Terrible blogger

So once again it has been a loonggg time since the last post. Quick update and some pictures....

No longer in Cairns, we are both now up in Cape Tribulation, about 2hrs north of Cairns, in the amazing Daintree Rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world. We are working as housekeepers at PK's Jungle Village, a small resort located right near the beach surrounded by beautiful jungle. A total change in attitude from life in comparatively busy Cairns. Our days are spent fishing, hiking, swimming in the fresh water swimming holes, and all sorts of other outdoor activities. A wonderfully relaxed tropical atmosphere. The wet season has arrived and we are getting a ton of rain over large parts of the day or days, it has really started to cramp our outdoor lifestyle and the late night bonfires on the beach.

We are only here for another three weeks though, and then we start our return trip down the coast. We have decided to give the van a tune up and drive it back down the coast taking ten or so days to get ourselves back down to Sydney. Where on the 27th of December we are picking up Trevor from the airport and a third amigo is joining the adventures. Couldn't be more stoked to have another friend to share the fun with, cause there is more than enough to go around!


There is nothing like the freedom of the open road, it is so close i can almost smell it...

Cairns

Still in Cairns, the weeks are flying by now that we both have full schedules. Lots of work to be had making pizza, doing bbq's, and helping with jelly wrestling! And plenty house keeping to do if you are Dustin. We have life in Cairns totally under our belt, know the town, know the people, know the night spots. Hmm might be nearing the time for some change again...we'll see

Settling in Cairns

4th of July in Australia


International 4th of July BBQ (Irish, Swedish, Australian, English)

Gilligan's Outdoor Bar

It's been awhile....We have been doing some settling down here in Cairns. Finding jobs and shifting life back towards having some sorts of responsibility.

I had first found a direct marketing (standing in the mall signing people up to donate to charity) job a few weeks ago. It wasn't my thing, I ended up going to a few interviews before I decided to bail on that one. I had some other things in the works and wasn't too worried. A few days later I managed to get a job on the Promotions crew of our hostel. Our hostel (Gilligan's) is the largest, most luxurious, and party crazy hostel in Australia by reputation and from personal experience, the place has over 700 beds, has a lagoon/pool, outdoor bar, restaurant, and 2 night clubs. My promotions duties go as such for the week, Tuesday- Jelly wrestling (setup, help during wrestling, breakdown), Thursday - Volleyball game and promotion and the beach lagoon, Sat - evening BBQ at the bar for the party bus, Sun -afternoon free BBQ. And boom free accommodation, free meals, free entry to all bars in cairns, discount drinks at all bars.
Then comes job #2 (Avenue A Pizza), bought a slice of pizza, talked pizza with the owner for a bit , asked if they needed help, maybe turn in a resume, did that, got a call a couple days later, had a trial (like an interview and your first day in one), made a bunch of pizzas and got the call I was hired the next day! The position is pizza cook, which I have never really done, though I didn't really mention that. I'm on day number four and I am starting to really get into my pizza making groove, my dough toss needs some more work but its coming around. Pictures of pies coming soon.

Dustin had been having a bit more trouble with his search but an opening finally presented itself. They had put me in a staff room with the housekeepers (all other backpackers) till a bed opened in the promotions room. We were all hanging out on the balcony and Dustin mentioned that he had been searching for a job, one of my roommates assured him that if he went to housekeeping first thing Monday morning that he could find a job. And sure enough he went down at 7:30 and was cleaning rooms by 8:30 the same morning! He works five days a week and for more hours (I think 6 a day) than me, so he is earning a income as well as the the free accomidation and as well as all the same awesome Gilligan's perks.

We have a routine again, which is a bit of a change from the last 3 1/2 months of waking up each day and taking it from there. So here is our spot and our jobs for the winter, Cairns really is starting to feel like home...for now.

ps. 4th of July BBQ turned out to be a success not of a ton of Americans (only one other than D & I) but all of our friends came out and celebrated our Independence Day with us. International 4th!

4th of July weekend

We are organizing a 4th of July BBQ...we'll see who shows

blah blah blah

getting board of the diary entries? me too.

just gonna get random...

- I need to recieve pay from the Socal and Vegas tourism boards, I've sold so many people on it
- I've taugh English people to speak Californian, "yeah dude"
- Just because you are in a room with 7 other people, shouldn't and doesn't stop people from having sex
- Italians make the best pasta, pronounced päs-tə, sorry canadians you are wrong
- GOON, box wine is disgusting, and gives you the Worst headache
- European girls are lovely
- Weed is a language spoken by all people from ALL countries, and as much as you would think people with dreds would have weed they don't
- I miss TACOS. I need a god damn burrito
- I'm tryinna find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful. Damn, you's a sexy bitch!
- Price of a bottle of Captain Morgans in Australia...$45!
- Instant noodles is a main staple of my diet
- I know way too many people here right now, That I didn’t know last year, who the fuck are y’all?, I swear it feels like the last few nights, We been everywhere and back, But I just can’t remember it all
- I can't believe how much top 40 rap/club music I have in my head
-I hate 10 am check out, bullshit
- Good on ya. Bullocks. On the piss Mate.
- "ENGLISH mother fucker, do you speak it!?" Jules, Pulp Fiction. And no they don't speak it.

Cairns...our new home

So...it's been awhile, a lot has happened, lots of kilometers have been traveled.

Last update we had just had our sailing adventure plans yanked from out under us, which in turn effected the whole Noosa family. The Canadian boys were going to drive our van and Viorela & Elisa were going to take the boat owners van up to Airlie Beach and meet the both of us in two weeks, all plans had to be scrapped.

But we adjusted and grabbed Hayden and Riley and for the first time went back South first for a couple days of camping and then to Brisbane to stay at Matt and Allan's apartment and celebrate Matt's birthday. We also added a third Canadian, Andy, who we picked up at the airport just in time for the weekend. We had a awesome blow out party on Satuday for Matt's birthday. We had quickly worn out our welcome there (in a good way) and were soon back in Noosa for further regrouping and planning.

We left Hayden in Noosa and soon Riley, Andy, Dustin, and I were making forward progress North once again. A couple wild nights of camping in Hervey Bay brought our little group nice and close, maybe we shouldn't play every game of goon pong Canadian vs. USA, oh well. Weather was starting to get a bit cold in those latitudes so we decided to do some serious driving North. We spent a quick night in Agnes Water & 1770 and did another day of lots of driving all the way up to Airlie Beach.

We spent a few days in Airlie nice little town, no beach just a lagoon. We were at an awesome hostel and within a day or two the whole family had gotten back together, we spent a couple nights together and Dustin and I decided to continue to push North, we wanted to get to Cairns. So left the group Airlie and we drove to Townsville spent the night and the next morning checking things out then jumped right back in the van for the final leg to Cairns. Where we are now, we've covered the East coast of Australia, which had been one of our only half plan/idea things. Its wonderfully tropical here and despite it being winter its has a nice warm summer day feel here this time of year. So this is where we are going to enjoy our Australian winter, here in the tropics, this home for the next couple months.

Now all we need is jobs...

I'm NOT on a boat

I'm NOT on a boat motherfucker
I'm NOT floating on the deep blue sea...at least I still have my flippy floppys

Yaah so... So we left the harbor last night and were just about to drop anchor for the night and the goddamn rudder broke off and was lost to the sea. We spent the night just outside the harbor and had to get towed back in by the coast guard this morning. The repairs could take up to two weeks, which we won't be waiting around for. Biggest let down, well its what backpacking is all about, adjust and adapt as the situation unfolds...

Sets sail tonight

So we are setting sail tonight!

I'm on a boat motherfucker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

Next post...in two weeks or so

Setting sail in the next few days

The Koala Resort, we saw a koala of the grounds today

"S" Party, sponsored surfer, snorkeler, sluts, and studs

A sunset view of Noosa

So Dustin and I are part of the crew!! We are going to be sailing in the next five days or so!! More details to follow...

Noosa is great

We are hanging out in Noosa still we've been here for about 2 weeks now. Still for the most part around the Koala Resort. The work has dried up so no more jobs at the hostel. Just staying in the van parked around the corner and hanging out at the hostel with our little family we've got going here. A mix of Canadians, Swedish, Italian, English, French, and some Danish folk, an awesome interesting mix that I could have never envisioned.

So came across an interesting post on a bulletin board reading, "Crew Wanted to Sail from Noosa to Airlie". Reading on, it said no experience needed, and that we would just have to all throw in for food. This is a 650 mile (1000 km) trip in a 30+ ft trimaran that would take at least two weeks, taking us through a large portion of the great barrier reef and to spots most tour boats would never go. Called the guy and interviewed on the boat today, everything looked good boat and guy are both cool. I have a good feeling that he wanted to take Dustin and I on as part of the crew, final decision to come in the next day or two...

In Noosa

So we've been in Noosa for the last week. Nice beach town, I like to think of it as Laguna-ish. Dustin and I picked up some jobs here at our hostel (Koala Resort). I've been doing some painting over the last few days, they are upgrading the hostel and have all sorts of general renovation work to be done. Dustin has been building and taking apart beds, and has also worked at night in the bar picking up cups. The hostel is pretty sweet, has it's own bar, pool, beach volleyball court staying in a staff room with a couple West coast Canadians (the most similar foreigners we've encountered). All and all good times, nearly feels like home, it's the first place since Sydney that we have stayed for more than 4 days.

We've covered a lot of ground since the last post...

So its been awhile since the last post and we have covered a lot of ground, have done a lot of fun things some blog appropriate some not I'll try to cover what notable events I can...(it sucks paying for internet time $6 per hour!)

So we have been cruising the coast continuing our journey North following the warm weather as things keep on cooling down.

On our way from Byron Bay to Surfer's Paradise we smelled some burning coming from the van. Stopped checked our fluids and gave it a once over. We decided to replace the coolant which was low and when we poured it in it leaked right out. Good times. We ran the van to a local radiator shop that had been recommended to us. Sure enough radiator is for the most part shot, and the water pump was no good.
$700 bucks and one day later we were back on the road. And now running stronger than ever.

We eventually made it to Surfer's Paradise and stayed the weekend in a hostel near the middle of town. Typical hostel plus a pool and bar, nice pluses. Great night life in Surfers waves aren't so good but the night life definitely makes up for it.
Saturady night we went on a club crawl, 4 clubs, some free drinks each place, party bus to the downtown area. There were 7 hostels involved probably 200 people, we were shutting down the street when we walked from place to place, awesome debaucherous night, we did more dancing that night than we have done in a loong time.

We moved on after the weekend, stopped in Brisbane for a few hours. Walked the city a bit then went to the XXXX brewery tour. It was pretty cool, biggest brewery I've been to, tasty chips (french fries) and of course tasty beer!! That's all of Brisbane we needed so we headed right out of town and did some sleeping in a empty parking lot on a bay an hour outside of town.

From there we made our way to the Australian Zoo (Steve Erwin's park) it was really...nice but it was $57. So we decided to take a picture in front of the gate and skip it.We decided go hike the Glass House mountains instead which were free and only up the road a few minutes. Beautiful mountains good hiking and the right price for our budget.

And now we are here (Noosa Heads) are going to stay and enjoy the town for a week maybe, its really quite nice a bit of a Laguna beach type feel local feeling but still plenty going on at night. And of course a hostel on the beach...

It's been a few day since the last post and a lot has gone on since then. Lets see... so we have bought a van! It is a 1984 Toyota Hiace Campervan, it has a sink, microwave, table converts to a bed, toaster we are totally set up.

We spent the weekend in Nimbin for the 18th Annual Mardi Grass Festival which was an amazing hippie adventure back in time pretty much. It is a tiny one street town that fills up and goes off this one weekend a year for this protest festival till they legalize weed. They whole town which consists of land that these hippie bought years ago and have made into communes and a single street with shops museum, bar, bottle shop, general store etc. So anyways parades all weekend big camp grounds area, stage with bands, big bonfires and parties late into the night, with all sorts of sharing and neighborly caring going on. Meet some awesome Australians and had an all around good time. It was an absolute blast.

We are in Byron Bay now and are hanging here in the van by the beach, we have to register our van here in NSW before we leave for the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Dustin and I are proud owners of a camper van

We can't drive on the right side of the road (the left side). And it's a stick but it's a total camping mobile so we are totally stoked pics soon to follow....

We've spent the last four days in Manly which is a 30 minute ferry ride North of Sydney. Another gorgeous beach, a fun but not super clean hostel right on the main drag of the town. Stayed for a few extra days just because our roomies were so fun and cool, everyone had a blast with each other.

We had a bus adventure up the coast one day and did a hike to the top of this beach head that had a light house on the top, very cool beautiful views here are practically a dime a dozen (as the pictures will show). We also went to Newport Beach just so we could compare ours vs. theirs! Its a bit of a toss up its a bit more scenic here but the town is a lot smaller.

We are back in downtown Sydney and are seriously shopping for a camper van. Its a buyers market at the moment so we have the advantageous position as far as negotiating goes. Some good prospects, we should have wheels by the end of the week.

Bondi / Sydney

opera house

sandra (france), craig (great britain), me, marium (germany), d

cliffs above cliffs below, pretty granly cliff spot

he dove off after this

whoa

So we have been hanging down at sweet little hostel at down at Bondi Beach just a block away from the sand. We have been meeting people from all over the world, France England Italy Canada Germany Sweden Holland Ireland, it's a bit crazy and a bit sad that we have been the only American backpackers that we have come across so far. Everyone else from everywhere else seems like it is a much more common thing for people ranging in ages from 19 - 30's to run off for a couple years and see the world.

So anyways Bondi is absolutely breathe taking, the beaches and sandstone cliffs are different than our costal beach towns back home they have seaside pools built into the beach areas and you can jump back and forth from beach to beach side pool.