Australia

I didn't think that it had been 12 days until I was thoughtfully reminded. Wow 12 days ok so this might be a long one. After Byron we picked up 5 girls who payed for gas for the ride up Surfer Paradise. 2 Canadians (Jenna and Shanon) 2 Americans (Lexie and Brittany) and an English girl from Blackpool named Kelly. You have seen the car situation so it was the 10 of us spread between the Fairmont and the Euro's van which has lovingly been named "muff the magic wagon" which may or may not be related to the actual activities that take place in it but regardless of that I've not been sleeping in it (and i don't think that i would recommend it) Anyways its packed pretty tight

We spent 3 days in a hostel in surfer's paradise which we timed to coincide with the biggest Australian rally race which they close down the city to conduct. With massive amounts of barricades and fencing over a course of 3 months each year they convert the otherwise bustling city into a three day clusterf*ck of non moving traffic congestion, absolute pedestrian chaos and the sloppy boozfest that is hopelessly drawn to the ear splitting reckless speed of Indy racing. I'd never been to races before and they are awesome. We got free entry the first day by working in a corn dog stand. After making them for about three hours and because I care very much for all who are reading this blog I tell you this, NEver ever ever eat a corn dog ever again.

I enjoyed staying in the hostel and partying by the pool but we inevitably were forced to the plethora of clubs that Surfer's sports. I am getting convinced the the same 500 people are in every club and that they are just quickly bussed from tourist town to tourist town in order to jump in the queue just before you. The group is subdivided into many parts of which I can go on and on about but my particular unfavorite is the sweaty European group in leather pointed shoes and silk shirts. It should be noted that this group is generally smelt before seen (usually after you've just fought your way to the toilets through the 10 or 15 greyhaired men with bellies who don't dance but linger for that one girl whose just so sloppy she might not notice age.) You may be getting the idea that I don;t really prefer clubs... and you're right.

by the way, I've gotten a mowhawk
We left work early in the afternoon because we said that we had plans to settle that night but that we would be back the following morning to work a full day (8-6) but instead showed up and enjoyed the racing. It was a bit sketchy because the tickets we got to work are actually work tickets and when we showed up a bit tipsy at noon to "work" it took some fancy speaking to get us in. We didn't get paid for the three hours of work but we got 2 days entry into the races and I got to keep my tee-shirt uniform which I must say is pretty trendy.
Needless to say I was happy to leave the hustle bustle of surfer's paradise and when we got on the road three days later it was up to Noosa Heads for a night. With the addition of the 5 girls camping at actual camp cites has become an option because so many people cuts down the price to about 4 bucks a person. Unfortunately for all the couple and families taking a leisurely vacation we are up quite late and inevitably make quite a bit of noise. The man the spot next to us was raging when for the 4th time he had to yell out his window at us about people trying to get sleep or something, sleep is definitely a thing that is overrated at times and I'm finding one can do quite well on the minimalist amounts of the stuff.
After Noosa Heads we went up to Rainbow Beach where we were meeting up with our tour group for Fraser Island. About 50 ks south of Rainbow the Fairmont broke down and we towed it with the van for the rest of the way which is probably the second scariest thing I've ever done. Driving 100 k/h in neutral attached to a van only 8 feet in front of you is always scary.

Fraser Island is one of the biggest all sand Islands in Australia, with a local population of about 10 (rangers mostly) it is a last frontier of wilderness and endless coastline. You have to have a 4x4 to make the shady roads and still we got stuck several times but man is it so great. 11 people to a truck you have free reign of the place occasionally running into other groups or local fisherman. At our first camp site we met some guys catching Talia who fried up some for us and man was it great. I think that overall they were thankful for us considering we were a group of thirty 18 to 29 year olds that they got to reminisce with for a couple nights. The coolest part, by far, of the island is a massive spring in the middle called Lake McEnzie which had the clearest water I've ever seen. It seems that all tourist activities in Australia include massive amounts of Alcohol or perhaps it is just that this is my first tourist experience old enough to participate in this sort of thing but no mater what we do their is booze intimately involved. They call boxed wine here Goon and you can buy 4 liters or it for about 9 ausi bucks making it the drink of choice for money scarce backpackers. If you ask around you will find that it goes well with every meal (even breakfast). Met some really really great people on Fraser that we are traveling with (Sarah a Canadian and Bianca and Graham from England.)

this is Sarah, Bianca and Rhian.

the whole group at the champaign pools
After Fraser and an additional 3 nights in Rainbow Beach we have ditched the girls and picked up some new traveling partners and headed back south. On the way back from Rainbow to Noosa Heads is the Australians Zoo (former home of the beloved and missed crocodile hunter) and it is all it is cracked up to be. I fed an elephant, petted a kangaroo, hugged a Koala, held a giant lizard and attempted to pick up a wallaby (which didn't make it very happy)

Needless to say the crocodiles are amazing and we got to see them fed and man are they scary. I am almost positive that I will be extending my trip a month (I find out tonight) and so this backtracking is fine and actually I'm glad of it cause we missed some stuff coming up to Fraser so fast. Tomorrow we're going to Stradbroke Island which has a similar feel to Fraser but there are no vehicles allowed on it, making it an "untouched paradise" as the brochure assures me. I promise to continue with the updates, my camera has finally kicked it and its hard to get as excited about writing without pictures to share. Keep tuned in though cause it wont be as long next time. Hope everyone is doin great.

We've spent the last 2 nights in Byron Bay and actually got to sleep in this morning. I think that I've mentioned before that It is almost always technically illigal to sleep in one's vehicle outside of a caravan park but since the caravan parks charge you about 20 bucks a night to park there you can see the reason that people choose to find alternate location and make their own parks. The rangers make their rounds at almost exactly 6:20 a.m. everywhere we've been and usually tell us we have 5 minutes to move along or face a $110 fine. Although the fines don't really apply to us (we'll be leaving the country before the date that they are due) we've generally complied and moved down the road again and gone back to sleep. This morning was great cause the ranger gave us 24 hours to relocate, like I said its really only "technically" illigal. I do have this funny image of my future self coming vacationing with my family to Australia in 20 years and having to pay hundreds of dollars at immigration for outstanding parking violations. On a total and random side note, but one that I think many of you will appreciate, the girl just to my left in the internet cafe just totally ate it when her chair tipped back because she was leaning to far. Sprawled all over the floor after a huge noise and a tipped chair is never a spot i like to be in, but always always funny when other people fall isn't that right Joe?
I'm not sure if we'll be moving on today or not. The next stop will be surfer's paradise which is in the Gold Coast in the south of Queensland. We think that there might be some people here who want a ride up to Surfer's which is good cause it mean we can save a bit on gas and have some extra company, I just am not really sure where they'll sit Although we fit 14 of the brogans in the old baby the first night we took out most of our stuff to do it.
I would love to have a picture of the crazy local guy too but, as I'm sure you understand, that wasn't really the first thing going through my mind, although I do admit that it was one of the top 5 I think .
We've been spending our time here mostly hanging by the cars. A typical day generally begins at 6:20 like I was saying and the next couple of hours are usually spent trying to get some more sleep as the scorching sun bakes the car. We've tried putting up towels and stuff but the result is always that a little wedge of sunlight comes in and bakes just that part of you. It should make for an interesting tan though, I'm going for a zebra-like pattern. From about 10 to about 3 is usually spent lounging around the cars and trying to convince one of the other 4 dudes to make some food. Afternoon activities vary but almost always conclude in drinks and finding a spot to hang out for the night. last night we made Kangaroo steaks, onions and mashed potatoes which was pretty freakin great. I cooked (thank you very much)on the little burner that we got and was pleased to hear the it was the best meal Nick's had since he's been gone.
The cool spot to hang out here is the Cheaky Monkey which is a bar type club type restaurant where there are all sorts of games and stuff to win prizes (mostly beer) but occasionally travel packages and stuff. I haven't won anything yet but i did manage to secure a hat somehow, nick curiously has also gained one t-shirt and we are confused as to how this is happening since we have certainly not been winning any contests. One particular contest that we got 4th place out of 4 teams in was a match of beach soccer yesterday afternoon. It was a promotion for the club so we figured it be pretty low key and we surprised when a French team in their club uniforms and an English team turned up to compete for the first prize (as you guessed it, more free beer). Basically we got our butts kicked and resorted to kicking sand and yelling aggressively instead of actually trying to do something like slide tackle one of the crazy big and hairy French speaking psychos. I don't think they appreciated my head butting comments or my cries for Italy and Germany.

Last night this crazy Afghan guy drunk off his ass stumbled up to the cars with his guitar and we asked him to sit with us and play a little. I have never heard anyone speak as incoherently as this man which I'm sure was a combination of his poor English and state of mind, but to top it off he didn't know a single cord on the instrument and strummed and mumbled for about 5 minutes before he graciously stopped and beaming at us started to talk about the magic of music. Romantically speaking he was pretty cool to just do his own thing but practically speaking there wasn't anything to magical about his music making. He offered the guitar to us for a bit and allowed me to only play half a song before taking it back and wondering off down the street where we found him later on a corner playing with a hat in front of him for change (which was of course empty).

The horrendousness of this haircut only barely come through in this picture. Tom (the english one) allowed Nick to do this to his hair after Nick proudly and confidently claimed that his best friends mom was a hairdresser and he knew what he was doing. It was bad enough that a lady eating dinner across the street who was watching felt the need to come over and sympathize with poor Tom.

House and home at least for a little, you can see how it can get a bit sketchy at times its not much of a home at all.

Sorta out of place here but since I brought it up, this is only a few of the 14 people squeezed into the wagon. 7 are visible which leaves 7 left to fit in the rest of the available space, like I said it was quite a feat.

So we had the first sorta negative experience on the trip 2 nights ago in a place called Nimbin. Nimbin is a little mountain town inland of Byron Bay that is known for its drugs and hipystyle commune type living. It is everything cracked up to be, however I think that the Romantic View of peace loving hippies that has passed down to my generation is not the truth that all you actually lived. These people are crazy and aggressively peaceful if such a thing can truly be. They probably, having spent less than a couple years of their lives sober, are the most bunch of insane people in the world. We hadn't even got out of the car without 4 people sticking their heads in the windows basically throwing drugs at us. Theres only one street so you walk down it a couple times and each time you pass the same dealer (who range from 60 year old men to 12 year old girls) they ask you again and again like they didn't remember that 5 minutes ago you said no. Also for being an idealistic commune style (sporting Che and Bob Marley posters everywhere) they practice some of the fiercest and cutthroat capitalism as I've ever seen in their trade. It seems that even hippy potsmokers can't escape the grip of the market system and as you might imagine the prices of the stuff is ridiculously low, like 10 percent of what you'd pay in the states. I just thought that was a bit ironic them putting eachother out of business depending on their ability to draw suppliers and the such and they are living in this commune. Anyway that is not the craziest part of this little town which, unfortunatly, like the rest of Australia is incredibly racially divided. The "locals" or aboriginals except few whites as "locals" and its hard to talk to any of them because they only see your responses as either anti-aboriginals or patronizing so it makes it a bit dodgey. Show some interest in their magic cookies though and they'll friendly up real quick. That night we were sleeping in a empty school parking lot and this half mad whole doped up local came up to our van and wagon and started banging on the doors and kicking them, telling us we had 5 seconds to get out of the car or he'd stab us in the head. When Andy talked him down enough to back off a bit he tried to close the door of the van which enraged the guy and he started trying to yank open the doors and threatened to light the cars on fire and kill us dead. Funilly enough (and to add a bit of humor to the story) he asked to borrow our lighter to do so . Anyways we got the cars started and drove down the road a couple miles and in the morning reported it to the police who were incredibly greatful because apparently the guy is a real problem and dangerous to himself and to others but the locals don't care and wont report him. It happens late enough (3:30 A.m.) that it doesn't effect their businesses and they know that more tourists will come the next day. All in all it was pretty freakin scary. And no I didnt do any drugs .

Its getting hard to keep track of where we are these days, we have refused to buy a road atlas and instead are relying on hand drawn maps from people to get to the best beaches and spots to camp. Needless to say, without a name of a town to look for and the fact that most of these Australian towns look about the same, I wake up and don't really know the name of the spot I'm in. I figure though that its a pretty good way to travel then. So (lookin at the sign on the door) I can tell you that I am in Coffs Harbor at the moment stoppin for a break from driving on the way to Nimbin and Byron bay.
Our first night we slept in the Beach Public Parking lot of Diamond Beach and learned some new Australian terms mainly "brogan" which is the same as red neck or hick. You know the type of people that drink and smoke cigarettes with their moms in their living rooms have ash trays on the dinner table and say things like "my atendence in 10th grade was only 53% so I'm moving to Queensland with my sister and her 2 babies" I'm pretty sure it was a younger sister. I feel bad for my negativity because they were super friendly and invited us into their house party and took us out for a "good time" in town which included ransacking the caravan park's playground and fitting 14 people in 1 car, so overall pretty great people I'd say.
Last night we camped on the beach of Hungry Head and built a huge fire next to this wooden shelter built by kids for "green Australia" which is an environmental group. Most of it is still standing and unburnt but I can't deny that after gathering wood for a bit the plethora that it offered started to look pretty burnable. You know how those things go.
I don't remember if I'd mentioned them yet but we met up with three "Euros" as we call em. 2 from Ireland and 1 from England who are doin the same thing as us in a van. We met in Port Maquarie, where interestingly enough, a huge (more than 150) biker gang was riding through and partying at that night. They shipped up crowd control cops from Sydney in which (again interestingly enough) Jez was included in and I got to see him out and in action. Of course with the company we are now keeping we had to go to the local Irish Pub where I am proud to say I beat the Irish in a drinking contest. Dock one point for America. The band there was playing covers and I was super happy to hear "catch my disease" which lovingly reminded me of a pretty special person who I think knows who she is.
I think that my camera is on its last leg, this type of living is pretty rough on it but i'm hopin to make it last. Fortunately I managed to get some pretty great shot of the fire last night and the boys we've been hanging with.

Seal Rocks with Nick

The actual Rocks

We've taken to public showering when there are no facilities, although we've also been known to sneak into caravan parks and wait for someone to open the showers for us. Apparently this is highly ilegal but we're smelly

On the road (the wrong side of it)

Base camp in Port Maquarie

Mama Roo at Hungry Head

I love fires i love to stare at them...

...hang out next to them...

...and jump over them.

ok so we are finally out on our own, aways from any protective wing or friend. Luckily the country is full of future Nick and Brock friends so not to worry. We were thinking that people are too friendly here, making it to easy to travel and get help. So we think we'll be flying out to North Korea tomorrow for a bit of a challenge.
Uncle Ed, I would love to look up Ron in Brisbane when we get there except that he lives in southern Victoria. I talked to him on the phone and was surprised to find this out, although he seemed surprised to hear that you thought he lived in Brisbane. No worries though he was super nice and gave us some recommendations on places to go up the coast.
The guy we've been livin with the last 2 days was great. He helped us fix up the car to its jimmy-rigged status. Probably the best example is that the back gate didn't lock but know it does because we installed a barrel lock with a drill and some tape. We're in Newcastle right now and plannin on staying for a bit, surveying the local beaches. Anyway back to this guy, Pete. He is championship surfer in Avoca beach, a relitivley serious student of Yoga, A well read and semi practiced meditator (told me all about one's third eye and earth lines and energetic channels through body and mind) and apart from all this he's a born again christian. Pretty crazy cool combination I think. He contends that the third eye and energy transfers and movements are in the bible, but that he has a hard time convincing his fellow churchgoers such. They told him to read Revelations 20 which condemns witchcraft and wizardry. Anyway he was really great and made quite an impression on me.
it on to Seal Rocks for us today, which is this cool area of natural Rock pools on the coast. Its beach is called Trechery Beach where perhaps I will try to learn how to surf

This is Manly Beach from Earlier on the Trip



All of these are from Boudi National Park where we went to surf and explore yesterday morning, Nick is thinking about going in but not quite sure yet.