Margaret River for Vines and Wines (Australia)

After Cable Beach, we “went to Perth”.  I say that because Perth is one of Australia’s largest cities, so by mentioning it, you may get an idea of our whereabouts (south west, think San Diego placement, but San Francisco weather or maybe even colder); but we really did not visit Perth.  We flew into the Perth airport in the evening.  Jared did a bit of math and realized that the shuttle to and from the airport and our hostel would be kind of expensive, so he suggested we just sleep in the airport.  We had to pick up a rental car from the airport the next morning, so we opted to do that instead of pay the extra amount.  Also, airports are one of the few places where wifi is almost guaranteed, so we were able to pick up some internet, which I used to finalize some of our last minute Australia stuff.  We set up shop in the international terminal for the night, which was, surprisingly, a pretty popular decision among other people as well.  That night’s sleep was so-so, as to be expected, but the next morning we got up alright and got ready to head out.

I will mention here that I cannot stand it when a car rental company advertises themselves as being at the airport, you know one of the desks you can walk up to in the baggage terminal and then walk over to the parking lot and pick up your car, when they are in fact NOT located at the airport, but instead somewhat “close” to the airport necessitating some type of shuttle to pick you up and take you to the company hub; it drives me bananas.  At least, by the next morning I was aware that I needed to arrange this shuttle, but still, what if I didn’t have a phone to call them!?  Anyway, the shuttle came and picked us up and we got our rental car arranged.  Awhile back, when initially planning everything, we were actually discussing leaving Perth out of the itinerary entirely due to our time shortage, but I decided we could squeeze in a few days, and we both decided to focus entirely on a small town about 3 hours south of Perth along the water called Margaret River, more famous as one of Australia’s prominent wine districts.  The drive was short, but a bit excruciating, because I was sooooooo tired, and again, I am the only one who can drive, ug.  Anyway, we finally arrived in the cute little town of Margaret River.  First things first, the information center to figure out our tourist options, of which there was a surprising amount for such a small town.  We also hit up the grocery store.  As I was the driver and Jared the navigator, he basically planned and directed me where to go the entire time, which is kind of how I like it right now; I did about 95% of the planning and booking for Australia, so when we have an opportunity for me not to plan our activities, I revel in it.  First stop, nature.  Apparently, Margaret River is a biodiversity hub on par with the Amazon, and we had just come into wildflower season!  Jared planned out a few hikes through notable regions.  We didn’t exactly know what we were looking for or looking at, so I kind of tried to think of it all as very rare and exotic, ooh ahh…but how knows.  Either way, it was nice to look at!  On one walk, we made it out to a whale watching lookout, and despite not actually seeing one break up through the water in a huge whale leap, we did see a lot of blowhole mists and little bits of whale parts, so…I guess it’s kind of the same thing, right?  Yea, we didn’t think so either.  Anyway, as the day wore on, we made it to a great lookout just in time for sunset.  Now, remember the advice of the first car rental company about driving at dusk and dawn?  Well, we had our first encounter with a kangaroo that dusk.  It was driving through the very narrow dirty roads lined by bush (as in The Australian Bush), when out of nowhere a huge kangaroo came bounding out at the car.  I swerved and barely missed it, which was a bit scary, but kind of awesome because I hadn’t seen a kangaroo in the wild yet!  So I got to tick that off my box!  A bit after dark, we pulled in to make our dinners at a small lookout before driving a bit more to the town of Gracetown, where we pulled in to a boat inlet parking lot and spent the night sleeping in the car.

Needless to say, never the best sleep in a car, but the next morning, we found some good bathrooms along the beach and had a bit of a wash up before heading back to Margaret River’s town center.  That day, we decided to focus on wineries.  We drove south to Augusta and the Cape Leewin Lighthouse at the point of the Cape.  Unfortunately, the lighthouse charged admission just to even be able to walk to the point, which was lame, so we opted out.  We attempted to find a few more spots along the way with the mysterious wild flowers that we could not really identify, and eventually gave up to focus on our booze.  We went to a total of five wineries that day, Red Gate, Cape Mentelle, Voyager Estate (with Jared’s favorite Cabernet Sauvignon), Xanadu, and McHenry Hohnen.  The Margaret River region is mostly known for their Chardonnay, of which neither Jared nor I are big fans, and their Cabernet Sauvignon, of which Jared is a really big fan.  Ever since Jared traveled to Italy several months ago, he has developed an appreciation for wine (and olives), with a heavy preference for red, so he was very much enjoying the tasting…also he wasn’t driving haha  After our fill of red wine, we headed back to Margaret River’s town center.  We stopped again at the grocery store and found some really cheap pork mince for dinner.  There was a nice park with a picnic area, including a really nice and clean BBQ facility, so we were able to cook up the mince and have a hot dinner.  We again slept in the car that night, always in an attempt to skim a few dollars off of our expenditure. 

The next day was our last in the Perth region, but we weren’t flying out until the evening, so we woke up early and went for a nice nature walk through the park where we head spent the night.   Then we headed into town a bit to stop by the local farmer’s market, which was great because they had a massive amount of free food in the form of samples, so we took full advantage of everything!  That was basically enough for our lunches and when we had exhausted our free food allotment at each stall, we packed up and leisurely made our way back to Perth, stopping off at a cheese factory (with free cheese samples).  We got back to the car rental company in plenty of time, thankfully, because whenever we “live” in a car, it’s like our backpacks actually exploded all over the back seats and junk is everywhere, so we have a bit of rearranging and packing before we were ready to go.  Our next stop was one that Jared was pretty darn excited about!

Cable Beach and Broome...more like Cable Beach and Boring. (Australia)

Our flight to Broome was probably the best flight we’ve had; in fact, it was two flights, with a quick layover.  We always LOVE when there is a meal or snack served on our flights, which, as you can guess, there was on both flights; however, we must have looked really really poor or something, because on the first flight, the flight attendant gave us two extra big muffins each, after having given us the standard first muffin, and on the second flight actually made a little lunch bag for us with a wrap and bunch of chocolates that he handed us as we were walking off the flight.  Best flight ever right!?  Anyway, that started us off well.

The airport in Broome was pretty teenie, which always makes getting out and around easier.  We were able to pick up the outrageously overpriced shuttle, which dropped us off at our campsite.  Cable Beach is one of the top beaches to visit in Australia, but there is actually absolutely nothing in Cable Beach.  The “town” is Broome, which is a 20 minute car ride from Cable Beach through absolutely nothing.  When you look at a map of a small town, you seem to think that everything will be easily walk-able.  This was not; well I guess it could have been if we were willing to walk like an hour in pretty oppressive heat and humidity.  We got to our campsite, set up our tent and immediately stripped down.  Normally when we fly, we try to wear our heaviest stuff, so we both had on pants, hiking boots, and some sort of winter attire on top.  We did a quick inventory of the campsite; some campsites have loaded kitchens, washers, dryers, and some are totally bare.  This one was pretty great, the kitchen had a microwave and water heater, there was a fridge and washers and dryers and a big tub sink for laundry.  Anyway, after scoping out the joint, we headed to the beach, which ended up being a much longer walk than expected due to the map being way off scale.  Anyway, we made it to the beach, and basically hung out there for the rest of the day, as it was too hard to go into town and figure out activities.  So the first day was a nice relaxing beach day.  Even though Jared denies it, I think he has a bit of a harder time sitting and doing nothing (I have zero problem with that), so he was a bit more antsy.  Toward the end of the afternoon, we set off back to the campsite.  Jared took a big risk and had me cut his hair, military fade and all (I had done it once to my brother and botched it up, so I was a bit nervous), and I did a pretty darn good job, if I do say so myself.  That evening, we ate our airplane packed meals and a few protein bars for dinner, watched a movie in the tent, and called it an early night.

The next day was some town festival, so we woke up, had an early morning workout session at the beach, and after cleaning up again, made our way into town via the bus.  There are two main areas to Broome, Town Beach and Chinatown.  Our first stop was the information center to figure out what there was to do around town.  The answer to that: absolutely nothing.  We could not do anything exciting for free.  We asked about walking to Town Beach, and what we might be able to see or do there, and she literally said, there was nothing in Town Beach either, you can’t even swim at the beach (see: salties).  Jeez.  So, with that in mind, we decided to hit up the local McDonalds for crappy internet, and then made our way to a bit of shade under a tree in a park.  We got lucky, and that afternoon was the annual Chinatown fair, so we got to see the cute small town parade with lots of little floats and kids.  There were also overpriced food trucks, face painting and pretty terrible music.  After watching the parade and meandering a bit, we hit up the grocery store for some seriously cheap food, including a 10 cent half gallon of milk, (jackpot!) and set out to wait for the bus back to Cable Beach.  When we got back to the campsite, we cooked up our dinners.  Jared has become a water-heater-cooking expert of a sort; he has figured out some pretty unconventional things to cook it kettles, like eggs, and, that evening, pasta.  Some of the other people at the campsite, were looking at use sideways as I poured the pasta into the kettle, but after explaining, they too realized it was pretty genius.  We have really figured out so many corner-cutting tips for traveling.  Anyway, we had our dinner and opted out of a movie that night, as Jared was all tuckered out.

The next morning, we decided to wake up early and take the 7:30am bus out to the point, where, apparently during low tide, you can see dinosaur footprints!  Some of the other people at the campsite gave us the inside scoop on where to see them etc, as it can actually be quite difficult to pick them out among all the broken and sharp rocks.  So, no workout that morning, we had some breakfast from the last bits of Jared’s Afghanistan stash, and rode the bus out to the point.  We could have walked, but it was about a 7km walk from the campsite, and we knew we’d have to walk back as there was only that one bus in the morning to the area.  We sort of figured we’d be able to lie on the beach and read or nap.  Unfortunately, when we got to the point, there was nothing but a rocky cliff.  We tried to find a spot of shade among the rocks, which worked for about 45 minutes before the sun hit us.  The only place nearby was a pagoda with picnic tables and benches.  At about 11am, we had to give up the view of the ocean and the breeze and opt for the picnic tables.  Sadly, after about 3 hours of lying down on a picnic bench, something inside of me started screaming, and I could not just lie any longer.  We decided to give up our quest for dinosaur footprints and make the long way back to our side of the beach.  The sun was hot, our water supply borderline, and we had about 7km to walk.  Luckily, as we were walking back along the road, two nice girls picked us up and took about 2km off of our walk.  Apparently, they decided to pick us up, after one of them actually stated “God, I’d hate to be them”.  So, that was generous of them.  The remainder of the walk was nice; we were able to make it onto the sandy beach and walk the remaining 5km along the water, which makes 1000% difference compared to walking along a dusty highway.  Jared headed back to the campsite to get some camera equipment for the sunset, while I lounged on the beach a bit.  That evening we watched the sunset over the beach before heading back to the campsite for dinner.  I quickly want you to take inventory on what we did that day: bused to the point, did absolutely nothing until we walked back, watched the sunset, the end; I’m just saying, it was a slow day.

The next morning, we were prepared for a slow day again.  Like I said, there is really nothing to do in Cable Beach.  Also, as a side note, I mentioned earlier that Cable Beach is renowned as one of the nicest beaches in Australia.  I gotta say, we were not the biggest fans.  I mean, yes, it is a nice long beach, the sand is much better than that brown sharp sand we mostly get in the US, but the water was a bit sandy and there were big red jelly fish everywhere.  This is apparently the area that has the really serious teenie tiny jelly fish that paralyze and kill a person in the water, so we at least dodged that season, which starts in October (we dodged it by a hair), and at which time, I’m told, people don’t even dare to put their big toe in the ocean.  I should also mention, after writing that part about the sand and water…we are HUGE snobs now when it comes to views and beaches…HUGE, I will apologize in advance for any future comments I make.  It was a lovely beach…but seriously, go to Whitehaven.  I did a mini-workout, while Jared was a lazy bones.  We had breakfast and headed to the beach for a bit.  The big plan that evening was to go to the Staircase to the Moon.  This happens every month for about 3 days during the full moon.  Everyone gathers at Town Beach in the evening and watches as the sun sets behind them and the moon rises in front of them.  After a bit of sunning and lounging, we made our way back to the camp and hopped on the bus into town.  We first stopped in Chinatown and browsed the supermarket for anymore sweet deals, of which we found none, so we went to the bottle shop to drown our sorrows, haha just kidding.  We did pick up a bottle of wine for that evening some and nice ciders for that afternoon.  I guess that’s what you do when there is literally nothing to do…drink.  So, we popped open our nice cold ciders and went to the same park as the day before, sat in the shade and read, while sipping on our drinks.  As the afternoon waned, we packed up our stuff and started the kind of long walk to Town Beach, again the maps we were given we severely misleading, and what looked like a 10 minute walk on the map, was really more like a 40 minute walk.  Since there was whatever festival that week, all of the same vendors had set up at the beach, including a few new ones, through which we browsed in an effort to waste time before sunset.  As the sun started its low decent, we found a good spot to watch the moon rising, and took out our stash of protein bars and the red wine.  The Staircase to the Moon is basically what appears during low tide, as the water receded over the mudflats of the bay, the moon rises over the horizon and casts its glow over the ripples in the mudflat creating a perfect column of striated beams from the horizon to dry land.  This column, due to its striations, looks similar to a staircase.  That evening, the first glimpse of the moon as it broke the horizon was wonderful.  You know sometimes when the moon looks really really large, like it’s somehow much closer to Earth?  Well it shone just as big, and bright orange.  It was a pretty neat sight.  As it rose higher it began to shine its glow along the mudflat creating the staircase.  The whole transition didn’t take very long, and was something you might imagine could be seen anywhere in the world (though, they of course advertised that this is the only place it can be seen), but the effect was none-the-less inspiring.  After the moon rose high and the sky turned black, we packed up our little beach picnic and made the last bus back to our neck of the woods.  That evening, we had dinner with some of the other campers at our sight, all sharing the evenings show…like I said, there isn’t a whole lot to do there, but it was nice.

The next morning was our last.  We woke up, ate, and leisurely packed our things.  Our flight wasn’t until that evening, so we tried to wait around doing nothing at the campsite, so as to keep an eye on our belongings, before getting a bit stir crazy.  One of our camping neighbors offered to watch our things for us, which allowed us to make one more pit stop at the beach.  We quick headed down for a nice dip and stroll, and then headed back and to the airport, heading for Perth.  All-in-all, Cable Beach, very nice; look for a quiet time and rent a car.

Darwin and The Outback! The Real One, Not the Restaurant!! (Australia)

Our flight to Darwin was easy and quick.  We arrived, got our bags together, and after a bit of confused lost-person back-and-forth-walking looking for the town shuttle, we were offered a share cab with some other travelers into town.  We got dropped off at our hostel, and actually got a “that’s all your stuff” from some snot-nosed traveler; hey buddy, there’s winter gear and camping stuff in here too, ok?!?!?!  Anyway, we must look pretty prissy or something, because first we got that comment about carrying a ton of stuff, then when we went to check-in, the desk attendant warned us about three times about our room, saying it was all long-term workers (I guess kind of like the hostel I was staying in in Sydney), and so stuff was everywhere, there were 12 other people in the room, it got really really hot at night, and there was only the fan…maybe we should go check it out before committing to that room…really…seriously, check it out.  I have never been so deterred from staying in a room before, we must have looked like novice travelers or something.  In the end, we assured her that we could take pretty much any kind of living environment for one night, and whatever the room looked like was fine.  When we walked in, it wasn’t even that bad; I mean yes, there was the smell of warm bodies in a hot environment, and stuff everywhere, but lord, it wasn’t like there was raw meat hanging from the ceilings!  Anyway, we settled in and organized ourselves.

The next morning, we had a tour of Kakadu National Park for three days, and weren’t allowed to bring our large packs, so we have to prep stuff.  I got a “that’s all your bringing?  Really??” from Jared, so I think I did pretty well.  Once we had our main packs locked up in the luggage storage at the hostel, and all our stuff ready for the tour, we took some showers and purtied up.  Our blast-from-the-past travel friend, Jordan Allen, whom we originally met in Puerto Escondido, then again in Guatemala, Tasmania (only Jared) and Sydney (only me), was spending his last night in Darwin!!  He met us at our hostel, and showed us around town a bit.  We walked to the main esplanade, with a bay nicely netted off due to the large amount of salt-water crocodiles and sharks…my kind of bay!  He took us around town a bit, and we shared experiences and further plans, a lot of which consisted of, “well, I could do this….or this…or this…who knows we’ll see.  However long my money lasts”.  You know, the classic traveler’s “plans”.  For old time’s sake, we went to a Mexican restaurant that was actually surprisingly good; the boys got enchiladas and I got fish tacos.  After dinner, Jordan walked us back home, as we had to wake up pretty early.  We hugged it out and said our see-you-laters.  We’ll see him again, I have no doubt; he’s a great person. 

The next morning, we woke up nice and early to eat (free breakfast!) and be ready for our tour van to pick us up around 6:30am.  As usual, we drove around to a few other locations to pick up the other travelers, and with 11 of us, we set out into the outback of Australia!  Our first stop that day was in Wulna Country where we met a young aboriginal girl who was part of the Limilngan-Wulna people.  The first thing she did was bless each person, much like a baptism in her culture, and ward off negative spirits.  This was done by sipping on water from the local billabong and spitting on the face of the person you want to bless.  So, yea that happened, and now we are forever protected from evil spirits!  She then told us about some other traditions from her culture regarding education, coming of age ceremonies and local hierarchy.  I learned that if I fancy an aboriginal man who is married, all I have to do is bring a large stick into the village and challenge his most senior wife.  We then duke it out with our sticks, and if I’m still standing at the end, I am allowed to become a wife!  So that’s a safety for me, which is nice!!  I liked learning about the local aboriginal culture a lot, not just because it gives me a marital safety net.  After, we went to a different location and took a cruise through Mary River wetlands system, housing the largest concentration of salt water crocs in Australia.  We were strongly discouraged from sticking any part of our bodies over the side of the boat.  The guide was a very nice woman, who worked with a researched crocodiles.  She informed us the crocodiles were basically just very curious animals, like dogs, who were misunderstood and overly vilified…yea right lady, we’re not buying it.  “Salties”, as the ever-abbreviating culture of Australia has coined them (see also, Maccas, brekkie, sunnies, swimmers etc), are crazy man eating monsters…I’m never changing my mind on that.  She did inform us that the salties are probably the world’s most effective and efficient predators.  Anyway, the cruise ended up being nice, and we still have all of our extremities.  We got to see both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles along with local vegetation and exotic birds.  After our cruise, we grabbed some lunch of hotdogs, which did not impress Jared, until there were about 15 hotdogs left over that he got to dominate.  The end of the day brought us north to Ubirr to look at some ancient, and modern rock art from the local aboriginal tribes.  We walked around the protected area to the top of a lookout before calling it a day and heading into a campsite just before the sun went down.  There was a pool, so while half the group organized dinner, the other half hung around by the pool.  That night we ate two batches of kangaroo meat.  The first was marinated in barbeque sauce and onions, which was really quite tasty; the second batch was plain and so undercooked it was still hopping away.  Even Jared couldn’t eat it, which is saying a lot.  The tour guide recooked it a bit, but I gotta say kangaroo is really gamey; I took one bite and gave the remainder to Jared.  We went to bed early that night as we had an early morning rise the next day. 

At 5:30am we all started packing up and getting ready for the day.  We had a pretty indulgent breakfast, and Jared and I finally figured out how to eat Vegemite.  Proceed with caution, but it’s actually quite nice.  We loaded up the bus and headed into Kakadu National Park to view some of the waterfalls.  The first was Twin Falls.  The road leading to the falls was dirt, gravel, sand and generally crap, including a half meter deep river to drive through.  Needless to say, we were happy we did not attempt to DIY Kakadu.  We had a quick jaunt over to a ferry which took us upstream before hopping out and walking a bit more to the falls.  Unfortunately, because this was the end of the dry season, the falls were all but dried up.  It was still a lovely place to have lunch, right beside the water on the rocks below the falls.  The safety of swimming anywhere in Kakadu National Park, and the northern region in general, is entirely dictated by the presence of crocodiles.  The process by which crocodiles are detected in different water sources is by leaving a Styrofoam ball in the water; the ball is then checked at a later date to see if there are teeth marks.  The teeth marks are inspected to verify whether it is from a salt water or fresh water croc: if it’s a saltie, the water is deemed unsafe to swim, and that’s that.  So, seriously, that’s the entire process for verifying whether there are salt water crocodiles; needless to say, it’s not entirely foolproof, so at every water source there is a disclaimer making you aware that you swim at your own risk.  Jeeeezzzzz.  Anyway, Twin Falls had been deemed unsafe to swim, so after lunch, we headed back to the ferry and bus and over to the next waterfall, Jim Jim.  We got to do a bit of a mini-hike to Jim Jim, so Jared and I sped ahead trying to find fun rocks to climb to get great views on the way to the falls.  There had been a small amount of water coming down Twin Falls, but unfortunately, Jim Jim was entirely dried up.  Jim Jim is a thin but very tall waterfall that empties into a lake below, surrounded by huge boulders.  We set our things on the boulders and were able to swim through the lake all the way to the side where the falls would normally dump into, which was kind of neat, and obviously wouldn’t have been possible if the water levels were higher.  We spent a few hours swimming around in the beautiful lake surrounded by huge sharps cliffs.  After a few hours of lounging and swimming, we packed up our things and headed back to the bus, through the rugged roads and to our new campsite.  This campsite had showers, so we were all able to wash off two days of hiking and swimming.  Dinner was unremarkable that night, but oh God, the evening’s entertainment.  The tour guide had brought a guitar, which he had yet to pull out, but there had been talk of a campfire sing along.  I wish you could see my face as I write this; it’s not a pleasant face.  Low and behold, that night, as the sun set and dinner finished up, he pulled out that damned guitar.  At that exact moment, I attempted to say my goodbyes to the group, but the guide actually insisted that I stay for one song that I might know, so he proceeded to play some country song coaxing me to sing along with him throughout.  Yea that wasn’t happening.  Finally at the end of the song, I clapped, waved my hand and made a bee-line for our tent.  Nicole Jafar, if you’re reading this, I really really really wish you had been there at the exact moment when the guide and group all started singing “You Are My Sunshine”.  Oh, Jesus, no I’m not kidding.  I couldn’t keep it together.  Anyway, thankfully, the evenings serenade died down not long after that, and I was able to get some damned peace and quiet!  ;)  That night we slept in tents without the rain covers, allowing a great view of the stars, which was nice to wake up to throughout the night. 

The next morning, we woke with the birds, which means early.  We had our breakfast, packed up, started the bus, and immediately disembarked to fix a flat tire, which shockingly only took about 30 minutes.  I couldn’t change a flat on a normal car in 30 minutes, let along an all-terrain tire on a bus that looks like a hand-me-down from the military.  Anyway, our destination that day was called Maguk, which contained a waterfall and swimming holes.  We had about a 30-40 minute uphill climb before coming to the top of the waterfall, where we could jump from 6 meter cliffs into the swimming holes and through underwater tunnels.  We had a bunch of fun cheering each other onto higher and higher jumps.  I think Jared and I were the only two who made the tallest jump. We had lunch and spent a few hours enjoy the swimming and sun before leaving a bit after 3pm.  The rest of the day we spent driving back, only stopping to see the gargantuan termite castles that can grow to several meters high, and a couple pit stops before returning to Darwin a bit before sundown.

The tour guide had made reservations for the whole group to get together for dinner and drinks that night.  Jared opted out, so I went and met everyone. We had a nice dinner and drinks before making our way to one of the local nightclubs and getting a pretty serious dance sesh in before calling it a night!  It was a good thing I went that night, because I was able to set up a taxi share with a couple from the tour for the next morning.  I got back to hostel a bit late, prophylactically chugged some water, and made it to bed a touch after 2am, to be up by about 6am (hangover-free by the way) and head to Broome and Cable Beach.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

Our next leg of the trip was an easy drive from Shute Harbour to Cairns.  Though it was a somewhat long, about 8 hours, it was easy and daylight the entire time.  We pulled into Cairns city center, found our hostel and settled into our rooms.  Jared was heading out for a five day diving cruise the next morning, so he packed all of his essential stuff, and stashed everything else under my bed.  The hostel had a dinner special with a bar down the street; Jared wasn’t interested but came with me to check it out, and I think got a bit of dinner envy.  I ordered the meat pie with mashed potatoes and veggies, and it was MASSIVE!!!  I could see poor Jared salivating through his eyeballs, so I feigned being full and let him have some, then we both topped off dinner with a Clif Bar.  We were pretty tired, so we called it a night early.

The next morning, Jared was up at some obscene hour to work out, then set out for his diving cruise while I set out for my work out.  I saw a lot of the photos from the trip, when he came back, and he told me the highlights were either all the sharks at North Horn or a dive at Ribbon reef with so much life and color, where he could swim thru small schools of fish getting really close and gliding thru without them swimming away.  Occasionally, Jared would have wifi on his supped up vessel, and tell me he was having a great time, and doing a massive amounts of dives.  Bear in mind at this point in my description, that getting said information at of him, Lord, sometimes is like pulling teeth!!

Anyway, my time in Cairns was uber relaxing.  I would casually walk around town getting a few last minute things together, oh I bought a Kmart tent for three people for $32!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That is unheard of!!  Our four man tent we bought in the US was like $260 or something!!  Anyway, that was a great find.  Most mornings I would do a little workout along the water.  This was the first city that had wifi everywhere, so I got to FaceTime a bit, and was generally happy to just lounge around.  There was a really big pool that was built right on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean.  A great place to get in some writing and catching up.  I was still trying to run off of the food that Jared brought, so breakfast and lunch was leftover stuff from him, and at night I would get the dinner special at the bar down the street with a few roomies from the hostel.

The day after Jared left, I went out on a snorkel cruise of two reefs in the Great Barrier Reef, Saxon and North Hastings.  I woke up early that morning and was picked up by a bus and shuttled over to the port.  I found my boat, and along with a big group of people, rode out for the day.  The first reef was Saxon, then we had a buffet lunch and headed out to North Hastings.  Both reefs were really wonderful, but they saved the best for last.  North Hastings was a lagoon, and the life under the water was just breathtaking.  There was so much to see, such large areas of coral and sea life, and right at the surface of the water, so the colors were SO vibrant.  I was really amazing to see neon colors in nature.  My favorite fish was the Parrot fish; not sure if you’ve ever heard of it, but they are the most bright neon colors, magenta, teal, lime green, orange etc and all neon, really really beautiful.  I got to see where Nemo lives, which is a cool floating bubbly jelly-looking thing with soft tendrils sticking out, and you could see the little fish swimming in and out.  Apparently, it is very poisonous, but the fish that are born and bred inside are immune to the poison.  You know how when you see coral pieces on land, they are so rough and calloused, well in the water it all just looks so fluffy and welcoming, all I wanted to do was snuggle into the soft coral flowers and little fish cities, though I’d probably die from something.  Apparently, quite often, the prettier it is the more deadly, so opted against it.  Also, I’ve heard that just touching the coral can kill it and these massive sea life reef take hundreds of years to form.  At one point, I saw some JackA actually standing on the coral bed!!!  He got yelled at by the crew members, but I was just about ready to leave him out there Open Water style (the movie).  Anyway, it was a really amazing experience.  At the end, I rode in a “semi-submergable” boat, where the bottom of the was glass, so I could attempt to take some photos underwater (basically unsuccessfully).  THEN!!!!  The most exciting part!!  I opted to ride in a helicopter back to Cairns, and I lucked out!  I was riding back with two other people, one of whom was old high school friends with the pilot, so we got a few extras on the ride.  We all jumped into a small boat that took us to the floating helipad, where we boarded the helicopter.  The pilot flew us over a few different reefs and even landed on a sand island.  The ride was soooooo much fun and definitely one of the coolest things I ever done!  Most people don’t opt for the helicopter ride over the reef, because it is a bit more expensive, but I would highly recommend just splurging a bit and getting the flight!

The rest of the time was passed as I mentioned earlier, morning workouts, afternoon chatting and playing on the internet, and evening dinners.  Every night was pretty sedate.  I did go out in Friday night with some of the people from the hostel, little bit of dancing and drinking which was nice.   But for the most part it was nice to relax and tie up the few loose ends from leaving Sydney. 

Jared came back on the 1^st early in the morning, having had an amazing time, but happy be to off a boat and dived out.  We finished up a bit of packing and picked up a rental car to drive to Cape Tribulation up north.  We haphazardly threw everything into the teeniest car rentable, and drove north along the coast.  As we left Cairns pretty early and the drive was short, we were able to make the drive leisurely, stopping occasionally for photo ops and a few hiking trails through the Daintree Rainforest.  The big predator in the region are salt water crocodiles, so basically going near any water source can technically be incredibly dangerous.  Just to preface you on salt water crocodiles, according to an Australian crocodile researcher they are the most dangerous predator, because they see hunting more as a sport than a survival instinct.  I guess most other animals will attach you if they either feel threatened or need food.  Salt water crocodiles however, will stalk prey for weeks if they like.  When researching different locations in northern Australia, warning advise to just stay away from water sources, but also things like not returning to the same spots for several days in a row, making sure to change walking routes and again, just maybe staying away from all water.  We thought about taking a cruise down the river to check out the crocs, but opted against it in the end.  We arrived at our camp site in Cape Tribulation early evening, set up our tent, and explored a bit.  I was a bit nervous about the “exploring” part, because we were staying very close to the beach and river inlet, but Jared assured me he would run slower than me if we saw a croc ;).  We actually stubbled upon a man fishing who asked if we had seen the croc that had been lingering in that area recently, awesome.  When our adventure hike was done, we had a bit of time before dinner, so we walked some tv on Jared’s computer, then jumped in the car for a super quick drive down the road to a roadside restaurant.  Yes guys, we went to an actual restaurant, well like really small town style restaurant.  We had seen on our way in that this restaurant served crocodile, so we ended up ordering a surprisingly really good dinner of crocodile, emu and kangaroo miniburgers, accompanied by a fruit called taro that had been fried up like French fries and another fruit called choko that was served with a pinch of salt; the sides were a really great surprise as neither of us had heard of them and they were both very tasty.  Also, the burgers were good, and crocodile tastes like chicken!  After we finished dinner, it was very dark out, which meant (when camping) it was bedtime.  The next day we had to drive back to Cairns to make our flight really really early in the morning, so an early bedtime was necessary.

Usual rocking sleep, until 4:30 am when the alarm went off, ug.  We quickly packed up our stuff, Jared made us coffee and we started the drive back to Cairns.  Apparently, I was pretty tired at that hour because when I pulled out onto the main road, I drove the first several 100 meters, on the wrong side of the road…right for you guys, wrong for us, before Jared brought it my attention.  We caught the first ferry back across the river, and actually arrived in Cairns a little over an hour before we had to return the car, so we decided to park it in the center of town and take advantage of the free wifi before heading to the airport. 

Once at the airport we had another several hours before we could even check in.  A big shout out to Luca and Erin for the Scopa card game, that kept us occupied for a while before heading out to Darwin!    

Whitehaven/WhiteHEAVEN!!! (Australia)

Our drive to the Whitsundays started a little after the sun went down, prime kangaroo killing time.  The first thing we did was buy a coffee and some energy drinks to whip the two of us out of our Fraser-Island-induced comas.  Jared stayed up with me to help keep me awake, and most of the time, our tired/energized cycles were opposite which worked out really well, until the end when the two of us would potentially have sold off our firstborns to just pull over for a few hours of shut eye.  The drive was easily the most excruciating drive I’ve done, and I actually had to either stick my head out the window or slap myself around a few times to keep my eyelids from involuntarily closing.   This was also the drive we had been warned against when we picked up the car.  Thankfully, I didn’t hit any kangaroos, but did see a lot of roadside casualties.  Anyway, hours and hours and hours later, we finally pulled in to the parking lot of Shute Harbour, paid a retarded amount of money to park the car and got in about two hours of sleep before we had to wake up for our water taxi.
Despite the fact that we could have justifiably been at each other’s throat, we were actually quite energized and upbeat.  We packed a small bag to bring with us, and left everything else in the car.  Heck, we were lying on a pretty deserted beach for the next two days, so all we really needed were bathing suits and sunblock!!  The water taxi company provided us with 10 liters of water and some general island information.  It took about an hour to an hour and a half to get to Whitsunday Island on the water taxi, where we were camping on Whitehaven beach, apparently one of the top 10 beaches in the world, according to…well, technically Jared, but he found it in a book or something…I dunno, I just do what I’m told ;)  I had heard that it was on several must see beach lists.  There were two camping areas, one for groups (of which there was one) and one for individuals (of which there was only us!!).  We got to pick a prime location right in front of the water, with nothing but a view of the sand and surf in front of us. 
Since we were a bit tuckered out, we changed into our swimmers and took a nice morning nap on the beach.  When we woke up, it was just about lunch time.  We packed up an MRE lunch of space chicken and space mayo, some tortillas, peanut butter, crackers, and Zapplesauce….yes it’s called Zapplesauce, because again, this is not normal people food; it’s apparently loaded up with some 36 letter science word to boost energy and maintain a Marine’s life force, potentially even promoting the growth of a third arm so as to be more productive, who knows?  Needless to say, I wasn’t going to die of starvation.  We decided to take a stroll down to the end of the beach, and find a nice shady spot along the way to grab lunch.  The walk would probably take around 45 minutes, so we lubed up with sun block, grabbed our lunch and a bottle of water and set off.  The walk was really lovely, and the beach was totally deserted as we walked farther from our camp ground.  Jared and I both agreed that this was the nicest beach we had ever seen.  The sand was pure white, and so fine it was almost like dust.  The water was perfect; absolutely clear and light blue.  We walked and walked, and it was really nice to be on a completely deserted, absolutely stunningly, drop-dead-gorgeous beach…get the picture?  However, the beach is way longer than it looks from one end.  About 45 minutes into the walk, we were only about half way down the beach and running a bit low on water.  But we pressed on, because we wanted to see the inlet at the end.  Jared had heard about a great lookout point across the inlet where the classic pictures of Whitehaven Beach are taken, the ones you see on Google if you google “Whitehaven Beach”.  We reached the inlet at about 2:30pm, about an hour and 15-20 minutes after starting.  We could see a lot of people on the other side of the inlet, where the lookout hike was (mind you all these people had taken a boat there).  We tried for about 45 minutes to make it across the inlet; the main problem being that we couldn't just swim normally, we had to be able to transport Jared’s nice camera across, which would have been completely achievable if not for the really strong current from the inlet into the ocean.  I am very tentative when it comes to ocean water.  I do not like to screw around with the sea; I am fully aware it will chew me up and probably never spit me out, so I was not a fan of the cross.  Jared tried at first to just go across with his hands up, while I stood watching.  Then I had the genius idea that because there is generally more blubber on me than him, I might be more buoyant, at which time I, who am not that confident in my swimming when in the ocean, attempted the cross.  I couldn’t make it the entire way with my hands up, and got pulled pretty far into the ocean, before finally just turning and booking it to the other side before getting sucked out too far.  So, I did make it across the inlet, but had no camera, so just ended up walking back up the inlet and swimming back to Jared.  Several days later, by the way, I told another backpacker about this attempt and was informed that apparently, that inlet is swarming with stingrays…which might have explained why everyone on the opposite side of the inlet was watching our progress so intently.  Anyway, our first attempt at crossing the inlet failed, but, undeterred, we decided to give it another go the next day, and to bring the GoPro instead, also thinking that maybe we didn’t show up at low tide.  Anyway, we started the long, beautiful walk back to the other end of the beach.  By the time we got back to our campsite, we were really thirsty, very burnt, and had sore feet from walking so long barefoot.  The 45 minute walk ended up being a 4 hour walk, but an amazing walk none-the-less.  Chef Jared started prepping dinner, as the sun was heading out over the hills, and there was zero electricity.  We decided dinner was an Asian Beef MRE.  As we got all the fixings together, the bugs came out to play.  They have teeeeenie tiny, gnat-like bigs, about the size of a freckle, but painful when they bite.  We scrambled to gather up everything and took refuge and our dinner in the tent.  The sun went down completely at about 7pm, at which time, we had no problem reading a little and calling it a night, as we had only gotten the two hour sleep the night before. 
We slept pretty darn well, we say “for camping”, because we never sleep as well when we camp, understandably so.   I woke up for a few minutes around sunrise, and lifted my head to see the colors in the sky changing over the white sand and sea water…AMAZING!!!!  Then went back to bed for an hour or so more.  I think we had planned on taking a jog along the beach that morning, but for whatever reason (it doesn’t take much for me), we opted against it.  I took an early morning dip in the water to wake myself up, we had some coffee and breakfast (all MRE style), and decided to attempt to find a good viewpoint again, this time better prepared.  We set out on our morning walk, and it was lovely; no one around and beautiful scenery.  We had heard of a secret walk close to the inlet from the day before; it was “secret” basically just because some resourceful hikers, potentially also unable to cross the inlet, ventured into the national park and created their own path.  As the entire island is a national park, we weren’t really supposed to hike off designated tracks, but a woman working for the water taxi company told us she had just heard about it the day before (basically, she told us not to attempt the inlet and when we did not look deterred, she told us about this other track).  We were told to look for “two sticks” sticking out of the ground…super specific, but in the end, we found it!  The path had definitely been hiked by a few people, mostly very easy to follow and only about 20 minutes all the way to the top.  Along the way, there were two small lookouts, which revealed really amazing views, BUT the pièce de résistance was the top.  Oh.my.God.  Honestly, I can’t even explain it well enough, and the pictures, though STUNNINGGGGG never really do a view justice (but check them out anyway).  We got to see the inlet all the way through the island over to the ocean on the other side.  The water is so clear and blue that you can see the white sand all the way through, and the tides have formed a continuous S-shape pattern in the sand, snaking its way between the hilltops on either side before meeting the ocean again.  We discussed this spot's beauty in comparison to some of the other places and we easily decided it’s a top 5 view, if not the best view, maybe Lake Tekapo from New Zealand, but the two are neck and neck.  Either way, check it out people!  We sat on our big rock overlooking the most freaking gorgeous view EVER and had some of our super-human snacks, Jared took his photos, while I just gawked.  After a while, we had to go back down or we would roast, 50 SPF and all, since we had already created a good base roast the day before.  I literally almost started crying when I had to go, I’m not making this up.  When we got back down to the sand, we decided to actually forego crossing the inlet, as we liked our pictures more than the traditional.  So, if Jared hasn’t posted the pictures yet, and you’ve googled Whitehaven beach, come back and look ours (so much better ;)!!).  Anyway, we walked back across the beach to our camp site, along the way kinda chatting about how life FREAKING ROCKSSSS!!!  We are so happy with the decision that we made about 2+ years ago.  This is the exact life that we’ve wanted for ourselves.  Of course we miss everyone back home, but the experiences we’ve had top anything we could have imagined. 
We’ve taken procrastination of real life and responsibility and made a lifestyle out of it, but more than that, we are so happy and blessed by our families to be able to enjoy this experience.  Anyway, I gush. 
We made it back to camp in the early afternoon, and had some MRE lunch, then lied in the shade for an hour or two and napped/read, occasionally took a quick dip.  Jealous yet?  COME VISIT!!!!!  :D  As the sun went down, Jared prepped our dinner, which we decided to take a bit earlier to avoid the crazy gnats.  We had reserved the best dinner for that night; we had southwest style beef with corn and peppers…MRE style.  After dinner, we closed up shop.  The birds had apparently figured out that we kept our food in the brown plastic bags, so we had to bring everything into the tent with us.  We went to bed nice and early that night, in order to wake up and prep to leave.
The next morning, I woke up a bit earlier than Jared (which is always good on moving day, cuz I’m generally a bit slower).  I was able to relax and get some breakfast ready for us, take a nice dip in the ocean and lounge for a bit, before having to pack up all the gear.  The water taxi returned to pick us up at about 9:30am, and we headed back to Shute Harbour, incredibly satisfied.

Reunited and On The Run - Fraser's Island (Australia)

Well, whatever semblance of normal life, aka working full time, we had is now over.  Jared flew in from Afghanistan on Saturday morning and I met him at the airport.  Amy and Damon were nice enough to offer me a ride, knowing how much junk I had to lug on a potentially two hour bus ride, so they got to say hi and bye to Jared as well. 
First thing Jared said to me when they left, "um, I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but...I hope the poles to the tent are in your backpack".  Oh Jesus.  Jared had left the tent with Amy and Damon when he left Australia, and I was supposed to pick it up for us.  Apparently, none of us were aware that Jared had taken the pole out of the tent bag, so all I took was the bag with the actual tent material...oh and the spikes.  Well, c'est la vie, and such is our travelling.  Our very first destination, Fraser's Island, we were staying in a hostel for one night, so there was no mad rush to find a tent.
We had originally attempted to purchase things for the trip separately, which we later decided against, so we were on different flights out to Brisbane.  Mine actually left first, but sat on the runway for ages, so arrived after him.  We try to do a lot of things DIY, so I had booked a rental car for a few places; Jared informed me that his driver's license was expired, and I would be doing all the driving, no bigs.  We picked up our rental car, where the guys scared the bezeejesus out of me by saying everything would be great, just don't drive between Rockhampton and Mackay after dark because you WILL hit a kangaroo and roll the car and die.  Fantastic, seeing as how that was exactly what we planned to do.  Anyway, we got the car, and started north to Hervey Bay.  The drive was an easy 3.5 hours, and we got in just after the sun went down.  We checked into our hostel, got ready for bed, and hit the hay. 
The next morning was a semi-early start.  We had breakfast and coffee from the stockpile of food Jared had amassed from his last month in Afghanistan, and were ready for our 7am pickup to go to Fraser Island, the world's largest island made completely of sand.  I had booked a full day tour, which ended at about 5pm, and the time between 7am and 5pm was almost entirely painful.  Since having done this trip, I heard from a lot of other backpackers regarding their experience; apparently, I chose the wrong type of tour.  We were shuttled to a ferry and across to the island where we were picked up by a big tour bus...red flag.  Honestly, the tour guide was grasping at straws.  The only kinda cool thing was Lake MacKenzie, but only because we walked to an area of the beach where there was no another soul.  Neither of us had been on a totally deserted beach, so that was neat.  Next we had lunch and went to a "ship wreck", as they attempt to sell it, but it was really just a ship that had been in the process of being towed to Japan went it's tow cord broke and it ended up on the beach, nothing to see here folks.  Then we went to the "colored sands", which were really just sand that looked like different colors of...well sand, like tan, a little darker tan, a little lighter tan blah blah.  On the way back to the ferry, we learned alllll about the native trees to the island and how water was naturally filtered thru the sand...needless to say there was a lot of bus napping.  Apparently, the way to do Fraser's Island is with a 2 day tour, 3 days being too much.  From what I'm hearing it's really just the driving on the sand that seems to be the coolest part of those tours, so either way, I'm ok with not having done the 2 day tour.  We finished off the tour and were dropped back at the hostel, right after the sun went down. 
I had emailed our next destination, Whitsundays and Whitehaven beach, to see if we could rent a tent from the water taxi company, and when we got back to the hostel, found out we could in fact rent a tent, so off we went.  For the worst.drive.ever.

 

Oh It's You!!! Hi Again, I Missed Your Face (Australia)

I write this blog entry over the course of a couple weeks, I'm sure.  Sitting on the bus, the train, the library, where I can get free wifi and use the internet without feeling bad about hogging internet time from my roommates in our room with one crappy DSL internet cable, or lying on my bottom bed in a bunk bed, the bottom which took me about a month and a half to earn, before a roommate left to either travel or return home, travel-weary.

My life in Oz is not over yet, but I have put off jotting this all down, and as I'm now starting to plan the next leg of my journey, figured I should finally get it down in writing, before it's lost in the world-wind of travel.  My life here has been one of many extremes.  At times, I've probably felt the loneliest and most overwhelmed in my life, for a multitude of reasons.  You know how people talk about juggling balls in their lives, keeping track of all the different facets of their existence and making sure they all float above them in an orderly fashion?  Well mine exploded. They crashed into one another, splintering and creating a confusing and desperate existence.  It didn't last too long, but just long enough to leave an impression, that I will now remember for the rest of my life.  I won't get into all that, but will just thank Jared, Sheena and Amy for being my crutches.  I've also felt incredibly accomplished, because I've created a life here, overcoming that crappy part and I did it basically completely alone.  No aide from my family, except for the monthly Skype phone calls, no aide from my friends except the less occasional Skype calls, and no friendly beer at the end of a long day, because my neighborhood bar sucks, and I'm trying to save an inordinate amount of money in a short period of time.

My time in Australia can sort of be divided into sections: Pre-Sydney, Wretched Job Sydney, Normal Life Sydney.  I won't delve too much into the second section, and here's how it went:

Pre-Sydney

After a phenomenal time in New Zealand, Jared and I returned to Australia for the Christmas season.  We stayed in Sydney a few days before my BFF from New York, Jordan, came to visit.  Jordan studied in Sydney in college and returns abut 1-2 per year.  He decided to kill a few birds with one trip and landed in Sydney a few days before my birthday.  As a miss-you-oodles/I'm-an-awesome-best-friend/birthday present, Jordan invited me to stay with him at the Four Seasons, plush bathrobe included!!  Staying there was amazing!  There was a pool, super fluffy beds, and an insane amount of free things, which I exploited to a level of which Jordan vehemently disapproved :).  While in Sydney, Jordan introduced me to Amy, a family friend's relative that he's known for ages.  She ended up being a great friend throughout my time in Australia, and hopefully someone I will keep close for the rest of my life.  We all hung out in Sydney for a few days before Jordan, Jared and I hopped on a plane to the Gold Coast to meet Erin and Luca.  Erin's family had been gracious enough to invite us all up the Gold Coast to stay with them over the holiday.

When we arrived on the Gold Coast, Erin and Luca picked us up and the five of us immediately drove to Byron Bay where we met up with Kirsten and Nick, Erin's cousin and her boyfriend from New Zealand.  Luca had arranged for us to stay at our own house right by the beach!  We spent everyday on the beach, surfing, paddle boarding, sunning, and having a generally great time, before heading back to the house in the evenings for home cooked meals, booze and games.  It was a fantastic way to start off the holiday, with a great group of people!

A few days before Christmas, we all drove back up to Erin's family's house.  As it was Christmas, Erin's whole wonderful family was getting together, and it was meant to be chaotic...just how I like Christmas!!!  Sadly, Jordan departed us a few days before Christmas to come back to Sydney and the US.

Erin's family decided to split the crew into two groups sleeping in the two available houses: all the kids in one house, all the adults in another (and yes, we are considered kids!).  In total, there were about 25 of us at Christmas.  Christmas Eve dinner's cooking was divided amongst everyone, and Jared and I prepared some Tex-Mex appetizers of pulled pork taquitos (thanks Anson and Jen) and queso, which were hits, because Tex-Mex is pretty nonexistent here!!  Dinner was delicious and indulgent!  Afterward, we had Silly Secret Santa, with probably to best present being the case of Spam stealthfully concealed in a beer case, or Luca's golf balls that exploded pouring out tons of teenie penises...which did so at the dinner table (apparently, Luca's traditional Silly Secret Santa gift is an awesomely useless sex toy).  Laughing, yelling and hilarity ensued throughout the evening, finishing off with a dance party, and a bunch of us passing out on the couched before heading home for the evening.

The next morning was....CHRISTMASSSSS!!!!!!!  Probably my favorite holiday.  My sister-in-law once said she'd never seen a group of adults get so amped up about Christmas as my family does.  Clearly, Erin's family has the same sentiment!  The morning started off with an obscene amount of gift giving and wonderful family time.  The entire family went above-and-beyond to welcome me and Jared into the celebration!  Angela (Erin's mom) made us each Christmas stockings and they all even picking out savvy backpacker friendly gifts for us, like mosquito repellent wrist bands, water-activated cooling wraps, and a rape whistle (with a compass!!) (Jared keeps getting into trouble in dark alleys ;) )!  And just as an FYI mom and former Sinai L&D coworkers...yes I wore the Christmas Dress!  The day was topped with a trip to the beach for surfing, paddle boarding and general shenanigans. 

Everyday consisted of wonderful family-filled fun, pool time/beach time and overall merriment!  The entire Paris/Buchanan/Fox/Steadman/Romero/Fiore (and Jordan!!) family made our holiday season just fabulous, and we are forever appreciative of their welcoming spirit and warmth. 

New Year's Eve, Jared and I hopped on a plane and headed back to Sydney.  Jared and I had an absolutely terrible time finding a place to stay over New Year's Eve, as all hotels were outrageously expensive, and all hostels required that you arrive several days to weeks prior to New Year's.  We had just about committed to either sleeping under a bridge or hiding in a rental car, until Amy, the friend that Jordan had introduced us to, amazingly offered her place for us, she even picked us up, huge bags and all, from the airport!!  She brought us back to her house, where we quickly purtied up, and headed out to Sydney Harbour for a New Year's cruise of the harbor and fireworks show!  On the way there, we met up with one of Jared's friends from Texas, Sarah, who happened to be visiting Sydney with her boyfriend, for a quick drink. 

That night, we hopped on our cruise, which toured around the Harbour.  Before the sun went down, we cruised by the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge before settling in for front row seats to the fireworks show.  The cruise included open bar, dinner, and dancing, so needless to say, we had a fantastic time, and rang in the new year with a bang!!

The next morning, we recovered with Amy and her husband Damon, and prepped for another fun little trip into the Blue Mountains.  Amy is from the Blue Mountains, and invited us and a few of her friends to her family house for a few days.  The Blue Mountains is an easy drive from Sydney, so we were able to stop and pick up supplies for a few days.  Amy showed us around town a bit at some of the very general tourist attractions, before we got into the behind the scenes, local side of the Blue Mountains!  Gotta love hangin with locals.  Jared and I both knew that the Blue Mountains were a nature excursion.  So when Amy said we were going to "do a canyon", we expected some sort of hike.  We were awesomely surprised to find out that "doing a canyon" consists of swimming, hiking, climbing, and abseiling (repelling)!  Mostly, we were able to borrow supplies, and Amy's group brought their own climbing and abseiling gear.  We were clearly in the hands of experts!  The day after we arrived, we woke up, had a great breakfast, met Sheena (great friend!), geared up and headed out.  Amy's husband, Damon, and his friends Frank and Howard gave us (by "us" I mostly mean "me") a quick tutorial on the equipment and protocols before we set off to "do a canyon" (I still get such a quick out of that phrase [given what it actually entailed]).  The day was awesome!  We hiked for a short bit, before putting on our wetsuits, helmets and harnesses and traversing the canyon.  We stopped for a bit of a break, where the boys introduced us to the "canyoning-man-break tradition", which is whiskey cokes and gummy treats...before again putting our lives in their hands.  The last part of the hike was a long abseil down a waterfall, which Jared sailed through like a freaking...well, Marine, and I apparently ("apparently" because I don't even recall this happening), slipped on the wet rocks, went swinging under a natural ledge in the rock, cracked my head on the rock ledge (hemlets!!) and completely let go of the rope...  :/ I've basically lost track of the amount of times since leaving the USA that I very well could have died (but the Death Road in Bolivia still gives me the heebee-geebees).  Thankfully, my good buddy Frank was at the bottom, and a gem of a belayer (yes, I had to Google how to spell that), and caught me before I fell to my death...whiskey cokes and all.  The whole weekend excursion was great fun and we got to meet great people with whom we've remained friends. 

Wretched Job Sydney

When the end of the weekend came, so too came the end to my and Jared's, non-backpacker, indulgent life.  Jared and I moved in to a long-term hostel called The Rooftop Traveler's Lodge.  The place was great for us, because it was significantly cheaper than normal hostels, and really dedicated to working travelers, not just transient visitors.  The place was pretty empty during the week, everyone setting off in the morning for their jobs, and came alive on the weekends.  The rooms have 4 people per room, a nice change from the usual 10+ dorms, our own bathroom, a computer with internet, TV, kitchenette, and FREE laundry! 

We settled into our new home, and started the mad hunt for a job.  Trying to find a job as a backpacker sucks.  Even if you were a professional before, in the eyes of potential employers, your nomadic lifestyle and propensity for self-centered decision-making, make you a bit a liability, possibly unreliable and, more than anything, carrying a government mandated expiration date.  Jared and I were online resume posting machines.  I went on a few interviews, but again, anything admin or professional did not want to hire someone whose visa expired in October.  I was hijacked one day and sent on a train to do door-to-door sales...and I wasn't even selling anything useful, which I could work with; I was imploring people to donate to charity.  Needless to say it sucked, and was entirely commission based.  I was asked to do part time telesales for playground equipment, be the cleaner for a daycare center an hour away etc.  Jared was getting crap also.  Obviously, the job hunt was not going incredibly well. 

About a month in, we celebrated Australia Day with Amy, Sheena, Damon, Frank and few others to whom we were introduced.  Sheena planned the whole thing, and we had a BBQ and drinks at Milk Beach, a great little secluded bay.  There is a video Jared posted; by the way, if you haven't checkout out the page, some of those vids are really great!  Australia Day was so much fun!

Right around that time, two things happened.  I got a job as a Personal Assistant, General Bitch, and Shit-Talk-Taker to the Devil, and Jared got an offer to work as a US Government Security Contractor in Afghanistan.  This is clearly when things went south for me. 

I started work, Jared accepted his offer and left to go to Kabul at the end of February.  My job took about 2 weeks to go from kinda weird and funny, to completely fucked up.  Now again, you know I don't like to swear a lot on this blog, unless I am very emphatic.  I cannot, nor would I, express how crappy life got.  I was working about 18-20 hours a day and getting yelled at about 6-7 solid hours in a day.  My boss was a complete nutcase.  Why didn't you just leave, you might ask.  It took me about a month to find this job, and the prospects outside were grim.  Part-time telesales or full time door-to-door sales were pretty much a backpacker staple.  I could pay to get certificates for things like waitressing (yes you need a certificate for that) and labor jobs, but I didn't want to spend money to get a job, and honestly, I was getting paid probably double of what all those jobs paid.  My desire to travel thoroughly again outweighed my desire to be happy.  It was not Jared's leaving that made my life miserable, though it made it harder to pull myself out of the misery.  I mentioned before that Jared, Amy and Sheena were very important to me during this time.  I think Jared got the most consistent desperate messaging, but Amy and Sheena alternated between actual damage control.

I'm running on the assumption here that Jared will write a snip-bit on his time in Afghanistan, but just in case...Jared worked and lived on a base in Afghanistan, pretty much supervising the base's security (I'm probably a bit off base, but that's just what I understood).  Apparently, the job was pretty boring, and he got a lot of internet chat time, and damn good money.  About a month into it, Jared was given a month's leave and headed out to Europe for a bit, actually getting to meet up with a few friends from our Panama to Colombia sailing trip, who live in Switzerland, before heading off to Italy and getting to see some of our Mexico friends Dave and Zoe!!  He put up a ton of photos and apparently has a huge stash still on his computer, so who knows, maybe we'll get to see more at some point!!  He loved it all, skied in Switzerland and ate like the locals, and delved into ancient culture in Italy.  After his month off, he returned to Kabul, and resumed a life of working out, chow hall food, monitor observing and online browsing.  It sounds like he made some pretty good friends, but in true boy-style, I don't know much about it haha.

Anyway, during this whole time, my application to work as a nurse in Australia was floating around the registration agency, seemingly just taking up space.  In May, I finally got an email stating that I had been approved to work as a nurse.  May.  May people!!! I sent that stupid 1000 page form in April of LAST YEAR!!!!  Either way, I was freaking ecstatic!  My resume was ready to go, and I spent a full weekend sending out 150+ resumes online to every place in Australia, including abroad (like Saudi Arabia abroad...that's how desperate I was).  Pretty much immediately that week, I got offers from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and some more remote areas, all saying I could start immediately.

At this point in my other job, my boss had been pretty sick, in the hospital and staying with a creepy friend for about 2 weeks.  During that time, she didn't pay me, saying because she was sick, she just hadn't made enough, but would get on it, or go to the bank blah blah.  Point is, I'm an idiot, and gave her two weeks notice of my leaving.  During that whole time, she kept saying she would pay me, and didn't.  Long story short, I am still owed $3,000+, and suing her, without much luck as of this point, but I'll keep you updated.  My last day of the job was like a huge weight had been lifted off my soul.  Boy do I dislike her!!

Normal Life Sydney

 

Ok, so by normal life, for most people it's a normalish life;  it's basically as normal as I could get, while still sleeping in a bunk bed with 3 other random people, and room inspections :/

I lived a regular life in Sydney, much like I did in NYC, but without the perks of fabulous friendships, the best food options, and well New York City.  I started working at my nursing agency, Healthcare Australia, mid-late May.  It was a bit of a slow start; I think in the first week I was scheduled and cancelled four different times without hanging onto a shift.  I started to get pretty worried about the stability of agency work.  But after that first week, I got my first shift, then second, and it seemed like the more I worked the more people would request me.  I mostly got adult ICU and some post-op stuff, occasionally something random like ortho.  Once I got a pediatric post-op floor, but it was for day surgery, so I barely had any interaction with the kids, because they parents were always there...darn parents.  Other than working with adults the whole time, it was much the same kind of stuff as I did in the US, though I did miss my kiddies.  I will say, working with an agency can be a bit tough when jumping from hospital to hospital, as I was always lost and running around to five different wrong locations for things, and unaware of whom I should inform about what, but again, as I started working for the same hospitals, things got a lot easier.  Australian healthcare, in terms of nursing, is really similar to the US, THOUGH all of their charting is on paper, including medications, which was so frustrating.  Some were half-and-half, only doing notes on the computer (ew notes.  Right!!?!?)  Only one hospital, a public hospital, had their technology together enough for computer charting, but Sinai, they still had nothing on our medication scanning guns!!!  Anyway, my work-life balance stabilized out a lot, and I became exponentially happier. 

Not much really happened of note during that period, just sort of chugging along with work.  I still hung out with Amy and Sheena occasionally, sometimes with someone from the hostel, but it wasn't until the end that I really started allowing myself to have a bit of fun with money...aka drinking.  As things were wrapping up, I realized that I achieved the financial goal I had set for myself when arriving in Australia, and so, I let loose the working reigns a bit and allowed myself to enjoy some good nights, good drinks, and good food the last couple weeks in Sydney. 

My last week in Sydney, I moved in with Sheena, accepting a long-standing invitation from her.  Sheena has done a far bit of traveling herself so, besides just being an amazingly nice person, she understands some of the wear-and-tear that comes with staying in hostels, and wanted me to have a nice bed, a bath, and quiet time before heading out to do the whole thing over again.

 

Like I said, Sydney was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me, but my purpose (making money) was fulfilled, I ended up enjoying the experience, and most importantly made a few friends I'm pretty sure will stick with me for a very long time! 

And now...Part Deux of You're Doing What!?