Day 33: On the Road Again
A brisk 6 block walk starts off my day today. It’s no fun dragging my bags through a busy city like Sydney plus it’s hot. I’m dripping wet by the time I make it to the train station for my 14 hour ride to Brisbane. The trip was overnight and I was able to sleep a bit the train. Upon arrival at Brisbane, I immediately head to the Grey Hound bus terminal and catch a 4 hour bus ride to Byron Bay via Surfers Paradise. So, in a 24 hour span I was on the move for 18 hours. I will need some serious down time in Byron.
Byron Bay was recommended by my good friend Jason from O’side now a resident of Tampa. He gave some good advice because this place is killer. The vibe reminds me of Santa Cruz, counter culture and surfing – a winning combination. I found an old artist commune that had been converted to a back packer hotel/hostel and booked my room. The Arts Factory is a totally self contained little community with 2 restaurants, a pub, a pool and much to my delight a movie theater!!! I may never leave.
I’m digging this place, the folks are pretty much hippies but not the pretentious wannabes like we have back home. My room is great right on the pool and will be a good sanctuary for the 4 days I will be here. I went over to the theater and met the owner he gave a mini tour of the theater that was small and instead of rows of seats it was rows of futons and couches (futons with drink holders who’d have thought??) He’s showing a couple of art flicks and of course “Rush Hour 3”, this movie is haunting me. Twice I’ve been at a cool theater and wanted to go a see a movie (one time was at the Casino on Catalina) and I passed because I couldn’t stomach that movie.
So that night I gave in and watched “Rush Hour 3” wow- what can I say.
I had the theater pretty much to myself except a couple of Dutch girls behind me and another couple in front. One of the Dutch girls saw I had a drink and asked if it was ok to bring drinks in. I said I assumed so since the owner saw me walk in with it…She hopped and reappeared with a bottle of wine. We started talking – can’t recall about what and the movie started. Ok it was kind of funny in parts. After the movie the Dutch girls joined me for a nightcap and we talked the rest of the night away. For the record of all the folks (girls) I have met, Holland wins the prize for the combination of nicest, coolest, smartest and prettiest. One of these two was studying to be a Dr and will be going to UCLA next year.
Day 34 – Nimbin
I booked a day tour to the farm town of Nimbin (aka The Amsterdam of the Southern Hemisphere) the bus driver showed up in a “happy hippy bus” and off we went. One thing I should mention at this point is how much of the world really is really down on the USA. An Australian was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago and with an election coming here in a few weeks, there have been a lot of Anti Bush rhetoric thrown about. I am about to head into the capitol of the anti American sentiment that started in 1973 when Australia’s involvement in Viet Nam began to be protested on a wide basis. The Anti War movement held a Woodstock- like “love in” on a dairy farm near Nimbin. Many of the protesters simply stayed and took over the town. Now it’s the tie dye capitol of Oz. It reminded me of The Haight Ashbury District in San Fran more than Amsterdam but it was worth a look. I walked around town with another set of Dutch girls (they are everywhere) and it was fun for about an hour then I was ready to go. We stopped at a nice waterfall on the way back and the driver cranked some good tunes so all was good.
I crashed pretty hard that night. I’m going SCUBA diving with sharks tomorrow, so I
need my rest.
Day 35: Weather Blues and All Hollow’s Eve
A storm blew in overnight and the winds are whipping out of the North. There will be no shark dive today, too choppy. Instead I hiked about 4 miles to the top of Cape Byron and to the most Eastern part of the continent. Saw some cool iguanas and the beach was really nice despite the stiff breeze. One thing that was a bit of a surprise was the beach was clothing optional. Not there is anything wrong with that, it just caught me a bit off guard. There is a big shipwreck right off the shore and it looks diveable but not in these conditions. I am going back and forth on what to dress up as tonight, there are several parties going on and I am at a bit of a loss as to what I should and could do for a costume. I sent an email to Arnold back in the states and he has sent some good ideas. It will depend on the weather, I may blow it off completely.
Back at the Arts Factory I do some laundry and join in a good game of beach volleyball with some English folks from the Midlands. It’s rare that I’m the best volleyball player on the court but I sure was this day, and by a lot. My surfer roommates back in Encinitas always said volleyball is for those who can’t surf…
Now I’m seeing some folks dressed up and feeling a major urge to put something together. I opted for the Invisible Man (a Arnold suggestion) and catch a ride into town for some beer and ace bandages (what a combination!)
The night was fun and was capped off by an awesome hippy fires how. Those hippies love their fire!!
Around 2 AM there were a few of left hanging out in the great hall, a friend of one of the ladies I had been talking to joined us and we began to talk. I suggested we play 20 Questions (name a famous person version.) I went first and they picked Napoleon in about 15 questions. Rats! The girl who had joined us last went next and we were stumped after 20 questions. She had picked Oscar Wilde, I didn’t guess him because I thought he was English (Doh!) and that was one of the clues. Anyway I was impressed that she would pick Wilde. I said “Keats and Yeats can be on your side but Wilde is on mine” and she got the joke.
Ok now I’m interested, this girl picks a cool literary figure for our game and picks up on my obscure Smiths lyrical references. Hmmmmm.
Anyway we talked into the night and it turns out she‘s an artist (of course) and asks if I would like to see her work. Of course I do. She runs to her dorm and gets hers sketch book. The art was amazing, like I wanted to buy some right there. It was hard to describe but some of it reminded me of Tool videos and Fractals. By now it’s almost dawn and time for bed.
Day 36: On the Road Again
I get up and check out of my room and throw my stuff in a locker
As my 3 hour bus trip to the Brisbane Airport won’t start until 5:oo PM. I find a hammock out by the lagoon and finish off 20,000 Leagues. Again I find myself irritated at Verne for his abrupt ending that leaves so many questions. It’s like he was planning a sequel. He would have fit right in here in the 21st century. A catch a ride into town pound a Subway sandwich (yes they have them here) before boarding my bus to Bris. Of course I was 2 hours early and my flight was 2 hours late. I slept the whole flight and we touched down in Cairns in Far North Queensland at 1:00 AM.
Unfortunately I had not had the chance to write down the PH # of my hostel, so I was counting on them having an advertisement at the airport lobby. Of course they didn’t. It was then I realized I didn’t have any cash either so taking a cab was out. The situation was getting dire as the airport was empty, no taxis, no buses, nobody. I sat down and brought up my computer to see if I could jump a hotwire spot after an eternal boot up there were no networks available. Uh oh. It looks like I sleeping in the airport!! (there were about half dozen already spread out and asleep on the benches.) This is totally bogus and a waste of money I had already paid for the night’s stay. I walked out to see if I could get a cab around the corner. It’s hot, I’m tired and not a bit stressed out. I turn the corner and there right before me is the shuttle from my hostel – and it’s pulling away.
I ran after it yelling – One More!! Someone heard me and the driver stopped. It turns out someone on my flight was also staying there and had called for a pick up. If I had waited another 30 seconds inside the terminal I would have had to sleep there. I must have some sort of guardian angel looking after me as this was about the 5th or 6th close call that had gone my way.
Day 37: Cairns (pronounced Cans)
Back in the tropics and it’s hot and muggy. I would say like Orlando in September. Yuck. My room has a fan but no A/C. I want my $40 back J!! Today is a chill day, I spend most of it on the computer trying to book a live aboard dive trip and update the blog and pics. I decide to head to the pool/bar for a snack and a cold pint. Well pitchers are a better deal so I opted for a “jug.” The bartender was really nice and we started talking, it turns out she was a local D/J and bartended in the day in between gigs. I went back to my room to stash my computer having booked my dive trip and setting up the rest of my time in Cairns. When I got back to the bar to chat with my new DJ friend the bar was full and folks were getting their groove on (hey it’s almost 5:00 on Friday)
Good story alert (in case you are just skimming through this read the next bit all the way, it’s one of the better stores so far. Well maybe not everyone will think so, especially the kids)
I found my spot at the bar and the bartender says “hey I was just about to mix up some fresh pineapple margaritas want one? How do you say “Hell Yes!” in Australian? Of yea you say “Hell Yes”! So she gets a fresh p-apple and makes us a tasty frozen treat. Now I notice she has “Jurassic 5” playing, probably the best Rap band out there (if one is in to such things.) One of the members of J-5 used to be in a LA band called Ozomatli an Aztec/Mexican/Rap/Jazz band from South LA that I happen to love. So being the cool guy I am I say “You know J-5 is cool but I liked Chaly 2una better when he was in Ozomatli” The bartenders eyes light up and she says “I’m dying to hear them but we can’t get their stuff over here.” I thought about it for a moment and said I probably have them on my computer and can burn you as disc right now. She FLIPS OUT and runs to the internet café to get a blank CD.
I can’t believe I found a person who is dying to hear Ozomatli in a resort town the size of Panama City Beach at the very top of tropical Australia.
So I don’t have the Ozo on my PC. Bummer. Then it occurs to me I can get it off Napster for $10 and burn it for her. Normally I would not spend the money but she was so excited to get the disc I couldn’t let her down. Sure enough, Napster has it and I DL and burn her a copy. It takes about an hour and I bring it over to her, she still as excited as when I left her. She puts her DJ headphones on and skims through the tracks, this girl is really stoked. She came back over to me and said “awesome – drinks are on me” I mentioned how good the margarita was so she promptly blended me a pitcher. Uh this could get ugly. Then she brought me a menu and I ordered a $12 rump steak, again no charge. I proceed to have dinner, a pitcher of margaritas, 2 mores pints of beer and 2 pints of hard cider all for free and all because I burnt her a Ozomatli cd (I estimate the value at about $60) She said she was going to incorporate the tunes in her show and that it would really set her apart. I guess so.
I love rock and roll (and laptop computers)
Day 38: A Driver’s Driver
Surprisingly no headache this AM and I got a good night’s sleep. I walk across the street to a cheapo rent a car place and hire a car for the day. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the rental period was 24 hours, not a single day. That meant I paid for one day but kept it overnight. Cool. I grab the car and head back to the hostel to check out, as I have decided to move to a new location hopefully with A/C in my room. What a wimp.
My car is the size of a Mini Cooper which is fine because I'm heading to one the curviest roads in all of Oz and I need something that will stick to the road. Sure enough the road up the coast is gnarly, big sweeping curves and incredible views of the coast on the left and tropical rainforest on the right. Motorcycles are lined up to take the run, If you are familiar with the Tail of the Dragon in N Carolina, this is the same deal.
Now for a word about left hand driving. You may recall a few weeks ago I rented a car for the
Now I’m far North near the top of the continent. Here is where The Great Barrier Reef meets Ancient Rainforest. I head east up into the mountains in search of a waterfall and some rainforest beasties.
I stop in a little town for some water and a local map. Sure enough there are trails that lead to a waterfall near by. I find the parking lot and head into the Big Green. The trees are all 60 to 90 high and covered with vines and strangler fig. I’m sure there is some dreadful uber - poisonous snake just waiting for me around the bend. No snakes but I saw some crazy birds and a 5 foot Tree Monitor. I got some pics of him way up in the tree but like an idiot forgot to bring my zoom lens into the forest. It’s going to take a while to get used to using different lenses again.
Being the dry season the waterfall is less than spectacular but good enough and not too crowded. I hang for a while then head back down the mountain and back to Cairns. I check into my new Hostel and grab some dinner there. I plan to take full advantage of having a car and head out for an evening drive.
I even found a DRIVE -IN!!! Stoked. I’ll go the Drive In by myself no problem.
Guess what was playing:……
”Rush Hour 3”!!!
Damn you Jackie Chan!!
This movie is killing me. I don’t care how cool it would be to go to the Drive -In here, I can’t sit through that movie twice in one week.
Bummed, I turned around and headed back into town. I find the local Cinema and catch “Good Luck Chuck” a by the numbers romantic comedy with Jessica Beal that did have a few good scenes J.
Day 39: Chill Day
I miss not having a car already!
Up early to return the car L and do some laundry. After a nice nap I catch a ride into town for lunch and was happy to find Mexican Food!! It was better food than Melbourne but the company was not as good and it was more expensive, Oh well it was worth it. Again it was shredded beef so we’ll give them that. I head out to sea tomorrow and will be diving for the next 3 days. I am beyond excited, I will be making 2 night dives to see the coral spawning and reproducing. It happens about 3 weeks every year.
Day 40: Out to See
Toady is another one of those “milestone” days, the day I will visit and dive on the Great Barrier Reef. The dive shop picked us at 8:00 ish (Aussie time is always “ish”) and brought us back to the office to sign some paperwork and of course try to sell us some more stuff. It was actually a good deal, for another 65$ I could get my Advanced Open Water Certification that would allow me to dive deeper (legally) and make me look cooler around other divers. As tempting as that was, I decided against it as it would involve studying and doing some technical (i.e. no fun) dives. We were then driven to the dock where a day boat was already loaded with divers ready to go. It was kind of strange that we loaded our luggage on the small boat but as I found out later, they use it as the shuttle to the big “live aboard” ship that stayed offshore for 30 days at a time.
The GBR is about 2 hours off shore so I settled in for the ride. I found out that there a family of Americans on the trip with me and I asked the Dad (David) where they were from. Boulder, Colorado. That’s pretty funny because my Dad and 4 of my very good friends all spent time living in Boulder at one time or another. It’s a small world (and it gets even smaller later.) Of course he was a huge Broncos fan, so I delighted in telling him they lost 44 -3 this past Sunday. This joy was tempered when I admitted that my beloved Chargers had choked in Minnesota as well. Anyway it was pretty funny, we talked about hockey, baseball and football all ride long, 3 things I miss immensely. One of the dive shop workers that was riding out to the big boat with us joined the conversation and he had some great stores to tell as he had just returned from working for a dive tour outfit in Thailand. He (Paul) asked what part of the states I was from. Man is that ever a complicated question!! I usually say raised in So Cal but most recently lived in Florida. Paul said “ever been to Tampa?” A funny question coming from a Kiwi, ( a person from New Zealand.)
“Um yes I used to live there.”
“Me too, ever heard of a place called Valrico?”
Don’t tell me this dude used to live in Valrico, Florida.
(Valrico is the town attached to Brandon, many of my friends and former co-workers live there. It’s like Scripps Ranch is to Mira Mesa)
Yep, the dude I was about to go diving with on the Barrier Reef who was from New Zealand worked as a mason in Valrico Florida for 2 years.
Freaky.
We met up with the MV Kangaroo Explorer a 110’ catamaran dive boat out on the reef. After a brief and tour, we met our divemaster who goes by “Popeye.” Of course Popeye is an old salt with about a trillion dives under his belt. He gave us a no nonsense briefing and did a quick one-on-one evaluation of each newly arrived diver. He would be accompanying us as a group on the first dive to “check us out.” He noted that I got my license in 1982 (damn I am old) and that I should have many dives under my belt. I do but none of them would be live- aboard boat diving especially in tropical waters.
We suit up and hit the water, I found out several things were going to be very different diving on this trip. The weight on my belt was in Kilos not pounds and the air gauges run on Bars of pressure not PSI. I also noted these were small 60 CU tanks as opposed to the 80s I used in the States. That means less air and shorter dives. The deckhand set my weight belt up and I made a note of where “almost empty need to head up” was on the strange new gauge.
Giant stride entry and I am in the water, the visibility is 90 feet and the temp is 83 degrees.
We gather around Popeye and he makes the signal to descend. I bleed my air and am ready for my first dive on the GBR. One problem, I didn’t have near enough weight to compensate for my wetsuit and I could not sink. The rest of my group dropped down and I had to go get more weight from the boat. If you are a diver you know how not having the correct buoyancy pretty much stinks. Even with 8 more pounds I was still not sinking. I said screw it and swam down. Not good. The real bummer was the boat staff photographer was diving with us and filmed the whole thing. Rats!! I finally made it down and Popeye gave me another weight to put in my vest. It helped by all the huffing and puffing that I was doing was killing my air supply. I was excited to be diving again anyway and air was going to go quick anyway. Well the dive was great, we saw a preview of what we were going to see the rest of the trip: coral, fish, coral and more fish. Of course I ran out of air 10 mins before everyone else and had to go up. This was bad, I got labeled as an “air pig” and would struggle to kick that stigma the rest of the trip. I used up my 60 cu of air in 28 mins. This was not good, I should be able to get 45 mins out of one.
We chowed on some lunch and the boat moved to another part of the reef. I added some more weight to my belt and set my camera up for the next dive. No more guided dives, so we partnered up with each other. My partner was Paul from Paris, a very experienced diver who had his preverbal stuff together. Popeye told the deck hand to bump me up to an 80 CU tank (thankfully he didn’t call me an air pig, at least while I was within earshot.)
Our dive was killer, the reef was better than I could have imagined. Some moments I forgot to breathe I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the scene that lay before me. I did better this dive and got 45 mins out of my tank.
Back to the boat and a quick dinner and prep for our night dive. I was hoping to see the coral spawning but Popeye said that we would probably not see it, it was too early in November plus it was very hard to spot and recreational divers don’t usually get to see it.
Oh well. Maybe we’ll see some sharks or eels or some other night time sea beastie. We were given strict instructions not exceed 30 mins total dive time as we had already done 2 dives that day.
We made it back to the boat in 29 mins.
Day 41: Dive, and unintentional Drift Dive
Up at 6:00 AM to be in the water by 6:30 (before bekky!) Paul said he really wanted to make this dive last and advised me to slow down and not work so hard. Admittedly I was moving from place to place rather quickly, it‘s pretty much my nature, especially when I have a camera in my hand. There is always a better shot just around the corner! Being the first dive of the day, we needed to get some depth so we dropped off a wall and went to 18 meters (60 feet.) It was good dive and we ended up at about 50 mins.
Next up after breakfast an 8:00 am dive. This one lasted 62 mins and now I’ve found my groove, not only with my weight belt but the camera and my breathing are all coming together. For this part of the trip I’m shooting film but I’m feeling like I’m getting decent shots. We’ll see.
We rest until 3:30 as the boat moves again. This time we arrive at some coral towers with caves and swim through tunnels in them. Oddly enough, there are no rocks or plants at all in the GBR, it’s all coral, both living and dead. Now for the next few dives I rented an 10 mega pixel underwater digital camera and can’t wait to put in through its paces. Paul and I get the dive brief and agree on our own plan of attack. I can tell he is more comfortable with me as a buddy.
The dive is killer, we swim through the caves and gaps, I take over 100 pics. Paul was about 20 feet to my left when I spotted a White Tip Reef Shark on my right. I bang on my tank to get his attention but he can’t hear at this distance.
So off I went after the very shy shark. To my delight, he dropped to the bottom and sat in the sand for about 5 seconds. I was snapping away and swimming strong for a close up. Alas, my bubbles scared him and with a flick of his tail gone. I went back to Paul using hand signals told him I had seen a shark. Right as I was finished, and as if on cue, a good sized Green Sea Turtle swam right between us. We looked at each other in disbelief and proceeded to give chase. Paul caught up to it and gave it a rub. I handed the camera to him and he got a couple of me swimming with the turtle as well. Cool
Now it’s time to find the boat. Uh oh, I had no idea where we were, during the dive I was aware of a medium current but felt we had gone against it enough that we shouldn’t be too far away.
I was wrong, dead wrong.
We popped up about a half- mile, down-current from the boat.
Paul was as surprised as I was. Well there was nothing to do except inflate our jackets and start kicking. After about 50 yards both my thighs started cramping. This is very odd I am not prone to cramps but we had just swam for over an hour and on the surface against a stiff current I had worn out quick.
Even Paul was getting tired, he asked “what do you think should we signal for a pick up?”
Yep, I said I didn’t think I would make it and the sun was going down. He agreed, we signaled that we were ok (the deckhands were watching us with some interest) and Paul proceeded to inflate his rescue sausage. (the sausage is a 6 foot orange tube used to signal the boat in case of emergency) I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever need to use one but I sure did this time. Of course I took some pictures for posterity. J
One of the crew came over in the zodiac and pulled us by rope back to the boat. I should say he dragged us back to the boat, I’m sure teaching us a lesson.
We got a ton of grief, most of it good natured but some of it not so much. I finally said “hey we are customers and we needed a tow, deal with it”
At least now I’m not known as “Air Pig” any more, now it’s “
I tell myself it will be worth it if the pics are good.
And they are. J
Another night dive this time we spot a Lionfish and I got a couple of pics although the auto focus does not like the dark.
Again back at the boat after 29 mins at 10 meters. Now it’s time for hot shower and cold beer!
Day 42: More Dives and Feet Dry
Up at 6 AM which was difficult, last night was the Kangaroo Explorer’s 30th night at sea and that meant a Midnight trip in to port for fuel and provisions. My cabin was is right by the galley, the noise was too much for me to sleep so I got up at 2:00 and watched the crew load 30 days worth of supplies onto the ship. It was pretty interesting as you can imagine there was a lot of food loaded plus an entire fuel truck. I didn’t get much sleep but it was kind of cool to see a bit of behind the scenes, we were back out on the reef before the other guests awoke.
I only get to do two dives today as I am flying tomorrow. The rule of SCUBA diving is no flying above 12,000 feet within 24 hours of diving. I’m ok with that, I want to do some skin diving without gear and see what I can see. Yesterday I hooked up with a new dive partner, a Norwegian guy named Oysten. He’s new to diving and I kind of took him under my wing now that I’m no longer an “air pig.” Although the dive master joked that I had better not show him my navigation techniques. Ha ha. Oysten and I had a good dive and we both had cameras, he sucked his air down in 35 mins but I was ok with that and we headed up.
A word about Oysten, the kid is incredibly good looking, I say that in a purely heterosexual sense but as we sat on the sundeck reviewing our pictures, every single good looking girl that was aboard (and there were lots) came over to talk to him and sit with us. It was pretty funny to see him just bask in the attention. David the other American noticed as well and came over and said something to the effect of “Oysten you must be quite a lady killer” His reply was “I’m no hunter, I’m prey” The 3 of us had a good laugh at his choice of words but it made perfect sense.
Oysten and I made one more dive together and I got some good pics. I’m getting worn out and ready for a break.
On his next dive Oysten was partnered up with an insanely pretty Swedish girl (see the pics) and I went solo skin diving out on top of a coral tower. It was nice not to be hindered by the gear, I have always prefered the freedom of diving with just mask fins and snorkel. In this case the water was only 3-5 feet deep so I was actually snorkeling.
On the ride in I exchange emails with a few of the folks and promise Mike and his wife I would send them my blog and pics. Oysten and I agree to meet later at one of the clubs in town.
Next section not for kids.
Back to my hostel for a quick meal and nap then it’s off the Woolshed the craziest bar in town. I ran into Paul from the dive boat down in reception and invited him to come out with me and Oysten. So Paul from Paris and Clay from the USA are heading out to meet Oysten from Oslo.
We had a little trouble finding the club and I was worried that Oysten thought I flaked on him. Sure enough he was at the bar waiting for us and was happy to see I brought Paul.
Oysten was already noticeably buzzed and was slurring his already questionable English. I thought “uh oh” it may be a long night.
Well it turns out there was a reason. Oysten just had a really bad break up with his girlfriend. When young folks in Australia need to get away and forget about things they go to Cairns. It’s like our Vegas. So Oysten came here to forget his ex and decided to learn to drive. The only probably is that unbeknownst to him was his ex did the same thing. How he found out is pretty funny:
After we were dropped off earlier today Oysten went shopping, there he met a really pretty Aussie girl who pretty much chased him though the mall to get his number (remember the comment about prey?) Well he found out there were staying at the same place and met later at the hostel. He was visiting the Aussie girl in her Dorm when his ex walked in. His new love interest was staying in the same room as his ex girlfriend. Wow.
The Aussie girl wanted to go out but he declined as he had already agreed to meet with me. Pretty amazing the kid held off with this chick to keep his plans with me, boy am I glad I showed up.
So Oysten is telling Paul and I this story and he’s pretty shaken up at seeing the ex and said he was going to get hammered. I asked him where the Aussie girl had gone and maybe we should find her party and join them. He said he didn’t know but wanted to stay here to see the world famous wet t shirt contest. He made a very good point. We proceed to get lit like a lava lamp and the club is great. Pretty soon it’s Midnight and the contestants line up for the wet t shirt contest. There are 6 of them in torn white shirts provided by the bar. Believe it or not, this is my first wet t- shirt contest and I always wondered if the girls were provided something to wear. Now I know! Whew.
Well the show begins and it’s pretty much what one would imagine it to be. Not much of it has to do with t-shirts since those are shed after about 30 seconds. It was terrible.
Guess who contestant # 3 was?
Oysten’s new Aussie girlfriend!
And she didn’t bother wearing any pants either! Heh heh. He leaned over and said “that’s her!!” I though it was his ex at first but then figured out it was the Aussie pretty quickly. He was not all thaat stoked for her to up there and I though it may be a deal breaker for her but we cheered as loud as possible for her and she ended up coming in second ($100 prize) She should have won. Anyway, she went back to get changed and Oysten and I headed out for some fresh air. I wanted to make my exit before she came down so he would have “options” plus I was tired as heck. She called him from inside and said she had free drinks the rest of the night. He tried me to go back in but I was ready to bail.
I missed the bus back to my hostel and would have to pay a taxi or wait an hour for the next one. I decide that the people-watching was pretty good, so I hung around. After an hour Oysten and Diane stumbled out of the bar. They were headed home and hung with me until my bus came, pretty cool. I told Diane that she was robbed and we had cheered as loud as we could. She said she felt so degraded and ashamed that we all saw her pretty much naked. Yeh right, degraded.
I looked at Oysten and said “Prey” and he cracked up and said “Yeh.. prey”
Day 43: Back to The Start (and really scary moment)
The airport shuttle is 30 mins late causing me some stress but I make my flight ok. I’m heading back to Sydney for a week before I ship home. I booked my first night at The Maze (the dump where I stayed on first night in Oz) because I knew where it was and how to get the shuttle there.
I spend the next 5 days relaxing, I’m pretty drained for the near constant traveling of the last 2 months and if you count my move from Florida (twice) back in July the events of the past 6 months are catching up to my body and mind. I feel a cold coming on Friday, the main problem I have is my room is the size of a closet and not much fun to hang out in but going out requires money and energy.
I finally go stir crazy and head to a movie, I caught a vampire horror movie “30 Days of Night” that was surprisingly very, very good. I went back to my room and undressed for sleep, unable to sleep I got back up and headed to the movie room of the hostel. There I watched a bootleg copy of “American Gangster” with Denzel Washington. It was excellent. Finally off to bed.
I wake up feeling better and head out to get some brekky. I threw some shorts on and went to grab my wallet out of my jeans.
It wasn’t there.
It wasn’t anywhere.
I tore the room apart and looked through my stuff at least 10 times. I flipped the tiny bed over, nothing. I went to movie room and tore it apart.
Nothing.
Uh oh - not good.
A few words about this trip: It has been amazingly complex, I was in a new town on average every 2.2 days. To make everything work out took an amazing amount of planning but also a lot of luck. So many things could have gone wrong that didn’t, I had so many close calls that went my way I was beginning to feel invincible.
Now this.
Admittedly it could have been a lot worse, it was the end of my trip. The credit card I had in my missing wallet was pretty much maxed out so any thief would be in for a surprise if they tried to use it. J It was my check card and DL that had me worried. Again I went back to the room and tore it apart. Now I’m getting hungry and need something to eat so I can formulate a plan. This is getting kind of stressful and being run down didn’t help.
Luckily enough, I had $15 American in my shave kit and I was able to exchange that and buy some dinner. I bought $2 worth of internet and emailed my Mom and Dad: “Help lost wallet and need a little money to live on until I leave next Tuesday, please send $150 Western Union”
That pretty much stunk. Having to get money from Mommy and Daddy was not cool but by the time I had a new check card sent over it would be too late.
My Dad responded within an hour. He got my email and was setting up an online Western Union payment.
Cool! I was not going to starve or have to spend my last night on the street.
Sure enough the next AM there was $150 dollars waiting for me at the Western Union office right next to my hotel.
Where could my wallet be? I had it in my room before I went to the movie room. Could someone have gotten in there while I was watching the movie right next door? That seemed unlikely, it also seemed unlikely that I lost in the movie room as it would have been at least partly tuned in.
So back to my room to tear it apart again.
Nothing.
Ok now I have accepted that it’s gone and someone out there has my luck guitar pick and my Florida DL.
By now my stuff is all over the room. I have a lot of stuff with me and it’s thrown all over the place, the searches got more and more frenzied as the days went on.
I decided to start to repack my stuff and proceed to pick up my suitcase. I reached down to pull the handle out and it was stuck, something had gotten jammed down the well hole where the handle fits into. I looked down the hole and yep you guessed it, there was my wallet. It was perfectly stuck down inside my suitcase. It was lodged and black so there was no way I could have seen it or shake it loose.
I pulled it out like Arthur removing Excalibur from the Stone. I am invincible!!
Oops I put my Dad through some trouble and a bit of worry, so I went down and sent him an email. After I sent it I saw that all my emails to my Mom failed and she didn’t see any of them, that was a good thing.
So now all is well, my wallet is back in my possession and I’m happy as a pig in mud.
Plus now I’m rich!! J
Well not really but I did go see another movie. A Aussie horror movie about a giant Croc, it too was pretty darn good, I had lowered expectations because there had been so many giant Alligator movies in the past few years but this one was filmed here in may of the places I had just been too. Sure enough I recognized all of the scenery. Pretty cool.
Day 45 – Chargers and Justin Timberlake
My last full day here and I’m really stoked to find that the Chargers/Colts game will be broadcast on Aussie ESPN at Noon today. RIGHT ON!!
I go down to reception and ask where I can see the game and get directed to a sports bar “Cheers” right down the street. I arrive at 11:00 for the Noon kickoff. I ask the bartender if they are going to show the game and she directs me upstairs. Sure enough there are two other Americans already watching the Dallas Cowboys game. STOKED even more!! I plop down and introduce myself. One guy is from Detroit and the other from Atlanta. Cool, I know both places very well. The dude from Atlanta asks if there is a late game and I said HECK YES! Colts v Bolts. They are both stoked and even proceed downstairs to the Sports Book to bet on the game. (Not me)
Well we have blast and the Chargers kick major butt in the first half.
It turns out the guy from Atlanta (who was about 6’2” 340) used to play pro football and went to school with a Roy Williams from the Cowboys. He played in Canada for Montreal before he blew his knee out. He showed me the scar and said it took 2 years to rehab. Brutal.
I didn’t ask him what he did for a living now.
Anyway the second half was brutal with the Chargers stinking it up and almost losing. After half time the Atlanta dude’s cell phone rings and he says “Man…I have to go to work!!” He got up to shake my hand and I asked where he worked by now I had assumed he was a door bouncer but it was in the middle of the day(?)
He answered kind of sheepishly that he was a body guard…for Justin Timberlake.
Then I remembered him on the phone earlier saying “bring him over, bring him over!”
I asked the Detroit guy if that meant what I thought it did and he said yes. Justin Timberlake almost came and watched the game with us.
Pretty funny.
Well no pop starts were there but it was great to hang out and watch some football with fellow Americans.
Plus The Chargers somehow won. Nice.
Wrong Way.”
Great Ocean Roadand had a blast. The thing about driving on the left is you not only shift with your left hand but you steer with a different had as well. I don’t know about you, but my primary steering arm is my left (leaving the right to shift of course.)
So the hardest part of driving on the left is not shifting with a new hand it’s actually steering with a different had. Needles to say I didn’t let this get in the way of my taking extreme pleasure from this drive. I got the thumbs up from two different motorcyclists (presumably for my prowess on the curves and not holding them up) It was so much fun I made the run twice.
