Australia Adventure Journal
| 12.24 - 12.27 | Sydney |
| 12.28 | Byron Bay |
| 12.29 - 12.30 | Surfers Paradise |
| 12.31 - 1.2 | Brisbane |
| 1.3 - 1.6 | Hervey Bay/Fraser Island |
| 1.6 - 1.7 | Arlie Beach |
| 1.8 - 1.15 | Mike Ball Dive Expedition |
| 1.15 - 1.16 | Townsville |
| 1.17 - 1.21 | Cairns |
| 1.22 - 1.24 | Uluru |
| 1.25 | Melbourne |
| 1.26 - 1.31 | Tasmania |
| 2.1 - 2.4 | Sydney |
Nov 29, 2001-5:45 pmBowie, MD, USA
I am currently getting things together. I think all the big things have been taken care of. Now I just have to take care of the details.
Dec 2, 2001-4:50 pmBowie, MD, USA
Mark and I got together last night to talk about the trip. We decided that we would definitely try to travel by train or bus, with train being our preference. I’m going to get some more information about the train services before we leave. We might book the train passes when we get over there.
We plan to spend a few days in Sydney getting used to the time change and getting more information about stuff to do down there. We will travel up the coast to Townsville (Mike Ball Expedition). When we finish with the Mike Ball trip we will travel south, hitting the places we enjoyed. We still aren’t sure about how we are going to get to Tasmania, but neither of us seem to be too worried about that right now.
I’m getting really excited about this trip. It is hard for me to think about anything else. I’m also a little nervous about flying. The thing that makes me nervous is having our flight schedule messed up. We’ve already had our plans changed twice by the airlines, and they tried to change it again. We started with a direct flight from BWI to LAX then a direct flight from LAX to Sydney. The return trip would be another two direct flights. Our direct flights to LAX were changed. Now we are going from BWI to Charlotte, NC to LAX. Coming back goes through Pittsburgh, PA. I’m not too annoyed by the changes, I just don’t want anything to change now (unless it is to direct flights).
Dec 4, 2001-10:13 pmBowie, MD, USA
I went by Annapolis SCUBA center today (plug: the people that work there are awesome). I picked up my prescription mask. This will let me see all the pretty stuff down there when I’m making my movies. I also dropped off my regs for servicing. I probably should have done this earlier. Oh well…
I sent out an email to all my friends (both of them, and that guy I pay to hang out with me). I told everyone about the website. Hopefully they are reading this. Anyway, even if the bums don’t look at the website a few of them sent me some email to catch up on old times. I guess that is a good thing.
Dec 6, 2001-12:45 pmLanham, MD, USA
I just sent an email to all my co-workers telling them about the trip. Here is a response I got back.
Chris,
Just remember about the Sidney funnel web spider, sea wasp, blue ring octopus, stone fish, yellow-lipped sea kraits, “fierce” snake, red-bellied black snake, common brown snake, 3 species of tiger snake, 4 species of taipan, 20 foot salt water crocodiles, 8 antibiotic-resistant STDs, the ugliest, meanest woman south of the equator and the fact that you can’t swim a stroke. Plus, you are going to miss the release of “Lord of the Rings”. Otherwise, have fun!
…
PS. Can I have your office?
Dec 10, 2001-11:55 pmBowie, MD, USA
I just did two tarot card readings on this trip. Neither were good. On the first one, I read that I would loose something really close to me. The second reading told me that the trip would be bad. Its a good thing I don’t believe in that crap, ’cause I might have been forced to do more readings until I got a good one.
Dec 13, 2001-10:30 pmBowie, MD, USA
A little over one week to go.
I think I’m almost ready. Yesterday I got the power adapter to convert crazy Australian currents into sane, peaceful USA currents. Today I got the power thingy for plugging my computer into the plane (that better work or I’ll be quite annoyed). I also got my film from Mark (40 one hour tapes), so hopefully I’ll be able to make a decent movie when I get back.
Still, there seems to be something nagging me. It whispers into my ear, “Chris, there is something amiss. Where are you going to stay when you get there?” That’s right. We don’t have a place to stay in Sydney yet. I sent some email to a few Sydney hostels, but no one wants to book us. I hope we don’t end up sleeping on the street or in some stable.
Dec 19, 2001- 8:53 amLanham, MD, USA
We finally have a place to stay once we get to Sydney. I was getting a little worried, because every place I looked was booked. We are spending Christmas Eve at the Cross Court Hotel in King’s Cross. Hopefully we’ll be able to find something cheaper once we get over there.
I am so ready to leave. I just hope we don’t have any problems getting over there.
Dec 22, 2001-10:45 am (East Coast Time)Airplane to LA
Today is going to be a log day. I woke up at 2am after three hours sleep. We got to the airport and did the security dance, then it was off to Charlotte. I sat next to a little kid on the Charlotte plane. He was having problems with his ears and ended up smacking himself in the head to try to relieve the pressure. It was kinda funny watching him do it.
So far we haven’t had any problems with the airlines. I hope our baggage is waiting for us in LA.
Dec 22, 2001-7:25 pm (West Coast Time)LA Airport
Layovers suck. We’ve been in this stupid airport for over eight hours. I don’t like these hippie Californians.
Actually, it hasn’t been that bad. We went to Encounters when we got in. This is a freaky restaurant in the middle of the airport. It was a pretty cool place to kill some time.
After Encounters we walked around the airport. We didn’t know where we were supposed to go, so there was no aim to our wanderings. Eventually we found the correct place. Next we found the correct bar. The layover hasn’t been so bad after that…
Dec 24, 2001-8:00 pmSydney, New South Whales, Australia
Today has been a long day. The flight from LA to Sydney was not as bad as I thought it would be. We both slept most of the way. When we weren’t sleeping we were listening to the baby in the row next to us scream. The airplane didn’t have a power hook-up for my laptop. That really annoyed me, but I got over real quick (as soon as I went to sleep).
We got a taxi to our hotel room without trouble. The room has a nice view. You can see the Opera House and the bridge from our window. It doesn’t have a phone and the power is pretty weak. I blew a fuse trying to charge my laptop and camcorder batteries at the same time.
We went walking around Sydney most of the day. We started by walking to the main part of the town. On the way we stopped by a pretty nice cathedral. We kicked the idea of going to mass tonight (Christmas Eve) around. Both of us are too tired to make it.
When we got to the main city we just bummed around looking in the different shops. My first meal over here was a fish sandwich from Burger King. There were a few stores that had real nice souvenirs. We are going to hit a few of those when we get back.
We went to the Sydney Aquarium. I really enjoyed the exhibits they had there. A few of the exhibits were tanks that you walk under. I think (hope) I got some good footage in there. We also saw a platypus while there.
We found a place to stay for the next two nights. It is right down the street from where we are. I’ll update the info on it later. I’m about to go to sleep now.
One thing that we haven’t arranged is transportation. When talking to the guy at the train center it sounded like that would be iffy transportation. We are going to look into busses and car rentals.
Well, I’m going to pack some of my stuff up tonight so I don’t have to deal with it in the morning. We have to be out of here by ten in the morning.
Dec 25, 2001-4:50 pmSydney, New South Whales, Australia
We did the tourist thing again today. First we hit the Botanical Gardens. The coolest thing there was the bats. Practically every tree had a bat in it. And these were big bats, not those little wimpy flying mouse bats. These were four foot wing span bats. The view form the Gardens was impressive. You could see the Opera House, the bridge and the skyline. Hopefully we got some good pics/video.
After the Gardens we went over to the Opera House. This was one of the big things I wanted to do. Unfortunately, it was closed (Christmas Day) so we weren’t able to do any tours. Hopefully we’ll be able to hit it when we come back. The outside of the Opera House was pretty impressive.
Next we took a subway (I guess that is what it was) to the train station. We got a pass for going from Sydney to Cairns. Our first trip will be on the 27th to Byron Bay. Mark just brought up the idea that there might be a bag limit. That would really put a kink in out plans.
I finally was able to get in touch with Marie (a cousin of some sort). I was having a lot of problems with the phones over here. I couldn’t find a phone in any of the places we stayed, and I had a lot of trouble with the public phones. It turns out all the public phones I was trying to use didn’t work. I found a working phone in one of the subway stations and it was real easy (even if it wouldn’t give change back). Anyway, back to Marie. Her family lives in the Sydney area. They invited us to have diner, but we declined. Neither of us were up to figuring out the logistics, and we are both pretty tired. We plan to get in meet up with them when we come back to Sydney (late Jan or early Feb).
Now we are back at the Hostel. I’m not too impressed with this one (we moved into a new one this morning). Our room is really small. On the bright side it does have a sink and a small fridge.
We’ve been invited to a barbecue tonight. The place we are staying is putting it on. I’m not sure if we’ll go or not. Both of us are still a little tired. I’m not sure if it is jet-lag or the change in weather or us walking around all day. It’s probably all the above.
Dec 26, 2001-5:59 pmSydney, New South Whales, Australia
Today was a kinda laid back day (compared to the last few days). We decided to go to a koala park a little bit north of the city. Mark wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t make it out.
I took the subway and transferred to a bus to get to the park. I ended up chatting with the bus driver. We talked about the holidays (Australia Day and Boxing Day). He couldn’t tell me what Boxing Day was, except that it was a holiday. Australia Day (Jan 26) is Australia’s Independence Day (I think).
The koala park was neat. I saw lots of Australian animals: wombat, kangaroo, and koala. They gave a little talk about koalas and let us pet one. They have soft oily fur.
There has been a lot of brush fires in the Sydney area. It has caused a lot of smoke and ash to come into the city. Every now and again I have to brush ash off my clothes (and the computer monitor right now). Apparently this is the worst brush fires they have had since 1994. I think it is real similar to the forest fires in California.
Tomorow we leave for Byron Bay. We have to catch the bus at 8pm tomorrow night. That is going to make for an interesting day, because we have to check out of our room at 9am. We are going to look funny running around Sydney with all our baggage. We are going to ask the guy that runs this joint if there is a place we can lock it up for the day. If there isn’t, we might be spending most of the day sitting around the bus station.
I’m getting bummed out that I haven’t been able to update the web site yet. I was hoping to be able to update it every day. Now I don’t know if I’ll be able to update it at all while we are down here. We are both going to keep doing this journal.
Well, I think I’m going to go wake that bum up and see if he wants to go get some dinner. By the way, everything is dirt cheap here (except the rooms). We can eat a decent meal (fast food) for about three American dollars. I’m thinking this would be a great place to retire and live like a king. But that is at least five years before I’ll be ready to retire.
Dec 28, 2001-11:44 amByron Bay, New South Whales, Australia
Hippies, hippies everywhere and not a single joint to smoke. We made it to Byron Bay this morning. The train ride last night was pretty lame. First off it was real cold so getting to sleep was difficult. Luckily I had my long sleeved shirt with me (I got chilled earlier yesterday). The other annoying part of the bus ride was we kept stopping every hour or so. The driver made everyone get out of the bus at two stops so he could lock the bus up.
Byron Bay is a nice little town. It is right on the ocean, near the New South Whales boarder. There is a main street with lots of little hippie stores. Mark and I walked around for a little while when we got here.
We are going to do our first dive down under today. The boat leaves at 4 pm. Both of us are really looking forward to checking everything out. The baggage handler on the bus was a little rough on my bag, so I hope my camera housing is ok.
Dec 29, 2001-8:56 amBus from Byron Bay to Surfers Paradise
Off the bus again, just can’t wait to get off the bus again…
We did the dive yesterday. It was to a rock out in the ocean. I wasn’t to impressed with the dive shop or the site. The dive shop made us do more work than I wanted to, and the site had poor viz. I took some video, but haven’t reviewed it so I don’t know if it is any good. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the dive. I’m just saying there were things I wish were different.
After the dive we chilled out at the hostel to let our gear dry out. I got to talk to one of our roommates for a little while. His name was Roland and he was from South Africa, and came to Australia to surf. He was really hungover (slept all day and still felt like crap after 7pm). “I’ll never do that again” was one of the things he told me. Yeah, I believe him…
We both slept like rocks last night. That was a little surprising, because the hostel we were staying at was kinda a party hostel. None of our roommates were in when we went to sleep. One of them was outside talking to a girl with a Santa hat who was hitting the pipe pretty hard. A taxi driver in Sydney told us there were a lot of hippies and grass in Byron Bay. He wasn’t kidding.
So now we are on a bus to Surfer’s Paradise. The ride is only an hour, so it shouldn’t be too bad (not like the last bus ride). Also, there aren’t many people on the bus, so we both have two seats each. We don’t plan to do much today, just take a lazy day. We’ll probably do laundry and I’ll charge all my batteries up. I’ll also probably send some stuff that I don’t plan to use home. I left a few books and my dominoes at the last place. We thought we were packing light, but we are really packing quit heavy. I’m ready to lighten my load.
Dec 29, 2001-12:31 pmSurfers Paradise
We passed through a time zone change on the bus ride. The one hour bus ride was actually two hours. It was nice to have some relax time to chill on the bus.
We checked into the hostel when we got here. It is getting really tight for finding rooms. Luckily, we haven’t had any problems in the past two towns. I hope our luck holds out in Brisbane.
Our roommates are older in this place than they were at the last place. Mark might be the youngest one there. I think (hope) that will be nice, because they should be more mature.
Speaking of maturity, Mark and I are going to do a pub crawl tonight. There are a few hostels doing it, so it should be a fun time. I’m glad we don’t have to do anything tomorrow (like catch a bus). Now we can get blitzed and sleep off the hangover tomorrow.
I’m sitting on the deck to the hostel looking. There are some musicians playing in the common area down stairs. They are pretty good, so I think I’m going to have to get some video of them. They are playing a lot music that you hear in America. I figured that music over here would be different than in the States. When I think about it, that assumption doesn’t make much sense. Good music is good music no matter what hemisphere you’re in.
There are a decent amount of American shows on the TV. A lot of the sitcoms from back home have made their way over here. That kinda suprised me to, but I got over it.
Dec 29, 2001-7:52 pmSurfers Paradise
Ok, here is the deal on the time difference. We didn’t pass through a time zone (going north we shouldn’t have). Not all of the Australian states recognize daylight savings time. So when we changed states the time difference kicked in. I think that is real wack.
I got to talk with our roommates a little. One is a video editor from Texas. Another is a furnace type thing person from Detroit. We go all the way to the other side of the planet and end up rooming with people from America. Not that I mind, I can actually understand what these people are saying without much trouble.
Dec 29, 2001-8:10 pmSurfers Paradise
Here’s a joke Mark found written on the wall of our hostel.
What did the cyclone say to the palm tree?
Hold on to your nuts, this ain’t no ordinary blow job.
Dec 30, 2001-11:54 amSurfers Paradise
The pub crawl ended up being a club crawl. We lasted for the first free drink at the first club. Dance clubs just ain’t our thing. We ended up walking around downtown then grabbing a taxi back to the hostel.
One of the guys that works at the hostel is a Canadian. Mark and I have been talking in a Canadian accent for the last few days, saying stuff like, “eh”, “hoser”, and “aboot”. The bus ride to the first club was a riot, because there were some guys on the bus mocking the Canadian’s accent. Crazy frogs are really funny.
Tonight they are having a pool tournament. Mark said he wants to enter. I’m probably going to enter to, just for kicks. We might even learn how to play with their rules. See, the tables and balls here are a little smaller than in the US. There is also a semi-circle where you break from. We aren’t sure what the semi-circle is for.
While I’m talking about pool, let me tell you about this table we played on in town. The table was shaped like a Y. There were no side pockets, only pockets in the six corners. Playing on it was really weird, because there were cases when you don’t have a straight line to your balls. I enjoyed playing with it, because it threw something new into the mix. The game ended with me scratching on the eight ball (if I remember correctly).
Dec 30, 2001-5:45 pmSurfers Paradise
Mark reminded me of something I forgot to talk about earlier. We did this real cool thing in the city of Surfers Paradise yesterday. It was called “Infinity” and they billed it as a modern-day fun house. It was really cool.
When your start out they give you cloth gloves and shoe covers. Then you walk through the place. They have different rooms set up with different feel. Most of the rooms use mirrors and lighting to get the feel.
One room was a ‘maze’. There were mirrors on all the walls, ceilings and floors. The effect was it looked like the room went on forever. It was hard to see the walls (you had to keep your hand out in front of you). It was also hard to see the floor. I was a little nervous when I walked into the room.
Another room was pitch dark. They had stuff hanging from the ceiling. Some of the stuff was furry, some of it would light up when you touched it. We tried keeping one hand on the wall to find our way out, but about halfway through the room there were fake hands sticking out of the wall (making it difficult and spooky).
There was one room called the light canyon. In this room there was a shaky suspension bridge. The walls ceiling and floor were completely covered in mirrors again. There were also lights on the walls, so when you looked up or down it appeared to go off into infinity.
I also wanted to mention how we are living. We are taking the bus from town to town (staying a night or two in each town). When we get to a town we book our stay in a local hostel. Since it is the busy season we usually have to book in a dorm room setting. This means that we share the room with a few other people. In Surfers Paradise there are 6 people in the room, Byron Bay had 5 people, and I think Brisbane is going to be 3 people. Some of the people have been here weeks, while others are just passing through like us.
The rooms usually aren’t very impressive. Mainly it is just a room with lots of beds in it. We have yet to stay in one with either air-conditioning or a phone. I don’t really miss either of them, but it would be nice to have a phone for booking our bus tickets.
Living like this is pretty fun. It feels like living in the dorms at college. It is also real cheap. I just booked two nights in Brisbane for the two of us. It cost $94 froggy dollars, which is about $50 American. That is $50 American for both of us for two nights. The American dollar goes a long way down here.
Living in the hostels isn’t all fun. We have to deal with roommates. In Byron Bay one of the guys had laid all of his stuff out in the middle of the room. It was a mess, and took up most of the space. We also have to deal with other people’s sleeping habits. So far that hasn’t been much of a problem for me (I can sleep through anything). Everything has worked out fine so far. All of our roommates have been respectful to us, and we have returned the respect.
Another benefit of the hostels is the girls. There are so many hot chicks walking around practically naked. I don’t ever want to go home…
Dec 31, 2001-9:25 amBus between Surfers Paradise and Brisbane
We didn’t end up playing in the pool tournament. Neither of us are playing our best right now. The corner pockets are giving me lots of grief, and Mark doesn’t like the small balls. Mark said he stopped by the tournament and said the people playing weren’t that impressive. If he walked down when they were starting he probably would have joined and kicked some auzzie ass.
I went down to the beach a few times yesterday. The first time I was able to watch an incredible sun set. The surf was breaking behind me making that mellow sound of the beach. I was standing right at the edge of the water line, so every now and then a wave would make its way up and splash me with refreshing coolness. The sun was a little bit under the tree line casting its rays on the bottom of the clouds, making a heavenly sight. I felt completely at peace with myself and the world watching the sun go down. This experience is what I came here for.
The second time I went down to the beach was after the sun had set. There was almost a full moon, so there was plenty of light. I walked towards town for a little while, then started back. Since we were a little outside of town there weren’t many people out. I think I crossed paths with three people that night. The views were really nice, especially walking towards the moon coming back. Looking up, I could see some stars peak out between the clouds here and there. I immediately recognized Orion when he drifted out into sight. I got that peaceful easy feeling walking back home in the moonlight.
I saw a stranded jelly-fish on the beach. I hope I don’t run into any of them in the water. It was almost the size of a soccer ball, with tentacles at least a foot long. It looked quite painful and fierce!
The clouds in Surfers Paradise really caught my attention. A lot of them were low clouds and they were really sharply defined. I’m not sure why they fascinated me so much, but I spent a good deal of time in Surfers Paradise just lazily gazing at them. I really liked the sights of the clouds when I was walking on the beach. The first walk showed me a glorious sun set. The second walk had a nice cool, relaxed look to them. I have a feeling that there are lots of sights like that at home, I just haven’t noticed them. I guess I’ll have to keep my eyes open when I get back.
Jan 1, 2002 - 8:19 pmBrisbane
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We did New Year’s Eve in Brisbane this year. They put on a fireworks and celebration on the south bank of the river. I enjoyed the atmosphere (drunk and happy people).
Today we went to the Australia Zoo. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin, the “Croc Hunter” works at. He was in today and we were lucky enough to see three croc demos put on by him. He really knows his stuff when it comes to getting the crocs to put on a great show.
The park had animals other than the crocs. There were koalas, tortoises and snakes (Oh My!). We were even able to go up and pet some kangaroos. They also had some birds, otters, camels, and regular farm animals. I enjoyed feeding a little lamb. I also enjoyed watching some Tasmanian Devils run around at the zoo.
It was really hot today. The paper said the forecast temperature was 35 degrees Celsius. That is 95 degrees American. We were sweating while we sat waiting for the demos to start. I don’t think I sweat that hard in my entire life.
There is a game/internet room about a block down from the hostel. We stopped there yesterday to check our email. We ended up playing some pool. Then we went back for some more pool before the celebrations started and ended up playing Counter Strike over the LAN. There was about ten people playing, which made it a lot of fun. The basic idea of the game is you go around and shot your enemies. It sounds real simple, but it was a lot of fun. We were going to go back tonight, but it was closed.
The Sydney fires have been in the news a lot. They say that some one has been starting the fires. All I have to say is that is really F-ed up.
Another thing in the news that has been occurring since we got here is a cricket game. Australia is going against South Africa. I think they finally made it to the third inning. Apparently cricket games last until one team dies of old age.
Jan 2, 2002 - 2:11 pmBrisbane
Today has been a lazy day for me. I like lazy days. I like them a lot.
Mark went out to town to visit China Town and the South Bank. I decided that I wasn’t really interested in it, so I stayed here. I think it in the 90s out there, and I didn’t want to be running around in that heat. Especially when there is a nice air-conditioned room right here. I plan to go out to see the Botanical Gardens later today (when it starts to cool off a little).
Today wasn’t a complete waste. I did laundry, charged my batteries, got some stuff ready to send home and watched a movie. I also got my America fix by listening to some Garth Brooks and Incubus. It has been nice. If I can get up the energy, I might go check my email and grab something to eat. Or I might just stay here and do nothing.
Jan 3, 2002 - 8:45 amBus from Brisbane to Harvey Bay
I ended up not going to the Botanical Gardens. Mark said he stopped by and it wasn’t as impressive as Sydney’s. I decided to pass on it. Instead we had dinner and played networked computer games. Dinner was at Gambaro again. We had baramundi and chips. The baramundi is a fish native to Australian water. I don’t think I’ve even had fish that tasted so good.
I shipped some stuff back home yesterday. It was mostly stuff that I didn’t want to carry around with me. Some T-shirts, pamphlets, and a few souvenirs. It cost $100 froggy dollars and should get home around the same time I do.
Jan 3, 2002 - 3:15 pmHarvey Bay
The bus ride to Harvey Bay was a decent ride. It took a few hours, and my butt is really sore. The scenery coming up was really nice. At first it was like driving through the hills of West Virginia. The ground had a rocky green flavor to it. There were numerous grazing fields, mainly for horse and cattle, but I did see two ostriches out in one pasture.
After a bit of the rocky land we hit some flat farmland. This reminded me a lot of Gun Neck - lots of fields and not much else. It was a pleasant reminder of home.
The clouds over the flat farmland caught my attention again. I think I might be turning into a hippie, but the clouds were awesome. They were close by and well defined, just floating along in the sky. I just let my imagination run wild when I was gazing on them. I thought a lot about the big picture of life. What I’m doing now, what I want to do in the future, what I think I’ll be doing. I decided (again) that I’m not really too worried about what I happen to do in the future. I know I’ll have fun and make a grand adventure out of whatever it is I end up doing.
I also kicked around the idea of another trip. This trip is a lot of fun, and I don’t want it to be the only big trip I take in my life. I would like to visit all seven continents, and I think it would be neat to go SCUBA diving off all of them. Maybe Antarctica will be next…
Jan 3, 2002 - 8:05 pmHarvey Bay
I had kangaroo for dinner tonight. I wasn’t that impressed. The first few bites were good, but as I continued eating it started to taste bad.
We are about to crash. Five thirty comes real early in the morning. I don’t want to be tired for our adventure.
We are sitting here busting on the American money system. “Americans are all stupid. Not only are they stupid, but they’re dumb too.” That insight from Mark commenting on the way American prices never include tax. Here in Australia the prices always include tax and everything. If it says $2.20, then when you go to the counter you are going to pay $2.20. The sales tax is already added. Both of us really like that system, because we don’t have to think when we go to the counter. We also like not having pennies and one dollar bills. They round the money to the nearest five cents. They have one dollar and two dollar coins, which I like a lot.
Jan 4, 2002 - 2:59 pmHappy Valley, Fraser Island
I was right, five thirty is early. I thought we would be up before the sunrise, but I was wrong. I don’t think I’m going to see a sunrise on this trip, unless it is before I go to bed.
After getting ready for the day, a group of us went to the car rental shop to pick up our 4×4s. We watched a video and listened to one of the shop monkeys tell us about driving on Fraser Island. Drive slow, wear your seatbelt, and stay out of the salt water. I think there was another big thing we were supposed to remember, but I forgot it.
Mark and I ended up having to wait for our car. They were putting a new front differential in it when we got there. That kinda annoyed us, because they knew we were coming. Also, we didn’t want to miss the ferry over here.
When we finally got the car I drove it to the ferry crossing. It didn’t take long to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Actually it was pretty fun driving around down there.
The ferry ride was uneventful. There were lots of people and cars, but it was short. The skies have been overcast all day. I kinda wish it were a little sunnier, even though that would mean it would be a little hotter.
Fraser Island is one big island of sand. In fact, it is the biggest sand island on Earth. I was reading how the forest grows then dies here. As the sand dunes grow up, a nutrient layer builds up a little bit under the surface of the sand. Small plants start to grow on this, eventually creating woodlands. As the sand builds up, the nutrient layer gets deeper and deeper under the sand. Enter the big trees (rainforest) with root systems going down up to 20 feet. Eventually the nutrient layer gets too far down for anything to reach, and things start to die. Smaller plants are able to live for a little while, using the nutrients from the dying rainforest. I guess the ocean eventually swallows the dunes, but I’m not sure. The process take hundreds of thousands of years, so don’t sweat the end.
Driving on the island has been interesting. We come off the ferry into the forest area. The ‘roads’ are mostly one lane tracks of sand. Lots of bumps that look little but feel big. Driving in the woodlands is rough and slow.
The scenery is incredible. The only rainforest I’ve ever been in is at the top of the Aquarium (or maybe its in the zoo). This is the real thing. Lots of lush vegetation, and some incredible trees. The air is real thick and you can feel life everywhere. It is really neat, I wish we had more time to spend here.
Our first destination was Lake McKenzie. This is one of the many fresh water lakes on the island. It is also a very popular place. I know it is popular, because there were no parking spots when we got there. We could have tried to park on the side of the ‘road’, but decided to head on to the beach.
Around noon we arrived at Eurong. This is a little resort town on the beach, complete with tourist traps and a little bakery. The food at the bakery was extremely good. I had some donuts and an apple turnover, Mark had an apple turnover and something else.
We ended up having to kill two hours at Eurong. High tide was at noon, and we weren’t supposed to drive on the beach for two hours on either side of high tide. Mainly we just sat around, but we did go walk out on the beach. It was a typical beach, so there is no need to describe it here.
Around 1:45 we decided that we had waited long enough, and we were going to hit the beach. The tide was slacking off a little, so we thought it was safe. It was- no accidents and we managed to keep from getting stuck.
Driving on the beach was a lot of fun. It was a lot smother and faster than driving in the woodlands. For the most part we were driving on wet packed sand, but every now and then we would hit some loose sand. The loose sand gave me a little trouble at first, but once I got the hang of it and kept the car in second gear it ended up being no big deal. Another type of obstacle for beach driving is fresh water cut always. This is where the fresh water from the inside of the island flows out into the ocean. It makes a little cut in the beach which can be a little bumpy but are a lot of fun to drive through.
We just now arrived in Happy Valley, which is where we are spending the night. This is a nice little place a little bit off the beach. We are staying in the Happy Valley Retreat (I think it might be the only place to stay in Happy Valley). The prices are a little higher here than we’ve been paying, but we decided that we would rather pay a little more than try to camp out here. This is a vacation, I’m not trying to do any work.
Jan 4, 2002 - 5:14 pmHappy Valley, Fraser Island
We took another trip out carving sand as Mark called it. He drove up north along the beach. I think he really enjoyed driving on the beach. I enjoyed ridding, and I have most of the trip on video. He has named the vehicle Suzi, because it is a little Suzuki.
The first attraction on this trip was Eli Creek. It wasn’t so bad when we hit it, but it looked like it could get real intense during high tide. Going through it was neat, because the water jumped up all around us.
The Maheno was the next thing we hit. This is a shipwreck sitting at the edge of the beach. It has been stuck on the beach since July 9, 1935 waiting for the ocean to slowly corrode it away. The ocean is definitely doing just that. The ship was nothing more that a rusty skeleton when we came across it. But the death of the ship means life for other things. We saw a few crabs hiding out on the metal. I’m sure there was lots of other creatures out there we either couldn’t or didn’t see.
After the Maheno came the Pinnacles, a coloured sand formation. The sight was pretty nice, worth the drive. There were a few birds circling us here.
There were a few things up north, but not much and neither of us really wanted to go up there. Everyone has warned us that the driving is pretty rough. It was also raining a little and we are both a little sleepy (got up at 5:30 this morning).
So now we are back at the resort. This is a real nice place. I’m glad we aren’t camping. We picked up two movies-”Shawshank Redemption” and “Ransom”. I’ve seen both, but they are good and I’ve seen most of the movies they have down there.
We have a reservation for dinner at 7:00. I think I’m going to try the prong-a shrimp like animal. Until then I’m going to sit back and listen to the rain gently fall on the leaves of the forest outside.
Jan 5, 2002 - 5:32 pmHarvey Bay
HAVE FUN ON FRASER ISLAND, BUT NOT IN THE CAR. That was on one of the pamphlets we got with our car.
Last night we decided to have dinner at the Happy Valley Bistro. It wasn’t a tough decision; that or eat sand. Thinking back, I might have been happier with the sand. We had 7:00 reservations for dinner, so we show up a little early. After walking in we stood for a while. There were empty seats, it was just no one told us what to do or anything. So we walked around and still nothing. We eventually found a line for placing orders. While we were standing in that line a family came in and stood where we had been standing for a few minutes. They were promptly shown to their seats by the waiter (who had passed right by us a few times). We waited in the line for a while, because the monkey running it couldn’t do more than one thing at a time. At one point he took a highlighter from one counter to another, came back and then took a sheet of paper to the counter he just went to. That sort of thing wasn’t an isolated instance.
Eventually we got to our seats (after we placed our orders). We then waited about 45 minutes for them to bring us our food. I could understand if we had ordered something complex. Mark got some oysters and I got some shrimp. Nothing fancy, just straight from the menu. The servings were small, and the cooking wasn’t anything impressive. We were going to have dessert, but the guy told Mark in an annoyed manner that it would take at least an hour to cut two slices of cake.
After dinner we crashed, getting ready for a big day of offroading.
We slept in today. We eventually got up and checked out of our room. Then we headed down the beach to Eurong. Mark was driving, the tide was coming in and oncoming traffic kept pushing us towards the ocean. One guy made us drive through the surf. It wasn’t much, but it made a big splash and we weren’t supposed to be driving in ocean water.
At Eurong we grabbed some food and headed in land. We stopped off at Central Station and took a little walk. The walk was through the rainforest, which was a lot of fun. We saw a creek that was practically invisible because of its clearness.
After crossing the creek and doing a great deal of hiking through the forest we came upon a fresh water lake, Lake Bison (I think). It was one of the perched lakes, meaning it has a tint to it from nutrients seeping in. The hike was long and hot, the lake was cool and refreshing. I hadn’t worn my bathing suit, so at first I just waded into the water. That lasted a few minutes, then I pulled off my shorts and went swimming in my boxers.
The sand in the lake was real soft and smooth. Just standing in the water was real refreshing. While we were swimming an iguana came up to the edge of the water and looked us over.
When I was done swimming I got out and took a walk around the edge of the water. It was neat walking around in my underwear. I was looking for animals and trying to dry off. I didn’t really want to put my shorts back on while I was wearing wet underwear.
The lake was supposed to be famous for seeing turtles. I did not find any turtles when I got half way around. The brush was getting thick so I decided to turn back. As soon as I had walked a few steps I heard a crash in the brush ahead of me. I stood still hoping that whatever made the noise wasn’t poisonous or pissed. Suddenly two iguanas ran out from the brush; one chasing the other. They ran straight at me, so I stomped one of my feet to make sure they new I was there. They ran right in front of me, then headed off towards the lake. About 20 feet from me they stopped. I walked over and checked the chaser out as he sat there and ate a few ants. He was a beautiful animal- a few feet long with dots going along his entire body.
I went back to the beach where everyone else was and grabbed my stuff and Mark. We went back to the spot I had left them. One was still there, so we chased it around taking pictures and being a general annoyance to it.
We then hiked back to the car, had lunch and caught a ferry back to the main land. On our way back we stopped at a car wash. Some salt had dried on the hood and roof of the car, and we didn’t want to be charged the $2,000 for driving through salt water. A few dollars later we took the car back to the rental place. They took it back with no problems, which was good because we were both a little anxious there.
Jan 6, 2002 - 5:25 pmBus to Arlie Beach
We took a lazy day today. Just hung out at the hostel’s common room. Played some pool and darts. We also caught up on email and sent some postcards out.
I played a few games of pool with a guy named Mark from England. He had a thick accent and a slight stutter, so I didn’t understand half of the stuff he told me. Just smiled and nodded my head. Anyway, I was hoping he would be able to tell me what the Australian rules to pool were, especially that semi-circle at the base of the table. He either didn’t know or didn’t want to tell me (or he told me and I didn’t understand him). We ended up starting by playing by my rules, then we shifted over to his rules. The only real difference between the rules is he didn’t make us call the eight ball pocket, and when either of us fouled, the other player got two shots, ball in kitchen. He beat me most of the time.
I’m starting to get used to these weird pool tables down here. The only thing I still have a little trouble with is the corner pockets. They are so unforgiving. The side pockets are a different story. I really like the way they are cut, making them easier to hit. A few times I have made some sweet shots that just roll beside the pocket and barely fall in. There would be no way I could do that with a real table (American).
I spent the rest of the day getting beat in darts by Mark and watching the sunbathers. Too bad the only topless ones were guys…
We are now on a long bus ride again. From Harvey Bay to Arlie beach, which is going to be a little over 12 hours. The bus is pretty packed right now, which is annoying. I hope it thins out some before I try to go to sleep, but I don’t think that is going to happen.
Jan 7, 2002 - 8:01 amArlie Beach
Long bus rides suck. My bum is killing me right now. I think when they designed the seats for busses they came up with the perfect design, then changed everything to make it uncomfortable. This bus ride wasn’t as bad as the one coming out of Sydney. On that one the drivers were annoying because they made us get off the bus every few hours. The driver on this one let us stay on at the stretch stops, which was nice. I don’t really need to stretch my muscles at three in the morning.
We got in around seven, and our rooms aren’t going to be ready until ten. We walked down to a McDonalds and grabbed some breakfast, then walked down the rest of main street. One of the shops we passed by was a chemist. This is just a regular drug store, but they call it a chemist. Nothing special, just wanted to put it in my diary so I remember the little things.
Mark has had a cold for pretty much the entire trip. We are getting anxious about it, because we leave for our dive trip tomorrow evening. That would really truly suck if he couldn’t go diving because of a cold. He is taking some medicine for it, and I think he is getting better. At least he doesn’t cough as much as he used to.
My computer did a kernel dump on the bus ride. It is the second time on the bus that it has given me problems. I think it might be the shaking of the bus that is messing it up. I hope nothing is seriously wrong with it, because I would be royally pissed to loose this journal.
Jan 8, 2002 - 10:33 pmSpoilsport, leaving Townsville
The morning started out fairly normal for this trip. We got up at 6:30, packed everything up and grabbed a bus around 8:30. Rode for a few hours, then got to Townsville and dropped our luggage off. Townsville isn’t that impressive. It has a big mountainous rock on the edge of town, which makes for decent scenery.
When we got to Townsville we grabbed a cab to take us from the bus station to the Holiday Inn for dropping the luggage off. We had about seven hours to kill, so we walked up and down the main street/mall area. As I said, nothing impressive. Then we walked over to the casino across the street from where we were to board the Spoilsport. We ate lunch there, then walked back to town to get batteries and more suntan lotion. The heat and humidity is getting quite unbearable.
We were to meet up for the expedition at the Quarterdeck, a bar/restaurant on the pier. We were a few hours early, so we sat down in a corner and had a few drinks. Luckily they had a pool table, with decent eye candy sitting near-by. As we were playing eight-ball we met up with a Texan that was also going on the trip. He laughed at our pool skills, which I must admit can be humorous with these little pool tables and balls. Beside him was an elderly English man who was also to accompany us.
The four of us banded into a group of strangers. There wasn’t much conversation. None of us were trying to impress each other or ourselves. We were just watching and waiting. Watching the ship’s crew as they prepared the vessel. Waiting for that same crew to let us on and begin the adventure.
At eight o’clock we were aloud to board. The ship is a decent size, which will hopefully be big enough to live on for a week. There are three decks accessible to the passengers. The lower deck sits about a story above the water. The rear end of this deck is the dive deck, where all the dive gear is setup and stored. The rest of the lower deck is accommodations. The poor people (Mark and I) are put on the inside of the boat, while the rich people get a window looking out onto the water.
The second deck is a common area. There is an outside deck with a few tables and chairs. Inside there is a lounge. It is a nice lounge for a ship. Hell, its better than some of the lounges we’ve stayed at the past two weeks.
I’m not sure what the third deck is like. I haven’t been up there yet. I imagine it is just a deck above the rest.
After boarding the ship, we set up our scuba gear. I assume that we leave it set up the entire week, which will be real nice. I’m not trying to work on this holiday. We also had to talk to the trip coordinator and tell him about our dive experience. After everyone had settled in a bit, the staff put on a little talk about how things work on board. Introductions were made, and the captain gave the typical safety speech.
We found out that we are doing the Yongola tomorrow (entire day). Both Mark and I thought that we were to do this wreck at the end of the week. Mark is a little nervous that he will not be able to dive tomorrow due to a pain he has been getting in his head when he goes underwater. I really hope he is able to die tomorrow (and the rest of the trip).
Its getting late (I’m getting old I guess). I’ve got a big day ahead of me, so I’m off to get some sleep.
Jan 9, 2002 - 3:01 pmSpoilsport at S.S. Yongala
The day started with a seven o’clock wake-up call consisting of some slamming doors and people walking around. Actually, the day really started around two in the morning with the dropping of the anchor, but I rolled back over to get some more sleep. The room Mark and I are staying in is a good room, if a bit cramped. There is a bunk be (me on top), and a dresser type thing. We have enough room for the two of us, especially since our dive gear stays out on the dive deck.
After breakfast we were given two talks about diving. The first talk was about diving in general off the Spoilsport, the second was more specific about the Yongala (the site we are anchored at for the day). After the talks it was “Right-o, Splash!” and we were diving. We did two dives this morning, which I wrote up in my dive journal (numbers 50 and 51). I really like the way we are pampered on this trip. The staff puts our fins on our feet when we are going in or coming out of the water. We don’t have to break down our gear after each dive, the staff comes by and fills our tanks up. This is definitely the way to dive.
There are two dive celebrities on the boat with us. One is Mike Ball (the owner of the ship we are on). The other is Bob Halstead, an author of a Coral Sea reef identification book with over 7,000 logged dives. I got the chance to sit in on a conversation they were having earlier today. They were talking about how non-divers are pissing them off. A few days ago there was an incident where a grouper attacked a diver on the Yongala. Apparently some people are going up in arms about the incident and saying that diving is not safe. Mike and Bob didn’t have many kind things to say about that type of stupidity. They weren’t rude or condescending, they just were a little annoyed that people who don’t know anything about diving would try to tell them what they can and can not do. I wouldn’t blame them for being more pissed than they were.
Anyway, the trip is starting off to a great start. I hope to get some great dives in, and learn a lot of new information. That reminds me, I signed up for a video and naturalist course. I’ll get PADI certification for each of them, which means I’ll have given PADI enough money to be a master diver. WHOPEE!!! I’ll also get two certification cards from Australia, which will be real cool.
Mark is feeling better today. He has had a cold for a little while, and problems with a head pain when he went underwater. These two dives were no problem for him (thankfully). He is down stairs resting from a headache.
Well, I think I need to go work on my tan. Either that or do another dive…
Jan 10, 2002 - 2:04 pmSpoilsport at Midnight
I did two other dives yesterday, for a total of four. There was one in the afternoon, which Mark decided to sit out. The last one was a night dive. See the dive log for more info about them.
After the night dive we had dinner with desert. Then it was pretty much straight to bed. All of the passengers were exhausted (but happy) after a long day of diving.
Today started at 6:30 for a pre-breakfast dive. Then there was breakfast and a mid-morning dive. Both of these dives were at Berlin Wall on Findler’s Lagoon.
Right before lunch we got a photo opportunity with the Great Barrier Reef. The captain was moving the ship from Berlin Wall to the next dive spot (Midnight). As we were going we ran into some extremely clear water allowing us to see a good deal of coral. It stretched out to the horizon, amazing everyone with its grandeur. I know I was impressed.
The weather we’ve been having is incredible. Earlier this morning I was having problems finding the horizon, because the blue water blended almost perfectly with the blue sky. I just looked up and it is still like that. The clouds are also exquisite. There is no land, so I can see practically forever, which gives me a good view of lots of different clouds. I wish I knew what they were called, but even if I did no one reading this journal would know what they are so it would be pointless for me to use their real names. I’ll just say that I enjoy the sights of them.
We are isolated from the rest of the world. As I scan the horizon, the only land I see is sand banks that are constantly being built up and torn down by the sea. There is no ‘civilization’ or boats at all.
Now it is early afternoon and almost time for another dive. Mark is down stairs sleeping, so I’ll wait a little before waking him. Maybe I’ll do some snorkeling to check things out.
Jan 12, 2002 - 9:25 amSpoilsport at Trigger Happy
It is pretty hard to find free time for keeping a journal while living on the Spoilsport. There is so much to do between diving, crew presentations and activities. A typical day has been wake up, do a dive, have breakfast, take a small class on reef ecology, do a dive, have lunch, work on a video class I’m taking, do a dive, log the days dives, do a night dive, have dinner, watch a staff presentation, go to bed. Gotta go to reef ecology class. Later…
Jan 12, 2002 - 2:04 pmSpoilsport (somewhere in the middle of the Coral Sea)
I think I’ve got a few minutes now.
Living on the Spoilsport is awesome. I’m learning a lot and making some great dives. So far I’ve done four dives a day since we left port. Doing the dives is real easy, because they have the boat set up correctly. There is a dive deck with all of the dive gear set-up on it. Everyone has a place on the deck where they can store equipment. When we boarded everyone set up their BCs and regs at their place. Fins, mask, weightbelt, and whatever got put in a container under the bench. Wetsuits got hung on the side (to keep them out of our way, and let them dry quickly). When we want to go diving we just go out and all our equipment is there. It usually takes about ten minutes to completely gear up (including getting my video camera ready). Once we are geared up we walk a few feet and until we’ve walked off the stern of the boat and are swimming. When the dive is over we walk over to our space and take our gear off. We don’t have to strip the tank, just take the regs off. A crew member comes by to fill our tanks and put our regs back in. While they are doing that, we are drying off with the fresh towel they have waiting for us. There have been cases where Mark and I went diving and return to find our shirts folded neatly at our station. They definitely take care of us on the Spoilsport. I have a feeling that when I do another live-aboard I’m going to be at least a little disappointed.
The crew has been putting on presentations after dinner. The fist night was a little introductory slide show. The next night Bob (not really crew) put on a great slide show of his adventures diving in Pap New Guinea. This guy is incredible. There is a fish and coral identification book on board that he wrote. He pretty much pioneered diving in Papa New Guinea, discovering and naming a lot of the animals out there. He is a wealth of knowledge and we are extremely lucky to have him on board with us.
Last night they did a presentation on sharks. They were talking about the different types of sharks we are likely to run across out here. They also started talking about the scuba zoo, which we are going to hit tomorrow. This is where we get in cages and go down to watch a small shark feeding. I’m really looking forward to getting some great video from this dive.
The weather has been real nice. The first few days have had some incredible sun sets. I imagine the sun rises have been good, but I’m not going to get up that early to see them. Most of the time the seas have been extremely calm, with little current. Today it picked up a little right before lunch.
I’m really glad I came on this trip to Australia. I’m also real happy that I came on the Mike Ball live aboard. Now I want to do his Papa New Guinea (Mike bought Bob’s boat) trip. It’s only money, right?
Jan 12, 2002 - 8:16 pmSpoilsport near Sand Cay
Today has been a busy day. I did three recreational dives before lunch, then a video class dive after lunch. Mark and I were a few minutes late for lunch because of the dives.
What do you do when the seas get high and the ship starts to rock? Sit down when you pee.
We got some high seas this afternoon. By high I mean a few feet, not storm weather or anything real serious. It was just enough to unceremoniously clear table tops of their contents. They were also high enough to make getting back into the boat a little interesting. When you are done with the dive you swim to the stern (back) of the boat and climb up a ladder that is hanging in the water. The ladder is hinged at the surface of the water, so in high seas it swings up and down with the bouncing of the ship. When I went up the first thing I had to do was hand my camera to the crew member waiting for me. This got a little tricky. The housing is heavy, I was a little tired from the dive and I didn’t want to let the housing get hit by the ship or ladder. I also didn’t want me to get hit, but that was second importance. As the boat went up and down a hand would come in and out of the water. I was able to slip the camera to the guy on one of these dips when his hand was in the water. He did a real good job of grabbing it and not letting it get hit while he pulled it out of the water.
Now I just had to get out. It sounds easy, and it wasn’t hard, but it also wasn’t easy. I’m wearing a lot of scuba gear, including fins that stick out about two feet. That means I can’t climb the ladder the regular way. Dive ladders are built as a single bar going down with the steps branching off this bar. The diver works his way up by sliding the foot out the side and into the side of the next step. In calm seas it is simple, and I don’t really think about it that much. Today the ladder was swinging with an arc bigger than 45 degrees. I had to grab on, ride it for a few waves, then time my steps to work with the bounce. It was fun, but I don’t want to do it on every dive.
After our last dive the group took a little trip for sunset on Sand Cay. This is a sand drift that has built up over the years. The government put a weather station on it years ago. I learned yesterday on a tour of the boat that the weather station used to be used as a reference for navigating to the dive sites.
It felt weird to get back on solid ground. I found myself bracing my legs like I do on the boat when it is rocking back and forth. Taking video was weird, because I wanted to compensate for the sway of the current (which wasn’t there).
The animals that were there included some birds and hermit crabs. The birds were neat, because they were pretty territorial and would fight every now and then. The hermit crabs were neat, because they were hermit crabs.
There is another animal that is associated with Sand Cay. Sea turtles make their nests in the sand. While walking along the beach Mark saw a baby turtle run across the sand and into the water. I got there when it hit the water and swam away. That was definitely the highlight of this side adventure.
The purpose of the trip was to watch the sunset and drink some Champaign. Unfortunately the sky was full of clouds, making the sunset pretty dull. The zodiac ride back to the ship was anything but dull. Kerrin, the camera man, was in our zodiac and had Nick (the driver) circle around to the bow of the Spoilsport. He was trying to get some decent footage for the trip video. The Spoilsport is a catamaran, meaning it has two hulls on each side of the boat in the water. The majority of the bottom of the boat is suspended a few feet above the water. Nick decided to take us for a fun ride and piloted the zodiac under the Spoilsport. There might have been a foot between the top of the zodiac’s sides and the bottom of the Spoilsport. It was a neat experience to ride a boat under a ship.
Tonight is party night, and I hear a lot of yelling on the deck above me. I’m going to go see what is going on…
Jan 13, 2002 - 8:13 pmSpoilsport over Cod Wall
Another busy day aboard the Spoilsport. By the way, taking a shower in high seas can be fun and interesting…
Today started in the normal fashion of dive, breakfast, dive, lunch, and dive. I’m at the point of the day where we sit around and take it easy. This is the life.
The third dive of the day (the afternoon one) was a special dive. The crew put on a shark feeding, which was a lot of fun. Read the dive journal (I think it is dive 69) for more information.
After the dive we were treated to some shark wrestling. This is where the trip co-ordinator dangles a fish head over the back of the ship and sharks grab a hold and wrestle for it. Lots of fun and lots of excitement. I was standing down on the bottom deck, which the waves would regularly crash over. It was neat standing a foot away from a bunch of feeding sharks. The sharks would go up and grab onto the fish head, which Brad would then pull up to the ship. A few times the shark would not let go, so Brad would end up holding a shark up out of the water.
I took footage of both the dive and the shark wrestling. We watched it on one of the TVs on board. It came out nice, and I got a few compliments from the group. Yes, I’m da man.
Jan 15, 2002 - 3:54 pmTownsville
Another chapter of my life has been written. We just got in from the Mike Ball trip. It was a great trip and I got to meet some real cool people. I also learned a lot about diving, the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and shooting video. Give me a few days and I’ll be ready for the next adventure.
We are staying at the Holiday Inn in Townsville. I have a feeling it is going to be a bit out of our price range, but we are only going to be here two nights, so it shouldn’t be that bad. After Townsville we are going to go north to Cairns and have some fun there. I’m not sure what the next step will be. Lately I’ve had a strong urge to go to Ayers Rock. I’ve even dreamt about it a few nights while working our way up the coast and on the boat. I’m going to look into flying from Cairns to Ayres Rock then south to get to Tasmania. Mark might or might not come, we haven’t talked about it that much.
Being on land is real weird after spending the week at sea. I got used to the rocking of the boat, so now that I’m on stable land it feels like everything is rocking a little. At the reception desk to the hotel I had to hold on to the counter, because I felt like I was going to fall down. Even sitting here at the computer I feel all kinds of freaky. It is like the chair is dancing underneath me. The sensation isn’t a bad one, but I can’t say I like it either. I think it will go away in a day or less.
I’m a little hungry, so I’m going to hit McDonalds, then probably hit the internet to catch up with everyone back home.
Jan 16, 2002 - 1:26 pmTownsville
Someone stop the room from rolling, I want to get off…
No, I’m not drunk (or even buzzed). The week at sea has conditioned me to non-stable living conditions. So now that I’m on stable ground, I think my body is still trying to compensate for the roll of the ship. Either that or the hotel is about to fall over. The rolling sensation was real strong for me when I was getting a shower (maybe lack of external reference).
Today is a lazy day. These are real nice to have. Mark is down at the internet den updating his web journal. The only things we have on our list of things to do is laundry, internet, book bus to Cairns and look into shipping some stuff home. Now that we are done with the big dive adventure, neither of us really want to carry our wetsuits or BCs (kinda like inflatable life jackets) around with us. We figure if we do any more diving (I really want to hit Tasmania kelp forests) we can just rent the BC and exposure suites. Tasmania is supposed to be cold, so we’d get drysuits and not use the wetsuits anyway.
If we can find an easy place to ship stuff I’m going to grab some gifts for people back home. I’m making a list of stuff to get, but I don’t want to get anything and have to carry it with me everywhere. Worst case scenario is me buying all the gifts in Sydney and shipping them with me on the plane. There were lots of good shops in Sydney, so this wouldn’t be all that bad.
I was looking over my journal a little while ago and realized I forgot to mention something from the ship. A few nights of the week I went up to the top deck to look at the stars. It was incredible, but that isn’t suprising. We were out in the middle of the sea, and there wasn’t any other humans to be seen. The only light that got in the way came from the ship and they were pretty small once all the divers got back from the night dives. So I spent some time laying on a lounge chair staring up into the heaven and thinking. It is amazing how many stars are up there, and how little we can usually see them. I thought a lot about the night sky’s effect on people back in the day. I also thought about how we live in different worlds, and it can be hard to relate to their lives. Then my thoughts ran to my life and spiritual stuff. Next I got to thinking about aliens and life outside of earth. I think it would be more amazing if there isn’t life on other planets rather than no life. Then I got to thinking about reality and purpose of life and other philosophical stuff. It was good for my soul to sit up there and just gaze off into never never land.
Jan 16, 2002 - 9:06 pmTownsville
OK, I’m getting a little nervous about getting some video footage that I want. One of the big things I wanted to do was film a toilet getting flushed. The water is supposed to swirl the opposite way, because we are south of the equator (I think that is why). So far none of the toilets have been co-operative. Every toilet I’ve flushed has been like a power flush. The water just goes straight down. No swirl of water at all. I might get desperate and fill a sink with water and film it draining. I tested this on the live aboard, so I know it will work (looks weird to me).
There are lots of things that are different here than back home. One of the things that freaks me out is the phone numbers. I don’t think they have a system, people just get phone numbers at random. OK, what I’m saying isn’t conveying what I mean. A lot of the phone numbers that we’ve used and seen are different lengths. I think the shortest phone number we’ve seen has been five numbers, the longest at ten numbers. I don’t think it is area code or anything like that (but I might be wrong). It is just plain wack. While I’m talking about phone stuff let me throw to more thoughts in. The dial-tone sounds like a ringing phone in America. The pay phones don’t give any change. The call cost fifty cents. If you put a two dollar coin, you better make four calls, ’cause you ain’t seeing none of that money ever again.
Now let me move to the weirdness of Townsville. It looks like a regular town. Not many stores, just a medium sized town on the sea. But then night falls and everything closes. Actually, they don’t wait for night to fall. Everything closes at 5pm. It is just plain wack.
Jan 17, 2002 - 8:01 pmCairns hostel
We’ve made it up the coast with no worries. Now we get to run around in the tropic heat of Cairns. I’m not resting my arms on the computer wrist rests because my arms are sweating. The sun is down and I’m just sitting here, and still I sweat. I don’t mind, because I’d rather be sweating in Cairns than freezing in Maryland.
I sent a package of goodies back home this morning. Most of the gifts I wanted to buy and our wetsuits were in the package. I also sent some stuff from the ship (book and video) back because I don’t want to carry it for the rest of the trip. I hope it all makes it back without any problems. We also want to send our BCs home, but can’t find a shipping place that will handle it (too large for regular post).
Mark and I are looking into what we want to do for the rest of the trip. We have tomorrow and the next day booked out for adventures. Tomorrow we are doing the tourist train up here (forget what it is called-starts with a k). The next day we are taking a 4×4 tour of the rainforest. That tour is supposed to be lots of fun and the rainforest is supposed to be real neat. I’m not positive, but I think the rainforest runs right to the beach, which would be interesting to see.
On the Mike Ball ship I noticed that my camera housing got a little damaged. Part of the main housing got bent in and there are some stress marks on it. I noticed this about half way through the dive trip. Luckily it didn’t leak any (or else I would have know on the first dive, and been pissed/bummed). I’m still a little bummed, but I’m not too worried. It made it through the week with no problems, I got some great video, and I had lots of fun with it. And it still works fine. I would ship it back home, but I want to take it diving in Tasmania’s kelp forests. I’m really looking forward to that and hope I get a chance to do it. I guess I’m going to have to talk to the guy that made it when I get back and see if he thinks it should be repaired.
I got some email from Dave, my boss at work. He said everyone there enjoyed my email updates (thanks to Matt for forwarding them - I think). He said they were interested in seeing my octopus footage, which I’m really keen on showing. I haven’t been calling in my time (can’t figure how to call America), but he said he was entering it for me. I’m blessed to have a great boss that will let me have six weeks off and enters my time for me. Now I just have to go clean this brown stuff off my nose.
Jan 18, 2002 - 7:24 pmCairns hostel
Today was spent doing the tourist thing here in Cairns. But we are tourists, so no worries. We ended up doing a sky coach tour and train ride. There was a little town in the middle of the day (somewhere).
The sky coach thing was a pretty cool way to see the rainforest. I don’t think I’m calling it the correct thing, but I don’t really care that much. The set-up is like the thing they have in King’s Dominion. You get in a little car that is connected to a cable (like a tram). The view is from the top of the rainforest, which is a neat perspective. They were really careful when they built the whole thing. Helicopters were used to fly all of the supports in, so the rainforest wouldn’t be disturbed too much.
The sky tram took up to the small town of Kerandu. This had a few neat little stores, a lot of which were Aborigine type stores. Mark and I both bought digeradoo. I also bought a gift for Meredith (sister-in-law). I think I might have gotten Greg (brother) a gift also, but I might keep it for myself. We’ll see.
One of the ‘attractions’ we did in Kerando was the butterfly sanctuary. It was extremely blissful. You go into an area that is separated from the rest of the world by a metal net. I can’t really describe it easily. There is a ‘room’ (size of a greenhouse) that the butterflies can’t get out and predators can’t get in. The room is full of vegetation and peaceful scenery. There were a few waterfalls and a small pond, making the ambiance very relaxing. If they had pumped Enya into the room I think they would have put everyone in a coma like state of serenity. Another neat thing they had in this room was butterflies. Imagine that. Anyway, the butterflies were beautiful and I enjoyed chasing them around with my video camera. I didn’t really want to leave, but there are other things I have to do.
After we were done playing around in Kerandu we left. We had tickets to a scenic train which winds through the mountains and goes back to Cairns. The train ride was a nice slow, laid back way for us to get ‘home’. Some of the views were real nice: grand views of the mountains, valleys and forests.
I have to entertain some Swedes now. Later.
Jan 19, 2002 - 9:03 pmCairns hostel
Those two Swiss guys were pretty cool. They did a seven week holiday over here. Tuesday is when they said they were leaving. Our conversation was pretty weak until we started talking about music and discovered that we all love Metallica. So I put “…And Justice For All” on and the conversation got going. Their English was not very good and I thought it was neat when they talked about music. They don’t really listen to the lyrics that much because they can’t understand a lot of them. I can’t imagine really listening to music and not being able to understand what is being said. After music our conversation turned to other guy stuff: surfing, drugs and whores. They would make good Americans.
Speaking about pre-conceived notions about Americans, let me tell you one thing we did yesterday. In Kurandu we found a shooting range. I’ve never shot a pistol before (not counting arcade games and cap guns). We decided to go for the works and shoot all the guns they offered. .22, 9mm and a 45 magnum. The .22 was set up with a laser scope that put a red dot on the target. The other guns were set up with a scope which had a red dot where the bullet hit. Except the 9mm’s scope was aimed low and to the right (pissed me off a little). For not having shot before I did really well. On the .22 and 45 I got most of the shots either in the bull’s eye or the ring adjacent to it. I even did a decent job compensating for the wack site on the 9mm. Yep, I’m a stone cold killer. East side…
Yesterday’s train ride was cool. It was a nice easy way to get home while taking in the scenery.
Fast forward to today. Today we decided to go to the Daintree Rainforest. The part we visited was north of Cairns. We went out with a tour group in a Landcruiser. There were nine of us representing at least five countries. We started out with the tour guide picking everyone up from where they were staying. Then we drove to the rainforest. Getting there involved driving past a lot of sugar cane fields. The tour guide gave us a nice little history/education about the area, which I promptly forgot. Just kidding, the sugar export is one of the big incomes for the Cairns area. Blah, blah, blah. If you care about that sort of stuff go look up Cairns, Australia in the encyclopedia. I actually found it a little interesting, but not enough to write it here. One thing I thought was neat was that all the farmers have semi-private railroads that link all the sugar farms to the sugar mills. That is just cool.
After the sugar fields we came to the Daintree river. There was a cable ferry there which allowed us to cross with no problem. The weather was getting a little bad, but made a real neat visual effect. The clouds were low and coming over the mountains so it looked like the mountain side was on fire and patches of smoke was drifting up. With the clouds came a slight drizzle. It wasn’t anything too bad, I even took my video camera out in it.
Our first stop in the forest was a boardwalk and trail winding through the brush. Like all the other nature attractions I’ve been on in Australia, this was well made and well maintained. We started walking through what I think of when I think of rainforest. Lots of thick, lush vegetation and little creatures running here and there. The only thing that was missing was the mosquitoes, but I didn’t mind them not coming along. The tour guide said he didn’t really like the name rainforest. He said a better name would be closed forest. About half way through the boardwalk it started to rain. Hard. I think I’ll keep to calling it a rainforest. I had a ziplock bag for my camera, so no worries.
Even though it was raining I still had a great time. Actually, I think I had a better time with the rain than I would have without (at least on this part of the trip). Parts of the boardwalk went through mangroves, which I really find interesting. A mangrove is made up of trees that have evolved to live in brackish or salt water. The root systems of the trees in the mangroves started branching a few feet above the water line, so you look out and see the roots starting out wide and narrowing to the trunk, which then widens with the branches and leaves. The mangroves didn’t sit on the soil, they live in the water. When we were walking on the boardwalk through the mangroves I though it looked like a swamp looks (without the mosquitoes). I really liked seeing this environment in the rain. It just felt refreshing and clean with the rain falling on the leaves then trickling off to splash into the water below.
We all got back to the vehicle wet. No worries, our next stop was the beach. The rain started to slack, so we were hoping the rest of the trip would be sunny (hahaha). The beach we went to was Cape Tribulation. This is a cape that Captain Cook named because of the troubles he was having in navigating his ship though the reef system. He must not have been very good, because the captain of the Mike Ball trip had no problems what-so-ever. There is a lookout built on the edge of Cape Tribulation which everyone tried to get there. Unfortunately the path was blocked by a fallen tree. OK, I know what you are thinking: walk over the bloody tree and problem solved. Nothing happening, where there was once path was now a wall of green. I couldn’t see through to the other side. Our fearless guide was able to get us to the lookout by leading us through a dried riverbed and over the beach. The lookout gave a real great view of one thing: the storm clouds that had just come over the mountain. Again the view was incredible. Little wisps of clouds here and there on the mountain sides, and a huge dark cloud engulfing the top of the mountain. Then it rained while we ran back to the vehicle.
Lunch was provided by the tour guide. Normally they have it on the beach, but we decided to have it in a dry place today. There was a bar/hostel that let us borrow a few tables.
After lunch we made our way back to the Daintree River. Parts of the road was underwater, making it difficult to pass. There was one bridge that was .9 meters underwater (there was a measuring stick on both sides of the bridge). We passed about 15 cars waiting for the water to lower so they could drive across. Our vehicle had a snorkel, so it could easily been driven through water twice as deep. Our guide even took us offroading at one bridge so we could go through more water.
On the other side of the river we caught a river boat tour. Everyone jumped out of the car and into a boat. The guide (different guide from land) took us up and down the river looking for wildlife. He said the rain had kept most of the animals from coming out, but we saw a few birds and a small crocodile. We also got molested by a few mosquitoes when the boat was stopped. Even with the lack of fun animals the tour was a lot of fun, mainly due to the humorous tour guide. At the end of the tour the guide released a snake that had been caught in a chicken house.
That was pretty much all we did today. Tomorrow is going to be a lazyish day. We are going to go explore Cairns on our own.
Jan 21, 2002 - 5:15 pmCairns hostel
Yesterday was started out as a boring day. We decided that this day would be the day for walking through Cairns and seeing what the city has to offer. Same old, same old. Cities don’t really impress me that much any more down here. It was a Sunday, so lots of stuff was closed which didn’t help that much. I did buy a nice reminder of the trip: a photograph of Uluru from a distance. It is ‘real art’, so I’m going to have to take care of it when I get back home.
After walking around for a while we decided to figure out what we were going to do after Cairns. We went and talked to a travel agent for a little while about visiting Uluru. He kept trying to push some tours on us. They involved camping, which I have no desire to do right now. After talking to the travel agent it was apparent that Mark and I needed to figure out what we wanted to do.
After some research we decided that we were going to part company for a few days. Mark decided he wanted to go back to sea with Mike Ball, while I decided that I wanted to go experience the rock. I’m interested in going and learning about the religious aspect that the rock has on the native people. Hopefully I’ll be able to find someone there to talk to about stuff.
Today we got up before the sun (too early) so Mark could grab his cab. After he left I went back to sleep. I spent the rest of the day running errands. I bought some more gifts and shipped a few packages home. Hopefully the cigars will get there without any fuss.
Tomorrow I catch a plane to Uluru around 11:15. It is a short ride, and I’m staying there until the 25th, when I go to Melbourne and meet back up with Mark. We spend the night in Melbourne, then it is off to Hobart, Tasmania. I’m really looking forward to both Uluru and Tasmania. This has been a great holiday so far, I hope it stays that way.
Jan 22, 2002 - 10:28 amCairns Airport
I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Uluru. They start boarding in 30 minutes, so I don’t have too long. And the airport is a little more comfortable than the hostel room was (pretty sad when you think about it).
That reminds me of something that I found fairly funny about our hostel beds. A few nights into the stay we changed from a dorm room to a twin room. The beds in the twin room was a bunk bed. Like every other time I took the top and Mark took the bottom. When Mark sat down on his bed he heard a cracking sound and sank a little. The boards holding his mattress up were made of cheap wood and they were starting to come apart. I thought this was really funny until I looked under my bed and found it was made of the same cheap wood. Mark ended up having to stick his head beyond the bed so he wouldn’t fall through while he was asleep. I ended up sleeping on the edge of the bed, where the metal frame could support most of my weight. I didn’t want to fall on Mark and impale him with lots of cheap wood. It was kinda annoying at the time, but looking back I think it is really funny. Mark wasn’t there last night, so I got a chance to sleep over top of the wood. The mattress sucked, so it was more comfortable to sleep on the side.
Jan 22, 2002 - 3:35 pmUluru
I made it safely to the Red Center. The only problem I had was with getting my baggage at the hotel (I changed rooms). I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon looking around at the resort area and seeing what is available. I’m also going to look into renting a car for my stay here. The walk to the rock is too far, and I don’t really want to get in with a tour of the place, I’d like to explore the area at my own pace.
I saw Uluru from the plane. It is quite big to say the least. I’m excited about checking it out and getting video of sunset and sunrise.
Jan 22, 2002 - 8:41 pmUluru
Kangeroos and koalas be warned: I’m back behind the wheel. It still feels wacky, but I haven’t gotten in on the wrong side of the car yet. Having the seats on opposite sides sometimes whacks me out. In Cairns I got in the front passenger seat of a cab and almost changed the rear view mirror so I could see behind us. It just felt right for me to do that when I got in on that side of the car.
For the next few days I’m staying at a resort near Uluru (Ayres Rock). Uluru is located inside the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park, which is a World Heritage Park. That means it is a nice place to visit, and they take care of the area. Outside of the park lies the Ayers Rock Resort, which is made up of a handful of hotels, hostels and camp grounds. I’m staying at the Outback Pioneer Hotel & Lodge, which is probably the cheapest hotel in town. I decided that I didn’t want to go dorm room this part of the trip, because I want to spend this time in a quiet spiritual state of mind.
Today I got some tours booked. Tomorrow morning and the evening of the next day I go on walking tours. I picked these tours because they are lead by members of the Anangu people (local Aborigine group). Both go over different aspects of the aborigine life and the religious significance of Uluru. I hope to learn a lot from these walks and from the cultural center in the park.
Earlier this evening I watched the sunset from the lookout inside the park. They have a place where you can drive your car and watch Uluru as the sun sets behind you. I recorded the event using interval recording, and I’m happy with the results. Arriving a little after 5:30 I was the first car there. The sun set around 7:35, but I wanted to get some footage of Uluru before the sun went down. I had a bit of time to myself, which I mainly used for self-reflection. I came to the conclusion that I rock. I’m pretty happy with my life and the outlook I have. I look forward to the cool stuff I’m going to do in the future, even though I don’t really know what I’m going to do yet. I’m just going to try to experience as much of the drama of life that I can.
Jan 23, 2002 - 5:28 pmUluru
The story I’m about to tell you takes place during the time of creation, when giant ancestral being inhabited the earth. These beings were powerful and able to change shape between animal and man.
Lungkata was an iguana-man and lived in the west. One day he decided to search for friends and headed out to the east. The first day he found no one and ended up resting and creating a waterhole in the desert. The second day he came to Uluru and decided to rest in a cave near the top of the rock, because he had walked all the way around Uluru and not been able to find any friends.
While Lungkata was heading to Uluru another ancestral being was coming up from the south. Pan-pan-palala had speared an emu the same day Lungkata left his home in the east. He followed the wounded animal north for two days until he was able to catch up and kill the bird. The emu’s meat was dried and cooked at the waterhole created to the south of Uluru. The next day, when the meat had cooled enough for Pan-pan-palala to hold, he went to make camp on the south side of Uluru. At his camp, Pan-pan-palala made a fire to keep warm and put the emu meat behind him while he went in a deep slumber.
When Lungkata walked around the rock the next day he found the tracks left by Pan-pan-palala. He thought, “Here is a friend I can talk to and share the emu meat with.”
Lungkata went into Pan-pan-palala’s camp and tried to wake him, but Pan-pan-palala would not stir. Hunger got the best of Lungkata, so he walked from the camp out into the desert and back, making lots of tracks to confuse Pan-pan-palala. He then took all of the emu meat back to his cave, leaving only an emu thigh in Pan-pan-palala’s camp.
Eventually Pan-pan-palala’s fire began to die down causing him to wake from the cold. He built the fire back up and reached behind him to eat some of the emu meat. When he discovered the meat had been stolen he began to search for the person that had stolen it. He went out into the desert three times following false tracks before finding the cave with Lungkata was it.
“Hey white-fellow, do you know what happened to my meat?”, Pan-pan-palala called out to Lungkata.
“No. I have come from the west, searching for a friend. I know nothing about your meat. Someone else must have stolen it.”, answered Lungkata.
Pan-pan-palala went back to his camp to search for more tracks. Finding no more tracks, and suspecting Lungkata had stolen the meat, Pan-pan-palala hid a stick from the fire behind his back and went to Lungkata’s cave.
“Hey white-fellow, what did you do with my meat?”, he cried.
“I know nothing of the meat. I came looking for a friend to talk to.”, was the answer Lungkata returned.
Pan-pan-palala took the burning stick from behind his back and set fire to the brush under Lungkata’s cave. Lungkata was a lizard and could not move quickly. Smoke filled his lungs and he fell, killing himself on the ground below.
This was the story told to us by Richard this morning. He was our guide on the Liur (poisonous snake) path. The story is told to kids to teach them about morals and how to live in the Aboriginal society. Some of the morals are obvious, but there is one that is subtle, and relevant to tourists. The obvious morals are don’t steal and don’t lie. The subtle moral is to not climb the rock, because you might fall and die. The story also describes the lands around Uluru and tells the people how to travel through the desert (where to find water holes).
I learned a lot more than a story on the trail this morning. We watched the guides create glue, learned how the common tools are made, how to start a fire without matches. We also got a chance to throw a spear using a spear thrower. The guides also told us about the way disputes were settled in their society (still used today). When woman are fighting they take their digging sticks and take turns hitting each other on the top of the forehead. Eventually one of the women will fall down and the dispute is over. If a man does wrong to another man the man that has been wronged stands on the other mans foot and sticks a spear through the fatty backside of his thigh. The dispute is then over, and the guilty man will be able to walk again in a week or two. It seems like a harsh way to settle disputes, but the guides and the interpreter all agreed that it is a good way. People tend to take heed of what they are doing, and no one holds a grudge.
After the guided walk I had some free time on my hands. I wanted to talk to the rangers and interpreters about some stuff, and I wanted to do the base walk around Uluru. The rangers and interpreters were busy doing stuff, so I decided to do the walk. I left the climbing area around 10 am. I got back around 1 pm. It is a BIG rock. It was also extremely hot and dry. I had a lot of water with me, and there were a few places to fill bottles, but it still ended up being too hot for me. When I got back to the Culture Center (where the ranger’s station and my car were) I was suffering from sun poisoning. I grabbed some food and headed back to the hotel, where I slept like Pan-pan-palala. I’m going to take it easy and not go out to watch the sunset tonight.
The walk around the rock was interesting in the beginning. A few kilometers from the climb area there was a water hole sitting in the shade of trees and the rock’s walls. It was so tranquil and peaceful there that I spent a few minutes just sitting there. As I walked along the trail I found lots of sacred sites. These were all marked and fenced off, so tourists wouldn’t enter or take pictures (I was glad I left my video at the hotel). There were lots of times that I just looked up at the rock. Standing at the base it seemed like some of the walls went up for miles. The top of the walls was always a good view: the hot red rock with the cool blue sky behind it.
On the way back to the hotel I noticed that the clouds were extremely pleasing to my eyes. But I don’t think it was the clouds that made the view so nice. I think it was the sky, which looked so pure and clean. It was a perfect sky, with light shades of blue near the earth turning into the deep blue at the top of the sky. I bet it is good for sky gazing when there are no clouds out.
Jan 24, 2002 - 8:01 pmUluru
I went on another tour this afternoon with the Anangu guides. We started out in the culture center with them telling us more of the creation stories (I’ll tell another one later). After that we went to one of the water holes at the base of Uluru and learned about how life was lived in the naked time (before white people brought clothes to the land). Then we went out to a shelter in the bush and talked a little about the bush foods. It was a good walk, but not as interesting to me as the one I took yesterday. One thing that made this walk fun was the guides. There was an old man and woman and they kept poking fun at each other.
In the time of creation there was a Python Lady coming home to Uluru from the east. She was bringing her eggs to the rock. When she got to the rock she heard that her nephew had been speared. She quickly put her eggs in a safe spot and began to travel around the rock to see if it was true.
As she got near the south side of the rock she knew that her nephew had indeed been speared by the Liru (poisonous snake) men. The Liru men had come to Uluru from the west. As the Python Lady came towards the Liru men she spat out her anger onto the rocks, which bear white scars where the spit hit. She then picked up her digging stick and poured some sand and something from her pouch onto her stick and body. The Python Lady then began a war dance as she neared the Liru men.
When she got to a Liru man she took her digging stick, which had grown to become a weapon, and hit the Liru man in the head twice. As she was walking away she glanced back and saw the Liru man was still alive, so she turned around and hit him again across the nose. This third strike killed the Liru man instantly. The rock bears the marks from the Python Lady going towards the Liru man and the three scars from the Python Lady’s strikes.
After killing the Liru man the Python Lady continued along the base of the rock, where she found her speared nephew. The nephew had been speared in the leg and was still alive. The Python Lady took something out of her bag and smeared it on her nephew’s legs. This healed the nephew.
Later, the Python Lady and her nephew come to the place that is now a waterhole. At this place the two joined together and crawled up the rock. When they got near the top the Python Lady told her nephew that he was a changed being. This caused the two beings to join completely, turning them into a water snake. The water snake still lives above the water hole today. If the days are dry and there is no water on the ground a man from the area can climb up onto a certain rock and call to the water snake. The water snake will hear the call and send water to the water hole.
I don’t think this story was meant to teach morals to the youth. I think this story was meant to teach the youth where and how to get water. The guides tell us just the basic stories, like they would tell young children (which we are to their culture). As the youth grows up they are told more intricate stories, and deeper layers to the stories that they had bee told earlier. They are also taught songs and dances to help reinforce the learning. This is the way the knowledge and philosophy of the people has been brought down over the generations. Today I got the feeling that there is a deep and wise philosophy that these people posses and that it would take a life time to learn it (which is how long they take).
Jan 25, 2002 - 9:47 amFlight from Uluru to Alice Springs
It is called the Red Center because the earth is made of sand the color of blood. However, it is not the barren wasteland that I thought it would be. From the airplane window I look down onto a green land cut here and there by blue rivers. I was expecting to see cracked and scorched earth void of life save a lizard or desert plant. The ground is spotted with trees and grass that grows as tall as me. I hear that emus, kangaroos and other large food animals make their homes down there.
The window on the plane must be warped a little, because the image bends in certain places. It makes a neat effect, reminding me of the ocean. Below me a sea of green waves flows by. I look upon this and am pleased.
There is a funny smell in this airplane. I’m not really sure what it is, but it started when I took my shoes off. If it persists I might be forced to call upon one of the cure hostesses and ask her about it.
Jan 25, 2002 - 2:18 pm (NSW time)Flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne
Perhaps Uluru isn’t located in the Red Center. Perhaps the Red Center is south of Uluru, the area that I’m flying over right now. I say this because I look out the window and there is red ground as far as I can see. This is the desert I was looking for earlier. I’m glad I’m not down there, ’cause I bet its hotter than a june bug in heat. As opposed to this plane which is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
Jan 25, 2002 - 11:09 pmMelbourne
Melbourne looks like a happening city. I almost wish we were spending more than one night here, but time is getting short. I hooked up with Mark and we got to our hotel, which is located in the middle of the city. That made walking around town nice and easy. Mark might get up early tomorrow and walk around some more. Not me, I’m going to bum if I get up.
Jan 26, 2002 - 8:51 pmHobart, Tasmania
Today started early. Mark was going to walk around Melbourne before we left, so he woke up a little before six. I rolled over and went back to sleep (rather sleep than walk around a city). The sun wasn’t up, so he went back to sleep. The little pecker woke me up for nothing. I will have to get revenge.
No worries getting to the airport or down to Hobart. We rented a car when we got to the airport and drove into town. I like the freedom of having a car. You don’t have to worry about catching a bus or grabbing a taxi, and you are free to go places outside of walking distance.
After grabbing a room in the Pickled Frog we went for a walk through downtown Hobart. Every Sat they have a market, which we stopped by. There were some things that I would have bought if I was taking it to a car, then my home. I didn’t see anything I wanted to carry around. Although, it is getting late in the holiday and we do have a car, so I might be more willing to buy stuff now. That might be a bad thing, because I looked at my credit card bill over the internet yesterday. It looks like it might be a few more months before I can get a house…
After walking around the city for a while we grabbed the car and went to a mini-gold course a little outside of town. I don’t remember the name of the place and there are no pamphlets around. The place had two courses: 18 holes inside, 18 holes outside. It rocked, to say the least. The place looked like someone had actually thought about what would make a good golf course. There were sand traps, roughs, and water traps. There were also multi-tiered holes, some were even set up with air pumps that pushed the balls up. The inside was three stories tall, with the balls going up, down and everywhich way. I ended up loosing and had to buy Mark some ice-cream, but he bought me a drink so it was cool.
I have a weird feeling about this place. All day while we were walking around and tonight at the hostel I’ve had this feeling. My feeling is that Hobart reminds me of Ireland. This is a real weird feeling, because I’ve never been to Ireland. Maybe this place reminds me of my mental image of Ireland, which isn’t too weird I guess. Or maybe it’s because this place was a convict island and there are a lot of criminals in Ireland. Don’t know if either of those statements are true…
We are trying to figure out our plans for the rest of the holiday. I told Mark that the only thing left I really wanted to do was dive some kelp forests. I want to see Cradle Mountain and the Walls of Jerusalem, but not nearly as much as I want to do a kelp forest. Our tentative plans have us staying in Hobart for two nights, then heading over to Port Douglas. We are going to check out diving in Port Douglas, because there is a dive shop that advertises kelp forests (and seals which would be real neat - as long as there are no great whites feeding). After Port Douglas we are going to drive to the national park that Cradle Mountain and the Walls are in. Then we will head to Launceston to catch a flight to Sydney. This is depending on us getting the car for another day, being able to return it in Launcerston, and being able to get a flight. Just a few minor details…
Jan 27, 2002 - 7:54 pmHobart
We started the day off with a walk above the trees. About an hour drive south of Hobart is the Tahune Forest Reserve, one of the many national parks in Tasmania. They have set up a little tourist attraction down there called the Tahune Forest Airwalk. There is a walkway through the forest and above most of the trees. Today it was a little crowded, but the view was incredible. There was a river running close to the walk and mountains in the distance, giving us some great photo opportunities. Ever now and then, when a good number of people were walking, the walkway would sway and shake. It was lots of good (cheap) fun.
After that we went out shopping and to the botanical gardens. I was trying to find a chess set made from Tasmanian woods. There were a few in one of the market stands yesterday, but I didn’t know if I really wanted one. They cost a few hundred dollars and I’m a little in debt, so I didn’t want to make any rash purchases. I was thinking about it last night and decided that I should have bought it. It will be a lot easier to get out of debt then to get back to a market in Hobart (one a week). I had no luck finding any chess sets in any of the stores we looked at today. But then, a lot of the stores were closing or closed. Most of the stores in Australia close real early - like 5pm. These people just don’t have the work ethics or stamina of America.
It was raining pretty hard when we got to the gardens, so we didn’t spend much time there. One thing that really impressed me at the gardens was the Japanese Garden. This was a little attraction within the main gardens. The centerpiece of the Japanese Garden was a wood fountain sculpture. There was one large trunk of wood where the water went up, then lots of little concave planks for the water to flow back down. Hidden within the garden was a few other waterfalls that were picture perfect. The one leading from the main pond to the water path was extremely well put together. I wish it hadn’t been raining, because I would have spent more time there and taken some video. As it stands the only pictures I have are my mental ones (which I’m sure will be warped with time or forgotten all together).
Tomorrow we are heading out of Hobart. We must answer the call of the open road…
Jan 27, 2002 - 8:46 pmHobart
Yeah, long time since I wrote in this thing…
I just sent an email to my parents. Then email was telling them to turn on the heater to my bed. That means the adventure is coming to an end. We leave a week from tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand I’m ready to get home. I’m getting tired or moving every other day and not really knowing what I’m going to be doing in three days. On the other hand, I’m not ready for the adventure to end. I really enjoy the freedom of not being tied down to any place or job. We do what we want when we want (to a certain degree anyway).
sniff, sniff. If I had any feelings I would be crying right now. A mixture of joy and sadness. But I’m not a tool, so I’m not crying. We still have a lot of stuff to do (Port Author, kelp forest dive, Cradle Mountain, Walls of Jerusalem, and Sydney again). And we still have a week (plenty of time for me to get Mark drunk and deported). And I still need to find a kangaroo that isn’t too lazy for boxing.
Jan 28, 2002 - 8:42 pmEaglehawk, Tasmania
Rain, rain and then some more rain. It rained all last night. Then it rained on us as we left Hobart and headed towards Port Author.
Our first stop was Eaglehawk Dive Center. This is a shop/charter service/hostel. We talked to one of the guys here about diving and getting a place to stay. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be divable. The guy living here said we would probably see a weedy sea dragon if we go out tomorrow. Seeing one of those in a kelp forest would make me spooge my suit.
After spending a few minutes at the dive shop we headed out to go sight-seeing in Port Author. There were a few lookouts and rock formations that we stopped out and saw some great sights. Before hitting the convict city we stumbled across a Tasmanian Devil Zoo. After a brief struggle for control of the car, Mark forced us into the parking lot. It was a nice little side adventure. We were able to see some devils feeding and get up close and personal with some kangaroos. I got some video of two roos doing the dirty. Heh heh.
The next stop was Port Aurthor (we’ll ignore that stupid Doo-this town). This used to be a penal colony back in the day. Now it is a tourist attraction. People now flock to it by free will instead of being sentenced there for life.
Upon arriving at Port Aurthor we were corralled through an information center. The people set this up wanted the guests to learn stuff, which I usually object to. However, this was set up with great care, so I didn’t realize I was learning until it was too late. When you get your ticket (you have to pay to get in) they give you a playing card. Each card represents a specific convict. You follow the card and learn about that particular convict’s life in the colony. I was the 10 of hearts, and my convict was a log sawer (I think).
After the learning part we jumped on a boat and forgot everything. The boat gave a tour of the bay and some of the islands there. One of the islands w