Bike tour in Melbourne
As my friend pointed out it's been a long time since I have had time to write anything. At the moment we're in Mel and we have left the "sunny" east coast behind us. The first day in Mel was just a day to remind myself of where everything is located and get known to the new neighbourhood. Oh, I took a quick peak around Albert Park, you know, the place where the Formula 1 Australian grand Prix is being held the 18th of march. And guess what? The preparations are on the way and I have just run over the official race track between the security fences and the grandstand seats. Oh, and there's more. We have tickets for the race day!!! Hah! Beat that sucke.. eh, sorry.. I'm just so exited.
Today i went for a bike tour arranged by my hostel. The route us took up and along the Yarra river for about 2 hours and down from there through the northern suburbs. The weather was great and it felt good to be cyckling again after such a long pause. At the moment I feel great and I feel like being back home from a long trip. You don't get that kind of feeling in many places around the world.
It's raining again
So, finally the weather catched us. After we left sunny Byron Bay it's been more or less raining every day. I even got a damn flu in Cooray and been cursing the rain and cold weather from there on (I call a cloudy day with temperatures around +25 C cold).
After Byron we headed to a small village called Cooray some miles west from the coastal town of Noosa. We were promised a free housing, free food (including vegetarian cooking lessons) and free surfing for a change of three hour of work in a small organic farm. The deal sounded almost too good to be true so we went to Pete's place and were exited by all the new stuff we might learn there. But as good as it sounded the reality was awfully quick to reveal itself. The house was quite ok from the outside but it was all such a mess inside.
The work itself wasn't that bad. There were no organic farm anymore but there were plants and fruit trees instead so no big deal. The work consisted mostly of creating new walking paths, carrying stones to surround plants, painting of walls and such. Actually the work was quite a joy after countles days of fooling around on the beaches. And the painting was done for an aboriginal man living in Pete's place so I have to say it was a worth doing.
But.. the indoors, the kitchen and the toilet. What could I say? if a man doesn't flush a toilet, wash his hands or use shower even weekly then I'm out of words. The kitchen was propably the worst as we had to eat there. Pete told us he washed the dishes only once a day (well, i didn't see him washing the dishes at all) so you can imagine why I'm complaining. We had to use the dirty plates and mugs, make food on dirty tables with dirty hands. Atleast until I did something about it. But you can't clean a place in few days if has not been cleaned for years. For the good of Pete I have to say he has a good knowledge of vegetarian cooking. We learnt many superb recepies of vegetarian cooking and actually been making some of the foods afterwards. So, it wasn't all bad after all. Oh, and I found that fist sized huntsman from the bathroom. That was my best moment at the Pete's place.
The following weeks I have been trying to cope with my flu. I had to skip my surfing and swimming but then again it's been raining almost daily so my biggest feelings to seek the cooling water was gone anyway. Noosa was a nice place althogh a bit too expencive for my taste. The YHA we lived in had some really cute parrots in the trees and there's a few great shots of those. Also we found a cool lizard in one of the small villages south of Nooza and I managed to catch a shot or two of that one also. Heh, at this point you must have noticed my interest of all kinds of animals.
From Nooza we continued north to Hervey Bay where people usually go to Fraser Island. It's the worlds larges sand island with endless sand dunes (some size of a big hills) and most likely worth seeing in good weather. Anyway, we skipped the place and acually were lucky not to go there. Think about spending a day or two on an island without proper cover from rain and cold while it's rainingn and flooding all around you. So Hervey bay was just a stepping stone for us on our way to the Airlie Beach.
The following stop was at Bundaberg. Bundaberg is a famous city for young backpackers who want to make some extra money in the multiple local vegetable farms. For us the Bundaberg offered some more rain, typical australian east coast city view, protected beach for sightseeing endangered sea turttles and so on. Actually we were thinking of doing some job in there but after calculating our dates we decided that we do not have enough time to stay there long enough to to make any real money. And while in Bundaberg we noticed that the rains made some of the normal works impossible so the working opportunity was even worst at the moment of our stay. And yes, the rain is a good thing for the farmers but some of the work cannot be done in a heavy rain.
The turtle tour was one of the best things I have seen on my journey so far. When I went to the beach I was hoping to see one or two small hatchlings on the beach but it turned out to be so much more. Me and my fellow tour members were chosen to the first group to enter the protected beach and it turned out to be a lucky thing. We were only getting seated to the outdoor theatre to wait for news from the beach (there are many voluntary workers patrolling the beach all the nights during the hatchling season of the turtles) when we were told to be quick and get ready to go and see the young turttles to exit the nest and enter the sea. This is someting worth mentioning because the small turttles are pretty quick when they must run for their lives to reach the sea. We were lucky in that but propably the even luckier as we were able to see one of the females to come in to the shore and lay her eggs and then disappear to the sea again. There are some great shots from my turttle night in the gallery. Oh, and to let you know, there are many photos from the night but the turtless were distracted as little as possible and they were left alone in the dark during the most critical moments of their nesting and such. We were guided all the time and were being told what to do and where to stand all the times. Anyway, it was a night to remember!
Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Airlie Beach. We came here this morning after spending a whole night in a buss from Bundaberg and you know how well one can sleep in a coach full of people. It's been raining a few times today but we also had a few hours of sunshine so we saw what it can be here too. Tomorrow we will go sailing for two days so wish us the best of luck and let the blessed sun shine for a few days!
Gone surfing
Dear readers, it's been a while since i wrote to you. I've been surfing all day long in here and at the moment my arms are like spagheti from all the paddling with my surfboard. For example yesterday I surfed about two hours in the evening and today more or less 5 hours in the morning. The waves differ a lot from time to time but it seems that on the Byron Bay main beach the waves are excellent early in the morning. This means that I've been up before eight just to go to the beach and catch the morning waves with few of my fellow surfers. I'ts been fun but at the same time really exhausting as the strugling in the waves takes alot of energy.
For the first time on our journey I have had a real change to use my spoken english for real. There are three Irish people in our dorm room and they are a lot of fun and we've been talking this and that for hours. Actually this third place we are living in the Byron Bay is a real jackpot. All of the people are so nice and people are smiling to each other and are ready for a conversation everywhere. It is a shame we have to move on and leave Byron Bay behind but then again there are new adventures waiting.
ps. there are a bunch new pictures in the image gallery!
Byron Bay, east coast Australia
Yoga, surfing, swimming... After landing in Brisbane we took the bus straight here. Its my third time in AUS but my first time on the east coast, so its about time to see what's it all about! So far my perception of AUS has been about the cities in the south, but this is a whole other world.
A vacation doesn't have to be about eating too much and burning yourself in the sun (though we've tried that too). Here I can start my day with a yoga class, followed by a bruch of gluten-free bakery and soy milk latte. And not feel the slightest bit odd =) Then there's swimming, reading a good book in the shade, relaxing on the beach. And there's a lighthouse!! While Raine does surfing, my shoulders cant take the strain, even boogy boarding was too much for them. So I switched to body surfing, that is throwing yourself in the wave with no equipment at all and riding along=) Im also perfecting my swimming technique...
Have stayed in 3 different places here. The first one was a lodge in a caravan park - we arrived on a friday without anything booked and that was all that was left. Were lucky even to get that! Was a bit over our budget and a little quiet. The next one was a basic backpackers. Our room was filled with british 20-somethings who smoke pot and played the guitar til at least 2 am. Not so great if you have a 10 am yoga class... (Im leaving the 8 am stuff for the pros =) This third place is finally working, its a YHA hostel with a palm lined pool, close to the centre and the beach, quiet rooms, nice people =)
Sunglasses. I really thought I could do this whole trip without them (am not a sunglasses person). Wrong! Finally bought a pair and am blending in much better with the locals. If you dont need them for the eyes, you'll need them for the style!
Am now really really starting to enjoy myself. While the Philippines were great and interesting, it was often a lot of hassle and dirt. This place is a hippie mix of surfers and yogis, Sydney people on weekend breaks and alternative therapy. Love it! I dont think I wanna leave, maybe we found the best place at first? But we did have a plan to see the east coast all the way up to the Withsunday Islands. We're also spending quite a bit of money here, so anytime soon it will be time for that working bit...
-Carina
Surfing!!!
It's been like four years or something since I surfed the last time. Today I hired a surfboard from the local surf shop and got to the beach to check the waves. The weather was excellent. Some offshore wind and the waves were small enough for the beginner like me. So i took my board to the waves and waited for the first good wave. It seems that I haven't forgotten it all as I could read the waves quite easily and got the first wave i chose. Few strong strokes with my arms and suddendly the wave got me and I was sliding down the wave front. I was about to push myself away from the board to gain some speed when I noticed that I was positioned too far on the front. The same instant I was doing the classical nose dive with board flip from behind. Whee! Into the waves I went and the lesson was learnt. The second time I was accustomed with the balance of my new board and like 1-2-3 I was on top of the board, standing, and riding the wave. The feeling was awsome! Even after four years I was able to catch the waves with little effort and it was pure ecstasy! The three hours went flying and after the half day of fun I was ready to return to the beach. I was all smile even though my strenght was used.
As a side note I have to tell you that you can get 4 liters of a wine for as cheap as A$9.59 from the local bottle shop. This means that our food drinks got cheaper today =) So, we're learning how to cut the costs and as we moved to the AQ hostels dorm room we've been able cut the living costs and are staying on the calculated budget.
Singapore Changi airport
After the Philippines it is a wonderous feeling to step into this airport. From the many airports I've seen this is THE best airport ever. Heh, after all the dirt in Manila it feels almost alien to wonder around in this clean and tendered environment. Everything is working and all is in top condition. Free internet, free feet massage and so on. They even sell salt liquorice, salmiakki, as we call it. I better stack up for the time in Australia as they don't know what's good for you ,-)
