degrees of slope. It was a lot of fun, though I think I like rock climbing better, and pretty demanding. I did the whole thing without ever falling though there was at least once where I was dangling by a single ice pick. It was a definite workout, however, and by the time we finished climbing, hiked back down the glacier and found ourselves at the van I was definitely beat. Still, we stopped by a pub on the way and I bought a drink for the guide that gave me his rainjacket and one of the guys on the trip that owns a pizzeria in Glasgow bought us all some pizza to munch on. All in all, I had a great time with these guys.
I didn’t bother with dinner back at the hostel because I pretty much crashed right through it. That is, after I cleaned up the sprinkled hearts and fake love letter off my bed and had a good laugh. Brad’s mom had sent him some valentine’s day stuff which I instantly recognized, so they didn’t actually fool me, but it was hilarious for all involved. I did wake up later (or else this particular blog post would have a lot more zzzzzzz’s) feeling refreshed and took a sauna with a few of the others which only helped more. That night the plan was a Lord of the Rings marathon which I definitely didn’t have the stamina for, but it was fun to sit in the TV room with everyone watching the first movie. Quite a few of them stayed up for the second (maybe half left) including Kate, Anthony, Brad, Chris, Dustin, and myself. Only Anthony attempted the third movie, though even he was unable to survive all those endings.
The next morning we left Franz Joseph behind and made our way up the coast to Arthur’s Pass, which brought us back into Christchurch once more. This was our last trip in the vans and we all were feeling a little sentimental. We stopped for lunch en route at a small coastal town and Norm, Chris, Brad, and myself grabbed some meat pies and sat on a really strange beach with all sorts of weird wooden sculptures and debris strewn about. We stoppe
