Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Airlie Beach and Cairns

I'll start this off one off by telling you about what Aussies call 'Schoolies'. Schoolies is the week after final exams for seniors in high school. This marks the end of their high school education, and basically every single high school senior within driving distance of the east coast of Aus flocks to the beaches of Byron, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Airlie Beach, etc. for a week long party. The Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast seem to be the most popular for this even, as those are the only places ever mentioned on the news. For this reason, I expected to avoid the crowd when I went to Airlie Beach. Well, I expected wrong.

The overnight train from Gympie to Prosperpine was long and uneventful. I arrived at Proserpine station and took a 30 minute bus to Airlie beach. The city was very familiar to me, and just as Brian and I had left it last year, with the addition of some 3000 students. Because of this, I was unable to find a room in any of the seven or eight hostels along the main strip. I ended up having to spend $100 on a hotel room for the night. An unwanted expense, but a welcomed luxury. I had my own private room and bathroom, balcony, wifi, the works. Lucky for my wallet, that was the last day of Schoolies, and I was able to find a hostel room the next night.

I had looked up some (free) local attractions for the area before leaving Mothar Mountain. After getting checked into my hotel on the first day, I grabbed a city map from the information center, and found my way to the Airlie Creek Track; a two hour return trip walking track through the rain forest hills just behind the main strip of the city. I came to the end all too soon, and found myself wanting to keep exploring. The end of the track was rather open-ended, so I just kept going. It quickly turned from walking into climbing boulders and cliffs. There were vines growing up (or down?) a cliff face that looked like they would be good to use to climb up. So I did just that.


A bit further on, I came to some steep, rocky terrain that also made for good climbing. To capture this pic, I set my camera up on a rock and put it on its ten second timer, and made it up as far as I could before it snapped the pic. I only fell once on the way up :)


Later, I found an information/tour center and asked if there were any good rain forest walks in the area. I was given a map and shown the way to the Great Whitsunday Walk. The lady told me that is was a two hour trip up and one hour down, because of how steep it was. I figured out later that the real Great Whitsunday Walk was actually a three day trek. The part I did was only a small leg from the start of the trail to a lookout point.
I had to check out of the hostel at 10 AM the next morning, so I woke up early to give myself time to do the whole trail, come back and shower and pack. The trail was indeed very steep, and even in the cooler early morning hours I was sweating heavily only a half hour into the walk. Now in case you didn't get it before, let me say that this trail was steep. It wound its way up and through the hills behind Airlie Beach, through thick rain forest inhabited by many species of birds and countless small lizards and skinks.
 The Mount Pilchuk hike in Washington was pretty difficult, but I could handle it just fine. This trail, however, left me sweating buckets and stopping to catch my breath; but I kept pushing through to the top, and was rewarded with an amazing view from the lookout at the top.



It wasn't until I got to the lookout that I realized how long the trail was, and how far I had gone. Where I'm pointing is roughly the location of the main Airlie Beach strip, and where my hostel was.


The marina in that picture, just to the left of my finger, is where Brian and I boarded the Tri-maran for our 3 day reef diving trip we took last year.

Fast forward a bit, 12 hour overnight Greyhound to Cairns. Again I had no luck with finding a hostel room. I think from now on I'll book in advance online... Anyway, I managed to find a decently cheap hotel for two nights. I checked in and made my way by memory to the McDonalds that I remembered had free wifi. I sat there for a while and people-watched and caught up on emails and such. I noticed that there was a larger Aboriginal population here than anywhere else I had been so far.

My stay in Cairns was pretty relaxed and uninteresting. Browsing through downtown Cairns, the souvenir shops, the art galleries  etc. On the second day, I wandered into an Aboriginal art gallery. I looked around for a few minutes before coming to the didgeridoo section. The man working there must have noticed how interested in the instruments I looked, because he came over and greeted me, and offered to tell me about them. He told me the natives make and use the instruments for more of a ceremonial purpose. They would spend most of a day making each didge, play it during the celebration or ceremony that night, then actually toss it into the fire at the end.
I was also offered a quick lesson on how to play them; of course, I accepted. At first, the noises I was making sounded more like I was farting through a wooden tube, but before long I was impressing myself at the notes and pitches I was able to make. Each instrument is unique and no two sound or look alike. Of course, this makes sense because they are made from tree limbs, no two of which are ever the same. Because of this, it takes some testing to find out which one works best for the player, so I was advised to go around and test different didge's. I spent the better part of an hour in the gallery playing them, and I was very, very tempted to buy one and send it home. The $400-$3000 price tags finally convinced me otherwise.

That's about it for Cairns. I got on the bus to Bloomfield early the next morning, which is where I'll start in my next post.



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for being alive and healthy in this wonderful wide world of ours.

I am thankful for my extraordinary family. I am thankful that each and every member of my family is loving and caring, generous and welcoming. I am thankful that each and every member of my family is a respectable human being, which is sadly becoming less and less common these days.

I am thankful for the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet. I am thankful for the food in my belly. I am thankful for having a roof over my head and a pillow beneath it.

I am thankful for my three amazing brothers, each of whom I could probably write a novel about. But I'll keep it short, since most of you know them anyway :)

I am thankful to be born to the most wonderful parents ever to raise children; who would, and have, sacrificed much in the name of giving the best for my brothers and I; who taught me honesty, respect, love, and good morals; who gave me a good education; who are there for me whenever I need them; again, a novel for each of them, but I don't have that kind of time or focus.

I am thankful for the opportunity to go out and explore and experience the world.

I am thankful for my gorgeous golden-red locks.

I am thankful for having the means to buy new socks, should I get tired of the holes in my current pairs.

I am thankful for my little magical plastic box that plays all my favorite music whenever I tell it to.

I am thankful for bananas. They're delicious.

I am thankful for the internet. Without which, it would be much harder to keep in contact with you all.

I am thankful for the invention of glasses and contact lenses.

I am thankful for being given the freedom and opportunity to do and be what I want in life; whether it be a doctor, a business owner, or a bum.


I used to be so hasty to grow up and graduate from the kids table at grandma's house every Thanksgiving. Now, I would give just about anything to be back at that table.

I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays! Love you and miss you all!


Monday, November 19, 2012

On the road again!

Tomorrow afternoon I'm back on the train, headed up to Airlie Beach. Then I'll head up to my next host near Cairns.

This past weekend Kath took all the helpers to the Mothar Mountain rock pools, just a five minute's drive from her home. The area was very similar to the Whian Whian Falls that I visited on the tour I took when I was in Byron. It was a very cool, calm, relaxing place. It would have been a great place to go swimming, were it warmer that day.




Rolling thunder over the horizon prompted us that it was time to head home. The storm chased us all the way back, and the skies that were clear five minutes before looked like this when we stepped out of the car.


The pictures don't do it much justice, but this was one of the darkest and most sudden, fast moving storms I'd ever seen. Ten or fifteen minutes later, the whole thing passed right over us.

*Now that I'm actually seeing these pics on a computer, I can see they didn't turn out well. I was experimenting with   different settings on my camera to try and capture the light and darkness differences in the clouds, but it just doesn't look right.*

Another thirty minutes later there were pools forming in the yard and it sounded like the tin roof of the house was going to come down on us any second from the rain. Apparently this was all part of a very large and unexpected storm system. Brisbane took the brunt of it, and is still cleaning up the after math.


Found this little guy creepin' while I was planting some palms.


Diggin' holes! That day left me sore all over. (Insert "Holes" theme song here)

This is a recently added zen garden in the front yard. I helped plant the rows of young trees along either side of each path.


Kath, who is a masseuse and healer, gives each of her helpers a free massage before they leave. I just had mine a few hours ago, and it was absolutely wonderful; probably the most relaxing thing I have ever experienced. I had never had a proper massage before that. Who knows when (or if) I ever would have done, or be doing things like this, had I not come to Aus?

I'll be on the overnight train to Airlie Beach tomorrow night. I'm going to stay in a hostel for a day or two and check out the area. Then it's up to Cairns, which is getting into crocodile country. I take a bus from there to my next host, so I may arrive there a day early and spend the night in the city.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Mothar Mountain critters

I managed to get some pics of one of the possums. Turns out there is one friendly one that will pose for a picutre out of the group. The ironic part is, the friendly one also lost half his face in a fight. Poor guy.
Also included are pics of a small Green Tree Frog, an unknown toad, and an unknown leaf bug.









Sunday, November 4, 2012

I never knew Pelicans were so big...

I've made my way into Queensland, the hot, humid, and tropical north eastern state of Australia. The working and accommodation situation here is fairly similar to my last stay, in Belingen. On the 36 acre property that I'm staying on there's a large pole-barn, and fully renovated shed with a kitchen, which is where I'm staying, and the host's house, where the other 3 helpers stay. I get this entire building to myself, including a 60" TV :)


The garden...





We get two days off every weekend here, and I was lucky enough to arrive on a Thursday night, thus only having to work Friday, then getting two days off. That weekend Kath took all the helpers into Tin Can Bay for the day to see the dolphins and Rainbow Beach. The rangers that work at the bay saved a wounded dolphin years ago, and now he returns every day. Over time the dolphin, who is the alpha male of it's group, started bringing other dolphins into the bay with him.




It was here that I saw a Pelican for the first time in person. I never would have guessed they were as big as they are. Also plenty of other birds hanging around, the names of which I forget.





Every Friday Kath treats us to fish n' chips, and every Friday a family of possums (not opossums) waits outside the backdoor for the left over chips. They're pretty scared though, and I haven't been able to get a good picture.

This weekend we went to Eumundi to go to the Eumundi markets and to visit the Ginger Factory. Of course, I decided it wasn't a trip worth taking my camera on. The markets were more or less like any other open market, yet rather unique as well. Many of the stall operators and  market-goers were very hippie/alternative. There were stalls selling everything from handmade leather bracelets to paintings to hand carved marble statues to natural healing remedies. There were enough stalls offering massages that you could go to a different one for each part of your body. There was a group playing new-age psychedelic music with keyboards and didgeridoos. There was also an entire produce section, as well as a hot food section. There was even a few stalls that were, for all intents and purposes, an info-mercial in a market stall. One was selling a re-branded "Slap Chop", and another was selling some kind of magical miracle pillow. I bought some very fragrant goat's milk Orange Blossom soap. And the best part is that it cost me less than a bar of soap would in any store.
The Ginger Factory was pretty neat. It's like the Hershey's Chocolate World (or whatever that place is called) on not so big of a scale. It was really touristy, but I enjoyed taking a quick tour and learning about the history of the place, and how they process the ginger, etc.