East Coast Chillin: Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay, Nimbin (Jan 6 – Jan 23)

Arriving in Brisbane was a bit strange because it was a real city with skyscrapers, people in suits going to work, different sections with their own niche, and all sorts. I hadn't been in such a place since Perth, which was many months ago now. So when we clambered out of the car completely packed with camping gear with no shirt or shoes on wearing only bathing suits, I felt a bit out of place. But it was a nice feeling, getting there and people aren't immediately looking at you thinking “who are you and where do you come from??” they were just carrying on with their lives, it's nice sometimes to be noticed and greeted for being outsiders but it's also just as nice to go unnoticed once in a while. We decided to stay in Brisbane for 1 week, as it worked out cheaper at the hostel than just staying a few days, and it gave us some time to do some partying and not worry about getting back in the car the next day.

I had a few nice walks around the city, it wasn't so big, but there were several nice places to eat and drink, had a nice medium sized city vibe. Nights out in Brisbane were pretty fun, streets plastered in bars and people thronging from every directions; short dresses, the highest of heels, gelled hair, the smell of hope and desperation in the air and people everywhere trying to drink away the memories of the week's events at work, I was definitely back in a city. We started hanging out with two other Dutch guys, one was pretty quiet and reserved but the other was quite possibly the pimpest pimp I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Now, I enjoy vagina as much as the next heterosexual 20-something male but this fellow (side note: funnily enough his name was Bass, which is dangerously close to Boss, and I'd have to say he was one) was on a whole other level, some may even consider him a slut. He had MULTIPLE videos of his sexual encounters that he enjoyed showing every chance he could, while chuckling and and telling you to wait for the best parts.

On the night we all went out together I watched him walk up to at least 10 girls, say something in their ear dance one or two steps and proceed to make out with them, it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I was in awe of his sheer confidence and determination, although I didn't see him get rejected once. My favourite encounters were, when he approached two girls waiting at a stop light and said “Which one of you is the better kisser?” then starts making out with one, and turns to the other and does the same. He then looked at them and points at the victor, the light changes and they carried on their way. The next was while we were walking up the stairs to another bar he stopped a girl on the stairs said something to her and they started making out on the stairs, then she left....legendary. This was probably the closest thing I've ever seen to what a real life Hank Moody (Californication) would be like, at least in terms of getting girls not all the other cool stuff.

Before arriving in Brisbane I had arranged to meet up with a dude named Casey who is friends with my friend Ben from back home. We previously met at the Glassco residence, I can't remember the occasion, maybe Christmas(?), but there was a delicious dinner and Ben's grandmother was there. So it was going to be nice to meet someone from back home, and it was only when we met again that I realised how slow I had started to speak, because once we got together I found myself speeding through words like I was tapping into the Speed Force. We had an awesome night, I visited his house in Brisbane, on the West Side I believe pretty trendy hipster area, and met his girlfriend who was pretty cool as well (side note: he was there on a working visa/living with her, and she would in turn do the same in Canada in the coming months). He showed me all his delicious Canadian condiments (maple syrup, Ms. Vicki's BBQ sauce, poutine gravy, among other things) and we chilled at his place for a while before hitting the town and meeting up with a few of his friends. We just hit up a few nice quiet spots had some drinks and good conversation, Casey is a really interesting guy to talk to because he is very politically opinionated and very Canadian at his core and proud about it.

After a lovely week in Brisbane we had a brief stop in Surfers Paradise, it had sort of a Miami Beach or Niagra Falls type feel; and if you've been to either of these places you'll know that that's not really a compliment. Robert and I still went out and had a nice night, but we only stayed for the one night so we were off to Byron Bay in the morning.

Byron Bay is a great little beach town full of backpackers, surfers, and chilled out old hippies; everybody is there to just relax, surf, and have a good time. It was difficult to find accommodation, we had to try at least 5 different places before finding somewhere, because it was right after New Year's and all the backpackers go north up the coast after spending their New Year's in Sydney. We ended up staying for a week, it was a nice relaxing time, not doing much site seeing or going out (a little of both). I met two guys that I met previously in Broome (Leo and Masa) not sure if I mentioned them before, but they were pretty cool dudes, only stopping in Byron for a few nights on their way to Nimbin. Nimbin is a small town, in land, known for having a large community of hippies and being very open about casual drug use, especially marijuana. I'm sure at one point it was a lovely community, very friendly and loving, however now it's one grubby street teeming with drug peddlers and degenerates. On my visit there, at one point I was actually asked, in quite an aggressive tone, “What are you doing?! What are you looking for?” while just having a wonder around the town. I was actually excited to go to Nimbin and was planning on staying for a week or so but ended up leaving after a few hours, it just had the wrong vibe, not at all what I was looking for.

I had a few more nights in Byron Bay which is when I met an interesting group travelling together (at that time) from a few different countries, there are a lot of variables to this groups dynamic so I will just stick to one. Her name was Djohar, black girl from France (I only mention her race because she told me one night that she missed black people and I thought that was funny, growing up as a volleyball player there was many a time I was the only dark skinned gentleman for miles), I would say she was probably the head of this group. She also had an amazing singing voice (side note: she could sing and speak in four languages) and wasn't too bad on the guitar either, we jammed with some homeless aboriginal guys one night for a while and got a bit of a crowd going, it was pretty awesome. She, like the rest of her group, was extremely passionate about life and very expressive. Which was a strange and interesting experience for someone like myself, who some people find to be a bit emotionally detached and others say I'm too emotionally involved with myself, but that's neither here nor there. Everything they said had so much emotion, there was lots of drama within the group, two of the girls in the group were together and one was more involved in the relationship than the other, so that struck up many a conversation. In the end I found them exhausting and a bit full on, but fun and exciting at the same time, we had some good times.

Next was the final destination with my current and longest lasting travelling group, Sydney! Too many good stories together guys, hope you both enjoy the rest of your travels and get all that you want out of your experiences.

East Coast Chillin: Sea Turtles...serious business (Jan 3 – Jan 5)

I was asleep for most of the journey to the next town trying not to vomit everywhere and steadily sweating out all of the fluids consumed the night prior. When we arrived in Rockhampton I felt rejuvenated and ready for the days events. Our first stop was the local zoo, after seeing so much of Australia's wildlife actually IN the wild it was a bit strange seeing the animals caged up; it did give us a chance to see animals we hadn't yet seen like wombats and freshwater turtles as well as some animals not native to Australia (gorillas, monkeys, etc). They also had a few Casawaries (not sure the plural of that..Casawarys..Casawari?..dunno) which were exciting to see, because there are signs posted all along the roads in the rainforest and surrounding areas warning to be careful of Casawaries. They are endangered and also known to be quite aggressive so it says not to feed them or even go near them if you see any in the wild, but they were NO WHERE to be found in the wild. By the amount of signs posted one would think there were gangs of them roaming around beating up tourists. A highlight of the zoo trip was watching a little girl playing with a monkey behind the glass, making faces and running back and forth, it was very cute (I have a video).

After a delightful visit to the zoo, where for some reason we weren't allowed to have balloons (must be something to do with the birds?) we set off to our next stop which was a town called 1770. This was a very small and trendy looking beach side town, filled with beautifully designed houses over looking rocky beaches and scattered trees along cliff faces. We only stayed a few hours as Ingrid had previously expressed her desire to see the sea turtles giving birth on the beach in Bunderburg, known for sea turtles and rum.

We arrived in Bunderburg at night fall, not really sure of the time possibly around 10-11pm. We quickly found out there was a cost for viewing the sea turtles and maybe 70-100 people waiting to see them split in to multiple viewing groups; there was a long road ahead it seemed. Ingrid told us that this was one of her life long dreams to see the sea turtles giving birth, so she was determined to see them, Robert and I were a bit less enthused and didn't really want to pay to be taken to the beach and watch turtles giving birth. Not wanting to go alone Ingrid came up with a solution, we noticed that people were steadily leaving (mostly those with young children), it was getting later and later and the turtles didn't seem to be coming. So Ingrid, not being one to give any concern towards what is and is not socially acceptable behaviour, waited in the parking lot and began asking people who were leaving for their tickets. The first family she asked, consisting of 3 very tired looking children and 2 adults, a bit taken a back to say the least graciously obliged and gave up their tickets and told us to have a nice time; and wouldn't you know, they were in the very first group as well...+1 for Ingrid. After securing our GROUP 1 stickers we happily sat down with the rest of the people, watching a documentary on turtles and waiting to be called forward.

After watching two turtle documentaries, and a few discussions with some grey nomads and other families it was nearing 3am and some people had been there since around 8-9pm (Side note: we were also talking very loudly about how happy we were we arrived so early so we could get into the first group because we wouldn't want to be waiting around once the turtles arrived.). We were finally called up as a few turtles were starting to come on to the beach, the organisers brought us down to the beach to meet some of the marine biologists and volunteers watching over the turtles. To ensure the survival of the turtles they made sure the dugouts were deep enough to protect the eggs from predators and that they were far enough away so they weren't swept away by the tide. Ingrid was understandably quite excited, and expressed this by pushing passed the small children who were called to the front to get a better view, the marine biologist was not too pleased and repeatedly asked her to move back so the children could see, she was also running up and down trying to get the best view every time we moved, which I just found funny because I wasn't too concerned with the turtles I was actually more interested in how nice the stars looked.

Robert not being the biggest fan of authority figures, took it upon himself to slag off the marine biologist saying that we all paid and arrived early so we should all get the best possible view; also quite hilarious. The best part was when Ingrid was told off for trying to take pictures while the turtles were going back into the water, when the marine biologist specifically told everyone not to do that. He actually stood in front of her while she was trying to take pictures, and kept moving as she tried to get around him. As we were leaving, the rest of the group were now watching another turtle, the marine biologist called us back and made a point to tell us not to just wonder off and that we had to ask him before going anywhere, I could tell Robert was having no more of this guy so I apologised and asked him politely if we could leave. All in all it was an interesting experience, something that I don't think I will ever see again, especially considering these species are endangered and considering the current state of the earth, may not have many years left.

We stopped at a nearby park that night..when I say night I really mean morning, it was nearing 5am now, set up camp and got as much sleep as we could considering we would probably have to leave quite early before families started arriving with children to play in the park. Next stop Brisbane!

Peace & Love