I've been in Australia for a month now. And while the first week was pretty hard, things have dramatically improved. And I'm thoroughly enjoying myself here.
From Guam, I flew into Brisbane and spent a couple days there before spending a weekend in Byron Bay where I took surfing lessons and went whale watching (I have a post specifically about those). After returning to "Brissy," I was hired by an outdoor company in the city as a rock climbing, rappelling, and kayaking instructor. It would have been a fun job but I realized before starting that I didn't come to this country to be in a city. I'm here to explore the beaches and bush. A city is a city anywhere in the world. Brisbane is a nice enough city with free museums and things to do but nonetheless, it's still a city. So after 10 days I left and headed north.
Noosa is a tourist town through and through. I landed there because I heard it had a nice beach. It does. My understanding is that Noosa is where a lot of city people have vacation homes or where they retire. Essentially, it’s a mix between Arizona and Florida except more expensive.
Before I even got a bed at the hostel, I met an American guy named Ben who was also staying there. At this point I'd been in the country for 2 weeks and had met 1 other American. Sometimes a person just wants to speak to someone who has that background in common. He, another American from NYC, me, and a Dutch couple hit it off immediately.
The morning after I arrived, Ben and I went for a hike in the dark at 5am through Noosa National Park until we got to a place called Hell's Gate. We watched the sunrise there on a rock outcropping and it was beautiful. We heard a kookaburra (sp?), saw red-bellied lorikeets, a murder of crows, an eagle, some seabirds, and as we walked back down the trail, I was telling Ben that I just really want to see a kangaroo in the wild somewhere in this country. Just then, a kangaroo hopped by. It was fantastic.
After a few days walking all over the Noosa area, including a walk to the Sunshine Coast which meant walking across a nude beach (whoops!), I left Noosa for Hervey Bay to join the Dutch couple and the 2 Americans for a 3 day camping trip on Fraser Island. The 6 of us, along with 2 Irish couples, took a 4 wheel drive huge van, the kind with the elevated roof for storage space, made the trip on the ferry to this island. It was awesome! We drove all over the place, on the inland tracks to perched lakes and on the beach to viewpoints and shipwrecks.
After our 3 days finished, we were waiting for the ferry to take us back to the mainland. I had previously applied for a job at a resort which happened to be on Fraser, and since we were there, I popped in and said hello. By the time I got back to the hostel and my phone that night, I had a voicemail from the resort to set up an interview. That was Thursday night. I was back on the ferry the next day for the interview and moved onto the island on Saturday and started working as soon as I arrived and even before I my housing arrangements. Good things move fast sometimes, I guess.
So now I've been working at Kingfisher Bay Resort for a week and I love it. It's a challenge to learn an entirely new set of flora/fauna but it's the kind of challenge I enjoy. My room is nice, much nicer than the place I stayed/worked in California. The staff is all pretty cool too. I'm the only American here. There are a handful of Kiwis, S. Koreans, and people from the UK but I'm the only North American and I am just fine with that.
I spend my days taking people on bird, flora/fauna, beach, eco, mangrove, and other walks around the resort. I love it. I'm happy here and I'll stay for at least 3 months with the option to extend.
So check out the pictures I've posted and I hope to hear from you soon!
