Evolving in Darwin

I didn’t really plan it that way, but January just wound up being a busy and altogether pretty great way to kick off a new year. After a couple weeks of work, dad and I flew down to Las Vegas for CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Only E3 ranks higher in the list of tradeshows I’ve ever wanted to visit, so this was very exciting. Not only do we get to go to Vegas, but I’m going to be seeing all sorts of techy gadgets before most of them are anywhere near a store. That said, we spent only an afternoon at the show, but we saw some incredible, paper-thin TVs (some of which are already out, though not in the sizes they were showing), Intel’s new processor at work on a Minority Report-esque display, all sorts of new set-top boxes integrating computer-based media collections and DVRs, and so much stuff that it’s hard to even recall it all. I specifically remember being impressed with a TV that could make any 2D video 3D just by crunching some serious numbers. Convincingly 3D. It was pretty incredible. And of course I remember Panasonic had their ‘green’ room with all the things they were producing to help reduce energy and water consumption. One of the things the spokesman was talking about were compact-fluorescent bulbs, and my dad stumped him when he asked whether exchanging CO2 for mercury (which is in every CFL bulb) was such a great idea. I tend to think it’s not. But listen to me geeking out on you; at least now that’s out of the way.

When we go to Vegas, we usually stay at the MGM, which I like just fine, though I’ve never really stayed anywhere else. One bonus I was to discover this time, though I don’t especially like slots, was the Majestic Lions. I just had great luck with them. I never kept track of the first couple days, but I can only remember one time where I cashed out less than I put in. On our last full day in Vegas, while my dad was taking a nap, I put in $100 to one of the lions. It was teasing me and teasing me, the lions would always be off the line just a hair. One time I would’ve won had I bet the max, which is a very frustrating feeling. Still, I kept betting though my supply was dwindling. 12 dollars left out of that hundred and I spun. Sure enough, it was teasing me – three lions (which, if they were all on the line, would mean I’d win the progressive jackpot of $1115 or so) but one was just off the line for the umpteenth time. Oh well, this was one time I wouldn’t be winning. I went to spin again. Nothing happened. The reels didn’t spin. Then I noticed that my machine was making a lot of noise. I looked up to see my light flashing. Huh? A closer look at the screen and I realized it wasn’t teasing me at all. I had just won the jackpot!

Yeah, that was pretty exciting. And then very awkward as I sat and sat waiting for somebody to come and pay me, all the while the lights and sounds are going and I’m sitting in the machine with nothing to do but grin stupidly. Somewhere between five and ten minutes later, the attendant came and paid me that wonderful sum of money and confided to me that the machines usually pay out right after they’ve paid. I thanked her but thought to myself that she was a good casino employee. Yes, sir, please throw all the money you’ve just won back into the casino. I had twelve credits left, so I figured I’d play those out and go tell my dad the good news. Two more spins and bam, I won two hundred dollars. I spent the last six credits and cashed out my nice even $200, then woke my dad up and took him for sushi. You wouldn’t think it, but I had better sushi that day in the desert than I’ve ever had anywhere. After sushi we wandered around a bit then sat at the blackjack table. When this game goes well, it’s a great time. You sit back, win some hands, lose a couple, chat and joke with the others at the table and the dealer while the waitress brings drinks. We played until the wee hours of the morning and both walked away well ahead which only makes it that much better.

Finally, we took a drive down to Lake Havasu in Arizona to look at real estate in the housing bust’s ground zero. The town itself was not particularly nice and there were definitely plenty of empty or half-started lots, but the best part was the drive through the countryside of Nevada and Arizona. Early in the morning following our return home to Saskatoon, I was on another flight to Chicago. Littelfuse, the company that had bought my old employer, Startco, was looking for someone to work in their Chicago office that knew the Startco products pretty well and could start working on sales in the US. It was an exciting prospect, and as an added bonus they flew me down to Chicago to have a look around the city and at apartments for the weekend before a round-robin of interviews all day Monday. So I landed in Chicago, grabbed my rental car, and let my iPhone point the way to the hotel which was located nice and close to Littelfuse HQ. After settling into the hotel it was already mid-afternoon. I hopped on the train into town, which took about an hour. The train took an hour. I realized right away that I would have to live somewhere that was close enough to work to keep the commute reasonable (half an hour or less) and somewhere close enough to the city that I wouldn’t make excuses not to go in. And of course, it would have to be somewhere along the transit lines so I could easily get to work or town without driving and parking. But I digress. I went for dinner in Greektown, which was a bit disappointing in the food and size departments and walked around a little before heading home. It sure was cold.

The next day I took the opportunity to really explore Chicago. I took the train downtown and strolled all over the place, recognizing landmarks like the House of Blues, the Trump tower, the round building from that Wilco album, and all the more obvious ones like the John Hancock building and the Sears tower. I know it was Saturday but until I found my way to the Miracle Mile I felt like I was in a ghost town. In fact, I felt like I was in the movie Hancock. Just empty, deserted, and windy. It was unaccountably eerie. On the mile, I did what any good Chicagoer would do. I shopped and walked, made my way from end to end, and then came back to go visit downtown proper once more and of course the Sears Tower. Nicole has a friend that manages a club in Chicago and I was supposed to meet him later in the evening but Google Maps steered me wrong, to a street of the same name in a suburb near the hotel. Not thinking that suburbs would have streets of the same names, in fact not thinking at all, I grabbed the train back to the airport (from which I had to get an airport shuttle to and from the hotel), realizing too late that I had googled poorly. So I stayed in again which wasn’t so bad a thing after such a long day and in fact a long week. Sunday, I took the car for a spin to Littelfuse (I had to make sure I knew the way, of course). On the way, I very accidentally passed the first ever McDonalds chain and ate at their not-so-successful competitor, which was actually a fun and very Americana moment. I drove into the city which was pretty smooth on a Sunday and toured the two-level downtown streets before making a stop at the Adler planetarium which was pretty cool and had the added bonus of offering a nice panorama of downtown Chicago. Then, the man who would essentially be my boss took me out to a nice dinner at a French restaurant.

Finally, Monday was dedicated to interview upon interview. Certainly you can’t blame them – they had spent plenty to fly me out and meet me, they should definitely get their money’s worth out of me. I think I had eight interviews that day, from people I’d met plenty of times in Saskatoon to people I’d never met including their CEO. While up until this point I was feeling like Chicago might be a bad idea, I was really struck by how much I really felt like I clicked with the people interviewing me. They were all good people which was very much how I’d felt at Startco. And, if I may say so, I think the interviews went pretty well although I felt like I’d perhaps talked the CEO’s ear off in my excitement. Some eight interviews and a couple aptitude and personality tests later, I was done with one evening left in Chicago. So I drove straight into town to see some improve and grab a bite. The drive in was actually not TOO terrible even in rush hour. An hour and a half if I recall, though if you were doing that daily you’d go nuts. I got my tickets for Second City and was treated to an exceptional performance of old and current cast because, luckily for me, I managed to be there for one of the cast’s going away show. And then before I knew it, I was on a long flight home. That wasn’t the last trip in January, but it was the last one to the States. One week later, I was off to visit my sister in Puerto Vallarta. But that is a story for another time...

Las Vegas Photos
Chicago PhotosRead More...

26 in Paradise

I arrived at the top of Australia, Darwin, at 12:30 AM and was at my hostel just after 1. You'd think I'd be tired and ready to crash, right? Wrong. Not in the least, though it didn't help that the room was warm, smelly, and filled with a couple 'heavy sleepers'. So, after making up my bunk, I went for a walk around Mitchell and Smith street (the two main strips), checked out the Northern Territory Parliament building, and went to sleep. The next morning, I walked around some more and decided the city centre didn't have much to offer, so I rented a bike and rode out to East Point. The ride was well worth the effort despite the fact that my seat was too high and not really adjustable without tools. There were rock cliffs, nice beaches, and a beautiful little lake that looked like it belonged in the African savannah. I didn't make it in time for the museum, but it was such a beautiful day I was happy to enjoy being outside and rolling around.

Since Darwin seemed to have little to offer that you couldn't find at the bottom of a pint glass anywhere, and since I'd been unable to find anyone crossing the Kimberly with a 4WD (the ONLY way to do it), I booked a tour to Broome for Saturday (it was Wednesday). I wanted to do Kakadu and Litchfield, but Kakadu was sold out unless I waited until next Saturday to leave. Well, I was already getting bored of Darwin, so I booked Litchfield for Friday and resolved to actually relax and enjoy the heat and humidity by the pool on Thursday. And that's just what I did! I resumed Islands in the Stream, my second attempt at a Hemmingway novel, had a Malibu-pineapple, and sat in the sun until I could take no more. In the pool, I represented Canada in the Aqualympics(tm) which I'm proud to say we swept, winning all but one event in which we tied Ireland. I met three English girls that came in after and Tom, who represented England, and the five of us hung out in the pool all afternoon.

It was Thursday, the night of Darwin's famed Sunset Beach Markets, so the lot of us (Gemma, Jill, Rebecca, their friend Natalie, and Tom went to see the sunset and grab some eats. We just made it for a beautiful sunset, and I tried camel, barramundi in okra, satay squid, loukoumathes, some African dishes, fresh fruit juice, and basically went to town. Incidentally, camel tastes just like you'd think it would. Awful. There was a really cool didj-drum combo that I could've watched all night, but we wound up going out to Schenanigans instead. I had to be up early for my tour the next morning, but I promised them I'd go out and have one drink. Which turned out to be a jug, but what can you do... who wants to get technical? I saw first hand why people love the party in Darwin, and we had a blast out on the town. All said, a great day, I need to learn to have more days like this where I'm actually on vacation and not traveling or running here and there. Someday...

Friday was my final day in Darwin, and I spent it on the Litchfield Dreams tour, checking out Litchfield National Park. We stopped at the Jumping Croc Cruise first, which was more what I was expecting from the Daintree Croc Cruise I did a month ago. Lots of crocsand literally everywhere - and they actually get them to jump out of the water snapping at food. There wre also lots of birds around and I felt, not for the first time, that I'd been transported to Africa. From there, we did some swimming in Wangi Falls, had a photo op at Florence Falls, and swam again in the Buley Rock Pools, my favourite stop of the day. I found a pool with some good jumping and went for it, most of our group wound up hanging out in this pool. Plus, you could relax in the falls quite nicely. Finally, back to Darwin where I did some internet stuff (man, do I hate using the computers in cafes), played cards with the English girls, and called it a night. 6:30 the next morning, I was off to Broome through the Kimberly, which could very well be a new highlight of Oz. Stay tuned for that and more, coming soon.

Darwin Photos
Litchfield National Park PhotosRead More...

Gold Coast Rush

My birthday gift (and what a gift!) from Kirsty, aside from the fact that she came up to keep me company on it, was a three-park pass to Sea World, Movie World, and Wet 'n' Wild. Since Dreamworld was her favourite, we made it our first stop that Wednesday morning. The date, Aug 29 - and three days from my birthday. The sun was shining and it was quite a warm day, perfect for being out at a theme park - especially one with rapids and log flumes! We rocked up, as the Aussies say, around 11:00 and met with one of Kirsty's friends from Melbourne, Anthony. And then the madness began.

I won't go through every ride and fun thing we did, but suffice it to say that we went on the tower of terror (where you're basically catapulted straight up a 20-storey building) about three times. The real winner, though, was the giant drop, a less rickety but very scary drop-of-doom. You get vaulted up... way up... and look around and down and aruond some more and wonder when you're going to plunge down to earth. Man the people are small. And why did they have to make this tower so high? You can look straight down past your feet, dangling in the breeze. You're going to go crashing down any second. It's coming. You hear the hydraulics start to make noise and build pressure. Someone screams (probably Kirsty). Someone else starts counting down from five. 4... 3... 2... 1... and nothing. As if they'd know when it was going to drop, but your stomach is in knots and you want off. You grip the headrest and hope that it's locked shut properly. You think about grabbing another one just to be safe. Someone at the other end is starting to hyperventilate and panic. Terror crawls its spidery legs up your spine and you clench your jaw. That same idiot starts counting again and you wonder why you've voluntarily put yourself in this position. The hydraulics are getting louder. Five. Clank-clank. Four. hummmMMMMM. Three. Hiss. TwwwooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The car is released, everyone is screaming, swearing, or, in most cases, both. There's plenty of time for it, the freefall goes on forever. And then, you open your eyes, wipe the water away, and realize you're stopped and slowly dropping towards the ground. You watch your nail marks slowly disappear as the headrest foam expands and look at everyone else. Frazzled. Nobody is saying anything. The would-be executioner releases the headrests and Dan, Matt, Kirsty and I stand on our wobbly legs and really look at each other for the first time since dropping. Our expressions of shock turn into smiles as we see that we weren't the only one to get a little scared. "Again?" I ask with a broad smile as we make our way towards the exit.

We left Dreamworld and the boys wanted to stick around the hostel for $5 Dominoes pizza (no thanks), so Kirsty and I went out and shared some dinner and stumbled on the beach night markets. There were lots of really cool photography stalls and Kirsty wound up buying a few prints. I resolved to make up a scrapbook of my very best photos that maybe I could sell prints from. I also stopped at a tarot card reader since it was only $20 and I had three fortunes (mom, sister, Kathy) none of which (thankfully) came true. My mom and sister had been to see psychics for fun and they both were told something very similar about me being over here. I admit to extreme skepticism, but even so, I was surprised how accurate and relevant this parlor trick was. Lots of stuff on change and some stuff about my character, I guess. We also got a massage which was sort of weird with all the people walking by, and grabbed some full moon photos of the moon over the beach. All in all a great night, capped by meeting up with the boys again and some of the Irish from our Whitsundays boat.

The next day, Kirsty and I went to Sea World and the boys, bound for home in a few days, went and had a surf lesson. Sea World was better than I expected, with a lot of rides to complement the dolphin and seal shows. If we had planned a bit mor ein advance there were some cool things we could've done there, but the rides and shows and giant aquarium were great. We met up with Matt that afternoon and went for a bike ride up to Burleigh Heads to get some nice photos of Surfers and then came back and got some pretty sunset shots on the beach. Then we went out for dinner at a nice Thai restaurant, though the peanut quotient was probably three orders of magnitude too high.

We woke up early on our final day together and went for pancakes. Yumm! Then Kirsty and I went to Movie World, which was probably my favourite of the theme parks. The rides had stories to them like in Disney. They had one of those mousetrap type rollercoasters called the Scooby Doo Haunted House that's totally in the dark and lots of fun - it reminded me of a little Space Mountain. Also great was the Superman coaster, which accelerates you instantly and magically straight up and then into a huge drop giving 4.2 gs and -1 g. And the Police Academy show was good fun, too, though the clown at the very beginning was arguably the best part. Unfortunately, the Lethal Weapon rollercoaster was closed. Leave it to a girl, but Kirsty had noticed a big sale at the mall, so we met the boys there and I picked up a couple Rip Curl shirts for $15 each, which was a steal. Also, Brad got me hooked on Ben Folds' landed, so I picked up that disc and gave it to Kirsty. Then we picked up their bags, went for a beer and chips on Cavill Ave and finally dropped them off at the airport. Back alone again, I drove back to the hostel, did some work on my laptop, and went to sleep. Tomorrow is September 1st and, weather permitting, I'm meeting up with a friend from Scandi who happens to be in town to go to the waterpark.Read More...

Witty Sun Days

With our two Kansas brothers in tow, I might've been tempted to say to Matt's older bro, "We're not in Airlie anymore, Dan!" thus displaying my appreciation for Kansas' great cultural contribution to the Wizard of Oz. I might've even been tempted to call the duo the Wizards of Aus, but I refrained from that also and so we got along great. Even with some very long stretches of road like, for example, our first day down to Rockhampton. The highlights were few except for a farmer burning his sugar cane field to get rid of dead leaves for harvest. It was a long trip and quickly it became evident that we were going to get in late, so I called the hostel ahead of time (for once!) and booked a late check-in and room for us. I was proud of my foresight at the time, but had I known what would greet us, I might not have been quite so smug.

We pulled into Rockhampton YHA around 9:30 at night and I parked on the gravel beside a jeep and got out. A woman sat at a shadowy picnic table, staring me down unflinchingly, even when I offered a friendly smile. I found this perplexing. "Is... something wrong?" I asked cautiously. "No," and the continued soul-piercing gaze. Not from her perspective, perhaps. I tried again at reception. "Hi!" perhaps too enthusiastically, I toned it down, "how are you doing today? I didn't think we'd find you still here." Which earned me a, "What on earth made you think you could park on my grass?!" There were several things wrong with this query. "Uh, there was another jeep I parked beside and I'm pretty sure I parked on gravel," I explained. "And it always will be if you people keep parking on it!" Well. Touche.

At the McDonalds we were started at by all parking lot party-goers as well, but it was a more friendly, "Ooh! Who are they? Where do you think they're from?" type of gawkery. Us boys, us Eagle Boys, if you will, opted for the $5 Eagle Boys Pizzas on special, delicious and filling. There was a long drive to Noosa the following day and no desire to see much more of this place than our beds, so we went to sleep and left nice and early. The long drive to Noosa was made all the longer by the fact that I thought we'd try to get off the rather uninspiring motorway and hope for some scenic coastal roads. So it was that we wound up heading for the town of 1770. En route, we passed through Agnes Waters, which was actually pretty decent. 1770 itself offered a small hike and not much to see nor any explanation of the town name (turns out it was Cook's second landing in Australia in - you guessed it - 1770). With the tide out it was easy to see why. Lots and lots of sand and nothing else. A somewhat pointless tour there, but I thought I'd heard good reviews and hey - have car, see out-of-the-way places. Matt and particularly Dan were up for exploring though (as was I) so we took another crack at it. Rainbow Beach is, allegedly, so named for the different coloured sands, and was said to be beautiful. So I rolled the dice and attempted to redeem myself.

As is traditional for me, I made the hole deeper. Because of the tide and recent flooding of the area (some of which we drove through on the way down), there was nothing to see. Whatsmore, because of th egloods, we couldn't continue down the road to Noosa; we had to backtrack 100km to the main highway. Everyone took this pretty well, though Kirsty and I kept the worst news to ourselves - that we might not even be able to get into Noosa because of the floods. But, with some McCafe in our bellies, we soldiered on and though the direct road to Noosa was closed, we made it through with some detours. To pass this long day of drives to nowhere, the boys picked up some beer from a drive-through bottle shop and so were quite smashed on our arrival. Matt, "looked around the room and found a box of dignity" and Dan readopted his diminished southern accent to our great delight. While looking for a place to stay as the boys stumbled along several paces behind us, Kirsty and I stopped for some ice cream, but Dan missed this sudden change of task and walked up to the counter asking if the ice cream stand had any rooms left. I'd ordered Death by Chocolate at the girl's recommendation and in a deep southern drawl with lots of thoughtfulness, Dan pronounced, "I reckon there's a better way to go than the-at." I gave him a spoon and he quickly recanted, "I reckon that's the best way to go," then leaned over the counter, flashed the biggest smile ever seen in Noosa, and told the girl, "I like you-ou." Maybe you had to be there, but I hadn't laughed that hard in a while.

We checked into Koala Beach Backpackers and went out to the bar and danced the night away. Well, they danced. I did my old routine of pretending to be dancing by subtly shifting my weight from foot-to-foot and eventually we called it a night. I wasn't really tired so I went for a walk and a little bit of peace to wind down after all that driving. And of course, to contemplate the circle of life as Betsy and I had just completed our circuit of eastern-central Australia, from Noosa down to Adelaide and back up to Cape Tribulation then down to Noosa again. What did this mean for me? For Betsy? For Australia? It took me almost two hours to answer that.

Since we were moreorless on schedule, we decided to stay an extra night in Noosa. So the next day, we all went kayaking around the Noosa river for a few hoursand then went to the beach. Kirsty and I rented boogie boards which were actually pretty fun and stayed in the surf until sunset. There were some great waves that brought us right back in about 100m to shore. We also moved to a place that Kirsty had found on her morning run that was a significant improvement on our last spot and not a significant cost. We went back, showered, and went out for gourmet pizzas, then Kirsty and I split some cheesecake and had a chai latte before heading home. The next morning, the two of us got in a few more waves on our boogie boards though the surf was definitely NOT up. We returned the boards, picked up the boys, and then we all split up for the day. I dropped Kirsty off at Maroochydore where she was going to run, swim, and shop her way down the coast to Australia Zoo, where I then dropped off the boys. Since I had no plans aside from that, and it was my job to be on call to pick coordinate the meet up when the zoo closed, I went to Caloundra (the nearest town) to recharge my phone credit and spent a bunch of time walking around, exploring, and talking on the phone to home. I also had a slightly overdue haircut and Kirsty walked by just as I finished. We picked up Matt and Dan from the zoo and took the scenic road to Brisbane through the Glass House Mountains, climbing Mt. Beerburrum and pullin into Brisbane as the afternoon waned. We wined and dined at an Irish Pub and slept early because we were going to Moreton Island the next morning and then continuing down to Surfer's Paradise.

Chris, our Moreton Island tour guide and 4WDriver picked us up from the Tinbilly hostel bright and early and after picking up a loud Edmontonian and a family with two young boys that reminded me of Justin and Cortland we were on the ferry. Our first stop: sandboarding! We went down the big dune in our makeshift toboggans which were fun as long as the surface was waxed and you kept your elbows up. Our sandboard itself was pretty ghetto, with no bindings or foot pads or anything even resembling them. So we pretty much stuck to the smaller backside of the dune, though I did pretty well coming down the big side at the end. Next on the agenda was a walk up to the lighthouse where we could see some humpback whales breaching, then we had lunch on the beach. Why do whales breach, incidentally? There are lots of theories but it seems nothing is known for sure on the matter. Anyway, lunch on the beach, some fun at the Blue Lagoon (frisbee, vortex, my adopted nephews) and finally we went to the wrecks but didn't get to snorkel them which disappointed me greatly.

Back on land, we loaded the car and drove down to Surfer's Paradise that evening, checking into a small room at the Sleeping Inn - my mattress being on the floor didn't help matters. We got there just in time for dinner at Melbas though Kirsty didn't come with us. There was a lunar eclipse which was a pretty cool welcome back to the gold coast, where I had first bought Betsy. Yes, you guessed it. More contemplating the cicle of life that night, this time with Matt, and then to sleep.The last few days were a flurry of driving and activity, I was exhausted, and the coming few days promised to be just as packed with activity. Theme Parks, markets, and fun! Tomorrow, Dreamworld, where our story resumes.Read More...

Company's Coming Airlie

More than just a place to tell especially clever jokes on a warm and bright afternoon afternoon (and for once the weather was actually warm and bright), the Whitsundays are a collection of over 90 islands sitting off the coast of Australia. And though detached from the mainland, they are arguably one of the most beautiful parts of the country. And Kirsty and I were going to be spending 2 days sailing among them, snorkeling, and enjoying one of the world's top-rated beach. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We didn't board the boat until 2:30 that afternoon, so we rented some bikes and pedaled around Airlie and the coastline. We also stopped at the Shark Hunter's lair/museum for a rather large jaw dropping look at sharks in Australia and an interesting perspective. And then, at last, we were on the Atlantic Clipper heading for paradise.

Within minutes of raising anchor, a loud chorus of people echoed from below, "12, 11, 10, 9... tree, two, one!" That's no typo. The Irish weer (that IS a typo) belowdecks and knee deep in drinking games, and sir/madam, there were a lot of them: half our 40-person group, in fact. Also aboard were two nice Canadian girls, particularly Emily from Victoria who had great taste in music and as such, a lot in common with me, a Calgary boy who really lives up to the Alberta stereotype, three really friendly English blokes that Kirsty befriended right away, and most importantly, two brothers from Kansas representing the best country in the world as they liked to amusingly remind us.

We anchored for the night in a bay separated by a small strip of land from Whitehaven Beach, had a potato dinner (probably inspired by the Irish quotient) and got to sleep early. We were the first ones to get to Whitehaven the next morning and got some nice high-tide photos with not a soul to be seen. Kirsty and the English lost patience with my photographic philandering and were gone across the tidal pools by the time I arrived, so I took my camera and philandered some more. It was absolutely beautiful, sparkling white sand in tiny islands, perfect blue water, no photo was a bad photo in this place. I even got what I consider to be one of the best photos I've ever taken in my life of the little soldier crabs marching along the beach to the shore and a small palm-fringed island sitting on the slightly skewed horizon. Then I put the camera away and enjoyed all these things without a lens in front of me.

Kirsty and I left a little early and got some even nicer low tide photos of Whitehaven before heading off to lunch and our first snorkel. The water was surprisingly chilly which was unexpected, but the reef was in really good condition (considering the millions of tourists tramping through here) so the surprises canceled each other out. Most of the afternoon was spent lounging on the sundeck, then another snorkel, dinner, and Kirsty went to bed while I worked on my photos and blog for a while. Then I joined the festivities upstairs and was impressed by the hoola olympics briefly before going to sleep myself. The next morning and it was already our final day on the Clipper. Neither of us were remotely ready to trade our free-wheeling sailing lives back for the open road and get off the boat, but we did anyway. Not before a morning snorkel, however, and getting to know a few more of our fellow passengers a bit better. Particularly, the American boys, Matt and Dan, who we invited to come along with us since they were headed the same way. When we got back to Airlie we were hoping to do some kayaking or something of that sort and then found a deal for Hamilton Island that night which not only put us back on the Whitsundays but also included a nice hut and all sorts of beach activities. We were on the ferry there one hour later.

Hamilton Island was beautiful, reminding me of a tiny Maui. After checking in, we checked out. Everything. The beach, pools, and four walking tracks overlooking the island, all before sunset. There was a sailing race and party on Whitehaven (we saw our own little race of ships coming back to Hamilton) and then the evening was supposed to kick off on Hamilton. We (I) had some rose with our fruit salad/cheese and cracker dinner. In my defence, I bought it thinking I might have found a wine Kirsty would actually enjoy and couldn't let it go to waste. Then we took a walk to town and decided the party wasn't all that terrific, so the night was again called. The next morning we found the tide precluded any of the water sports we'd been hoping for, so we walked some more hoping to rent a jetski or something. Instead, we found a shooting range and because the guy was from Melbourne and Kirsty shared some common friends, we got to try everything from a .22 to .45, manual, semi-auto, handguns, rifles, you name it. Kirsty had some dead-on bullseyes but also some wide misses, where I had no bullseyes but was never lower than 8 and usually 9(and I didn't even have my glasses on - I guess all those years of Doom paid off). So we declared a draw. Uncle Russ will definitely have to take me now, it was actually a lot more fun than I imagined. And then, like it or not, the Whitsundays were in our wake and we were steaming for shore once more.Read More...

Athertonnes of Waterfalls

Kirsty arrived as she always does - about 30 minutes later than arranged. Sure, she insisted she wasn't behind the delayed flight up to Cairns, but I knew better. I actually didn't recognize her for a second with her hair down, which foiled my plan to hide until she walked by and then tap her on the shoulder, but at least I had a piece of cheesecake waiting to surprise her with. After a quick driving tour (included for all guests) we dropped her bags off at the hostel and took a walk around Cairns. Which is to say, we ambled around downtown, walked to the lagoon/pool and muddy croc-dwelling shore, stopping to do some chinups and play around in Muddy's Playground. Both were much more fun than they should have been. Tomorrow, our trip down the coast would begin in earnest.

Wow! Through the magic of the Read More(tm) button, you've been whisked in to the future. Today is now tomorrow, or specifically, Aug 17, which is also the past. Time travel is not for the faint of heart. We took the Friday and the degrading weather to flee north to Port Douglas and specifically the Daintree Rainforest since Kirsty had not been this far north. The rainforest lived up to its name, but we did have lunch and a nice bit of sun along three mile beach. We were back in Cairns in time for dinner and made it a short night - after all, it's not every morning you wake up at 4AM to go hot air ballooning! After a prolonged, winding, and dark passage up to the Atherton Tablelands, we were in a field as the sky grew lighter watching the balloons, still on their side, fill with hot air. The sky grew pink and the first group went up while we did a balloon chase that lasted about 500m. I was a little disappointed that we weren't on the first group, but we were up soon enough and it was gorgeous: warm, scenic, and I suspect a more interesting ride than the first group got. Kirsty and I both loved it. Then, the White Water Rafting followed right on its heels. The river was quite technical, meaning lots of rocks and difficult passages, but also not much water. It was still lots of fun (especially our group) and we did get to hop out down some decent rapids, which was a real highlight. Unfortunately for Kirsty, the raft was not fitted with a washroom, but otherwise great fun.

It had been a long Saturday and we were both pooped pretty early, which let us get an early start on Sunday. We drove down to Townsville, stopping to do the Millaa Millaa waterfalls and more importantly have what we both describe as the best chai latte ever and some cheesecake at a nearby place. We also found some nice other waterfall you could probably slide down, but it was rainy and wet and neither was up to finding out. We arrived late in Townsville, which is to say after 7:00, and the hostels were dodgy and closed, the apartments full and closed, and that left only hotels, most of which were booked up for some event passing through. Kirsty managed to find us a decent hotel anyway and we spent the night there fueled by the only 'restaurant' still serving anything even resembling food. Well, sort of.

Once Kirsty got back from her all-encompassing Monday morning Townsville tour, we grabbed brekky and drove up to Castle Hill to look out over the city. And then we escaped and drove down to Airlie Beach, passing the paradise destination of Bowen (okay, okay, less sarcasm) en route. Airlie was quite pretty on its own, nevermind that it serves as the gateway to the most beautiful islands of Australia: the Whitsundays. We checked into Magnums after lunching to sort out our options because they gave us a free room for booking our sail with them. We set sail tomorrow on the Atlantic Clipper, a larger boat that would offer us some shelter below-decks but the compromise was that it wouldn't sail quite so much. Still, it seemed a fair trade and after sorting that out, Kirsty went for a walk to call Dave and I took my iPod and strolled the beach listening to some surf music. Ahhh. We met up and did, yep, more walking, watched a few episodes of Lost which I've now hooked her on remorselessly, and went to sleep. Tomorrow, the Whitsundays and our sailing adventure begins.Read More...

Back to the Coastline

With just over a week until Kirsty arrived and I could finally leave Cairns, the only somewhat close frontier I could really travel was the nearby Atherton Tablelands, renouned for its hot air balloons and most importantly, waterfalls. I had met someone on my dive of the Great Barrier Reef that was likewise interested, a girl from Finland named Anni, so it was that I had much-needed company for the journey. I first killed a couple days in Cairns just getting adjusted to land again (and not having to latch doors open and shut) and getting all my photos and so on up to date. Thursday morning, I arrived at Inn the Tropics at 10AM to pick up Anni. After a few stops for Mackers, petrol, and groceries, we were heading off on an all-day trek to Kuranda, almost 30km away.

No, nothing ill befell us en route. At least not yet (I've got to maintain SOME suspense to keep you reading, don't I?). But rather, we found the road there had lots of little delights along the way. Our first stop of note were the Crystal Cascades. Sounds beautiful, right? Well, we thought so, and so we stopped in and started walking. The track wound along a stream and then banked sharply uphill. Thinking we were going to be treated to a lookout of a bunch of waterfalls that were really clear (say, Crystal Cascades) we trekked and trekked as the trail faded and faded. Points were so steep that we weren't even able to scramble up easily and finally, when scrambling the loose dirt was too much and I slid back down about 10m, we turned around. The trail was no easier down than up and more than once we weren't sure which way the trail even went, but we found our way back down and walked along the stream instead. THIS was much better reward for our effort. A beautiful waterfall and rockpools that called to our sweaty and dirty souls. Three locals were just leaving and gave us a tip about a place called Behana Gorge and we had it to ourselves for a bit. Very nice.

We did finally make it to Kurunda late afternoon and have a look around, but most things were closed. We used the picnic facilities to very slowly make some pasta with spinach and a veggie burger since Anni had some kicking around. We made our way to the campsite and set up Dave's tent, which was not quite what I was expecting. Mostly, there was no rain fly or anything, and it was definitely not called the rainforest to make it sound pretty. Luckily a fellow camper had a spare tent and actually let us use it for the night - and lucky thing, it poured almost the whole night through. A little Swedish girl and her dad were around the campfire too, and she was pretty cute and insisted that we roast marshmallows with her. Well, if I have to, I have to. It was a pretty friendly campground and we enjoyed our stay there. We looked around the next morning but it was basically a tourist trap. Still, fresh rock candy being made and sampled, so worth it for me. Then we set of towards Mareeba. There wasn't much for stops other than some crater lakes, notably Lake Eachan for lunch. We ran into some guys that were supposed to have gone skydiving except for the weather, so they were dressed in Superman/Batman suits and touring around instead. Hilarious! Anni and I got some photos with them and we looked around the beautiful lake. Very pristine and even on a cloudy day it was gorgeous. Plus, there were turtles just swimming around. We stayed the night in Ravenshoe where we went for a walk and rented Lion King and Pan's Labyrinth. Unfortunately, Lion King didn't rip to my computer properly, so we only saw Pan's which I thought was quite exceptional.

The next day was pretty busy. We woke up and within the hour were checking out an old volcanic crater and waterfall. The weather was still pretty poor, so we decided that today we'd head inland to the Undara Lava Tubes and hope for a better waterfall day tomorrow. We stopped for lunch somewhere quite poor and neither of us felt terrific afterwards, but at least we stumbled on a triceratops warning sign. On the way to the outback, we passed Millstream Falls, which is the widest waterfall in Australia, and is quite pretty. Then, the road out. One lane and when you pass oncoming traffic, you both move onto the dusty shoulder with one wheel still on the road so you stay in control. It was a nice drive regardless, and it felt good to get back to the outback, if only because the weather dried up pretty quickly. And this meant we could finally use Dave's tent. There was no moon that night and so we had some great star viewing and an interesting conversation before going to sleep early as we were on an 8AM tour of the lava tubes the next morning.

The lava tubes were pretty cool and huge, but I don't think the tour was worth the $40. Still, it was something to see and I've seen it, so for the folks keeping score back home, check that one off my todo list. Lava tubes. Check. We drove back at about 10:30 and luckily we had beautiful weather. The locals were even surprised. See, every time I'd been in the area, mist and rain and misery. Today? Tropical paradise. We saw a LOT of waterfalls, probably about 12 in total. They were all nice, but my favourites were probably Millaa Millaa (the falls, not the very-nearly-dead town) and Tchupala Falls. The countryside itself was very much like New Zealand as well, so all in all it was a beautiful day and we saw a LOT. We also stopped somewhere for delicious cheesecake (ahem, Kirsty) and yogurt and so on. And we were back on the coast in Innisfail before dusk. We stayed at a really grotty hostel that night that I was sure we'd have bedbugs or something from, but close inspection revealed we were probably safe. It was a banana pickers' hostel and I think we got the temporary beds, the main building was decent. Plus free laundry and internet. Pretty nice besides the rooms.

Finally, the next day we made our way back to Cairns, stopping and finding Behana Gorge after a few setbacks. It was quite a long walk to get there, but once we did we had lots of rock pools to choose from and the place to ourselves. It's pretty unknown even to locals, apparently. The only locals we passed (leaving as we were coming) were heading back having given up - it was their first time there and they'd only just heard of it two months prior. They want to make a quarry out of it which would be a shame, I like it just how it is. I went for a swim in the waterfalls and we got some sun and left at about 4:00 for the car again. Anni and I parted ways and I checked back into Gilligans for a few nights until Kirsty arrives on Thursday. Which, it happens, is later this evening. Then a few days here and we're heading down to Gold Coast again. Apparently, Bianca and Frank may be coming up to meet us, but nothing is known quite yet. Either way, it's going to be a fun couple of weeks and now I should probably go get things sorted out for that. See you in a few!

Atherton Tablelands PhotosRead More...

The Deep South (Adelaide)

Mt. Isa in the rearview, and hills all around (now that it was daylight I could see them), I drove on through the desert. And drove. And drove... And drove. And drove. While coming into the desert was exciting, and the day prior had also been a bit interesting in that I was now looking at the local vegetation to determine what was happening under the surface, leaving the desert now was just tapping my foot and waiting. Except that, thanks to a lack of cruise control, I couldn't even tap my foot. And the lack of power steering made thumb twiddling an extreme adventure sport. So I waited, and my knee locked, and still I waited as the kilometers ticked by. I listened to my music, thank goodness for the iPod. I contemplated the remainder of my stay in Australia and postulated some perfectly permissable plans. And I drove. I almost wished that there were a few kangaroos hopping around the road to pass the time - I almost hit one last night, plus a dingo - but I suppose it's best they didn't. So I did what any Australian does in the outback on a hot and boring summer day. I called into the next town, ordered a pie, and had a beer.

And I continued stopping in small outback towns as they came up, and I grew an appreciation that this was my last time really in the outback as I think of it. I would do the Kimberley in WA later on, but here I am with wheels driving through the desert. I stopped in a town with a dinosaur heritage and not much else. I chatted with locals. I donned my outback hat. And, once in awhile, I wore the aviators with it. And as darkness fell, I was back on the coast, coming into Townsville. Palm trees, bustling streets full of tourists and restaurant goers, and civilization as I've come to know it. That is, until I got to my hostel. The Lonely Planet directed me, as it is wont to do, to a hostel that doesn't exist, but nearby was the Transit Hostel, and they had rooms, and it was already at the point that they were just closing the front desk, so I thought I'd better take it. So it happened that I had two nights in the dodgiest hostel on the east coast. The outback had come with me - and grown mean.

I spent as little time as possible there, as you might imagine. I wandered the streets, grabbed a bit of food and came back just to sleep. The town which looked so alive when I drove in with Betsy seemed quite dead now. Maybe it was later, maybe it looks better through the window, but it was dead. The next day was a bit better. I walked along the streets, along the esplanade, had an audioless video chat with dad and Mariah, and was going to go to dive to Yongala, but there were not enough people and so it was canceled. I had dinner out again at a place called The Brewery, which had some pretty decent beer and pub food. As I sat alone with my six beer samples in front of me, I drew the attention of three English girls who must've admired my late-stage alcoholism. We joked a bit and I joined them for dinner and that passed some time. Back at the hostel, I met a few people that weren't terrifying, and we hung out a little bit as well. We went out to a couple bars and sampled the quiet nightlife, but there aren't really any stories to tell. It was quiet.

I spent the next two days making my way up to Cairns. Although it was only about 300km away, I could have spent at least one more day on the trip. As you travel up you really enter the World Heritage Wet Tropics. Rainforest, mountains, waterfalls, it's a beautiful area to have a car in, and I took advantage. Anything that looked interesting, I pulled in and checked it out. I went 50km out of my way at one point for a waterfall, and luckily I did, it turns out it is Australia's tallest. I also did the shorter run to another set of waterfalls that starts with a "J". The water falls and forms a bunch of rock pools that were very tempting for a swim in the sun. I took photos but with all the stuff in my pockets and no trunks on, I decided to leave it for next time.

I stayed the night in Cardwell, in another hostel that I avoided but only because it seemed pretty dull. I went and got fish and chips, fresh and quite nice, from a crazy old lady at a stand, and was quite amused with her antics as were some Melbourners in line ahead of me. We got talking footy, and I mentioned that Geelong was going to take it, and so I was invited back to have supper with them. The game didn't turn out to be on, but it was nice to have a little company and they were lovely people. Cairns was my next stop the following afternoon, because the weather was not conducive to any sort of outdoor activity (rain, cloud, mist), and I checked into Gilligan's hostel. It's a very nice but pricey place, swimming pool, lockers, movies all the time, you name it. It's more hotel than hostel, but $30/night.

And then I booked myself onto a 5-day reef tour. I leave on Friday and get back Tuesday, and it'll be the longest I've ever been at sea in my life. I just really, really, really hope I don't get seasick too badly. And that there is lots of life on the reef. This time of year, we should be right in the whale migration lanes and our company (Taka Dives) has a license to actually get out and dive with the whales, so that would be amazing. Plus we head out for some sharks (and a feeding, too, if I believe... hopefully no Dean on the menu) in the Coral Sea, where there is a one kilometre dropoff. It will be an eery feeling to not see the bottom and be some 30m from the surface. And we do some day dives, night dives, pretty much everything but a wreck dive. Anyway, after booking this, I started looking for work and cheaper accommodation until Kirsty gets here on the 16th. Not much there for short term, but I think I can get a job on a farm for a spell. Though I just realized that by the time I get back, I'll only have a week. All I know is that the money is dwindling and a cash injection is needed. Plus, I didn't get off of either of my parking tickets in Melbourne after all that headache. And the reef trip is not cheap, but hey, one of the main things I came to do was see the reef, and I'm doing it properly.

So that's what's been going on. As for Cairns itself, it's nice though smaller than I'd expected - only 100,000 people. Still, that makes it easy to get around even if job opportunities are not exactly plentiful. There's no beach, which was a surprise, and in fact the coast is largely mangrove mudflats that are inhabited by crocodiles. Which, and I didn't know this either, can be found up to 30km from shore. Yikes! Which reminds me, I should go and look up some crocodile wrestling moves, so I will leave it at that. With one last note. I'll be heading up to the Daintree rainforest for the next few days to see Cape Tribulation and everything I can up there before I return to Cairns for my dive. So now you know everything that I know. Which, unfortunately, is very little and can't be used on a resume. See you in a week!

Back to the Coastline PhotosRead More...

I left Melbourne, finally, after stopping and saying goodbye at Stalactites. Well, that’s not quite accurate. I TRIED to leave Melbourne. But, first of all, I took two wrong turns getting to the freeway and then, for some reason, took the M1 towards Geelong instead of the M8 (mate) towards Ballarat and more importantly, Adelaide. It was a while on there before it occurred to me, so needless to say, I didn’t leave Melbourne until 4:00. The drive was uneventful, I was a little groggy at the low speed limits, but it started pouring rain and that helped. When it dried up and I was tired again I decided I was going to go a reasonable speed and stay awake. No wonder so many people die of fatigue on the highways here with low speeds, long distances, and little scenery. Anyway, I made it to Adelaide just fine and was happy to meet up with Dave again for the first time in two years just about. We would be having a good time in the week or so to come. Incidentally, these photos are out of order as I had a memory card mishap and had to recover them.

The next morning, Saturday July 7, we went out to the markets to get some supplies, not to mention lunch. Sushi, yogurt, olives, piroski, chocolate, cheese, crackers, you name it. We did a lot of eating and snacking and supply gathering. Dave and I left shortly after for his dad’s place on the Yorke Peninsula, where we stayed the night and ate even more. I made my Greek salad, we had some steaks, and also some soup, and I haven’t been that painfully full in a long time. And I haven’t even started on about the wine and beer. We all chatted for some time and then Dave and I headed out to a real country pub or two and played some pool (both crazy Aussie rules and regulation rules). The one pub, the better one, closed early because there was a band playing at the rugby oval, but we walked by and it wasn’t that interesting.

I was still stuffed when I woke up the next morning. Breakfast this time was bird’s nest, bacon, and pork chops. Pretty nice. Then Dave’s dad (Vlad) took us out around the peninsula to look around, it was a nice drive and quite interesting as a recent storm/king tide had taken all the sand and they were definitely in shock. We also passed by some seals sunning themselves and having a good time by the looks of things. We drove back to Adelaide, passing through Belinda’s hometown and actually running into her mom and grandfather walking on the street and then having Belinda’s dad accidentally run into us on the street. Ah, small towns. It was a nice stop though and we followed it up by driving some distance to a famous candy store and stocking up. On the way home, Dave and I decided we’d head out to the Flinders ranges tomorrow for a couple days in the mountains before coming back home, and got that sorted out pretty much on the fly.

So it was that Monday afternoon (the 9th) found us driving the long road up to Wilpena Pound, a circular valley surrounded by arid mountains on all sides. We arrived when the sun departed, discovering two hard and fast rules that would shape our experience in the Flinders.

1) No matter what you order in the solitary ‘pub’ of the ‘resort town’, there’s always a worse dish to try the next evening.
2) Counting sheep qualifies as entertainment in the absence of all other forms of amusement.

As you may have guessed, there was one place to get food from, it wasn’t terrific, and it also had nothing else to do but sit, eat, and drink. With a big day of driving in the bag, though, and a big day of hiking ahead the next morning, drink wasn’t really an option beyond a couple beer to help the herd of sheep along. Dave was in bed by 9:00 and me at 10:30.

The hike to St. Mary’s peak the following morning was well worth the previous night’s boredom, however. As Dave and I climbed the trail, we saw a distant mountain that looked to be the highest. However, both of us ruled it out as being St Mary’s. Too far, too steep, and Dave didn’t think it would give a good view of the pound. Still, we climbed on as the trail got steeper and steeper, using my itchy shutter finger as an excuse to catch our breath. Dave remarked often on how unusual it was that the scenery was so green and there was running water. It was beautiful to me in the mix of green with red soil and an almost cloudless blue sky. When we finally did reach the top, it was a spectacular panorama with an old river valley (I assume) that looked surreal, the pound, and the other side of the mountains, too. We took turns sitting on ledges and taking photos, had lunch, and made our way down. I lost the trail for a second en route and though I knew it was right behind us (we’d literally just passed a marker), Dave thought we should just go on and intersect the trail below. And so we went down. Eventually, I’d resigned to the fact that we’d have to rejoin the trail above us and backtrack though Dave felt it was still below us. I’d just convinced him when I noticed the trees below seemed to be spaced unusually and pointed this out. We’d found Dave’s trail below, but not after some scrapes and thorns and muttered death threats.

That night, the boredom was exasperated by the fact that the restaurant decided to stop taking orders until an hour and a half after we arrived. It seemed a poor system (better to just queue it and explain the delay when taking orders, I felt) but Dave was livid and whinged his way into a few chips… oops, I mean fries. I catch myself once in a while. We took them back to the room to kill some time and watch TV. Dinner was finally had, and wine, and finally bed. We were going to walk again the next morning, but both our knees were pretty sore from the amount of big boulders on the hike. So, home we went.

Dave had some of his own things to catch up on, so I took the next few days to go into Adelaide on a train and explore. Not much to see, I admit it, but it has a certain small-town charm that reminded me of Saskatoon. Or rather, four Saskatoons with mountains and a beach all stuck together. Belinda had friends over both those nights for dinner, Dave and I went to see Transformers (excellent!) and we visited a bit too. We went out for dinner Friday night to Dave’s dad’s for a steamboat, which is some sort of thai preparation technique using a pot with hot coals in the middle to keep it warm, and that was fun and delicious. I bought Dave and Belinda dinner in Glenelg (the beach suburb) the next night, and we worked that off by taking a trip up into the Adelaide hills early the next morning to climb to the top of Mt. Lofty. It was a short walk but a brisk pace. Calories were burnt.

By now, I was getting anxious to set out on my travels and get work somewhere in the Queensland district. So, I ran errands, posted looking for someone to split petrol in hostels, ran more errands, and booked myself for a Barossa valley tour, which meant waiting another day more than intended. Those two days were very productive and I got lots of stuff done which I won’t bore you with.

Wednesday, the Groovy Grape Barossa tour. I got picked up from the side of the highway since I wasn’t in a hostel downtown and we headed out. The group was a bit groggy at first, but slowly people warmed up. I like to think the giant rocking horse was responsible. At any rate, by the end, we were having good fun, especially Ray, a guy from India living in Melbourne. We stopped at Jacob’s Creek, which is ridiculously huge. We saw signs saying that sections of land/vine was theirs 10 minutes before coming to their cellar. But they export a LOT. We also stopped in at Vinecrest, my favourite for the day, and I bought a bottle. The wine after I did not like at all, and finally Bethany, which was decent but not great. On the way home, I got a call from mom, Mariah, and Nicole which was nice. I also had a call enquiring about a ride to Cairns and a call from Dave about dinner that night, so I was a popular man on the way home. Dave and Belinda took me out to dinner at a Mongolian restaurant called Kubla Kahn, which had a big heated plate that they cooked the food you assembled on. A neat concept and a unique place to have out last dinner together. After that, it was time to wrap things up and venture deep into the heart of the continent. 4000 km, one car (hopefully), and one iron will. Is it enough to get to Cairns? Would I have company or go it alone? Find out next time on this station.

Adelaide, Flinders, Barossa Valley PhotosRead More...