I’ve been on my own for only a week and a half and I really wish I would have backpacked on my own sooner. I love being on my own schedule, meeting new people and seeing whatever I want, when I want. I guess this is a warm up for future travels (I’m already planning my next one, South America. haha). For the future, I’m going to be picky about who I travel with, its not like many of my friends back home travel much anyway, which is part of the reason I’m blogging the following. As expected, I’ve met a lot of backpackers from all over the world in the past month, and in the 100’s of people I’ve met, I’ve only met 3 Americans, all of them only being over here for one month, either break from school or a few weeks off work.
The first American I met, I was really embarrassed for him. It’s only natural for other culture to generalize a country off their experiences. He was a 20 year old male from San Diego, California. He started talking to me at Fraser when we were camping at the aboriginal camp. He noticed that I was wearing rainbow flip flops, a give away for the west coast and asked me what I thought of Australia, I gave him my honest opinion of loving it and asked for his. His response was so stereotypical arrogant American, I nervously looked around to everyone near and hoped they were to drunk to notice him. ‘I mean I don’t know what the big deal is, Australia has beaches and so does California, there’s to many mosquito’s and people are weird, I’m excited to go home in a week. I only came out here because my mom had to go to Brisbane for work”. I quickly drank the rest of my drink and said I needed a refill, I didn’t want to associate myself with him, especially since he was American. Throughout the night when people learned I was American they jokingly (but not) asked if I was ready to go home too, obviously they had met Blake. I felt I had to quickly get on a soap box and preach that not all Americans are that way, it didn’t matter, so I stopped justifying.
The second Americans I met are two girls that I currently share my dorm room with. Being excited they were American girls and backpacking, I started chatting to them. They were nice, and responded to my questions, but quickly grabbed their bags and went for bigger and better things. I tried to talk to them a few more times, but it was a one way conversation for the most part. They were also in Australia for only a month. At night, at all the hostels everyone eats together and gets to know one another, those girls ate together then went to the room, never socializing with anyone else. In the past month I am 100 percent of the time assumed as Canadian and when correcting someone, they are shocked. The response is either “and you’re by yourself” or “you really don’t seem American”. I’ve come to realize through talking to others and seeing it for myself that America sucks as a backpacker…
So listen up America.. for those of you who want to travel, but you’re waiting around for your friends, stop being a baby and go for it on your own. Those of you who go together, stop being babies as well and embrace this opportunity to talk to people, learn about other cultures, and be stoked about being in a new. I am more and more becoming embarrassed of my country, not only because of the numerous bad experiencing other backpackers have had with us, but the image our own country portrays as well. That being Hollywood and politics. I had no idea how influential movies and the media was until coming to Australia. Every person I met asks me at least one “is it really like blah blah blah in the states” (referring to Mean Girls or The OC). That’s obviously not necessarily the American peoples fault, but rather Hollywood. Secondly, our wars. I had no idea how many countrys were involved in Iraq until meeting people from Denmark, England, Germany and Poland that were either going to war in Iraq or have already done their time. America truly is the popular kid of this world, almost everyone gets on her good side because she is so powerful, it’s a bit sad to know so many other country’s are fighting our war. On a brighter side of things, most travelers who bring up politics are stoked on Obama, and he is definitely giving America a better reputation.
I’m annoyed that our country doesn’t encourage travel like others, that we tend to think we are better then everyone and that have set a bad image of ourselves. For the most part I know I’m fortunate to be from America, I just wish there weren’t so many fuck wits. The end.
1.18.2010
too easy
On the ferry back from Fraser Island, the anxiety set in, job time. I’m down to $400 at the moment, and if I don’t find a job with in the next week or so, things could get ugly. I see it as a personal failure calling mommy or daddy for money. This is my trip, my choice, my dream and asking for money is not an option unless I have done everything possible to avoid it. The night before Fraser, I made friends with Mark, the manager of the hostel, who said some promising words of a job, I had my fingers crossed.
We all got back to the hostel around 4pm, tried hungry and covered with Fraser Island aftermath, that being dirt, sand, camp fire, goon, beer, fresh water, salt water, mosquito bites and probably traces of dingo hair. Our first thing on the agenda was obviously showers and naps, and then a photo/ music exchange get together a bit later. After we felt human again we swapped photos, reminisced on the trips and talked about our future travel plans. The next morning we said our good byes and that was that.
I found Mark the day before and gave me some contacts in Hervey Bay for a job. I found myself all over town, on the internet and calling people all day. By the end of the day I had three potential jobs! All which said they needed a bit of time to review resumes and talk to bosses. I started chatting to one of the girls who worked at the hostel named Rachel, I asked about her opinion on jobs and what to do in general. Being that it was the afternoon the hostel was slow and so we spent some time researching and sending resumes. It felt amazing to know someone genuinely wanted to help. She kept calling me babe like an older sister, it was cute.
She made arrangements with Mark for free accommodation in exchange for two hours of work a day. This would give me time to figure out my job situation, I thanked them both a million times.. with a smile they both said..
“too easy”
So I found a job that couldn’t be more perfect. A nanny for three girls 5, 8 and 11 taking them to and from school and hanging out with them till their parents get home around 7pm. During the day mom has asked me to keep their ponies in shape! Amazing, hanging out with kids and riding horses, two things I love. food and board is covered so the cash is mine. I couldn’t be happier, don’t you just it when everything falls into place so perfectly? I’ve committed to the hostel until Tuesday, then I leave for Noosa. I stay in Noosa three nights then Surfers Paradise for two nights, then Byron Bay for two nights, and then I fly to Sydney on the 26th. I’ll be there for 3 nights then off to Tamworth for my job. Everything has fallen into place so perfectly since I decided to be on my own, I wish I would have done it sooner. It feels good to be on my own schedule and agenda, everyone else at the hostel is in the same boat, so meeting people is way easy. 40 days till Fiji!!!
*loving life
We all got back to the hostel around 4pm, tried hungry and covered with Fraser Island aftermath, that being dirt, sand, camp fire, goon, beer, fresh water, salt water, mosquito bites and probably traces of dingo hair. Our first thing on the agenda was obviously showers and naps, and then a photo/ music exchange get together a bit later. After we felt human again we swapped photos, reminisced on the trips and talked about our future travel plans. The next morning we said our good byes and that was that.
I found Mark the day before and gave me some contacts in Hervey Bay for a job. I found myself all over town, on the internet and calling people all day. By the end of the day I had three potential jobs! All which said they needed a bit of time to review resumes and talk to bosses. I started chatting to one of the girls who worked at the hostel named Rachel, I asked about her opinion on jobs and what to do in general. Being that it was the afternoon the hostel was slow and so we spent some time researching and sending resumes. It felt amazing to know someone genuinely wanted to help. She kept calling me babe like an older sister, it was cute.
She made arrangements with Mark for free accommodation in exchange for two hours of work a day. This would give me time to figure out my job situation, I thanked them both a million times.. with a smile they both said..
“too easy”
So I found a job that couldn’t be more perfect. A nanny for three girls 5, 8 and 11 taking them to and from school and hanging out with them till their parents get home around 7pm. During the day mom has asked me to keep their ponies in shape! Amazing, hanging out with kids and riding horses, two things I love. food and board is covered so the cash is mine. I couldn’t be happier, don’t you just it when everything falls into place so perfectly? I’ve committed to the hostel until Tuesday, then I leave for Noosa. I stay in Noosa three nights then Surfers Paradise for two nights, then Byron Bay for two nights, and then I fly to Sydney on the 26th. I’ll be there for 3 nights then off to Tamworth for my job. Everything has fallen into place so perfectly since I decided to be on my own, I wish I would have done it sooner. It feels good to be on my own schedule and agenda, everyone else at the hostel is in the same boat, so meeting people is way easy. 40 days till Fiji!!!
*loving life
1.07.2010
road trip.. week two
The last couple days on magnetic consisted of snorkelling the many bays to choose from, we made sure to rent a stinger suit because of the jeillys, they look RIDICULOUS, but I would rather not risk getting stung. I laid in the shade because my sunburns and still managed to get a bit red on my back from just scanning the beach for shells. 
Moving south
We took the ferry back at 3:30pm and headed for hydeaway bay, a place LJ’s grandpa had recommended. We got there after dark, so not being able to find/ see the ocean we set up camp at a caravan park. LJ and I have turned into grandmas on this trip, we go to bed around 9 or 10pm and wake up between 6 and 7am. Its really not a choice when you’re camping in Australia, the birds have an opera that starts as soon as the sun comes up and being that its summer the tent become a mini sauna not long after the opera starts. Being in this routine, the next morning we had the tent packed away by 7am and made off with a free night stay.. shhh!
We made our standard oatmeal down the road looking over the beach and decided to explore coffee in hand. We discovered that the first 300 meters was shallow coral, shallow as in, no deeper then my knees. We had a nature exploration for the next hour, sea cucumbers, fish, coral, calms and my favourite being scardy cats. Not their real name but I had to name them something. They are this little plants that are red, blue, white, pink or orange, and when you come near them they all retract into their pod, I loved them.. haha.
After our marine life fun, we stopped in Dingo Beach for directions to Airlie Beach where we decided it must be called Dingo Beach because they breed with the dingos. Airlie was beautiful, definitely tourist, but that’s what I am. LJ nonchalant directed me to a booking office to look at all the amazing stuff we could do and next thing I knew I was handing over money. Totally worth what we are getting for our money, but I now have to really watch myself with money.
What we planned? 1 full day on around the Whitsundays, snorkelling, Whitehaven Beach, hiking, lunch all included. The next was Fraser Island, 4 night and 5 days on Fraser with 6-10 other people. We get handed a 4 wheel drive and go for our life exploring the island. Im pumped!!
We had met Chris a week or so back when we were driving up to Townsville. He had given us his address being (Airlie Beach) and phone number and said we could pitch our tent in his front yard if we wanted. We called him earlier in the day and he said we were more then welcome. Chris was great, he greeted us with a beer and introduced us to his two big dogs. We chatted for a good while until Georgie his girlfriend) came home, he asked what we hadn’t eaten since we had been on our trip and our asked we veggies and meat, so that’s what was made. They wouldn’t let us help with dinner at all and were served an amazing meal, after noodles and soup for dinner night after night, this was gourmet to us. They were great conversation, and told us they were more then happy to have guests. Chris being from England, his family is on the other side of the world and Georgie having no family left. We spent the rest of the night on the porch drinking XXXX gold beers and playing with the tree frogs which are 10 times bigger then the ones I’m use to seeing at home.
When we had met Chris the first still just outside Miles, he was driving a huge school like bus. He had just bought it and planned to revamp it into a travel bus that he and Georgie would take all around Australia. That was our sleeping arrangements for the next few nights, which was actually amazing because it didn’t become a suana in the mornings.
Eungalla national park
It was nice to finally have a lazy morning before we headed off to Eungella National Park. Chris made us really coffee (not instant), while we chatted with chain smoker Georgie on the porch. Our GPS who we have just started calling “m” names gets confused, so meridith ended up taking us a funny way. The drive to the park was beautiful, probably my personal favourite scenery thus far. Lush hills, with cows to decorate, mango trees lining the road and a few palm trees mixed into the a country type to spice it up.
The hike into the park was nothing, only about a mile till we got to the falls, which was a good thing since it was so humid. On the way up LJ tried to catch lizards and I kept my eyes on the trees. One of the things I’ve been telling LJ is that I wanted to swim under a waterfall while I was here, well today I got to do that. It was so nice to be back in fresh water that was actually refreshing. We watched the boys jump off the huge rocks a few times before we conquered the boulders. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon staking out a boulder to lay out and read on.
We took a different way home and was even more beautiful then the drive out, LJ was great and ran over all the snakes we saw on the road.
Just as we pulled in the driveway Chris was leaving to take the dogs on run, so we went with. They leave across from 100’s of acres of sugar cane fields and take ziggy and mini to one of the cleared fields. The sun was setting which made it all picturesque, it was so nice to enjoy the afternoon, instead of hurrying to throw up the tent, make dinner on our gas stove and get showers in before it got to dark. It was a nice to know that there are good people in this world that still look after one another and that it was totally genuine.
Whitsundays
Jan 7 2010
Georgie works in the harbour right next to the Mantaray docks and offered to drive us so we didn’t have to deal with parking. Being a part of the industry she introduced us to the crew on a more personal level, then gave us a few motherly words and smiles and waved goodbye. The boat was comfortable, large and a smooth ride to Hamilton island reef that only took about an hour. Once we parked the boat a bit off shore we threw on the stinger suits and masks and started for the reef which was a good 300 meters from the boat. Once I got to the reef, I had to stop for a second and just float, take it all in.
by far one of the most amazing pieces of nature I have ever seen. Although this once the second time I was snorkelling the GBR this spot was much better and much bigger. We also were allocated more time.
Next stop was Whitehaven Beach, they dropped us on the opposite side of Whitsunday Island, then hike to the lookout and then down to the beach. This is one of those places that’s on all the postcards, in plenty of photography books, magazines and see on the discovery channel. Whitehaven beach has sand like no other beach in the world and is the 4th most photographed place in Australia. This sand has the most silica which is the necessary chemical needed to make high quality lens, so NASA is always trying to get its hands on the white sand. The boat side of the island on the other hand is all coral and shells, I love the contrast.
Of course it was another lovely dinner of salmon with Georgie and Chris followed by Cadbury chocolate, I love life. haha
Moving south
We took the ferry back at 3:30pm and headed for hydeaway bay, a place LJ’s grandpa had recommended. We got there after dark, so not being able to find/ see the ocean we set up camp at a caravan park. LJ and I have turned into grandmas on this trip, we go to bed around 9 or 10pm and wake up between 6 and 7am. Its really not a choice when you’re camping in Australia, the birds have an opera that starts as soon as the sun comes up and being that its summer the tent become a mini sauna not long after the opera starts. Being in this routine, the next morning we had the tent packed away by 7am and made off with a free night stay.. shhh!
We made our standard oatmeal down the road looking over the beach and decided to explore coffee in hand. We discovered that the first 300 meters was shallow coral, shallow as in, no deeper then my knees. We had a nature exploration for the next hour, sea cucumbers, fish, coral, calms and my favourite being scardy cats. Not their real name but I had to name them something. They are this little plants that are red, blue, white, pink or orange, and when you come near them they all retract into their pod, I loved them.. haha.
After our marine life fun, we stopped in Dingo Beach for directions to Airlie Beach where we decided it must be called Dingo Beach because they breed with the dingos. Airlie was beautiful, definitely tourist, but that’s what I am. LJ nonchalant directed me to a booking office to look at all the amazing stuff we could do and next thing I knew I was handing over money. Totally worth what we are getting for our money, but I now have to really watch myself with money.
What we planned? 1 full day on around the Whitsundays, snorkelling, Whitehaven Beach, hiking, lunch all included. The next was Fraser Island, 4 night and 5 days on Fraser with 6-10 other people. We get handed a 4 wheel drive and go for our life exploring the island. Im pumped!!
We had met Chris a week or so back when we were driving up to Townsville. He had given us his address being (Airlie Beach) and phone number and said we could pitch our tent in his front yard if we wanted. We called him earlier in the day and he said we were more then welcome. Chris was great, he greeted us with a beer and introduced us to his two big dogs. We chatted for a good while until Georgie his girlfriend) came home, he asked what we hadn’t eaten since we had been on our trip and our asked we veggies and meat, so that’s what was made. They wouldn’t let us help with dinner at all and were served an amazing meal, after noodles and soup for dinner night after night, this was gourmet to us. They were great conversation, and told us they were more then happy to have guests. Chris being from England, his family is on the other side of the world and Georgie having no family left. We spent the rest of the night on the porch drinking XXXX gold beers and playing with the tree frogs which are 10 times bigger then the ones I’m use to seeing at home.
When we had met Chris the first still just outside Miles, he was driving a huge school like bus. He had just bought it and planned to revamp it into a travel bus that he and Georgie would take all around Australia. That was our sleeping arrangements for the next few nights, which was actually amazing because it didn’t become a suana in the mornings.
Eungalla national park
It was nice to finally have a lazy morning before we headed off to Eungella National Park. Chris made us really coffee (not instant), while we chatted with chain smoker Georgie on the porch. Our GPS who we have just started calling “m” names gets confused, so meridith ended up taking us a funny way. The drive to the park was beautiful, probably my personal favourite scenery thus far. Lush hills, with cows to decorate, mango trees lining the road and a few palm trees mixed into the a country type to spice it up.
The hike into the park was nothing, only about a mile till we got to the falls, which was a good thing since it was so humid. On the way up LJ tried to catch lizards and I kept my eyes on the trees. One of the things I’ve been telling LJ is that I wanted to swim under a waterfall while I was here, well today I got to do that. It was so nice to be back in fresh water that was actually refreshing. We watched the boys jump off the huge rocks a few times before we conquered the boulders. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon staking out a boulder to lay out and read on.
We took a different way home and was even more beautiful then the drive out, LJ was great and ran over all the snakes we saw on the road.
Just as we pulled in the driveway Chris was leaving to take the dogs on run, so we went with. They leave across from 100’s of acres of sugar cane fields and take ziggy and mini to one of the cleared fields. The sun was setting which made it all picturesque, it was so nice to enjoy the afternoon, instead of hurrying to throw up the tent, make dinner on our gas stove and get showers in before it got to dark. It was a nice to know that there are good people in this world that still look after one another and that it was totally genuine. Whitsundays
Jan 7 2010
Georgie works in the harbour right next to the Mantaray docks and offered to drive us so we didn’t have to deal with parking. Being a part of the industry she introduced us to the crew on a more personal level, then gave us a few motherly words and smiles and waved goodbye. The boat was comfortable, large and a smooth ride to Hamilton island reef that only took about an hour. Once we parked the boat a bit off shore we threw on the stinger suits and masks and started for the reef which was a good 300 meters from the boat. Once I got to the reef, I had to stop for a second and just float, take it all in.
by far one of the most amazing pieces of nature I have ever seen. Although this once the second time I was snorkelling the GBR this spot was much better and much bigger. We also were allocated more time. Next stop was Whitehaven Beach, they dropped us on the opposite side of Whitsunday Island, then hike to the lookout and then down to the beach. This is one of those places that’s on all the postcards, in plenty of photography books, magazines and see on the discovery channel. Whitehaven beach has sand like no other beach in the world and is the 4th most photographed place in Australia. This sand has the most silica which is the necessary chemical needed to make high quality lens, so NASA is always trying to get its hands on the white sand. The boat side of the island on the other hand is all coral and shells, I love the contrast.
Of course it was another lovely dinner of salmon with Georgie and Chris followed by Cadbury chocolate, I love life. haha
The Great Australian roadtrip.. week one
LJ and I have been planning this trip since I bought my ticket about a year. We the plan is, is to drive inland all the way to Townsville, Queensland then drive down the coast all the way to Sdyney where we will part ways. The time frame is December 26th-Febuary 2nd(ish). Should be an amazing adventure experiencing the east coast!
Day 1
Just a bit of mud
Dec 26th 2009
Christmas wasn’t quite Christmas this year. Not like I have been much of a holiday person in past years, but still, Christmas means cold, hot chocolate, sugar cookie decorating etc. This year it was about 80 degrees, and I worked. I wasn’t complaining since that meant double wages, yes please and thank you. After work LJ and I drove to Inverloch where her family’s beach house is. After a lovely Christmas with the MacArthurs we left around 10am on the 26th. The first day we drove 7.5 hours to West Wyalong where we planned to camp. Being on a very tight budget we split a less then average café burger and decided to find a side road to camp on. In the process of this we saw a potential spot just off to the side of the local footy ground. By this time it had been raining for a good two hours and everything was quite moist to say the least. Our source of transportation on this trip is a very small mazda purple bubble that we have now named as “Bubsie”. Half around the footy oval we got stuck in the mud. EFF. We called road side service and even they told us that we weren’t getting out.
We made the most of our situation and accepted that this is where we had to sleep. Conveniently the footy field had a three-sided shelter over its bleachers, with one open area at the end big enough for our tent and out of the mud, rain and wind. We even had hot water left in the thermis for some tea, perfect.
The next day we woke up early, the rained had stopped and most of the puddles were gone. LJ and I put our brains together and after a mix of sticks and some sand we found we manage to get ourselves out of the mud! Pretty impressed with ourselves we were.
Just a bit of water
Day 2
Dec 27th 2009
The rain hadn’t left us yet. We were caught in numerous rain storms along the way, even being turned back and having to take a different road. We finally made it to the Warrumbungle national park where it was all blue sky’s. Beautiful camp ground with showers thankfully to wash the mud off from the night before. I was pretty excited about how tame the kangaroos were, so I slept with the kangaroos. Around dinner time the rain started again and so did the lighting, anddddd didn’t stop until the next morning when we found ourselves flooded out. The creek (which was now a river) had risen almost a meter over night.
Nothing we could do about it, so LJ took a nap in the car and me on the picnic table. I attempted a friendship bracelet from my camp counsellor days and failed, not to self: even number strings not odd. After using all my phone credit calling every ranger in the area we finally had two rangers come rescue us around 1pm. It had stopped raining for a few hours and the creek already went down. They cleaned the debris from under the bridge and the water dropped even lower. They joked about grabbing the surfboards we had on top of the car if we got swept away, I didn’t laugh. Luckily we made it across and drove for the rest of the day to catch up on time.
Day 3/4
Lots of driving, but it needed to be done. Not gonna lie, it made me smile every time LJ slammed on the brakes not to hit a kangaroo crossing the road. Hah, a kangaroo, crossing the road, amazing. We stopped in another one store, one pub town for breakfast and started chatting to an English guy who now claimed Australia as his home. When we said our good bye he gave us his address and phone number and offered his front yard for us to camp in. We were pretty happy about this because Airlie Beach is a pretty spendy place.
The environment changed slow, but I was happy to see some real outback at the end. No towns for miles, red dirt and short trees. Ant hills in thousands, as high as my waist, cows with lots of skin and kangaroo road kill.
Day 5
Dec 30th 2009
Finally!! After a short 4 hours drive we finally made it to Townsville, Queensland. It’s extremely tropical, rains off and on, but warm enough to take a shower in. Lots of palm trees and plants I’ve seen in Hawaii, not to mention an ocean that you can’t swim in because of the jelly fish. Tonight we are staying in a hostel, and head out early tomorrow to magnetic island for new years!! Full moon party on the beach, should be pretty incredible.
Day 6
Dec 31st 2009
Happy birthday Ben O’neill!! A new years eve baby, you are, have a good birthday.
New years eve! New years eve!
It absolutely dumped rained the night before and still continued through the morning. LJ and I had done laundry the night before which didn’t matter now, where it hung wet as ever on the line, so not wanting to add to the collection we threw on our bathing suits and took it down.. haha. We took the ferry over to Magnetic Island in the morning and got to our hostel at base backpackers around noon. This hostel is amazing, huge bar, dance floor, pool, kitchen and laundry. Not to mention its literally ON the beach. I sit here now writing this blog next to the pool which is also next to the beach. Although the ocean up here is packed with jelly fish, which means no swimming, it’s still nice to wake up to the sound of the ocean and look off into the beautiful turquoise water. 
We made friends with the other guys camping next to us and had pre drinks outside their tent. After yelling at the Japanese girls that they were lame for going to bed before midnight, we went down to the party around 8pm. The byron bay native we made friends with managed to score some VIP passes for us, which meant access to the pool all night. I wore a dress with a bathing suit underneath so pool time was easy access. Pool toys some how meant the game of who can stay on the longest. Somehow I managed to drown a few skinny Swedish boy but overall I lost at this game often. I met people from France, Sweden, Germany, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, England, Denmark, Switzerland. It was quite global, and it felt great. *btw Rena, sawatsksdf is a province? I didn’t believe this Canadian until he showed me his license. I was stereotyped all night once again, but I’ve gotten to a point where I think its hilarious. Yes, if you don’t shut up I will go get one of my 8 guns and shoot you. We danced, drank, swam, drank, danced, swam and at 5:30am when the sun came up, it decided it was bed time. Happy New years, from Australia.
Day 1
Just a bit of mud
Dec 26th 2009
Christmas wasn’t quite Christmas this year. Not like I have been much of a holiday person in past years, but still, Christmas means cold, hot chocolate, sugar cookie decorating etc. This year it was about 80 degrees, and I worked. I wasn’t complaining since that meant double wages, yes please and thank you. After work LJ and I drove to Inverloch where her family’s beach house is. After a lovely Christmas with the MacArthurs we left around 10am on the 26th. The first day we drove 7.5 hours to West Wyalong where we planned to camp. Being on a very tight budget we split a less then average café burger and decided to find a side road to camp on. In the process of this we saw a potential spot just off to the side of the local footy ground. By this time it had been raining for a good two hours and everything was quite moist to say the least. Our source of transportation on this trip is a very small mazda purple bubble that we have now named as “Bubsie”. Half around the footy oval we got stuck in the mud. EFF. We called road side service and even they told us that we weren’t getting out.
We made the most of our situation and accepted that this is where we had to sleep. Conveniently the footy field had a three-sided shelter over its bleachers, with one open area at the end big enough for our tent and out of the mud, rain and wind. We even had hot water left in the thermis for some tea, perfect.
The next day we woke up early, the rained had stopped and most of the puddles were gone. LJ and I put our brains together and after a mix of sticks and some sand we found we manage to get ourselves out of the mud! Pretty impressed with ourselves we were.
Just a bit of water
Day 2
Dec 27th 2009
The rain hadn’t left us yet. We were caught in numerous rain storms along the way, even being turned back and having to take a different road. We finally made it to the Warrumbungle national park where it was all blue sky’s. Beautiful camp ground with showers thankfully to wash the mud off from the night before. I was pretty excited about how tame the kangaroos were, so I slept with the kangaroos. Around dinner time the rain started again and so did the lighting, anddddd didn’t stop until the next morning when we found ourselves flooded out. The creek (which was now a river) had risen almost a meter over night.
Nothing we could do about it, so LJ took a nap in the car and me on the picnic table. I attempted a friendship bracelet from my camp counsellor days and failed, not to self: even number strings not odd. After using all my phone credit calling every ranger in the area we finally had two rangers come rescue us around 1pm. It had stopped raining for a few hours and the creek already went down. They cleaned the debris from under the bridge and the water dropped even lower. They joked about grabbing the surfboards we had on top of the car if we got swept away, I didn’t laugh. Luckily we made it across and drove for the rest of the day to catch up on time. Day 3/4
Lots of driving, but it needed to be done. Not gonna lie, it made me smile every time LJ slammed on the brakes not to hit a kangaroo crossing the road. Hah, a kangaroo, crossing the road, amazing. We stopped in another one store, one pub town for breakfast and started chatting to an English guy who now claimed Australia as his home. When we said our good bye he gave us his address and phone number and offered his front yard for us to camp in. We were pretty happy about this because Airlie Beach is a pretty spendy place.
The environment changed slow, but I was happy to see some real outback at the end. No towns for miles, red dirt and short trees. Ant hills in thousands, as high as my waist, cows with lots of skin and kangaroo road kill.
Day 5
Dec 30th 2009
Finally!! After a short 4 hours drive we finally made it to Townsville, Queensland. It’s extremely tropical, rains off and on, but warm enough to take a shower in. Lots of palm trees and plants I’ve seen in Hawaii, not to mention an ocean that you can’t swim in because of the jelly fish. Tonight we are staying in a hostel, and head out early tomorrow to magnetic island for new years!! Full moon party on the beach, should be pretty incredible.
Day 6
Dec 31st 2009
Happy birthday Ben O’neill!! A new years eve baby, you are, have a good birthday.
New years eve! New years eve!
It absolutely dumped rained the night before and still continued through the morning. LJ and I had done laundry the night before which didn’t matter now, where it hung wet as ever on the line, so not wanting to add to the collection we threw on our bathing suits and took it down.. haha. We took the ferry over to Magnetic Island in the morning and got to our hostel at base backpackers around noon. This hostel is amazing, huge bar, dance floor, pool, kitchen and laundry. Not to mention its literally ON the beach. I sit here now writing this blog next to the pool which is also next to the beach. Although the ocean up here is packed with jelly fish, which means no swimming, it’s still nice to wake up to the sound of the ocean and look off into the beautiful turquoise water. 
We made friends with the other guys camping next to us and had pre drinks outside their tent. After yelling at the Japanese girls that they were lame for going to bed before midnight, we went down to the party around 8pm. The byron bay native we made friends with managed to score some VIP passes for us, which meant access to the pool all night. I wore a dress with a bathing suit underneath so pool time was easy access. Pool toys some how meant the game of who can stay on the longest. Somehow I managed to drown a few skinny Swedish boy but overall I lost at this game often. I met people from France, Sweden, Germany, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, England, Denmark, Switzerland. It was quite global, and it felt great. *btw Rena, sawatsksdf is a province? I didn’t believe this Canadian until he showed me his license. I was stereotyped all night once again, but I’ve gotten to a point where I think its hilarious. Yes, if you don’t shut up I will go get one of my 8 guns and shoot you. We danced, drank, swam, drank, danced, swam and at 5:30am when the sun came up, it decided it was bed time. Happy New years, from Australia.
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