Surf on Noosa

Noosa!!! Oh, how I enjoyed my 4 days in Noosa where I spent recovering from the last week of hectic moving around, sightseeing, going out and sleeping on buses! I kicked back, swimming on this beautiful coast-line every morning and finally mustering the nerve to tackle a surf-board (long-board), on gentle and friendly waves!
My super hot surf-instructor Nathan (who even asked me out for a drink after class!!) taught me very well, as I was standing on my board after a 2-hour lesson! Of course it helps when young 26 year olds are trying to flirt with you while teaching you! ^_^



Noosa is a local holiday spot—a bit on the upscale end of things, but not by any stretch making it stuffy and unpleasant. Lots of older folks and families sunned themselves on the beach…and again, because it is “winter”…the crowds were few and far between!



Noosa also happens to have a gorgeous National Park with a few hidden beaches that require a bit of a hike. Unfortunately, I only had 3 hours to explore the park on my last day (so busy was I trying to “catch waves” my last two days), so at furious speeds, I flew through the park, probably missing any sightings of koalas or exotic birds…dashing between the downpour of rain and wind, I still managed to see at least most of the key spots:

Tea Tree Bay—a popular surfing area:



Granite Bay—an isolated, pebbly beach making wonderful sounds as the waves wash in an out over the rocks:



Alexandria Bay—a gorgeous beach on the far side of the National Park (where nudism is often encountered though on this day there was not a soul in sight due to the erratic weather):


On my last day in Noosa, I finally mustered the courage to go for a ride up Mt Tinbeerwah—a peak lookout point about 15Km North of Noosa, overlooking the whole coastal region. This ride was nothing to joke about!! Even though the summit is only some 300meters, the ride to the base, and then up to the top nearly killed me!! (3 days later: I think I’m still worn out from that ride!)



Once I made it up to the very top, there was noone to pat me on the back, hand me a beer (the name of this mountain is a bit misleading, no??) or give me a high-fives…




so instead, I decided to hug a tree…




And, unfortunately the skies were quite temperamental on this day with clouds rolling in and out…drizzle here and there, so the view of Noosa Heads from a distance wasn’t quite as spectacular as I was hoping with camera in hand (and all the effort climbing up that hill!!!)…but I dropped the attitude and just enjoyed the blurry view from an altitude:




and most definitely enjoyed the ride down with my feet up and my knuckles turning white as I sailed down the empty road!! Byebye Noosa! I will be back without a doubt…and next time, it will be a whole week of non-stop SURFING!

I’m hooked!! ^_^

Fraser Island

[Photos are up!!-- i left noosa sunday evening where i was learning how to SURF!!! DUDE, it's AWESOME!! now in Rockhampton/Yeppoon where i finally met Laurie. He's AWESOME!!! we are going to have a great time traveling together!!on thurs, i will be headed to Airlie Beach where i will immediately hop onto a sailboat to the whitsundays islands for 3 days. so, there will be very little time to interact with computers or think about the blog-world. my apologies again for the future absence...but i will be done with the East-coast by Sept 7th...so i shall return to yeppoon where i have found WIFI! So please check back and of course, stay tuned!]

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Barely 12 hours spent (getting off a bus, looking for food and sleeping) in the town of Noosa, I hopped aboard THE trailblazer for a 3 day 4WD-safari-tour onto Fraser Island! Known as a world heritage land and the world’s largest sand-bar island, it is something along the lines of 70+miles long and a fisherman’s dream--though only accessible by 4WD:

Here’s our 4WD trailblazer!


There are even traffic rules and traffic on this island (you must follow regular road-rules at all times—they apparently even have radar guns and cops patrolling the area in the summer because of all of the drunk-sand-bar-driving)!!


Ok, so here is a "wild" dingo.



I don’t know if this is the same dingo that stole my St. Kilda water bottle that I paid A$4 for…but Tuesday morning as I was minding my own business, watching the sunrise with a few of the people from the tour, an awfully ballsy dingo came up to me and started to sniff my clothes as well as nibble/tug on them! This was my first encounter with the “wild” animal and being told that they do bite…I hesitated enough that I completely forgot I was holding my camera…trying to take a photo!
So Mr-ballsy-dingo (MBD—though I think he was female) came right up to my sleepingbag (where I was trying to keep myself warm at 8 in the morning) and literally stole my water-bottle RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND! I was beside myself and nearly chased after it, but soon after MBD turned around, s/he had punctured a hole in the bottle and it was rendered completely useless.
Well…the story doesn’t stop here! This MBD comes back for another round about 20 minutes later and this time, tries to steal one of my sandals!! This time though, I’m not about to let him/her have his/her way…and so I start threatening it with shouts of: you’re not gonna get away this one, you f***ing thief! And lo and behold, turns out s/he is not anything more than a dog. S/he backed away right away at my exhibition of authority and as I gained a little bit of confidence, I even got up onto my feet (this time)!! MBD ran away knowing fare well that I was no fool-twice-to-be-had, and did not return for any further thievery or mischief! Welcome, welcome to the wild-world of Fraser Island!

Being one of the largest sand-bars known to man, I felt right at home after having spent numerous summers around Napa Tree Point. This view is looking down 75 mile beach (though I was told that it is actually only 68 miles long). Fraser island is very interesting in that it once was inhabited by aborigines (as most of OZ once was), and it has some of the purest water known in the world due to the sand-filtering system on most of the island. The water is of the purest quality, and indeed a great pleasure to be consumed! But more importantly, fraser island is extremely protected and does not allow any other animals on the island in order to preserve the natural state of its wilderness:

This is another view from Indian Head—a beautiful area where temptations to swim are great, but the tiger-shark breeding grounds are reason enough to keep your feet safely out of the water. From an 80m vista point, we saw sharks swimming everywhere like fish with occasional sightings of whales and dolphins.


Another part of our tour, was a Japanese shipwreck (Maheno) that has been left behind on the shores as a relic that will undoubtedly disintegrate out of sigh in due-time. Our tour guide told us that Fraser Island is looking for another willing-shipwreck ^_^



This is a view from a sand-bar as we walk back towards the beach. By the looks of things, I am feeling quite cold as the sun was hiding and we even got to enjoy a few sprinkles that day:



And finally, here is my artsy photo of the week—they are very strange tire-marks in the sand but for some unexplainable reason, there are also perfectly circular sand pellets. I am still quite curious how they were made as these beaches are in their majority, shaped by sand, sun, wind and tires only!

Fraser Island offered many many many more photo opportunities...so I will post those on my snapfish account if you want to check them out(see login info on "Great Ocean Road" posting from July).

And finally, I have many photos from Noosa, Rockhampton and Yeppoon to post...but tomorrow I plan on doing a 70Km ride and then Thurs, I have to leave for Airlie Beach at 7am...so don't know if I will actually get a chance. I am thinking of leaving my computer behind with Laurie while I finish up the last leg of my East-coast trip as I will have very little time to sit down at a computer terminal.

I am seeing Sofie up in Cairns this Sat, which I am very excited about!! And, unfortunately, I think I have to see a dentist before leaving on my caravan trip!! Hate the dentist!!!

TA!

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HOT-DAMN YUMMY DISCOVERY: sweet chili sauce. i don't know where it comes from (it's a Thai influence!!) but while on this trailblazers tour, i was privy to tasting "sweet chili sauce"...a sweet and HOT sauce that pretty much goes on "everything"!!! no kidding! i made some crazy rice-pasta noodle concoction with mayo, tuna and sweet chili sauce--and it was AMAZING! (then again, i was on a pretty "restricted" diet while on the safari tour as i couldn't eat 1/2 of what was being offered...dairy/wheat...*sigh*...when will the rest of the world turn lactose intolerant and gluten-sensitive like me??)

Surfers Paradise

From Byron Bay, I headed to a place called Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast right over the QLD border where I was absolutely flabbergasted by the skyline that lie against the water…the only really good picture I got of the “sight” (quite unsightly mind you) was this blurry photo taken from the bus in-between buildings and trees:

Surfers Paradise reminded me of a cross between Miami, Los Angeles and maybe Las Vegas. Flashing and colorful neons signs adorning the main-streets, sky-scraping condos being erected in each direction along the water’s edge. I was completely stunned by what was unfolding before me, especially after having spent such mellow days in Byron Bay amongst the laid-back hippies at the artsfactory lodge!!



I stayed at the Surf and Sun hostel for two nights as they were offered to me through my east-coast tour package. To my surprise, it was a “catered” and “organized” affair with evenings of drinking games (some kind of concoction of “punch” that I dared not even touch) and all kinds of nightly pub-crawls. Being that I was there on a Fri/Sat night, I witnessed quite a “hip-happening” place with beautiful people decked out to the hilt, going out to have a good time! And given that the full-moon was rising on Friday night, I could only anticipate the crowds and the “scene”!
(As a side note: there unbelievable amounts of Japanese, South-Asians and Middle-Eastern folks EVERYWHERE?!?! I guess this is where they come on vacation??? Go figure!)

Luckily though, even on such a strip of debauchery and “sin”…it was nice to know that someone was still looking out for me (Jesus). I suppose I was going to need it especially when I went out on Sat night at 2:30 in the morning for some dancing at a recommended joint by the name of ELSEWHERE—a place that turned out to be filled with great dancers old and young…vibing together and having a damn good time! I did not sleep that night as I had another beautiful day to enjoy on the beach and I was moving onto Noosa that evening—plenty of time to sleep once on the bus!

Highlights of Nimbin

Wow. Nimbin…it seems like it was so long ago…and well, it has been over a week!! A lot happens around here in a week, you know! I go from full-on metropolis to complete laid-back hippie community to gentle-waved beaches where I learn to surf…to the world’s largest sand-bar island (fraser island) where I have a face-to-face-off with a dingo!!! But I am getting a head of myself as I haven’t updated my blog in over 10 days (yes, I know, I know!!) and there is so much to share!

So going back to Nimbin…the total hippie hangout about 70Km from Byron Bay where the selling and buying of dope is legal due to some precedent police behavior during the Aquarius music festival in 1973 (they didn’t arrest the 5000 folks that were obviously smoking marijuana at this festival and so I guess in Australia, there is some legal loop-hole that allow historical precedence to over-rule current laws (hey, law-folks, any “special” wording for such practice of law?—grandfathering??).

Tucked away at the north-western edge of NSW, the scenery around Nimbin reminds me of Spain or Vermont with rolling hills and occasional massive mountains standing like green giants against the blue-skies. This area is also known for the principle cultivation of macadamia nuts.

So in Nimbin, there are “lifestyle” folks that will offer you a variety of marijuana products, from bush-weed to hash to hydro (indoor and outdoor). The prices seem quite cheap all things considered (A$20/3.5g of hydro, A$50/10g of bush-weed).






At one point when I thought there was a reggae party going on in the back of the Nimbin Museum, so I followed the music and found myself face to face with a beat-up station wagon, pumping out the music! As I was taking photos of the vehicle, an older-hippie-lady whispered to me: I have some really “strong” marijuana brownies for A$7!

I had to laugh! I have never in my life gone anywhere where selling and buying and/or smoking of dope on the street was “legal”!!! I mean, Amsterdam is in a league of its own, but Nimbin really topped it all!

On the way back from Nimbin, we stopped in some fabulous gum tree forest (one of 30 varieties of eucalyptus trees)…these trees grow to enormous heights…as you can see for youself:


And probably one of the highlights of my wild-life sightings so far, was the ECHIDNA (one of two species of monotremes—half mammalian, half reptilian as it lays eggs and suckles its young!). his/her face can be traced with the beak-like snout…it resembles a porcupine with all of its spikes and it appears almost “cute”:

The wonders of Byron Bay:

Byron Bay was a desired resting place after the last few hectic, night-life-filled weeks in Melbourne and Sydney. Byron Bay is a rather small beach community filled with hippy overtones and organic venues at every street-corner, reminding me of a cross between Amsterdam, Height-Ashbury, Santa Cruz and Vermont: laid-back, super-friendly and crunchy to the max. After a 14 hour bus-ride from Sydney on Monday night, I got off the bus like a haggardly mule, hauling my 200 tons of luggage (though I saw a Japanese girl run across the street today with more luggage than me!!! I don’t know why that makes me so happy, but it sure made me smile). Lost, tired and overloaded, I desperately tried to peel my eyes open enough to search for this Arts Factory hostel…the only well-hidden backpackers down the back of a winding road on the far side of the railway tracks—how the hell do you get over the tracks??? But some really nice and considerate man stopped his VW bus/wagon, and gave me a ride to the hostel (the only other time someone has displayed such an act of kindness, has been in VT):

I have apparently rented out the only empty teepee housing unit on the factory campus!! There are 8 beds, and just “me”! What an unexpected treat seeing that I really needed the quiet and the uninterrupted evenings of slumber (well, minus the brouhaha marching past my teepee from the bar to the hostel but that is nothing I can’t fix with some handy-dandy traveler’s earplugs). But also, I have been so exhausted at night since my arrival that I have not even stirred to the on-going nocturnal noises.

Need I say more when the bathroom art (at the hostel) is this trippy?

I rented a bike for the day to ride around the area—and do my usual scrutiny-tour. It turned out to be far easier than the tortuous ride I experienced on the Northern beaches of Sydney. I managed to ride from beach to beach to beach without losing my breathe or sensations in my legs too many times. And, I feasted my eyes with some lovely sunshine, blue skies, a little surfer-watching and beautiful ocean-views:

One thing to note about the residents of the Suffolk Park areas (south of Byron Bay): each house along this shoreline (though tucked away from the beach-proper) must be worth millions but I love the fact that they all look quite modest and subtle in design from the outside (I now just have to get myself invited into one of them!!). No crazy obnoxious mansions—just a beautiful beach location preserved in its natural state.

And after cruising around for a good 4 hours around the east and south-sides of Cape Byron, I managed to return in time to the main beach for a quick sunset photo session before my camera died…

And, here is the proto-tourist shot by the lighthouse—with this vista being the “farthest” easterly point on the mainland of OZ:

The strange and the beautiful

For about 5 minutes on Wed, I looked up into the sky and couldn’t believe that someone was spending the time and money to spell out “sin”…by plane!!! But if you look closely, there are beginnings of another letter after the “n”…so no, as baffling (albeit it, not as surprising as it could have been), it is not some ultra-religious-wing propaganda rather, the indoctrinations of some other form of organization. Didn’t stick around long enough to find out “what” the final message was though:









Bathroom art (again): ahhhh, yes, as far as creative washroom design go, this one I found in Bondi Beach last night really made me feel the “jungle fever”—making me want to dance around and wash my hands to the rhythm of the drums (or the flushing of toilets—and “no” I still haven’t checked out the “direction of flush”…but it’s really on my list of things to do!! I swear!).










I simply can’t convey to you how much these Aussie folks take pride in their washrooms (I may have enough pictures by the end of my trip to put together a bathroom-book of wonderful photos!!! You think it would sell millions???) and how much I enjoy discovering all of them! Well, certainly I have already posted about 4 pictures in my blog, so you’re beginning to see what catches my eye and captivates my attention!












There are so many perspectives to the city-scape of Sydney: from above (the tower), from the harbor, from the west and this last one from the east:








I am staying in pottspoint/kingscross area until the end of the weekend, discovering all the tucked away beautiful neighborhoods that hide behind the busy streets!! I take back my first impressions on Sydney as being a city that I wouldn’t want to live in; there are certainly parts that are livable and very enjoyable. 'Just don’t think I could afford any of them!

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And finally, I had a bit of the OZ meets Spain evening last night:

On both ends are Spaniards (one that I met in Melbourne and the other just arrived into Sydney a few days ago).
In the middle are my token Aussie friends (Brad—having hosted me at the very beginning and Shona, a girl I met in the hostel from Melbourne). They are hard to find, these Aussie folks as they do not live in the places where I have been staying. But in due time, I will find them!! I just have to start living and breathing in the same parts of life as they are!! But regardless, these are good times shared with really wonderful people!


Tonight, we are having a “Spanish” party at the hostel with many other folks that I have met in Melbourne who are passing through Sydney! The traveling community can be so small and so incredibly "active"—but what really amazes me is the like-mindedness that binds us all together! This unspoken bond of wanting to discover and experience other cultures and people!! It's an instant bridge that allows you to communicate with people on a level that is so refreshing and like no other!!
It surely is a topic worth writing about a lot more in the future but certainly an endeavor undertaken by many others throughout history already!! I suppose the beauty of it in the present time, is that you can make it so accessible to everyone in the world at just a keyboard stroke!

Cheers, mates!

The lion roars

This is proof that i can now officially drive a car here in OZ—even though I really have no such plans at the moment. I am still finding myself confused at sudden moments about the whole “crossing” of the streets process—though as all things go with human-adaptation, the “look right and then left” instinct is becoming much stronger!! Hooray!! (well, actually the other day when I was bike-riding, I absent-mindedly passed a woman on the right and without even thinking, shouted out: “passing on your left…I mean, right, I mean…I’m passing you!!!! Sorry for scaring the beee-jesus out of you!!!)




Apparently, Melbourne has begun a new “public compliance” campaign to try and get their fellow public transportation users to “pay” for their rides on the tram (ie: lots of intentional freeloaders)—as they used to have “conductors” who would control the purchase of transportation tickets and now they have machines.
I was actually privy to one of the “transportation inspector” raids on one of my last rides and was quite surprised at how few people actually were riding “for free” (lots of honest folk in this city!!) So as Aussie humor goes (and it oh-so-reminds me of the cynical and dry British humor), they have these beautifully crafted signs everywhere and this one in particular makes me laugh to no end!!













They are absolutely hilarious!! These guys have me rolling ^_^ they are silly-funny people these Aussies!!













Anyway, this past weekend certainly was packed with quite an enjoyable selection of activities!!! Not only did I get to see the Roots in concert on Friday night (I am sad to say that they’ve definitely “sold out” to the mainstream programme these days—unfortunate, but alas…it happens to the “best” of us these days)…but get this: I was able to party and dance with the band members (really!!!????!! Get out!!!?!) at a place called Honkeytonks down the road, (a very awesome venue with the most un-friendliest bartenders) after the show as ?uestlove was spinning at Honks!! What a blast!!! Never thought I’d be dancin’ with DA ROOTS!?




So this is my b-day!!! 32 years of life…and with an amazing group of people that I’ve met at the hostel—you certainly make “good” friends when you stay in one place for more than a week as you eat together, you wonder (and wander) together and you talk for many, many, many hours into the day and night, sharing your experiences, sharing your stories and discovering things about each other that make you so unique and human, and, the bottom line: such a savvy and adventurous travelers!





Yuki (Japanese chef) even baked me a cake!!!!…and I, I cooked all of us the healthiest (organic) meal as it was the easiest way to hang out with most of us “broke-arse” backpackers (or some of us are just saving $$ to spend on more expensive adventures than an evening “out”).

All I asked of people that night was that they bring wine to the table, share a meal, many (many) laughs and a fabulous bday—something I never imagined happening, being that I am in a foreign country with no friends to really call my “own”. But as all things go with me as of late, and because I am “blessed” with such amazing kharma with acute skills to find the “gems” wherever I go: I found great people who ate with me, went out with me and danced with me on on Aug 6th!!! How lucky am I??

I am now in Sydney...3 days later than I had originally planned--so guess what: I IN LOVE WITHI MELBOURNE!!! I can't wait to go back there and plant my feet down for a little while. Live with the locals and pretend to be Melbournian ^_^

I am in Sydney for 3 days to meet up with a few traveling folks (and Brad, my first Aussie host)...and then I am off to Byron's Bay, a beach community area where hopefully it might be "warmer" as my body is really starting to miss the "summer" that I am missing here in the Southern Hemisphere (I know, it's coming, it's coming!!! And believe me, I'm excited!!!). It apparently was snowing in parts of Melbourne yesterday with a cold front that has been sweeping across the East. But with my luck, I will travel a 500Kms NORTH, and it will be hot and gorgeous! Ah...yes, but first: I am going to go check out Hunter Valley!

I bought a bike yesterday! Lou (Laurie’s daughter—my future cross-OZ travel-companion) is leaving for Canada on a working-holiday-visa in 6 weeks for a year and, is selling “all” her belongings—gee, sounds awfully familiar!!! (this is how the whole universe balances itself out!! Some come here, some go there!). so today, I went on the Capital City Trail ride…about a 4 hour ride due to all the photo stops and the number of times that I got lost because this trail is not as obviously marked as my book claims (Bike Rides Around Melbourne). It was a fabulous way to see many of the city-limit neighborhoods—as a well a great way to spend the day outdoors on a particularly beautiful (winter) day!!! I am sooo stoked about spending the next 5 days on a bike and really becoming familiarized with all the nooks and crannies!

Some of Melbourne houses are definitely interesting in their architecture styles. I sure wanted to ask someone about it today…but didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone as I was on a bit of a “sun” schedule and without any real notions of “how” much time it was actually going to take me:

Melbourne has some fascinating, eye-catching modern designs throughout the city—it almost reminds me of parts of Japan. During my ride today, at first, I couldn’t even break a sweat because I was pulling out my camera at every corner of the street—as I got to see so many parts that I had not yet explored. This footpath was of particular interest with its visually twisting and turning cobweb-like dome:


This is (again) the entire skyline of downtown Melbourne from St Kilda. And though the water is not readily visible when you are right in the middle of the city, if you go just 5 miles south of the center-city, there is quite a nice bay that you can hang out at, with beaches, parks, docking areas, appearing to be a very “desirable” residential/backpacking area (with the European folks)…

And finally, this is some strange art sculpture—for some reason, I keep thinking that it is some spoof on the koalas that perch themselves in such trees for 15-20% of their lives. But that is just “my” interpretation…

Next question: cows????—why does everyone want to put cow-sculptures everywhere in the world???

More...more...more to come!!! Never ends?!

I finally bought myself a greyhound bus ticket today all the way up to Cairns (for a whoppin' A$270--holy shit?! that's cheap for a trip covering over 2000km)!--it's a hop-on, hop-off ticket valid for the next 45 days. First stop: Sydney--and then slowly but surely up the East Coast until I reach Cairns (then turn around and back down to Rockhampton)--plans are still very vague at this point!