One Mans Odyssey

I will finish off by saying that I had an amazinig year. There is a ton more travelling to be planned and as it comes to it this site will be updated again more frequently. Thanks to all my loyal readers it's been fun. For those that are interested I am in the process of developing an online guide for backpacking Australia. Keep your eyes peeled

Until Next Time,

Dan

So I've just spent the weekend in Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland. Famous for being one of the few places in the world where rainforest directly converges with reef and for one weekend a lunatic named Dan. I took a partially guided tour up to the Cape which included a few activities on the way to and from giving you the option of spending some time actually staying in the rainforest as well. I chose to stay for a couple of nights and visit a small town named Port Douglas on my way back to Cairns where I'm currently staying.

On the trip up we visited a wildlife snactuary where we get to see crocs, cassowarys and a few other members of the local wildlife in a controlled environment. Our tour guide demonstrated his point about Crocs camoflauge by tapping a random bit of water with a stick prompting a huge eruption as a 5 metre crps jumped from the water. Point taken.

On arrival at my accomodation I got checked in and took a stroll to the neigbouring beach for a walk. The views were amazing but I was a little bored to be quite fair and somehow came to the idea that making a video would erae my boredom. I proceeded to spend the next three hours talking absolute rubbish, interviewing strangers that I bumped into and pulling faces into a camera. I may consider putting this online once I've edited into one video. We'll see…

That evening a band were playing in the hostel so most people in the area turned up the the bar for a slow starting night which turned out to be a bit of a laugh(even with the same damned cover songs you can not escape in Oz played yet again!). With plans to wake up and see the sunrise I was up the next day promptly at 9.30am with the sun already shining down for a great day. I hadn't seen it rise but at least it had bothered to turn up on time even if I hadn't.

I met up with a couple of girls from my tour group and we walked down to the Cape Trib beach lined with mangroves and lush greent forest. Great morning just relaxing in the sun with them until they had to catch a bus back to Cairns. I headed back with them to the hostel and then carried onto the aptly named Bat House, as opposed to house of bats or something. This litrally was a house with a single bat in it that had a broken wing. Fair play to them all as they were up there with the conservation but I did feel like even the $4 price tag was a little high.

After my meeting with Sunshine (the bat) I bumped into some of the people from my dorm in the hostel and convinved them the right thing to do was buy expensive cocktails. Converted to my way of thinking we headed of to a bar/resteraunt/cafe type place and had some real nice cocktails in the jungle.

After the pretty poor food I'd had in PKs hostel the night before we all headed down to the Cassowary Cafe which is really beautifully designed if a little bit of an adventure to get to in the pitch black of the rainforest. Food though slightly overdone was miles better than previous so I was quite happy.

More to come but I'm about to get a bus back to Cairns. I'll proof read and add more giving the final copy soon but thought I'd give you something to play with for now. Much Love.

That's right out of the farm, into the city and then straight back out again. The location of our next Story begins in Noosa. This is a nice small holiday town along the east coast that is often a backpackers first stop out of Brisbane when heading north. The place offers kayaking on the local river, surfing on the seas and great National Parks. Mixing it up a little I signed up for a 3 day canoe trip in the national parks.

Planning ahead with easter and such I went shopping for food in advance and spent a truckland on filling foods that I could eat without having to cook when deserted in the middle of nowhere. I spent tons but I can tell you I had the second nicest food out of anybody else that went on this camp. If you're wondering who had the best somebody had the bright idea of buying a fw footlong subway sandwhiches and bringing them along. I'll keep that one in mind in future!

For the trip we were all picked up from our hostels and taken to collect our camping gear. Once everything was arranged they taxied us accross a huge lake on a speedboat and then left us at a hut on the edge of the great sandy national park telling us that it would be a 30k unguided kayak tour over three days with no phone reception. Our only connection with the outside world was the chance of contacting somebody by satelite phone if something went really wrong.

After a brief talk on the dangers of the snakes, bugs and even sharks in and around the river all our equipment was loaded up and we were on our own. I partnered up with a german guy and we decided to take the optional detour our driver had told us about that went around an island before setting offf on the track to our campsite.

Ourt of about 5 boats only two of us decided to take this detour and ended up padddling against an insanely strong current in an attempt to get around this island. This was such a physically demanding task that I think if I hadn't just come from the farm I wouldn't have survived. Even so at points in really was 2 strokes forward 4 strokes back.

Finally about an hour later we managed to make it around the island and back to our starting point and began the journey up the placid river. The difference was noticable instantly and made for a pleasant suprise as we paddled up to the first campsite where we had arranged to meet the others for lunch.

As we pulled up we found most peoplee had already finished everything that they had bought to eat for lunch and were ready to move out we had taken that long. We made quick going of the food we had and decided to press ojn for the second campsite, our home for the next two evenings. 

It must have been about 5 that we made it to our final destination for the day and as we took out our tents the rain arrived exactly on queue. Off to a great start already. Just as we finished building the tents the rain stopped. I would moan but at least it stopped at all. Spirits wern't the highest at this point and we all quietly ate our food and just explored the directly surrounding area.

I along with two others planned on visit a water hole we had plotted on a map about an hour away  but were stopped in our tracks but a swamp that had formed directly in it's path. By the time we made it back to camp at about 7 half the group were already going to bed. It definitely wasn't my idea of fun to sleep that early and I just stayed up till about 10(sill rubbish, but better) chatting with a few of the group.

When we awoke at about 8 in the morning, the half of the group that went to bed early had already disapeared up the river on thier own. We all splintered off up the river in our own time for a  paddle up the river to an epic walk that eventually took us to a huge sand patch. Everything aside there were some amazing views from up there.

Some of us decided to try and find a beach that we saw on the map and had to trek though half an hour of an overgrown passage. When I saw overgrown, think trees actually grown in the path, ripping your way through plants and guessing which direction you are trying to head in all the time worrying about what local wildlife might jump out on you next. When we finally get there we find the beach full of 4×4s apparently it's a popular spot for fishermen that just casually drive up there. Not what we'd hoped for when we set out but hey.

On our arrival back to the boats a lot of challenges were thrown around to swim around in the murky shark infested waters. Going on the reasoning that the sharks would be in the deeper areas I got into the water which had visibility of about 10cm for a quick dip but got straight back out remembering the snake I'd seen in the river earlier that day. As a side not, the sharks that populate this area are Bull sharks, apparently highly territorial and one of th few sharks that are quite content living in very shallow water.

After our swim we made it back to camp and had a much better evening than the night before. Waking up late the next morning and being the last people to leave camp we also ended up carrying the most equipment back. We had 1 hour to make what was a recommended journey of tim of 1:45 hours. I paddled like you would not believe, We ended up overtaking people who'd left half an hour before us! Amazingly we made it back with 5 minutes to spare.

Overall I had a good time on this trip but I think the group was a little mismatched and it could have been a lot better if I were with a group of friends or something. Regardless it was a good experience and highly recommended.

I am alive, updates still to come:

Noosa

Rainbow Beach - Fraser Island - Hervey Bay

1770

Airlie Beach

Whitsundays

Whitsundays Working

I will admit I have got lazy and the more things back up the harder it becomes to start again. Updates will be coming though…

It is an odd thing that sometimes some of the nice places are not the celebrated ones. As I travel more I start to believe it is for this reason that they are what they are. One such place is Mooloolaba, located between Brisbane and Cairns. This is a p-lace that I only happened to stop at because I couldn't find a hostel in Noosa being easter weekend so I booked in for one night. I was dropped off by the completely packed bus that only stops at Noosa and here but only two girls got off andthey were only there because they knew somebody. The bus stop is located right next to a bowls green, I will admit at this point I was slightly worried. It's not that bowls is so bad, it's just not up there in my list of things to do and at this time it seemed like this was all the street had to offer.

Turns out th Mooloolaba Backpackers, the hostel I had booked, was located directly opposite the drop off point so I made my way and checked in. As it was still early they offered me a free breakfast and informed me there might be a small wait. Not wanting to waste any time for this overnight trip I decided to quickly grab some brekkie and expore. Hiring one of the free bikes the hostel had I peddled a few metres before nearly killing myself. These were quite possibly the worst set of bikes I've ever encountered, within 5 minutes I had tried as many bikes and every single one felt like a death machine. Not one to be defeated I chose the least aggresive bike of the lot and took a ride along the water front looking out at the boats. It was a beautiful day as the sun glistened off the boats on the harbour, not a cloud in the sky and I couldn't help but think "Why the hell am I still riding this deathtrap?".

Ten minutes later I stroll down the road, bike safely returned, and find my way to the beachfront and shopping parade. This really is a beautiful little town a true hidden gem with a selection of shops and bars and a great beach with hundreds of people enjoying themselves in the hot easter sun. The rest of my day is spent exploring the local area and doing a little shopping for a forthcoming canoe trip in Noosa.

Cut to the evening and the hostel provides everybody with a free BBQ. The night then leads into a full on party with what seems like the majority of the hostel guests coming together in the common area and partying away. The hostel has one of the most friendly community vibes that I've seen to this date. Somewhere into the evening the common area is closed off to keep noise down and the majority of people head off to a local bar as I slip off to bed ready for an early departure in the monring.

Next stop Noosa…

I really did feel like I was joining the army when I started my work farming. No offence intended to the the true soldiers who go through a ton more. It was just the whole sleeping in a hostel with the strictest rules I've ever encountered. Waking up at 4.30 every morning. Working the hardest I've ever worked in my life. In fact even when I sat on the back of a truck to work with a load of Koreans every day it reminded me of an old war film.  Despite all of this I really did enjoy my time working on the farms of Stanthorpe Australia.

I'm not going to lie, the work itself was hell on earth. The first week being the worst where you were bent over from 6 in the morning till about 3 in the afternoon picking Capsicums (Green Peppers for us English Folk). 65 Green Peppers on average to a bucket, 110 buckets on average a day. Note I said on average, statisticly speaking I was the worst worker on the farm picking capsicums tallying only 68 buckets on my best day. What can I say? I'm not used to hard physichal work, this was definitelya shock to my system.

Usually reserved for good workers I was moved accross to the lettuce team. I can only assume the previous supervisor just wanted me out of his sight :p This is where things definitely started to look up work wise. Given the position of loading the trucks it was still very hard work but it didn't make you feel like your spine was about to explode and at this time that was heaven. After a week of this I was probably the most phsyically fit I've been since I got to Australia and was moved to the position of cutting lettuce. Though not really a better job as as such the difference was that you get paid depending on how much the group cuts and we had a good team. On an average day cutting lettuce I would earn $200 compared to the $120-150 with previous jobs on the farm.

The other side to working on the farm and undoubtedly the better side was the people you meet. As everybody is in the same situation working together in this community in the middle of nowhere it creates a very special environment that I havn't found in any other hostel. Everybody socializes with each other and generally speaking you knew every person in your hostel. It is a big change to the disposable types of friendships that are formed in a lot of hostels as you all end up spending so much time together. The great people you meet whilst working the farms is definitely a great experience in itself, often people you may not have even spoken to under different circumstances.

Three weeks into my stay, Stanthorpe played host to the Apple & Grape Festival which celebrates harvest work and local wines. Alll in all it's just a great excuse to close off the streets, bring in 70,000 people to this small town and have a huge party. The parade was definitely nothing special but we had a lot of fun listening to bands in the park and enjoying the life that it brought to this remote location for one weekend.  

After all the hard work and everything that goes with it I can honestly say that when it came time to leave this farm town I was slightly sad and would have even stayed a bit longer if I'd had the time. It really is a unique experience that you have to go through to fully understand but I highly recommend any backpacker in trouble with money to try it for a minimum of two weeks and see what you think. If nothing else it's another experience to add to the journal.

Until next time…

After my happy arrival in Brisbane things suddenly took a turn to the serious. There comes a time in most backpackers travels where that monster of a bank balance seems to suddnely become thier last supper and a thousand memories. This is the place where it hit me!

Leaving myself with only 2 nights worth of rent and food money I knew I had to work fast. After one right of relaxing and just enjoying the calm before the storm, I was out on the streets job hunting. I spent hours looking up things on the internet and local notice boards to come up with absolutely nothing. Sure bar work and labouring is readily available but within Australia you need to hold certain certificates and things to prove you can safely work in these environments and these don't come for free.

Nearly at the point of giving in I strolled into my hostel, tail between my legs for a break and a moment to strategise. When all was looking bleak, they came from nowhere… Two girls holding recruitment signs, asking the receptionist if they may hang them up. The hostel may have disagreed as they would lose money on their job club (Try and avoid this in Palace Backpackers where you basically pay to get work, surely it should be the other way in an unskilled job) but I was straight up there talking to these two young scottish lasses. They described how it was an upcoming Marketing company and after wowing them with my "fashion sense" (Apparently shorts and a sidewards cap doesn't suit my character, in usual circumstances I may agree) I was offered an interview 30 minutes later, something must have gone right.

Suited and Booted with the very outfit I nearly threw out the week before I headed into the office and stepped into one of the most crazy interviews that I've ever partaken in. I won't go into too much details in case this reaches the tabloids when I'm rich and famous, but I may or may not have been asked to audtion for the part of a chicken. One hour later I was succesly hired and ready to start work as a Door to Door Salesman for an energy retailer.

What followed was some of the best training I've ever recieved for a job and then an emotional rollercoaster as I battled my mind with the stress of living and working on near enough no money in a city on the other side of the world. This was defintely the hardest pat of my journey so far but I came out the other side and instead of going home went farming. What? Yes, Me, I went fruit picking whilst in Australia. The man who once said he would never do a day of Manual labour worked on a farm for an entire month!

More about that soon!

Moving on from my good times in Byron Bay, the next location would have a lot to live up to. Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast was the unlucky next stop on my hit list. As I rolled into this overdeveloped 'city on the sea' I was already feeling pretty ill and run down as well as lacking anything that you could really call a bank balance. My stay in Surfers was short but unfortunately not sweet. I spent the majority of my time here in my hostel feeling sorry for myself. What little time I did manage to get out, I found the place to be very commercialized with huge tower blocks looming over the beach and expensive bars in every second lot.

If you want to party then this is the town for you, the place comes alive at night and you wonder if there was every any intention in this city for anything else. With more bar crawls, clubs and strip shows than you can imagine packed into a few streets there really is no obvious escape for just a quiet night out. My advice to anybody thinking of visiting; Come for the clubbing or come for the theme parks, anything more and you may be disappointed. Saying that for what it is they have gone all out and if you had the money and were into it all you could surely have a lot of fun here.

Next Stop: Brisbane

DISCLAIMER:OK, so this is Byron Bay as I remember it. Must have been nearly two months ago now so I'm doing my best but may not have included everything that happened. Everything that does appear in this post however, did happen!

It all started with the true Australian Dream… When travellers are asked about their plans when in Australia, beach life no doubt will be part of it and our plans were no different. Some like to take it to the next level, jump in the surf and ride the ocean. This was a dream we all shared and one that we all managed to accomplish on our surf camp.

After arriving in Byron Bay from a crazy week of surfing and partying it was clear that none of us wanted it to end. As we walked along daydreaming and noticed a house for rent the idea was thrown around that we rent our own party house for a week. Not accepting this as pure fantasy I set to work making this a reality. Several phone calls later 3 of us were in inside this house making a viewing. We walked around the house in awe, you have so many worries when going inside, will it work, is it going to be old an dirty? Any worries we had were flattened the moment we steeped in . As the agent showed us the BBQ area a $10 note stared at me from the floor, if you believe in Omens that surely this had to be good.

Brimming with excitement we all grouped up and told the rest. Eight friends, brought together through sun, sea and good times about to live the dream for a week in one of Australia's best surf towns. A plan was devised to cover both rent and food for the week, the money collected and we were off shopping. Eight different people, eight different backgrounds and not a single issue whilst shopping with each others money. After stocking up with enough food and wine for a small army it was off to get the keys and move in.

3 Double Bedrooms, 2 Lounge Areas, 2 Bathrooms, 1 Kitchen, 1 Huge Garden, 1 BBQ and one private path to the beach. After living in hostels for however long, this really was heaven. Each and every day we cooked, ate and cleaned together and everything went by without any big stresses.

The Ten Commandments - or - Typical Day in the BB House

1. Wake up
2. Drink Beer
3. Eat Lunch
4. Go Beach
5. Eat Dinner
6. Drink Beer & Wine
7. Head out to Clubs
8. Party at House
9. Sleep/Charge Up
10. Rinse & Repeat.

This is one experience I can't really put in to words without it loosing it's effect. Unfortunately it is one of those times where you really had to be there. Of course I could tell you about the times that we made songs with pots and pans, the time we had a bodybuilder crawl through our window at 3 in the morning or even the time we borrowed some instruments and created our own band in the high street. The problem is I just can't translate the good times and fun we had throughout these moments in a simple blog post.

This week was one of, if not the, best weeks I had in Australia. And to top it all off Australia Day fell in the time we were in the house. A day where every single one of us managed to acquire an Australia Flag Cape and Parade around the garden with a Tooheys(Beer) in Hand. A day where we had an amazing BBQ in the Garden and celebrated our first Personal Settlement in Australia.

A lot of this week has been lost to memory, whether it be the general haze that a little too much drinking creates, the time between the events and now or the sheer amount of new things that happen whilst travelling. Whatever the reason this is an accurate report on our week in Byron even if I can't do the Purple House Crew justice in the words of praise I have. Until Next Time…

For the past month orso I've been pretty rapped up in surviving and must admit this blog has been really neglected but it is time to get back on track. I figure the easiest way is to make several posts in chronological order which over the next few days will be added and bring you up to date. First one coming up now…