Wibbly-Wobbly adventures...

Well, basically, we got in the whole "how do you say this in Britain/Germany/etc...oh we say it this way in America" conversation, and found out that another term for Jell-0 is "wibbly-wobbly" in Newcastle. Unfortunately our friend Simon from Newcastle (people from there are notorious for having a screw loose, in a good way, and are lovingly called 'Jordies') decided to say "wibbly-wobbly the rest of the trip.

So you have a few choices for tours of beautiful Fraser Island, and basically it comes down to whether you'd prefer to take a guided tour or save $200 and take a group tour where you all just drive yourselves. So I went with the group tour, and it's one of those things where if you get a boring group, you're in for a long 72 hours. Fortunately I don't think I could have asked for a better group! We all got along famously, and there was not a sour apple in the bunch. We were all joking on day 2 that it is amazing we'd only met 24 hours earlier, as we all were so close right off the bat.

So we pile 3 people in the front of a 1978 Landcruiser, and the back has bench seating for 8 more of us...and they give us a vague map and itinerary and we just head off and try to survive the wilderness and not get lost. Fraser was much more beautiful than I imagined. The first spot we went to was Lake McKenzie...a crystal blue, freshwater lake on the interior of the island. There were probably 60 people on the beach, as it was the most popular spot on Fraser. After making a few stops, nearly missing a head-on with a Cessna on the beach, and stopping to get some water, we found our beautiful campsite for the first night.

The second day we had off and on sun...but this time of year the sun is so intense that you really don't want it around for too long. To give you an idea, no one even wears 15 here...30 SPF or higher only, including on cloudy days. Our trip included camping with Aboriginals on night two, which was a very unique, fun and educational experience.

Friday we woke up, went to Lake Wabby, another beautiful freshwater lake, this time a green lake with huge sand dunes surrounding. We couldn't stop laughing and rolling down the hills into the lake, and the other 3-4 groups there just watched and seemed to wonder how we all could get along so well after only a couple of days.

Last night we all got back, had a few laughs, and headed out for a nice dinner and some drinks. Emails were exchanged, and goodbyes were said (tear)...and plans were made to meet up back in the states soon. I'm off now to Brisbane to catch my flight tomorrow morning, but am really glad that I was so lucky to end my trip with such a great group of people, on such a beautiful and unique location.

See you all soon!

FRASER ISLAND!

Hey all...I'm safely back in Hervey Bay (the mainland) after 3 days on Fraser Island with a fantastic group of 10 new friends. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, but now we're headed out to dinner to celebrate our last night together :(

Just thought you'd want to know I'm alive still!

"How ya goin?"

So, contrary to popular belief, they don't frequently say "G'day mate" here...but I always hear "How y'goin?" Not sure that really means anything, but I figured it out.

I'm at the bus station to leave Surfer's Paradise - a town that was apparently booming in 1985 because of the 100 high-rise 80's looking apartment buildings and condos. The beach is not bad, but I can see why my friends recommended Byron over Surfers. Right as I walked into my hostel I see Funni, the Dutch girl from my hostel in Byron, along with her friends Stina and Jenni from Norway. Then I see Fili from Germany...and felt pretty comfortable with some familiar faces.

The weather's bad and I'm not that fond of Surfers, so I'm happy to be leaving for Brisbane already. I bought a 3 day/2-night camping trip on Fraser island, including a hostel for tonight at the Fraser gateway (Hervey Bay) and for Friday night. Should be fun. I found a bottle of Preece wine last night and hope to drink it soon...now I just need to figure out how to get a gross of them back to Portland. I guess the 2006 cab won an award in the Adelaide wine fest. REPRESENT!

Fraser is supposed to be incredible...and I'll be stuck in a 4X4 with 9 other randoms for 2 1/2 days, so look for some good stories on Friday or so. Maybe even pics that time around.

Hope you all are having fun in the states!

Time to leave Byron

Here are a few pictures from my time in Byron Bay. I filmed a video to better capture the beauty here...but these internet cafe computers just don't have the ability to upload very well so I'll do it when I get home I guess. This is a picture of me up by the lighthouse...not very flattering but it takes 10 minutes to upload one pic here so this is the best single picture that shows the view from up there. It reminds me a lot of a green Cabo San Lucas with the cape out here. Pretty sweet.

I've had an outstanding time here in only about 48 hours...and have made friends from Tasmania, Sydney, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Manitoba, Norway and The Netherlands! The nightlife here is very fun...but you can go to the dance clubs in board shorts and flip-flops so it's nice to be so relaxed. We were out on the dance floor barefoot in fact, because flip-flop dancing is very difficult. The best part has been the hike up to the lighthouse and the most Easterly point on the Australian continent. The views were incredible, and I got to see some beaches that I didn't know existed when I first arrived in Byron. This picture is of Steven and Naomi from Tasmania, and Joel from Manitoba on the right. They're just being goofy for the photo...and aren't as odd as this probably makes them look! But good people, and we had a lot of fun.

In about an hour I'm headed to Surfers Paradise, but only for a day. Supposedly it's more of a big city with a lot of partying, which doesn't sound too unique to me. Instead I plan to go to Fraser Island, the world's largest island made completely of sand. I've booked a tour for 4 days/4 nights where 3 of those days will be spent in a 10-person 4X4 with some random people...and camping in tents by night. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in New South Wales, so I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Byron Bay

Well I arrived in beautiful Byron Bay at 10am this morning after a cozy overnight bus ride (got 8 hours of sleep!). It's kind of like Seaside, Oregon, if you were to make Seaside much more awesome and then remove any trace of anything resembling Seaside. The weather's beautiful (35 C = about 85 F) and the shops and beaches are great. Tons of people here too. I've met one of my dorm-mates, a film director from Germany, and a few girls from Norway that are causing havoc in the pool here. So I've officially been on my own for about 7 hours, and it looks like I have some new friends to see the nightlife with.

This is still the same day as I posted the last one...so like I said, I'll try to upload pics tomorrow!

-TRav

Tour of Sydney

Here are some pics from my walk around Sydney. A beautiful place! This city is very much like American cities in many ways, and I guess that's why a lot of Americans love it here. So while it may not be as exotic or unique as some other places...it definitely would be a nice place to live.

Our first night out, we met a Frenchman who lives in New Caledonia, a French colony 2 1/2 hours away...and he has since become one of our buddies. One of the funniest people that I know, which is probably magnified by that accent of his. We've since toured Sydney and I've seen the harbour bridge, the opera house, the botanical gardens (outstanding), Bondi beach (twice), and various other parts of the city.

I'm trying to upload the pics that I have so far, but this computer isn't working too well. So maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow.

"In 15 years of driving a cab...that's never happened before."

...that's what the cab driver said after Angie's cat, Brookton, did his business in the kitty-tote while we were riding in the cab to Sydney. Pretty funny series of events.

The first day, right after I wrote the last post, the Jeep broke down and I found myself pushing the car off the main road! It was pretty funny how my vacation has started so far. Lot to say and lots of pictures to upload from the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens etc...but we're in a hurry to get to Bondi Beach today so I have to run. Just thought I'd let you all know that I'm still alive and kickin and having a great time in Sydney. Next post might be in two days with some good stories. Headed to hike the blue mountains tomorrow...then off up north either Thursday night or Friday morning!

IN SYDNEY!!!

Well, I could go into detail about the flight, but basically picture gandolf the wizard sitting on an aisle seat with two fat hobbits with bladder control problems on the interior seats. Let me tell you, it was rough...they were courteous about going to the loo when I did, but it took them like ten minutes! Who needs ten minutes? I flossed, brushed and did my 'business' in that much time.

So I digress. My friends Alann, Glenn and Angie picked me up from the airport at about 9am after a flight to SF...a 7-hour layover and another 14 hour flight, so suffice to say I was ready to try some Auzzie ale! We went to a "bottle-o" to get some beers...it's a drive through liquor store where they just put whatever you order into your car. Pretty funny. We're headed to Darling Harbor (near the Sydney Opera House and where the new Real World on MTV was filmed) then off to maybe King's Cross in Central Sydney for the evening. Got a motel room tonight, then camping tomorrow night!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

Hey Everyone,

It's friday night, and in less than a day I'll be heading to Sydney Australia. I've included a map for you to follow along with my travels for the next two weeks. Check back for frequent updates of the great capers that are sure to ensue upon my arrival in Oz!


As you can see, my initial plan is to head from Sydney up north to Brisbane, and possibly go up to Fraser Island.
After spending a few days in Sydney, and the nearby blue mountains and Hunter Valley wineries...I'll probalby stop in one or two of these areas nearby:

There's Hunter Valley and Newcastle, and Port Stephens is supposedly beautiful!
For the next part of the journey...you may find me hitting places like Southwest Rocks, Urunga and Bellingen. It's pretty much the part of the map between the above section and Byron Bay. I'll have opportunities to stop in Byron and these other beautiful and fun towns, before hitting Surfers Paradise for my last few days!

I hope you all enjoy following along. See you soon :)


-TRav

LAST night in Thailand

So again the pics are out of order from the inability to cut and paste on this computer, but this girl below is Chan, the girl I met the first night here and have spent quite a bit of time with.Her family owns a market, and she sells drinks at night on Khao San Rd. to help pay her way through college. Anyway, she's a lot of fun cause she has been working there forever and likes to people watch. Amazingly she remembered my name as I was walking up today, because it had been 8-9 days and I figured she meets many tourists.

So Josh and I got into Bangkok and he checked into his apartment and met a modeling roommate, Ferro from Turkey. He informed us that models (ie/Josh and Ferro) drink for free at clubs in Bangkok, so Josh was nervous that this could lead him on a downward spiral. We later found out from Chan that the bar Ferro suggested we go to, COI, is the Thai slang word for male genitalia. Good thing we stayed away from there.

So I picked up my suit, which looks great, and checked into my hotel. We then went to the backpacker's bar and had a blast. Not what I expected though...no western backpacker girls, just western guys and Thai girls as usual.
We quickly met Quan and friends, and we pulled out the "Bar Girl small talk guide" and practiced some one-liners on her. We eventually left and went out to Khao san and talked to Chan. Josh finally had to go home, and I just helped Chan sell beers till the wee hours. Many travelers joined us, including an annoying Bavarian guy, who Chan introduced to a lady-boy she knew, and they left together, HA!

So I was very sad to say goodnight and very sad to leave Thailand, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. :(

Off to Hong Kong!