Tuesday 28 August 2012

Townsville, Maggie and Brisbane

I came into Townsville on Saturday via one of the most irritating bus rides ever. The driver was hard of hearing and thought we should listen to music at the decibel level of a jet engine. There was no stopping the music. Not with earplugs. Not with my own ipod. It overpowered them both. I had asked him to turn it down, which worked until the next stop, about a half hour, then it went right back up to deafening levels.
I was able to visit my friend Deane in Townsville. I hadn't seen him since I lived in Europe, 11 years ago. We met on our way to Greece and later in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day in May. It was the year of foot and mouth disease and they had postponed St. Paddy's until May.
Townsville is full of very interesting people, though Deane told me they normally aren't that strange. As we sat at the pub and caught up I noticed there were a large proportion of Townsville folks wearing costumes and silly hats. Apparently there was a big horse race in town, so all the women had to get out their best and most ridiculous hats. I'm not sure about the guys in full Bert and Ernie costumes.
Sunday I headed over to Magnetic Island (Maggie), just a short boat ride from Townsville. It's a beautiful island with plenty of wild koalas and WWII history. I hiked most of the island Sunday, seeing a koala and a wallaby. Luckily I didn't see any death adders. The hike was what I like to call an ankle breaker. Loosely jumbled rocks up and down a mountain. I'm glad I ended up bringing my hiking boots despite the weight they add to my pack. I saw no one on the entire trail. I guess I was the only one crazy enough to hike it in the heat and humidity. Along another path (a much easier one) there were plenty of WWII fortifications. This trail is where the koalas often hang out. Since they and the wallaby were a bit shy, there are no pictures. You would have only been able to see trees. I did, however get a picture of the TARDIS (zoom in on picture below).
Sunday night I ended up talking to locals who were hanging out at the bar at the hostel (there are limited establishments on the small island). They were telling me how it was very nice to live on such a nice island, if it wasn't for the bloody tourists. That was the same thought I had about living in the Mount. For all those thinking, but wait, you're a tourist: I believe I lived in the Mount long enough to qualify as non-tourist.
One of my roommates had nightmares and woke up screaming that there was something furry in his bed (in German). Though there were several possums and wallabies that hung around the hostel at night (I almost stepped on some trying to break into someone else's room), there were none in our room.
Monday, after a beautiful sunrise I took the bus to the ferry to Deane's car to the airport to fly to Brisbane to get on a train into the city. The flight was a bit late, but otherwise it was uneventful travels via many methods.


I was helped by a military guy after getting to my train stop. He pointed me in the right direction to the hostel. He happened to be walking that way as well and managed to talk to me about 50 different subjects in the span of the 10 minute walk. I wandered around town after I had dropped off my bags. For you Minneapolis folks, imagine Nicollet Mall, only without buses and much bigger. The pedestrian mall was very nice, though there were a disturbing number of strip clubs next to Gucci shops and posh restaurants. Today, Tuesday, I wandered some more. I went to the South Bank of the city which has some nice walkways along the river. Brisbane reminded me a lot of Minneapolis with much better weather. However, they have a London Eye like ferris wheel and a Nepalese pagoda near the river.
I'm now off to Byron Bay, followed by Port Macquarie. Then it's on to Sydney to meet up with Kaleb and Skog.

Friday 24 August 2012

Cairns and the Reef

Add it to your bucket list: dive the Great Barrier Reef. I came to Australia via Cairns 2 days ago. Yesterday I just walked around the entire city. There are some very beautiful parts, and some that look like the run down, rubbish filled places you can find in most cities. I found a few walking paths. One was through the botanical gardens, and the other was along a nice river. Only after I started walking the path by the river did I see the signs warning of crocs.

I then thought of how I could easily disappear, some hungry croc's lunch, and no one would ever know what happened to me. It was at this time I decided the walking path next to the river was not that cool, and turned around.



The hostel I'm staying at is a bit of a party place. I'm too old for that and don't appreciate being woken up by super drunk people. The pub connected to the hostel, however, does attract some locals, so I was able to talk to them. Somehow I just couldn't have a conversation with the guy who was talking about how old and wise he was at 24. I managed to keep my mouth shut, but had a good internal chuckle. I'm hoping I wasn't like that when I travelled throughout Europe.
Today I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. It is not cheap by any sense of the word, but worth it in every way. I was able to go on 3 dives throughout the day. I opted for the guided dives, since it had been several years since I dove. I got to see rays, a lot of fish, but no sharks or turtles. What fascinated me the most, though, were the wide variety of sea cucumbers and sea worms. Very cool. I'm also very thankful I don't get sea sick, as it was a rough ride out to the reef, and several people got sick on the way. There's no way I can actually describe it, so just put it on your list to do sometime.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Where did the month go?

I know I haven't posted in a while. Perhaps it's because I haven't been doing much interesting, perhaps it's because I'm not the biggest fan of writing, or perhaps it's just plain laziness. My guess would be a little of each. Let me sum up the last month for you:
The last post had my parents still here and we were in the Bay of Islands. We had a great time and they left a day or two after my last update. I had to drop them off at the airport a few hours early in order to have a slightly easier drive. There was torrential downpours which led to flooding and road closures. I made it home on an alternate route and in only 1 1/2 hours more than it usually takes.
Kaleb had been working for the avocado industry for a few weeks now and is enjoying it. He has solved many of their data issues in short order and is impressing them thoroughly. I tell him he needs to be careful, or they won't let him come back to the states. Working remotely for them, however, could work.
It has rained nearly every day for the last month and a half. Our apartment building has flooded a few times, but luckily we're on the second floor, so none of our stuff has been damaged. However, the rain gave me a perfect opportunity to do a mud run. The girls and I had a lot of fun, but will probably not be doing one again. It was cold, and, judging from the horses and cows nearby, some of the "mud" was not just wet dirt. It felt good to shower after that.
For the past 2 weeks, I've been selling off my toys I've accumulated during my time here. Mainly my surfboard and bike. I was able to sell them for the same price I paid, so it was like renting them for free. Kaleb will be staying until mid January, so had to find a few flatmates to live with. He found a posh place 2 blocks from our apartment with 3 flatmates, all of who are very athletic. With Kaleb moved into his new place and me all packed up, it's time to start my way home (by way of Australia and the South Island).

I'm now in Cairns by myself. Kaleb's friend Skog is flying in tomorrow. I will be meeting them in Sydney in a little over a week. We will then head to Queenstown for some mountain fun before I leave for the states.