Yeah, so, umm, I've still not written the Fiji part yet, and I've only got a draft of what I'm gonna write for the US, but needless to say, we've done 1400+ miles in 5 days, including a day where we didn't go anywhere by car and walked excessively. THere will be an update soon, I might pad out what I have tonight and post in the morning (US time) once we've sussed out our route. We're in a place called Kingman currently, just past Chloride (i sh*t you not.) Tomorrow will be some actual Route 66, maybe a bit of Canyon and then Flagstaff for the night. Today I found a shopping outlet. I bought new glasses, they're polarised. I like them alot.
One thing of note for the week, the phrase, emmitted by my very own vocal chords when seeing a bird wash itself in the street... "What are you doing? that's not a bath it's a f***ing puddle you pikey!" A bit harsh on said bird maybe, but it had just offered to Tarmac my driveway. (I guess you had to be there.)
Catch you all later!
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
fiji
there will be a fiji post to come, I've just not written it yet, sorry the updates have been so far apart! the internet is a pretty rare thing over here, unlike rain. it's been an eventful week, few highs and lows, but all in all a good experience. I'm currently sat in a hostel waiting for the washing to finish and trying to get myself ready for route 66 next week!
So, Fiji, well, We flew into Nadi, where we found our Feejee Experience peoples, who then got us lei'd, then off to our "hotel" for the evening, this is where we met up with the Gavlar, who had acquired a Ryan, he was to be our new friend. :) In the morning we all boarded the Feejee Experience bus, greeted by possibly the campest tour guide ever (and that's saying something) the 6ft black Bungle known as Kem, and were carted off into Nadi, where we had to gain supplies for the day, (this I could see was to be a problem for the week, what with my only form of currency being my Halifax credit card, and so would have to rely on Rob for the week to sub me - not a position I liked being in.) and a sarong for visits to the villages, where we would meet the locals and partake in rituals, but you must not wear footwear and must cover your legs. So, off into town we went, after learning the word "Bula" (Boo-laah) which is Hello, you pick this up very quickly, as everyone and their dog will say it to you as you walk round, one shop keeper even stopped us for a chat, the whole time we were thinking (oh no, go away, we don't want to buy anything from you!) But we were wrong, he didn't want to sell us anything, he made no movements to get us into his shop, he wanted to know where we were from, what football teams we supported, what we were doing in Fiji, and to buy local stuff from the Fijians, not the Indians that were taking over. The irony was not lost on me, and it was funny as how we mis-judged him when the conversation started, by the end of it he ended up sounding like every "get them out of my country" Englishman! But he was very nice with it, and wished us all well with our travels.
The Feejee group now consisted of Laura, Just - Plain - Jane, (who was lovely) Florian, Aurellie, Lukas, and the Japanese!
Then we were off on our travels, in our mother of a bus, moving all and sundry out of the way on roads that made Fraser look mildly serene!
We then went to the sand dunes and sandboarded down them, well, about 5 of us did. It was awesome. I wrecked myself twice and loved it. There's at least one video on facebook.
PS. It's raining.
In the evening we stayed at Mango Bay and had a Kava cermeony, this is how the Fijian's like to hang when they meet each other on their travels, one man brings a bowl, the other brings the ingredients, they mash 'em up, have a ritual cermeony, then drink Kava, showing respect to each other, and friendliness, as Kava slowly deadens you're body, taking all feeling out of it, whilst making you a little tipsy, liquid stoner juice maybe? It does however, taste like rather harsh mouthwash/root beer. Still, we would be undertaking Kava many times, each time that tingle on your tongue still feeling just a bit weird.
The next day we headed from Mango Bay, to Uprising, this was to be our home for 4 nights, on the way we stopped off for a little boat ride up the river so we could ride inner tube's all the way back down, the ride was awesome, nothing too fast, or slow, mostly calm, it was a lovely relaxing but fun trek.
Uprising.
Well, now, this is a bit of fun. They played a game of move the foreigners, as their main Dorm building (which myself, Gav and Ry were booked into) was suffering a bad case of bed bugs. (fortunately not in my bed, I had a great night's sleep, after coming in at 12ish.) Over the course of the 4 days we were moved to Bure 12, 9 and finally 2, where we told them to stick it we weren't moving anymore! This will all be explained as we go.
So, we checked in, dumped our stuff at the dorm, and headed "to the bar!" for a cheeky pint at 4pm happy hour. 8 hours later I came back, having somehow only ordered 2 rounds, and I'm fairly certain, only paying for 4 drinks of those 2 rounds!
The next day was a chillout day, we all crashed, relaxed, I finished watching Watchmen (There were some weird dreams that night. I don't think I could ever see the Blue Man group after that.) Then the aftermath of the bed bugs appeared and we moved into Bure 12. (A Bure is like a little 4 sleeper chalet, with an outdoor shower, which was private.) I needed my sleep, the next day was to be shark day.
SHARKS! LUNCH! DEEEEEEAAAAAAATTTTH!
Today, we dived with Sharks at feeding time. It was *Amazing.* You have no idea how cool it was. Flo-rida, Aurellie and the Gav came along but weren't allowed to dive due to not having their diving qualifications, but they came along, took pictures and Flo and French got very, very unwell on the rough sea!
The actual dives were great, we got the whole thing recorded on Sarah's camcorder, so I have some awesome if rather large videos if you ever want to see them. we were between a rock and a death place. We dove down 25m to 'The Bistro' my dive log tells me. Where we lined up against the big rocks, home to eels, behind what was essentially red carpet rope, but without the carpet and BIG FUNKING SHARKS on the other side. We bottomed out on the ocean floor, one hand on the rope, turning to the Dive Master as if to say "The sharks know they're not allowed to cross this line right??" Then, one of the dive guys descended from the sky atop a green frickin' wheelie bin! holding a rope as if descending from the skies on a very council version of the silver surfers surfboard! The whole experience was incredible, there were two dives, separated by a bout of Rob throwing up, looking to the side to see Flo throw up at the same time, which in turn made him laugh as he threw up. It was pure comedy gold I tell thee.
At sunset, Flo, Aurellie and I took a wander down the seafront as we we're now in Bure 2. (They tried to move us to 9, where we found there were already enough people in there, so we got shifted to 2, which was a seafront Bure, costing Uprising more money, as we weren't paying for anything more than Dorm accomodation.) The walk didn't last long as walking arm in arm Aurellie slipped and kicked my heel, this brought a stop to her stride and tears to her eyes, we shouldered her back to the bure to rest and tend to the toe. (She later found out it was broken and had to be strapped up.)
When the time to leave Uprising came, we gladly got on the coach, and headed for Volivoli beach resort, via an orphanage, where we gave them gift in exchange for letting us see how they live. They put on a welcoming show for us, gave us a tour and were all very excited and pleased to see us, which made us all feel a bit better, then a bit skeptical of the whole thing and so a bit sad about how bad their lives are, but they were amazing, and love balloons. If you take nothing else fro this blog, take this. Fijian orphans freaking love balloons! It was quite a humbling experience, and the ride the rest of the way to VoliVoli was a bit more sombre. Though my earphones had Limp Bizkit - Eat you alive on, so I was rockin out in my own little world.
At VoliVoli, Rob, Becky, Ry and I went for a dive, as we'd heard such good things about it. FLo and Gav went and did an introductory dive. Our dive was great, first time we'd done a reverse entry off the side of a boat (instead of giant step entry) which was kinda cool, the coral was lush, we saw more sharks, (lil' reef ones this time) Bec nearly ran out of air, then we went back by Gav and Flo, who were cut to pieces on the coral, Flo more so than Gav, which may explain why Gav seemed to enjoy it more! Later we travelled to a local indian where we had a pre-defined meal and made our own Roti, (look it up) which was nice, it was a nice experience, then swung by a boys home, bit like the orphanage, I didn't want to go in this time, so I just chilled out with some rock. Then we went off to the mud pools, my own insecurities stopped me from going in, but I had alot of fun seeing everyone go arse over tit getting in and out, and getting covered in mud, and "blacking up" in that totally non-racist racist way that us english have. Then they ran into the hot bath pools and cleane dup and we all went back to the hotel. This was a new hotel, We ended up in a room without Rob! But a spare bed. Rob ended up in a room with 5 girls. In true cock-block fashion we got him moved to our room :) After a shower it was dinner time at the hostel next door, not bad, but the food took an age to come to us as everyone was on "fiji-time" (Read, lazy and can't be arsed) the next day the sun came out! finally! So we soaked up some rays, then prepared to catch the big bird to LAX...
So, Fiji, well, We flew into Nadi, where we found our Feejee Experience peoples, who then got us lei'd, then off to our "hotel" for the evening, this is where we met up with the Gavlar, who had acquired a Ryan, he was to be our new friend. :) In the morning we all boarded the Feejee Experience bus, greeted by possibly the campest tour guide ever (and that's saying something) the 6ft black Bungle known as Kem, and were carted off into Nadi, where we had to gain supplies for the day, (this I could see was to be a problem for the week, what with my only form of currency being my Halifax credit card, and so would have to rely on Rob for the week to sub me - not a position I liked being in.) and a sarong for visits to the villages, where we would meet the locals and partake in rituals, but you must not wear footwear and must cover your legs. So, off into town we went, after learning the word "Bula" (Boo-laah) which is Hello, you pick this up very quickly, as everyone and their dog will say it to you as you walk round, one shop keeper even stopped us for a chat, the whole time we were thinking (oh no, go away, we don't want to buy anything from you!) But we were wrong, he didn't want to sell us anything, he made no movements to get us into his shop, he wanted to know where we were from, what football teams we supported, what we were doing in Fiji, and to buy local stuff from the Fijians, not the Indians that were taking over. The irony was not lost on me, and it was funny as how we mis-judged him when the conversation started, by the end of it he ended up sounding like every "get them out of my country" Englishman! But he was very nice with it, and wished us all well with our travels.
The Feejee group now consisted of Laura, Just - Plain - Jane, (who was lovely) Florian, Aurellie, Lukas, and the Japanese!
Then we were off on our travels, in our mother of a bus, moving all and sundry out of the way on roads that made Fraser look mildly serene!
We then went to the sand dunes and sandboarded down them, well, about 5 of us did. It was awesome. I wrecked myself twice and loved it. There's at least one video on facebook.
PS. It's raining.
In the evening we stayed at Mango Bay and had a Kava cermeony, this is how the Fijian's like to hang when they meet each other on their travels, one man brings a bowl, the other brings the ingredients, they mash 'em up, have a ritual cermeony, then drink Kava, showing respect to each other, and friendliness, as Kava slowly deadens you're body, taking all feeling out of it, whilst making you a little tipsy, liquid stoner juice maybe? It does however, taste like rather harsh mouthwash/root beer. Still, we would be undertaking Kava many times, each time that tingle on your tongue still feeling just a bit weird.
The next day we headed from Mango Bay, to Uprising, this was to be our home for 4 nights, on the way we stopped off for a little boat ride up the river so we could ride inner tube's all the way back down, the ride was awesome, nothing too fast, or slow, mostly calm, it was a lovely relaxing but fun trek.
Uprising.
Well, now, this is a bit of fun. They played a game of move the foreigners, as their main Dorm building (which myself, Gav and Ry were booked into) was suffering a bad case of bed bugs. (fortunately not in my bed, I had a great night's sleep, after coming in at 12ish.) Over the course of the 4 days we were moved to Bure 12, 9 and finally 2, where we told them to stick it we weren't moving anymore! This will all be explained as we go.
So, we checked in, dumped our stuff at the dorm, and headed "to the bar!" for a cheeky pint at 4pm happy hour. 8 hours later I came back, having somehow only ordered 2 rounds, and I'm fairly certain, only paying for 4 drinks of those 2 rounds!
The next day was a chillout day, we all crashed, relaxed, I finished watching Watchmen (There were some weird dreams that night. I don't think I could ever see the Blue Man group after that.) Then the aftermath of the bed bugs appeared and we moved into Bure 12. (A Bure is like a little 4 sleeper chalet, with an outdoor shower, which was private.) I needed my sleep, the next day was to be shark day.
SHARKS! LUNCH! DEEEEEEAAAAAAATTTTH!
Today, we dived with Sharks at feeding time. It was *Amazing.* You have no idea how cool it was. Flo-rida, Aurellie and the Gav came along but weren't allowed to dive due to not having their diving qualifications, but they came along, took pictures and Flo and French got very, very unwell on the rough sea!
The actual dives were great, we got the whole thing recorded on Sarah's camcorder, so I have some awesome if rather large videos if you ever want to see them. we were between a rock and a death place. We dove down 25m to 'The Bistro' my dive log tells me. Where we lined up against the big rocks, home to eels, behind what was essentially red carpet rope, but without the carpet and BIG FUNKING SHARKS on the other side. We bottomed out on the ocean floor, one hand on the rope, turning to the Dive Master as if to say "The sharks know they're not allowed to cross this line right??" Then, one of the dive guys descended from the sky atop a green frickin' wheelie bin! holding a rope as if descending from the skies on a very council version of the silver surfers surfboard! The whole experience was incredible, there were two dives, separated by a bout of Rob throwing up, looking to the side to see Flo throw up at the same time, which in turn made him laugh as he threw up. It was pure comedy gold I tell thee.
At sunset, Flo, Aurellie and I took a wander down the seafront as we we're now in Bure 2. (They tried to move us to 9, where we found there were already enough people in there, so we got shifted to 2, which was a seafront Bure, costing Uprising more money, as we weren't paying for anything more than Dorm accomodation.) The walk didn't last long as walking arm in arm Aurellie slipped and kicked my heel, this brought a stop to her stride and tears to her eyes, we shouldered her back to the bure to rest and tend to the toe. (She later found out it was broken and had to be strapped up.)
When the time to leave Uprising came, we gladly got on the coach, and headed for Volivoli beach resort, via an orphanage, where we gave them gift in exchange for letting us see how they live. They put on a welcoming show for us, gave us a tour and were all very excited and pleased to see us, which made us all feel a bit better, then a bit skeptical of the whole thing and so a bit sad about how bad their lives are, but they were amazing, and love balloons. If you take nothing else fro this blog, take this. Fijian orphans freaking love balloons! It was quite a humbling experience, and the ride the rest of the way to VoliVoli was a bit more sombre. Though my earphones had Limp Bizkit - Eat you alive on, so I was rockin out in my own little world.
At VoliVoli, Rob, Becky, Ry and I went for a dive, as we'd heard such good things about it. FLo and Gav went and did an introductory dive. Our dive was great, first time we'd done a reverse entry off the side of a boat (instead of giant step entry) which was kinda cool, the coral was lush, we saw more sharks, (lil' reef ones this time) Bec nearly ran out of air, then we went back by Gav and Flo, who were cut to pieces on the coral, Flo more so than Gav, which may explain why Gav seemed to enjoy it more! Later we travelled to a local indian where we had a pre-defined meal and made our own Roti, (look it up) which was nice, it was a nice experience, then swung by a boys home, bit like the orphanage, I didn't want to go in this time, so I just chilled out with some rock. Then we went off to the mud pools, my own insecurities stopped me from going in, but I had alot of fun seeing everyone go arse over tit getting in and out, and getting covered in mud, and "blacking up" in that totally non-racist racist way that us english have. Then they ran into the hot bath pools and cleane dup and we all went back to the hotel. This was a new hotel, We ended up in a room without Rob! But a spare bed. Rob ended up in a room with 5 girls. In true cock-block fashion we got him moved to our room :) After a shower it was dinner time at the hostel next door, not bad, but the food took an age to come to us as everyone was on "fiji-time" (Read, lazy and can't be arsed) the next day the sun came out! finally! So we soaked up some rays, then prepared to catch the big bird to LAX...
Mojosurf
Mojosurf, was to be our last activity in Australia, a 5 day surf school from Byron Bay to Sydney, consisting of 7 lessons, at 2 different sites, 1st up, "Spot X" on Arrawarra beach, and 2nd, their own location in the middle of a National Park (I don't know how they managed that) at Crescent Head. Our Instructors were to be Antman, A local Aussie (on one day he showed us where he lived, and where he learnt to surf) sometimes he looked his age, sometimes he loked near 40. poor dude. He was very funny, but did sound like he'd maybe smoked a few too many drugs in his time. Second up, we had Adios. From Bali, his real name was Adire, and he didn't have a surname so on his immigration papaers he put "only name" down in the surname box to indicate this, therefore he is now known to the Australian Immigrationa dn governament as Mr Adire Onlyname. Only in Oz guys, only in Oz. 3rd we had a work experience dude named Sam along, he was absolutely sound, into surfing, drinking, music, and anything sporty, the other members of our group were a guy named dave we met as we got off the bus, Steve and Ottar from Norway, Julian from Germany, and Natalie from Switzerland. Yup, we had a group of 8, in peak they have groups of 50+ so this was brilliant for us, we got some real good teaching time, and at spot x there were plenty of other tours around for us all to socailise with round the fire playing "change places if you have ever..." You learn many interesting things about the people you're keeping company with playing such a game with alcohol, was a top night. that night, Natalie didn't come home, she seemed to have found herself an instructor to umm ;) ;) with. (Instructor not from our group, and to be fair, he did make alot of effort during the night!) The first day we only had the one lesson, and I managed to land on my big toe bending it forward too far, it did swell up over the next few days, and also bailed a bit awkwardly on my right leg, twisting it slightly and opening my knee joint a little, so I had a bit of a limp for a couple of days, but still, I got injuries surfing, so I didn't really care!!!!
Day 2 was a bit quieter at Spot X as there was hardly anyone else there until the evening, and their group was a bit seperated, and for some reason they all wanted to go off skinny dipping, so we left them to it. But two more surf lessons and it was getting better, we'd all managed to stand up properly, no matter how briefly, and were really enjoying it, there were some top class wipeouts (possibly the best part!) including multiple person wipeouts, me and rob, becky and me, steve and ottar, julian and natalie, a top moment where julian surfed all the way up to where becky was standing after her last ride, then fell off the back sending the board straight into Becky, who's onw board then hit her in the face, this was witnessed by myself, Rob and Antman, and we had no option but to laugh, as comedy moments go, it dowsn't matte who was invloved that was always going to happen and always going to be hilarious. This night, only myself and Rob slept in our room.
Day 3 was a quick surf after breakfast then on the bus down to crescent head, where the track reminded just a bit of the roads on Fraser, once there we chilled, me two guys who were the only other residents, having left Julian at spot x as he was returning to Byron. That evening we had a little time playing guitar by the fire (Yes! there was a guitar there, Oh how I miss mine :'( :'( )and some idle chat then off to bed ready for the next day's lessons.
Day 4 was our first surf at Crescent Head, it was a lush sport to surf, bigger waves just made it all easier, then I got hold of a nice big wide fiberglass board instead of the squidgy foam boards we had been using and surfing became so much more ridciulously easy it was unreal! ha da great lesson, then switched back to foam for the afternoon with a 1 on 1 lesson with Adi, and I managed to get up a few more times a bit more predictably, and kept going "one more!" we had a good laugh, came up with a few new nicknames, shared some good one liners, ("Oo me conkers" a la Unlucky Alf, came up at one point when Adi got lashed by a wave.)" That night the evening was dampened a little by the rain, but we still had a laugh. Before we went to bed we were asked who wanted to do the sunrise surf at 6am, there were a couple of us up for it.
Day 5. I got awarded Sam and Adi's "hXc Surfer Award" (hXc being hardcore) as no other bugger came for the sunrise surf, it awesome, ok, so I was utterly utterly knackered and useless, but I was the only one in the water and at one point I was walking out through the waves, seing two nice big surges coming up and above it was a gap in the could just wide enough to see the sun coming up over the horizon, just an awesome moment. as the session ended so we could go get some breakfast we noticed a good 10 dolphins sitting in the bay having a play so we stood in the water and watched them for a bit, it was a truely awesome moment, 2 in one day and it wasn't even 07:30 yet! After breakfast we got ourselves together, and left for Sydney, a fair old bus ride, where time was passed with movies, and sleep. We arrived in Sydney about 4pm, after a thoroughly top few days, we got our certificates, hoodies, picture cds and memories and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Sydney
In Sydney we stayed in Alexandria with Lesa and Jo, who Rob and Becky stayed with when they first arrived, we mostly just hung out and chilled, got very drunk on the first night, sent some stuff home via sea freight, so I should be home about the smae time as it arrives, and generally got ourselves sorted ready for Fiji. It was a nice few days, and I got to see a few people from the last visit, like Vikki, which was awesome to have a catch up and chill out and enjoy other people's company.
Day 2 was a bit quieter at Spot X as there was hardly anyone else there until the evening, and their group was a bit seperated, and for some reason they all wanted to go off skinny dipping, so we left them to it. But two more surf lessons and it was getting better, we'd all managed to stand up properly, no matter how briefly, and were really enjoying it, there were some top class wipeouts (possibly the best part!) including multiple person wipeouts, me and rob, becky and me, steve and ottar, julian and natalie, a top moment where julian surfed all the way up to where becky was standing after her last ride, then fell off the back sending the board straight into Becky, who's onw board then hit her in the face, this was witnessed by myself, Rob and Antman, and we had no option but to laugh, as comedy moments go, it dowsn't matte who was invloved that was always going to happen and always going to be hilarious. This night, only myself and Rob slept in our room.
Day 3 was a quick surf after breakfast then on the bus down to crescent head, where the track reminded just a bit of the roads on Fraser, once there we chilled, me two guys who were the only other residents, having left Julian at spot x as he was returning to Byron. That evening we had a little time playing guitar by the fire (Yes! there was a guitar there, Oh how I miss mine :'( :'( )and some idle chat then off to bed ready for the next day's lessons.
Day 4 was our first surf at Crescent Head, it was a lush sport to surf, bigger waves just made it all easier, then I got hold of a nice big wide fiberglass board instead of the squidgy foam boards we had been using and surfing became so much more ridciulously easy it was unreal! ha da great lesson, then switched back to foam for the afternoon with a 1 on 1 lesson with Adi, and I managed to get up a few more times a bit more predictably, and kept going "one more!" we had a good laugh, came up with a few new nicknames, shared some good one liners, ("Oo me conkers" a la Unlucky Alf, came up at one point when Adi got lashed by a wave.)" That night the evening was dampened a little by the rain, but we still had a laugh. Before we went to bed we were asked who wanted to do the sunrise surf at 6am, there were a couple of us up for it.
Day 5. I got awarded Sam and Adi's "hXc Surfer Award" (hXc being hardcore) as no other bugger came for the sunrise surf, it awesome, ok, so I was utterly utterly knackered and useless, but I was the only one in the water and at one point I was walking out through the waves, seing two nice big surges coming up and above it was a gap in the could just wide enough to see the sun coming up over the horizon, just an awesome moment. as the session ended so we could go get some breakfast we noticed a good 10 dolphins sitting in the bay having a play so we stood in the water and watched them for a bit, it was a truely awesome moment, 2 in one day and it wasn't even 07:30 yet! After breakfast we got ourselves together, and left for Sydney, a fair old bus ride, where time was passed with movies, and sleep. We arrived in Sydney about 4pm, after a thoroughly top few days, we got our certificates, hoodies, picture cds and memories and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Sydney
In Sydney we stayed in Alexandria with Lesa and Jo, who Rob and Becky stayed with when they first arrived, we mostly just hung out and chilled, got very drunk on the first night, sent some stuff home via sea freight, so I should be home about the smae time as it arrives, and generally got ourselves sorted ready for Fiji. It was a nice few days, and I got to see a few people from the last visit, like Vikki, which was awesome to have a catch up and chill out and enjoy other people's company.
Filler...again
Our next stop after Fraser and Hervey Bay was a few days in Byron Bay waiting for the mojosurf tour to start, Byron was kinda cool in a lia back, surfer, slightly overpriced supermarket kinda way. It's not a big town by our standards, but it has some cool surf shops, a fairly nice culture to it, and was generally quite pleasant. Our hostel could've been really good if it weren't for the fact our room was pretty much used as a walkthrough by everyone, and our room-mates had this habit of coming in very loudly at 3, 4, and 5am everynight!
Fraser Island Part 2
Day 2
Day 2 started off with me back at the wheel, as I was determined to be the one to get us to Base Camp even if it took the best part of 24 hours! So we headed out, back onto the beach at the earliest possible moment, (it was still a bit hairy) and travelled up to Cathedral Beach, the home of Base camp, where we put the tents back up, had a spot of breakfast, then headed off to Indian Head, with Becs behind the wheel along the beach, by the tim we got there we had a quick run up the hill, look out over the beaches and surf, we didn't see any sharks loitering by the bottom of indian head like they supposedly normally are, then noted that it was probably time to make a move back as the tide was getting high again, and the drive up took longer than it should have, so Rob drove back along the beach, with a bit off gentle persuasion to go a bit faster, we made it back to base camp, and had the rest of the day to ourselves, no, it being 3pm, we decided the best thing to do would be to start drinking. THe night was messy, Rob and I spent a fair amount of time holding Angela up, Becs had to be fed her dinner by the lads as she was already drunk by then, and The Jen decided to be very kind and magic up some food for the dingos we had patrolling round the dining area just waiting for some tasty vom! Somehow, Rob and Chris ended up in the girls tent, giving them 7 people and us boys only 4, so I had a good ol' stretch out and dozed off about 12, after escorting Angela back, then Becky to the amenities too.
Day 3
Day 3 was pretty much a mad rush to get back to the ferry in time, we were told we'd have to make a 2 hour detour (we only had 4, and the original route was supposed to take 90 mins) due to the tide being too high by the rocks and they would be impassable. We were also informed that this run involved more dodgy roads, so I was back behind the wheel (and loving it) and a run on some very soft sand that went down steeply, then through a creek and back up a steep slope the other side. When we got there, we did lose the third team for a minute there. We also stopped breifly at Lake Allom, and took a walk down to what looked like American high school bleachers, with the bottom two rows underwater (think benches if you don't ge tthe bleachers reference) and there we saw lots of tiny tiny turtles just floating around, obviously after some food, they were smaller than the laptop I'm using, so cute! but didn't make for much of a long stop! We hit the road again, eventually, we made it back to the boat with 40 minutes to spare, and in the end the boat left late anyways! but we made it safely back off of Fraser Island!
Day 2 started off with me back at the wheel, as I was determined to be the one to get us to Base Camp even if it took the best part of 24 hours! So we headed out, back onto the beach at the earliest possible moment, (it was still a bit hairy) and travelled up to Cathedral Beach, the home of Base camp, where we put the tents back up, had a spot of breakfast, then headed off to Indian Head, with Becs behind the wheel along the beach, by the tim we got there we had a quick run up the hill, look out over the beaches and surf, we didn't see any sharks loitering by the bottom of indian head like they supposedly normally are, then noted that it was probably time to make a move back as the tide was getting high again, and the drive up took longer than it should have, so Rob drove back along the beach, with a bit off gentle persuasion to go a bit faster, we made it back to base camp, and had the rest of the day to ourselves, no, it being 3pm, we decided the best thing to do would be to start drinking. THe night was messy, Rob and I spent a fair amount of time holding Angela up, Becs had to be fed her dinner by the lads as she was already drunk by then, and The Jen decided to be very kind and magic up some food for the dingos we had patrolling round the dining area just waiting for some tasty vom! Somehow, Rob and Chris ended up in the girls tent, giving them 7 people and us boys only 4, so I had a good ol' stretch out and dozed off about 12, after escorting Angela back, then Becky to the amenities too.
Day 3
Day 3 was pretty much a mad rush to get back to the ferry in time, we were told we'd have to make a 2 hour detour (we only had 4, and the original route was supposed to take 90 mins) due to the tide being too high by the rocks and they would be impassable. We were also informed that this run involved more dodgy roads, so I was back behind the wheel (and loving it) and a run on some very soft sand that went down steeply, then through a creek and back up a steep slope the other side. When we got there, we did lose the third team for a minute there. We also stopped breifly at Lake Allom, and took a walk down to what looked like American high school bleachers, with the bottom two rows underwater (think benches if you don't ge tthe bleachers reference) and there we saw lots of tiny tiny turtles just floating around, obviously after some food, they were smaller than the laptop I'm using, so cute! but didn't make for much of a long stop! We hit the road again, eventually, we made it back to the boat with 40 minutes to spare, and in the end the boat left late anyways! but we made it safely back off of Fraser Island!
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Fraser Part I
The next morning we woke up ready to meet in the bar at 6:30am when we were finally put in our groups of 11, (ours consisting of 12,) we found out that we were indeed bundled with those said kids from the night before! Although, in the cold hard light of day, they were just a bunch of well brought up kids, who were seemingly quite sensible, especially in the light of the previous week's incident. and a bunch of girls.
So after some faffing by the woman trying to organize the whole thing, one of the two late arrivals to the group of 12, (Called Robb) was assigned to another group, leaving us with "Team Jigga" consisting of;
1) Me! (Mostly nominated driver)
2) Rob
3) Becky
4) Jonathan
5) Chris
6) Mike (aka, Kermit/Chunks)
7) Alex
and Team Canada
8) Tanya
9) The Jen
10) And Jen
11) Angela
and we headed off to get in the Land Cruiser, and old school tropp carrier one, with tyres that seemed altogether too narrow, and with a roof rack, laden with all our goods, and therefore making it very top heavy, it was apparent driving the beast would be quite a daunting effort. Once we arrived on Fraser, we followed Team Ireland (There were now 3 trucks, team Ireland had 3 irish members, one of which as the drivers, and team useless, who were always lagging behind.) we tanked off after team ireland, and detoured to Lake McKenzie, which was stunning, white sand, clear freshwater, sadly, this was on the agenda for day 3, had we checked the itinerary, we woul dhave known this. In the driver briefing we were told all the precautions and methods for driving on sand on Fraser, including not going anywhere near the water, so high tide was out, and they proceeded to tell us that we were safe on the beach until 5pm, when it would then become dangerous. so when we got to the beach at 3, noting the rather high level of the tide, we still dumbly though it would be safe to proceed. I'll be honest I was absolutely cacking it, especially as the second wave came across, and lashed over the windscreen, rendering us blind for a second or two, thinking carefully about what direction to keep the vehicle pointed, and not rolling it like the other group, needless to say, we got off the beach at the next possible gap, where we met Team Ireland again (we'd all split up) sadly, what this did mean, was that we had to travel up the island on roads we didn't know and weren't supposed to go on, it took 6 hours, with the concentration like you wouldn't believe, looking for dips, bumps, camber, soft sand etc, so as not to get bogged down. Eventually we made it back to the beach, and the tide was still in, so we had to turn around and set up camp in a nearby site at a cost of $8 each (what fool, puts a base camp on an island where the only access is via the beach? I mean, really, no back road??? - the beach is a road on fraser btw) which was run by an aborginal man who told us not to whistle as it attracted the ancient spirits, one of which was a 4 year old girl who gave awesome massages, (I didn't see why not to massage, i could've done with one after that drive) this was a massive day, i was totally shattered at dinner, and couldn't interact with anyone, I ate, sat down, hoody over my head, and zoned out the world.
So after some faffing by the woman trying to organize the whole thing, one of the two late arrivals to the group of 12, (Called Robb) was assigned to another group, leaving us with "Team Jigga" consisting of;
1) Me! (Mostly nominated driver)
2) Rob
3) Becky
4) Jonathan
5) Chris
6) Mike (aka, Kermit/Chunks)
7) Alex
and Team Canada
8) Tanya
9) The Jen
10) And Jen
11) Angela
and we headed off to get in the Land Cruiser, and old school tropp carrier one, with tyres that seemed altogether too narrow, and with a roof rack, laden with all our goods, and therefore making it very top heavy, it was apparent driving the beast would be quite a daunting effort. Once we arrived on Fraser, we followed Team Ireland (There were now 3 trucks, team Ireland had 3 irish members, one of which as the drivers, and team useless, who were always lagging behind.) we tanked off after team ireland, and detoured to Lake McKenzie, which was stunning, white sand, clear freshwater, sadly, this was on the agenda for day 3, had we checked the itinerary, we woul dhave known this. In the driver briefing we were told all the precautions and methods for driving on sand on Fraser, including not going anywhere near the water, so high tide was out, and they proceeded to tell us that we were safe on the beach until 5pm, when it would then become dangerous. so when we got to the beach at 3, noting the rather high level of the tide, we still dumbly though it would be safe to proceed. I'll be honest I was absolutely cacking it, especially as the second wave came across, and lashed over the windscreen, rendering us blind for a second or two, thinking carefully about what direction to keep the vehicle pointed, and not rolling it like the other group, needless to say, we got off the beach at the next possible gap, where we met Team Ireland again (we'd all split up) sadly, what this did mean, was that we had to travel up the island on roads we didn't know and weren't supposed to go on, it took 6 hours, with the concentration like you wouldn't believe, looking for dips, bumps, camber, soft sand etc, so as not to get bogged down. Eventually we made it back to the beach, and the tide was still in, so we had to turn around and set up camp in a nearby site at a cost of $8 each (what fool, puts a base camp on an island where the only access is via the beach? I mean, really, no back road??? - the beach is a road on fraser btw) which was run by an aborginal man who told us not to whistle as it attracted the ancient spirits, one of which was a 4 year old girl who gave awesome massages, (I didn't see why not to massage, i could've done with one after that drive) this was a massive day, i was totally shattered at dinner, and couldn't interact with anyone, I ate, sat down, hoody over my head, and zoned out the world.
Monday, 4 May 2009
oopsie & itinerary
Seems i've neglected the blog again. I've been very busy readers, yes I have. Trying to sort out things, whilst also Going to Fraser Island, and then doing a 1 week surf school from Byron to Sydney, I *will* get round to updating, hipefully before leave for Fiji tomorrow, but just thought I'd check in for now to say in the words of Granny Weatherwax. 'I aten't dead' :)
OK, so I probably haven't put up what I plan yet...so here goes.
Today: 05/05 Fly to Nadi (Fiji)
Travel round Fiji
14/05 - Fly to LAX - Head to Santa Barbara for a night's place to crash
15/05 -> 29/05 Route 66 to Chicago, with slight detours to San Francisco at the beginning, and Hoover Dam.
LA -> Barstow -> Kingman -> Flagstaff -> Gallup -> Albequerque -> Santa Rosa -> AMARILLO -> Shamrock -> Oklahoma City -> Tulsa -> Springfield -> St Louis ->another Springfield -> Chicago
29/05 -> Don't know yet, probably a few days if not a week in Chicago
11/06 Fly home from Newark, so probably a few days in New York beforehand too.
OK, so I probably haven't put up what I plan yet...so here goes.
Today: 05/05 Fly to Nadi (Fiji)
Travel round Fiji
14/05 - Fly to LAX - Head to Santa Barbara for a night's place to crash
15/05 -> 29/05 Route 66 to Chicago, with slight detours to San Francisco at the beginning, and Hoover Dam.
LA -> Barstow -> Kingman -> Flagstaff -> Gallup -> Albequerque -> Santa Rosa -> AMARILLO -> Shamrock -> Oklahoma City -> Tulsa -> Springfield -> St Louis ->another Springfield -> Chicago
29/05 -> Don't know yet, probably a few days if not a week in Chicago
11/06 Fly home from Newark, so probably a few days in New York beforehand too.
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