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.