Couchsurfing rules! So the first day Chloe called me and we met up in the tattoo parlor called "sharkys tattoos". At first glance I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I headed into the store anyways. Chloe noticed me and gave me a hug right away. Friends instantly. We started to talk and left the shop. At first I thought we were just going to the beach to hang out but right away she said we were leaving because Byron Bay was too crowed. Okay...so we left in her car. Onward to Cabarita, a place I have never heard of but a fantastic town. 1/2 later we arrived in her hometown. The town consisted of maybe 1,000 people, if that and 8 different surf breaks or world class surf (I looked it up on surfline, its really good) and a mountain they call "round mountain". By the way this was a hill, far from a mountain.
Right off the bat we headed to the beach to check things out. We hung out there for 20 minutes or so, met some of her friends and we headed to her families house. We ate lunch and she got on her phone calling people to find me a surfboard so I could get in the water. Seconds later she had a board for me and we were off to the beach again (5 min walk). The surf was actually pretty good. I got some sweet waves for a couple hours until I couldn't paddle or feel my legs anymore. The water was a bit chili.
For dinner, the family called up some of there friends to have a big dinner. There friend (Mike and Alissa) lived up on top of round mountain with 300 acres. Mike is actually from San Diego and moved to Australia 20 years ago. He is a success full landscape architect and his property showed it. This piece of land was unbelievable. Every kind of fruit and vegetable grew on his farm. They gave all of us the tour (mainly me since I've never been there) and educated me on every piece of plant. After that they cooked up a huge 3 course meal followed by some series ice-cream dessert that I have been feening since home. That hit the spot. They knew I was a backpacker and kept forcing more food inside me. Thanks guys.
The next few days we just hung out. One of the days we went to this creek they spills into the ocean. This place was a huge hangout area for the kids. Chloe brought her younger sister and her friend. We played in the water all day. These two girls couldn't get enough of me. We literally had a sand fight for 3 hours. Even if I wanted to stop they would just throw more at me. But they lost the war. I finally got to hang out with a true Aussie family. So fun
Onward to the next day/early morning. We woke up at 5:30 am b/c Chloe was flying to Tasmania for this music festival she was working at. I wish I could have gone but too short of notice. So they dropped me off at Byron Bay. Worst part is they drove me 1/2 hour out of the way and right when they drove away, this car hit there car in a round about! Pretty much rocked there car and ruined it! I didn't even notice the accident. Later on in the day Chloe called me from Tazzy and let me know about the accident. I had no idea and felt so bad. They drove me here and they got hit by a car. Unlucky.
Anyways I'm back in Byron Bay and I'll stay here until new years and then head to Port Macquarie where I have more CS'ers to stay with.
goodbye
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Byron Bay
Okay here's the deal, Byron bay is super mellow, people are mellow and everyone searches for the same thing: to relax. In my opinion that is two thumbs up. I'm looking for that, so I came to the right place. Directly from the bus I called my friends up from couchsurfing (Andy and Oliver). Within 5 minutes they picked me up and they escorted me to the hostel we were staying at. Luckily these guys reserved a spot for me in there room which was rad. The hostel room had our own kitchen, bathroom, 2 dorm rooms and a TV. In my room was three English girls and myself while Andy and Oliver had two Swedish girls. So far so good. I've noticed that most to all the travelers in Australia are either Swedish, German, or English. The own the backpacking region along with the 10 or so Americans I have met on my trip. The amount of traveling that Americans do is little to none and the rest of the world definitely notices it. Some people I have met said I'm the first American they have seen or even met. Go America!
The lead up to Christmas was me going onto couchsurfing and making a post saying "any Australian family want to adopt a child for Christmas" I got responses! which was fantastic but most of them were out of site and out of town so I couldn't make it.
Anyways back to Byron. I booked my hostel for 3 days. One of which was on Christmas Day. So the whole town was in the Christmas spirit. For me it was more like the twilight zone but I went with the flow and participated in all the weird activities that took place. This included lots of Santa outfits, Christmas trees/lights and a white Christmas. Oh wait, I mean sand Christmas. On Christmas day the whole hostel went down to the beach and celebrated. All of which were dressed to impress. It was such a weird experience though. I missed my family oddly and wanted them to experience the same things I was seeing.
The next day one of the girls (Chloe) I was talking to on couchsurfing said she was going to kidnap me for boxing day (day after Christmas) because I couldn't join her and the family for Christmas. So she picked me up and we drove up north about 1/2 hour to this town called Cabarita. Epic surf town that has a population of 200 or more. So barely any people but so awesome. She took me into her family, showed me around town and well I'm still here right now. Cabarita is great.
I'll talk more about it later...
The lead up to Christmas was me going onto couchsurfing and making a post saying "any Australian family want to adopt a child for Christmas" I got responses! which was fantastic but most of them were out of site and out of town so I couldn't make it.
Anyways back to Byron. I booked my hostel for 3 days. One of which was on Christmas Day. So the whole town was in the Christmas spirit. For me it was more like the twilight zone but I went with the flow and participated in all the weird activities that took place. This included lots of Santa outfits, Christmas trees/lights and a white Christmas. Oh wait, I mean sand Christmas. On Christmas day the whole hostel went down to the beach and celebrated. All of which were dressed to impress. It was such a weird experience though. I missed my family oddly and wanted them to experience the same things I was seeing.
The next day one of the girls (Chloe) I was talking to on couchsurfing said she was going to kidnap me for boxing day (day after Christmas) because I couldn't join her and the family for Christmas. So she picked me up and we drove up north about 1/2 hour to this town called Cabarita. Epic surf town that has a population of 200 or more. So barely any people but so awesome. She took me into her family, showed me around town and well I'm still here right now. Cabarita is great.
I'll talk more about it later...
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Surfers Paradise
Surfers Paradise is far from paradise. Its a suburb of Brisbane and offers decent surf (in the right places excellent surf) and way too much night life for me.
Chapter two begins: I got off the bus and for some reason asked for directions and started to walk to my hostel. Right off the bat I forgot that you can go inside and ask the help desk to call the hostel up to pick you up. I forgot, screw you I was excited to be here. So the directions that I got pointed me in the complete opposite way of where my hostel was at. I walked with my backpack for about one hour before I asked some random person where this street was at. The local had no idea what I was talking about. So I finally turned around and walked back to the greyhound station to figure things out...2 hours later I end up in the same place where I started and my hostel (cheers) picked me up in about 2 minutes. Well, I got my exercise for the day. Funny part is when I checked into the hostel I lost track of time/date and arrived a full week before I booked my stay. Classic airhead move of kesterson but luckily they had room for me.
Throughout that week I met some really great people. My friend Broody took me around to different local surf spots that I would have never found and made some serious connections out in Bali. Overall the people that were at the hostel were extremely friendly and had events planned every night of the week.
The 4th night I was there I noticed a couchsurfing BBQ that was posted on the site. I jumped in on that and met everyone on the beach the next day. There were roughly 10 couch surfers that showed up and this guy Matt hosted everyone that night, fed us, gave us drinks and a place to crash for the night. I met these two kids, Oliver from Canada, and Andy from Germany. We all decided to start traveling together. The next day they left for Byron Bay and I was planning on meeting them a few days later. Great people and new friends to hang out with. Go CS'ing!
The next few days in "paradise" were super mellow, just like the other ones but still enjoyed my stay. The best place I surfed out there was called "the spits" This was a place where they suck sand out of the beach and move it to different locations. This effect on the sand sucks up perfect waves to surf on.
Next stop Byron bay!
Chapter two begins: I got off the bus and for some reason asked for directions and started to walk to my hostel. Right off the bat I forgot that you can go inside and ask the help desk to call the hostel up to pick you up. I forgot, screw you I was excited to be here. So the directions that I got pointed me in the complete opposite way of where my hostel was at. I walked with my backpack for about one hour before I asked some random person where this street was at. The local had no idea what I was talking about. So I finally turned around and walked back to the greyhound station to figure things out...2 hours later I end up in the same place where I started and my hostel (cheers) picked me up in about 2 minutes. Well, I got my exercise for the day. Funny part is when I checked into the hostel I lost track of time/date and arrived a full week before I booked my stay. Classic airhead move of kesterson but luckily they had room for me.
Throughout that week I met some really great people. My friend Broody took me around to different local surf spots that I would have never found and made some serious connections out in Bali. Overall the people that were at the hostel were extremely friendly and had events planned every night of the week.
The 4th night I was there I noticed a couchsurfing BBQ that was posted on the site. I jumped in on that and met everyone on the beach the next day. There were roughly 10 couch surfers that showed up and this guy Matt hosted everyone that night, fed us, gave us drinks and a place to crash for the night. I met these two kids, Oliver from Canada, and Andy from Germany. We all decided to start traveling together. The next day they left for Byron Bay and I was planning on meeting them a few days later. Great people and new friends to hang out with. Go CS'ing!
The next few days in "paradise" were super mellow, just like the other ones but still enjoyed my stay. The best place I surfed out there was called "the spits" This was a place where they suck sand out of the beach and move it to different locations. This effect on the sand sucks up perfect waves to surf on.
Next stop Byron bay!
Brisbane
Okay, sorry folks, very belated blog entry on my bloggy wog. So After Fraser island we headed to Brisbane where we spent 4 of our last night together as a tripod. Of course the first day we were there we explored and wondered all across town. Which by the way Brisbane is really cool. A small yet large city that reminded me a lot of Portland. Green trees, not too crowded and had a very local art/skate scene. Since Brisbane is about an hour inland they had the classic lagoon where everyone hangs out in the water. The lagoons in Australia are super fun. They try and resemble a little oasis/beach with sand at the bottom and good fun for everyone to relax and hang out in the water.
So the days we were there were relaxing until night time. The nigh life in Brisbane is pretty outta control. There is this one strip where there are tons of clubs and pubs and about 5-10 thousand people walking around. I seriously don't know where these people come from but there on this street around 10 pm. Literally people everywhere. So that was quite the experience. I have some really good stories about Brisbane but don't really want to write or let everyone know about them, so go ahead and ask me in person. Trust me, you'll get a laugh out of it.
The last day, Jen, Claire and myself went out for the last shebang and treated ourselves to some famous happy hour steak. Which was amazing. Then went out for some drinks and called it a night. I had to wake up really early and catch a bus ride out to surfers paradise while the girls departed from me and went to Sydney. The tripod is now a mono-pod and some sort of double contra act with Jen and Claire. (Hope you caught that video game reference). Chapter one is over and Chapter 2 begins...
So the days we were there were relaxing until night time. The nigh life in Brisbane is pretty outta control. There is this one strip where there are tons of clubs and pubs and about 5-10 thousand people walking around. I seriously don't know where these people come from but there on this street around 10 pm. Literally people everywhere. So that was quite the experience. I have some really good stories about Brisbane but don't really want to write or let everyone know about them, so go ahead and ask me in person. Trust me, you'll get a laugh out of it.
The last day, Jen, Claire and myself went out for the last shebang and treated ourselves to some famous happy hour steak. Which was amazing. Then went out for some drinks and called it a night. I had to wake up really early and catch a bus ride out to surfers paradise while the girls departed from me and went to Sydney. The tripod is now a mono-pod and some sort of double contra act with Jen and Claire. (Hope you caught that video game reference). Chapter one is over and Chapter 2 begins...
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Fraser Island
Fraser Island is the worlds largest mass of sand in one location, and there right. Literally all sand. There are tree branches and what appears to be dirt but underneath it is sand. I still have sand in my ears and its been days since I was on that island.
So the company for Fraser Island gave us this rad 4x4 range rover to drive around the island for 3 days. I was the primary driver and then we switched off. 9 people: 4 Irish girls that I barely understood cause they had such thick accents, one Swiss-German and one Swiss-french guy and Claire and Jen. Good crew.
The entrance to get on the sand path was insane. Gnarly potholes, deeps sand pits and lots of slow, slow driving. Not to mention its a 4 speed and the steering wheel is on the right hand side. I managed to get by and the driving was really fun. I think I scared everyone quite a few times but I knew what I was doing. I drive in the snow all the time.
We immediately drove north for about 20 km which took about 3 or 4 hours and came upon lake wibby at the top of this sand dune mountain. It was truly amazing. Over hundreds of years this sand dunepushed fresh water to the top of this mountain (sorta like Crater lake). If you got a shovel and brushed out all the leaves at the bottom the lake would unplug. The coolest part of the lake was that you can run down, or rag doll down this sand dune into the water. People were doing 20 cartwheels in a row falling into the water. You could literally slide down sand into the water.
After we played there for a couple of hours we got back into the car and headed north to set up camp. All the other cars congregated here for a big party. Super fun night
The next day we headed north again towards Indian head. This is a shark breeding ground so at the top of the hill you can spot sharks and stingrays all over the place! We got done there and headed south towards Eli creek. This is a classic tropical oasis picture scene. Small, maybe 3 meters wide and cold fresh water. Mangroves and palm trees poking out and covering up the water from the sun. Really cool. On top of that its all sand so you can't even here the water move unless you splash it. So we hung out there for the rest of the day and then set up camp with everyone else again.
The last day we heading south towards lake McKenzie. This took all day to drive to and the roads were torn up. On the way we saw this huge python laying in the road. It wouldn't move so we had to make a new path just to get around this giant snake. As we entered lake McKenzie it reminded me of whithaven beach. Pure white, 99 % silicon grain sand and fresh water. You could swim to the bottom, grab sand and clean your body with this, then drink the water. It was crazy. Just look at my pictures and you'll see what I'm talking about. This was truly the only time I felt clean on this trip. Usually I like to camp and get dirty but this was a whole new level of dirtiness. We hung out there for the rest of the day and then headed south to catch the ferry to head home. Go Fraser Island. I definitely recommend it but the company said that Australia is trying to shut down people going to the island. It might be shut down in 6 months. Check that off the list!
-PEASE I'm out
So the company for Fraser Island gave us this rad 4x4 range rover to drive around the island for 3 days. I was the primary driver and then we switched off. 9 people: 4 Irish girls that I barely understood cause they had such thick accents, one Swiss-German and one Swiss-french guy and Claire and Jen. Good crew.
The entrance to get on the sand path was insane. Gnarly potholes, deeps sand pits and lots of slow, slow driving. Not to mention its a 4 speed and the steering wheel is on the right hand side. I managed to get by and the driving was really fun. I think I scared everyone quite a few times but I knew what I was doing. I drive in the snow all the time.
We immediately drove north for about 20 km which took about 3 or 4 hours and came upon lake wibby at the top of this sand dune mountain. It was truly amazing. Over hundreds of years this sand dunepushed fresh water to the top of this mountain (sorta like Crater lake). If you got a shovel and brushed out all the leaves at the bottom the lake would unplug. The coolest part of the lake was that you can run down, or rag doll down this sand dune into the water. People were doing 20 cartwheels in a row falling into the water. You could literally slide down sand into the water.
After we played there for a couple of hours we got back into the car and headed north to set up camp. All the other cars congregated here for a big party. Super fun night
The next day we headed north again towards Indian head. This is a shark breeding ground so at the top of the hill you can spot sharks and stingrays all over the place! We got done there and headed south towards Eli creek. This is a classic tropical oasis picture scene. Small, maybe 3 meters wide and cold fresh water. Mangroves and palm trees poking out and covering up the water from the sun. Really cool. On top of that its all sand so you can't even here the water move unless you splash it. So we hung out there for the rest of the day and then set up camp with everyone else again.
The last day we heading south towards lake McKenzie. This took all day to drive to and the roads were torn up. On the way we saw this huge python laying in the road. It wouldn't move so we had to make a new path just to get around this giant snake. As we entered lake McKenzie it reminded me of whithaven beach. Pure white, 99 % silicon grain sand and fresh water. You could swim to the bottom, grab sand and clean your body with this, then drink the water. It was crazy. Just look at my pictures and you'll see what I'm talking about. This was truly the only time I felt clean on this trip. Usually I like to camp and get dirty but this was a whole new level of dirtiness. We hung out there for the rest of the day and then headed south to catch the ferry to head home. Go Fraser Island. I definitely recommend it but the company said that Australia is trying to shut down people going to the island. It might be shut down in 6 months. Check that off the list!
-PEASE I'm out
whitsundays continued
Okay, sorry I got kicked off the Internet last blog.
So we got back on the sailboat after snorkeling and the deckhand set up this rope walk across the sailboat. Sort of like cirque du soleil where you have to balance on the rope. really hard. So that competition started. This time I didn't put my stinger suit on and just went for it. Everyone was doing it and falling on the first step. I managed to get in a few steps each time and then did back flips off while I was falling. One of the times I was in the water and definitely felt something that resembled a jellyfish. Must have touched the top part of it but scared the crap out of me. That competition was immediately over for me.
Got done with that and headed back to the same island where we were supposed to camp out last night. We got there, ate dinner and hung out with everyone for the rest of the night. Nothing too special but the crew let us sleep in the same sail that night. In the middle of the night I woke up to take a leak and the whole sail snapped in half! Made a really loud noise and woke up the whole crew and pretty sure everyone else. So that was pretty sweat, they weren't mad but fixed it in the morning. As we headed back to the mainland the Avatar steering broke. So we sat there for hours trying to McGyver something old school trick to get back home. All in all the Avatar had a rough weekend: the sail broke, steering went out, my friend separated her shoulder doing a handstand, SOS wouldn't pick up to get her to the hospital, and the crew got huge complaints from the customers. They will probably get fired.
Go team!
So we got back on the sailboat after snorkeling and the deckhand set up this rope walk across the sailboat. Sort of like cirque du soleil where you have to balance on the rope. really hard. So that competition started. This time I didn't put my stinger suit on and just went for it. Everyone was doing it and falling on the first step. I managed to get in a few steps each time and then did back flips off while I was falling. One of the times I was in the water and definitely felt something that resembled a jellyfish. Must have touched the top part of it but scared the crap out of me. That competition was immediately over for me.
Got done with that and headed back to the same island where we were supposed to camp out last night. We got there, ate dinner and hung out with everyone for the rest of the night. Nothing too special but the crew let us sleep in the same sail that night. In the middle of the night I woke up to take a leak and the whole sail snapped in half! Made a really loud noise and woke up the whole crew and pretty sure everyone else. So that was pretty sweat, they weren't mad but fixed it in the morning. As we headed back to the mainland the Avatar steering broke. So we sat there for hours trying to McGyver something old school trick to get back home. All in all the Avatar had a rough weekend: the sail broke, steering went out, my friend separated her shoulder doing a handstand, SOS wouldn't pick up to get her to the hospital, and the crew got huge complaints from the customers. They will probably get fired.
Go team!
Friday, December 11, 2009
update: whitsundays
Hey guys! this past week has been super hectic but incredibly fun. From magnetic island we jumped on 12 hour bus down south to airlie beach. This bus was pretty horrible. So far on this trip I have had little to no sleep and this bus was our night accommodation. So the sleep I got was non existent.
Okay, so we arrived in Airlie beach and booked our sailboat for the Whitsundays. The boats name was "The Avatar" so this has to be good right? Exactly. The trip was a 3 day, 2 night sail around all these islands. The main one is Whitsunday and whit haven beach. Both phenomenal.
day one: We have been waiting outside the boat for 10 late arrivals before we could jump ship. So far there hasn't been a huge young crowd of kids like we thought, so that was making us a little nervous. The hope was that the 10 late arrivals would be all our age and ready to have a good time. haha, nope. 10 Italian family members pull up and we head off. We all thought this would be a joke but the Italians were the best people on the boat. The grandma and me bonded. She kept stealing my nose like I was her grandchild. Oh Italians, your the best.
Anyways we hoped on the boat and away we went. A good portion of it was using the engine (no sail) but when the wind picked up the caption would stop and have everyone get up and help pull the ropes to get the sail up in position. Which was interesting. By now everyone is just laying in the sun and enjoying the scenery. A couple of hours flew by and the caption stopped for a snorkel. The worst part about northern Australia is that you can't just jump in the water. Theres jellyfish everywhere and you'll die. So we have to put on these super cheezy stinger suits and then jump in. Anyways the snorkel was fun. Lots of coral and holding my breath to feel like i'm scuba diving. We get back on the boat and start to sail again. Lots of lounging and drinking goon (what do you know, goon). Couple more hours fly by and we pull up to our island to set up camp and eat dinner.
For some reason the boats capacity didn't hold every person on the boat to sleep. Ofcourse, we were those people so we had to sleep on this island in tents. The deckhand were supposed to drive us in whenever we were done for the night. But after talking and drinking with the crew we convinced them that we wouldn't rat them out if we could just sleep outside on the boat. There idea was to put us actually in the sail and sleep. Awesome! We all jumped on that and slept in the sail for the night. Thanks Avatar!
Day 2: woke up at the crack of dawn. I mean 4 a.m. That's when the sun comes up here and the caption needed the sail and for us to get up before people figured out what we did and where we slept that night. Go team. Got up, ate breakfast and laid in the sun all over the again. Did another snorkel and then headed towards Whithaven beach. The beach was well known for white sand and incredible scenery. Jumped off the boat and had to hike about 1 km through the forest to this beach. The flys here were in peak season and were freakin everywhere. They remind me of horse flys only 3 or 4 times bigger and they bite many many times. Hurts really bad. I laughed quite a bit because they would bite the girls every second and wouldn't really get me.
As we entered the beach it reminded me of the scene in the movie "the beach". Pure white sand that felt like velvet. Weird fuzzy feeling. The sand grain is so fine that it feels much different than the typical beach sand. The contrast with the rain forest in background was amazing. As we walked into the water you could see these strange white/clear fish scitter across you. There were hundreds of these fish but you couldn't see them until you walk right by them. I was with 4 other girls and me so they had to have there typical photo shoot session. Which was probably good cause the more pictures the better. But I'm glad that happened because this is definitely the best beach I have ever seen in my life. Hands down. The pictures I have taken don't even capture what you see and feel out here.
We spent a little over an hour at this beach and then had to get back on the boat. Which was a bummer. Set sail and headed out to sea again. More snorkeling and relaxing. Shoots I gotta go. Damn. I'll post again when I can.
Okay, so we arrived in Airlie beach and booked our sailboat for the Whitsundays. The boats name was "The Avatar" so this has to be good right? Exactly. The trip was a 3 day, 2 night sail around all these islands. The main one is Whitsunday and whit haven beach. Both phenomenal.
day one: We have been waiting outside the boat for 10 late arrivals before we could jump ship. So far there hasn't been a huge young crowd of kids like we thought, so that was making us a little nervous. The hope was that the 10 late arrivals would be all our age and ready to have a good time. haha, nope. 10 Italian family members pull up and we head off. We all thought this would be a joke but the Italians were the best people on the boat. The grandma and me bonded. She kept stealing my nose like I was her grandchild. Oh Italians, your the best.
Anyways we hoped on the boat and away we went. A good portion of it was using the engine (no sail) but when the wind picked up the caption would stop and have everyone get up and help pull the ropes to get the sail up in position. Which was interesting. By now everyone is just laying in the sun and enjoying the scenery. A couple of hours flew by and the caption stopped for a snorkel. The worst part about northern Australia is that you can't just jump in the water. Theres jellyfish everywhere and you'll die. So we have to put on these super cheezy stinger suits and then jump in. Anyways the snorkel was fun. Lots of coral and holding my breath to feel like i'm scuba diving. We get back on the boat and start to sail again. Lots of lounging and drinking goon (what do you know, goon). Couple more hours fly by and we pull up to our island to set up camp and eat dinner.
For some reason the boats capacity didn't hold every person on the boat to sleep. Ofcourse, we were those people so we had to sleep on this island in tents. The deckhand were supposed to drive us in whenever we were done for the night. But after talking and drinking with the crew we convinced them that we wouldn't rat them out if we could just sleep outside on the boat. There idea was to put us actually in the sail and sleep. Awesome! We all jumped on that and slept in the sail for the night. Thanks Avatar!
Day 2: woke up at the crack of dawn. I mean 4 a.m. That's when the sun comes up here and the caption needed the sail and for us to get up before people figured out what we did and where we slept that night. Go team. Got up, ate breakfast and laid in the sun all over the again. Did another snorkel and then headed towards Whithaven beach. The beach was well known for white sand and incredible scenery. Jumped off the boat and had to hike about 1 km through the forest to this beach. The flys here were in peak season and were freakin everywhere. They remind me of horse flys only 3 or 4 times bigger and they bite many many times. Hurts really bad. I laughed quite a bit because they would bite the girls every second and wouldn't really get me.
As we entered the beach it reminded me of the scene in the movie "the beach". Pure white sand that felt like velvet. Weird fuzzy feeling. The sand grain is so fine that it feels much different than the typical beach sand. The contrast with the rain forest in background was amazing. As we walked into the water you could see these strange white/clear fish scitter across you. There were hundreds of these fish but you couldn't see them until you walk right by them. I was with 4 other girls and me so they had to have there typical photo shoot session. Which was probably good cause the more pictures the better. But I'm glad that happened because this is definitely the best beach I have ever seen in my life. Hands down. The pictures I have taken don't even capture what you see and feel out here.
We spent a little over an hour at this beach and then had to get back on the boat. Which was a bummer. Set sail and headed out to sea again. More snorkeling and relaxing. Shoots I gotta go. Damn. I'll post again when I can.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Magnetic Island
From townsville we hoped on a ferry and headed to Magnetic Island. Its another tropical island with not that many people. A couple of hostels, a store, car rentals and a club. But its awesome. Lots of deserted beaches, crystal clear turquoise water with a mix of Colorado looking rocks on land. The best part about Magnetic island are the people and there culture. That's right, frog races! Whaaat. So at 8 p.m we all pre funked with some "goon" and headed to frog races. It consisted of a huge circle full of locals betting on toads to race. The main guy and frog lady would hold up different toads, let them run or hop around for a bit while people (us) betting on the toad. If you picked the right toad and he wins, you get a t-shirt and this radical pen.
The locals looked like huge, fat, Americans who never get off there couch until frog races. so those pictures were outta control. Everything else that happened that night couldn't compare to what we witnessed at magnetic island.
the next day we rented this car and drove around the island. I finally got to drive a 4 speed car on the left side of the road. Really hard to put together in my head, I drove a couple of times on the wrong side of the road. oh well, it was so fun. Okay gotta go, the Internet is running out. Go Maggy island and team America for keeping a good reputation for drinking and having fun.
The locals looked like huge, fat, Americans who never get off there couch until frog races. so those pictures were outta control. Everything else that happened that night couldn't compare to what we witnessed at magnetic island.
the next day we rented this car and drove around the island. I finally got to drive a 4 speed car on the left side of the road. Really hard to put together in my head, I drove a couple of times on the wrong side of the road. oh well, it was so fun. Okay gotta go, the Internet is running out. Go Maggy island and team America for keeping a good reputation for drinking and having fun.
mission to townsville
city of Townsville, very basic, laid back beach town with crazy cool kid parks that have water slip n' slides built right into them. Just think of an average school playground with giant super soakers pouring water out at you! Really cool! It reminded me of the game mouse trap with obstacles everywhere cause if you don't pay attention your gonna get tagged by some sort of water stream. Kids were falling everywhere and having a ball.
So that's Townsville. That's all there is to it. A board walk with tons of water playgrounds. You didn't miss out. They don't call it Brownsville for no reason.
So that's Townsville. That's all there is to it. A board walk with tons of water playgrounds. You didn't miss out. They don't call it Brownsville for no reason.
Mission beach
Hey everyone! or maybe its just me writing to myself.
mission beach day 1:
woke up pretty early because we thought we were getting on a bus to go south again. but we decided against that and stay for another night. great decision becuase we have been moving to fast at the moment. After breakfast we headed to the beach to lay in the sun. About an hour goes by and I noticed a bunch of little bubbles on my back. I got sunburnt a couple of days before and it looks like I got some blistards. I'm a dumb ass I know but I have been putting sunscreen like it aint no thing and still got burnt. That kinda ruined my day so I went back to the hostel to hang out.
That night the hostel hosted a bad taste dress up party. Recently I bought this shark hat that flips open on the cap. When flipped up it shows the shark eating an octopus. Brilliant. So I whore that with a bunch of women's clothes and was set for the night. Pretty much every guy at this party was dressed like chicks and the girls got super creative.
Apparently America has this bad rep that we can't drink, so me and Jen have been making a point to prove everyone wrong. A group of English guys challenged us, so the race was on. We started with the standard drinking games and about an hour later were all drunk having a good time but a couple of these English guys were hammered drunk and on there ass. So funny. go America!
Everyone got taxied over to this Thai restaurant/ club (i know weird idea but it worked out pretty well, ha ha) You can probably imagine what happened the rest of the night: lots of embarrassing dancing and good fun
mission beach day 1:
woke up pretty early because we thought we were getting on a bus to go south again. but we decided against that and stay for another night. great decision becuase we have been moving to fast at the moment. After breakfast we headed to the beach to lay in the sun. About an hour goes by and I noticed a bunch of little bubbles on my back. I got sunburnt a couple of days before and it looks like I got some blistards. I'm a dumb ass I know but I have been putting sunscreen like it aint no thing and still got burnt. That kinda ruined my day so I went back to the hostel to hang out.
That night the hostel hosted a bad taste dress up party. Recently I bought this shark hat that flips open on the cap. When flipped up it shows the shark eating an octopus. Brilliant. So I whore that with a bunch of women's clothes and was set for the night. Pretty much every guy at this party was dressed like chicks and the girls got super creative.
Apparently America has this bad rep that we can't drink, so me and Jen have been making a point to prove everyone wrong. A group of English guys challenged us, so the race was on. We started with the standard drinking games and about an hour later were all drunk having a good time but a couple of these English guys were hammered drunk and on there ass. So funny. go America!
Everyone got taxied over to this Thai restaurant/ club (i know weird idea but it worked out pretty well, ha ha) You can probably imagine what happened the rest of the night: lots of embarrassing dancing and good fun
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