This is Brizzy Baby

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Our bus got into to brizzy at 6:30am. GOD. We stumbled out of the bus trying to figure out where to go (you might say we had our baby eyes on, if ya know what i mean). We made our way to our next hostel a block from the terminal, called Tinbilly. Alyssa and I checked in while Anu tried bargaining with the desk clerk to have him hold on to her luggage. She wasnt staying the night so he said no.

We all went up stairs and found our room. It was an 8 person share with 4 bunk beds and an ensuite bathroom. Anu took a shower and Alyssa and I took a nap. I woke up around 8:45am and tried to nudge Alyssa. She wanted to take a shower before we went out and she kept saying shed get up in a bit. When a bit became too long I told her we would meet with her when she was ready. The whole room sleeping I went out to find Anu.

After talking to the people at the desk we decided to go to the Brisbane Museum of Modern Art. It was closed when we got there so after some walking around we found the Brizzy Library and Anu sat down to eat Cheesecake and a sandwich for brekky at 9am.

Here are some cool art pieces I came upon while we were meandering/trying to lose time till we waited for the Art museum to open at 10am.




She finished her brekky and after some walking around we made it to the M.M.A. They had an exhibit there on Versache (sp?) but neither of us wanted to spend the time waiting in the line to pay for an overly priced ticket, so we went to see the free exhibits. We parted ways in the museum bc she didnt want to see a display of the wining pieces of an art competition. I got a phone call from Alyssa somewhere while I was in the museum bc she wanted to tell me she was going to go on a walking tour of the city at 12. I wanted to join her but I also wanted to see a bit more so I told her to go and I would meet up with her.

Here are some of the art pieces I saw and could sneak a photo of.

L: "this bag will not change the world" -soo true. How many people spend heaps of money on shit that in the end doesnt matter... Like spending thousands of dollars on Gucci purses will actually have a good effect on the world. well not really. ive got my coach purse like everyone else tho. C: a winner of one of the competitions. R: an optical illusion, looks like its round but its just a painting on a wall.







L: different types and colors of paintbrushes.

R: flip-flops with directions on how to put on a condom....????





I got through a bit of the museum and was just about to call Anu to let her know the plans when I ran into her. She wanted to stay and finish the museum, and she didnt like walking tours anyway so I went to go meet up with Alyssa on my own.

Image from when I crossed the bridge over the Brisbane River.

I met up with her near the clock in brizzy central. I missed the intro but I jumped in as soon as I could. First thing I saw with the tour guide was a memorial for South West Pacific Campaign.

1942-1945 This memorial depicts a wounded Australian solder descending the Kokoda Trail assisted by a strong dependable Papua New Guinean leading him to Safety. They arr being passed by a fresh, determined solder resolute in the task ahead. - Japan was going to invade Australia so they decided to meet them before they got to their soil during the Gallipoli event of WWI. Japanese were already on the island of P.N. Guinea when the australians arrive and were meet by a steep wall. It took days for them to get over it and during that time Japs were at an advantage to wound the Aussies. Once Australia finally made it over, it was the fuzzy wuzzy angels who helped them. Named for their fuzzy hair and the divine intervention that they gave, Australian soldiers were helped back to health and taken around the island. Although food parcels, weapons and such were dropped on the Island for the soldiers to use, they were ofter handed into the wrong hands bc the trees were so thick and the planes didnt know where to drop the parcels.

This is the Australian Seal. It has the kangaroo and emu on it because like australia, these animals cannot walk backwards. Australia is constantly moving forewards, just like the animals on the crest.


Stairs to the ANZAC Square war memorial Shrine of Remembrance with Eternal Flame inside. There are 19 stairs in the the front and 18 on the sides for the year 1918, the year of peace.


Here is the good ol' bottle tree, named so because it looks like a bottle. The tree is filled with water which comes out in the form of goo. Sometimes the goo is extremely slippery and ppl fall on their bums when they step on it. Other times the goo is sticky and people get stuck to the goo. Either way, its not the most pleassant and shouldnt be placed where individuals walk. At one point they used the bottle tree as a sort of jail- cutting out a hole, letting the water drain out, and placing people inside (yes sometime more than one).


This is an overlook on top of the ANZAC memorial area.

At this point in the tour I got a text from my sister, asking me, if i was still alive, to call them at home. I proceeded to call them and I talked to them for a couple of minutes while he talked about poison animals and such.

Here is an image of the Brisbane Arcade, this comes with an interesting story....

In 1848, a man rowing up the Brisbane River saw a body. At least, parts of it. It was just the legs and the loins of a man. That was at seven o'clock. It took them another hour to find the upper part of the body which was in long grass. Eventually they found the head, propped up so it would look at whoever found it. And then, horror upon horrors, over the -- the, um, milk and butter and cheese in the well behind the hotel, there were the entrails decorating them.

The body (parts) belonged to a man, Mr Cox who had been boozing in the Bush Inn for a couple of hours. He was known to be rich, but no one knew where his money was. A man named Fyfe was imprisoned for the murder and even to his death bed, he claimed he was innocent. Fyfe was hung for the murder of Cox.

A year after Mr. Cox's death, Patrick Mayne, a slaughtermen, produced exactly the amount of money that had been robbed from the murder victim to buy land for his butcher business on Queen St. Every time he made another 10 shillings, he bought an acre or two of property around town. Eventually, he owned about a thousand acres in the CBD. He was one of the richest men in the colony. He became one of the foundation aldermen of the municipality of Brisbane. But it became pretty evident, in his last years, that all was not well with Patrick. He was vicious, he used to hit people with his stock-whip, and signs of madness were pretty clear.

When he did die in 1865, ah, it had been so evident that he was mentally disturbed that Mary, his wife, decided that it would be better if the children at no time married. Patrick Mayne said, in his confession, that he'd murdered a man for whom the wrong person had been hanged. He had all 6 of his children promise not to have offspring. 2 of his children were mentally ill, 2 others committed suicide. The other 2 didnt get married or have children, the guilt of what their father did laid heavy on their hearts. They were rich children because of their father and decided to give much of their wealth back to the city. They built the Brizzy Arcade, and all of the stores within it do not have to pay for the shop room.


The Queen, enough said. (but why does she need a purse???? surly there is someone who works for her that can carry her lipstick and powder?)


This is "the red light district" reminds me of a song.... Red light district by LUDACRIS!!!!
Anyway.... (going from memory) during the war (idk which one) they found that their soldiers were a bit restless. Why? Because they werent getting the love they needed from a woman. Apparently there was a lack of women in Brizzy so they sent out adverts to Melb and Sydney for prostitutes to come and make a life. The idea was that they would have the men burn off steam with the prostitutes and then come to work, refreshed and ready to focus. Some of them realized that if you contracted an STD you didnt have to be in the war, so then men were purely having sex to get an STD to get out of the war. Genius


This is parliament of Queensland.

Flags on the L are Australian flag and Queensland flag.

Flags on the R are Indigenous and Torres Straight islander flags.






This is the old Prime Ministers house known as the Old Government House, that is until it became haunted.... The famous lemignton was "discovered" here when the PM had guests over and asked the cook to whip up something. With nothing really fantastic in the cupboards she was forced to get creative with some stale cakes and such. She came out with a dessert that pleased every one. When asked what it was called said it was called the Lemington, after the prime minister. Years and years later the secretary was in the house along with two builders who were upstairs fixing something or other. They both came down in a fuss crying and screaming, the one rushed to her and the other rushed outside to throw up. They said that they had both seen a ghost. When prompted what the ghost looked like they described the likes of an old butler. When shown a picture of different people they both pointed to the same butler who couldnt have been alive and haunting the house. She told them this and they both ran on the double out of the house, leaving their tools behind. After a few more "sightings" the house PM moved to a different house, and the old government house was given up.

After seeing this we took a long walk, over a bridge and on the other side of the river. He concluded his tour as it began to rain and we called up Anu to see where she was at. We ran into her and told her that we had been told that they had movies for cheap and since it was raining...
We found the movie theater and there wasnt anything showing until an hour later. Alyssa and I bought our tickets for "girl who plays with fire" but anu didnt bc she had to catch her plane at that time. Till the movie time we went to the Brizzy museum.


This is Muttaburrasaurus langdoni- roamed the australian landscpae about 100 million years ago. the dinosaur is known from three species from norhtern and western Queensland. This dino is known for his big as nose or nasal chamber which they suggest either increase the animals sense of smell or allowing it to vocalize and communicate with other members of its species.

We saw some really well done bugs (always thinking of you john). center are the biggest roaches (yay).









After seeing this we had to run to the movies. We parted ways with Anu, and she parted with my 20$. We had to stop at a muffin shop for Alyssa but we got to the theater on time. the movie cost us 5$!!! seriously!! It was a good movie.

Afterwards we walked back to tinbilly. They were supposed to have a bbq for us and they did, I had two sausages to alyssas 1. we made friends with a guy at our table who was from Oklahoma or something. He was in a wedding in Port Douglas. Funny thing is, we both remember seeing a bride coming out of a church, she had blue shoes on which was funny. Apparently it was one in the same. Alyssa went up to write some post cards but I stayed at the bar to talk with whats his name and enjoy the live music. Alyssa came down like an hour later and we went to get me a slurpee. Alyssa went upstairs again and I chilled at the bar some more. At about 11pm I decided to go to bed. I got to my hostel room and it was like a party. Booze everywhere and people too. So much for going to bed. I had some drinks with them, then showered (last time i took a real shower was on the island on sunday night. today is wednesday... god. After the shower I had a few more drinks, some laughs with the ppl and then everyone seemed to head out. I went to bed around 2 which gave me about 4 hours bf wake up....

Fraiser island

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Didnt have as good a sleep as the first overnight bus to arlie beach but thats because our bus landed in Hervey Bay, Fraiser island at 6:50am, wayyyy to early. The bus dropped us off at a bus terminal and ten minutes later our bus to take us to frasier island appeared. we got lucky that our overnight bus wasnt late and that our pick up bus wasnt early.

We got on the bus and for a bit went around picking up other people from their accommodations. We then got to a barge with a huge ferry that carried heaps of people along with private cars. I made friends with a guy from Sweden and sat with him for the hour long ride as the girls went on the top deck and sat there. It was interesting to talk to him and hear of his journey, he seemed to be making it up as he went along.

We got to the island and were told to find our color coded group, we were white and found the guy with the white t-shirt. We put our stuff under the bus and boarded. We sat in the last row with some people from germany and italy.

Our bus was a 4-wheel drive. They told us we should probably put our seat belts on bc he was going to go about 80k through the island which was pretty fast considering the bumpy terrain. I figured it would be more of an adventure without my seatbelt.

On our way our driver informed us that they have a woody forest along with a more tropical rainforest. You can actually watch as it changes from woody pines to more traditional rainforest vegetation. Kinda cool actually.

Our first stop was Lake McKenzie were we got some time to walk down to the lake, go in if we so wished and walk around a bit. I decided to ignore the idea of going in the water once i realized how freakishly cold it was. I walked around in anticipation of seeing some wildlife; aka a dingo or turtles. I didnt see either. However I did see some fish which is pretty significant because fish are very rare on the lake. The lake has a high acidity level so fish dont usually get bigger than two inches... i saw some 5 inchers! HAh.


Here are some Fraser Island Facts: Fraser Island , the largest sand island in the world, was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1992 in recognition of its outstanding universal value as: An outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution and, An example of superlative natural phenomena. The massive sand deposits that make up the island are a continous recod of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700,000 years. The islands towering dunes, beautiful lakes, crystal clear watercourses, patterned fens, and surprised variety of vegetation types growing on sand, including impressive areas of rainforest, all contribute to its World Heritage status.

After Lake McKenzie we got back on the bus to drive to a location to look at some trees and the most famous fern in the world. We got off at Wanggoolba Creek where he pointed out some different trees (you can see two different types in the pict to the right). The one tree on the left which has woody bark smells like molassas. The tree on the right was used as polls on a ship for the sails. The trees are very straight and useful for that purpose.

The image on the right is a picture of the well known, biggest king fern ever. It holds the guiness book of world records for this fact. We were told about it before we saw it and well, i thought it would be a bit bigger. But none the less, its pretty cool.


We then kept walking in the forest a bit until we came out to where we started. On the way I got a cool image of river bed and trees (R). You would look in the stream and it looked like you were just looking at sand. You really couldnt see the water bc it was soo clear. It was kinda amazing.

Once we escaped the forest path and came to the bus agin he pointed out the different layers of the island. At one side of the island the sand is white where as on the other side the sand is yellow. This is because the yellow sand is filled with metal which has rusted, turning it yellow. As the sand makes its way across to the other side of the island it is purified and used by nutrient seeking plants. The sand is mostly comprised of quartz grains (silica) at 98% with less than two percent being other minerals such as rutile and zircon.

The island consists of Coastal heaths, eucalypt forests, rainforest, and wallum heath lands.


Here is a picture of the layout of the island and you can see its size.

Before getting on the bus I snapped a photo of a fern basket (remember them from cape trip?). Cept this one is way big.


And an image of the sign warning against dingos!
"A dingo stole my baby!"






Next stop was lunch where we went to the central station for a good meal. It was buffet style and they had heaps of food. It was such an improvement from the cruise food. I seriously ate 3 plates of food and probably only stopped bc we were going to miss the bus. God i can be such a fatty sometimes. hahahaa.

Next was a long drive on the "seventy five mile beach". This beach is a most amazing beach highway where all road rules apply, the speed limit is 80k and you must give way to airplanes landing and taking off. Spot the birds of prey and sea birds that make their home on the east coast and keep an eye out for dingoes. the fishing is excellent, but the strong undertow and sharks make it unsafe for swimming.

We saw some wales as we went. It was pretty sweet, going 100k on the beach. Things we saw included coffee rock, named not because thats where coffee comes from, but rather because when you break off a piece it crumbles like coffee.

It was cool, from the beach you could really see the sand dunes. It amazes me that a whole island is made from sand and not washed away.


We drove for a bit and then came upon the Coloured sands- comprised of 72 different colours, mostly reds and yellows. the colours are caused by the leaching of oxides that coat each grain of sand, causing bands of colour.
While most of the sand that makes up Fraser Island has come from the far south-east of Australia, some of it has traveled for thousands of kilometers and millions of years from Antarctica, stating its journey before Australia and Antarctica split from each other.









The yellow sand practically matches my yellow shirt!

Next stop was the Maheno Shipwreck: Build in scotland in 1905, the luxury cruise ship Maheno sailed between Sydney and Auckland. She was one of the first turbine-driven steamers and one of the fastest ships of her time, setting a record for the quickest crossing of the Tasman in 1907 (2 days 21 hours). During WWI she was commissioned as a hospital ship in Europe and also served in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After the war the Maheno was recommissioned as a cruise ship. On July 8,1935 while being towed to Japan for scrapping, the Maheno was struck by an out of season cyclone and washed ashore. During WWII the wreck was used for air force target practice and by Z Force special unit who practiced planting limpet mines on her prior to the raid on Singapore Harbor.









When i uploaded the photos, alyssa saw the one with me inside the ship. She was a bit put off to know that I went inside when it had a Danger do not go inside sign. But i didnt go inside, I just had some stranger stick the camera through a port hole while i stuck my head through.

Our next stop was Eli Creek; which flows on to seventy five mile beach at a rate of about 4.2 million litres of water every hour. It is the largest fresh water creek on the east coast of Fraser Island and popular for swimming.

We were told we had some time to either go in it or walk on the board walk next to it. We walked one way on the board walk and then decided that even though it was a bit cold it didnt come up too high on us so we braved it out for the sake of the idea that we would never have an opportunity to do it again.

L: the creek facing the pacific ocean.

R: Anu and Alyssa in the creek facing away from the ocean.





We finally boarded the bus for the very last time while we were entertained with stories and passing wildlife. On our way we saw something I had been keeping my eyes pealed for all day....a DINGO!!!!!

This was very exciting.

Some stories we were told:

" European History: Fraser Island was first sighted by Captain James Cook in 1770 while traveling up the east coast of Australia, Cook named the island "great sandy peninsula" in the mistaken belief that it was connected to the mainland. In 1799 Matthew Flinders in the 'Norfolk' explored parts of Hervey Bay and discovered the peninsula was, in fact, an island. In 1836 Captain James Fraser on the brig 'Sterling Castle' was wrecked at the Swain's Reef, north of Fraser island. The survivors traveled south in a life boat and eventually found themselves marooned on Fraser Island. Of them, only Eliza Fraser, the wife of Captain Fraser, survived. Europeans named the island after Captain James Fraser. "

"Logging History: Logging was stated on Fraser Island in 1863 by 'Yankee Jack' Piggott and continued until December 1991 when the island was nominated for World Heritage listing, the first trees taken by the loggers were kauri pine, hoop pine and cypress pine. In the early 1900's hardwood species such as tallwood, blackbutt and brush box were targeted. In 1925 satinay became the major timber logged on the island after it was found to be resistant to marine borer and became popular for use in marine conditions around the world. "

"Aboriginal History: The Butchulla people are the indigenous peple of Fraser ISland. the tribal lands of the Butchulla extended from Burrum River in the north, south to Cooloola National Park and west to Mount Bauple. The Butchulla peoples name for Fraser Island was K'gari, pronounced Gurrie, which means paradise. "

Once we got back to the Ferry we boarded and all huddled in the one dry enclosed area bc it was raining. I slept on the floor as we made the journey. It was soo crowded, i felt like an immigrant making a long journey. We got to the mainland and had to find our bus. Anu and Alyssa started boarding the wrong bus so I grabbed them before getting on the proper bus. The driver dropped us off at Hervey Bay again. On the ride we were told how this one couple had booked the wrong trip, and didnt get to see the destination of their honeymoon that they had years and years ago. It was a bit sad.

At Hervey Bay we had to sit around for hours till our bus came in at 1:30am. We went to the shops so that Anu could use the computer for an hour. I walked around and then sat down to figure out what to get everyone for xmas. At around 7pm we went to subway for dinner- meatball sub and cookies. After dinner I had to use the bathroom and totally not paying attention walked into the handicapped, walked out of the handy capped and walked into the mens room, walked out of the mens and into the womens (how incompetent am i?). We sat there for a while in subway until we figured we had been there long enough and then anu went to take a nap and we tried to get Alyssa some lip balm. The shops closed minutes bf we got there. I sat with Alyssa and wrote postcards until a guy from Canada came to wait and we chatted. The bus finally came at 1:30am and I was soo ready for it so that I could sleep.

Where is Nemo??

Monday, September 27, 2010

I was the first to get up (awake at 5am??), get packed and get out. I didnt want to get the scraps from brekky and I also didnt want to get left in the island. I got to breakky bf its 7am eat up. I sat there and read my book and when they finally brought the food out it was past 7. Everyone was a bit pissed that they brought the food out late and brought it in on time.

We got on board and were ready to go snorkeling. We went snorkeling at the Hayman Island, blue pearl bay. Snorkeling was easier, no anxiety this time. You could really see some great fish, the coral and anemones were not as good as the last time but the fish were really better.


Here is the place we snorkeled at...







After snorkeling we got back on the boat to go back to Arlie beach while eating on the boat as we drove. I was hopping that we would get better food but it was the same as yesterday, cept instead of soggy rice we had soggy pasta.

The ride back was pleasant. I tried to take a pict of Arlie beach from the water but it didnt do it justice.
Once we got to the shore everyone wished each other goodbye, it was a bit sad knowing that everyone i had meet wouldnt ever meet each other again.

We walked our way back to the man made lagoon and Alyssa and i went for a dip while Anu took a nap.


L: the water

R: the lagoon





We chilled at the lagoon for a bit and then Alyssa and I went to go find showers. Apparently they have outside showers which consisted of a water source on the ourside of a builing. Alyssa had to hold the shower on while I washed my hair, then I did the same for her. She was so embarrassed but no one there would ever see us again.

After that anu needed to find a charger for her phone before getting dinner. We walked heaps until we found a place to put our stuff for a bit. We did that and then walked around some more. We couldnt find an outlet for her so we grabbed dinner, Steak for 12! It was kinda crappy but still good. It was a bit amusing, we walked around the area so much we ran into everyone from our boat. Think about it, i go to a random place and i know more people there than anywhere else in Australia.

After dinner, and a quick mcflurry on the go, we grabbed our stuff from the lockers and made our way to the bus terminal. We had a 6:10pm Bus to Fraiser Island. Getting on the bus we were allowed to sit wherever we wanted so me and Alyssa sat together. I was hoping they would turn a movie on for us as some other people said they had done for them. But no. Our bus driver turned off all the lights in the bus (even disabled the personal reading light) and let us be. Me and Alyssa sat in the dark and talked, we werent about to go to bed at 6pm like everyone else just because it was a little dark. We talked and got hushed at a bit. We stopped somewhere for a pit stop and Alyssa got something to eat. I used the bathroom and when we got on the bus we both went to bed. I slept in an empty set of chairs so I could have more room.

Swimming with the Fishes

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Wake up and get to breakky before our 8am boarding on the boat. Our room was the last to get to breakky so we got the last of the eggs (and saussages if you eat them). Everyone moved to the boat and it was pouring rain. : ( we were hoping it would clear up but in case it didnt i was still going to give it a go when snorkeling (i paid for it, i wanna do it even if im frozen).

Everyone sat inside the cabin until the sun started to come out and then some of us moved to the deck, drank goon or beer and relaxed. When we got to our first destination: Border island, for some snorkeling!!! the weather had completely cleared. Here is where we snorkled.










We were told before we went in the water what the signs and signals are for if you are ok, see nemo, or are in trouble. We were also informed that since its not bluey/stinger season we didnt have to wear our sting suits but seeing as how someone got stung last week it might be a good idea. Me and Alyssa opted to wear them, mostly for me to cover up my horrid burns (kinda embarrassing).


I think we look pretty hot personally.....







I jumped in the water instead of sliding in or taking the boat to the snorkeling spot because I was planning on swimming there. Let me tell you, this did not happen. The cold water was such a shock to my body and I am so out of shape that I climbed right back up to the boat and took the motor boat to the snorkel spot. I sooo need to work out when i get home.

Once I got dropped off by the boat in the specific place for snorkeling I had a bit of a panic. I think i had excited myself so much about being in the GBR that I panicked when I went to breath out of the mouthpiece with my face in the water. The first time i ever snorkeled I was totally cool, idk what happened. I told myself to shut up and do it, cuz im paying for it, and then all went well.

Anwyay. the snorkeling was good, there were some nice corals to see and anemones. It was different from when I snorkeling in Puerto Rico which was much more shallow and more plentiful of both fish and coral and much more bright. I was almost a bit disapointed with the GBR bc it was soo deep (i thought swimming closer to the shore would help but it only turned into rocks), hardly any fish, and not so colorful. Every once in a while I would hold my breath and try to swim as far down as I could but I kept floating up and could only dive down so far.

Once we got done with snorkeling we had lunch and relaxed on the boat. Lunch was total crap; sandwhiches (the only tolerable part) with odd veggies and soggy rice and a cold leg of chicken. god awful!

I was still burnt so I tried to keep my towel on as much as possible, and i had a tankini on which helped. Seriously, it looked like I had a skin birth defect bc it was so blotchy and ish.

Our next stop was Whitehaven Beach... i swear this is the beach where angels are born.
We got off the boat and went to an overlook first. soooo beautiful.







There was a tour going on and I over heard her say that the patterns made by the sand in the water change all the time with the currents, you could come here one day and back the next and it wont look the same. Being here just for a couple of hours has proved that not only is this true but the patterns change even as you stay the day.

She also mentioned that the island in the left image is Esk Island, home to a majority of the poisonous snakes in australia. This is comforting knowing that they arent really too many in vicotoria but it makes me wonder if they swim from Esk to this island and are also here??

L: Image of a piece of the group. C: Alyssa, Anu and I, R me (please note how friggin red my legs are, haha)










After the lookout point we walked down to the beach to touch the sand that is such a phenomenon of the island. The 99% silica sand is created by water churning at quarts underneath the island. This island has the highest percent of silica sand and therefore I guess it would be the whitest beach out there? Since the sand is a natural wonderful phenomenon (and makes it one of the top 5 beaches in the world) they dont encourage removing sand for any purposes. However, at one point NASA was given permission to use the sand in making something or other. The sand is good for polishing jewlery, but super bad for you camera bc i is so small.

The sand was kinda like snow. You sank really far in it in some places and other places you walked on top of it. Once you got in the water, unlike normal, you could look down and see your feet from waste deep in the water. Kinda amazing.

I walked the beach a bit until I got to where my roomates were out in the water. Decided to go out to where they were. I got so far and then Claudia started coming in and so I stayed where I was while I waited for her. I was up to my neck at this point, barely touching the floor. Claudia shouted to me that she was having problems reaching me. I tried walking in to the shore and I realized I was being pulled out. I felt down to my thigh and you could feel the current pulling me. It was extremely scary knowing that the water was almost more powerful than myself and there were no lifeguards to save us. A good bit of work later I somehow made it back on land, not really sure how. It was kinda an amazing feeling. Ana was still out there and she was so far away that we werent sure if she was ok or not. A good bit of worrying later and she made her way to claudia and me on the shore.

Alyssa came over and asked where I had been this whole time. We filled her in on what happened. Apparently the strong current was only where we were, she was swimming a couple of yards down and was fine. We took some quick photos (which anu has on her camera and doesnt want to surrender) and then had to walk back to our boat on the other side of the island.

We got back to the Island where we were staying just in time for a quick shower and dinner. They had another theme for the night, jungle fever. They gave you a piece of fabric and you could paint it how you liked. We decided that since we dressed up for the last one we didnt need to wear a piece of cloth and pretend to be from the jungle.

Images of our accommodation and the boat we were on.









Image from our balcony out at the water at sunset.


Instead of spending time getting dressed we had drinks, the lasts of the wine people had brought for the boat. 3 drinks in and I could feel the goon.

Dinner was ok, breaded chicken, pototates, crappy pasta etc. We ate and then our skipper wanted us to stay around for some drinking games. We played two games: 1)skull your beer or snake bite and then pass a string through your clothes. 2) skull your beer or snake bite and then put a coin btwn your butt cheeks and then try and walk and then drop it in a bucket. There were two teams and you played for your team to win the fastest. It was fun and I was a tad bit drunk after that.

Once we were done with the games everyone dispersed to party and drink and be merry with all the other guests on the island. These guests were a bit different from last nights. Not as rowdy, but very loud and proud. take a look for yourself!


Some dancing on the dance floor and a bit of talking to the irish group on our trip and then bed at about 1. I got back to our living place and everyone was chatting, two guys decided to go skinny dipping and then I had to go to sleep if I ever wanted to wake up to catch our boat the next day.

Im On A Boat!!!!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

On the bus I got my own set of seats. That is until I arrived somwhere, probably in the middle of nowhere, when the bus driver "cracked the shits" at us for not already being awake and alert to move from one bus to another. He yelled at us and I feel like the whole bus woke up, in a daze, as if maybe something serious was wrong (fire? woman giving birth? Swarm of angry crocs attacking the bus?). No, just angry bus man yelling for us to "get off the bus if you ever want to arrive at your destination".

The second bus I shared seats with some chick and had to sleep upright. We arrived in Arlie Beach around 11 not to sail ship till 2pm. In order to get to the docks we had to walk what seemed like ages with all our shit (turns out its just a bit over a mile, however it was really hot and I was carrying 20 lbs on my back).

We got to the area we were supposed to be but we couldnt figure out where we were supposed to meet (granit it was like 2 hours bf we had to officially be there but still). Alyssa and I asking some questions figured it out and sat down to eat a chicken pie and carrot cake for lunch. We made friends with some germans as we sat and waited.

At around 130 this huge bunch of ppl in coconut bras and grass skirts (and im talking about the guys) rocked up to where we were supposed to meet in 30minutes. They were mad rowdy and crazy and I was kinda hoping that we werent on the same boat. Well 30 min later and they are still where we are supposed to meet. It turns out they were there to have a party on our island for the night, taking our boat with us. At least we only had to have them for the one day.

We dragged all our ish to the inside of the boat and then was introduced to the crew; we have james the skipper, Karsten the first mate, and elin the hostess. On the boat we were allowed to byo but no glass. On the island we were only allowed to buy drinks. I figured I would just buy at the island but it might have been smart to bring a cask of goon or smuggle a bottle. idk.

It took about two hours to sail out to our island, south molle island.
This is the island.

We relaxed on the boat as we road the waters. It reminds me of a song that was big, Im on a boat. When we got to the island we had to figure out who we wanted to share rooms with. I was in a room with Anu, Alyssa, Ana (from mexico) and Claudia (from chili). Both girls turned out to be super sweet and fun. We got our keys, stinger suite, and snorkel head set and went to our room to unpack. We were supposed to meet up if we wanted to go on an Aboriginal bush walk of the island but it started to rain so everyone nixed it. Instead the group went to nap, I showered (it had been forever it felt like), and then did some reading. It was then time to get everyone up and get ready for dinner. We were given three trash bags to make an outfit for the night so we quickly made some dresses out of them. We then went down to dinner.



They had steak, potatoes, and rice. the steak was decent and the potatoes ok, the rice was shit. I kinda expected more. Next to the group at the bar the group was playing beer pong. Once we were done eating everyone went over to join. There was a mad beer pong game that went off. Poms vs Aussies. The first game was good fun, the second game was worth 50$. Poms won the first one and then lost the most important game. Totally hilarious. The amusing part was how horrible they were at the rules. The couldnt keep their elbows off, kept re-arranging the cups after the 2 rule, didnt do bounce backs, etc. I had a vodka sunrise and chatted with some people in our group (most ppl are from ireland, along with some poms, french). Went to bed around 12 and when I tried to call Briana like I had promised I was told that I could only make emergency phone calls. I figured I was out of credit on my phone so I tried Alyssas. Hers gave me the same thing. We both figured we were out of credit bc we both had one bar if you stood in a certain way in the bathroom. Had to go to bed not wishing her luck... : (

Port Douglas Beach Bum

Friday, September 24, 2010

Woke up at the hostel and Alyssa had already left to go on her skydiving excursion. Anu was pissed as hell at my alarm going off so many times but thats just how i wake up. We got ready real fast and then put our stuff in storage for the day and checked out. I went down for breakfast bf this and got two bowls of cereal in a bowl that looked like it was cleaned by a 5 year old. It was madddd gross.

Anyway we checked out and split ways; anu wanted to get an expensive brunch and i wanted to hit up the beach.

The beach was fantastic, warm, dry sand, people everywhere. I rang Briana bc i tried the night bf but she was sleeping. We talked for a good while and it was so nice to hear her voice. I promised I would call her before she left the country in two days. I then took a nap, swam in the wonderful water and then read a bit and then nap again.
Here are some photos of the beach.










Somewhere during this time anu came over and talked about how wonderful her brunch was, carrot cake, calamari, and tea. (haha like i could afford that!). She then left to do something or other and I went back to whatever I was doing. At around 5 she came back again and we sat for a bit before packing up again and heading back to the hostel to shower and get ready for the bus trip ahead of us. I had definitely gotten burnt even though i put on lotion. thank god i had brought cocoa butter!!

Parrot Fish didnt mind us using their showers even though we had checked out which was a godsend. I must say, PFish was the nicest hostel we stayed at (and most expensive at 30$) but I didnt really enjoy it as much at Njoy. The relaxed, open atmosphere of njoy was way better than the cold service and people we were experiencing here. And seeing as how they ran out of tea and had dirty dishes I wasnt so pleased with the fish.

After showers we locked our stuff up again and then went to grab me some food. I got myself a delish Kabob.

*****Culture Note: They have the idea of the gyro here, meat (lamb preferred), with toppings like lettuce, tomato, onion, and sauce. However, they do not call it a gyro, its a kabob. Kabobs in America is meat and veggies on a stick which in australia is called souvlaki ( i believe). And they dont called the greek sauce cucumber sauce, rather it is tzutziki. the things we dont know*****

After eating we went back to PFish to grab our stuff, and a bag Alyssa left us, and headed to the train station. Anu was having an issue of losing her ticket so she called home, woke her parents up and tried to convey what she wanted. We got to where we were told to go but didnt know where the bus was supposed to meet us. I walked around forever trying to find it until I realized that even though we booked with greyhound, the name on the ticket was different and found the terminal with that name. The bus picked us up at 8pm along with some others and an hour and a half arrived at the Cairns terminal.

We called Alyssa to find each other and I got ready for bed, ie put my pj pants over my sofie shorts and put my slippers on. The three of us waited on a bench at the marina till 11:30pm (2 hours!) exchanging stories of the day and then decided to go find our next bus. We got our luggage loaded on and then tried to fall asleep. I was beginning to feel the pain of my burn.....