I come from the land down under

G'day you bloody pommy's.

You know people say that nobody even drinks Fosters in Australia....well it is true. However, it is more interesting than that. Apparently they do drink it, but only out in the outback in Crocodile Dundee style bars. Which in my book makes it a little bit cooler. So go buy yourself a Fosters. 

Alcoholic beverages aside, back to the trip.

Australia Zoo, the home of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. They sure haven't let that one go despite his Stingray accident. First you cruise along Steve Irwin Road, before seeing huge billboards of him everywhere. Not that I'm complaining, I loved Steve Irwin. In the zoo each enclosure has a bit of information written by Steve Irwin "look at those Betty Davies eyes" about his favourite croc. The highlight is the Crocoseum which is a 5000 seater stadium where they put on a crocodile show. The Irwins even put it on, with his wife and two kids taking part. His daughter, Bindi, is one irritating little girl. The show was excellent though. 

Now we had kind of decided that the towns in Australia are pretty boring, desolute, soul-sapping places, so we stuck to the 'bush walks'. These are great, there are some fantastic walks, and even more fantastic for their price - free. A welsh man in the tourist information office told us to go climb a few of the glass house mountains, so we headed there.

What the Welshman failed to mention was that the mountain he had recommended wasn't so much of a walking-trail, but a climbing trail. The trail got pretty much vertical very quickly. The drops weren't huge by any stretch of the imagination but they were big enough that if you fell it would hurt a lot. Plus Alex and I aren't exactly experienced climbers, and you can take the word experienced out of that sentance if you like and it still makes sense. We got a bit of the way up before Alex said he didn't want to go any higher, and I didn't disagree with him. It was funny climbing back down as I was infront and when I turned around to look at Alex his legs were shaking. I didn't even know that that happened to people apart from in the Beano, knees knocking together. It was cracking me up. Alex had a big grin on his face but couldn't stop his legs shaking. We climbed an easier mountain and had some great views.

Alex has gotten into taking time-lapses again so we are finding lots of lookout points to film the sun slowly setting behind the mountains and various other scenes that look beautiful on camera. I don't mind it at all, setting up the camping chair with a beer in hand and watching the sun set whilst Alex plays with his camera. 

Next, onto a city, a real city! We were a bit excited about this, seeing as this was our first proper city since being in Australia. And we were not dissapointed, its an excellent place. The city is very modern and clean and cool looking. The scene there is very cool, with live bands on all the time and lots of "hipsters" mooching about. Queen Street is a beautiful highstreet. If you can't tell, I have a lot of good things to say about Brisbane. It has a great bus system, most of which is underground and exclusively for buses, so it is a bit like a subway. 

We parked up out of town and splashed out on a caravan park which had a pool and tennis courts. After much fun there, and setting a new keepy-ups record, we went out for a night out in the city. Its an ace night out, although I'm not sure my bank balance will agree with that. 

We did a walk in the nearby national park, and another time-lapse of the sun going down over the city. 

Surfers Paradise was next, and no surfing took place. The weather has taken a turn for the worse slightly, and it was unbelievably windy when we got there, like to the extent that you have to walk like an old man who has just followed through, otherwise the wind pushes you over.  The best thing about Surfers Paradise is that we got to meet up with Gary and Briege again who we haven't seen since India. It was great to see them and they haven't changed a bit. It felt like we had seen them yesterday, not 6 months ago.

We went on a pub crawl with Gary and Briege there, which was hilarious, but again, my bank balance may not agree. I will have to stop this enjoying myself lark, its not advised in Australia. Gary and Briege said they would come with us to Nimbin even though they are travelling North whilst we are heading South.

Nimbin is a bizarre place. It is a hangover from the hippy movements from the 60's, and is a small town in the hills where weed is legal, despite it actually being illegal. It is weird walking down the highstreet openly being offered weed by 70 year old men in leather vests with braids in their hair. It is a bit intimidating to be honest, I wasn't a fan of the atmosphere there. The view from our campsite looked like a Cravendale advert though, so that was nice. The office also had Risk, so we played some great games of that. 

And thats where we had to say goodbye to Gary and Briege after two days. Very sad, I liked having them around. They said they would send us the code so we can watch their wedding in Vegas online. That sounds fun. Shame we won't be there anymore now we have to work in Australia.

For some reason Byron Bay sticks in my head as one of the most famous places in Australia, but I don't know why. Gary and Briege hadn't been a big fan, saying it was full of kids, but we liked it. I guess the kids had left now that easter holidays is drawing to a close, and it just seemed a cool place, with great shops and lots of surfers about. The beach would have been great but the weather is still a bit iffy, so we avoided that.

The last couple of days we have been sat in a cheap caravan park ($20 for powered site = bargin) loving having a fully charged fridge and lights that work in the van. The weather seems to be clearing up a bit so we will move on tomorrow.

I have been trying to sort myself out a job for June. I have an interview a week on Friday in Sydney so wish me luck. I have to go buy a suit for it so I best get the job otherwise I have wasted my travellers budget on a suit I don't need. 

Thats all for now.

The land down under

Australia is split into 3 very distinct parts for me so far, 1 with my parents, 1 of stagnation waiting for our campervan, and then of being in the campervan heading down the coast.

The parents in Cairns

Ahhh parents visiting is great. I loved seeing them after so long and it is obviously also nice to be treated to some home comforts. It helped cushion the blow of how expensive everything is out in Australia (especially compared to Asia). I got to do a lot of trips which I wouldn't have been able to afford on my own, and I had a great time with the folks. Staying in an apartment is nice as well, having breakfast round a table, and it turned out that there were 2 spare beds so Ant and Alex could stay with us as well.

Cairns is a lot smaller than I expected but it is still a nice place. I think we are used to every town being so unique and individual in Asia, whereas here in Australia all the towns look the same, like some ghost town from 1950s America. The esplanade and lagoon are nice to walk around, having a free big swimming pool right on the coast is a great idea. We went on some day trips out to the beaches, and did some forest walks, all of which were fun. I think the things that stick out most in my mind are the skyrail (the worlds longest cable car...another worlds something or other) down from Kuranda over the rainforest, and snorkelling off Franklin island. Snorkelling was funny as we got all suited up and then mum suddenly decided "I am not going to do it" in her firm voice. After a bit of coaxing she got in and loved it (I think). I am glad both mum and dad managed to do it as they weren't too keen on it before hand.

I felt very stange watching my parents leave. I didn't want to quit travelling (look at me, talking like it's my job) but I didn't like watching them leave knowing I won't be seeing them for so long. It throws up all kind of weird emotions. I am glad they came though, I had a great time and apart from commenting on how skinny I look I think they were happy to see me.

Stagnation

So we have realised that we are going to run out of money, and there isn't any more magically appearing in my bank account. If only the whole world was as cheap as Asia. We have added at least 6 months onto our trip, coming back to work in Australia after we have seen Luke and Powers in New Zealand. Apparently you get $23 an hour just working in Mcdonalds, so we should be able to save up easily enough. Ant has decided to leave me and Alex and go back to Thailand to teach English. He is not sure what he will do after he has had a job, maybe travel Asia some more, maybe teach in another country in Asia. Either way he isn't coming back to us. Good luck to you Ant, we will miss you.

Alex and I booked a campervan for 60 days but had to wait for a while before it became available, hence the stagnation. We spent a lot of time just sorting out the money situation and watching films sitting around in a hostel. Trying not to spend a lot of money was made easier by the free dinner vouchers the hostel gives out, but the meals were god damn awful!

The van pt.I

She is a beauty, a graceful, elegant, powerful beast. A real campervan that you can stand up in and everything.

Ant didn't have his flight back to Thailand for a few days so we decided to cruise down the coast a little and then loop back up to Cairns to drop Ant off. We did a few bush walks through the rainforests and visited some waterfalls. The weather had gone terrible. There was a cyclone out at sea and we were getting the edge of it. 1 walk we did we got absolutely soaked. Raining in the rainforest, who would have thought it!? Ant and I got some leeches on our feet, all adding to the excitement. We were camping in free rest areas in the strangest places. Babinda is a strange town that feels like it was built in 1950 to film an American horror movie and hasn't been touched since. The locals all seem like they could be the killer.

The van pt. II

So we said our goodbyes to Ant, and left him behind. The weather wasn't improving and lots of roads were being closed down the coast due to flooding, but we managed to make our way slowly down.

We got a ferry over to Magnetic Island which was awesome. The weather cleared up just for that day so we were back in the sunshine doing some great bush walks. We even saw a koala chilling on the tree right next to us. That was pretty special. What a cool animal, so relaxed.

I think we have realised that most of the towns are identical and have no character whatsoever. Most of them can be avoided. It is all about the bush walks or the beaches. We stopped off in a tiny place called Alva Beach which is where Powers used to work for 4 months doing his dive master. I think I might go insane living in a place that small but I guess he is from mowcop. I asked for a discount for the dive and they replied "whose Liam Power?" Maybe he never even went to Australia, he just wanted to get rid of his friends.

The dive was awesome though. Diving the Yongala wreck. I saw the biggest turtle I have ever seen, as well as huge groupers and manta rays and sting rays. There was so much marine life there it was great. Schoals of barracuda and lots of sea snakes. Great dive but a bit pricey.

We tend to stay in free rest areas (we have a book) or just on the side of the road. Occasionally we treat ourselves to a paid campsite that has power (so we can keep the fridge charged) and a swimming pool, The problem is that we don't meet too many people, and when we do it is families or middle aged Aussies. They are nice but it would be good to meet up with some people are own age. Lucky Alex and I are easy going otherwise it would be a bit intense in the van.

Agnes Water is the furthest north surfing beach on the east coast, and a great little town. We spent a couple of days there just chilling out on the beach. I think a lot of Australia may just be beaches and BBQs...not that I am complaining. We are currently in Noosa which is our favourite place so far. It actually has some personality to it. It is a bit rich but the beach and national park is free so it is all good. We had a pretty big night and met some aussies (one was called Billie and was hammered...had bi-polar disorder....and hadn't taken his medication for 3 days...he was a bit insane but funny to hang around with).

Next we will head to Australia Zoo to hopefully see some tributes to Steve Irwin. We are having a great time and I would say more but my battery is about to die on my laptop so I best post it before it does. Miss you all.

Tom