06.27.10

The week has been long, but work is slowly getting easier. The best part is that John got a job as well. He is working as a waiter for a Mexican restaurant called Tortillas.
Mexican food has been so hard to find out here. Like I have mentioned before, Australia is closer to Asian countries so there is a lot of Asian and Indian restaurants. We have even noticed a high number of Turkish places, kebabs and so forth. America is connected to Mexico and is heavily influenced by the Mexican culture. You may love it or hate it, but man youre a fool if you dont love their food!
I have been dealing with a serious Mexican food craving since I arrived in Australia. We have run into 2 or 3 restaurants but they all seemed closed. The one that was open, didnt even look like it made good Mexican. If you walk into Mexican restaurant, you should smell Mexican, not burgers!
John would ideal have liked a job in general labor, or as a mechanic, but he is a trooper and wouldnt dare turn down a paying job, even as a waiter. He does have some food experience though. He worked through high school at Wendys and this past winter, we both worked at the bar at Boston Mills. I shared shifts behind the deli counter, with John, and the other days as a waitress. John just stayed behind the deli counter.
I noticed a new job posting at the reception desk at Dougies one morning, and told John to call. He did, and got asked to come in that night. The rest of the day we ran around making sure he had a white shirt, and I gave him a waitress 101 tutorial. Gave him all the details he would need so that Tortillas would have no idea that he really, had no waiting experience!
The best part about the job is that he even looks Mexican! He has such a gorgeous tan, and nice, long black hair. A bunch of Columbians came into the restaurant one night to ask him if he was Columbian.
His first few days were seamless, though his boss seems to be next of kin to Hitler. Oddly enough, his name is John as well. We will just call him Boss for the sake of keeping things easy. Boss is the owner, as well as the head chef. John says that when he is not busy, and just being a normal person, he is the kindest man ever, but the minute the restaurant gets busy and he is cooking, he becomes so nasty. Its become hard for the both of us to keep our mouths shut, as we would have both liked to give our nasty bosses a few words, but we digress. Just shake our heads, give out the most amazing can-do attitude and keep on keeping on.
I did catch a glimpse of John working one night when I got off of work before he did. I just walked the block to his restaurant to wait for him to knock-off (that is how Aussies say it is time to leave). He had his work t-shirt on, his khaki shorts, and the most adorable, multi-colored apron on. The apron looked just like one of those traditional, multi-colored, Mexican blankets. It just doesnt work well with a gear-head, like John, but it is humbling. John openly admitted that waiting was difficult and he gives props to those who have spent years making a living off of it.
Tortillas is a very small restaurant. During lunch they have maybe 10 tables, and at dinner, 20. The restaurant, including the kitchen, bar and dining area, is about the size of a master bedroom. There are only 4 tables on the inside, and the rest are on the sidewalk. Its not nearly as formal as Zinc, nor nearly as large. Their customers come to eat, and leave, where at Zinc, our customers normally are there to spend their evening.
Even though he has to wear a silly apron, and is slightly embarrassed that he is waiting, he gained back full power with his wage of 21 dollars an hour. 2 bucks more then mehe really likes rubbing this in my face, but I dont mind : ) Needless to say, I am so proud of my Mexi-Italian, apron wearing, waiter.

One of the best things about staying in Port Douglas, has been the people and the friends we have been making. I work with mainly other backpackers, as so does John. Most of them are living at Dougies as well.
Lisa is from Canada and is a waitress at Zinc as well. She only started a week before I did. We see each other all the time at Dougies and I really enjoy talking with her and spending our nights having a drink or to just complain about work. So far, I am the closest with Lisa, and I must say, its really nice to have a girl-friend that is just a few steps away from my tent. Its been really hard without my girls from home, especially since I cant call them or talk to them when I feel like it. Even though email has been wonderful, it sucks that you dont get an instant response. The best apart her though, is that she is from Canada. John and I hardly notice the Canadian accent anymore, having been around so many different languages, so its nice to speak to someone that reminds me of home. Secondly, she understands what I am saying. Not literally, but as far as how things are different here, or when I make a joke that really only a North American person may understand. We seem to always be on the same team when it comes to making fun of how other people pronounce things, or as far as sports go etc etc. Shes definitely been a breath of fresh air.
David is also a waiter at Zinc. Been at Dougies for awhile, and is English. He is a great worker and has helped me out so much at Zinc. All the wait staff sticks together so that we dont get yelled at by Rads or Olivia. Whenever I have a question, or need help, Dave is the person I go to. When I started waiting tables, he prompted me to make sure I was doing everything I needed to, and again, saving my butt from the rath of RADS-IVIA! I can always count to see him grabbing a beer at the Dougies bar after work. He has been great for conversation, and has always offered me and John a drink if we were close by. When he does get a few in him, he starts to make really funny jokes, and does really funny things. Normally, a pretty conservative guy, its nice to see him let loose and hang ten every once in a while.
Adam is a bartender at Zinc and from Dublin, Ireland. Love his accent, but have a hard time understand him. I find myself just nodding and laughing when he says something to me, as opposed to asking him What? a million times over and over. Lol He has only been here for a month or two, and still seems to be making mistakes behind the bar. When I get yelled at, I always turn to Adam, cause most likely, he (or Tim) is getting yelled at for something more important, and then I dont feel so bad! (haha, is that awful?) He has also made for great conversation, and has introduced John and I to some other great people staying at Dougies. He and Jessi would have totally hit it off with him is she were here, and I cant help but think of her every time we are hanging out with Adam. We dont see him around Dougies since he is always working split shifts, but when he is here, he is at the pool playing kurb ball. I dunno, some weird game where you try to throw a ball on the rim of the pool and make it bounce back. John got pulled into a game once, and he says its fun. Oddly enough, it is Adams birthday today as well. Both John and I had to work, so we didnt get a chance to hang out, but bought him a shot at Dougies to celebrate.
Sonja is the blonde girl from Germany. She doesnt live at Dougies but is backpacking as well. I am sure if she were at Dougies, we would be much better friends. Her and I started working at Zinc on the same day, so we have really clung together for support. She is still only running food and drinks because of the language barrier but has become a master at it. Every timer we pass each other at the restaurant, she is always smiling! She is such a joy to work with, and I have recently convinced her to stay after work and enjoy her comp drink (we get a free beverage after a dinner shift). She is traveling with her boyfriend, Marco, and she will actually be donating her old 4 person tent to John and I! We are so excited about this, but she seems happy to get the dang thing off her hands. We hope to set it up tomorrow. What a sweet girl she is!
Tim is the other bartender. He doesnt live at Dougies either, but close by. He has been here a little longer then Adam, and he is fromwell I dunno where he is from! I guess I hardly notice his accent as well! He is living in an apartment, which one of his roomies is Rebecca, another waitress we work with. He and Adam make some of the most incredible looking cocktails, and I am truly planning on spending a night tasting some of them. During work, Tim doesnt say much, but is very forgiving to my mistakes. After work, he is always willing to hang out for the comp-drink, and like everyone else I have been meeting, is great for conversation.
John normally gets off of work just before I do, and will join us all while we are drinking our comp-drinks. Thats the best, when John is there, cause then he can be apart of the great company. Tim and Sonja drive, but the rest of us just walk back to Dougies.
Then there is Lucia. She is from England is part German. She is a waitress, and will be training me for my first few day shifts. She is so much fun to hang and laugh with. When she has a drink in her hand, she does the funniest stuff! The one night at Douugies, she and John and I were talking. She had the day off and her and her boyfriend celebrated with cocktails. Needless to say, she was slightly intoxicated. We were all just standing there, under the roof of the outside bar, when Lucia noticed this black, tar like substance on her thumbnail. She looked at John and said, I have no idea what this is.. and showed us her thumb. We all started busting out laughing, all confused as to what just happened to her nail. We stood there for 15 minutes, laughing hysterically, discussing the possibilities as to what it may be. We finally ruled it out to be some sort of poop. Dave swore it to be bat poop, but I am not so sure. It has been the hardest I have laughed in some time. The next day at work, she was too embarrassed to talk about it! Lol. She is a hard working girl, but is so funny.
Lastly, Mick is one of the chefs. I am sure he is a local, but am not positive. I see him and some of the other chefs up at Dougies sometimes as well. He always welcomes me to work with a smile, which is such a pleasure. He makes some incredible food, which I am dying to eat, and of course, is one of the people, of great conversation at the end of the night when the staff is enjoying their comp drinks. The other chefs seem stuffy, and very uptight. Even though Mick works hard, he is always happy and kind. Its nice to know there is smiling face inside that kitchen, cause gosh knows thats the last place I would want to be working!
I am sure I will post tons of pictures of everyone, and will refer back to them tons of times. They are all becoming great friends, and I know John and I both appreciate the camaraderie.

06.20.10

Every Sunday, they have a market in the park grounds in Port Douglas. It was just like being at a fair, except no fair food, and no rides. There were local produce, exotic gardeners, jewelry makers and clothing boutiques.
One of the first things we did was try some freshly squeezed sugar cane. The stalk itself looks like bamboo. The put it through a grinder and squeeze all of the juice on the inside. It comes out a modest green color. The vendor gave us a choice to flavor it with lime or ginger. I chose lime, but that has nothing to do with the actual flavor. How can I even begin to describe it? I dont want to say earthy, because it wasnt a dirty flavor. It was very plant like, but not bitter. It was as if I just ground up some grass, and eliminated the bitterness. It was sweet, but not like how you would think it would be. It didnt taste like sugar. It was the consistency of lemonade, but lemonade is sugary sweet. This was more succulent sweet. It was right on the border of being sweet, and then plant like. You couldnt tell what you were drinkingsomething sweet, or something made out of a plant! I think it would have been much better without the lime, though they use the lime and ginger as a way to better mask the plant taste. I enjoyed trying it, but I was so confused by the taste, and so was my stomach. Not so sure I would drink it in the same quantity ever again.
We walked around the rest of the grounds, but were most intrigued by the opal miners that were there.
Australia supplies 95% of opal to the world. It is known for its precious stone, and some of the best pieces can be found here. John and I had been looking at some opal jewelry in the stores in Cairns, hoping to find something reasonably priced, but just wasnt satisfied.
When you buy opal in the store, you are buying a solid piece that has been polished and rounded, cut and then set into jewelry. However, the pieces they had displayed here were opals in its raw form. I believe it is most beautiful in its raw form. Just seems more real that way.
The natural rock was still surrounding the opal piece. Complimenting the sparkling rainbow shades of the opal are these beautiful tans and browns. The more vibrant the colors, or more rare, the more expensive. As well as how thick the opal pieces were. We managed to find a small stone with a beautiful, white, opal piece.
John really wanted me to have something nice, so he gladly bought it for me! I absolutely love it!
John had wanted to buy these fisherman pants for some time now. They seem to be quite popular with the backpackers style, and we managed to find a vendor who had a collection of them. He found a pair that had a pocket and put them on when we got back to the tent.
He is slowly starting to look like he is one with the beach, and just needs to buy a pair of flip flops! He refuses though. He tells me he will buy flip flops when he gets dreadlocks. Yes, he is still dead set on getting dreadlocks.
We went to a store after the market so I could return the pants I bought for a black dress instead. It was just to hot here to wear pants and a long sleeved button up (which is the only black top I have). I was relieved to have found something that would work perfectly.
Both excited about our new purchases, we head back, and I start getting ready for my third day of work.
Today was much better, though, not busy at all. The hours I would normally be working are 6:30 to 10:00 or 11:00, but because of it being so slow, they have been letting me out at 8:30 or 9.
The day was fine, except for one thing that became apparent to me. Obviously, I am from a different country, which makes me a foreigner, but I speak English, just like Australians do. Yes, things are different, but not so much that it makes me foreign to the country. China, yes, Australia, no.
I was about to put away the silverware when I asked Olivia, where do I put the dessert spoons? She looked at me like I was speaking another language. Annoyed she responded What!??? The way she said it was as if I just told her head was the size of a watermelon (which it IS NOT!). The audacity of me to ask her such a question! I repeated myself and got the same, rude response. I held up the spoon to show her, and she says, You mean the long handled spoon? Unbeknown to me, they use different names for their cutlery. Small obstacle, but nothing that restraining.
We serve bugs at this restaurant. No not real bugs, its a type of craw fish. Theres a restaurant in Cleveland that serves up an array of craw fish. When they serve them, they cut the top half off, so it takes of the spiny back, and the googly eyeballs. Here, they cut their craw fish as well, but I wasnt sure if it was sideways or from the top. After having been asked by a customer if it was one, or two bugs, I asked David. He was the caller for the night and a very nice guy. Such a gentleman. Just so happens that we are both staying at Dougies (along with another waitress as well). He was standing by the kitchen pass, so one of the chefs over heard. He clearly thought it was a stupid question and proceeded to gossip, like a child, to the head chef. A few minutes later, I catch the chef eyeballing me, like he was making sure I wasnt blonde or something. I asked him what, and he started to make fun of me for having asked the question! I explained to him my logic and he just pretended like he didnt hear me. He muttered 'foreigners'.
Another odd thing is that they use entrée as an appetizer. In America, your entrée is your main meal. We use little palm pilots to take orders, and when a guest is done eating their entrée, (appetizer) you have to call it away so the kitchen knows they can start the main meal. The message we type in when calling the entrée away is mains away!!??? I just dont get it. Are you starting to understand how confusing this can all be?
Last but not least, at the end of the night, I was near Rads, filling out my time sheet. They use military time, for whatever reason, and I was slightly confused, having to think an extra second about my start and end time. I messed it up of course, and so did Sonja. Rads looked at it all confused and started laughing. She said I swear you two, I havent struggled this much with foreigners in a while! She laughed, and I explained that we only use military time, in the military. She then said We call it 24 hour time here. Sheesh!
On my walk back, I reflected on this whole foreigner thing. Though I am English speaking, and though I am very accustomed to life the same way Australians are, I am still a foreigner. They laugh at me, and giggle like I am just a naïve child that doesnt know better. Whats funny is that Australians have dubbed Americans as stupid. We come to Australia and ask what prawns are, we are confused because we dont use the metric system, and make stupid mistakes when we drive, because they drive on the other side of the road. I will agree, that like every other country, America has its problem, but we still seem to pave the way for every other country in the world, and in so many facets of life.
Everyone in Australia says that America is always ten years ahead of everyone else, including them. They also say that Australia follows trends that America develops, both in fashion, politics, entertainment, government. If we make changes politically, Australia will eventually use the same tactics and implement those same changes. If it is a stupid idea, Australia gets mad and says Those stupid Americans!so though we may make stupid decisions, doesnt that make Australia even more stupid for following?
I will tell you one thing I would much rather be apart of a country that has the balls to step up and make decisionsa country who isnt afraid to fall, then to be apart of a country who doesnt have the guts to make big decisions, and instead blames everyone else when something goes wrong. Even though we have made some bad choices, we have made some excellent ones as well, and at least we can own up to our mistakes. I love America and damn proud of her!
The next morning when John and I were walking to the beach, we actually saw an American bald eagle. Clear as day, without a doubt, Americas bird, was flying just a few feet above us. Talk about irony.

06.19.10

Today was the day we dedicated to the beach. It was perfect for it. The sun was hot and the clouds were gone. It was about 90 degrees with a slight breeze.
We lay out for a bit, but I am restless and want to explore the beach. I first walk through the rocks at the end of the beach, take some pictures and walk back. I passed a bunch of small black crabs and a plethora of snails in pretty little cone shells.
Then I get in the water a bit and walk down the beach. The first thing I noticed was how the sand sparkles. Even more so in the wake of the water as it pushes against shore. Glitter is just everywhere! The water is sparkling, the sand is sparkling. Its just the prettiest thing ever. It comes from all the elaborate shells in the reef, and the water channel leads it all to 4 mile beach!
4 mile beach is exactly that. 4 miles. Again, home to the infamous box fish; the beach is long, and mostly clean of remnant shells and rocks.
I noticed a few fish swimming near the waters edge, and they followed me as a I walked on. I kept my eyes on the ground, looking for stuff, even though I wasnt really expecting to see anything.
I did come to some washed up coconut. I picked it up, gave it s a good look and then scanned the surrounding area. I saw a dark shell piece that was buried partially by the sand. It looked kind of like a star, so I picked it up. YEP! Its a little star fish! I turned it over, and its little tentacles are moving around, and held firmly in its grasp is a tiny cone shell, inhabited by the tiniest little hermit crab I have ever seen. We all know my passion for hermit crabs, as well as my love for creatures, so you can only imagine how excited I was. The star fish was about the size of a silver dollar, and the hermit crab was tiny! Lol, the shell was about half the size of a dime and the crab itself was about half that. The little star fish must have gotten hold of the shell in search for a place to stick, not realizing it was another creature. I carefully plucked the hermit crab off the star fish and started to walk back, to show John.
The starfish slowly wiggled and stuck to my hand. The hermit crab was running around, excited to be able to walk again!
John and I took some pictures and then I freed them back into the water. This time, I put the star fish by the rocks and the hermit crab, away from the starfish.
We spent the rest of the day at the beach, before grabbing lunch and then heading home for my second day of work.
Today, the caller at the kitchen window was Olivia. Relieved that I didnt have to deal with Rads, I was ready to work!
Well Olivia and Rads are one-in-the-same. She had poor Sonja in tears, making her feel like an idiot because she was struggling with position numbers.
I just ignored it. I will continue to do the right thing, and work hard, and be respectful back.
The night was not nearly as busy as the other night. I had filled all the water jugs, I walked through and cleaned up the lounge, all the tables were cleared and set. I didnt want to just stand around so I started to polish some silver, which is what Olivia was doing as well. She snapped at me I dont need your help polishing silver you need to go do something more important. I wanted to snap back at her, letting her know that I some how managed to take care of all my other important and time consuming tasks. But didnt. I just turned around and walked away without saying a thing. So instead of helping her polish the silver, I walked around the restaurant for the remainder of my shift, doing nothing. I guess I did a decent job of making myself look busy cause they sent me home not to long after that.

06.18.10

My routines in the morning have been pretty regular, and quite out of the norm for me. I am not a morning person, but considering that I am laying on the hard ground, am inside a stuffy tent that barely fits two people, and am woken early by birds, sun, and fellow campers, getting up early has been hardly a choice. Against my will, I have been waking up around 8am every day. Some days I am even ready to get going at 7! It has been kind of nice though. I like having the whole day to do things, even if it means taking care of a few emails and writing blogs for an hour or two in the morning waiting for my slug to get out of the tent.
One thing that has been very apparent to us as backpackers and campers is that nights are very useless to us. When you are camping, there is nothing to do when the lights go out, especially when your only light force is a wind-up headlamp that lasts for maybe 30 minutes. If we have electricity, we may spend some time on the computer, but that only gives entertainment to one person. Sitting on the ground normally limits that to 20 or 30 minutes worth of time before your neck starts pinching and your legs fall asleep and cramp. Going to bars, and doing anything that requires money, is out of the questions. Watching movies on the computer could be an option if the tent wasnt so tiny, but even then, your not likely to find a movie rental place to close to a caravan park. When the lights go out, so does everything and everyone else, which means the only thing we have left to do is sleep. Though I have been waking up early, we have also been going to bed fairly early as well.
Well, John and I decide that today we would go to the beach. It was the perfect day for it too! The sun was hot and there were only a few clouds in the sky. I wake up and head off to the bathrooms to clean up.
I was putting away my toothbrush when I felt something hit my foot. I figured I just dropped something from my toiletry bag and looked down briefly but didnt see anything but a leaf. Slightly confused, I looked back up and thought about it a little more. I was sure something dropped on my foot. I looked down at the leaf and thought huh, that could be a creature. I bent over a little, stared a little bit longer, and thought yeah, that leaf looks a lot like a frog! I stood back straight, having thought I looked hard enough at the leaf to realize it was nothing more then a leaf. The it occurred to me..we are in the rainforest, it very well COULD be a frog! So I squatted all the way down and stared at the leaf. It was a green tree frog! He must have hopped on my foot.
It was my first real, WILD tree frog sighting. I love these cute little guys. They dont look warty and slimy like other frogs do. He was on the shower side of the girls bathroom so I assumed that he may have been attracted to the warm humidity. I had an additional toiletry bag that was empty so I used that as a means of transporting him back outside. I would have held him, but, the general rule of thumb in Australia has been to not touch anything. The most deadly, poisonous and harmful creatures are the least colorful, smallest and un-assuming ones (all the different spiders, jelly fish, different corals and shells, snakes, etc).
When I was reading the book about foraging wild plants, it had said that the number one rule to eating wild plants was to never even touch it if you couldnt identify it as easily as you could tell the difference between an apple and an orange. I have applied that theory to animals as well. One of natures most cunnings tricks are the animals and plants that mimic harmless ones, and in turn are actually quite dangerous. I could easily tell that this frog was more exotic, and had assumed it to be a harmless tree frog, but wasnt 100%, so I was careful.
I got him to jump into the bag and I walked him back to the tent. We are in the very back of the resort and surrounded by the least amount of people and the most forest, which is where we would be the most safe.
On my way, he jumped out of the bag and onto my arm. When I went through my wild animal certification and licensing for Noah, I was taught to never shake, wiggle, or make quick movements when an animal, of any size, is on you or near you. It just makes things worse. Normally, they dont want to harm you, but if you scare them, they will out of instinct. Nor, do you ever let an animal go (or drop it) if you are handling it and it bites you. You then put the animal at greater risk, and sometimes make the bite worse by trying to pull away. You just hold on to the animal and stay relaxed. I could keep going on and on about procedure and protocol, however, my point is that even though poisonous was in the back of my mind, I was fairly sure he was safe. Plus, the poison is on their backs, so I was alright, as long as I didnt touch his back.
I carried him on my arm till we got to the tent when he jumped onto the side of the tent door. He hopped all around, until I got him back in the bag. It was when he got on the tent that I got a good look at him and could tell he was just a tree frog. John got a good look and then I put him on a tree close to our tent.
I was so excited to have this little frog jump on my foot. Silly, and stupid, but animal encounters are always fun, especially when you get to see wild creatures in their natural habitats. The tree frog on my foot had put me in an exceptionally good mood!
Once John got all ready, we started to head out. On my way, a little inch worm fell on my arm! Dont worry, I wont write 5 paragraphs about our encounter : ) I have seen inch worms several times in Ohio, but it never gets boring. I love how they stand up and sway back and forth before they decide to set back down to make one more little inch. I let him crawl on me for a second, most amused, and then found a nice leaf for him to inch away on. Its going to be a good day!
Not all the creatures out here are all that nice. A few things we have noticed is that there arent as many birds as we have been seeing. In the morning you can hear a few, but you dont see them flying around. There wasnt one seagull on the beach either. There arent that many bats either. I have noticed a few at night time, but not nearly as many as Cairns or Brisbane. We have started getting bug bites as well. The one night, I noticed both my hands and forearms were covered in what looked like chicken pocks! John thought that maybe I was having an allergic reaction to something. I wasnt irritated or itchy, so I didnt think they were bites, but they next day, all the redness was gone and all that was left was a little bite. Must be these little gnat things, because I havent noticed any mosquitoes, and all the bites are generally very tiny.
We are in the southern base of Crocodile country, so though they arent common in the area we are in, there are warning signs everywhere for straggling crocs that have been sighted.
However, the ocean we are swimming in is home to the worlds deadliest creature, the box jelly fish. They get to be about the size of a thumb, with their tentacles that are able to grow as long as 30 feet! These practically invisible jelly fish have the most potent, most painful, and most quick acting venom of any other animal. They are terrible difficult to study because of how hard they are to keep in captivity. If the so much as bump into a glass wall, they die.
The waters we are in are normally scrapped with a net in the early morning to see if any box jellies are in the waters, but they are out of season. No need for nets or warning signs, thank goodness. There are other jellies in the water, and plenty of vinegar stands throughout the beach, just in case you get a harmless sting.
Well, John and I head straight to the beach. Normally the sand on a beach is very light, dry and fluffy, but I notice right away how the sand is dark and wet. The beach is narrower, so I just assumed it was the high tide and early morning. Once we got closer, I start to see these tiny balls. Billions of them. All over the place. Covering the entire place. They look like dippin dots, except it is sand, not ice cream. At first I didnt even realize it was sand. I thought it was something else, like maybe something from seaweed. I touch it, and it breaks down. Sure enough, it is sand. I was in awe! I could not believe how many tiny balls there were! It had to be crabs, it had to be, but I wasnt convinced unless I could see them.
We did notice little holes and a large collection of balls near the hole. We laid down at a flat piece of sand where there were no balls and laid out. I couldnt relax though. I was too intrigued by the dippin dots! I just sat there and watch. It didnt take long before I spotted the crabs. They are SO camouflaged it was hard to stay focused. It was like looking at an optical illusion. Turns out, there is hide tide, every night. The water covers most, if not all of the beach. Putting all these crabs under water for a few hours, having them to shuffle in the sand to stay covered and protected. When the tide moves back out in the morning, the little crabs clear their little holes by putting the wet sand in balls and throwing it out! The moving water gives them lots of oxygen when they are under sea, but these ambidextrous breathers have a hard time doing much of anything under a compact of wet sand. They have to clear a hole in order to get oxygen, but prefer to stay in their holes, in the wet sand, to keep their gills moist. Because the sand is underwater all night long, during the day, it still stays very wet. In fact, everything we lay on when we are on the beach, gets soaking wet as well.
We were on the beach for only an hour when we got a phone call. It was Terry from Zinc. It was a restaurant that we actually past on our way to the beach. I had pointed it out to John and told him it was one of the places I had applied to last night before going to bed. Terry was excited to hear from me and wanted me to come in right away for a wait staff position so of course I did. Right off the beach, I went into this fancy place, hoping for a job. He had showed me around and mentioned how short of staff he was. He wanted me to come in for a trial run that night! The best part is that it is just down the road from Dougies. PERFECT!
We quickly run around town to grab black shoes and black pants. We get back home, I get ready, and off I go!
Zinc is one of the nicer restaurants in the area. Known for its finer menu and artistic display of food, it also caters to off-the-beach guests, and families traveling with kids (most people wouldnt bring their toddlers to a 5 star restaurant that serves liver pate and pork belly).
What can I say though. A first day is a first day. Is it ever good? I have so much experience in the field, and it definitely showed. However, things are different here then in America. The finer restaurants I have worked at always had to follow strict hygiene rules. You never put your fingers on a plate, nor do you ever carry a hot plate. You contaminate the plate when you hold it between your fingers, and carrying a hot plate can be dangerous for many obvious reasons. If you do carry a plate, you carry it from the bottom, however, all hot plates need to be carried and served with a large tray (which is a juggling act all in itself). You can easily tell what kind of standards your establishment follows by how they carry your plate.
Well, Rads, the lady training me, was less then friendly. Holding the plate, as I had known from the states, she yells at me that I am holding it wrong. She spent a good minute wiping the sides of the plate down, and then I go and put my fingers all over it. Good idea huh? I just did what she told me.
Another girl from Germany had started working the same night. Her name is Sonja. Pretty blonde girl, but was having a hard time with the language barrier. She asked me to clarify a few words out of the menu, you like seared and sourdough. She also explained that she was having an equally difficult time getting her RSA because she didnt understand a lot of what she was reading. Needless to say, she was having a hard time.
We were at the wait station which is just in front of the kitchen, and just behind table number one. The kitchen is not behind doors. Instead, the two walls that face the restaurant have a large slit in it that serve as a waiting place for the food once it is ready. (we also call it the pass) You can easily see inside, and you can easily hear all that is taking place. And just as closely the wait station is to table number 1, so is the kitchen.
My job was to run food. I had to know all the table numbers and chair positions. There is a caller who waits at the kitchen pass to clean the dishes with a napkin, then calls off what table number and what position the food will be going to. All this happens, right behind table number 1.
Well, Sonja and I were folding napkins, and in doing so, having normal human conversation. Where are you from? How long have you been here? Etc etc. We were talking just a bit above a whisper, when Rads comes storming past us like a tornado. She quickly whips around, and says, You need to be quite, no one at table one wants to hear your life story!. What is funny about this is that she said it much louder then we had been talking, and she was right next to table one. Table one was now looking at us.
Not to much longer after that incident, Rads, and her crazy running around; she accidentally trips right by the kitchen and yells OH SHIT!..right by table one. Funny, because I am sure if that was one of us, we would have gotten fired on the spot.
I was angry that she yelled at us. She could have nicely told us that we werent supposed to talk, but for whatever reason, she had to be disrespectful. I dont care if I am working as a doctor, a nurse, a waitress or the person who scrubs your toilet, there is never a reason to be disrespectful. EVER!. I have no tolerance for it.
I some how managed to survive my first day, and walked back to the resort, exhausted. We celebrated my new job with some bubbly and then went to bed. The hard ground wasnt looking so bad to me at this point.

06.17.10

Well, Today we spent another long day looking for jobs. Everyone has been saying that all the hotels are in great demand of workers for the busy season which is only a week away. Students will be on their holidays, and winter time is when all of the Southern Australians migrate North to get out of the cold weather.
We walked into some hotels and restaurants that we found online that said they were hiring. When we got there, they said the position was taken. I started to write down hotel names as we went so I could call them all and ask if they were hiring as well. The few places we found in the employment section of the paper said to call. Most of them said the position had been filled (even though we saw their ad in the paper from that morning). The rest had given us emails to send our resume to.
One of the ladies I had talked to, needed housekeepers to start right away. She had a home she rented out, so it was pretty steady work. She offered me the position right over the phone, but unfortunately, I would need a car to get to Daintree, which is about 30 minutes from PD. One job offer, still no job.
I had spoken to another company about housekeeping. They had wanted me to start right away, but like the last one, you needed a car to be able to go to several different properties, on top of having your own cleaning supplies, including a vacuum! Two job offers, still no job.
I received another phone call about a bartending job. I was super excited, and thought This is it!. She had wanted me to come in to start that evening, in only two hours! The bad part was that it was 20 minutes Southeast of PD. John and I were in town when we got the call, so we quickly walked the 20 minutes back to our resort and figured we would just ride bikes (we can rent them from where we are staying).
We were upset that it was so far out because then that means we would have to find a new place to stay, and be away from the beach, but, we would make the sacrifice if it meant I got a job, which was proving to be more difficult then expected. If we left on our bikes now, we would get there in an hour or so. We have ridden for longer before, so it was no biggie.
We started talking to the friendly lady at the receptionist desk. We asked her how to get to Jellaten, which was the city that the bar (The Highlander) was located. Turns out, it was on top of one of those giant mountains I mentioned earlier. She explained that the ride up in a car is pretty treacherous, let alone a bike. Not to mention, quite dangerous with all its twist and turns.
John and I both feel pretty defeated, but were determined to find a way up there. We called the lady and asked if I could come up tomorrow instead, so that we had some time to ask around for a ride. We posted a little ad on our community board at the resort hoping someone with a car could take us. Having sorted out the details, we walked back into town to finish our job hunt.
I had noticed that a lot of people from our resort who were waking up for work in the morning, had shirts on that said Forde Group. I had recognized the name from an ad in the paper, and it just so happens that we had walked by their office in town. Of course, we decided to stop in.
Turns out it was a recruiting agency. They employee mostly for the hospitality industry. Bartending, wait staff, housekeeping, and cooks.
Here in Australia, before you can work behind a bar, and in most cases, before you can even work in an establishment that serves alcohol, you have to have your RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certificate. I had known this before I had even left Ohio, but figured I would worry about it, in the event I wanted to start working. Considering that most of my experience is in bartending, that is where I have been sending most of my applications. In order to register with Forde Group, you had to have your RSA, so we went home, I jumped online and spent the 45 minutes to get certified.
Its a pretty easy course, especially when you already know a fair amount about alcohol, BAC, alcohol servings and content, etc. The hard part is using the metric system as a means of measuring and mixing. I pasted the course easily though, and was just happy to have spent the money to get it done and out of the way.
Excited that we are at least receiving responses from all our applications, we went to bed excited to see what kind of calls we would get the next day.

06.16.10

Yesterday, we woke up and had planned on taking a bus into Port Douglas. Its about an hour North of Cairns, and is supposed to be another beautiful tourist spot known for its beaches and swimming (especially considering there is neither beach, or swimming in Cairns). If you take a tourist bus it will easily cost you 45 bucks a person. However, one of the hostels out there offered a free transfer to and from Cairns if you stayed with them for three nights. Well, John moves around like a slug....actually, a slug would probably kick his butt in a race. So, there is no surprise that we were too late, and missed the transfer bus into Port Douglas. We decided to set up our computer in the lounge area and try to find a cheaper alternative to getting up there. I started making soup when a worker from JJs came up to me and told me that there was a transfer bus from a different hostel that we could jump on right now if we wanted. Of course, we started to run around like mad bees so that we could catch it. I threw out my soup, John threw the computer in the bag and we hopped on.
The ride was gorgeous. It was along the oceanside, and the view was wonderful. We stopped at a little lookout half way through and then got back on the bus. On the way we passed acres and acres of sugar cane crops. One of the largest crops harvested in Queensland. It was almost immediate after leaving Cairns that you were in the country side. There were only a few houses here and there, either with sugar crane all around it, or with some other family-run business set up near the street for passer-bys.
When we got into PD, you knew right away because of all the resorts. Everything was hidden back into the bush, but the street entrance was grandiose and welcoming. Very exotic and luxurious to say the least. This is the place for all the fancy vacations!
It doesnt even look like Australia. We are surrounded by tall green mountains, and the foliage is nothing but exotic palms and fruit trees. Wildlife is everywhere, and its is much more simplified out here.
Where we are staying is called Dougies Backpackers Resort. Nothing like the resorts surrounding us, it is still very resort like, and much more nice then the hostel we were just in. They have hammocks and a pool in the front. The pathways are lined with exotic gardens that make you feel like your in the rainforest, there is a bar and lounge area, a nice large kitchen and dining area and upstairs, is a sitting lounge with computers. The bathrooms are kept clean and there are plenty of showers. There are a few dorm style rooms, but most of everyone staying here is in a tent. The back half of the resort is nothing but tents!
Last summer, John and I had gone camping with Rachel, Dave, Jessi and some other friends. A big group had come, and they had all set up 5 or 6 tents on one camp site. It looked ridiculous to say the least, but it we dubbed it, Tent City. Well, let me just say that the true tent city is at Dougies. There has got to be at least 50 tents on this small plot of land. Most of the people staying here are backpackers that have come to Port Douglas to work, so they are staying here long term. Some of the tents are so souped up, they even have refrigerators in them! The park itself has several tents they set up with beds and electricity running inside them. Like a mini hotel room, except its a tent. The rest are just tens of other backpackers. John and I have the tiniest tent of them all.
We were excited to hear that we could set up our tent and that it was fairly cheap. We got it up right away, and then walked into town.
The town is very small. Jus at few blocks. The shops are most sophisticated and the restaurants are much more expensive. Though there are a few places that offer reasonable prices, we were even more happy to have found the local grocery store, and instead bought some items to take back with us.
We did eat lunch at Rattle n Hum and got two chicken and avocado sandwiches for only 7 bucks each.
It didnt take long for us to hear about the hiring craze the city was in to prepare for the busy season, so we went back to our tent, and spent the rest of the night on the computer looking and applying for jobs.
This morning we woke up, and walked back into town. Still trying to get a good idea of our surroundings, we walked up and down the same few streets, and spent a little more time investigating all the little shops. We went back to Dougies quite early to get back on the internet to apply to more jobs. When John was on the computer, I laid in the hammock and read a book. When I spent time on the computer, John just sat next to me and pestered me like a little kid! Lol but we did get a lot done and we are crossing our fingers that something comes up soon.

06.14.10

Yesterday was the Queens birthday, and therefore a holiday. It is just another call to party, here in Cairns, but a holiday none the less!
The worst part of yesterday was the splitting headache I had all day. Its been the past two years that I started getting headaches. At first it was only when I went to night clubs and the loud music and crazy lights would make my head hurt. Not bad, but an annoying pounding. It has gradually gotten worse though. Alcohol, mixers, anything with MSG and sugars will trigger headaches but not all the time. Since I met John, I started getting these awful electric like headaches. They just zap me without warning and most of the time just last for a few seconds. I have only ever had one other headache where I can remember it lasting all day. The only way I couldnt feel it was by just throwing the covers over my head and falling asleep. I didnt take any Tylenol though because I hate taking pills.
Well my headache today was part headache, part zapping. It was just in my left temple and in parts of the left side of my head. If I put pressure on my temple, it gave me some relief. I ate, we walked around, I took TylenolTWICE that day, but nothing made it go away. It wasnt until today that I thought it may have something to do with diving. John didnt rule it out and said he has heard of that happening to people. I really hope it is just because I am not use to it, and that it doesnt become a problem. That would be a bummer.
Anyways, One of the best things about Cairns is how different they run things out here. In all the other cities we have been in, everything closes at 5:30. Here, nothing opens till 5 but stays open till 3am or later. I mean everything too, the restaurants, the shops; and some things are open all day and then stay open all night. Love it for late night food runs : )
John and I have decided that we will spend the rest of our time in Australia to work. We leave August 6th for Jakarta from Perth, so have until then to refill our dwindling stash. Luckily, we are in a town that caters to backpackers, so we have tons of resources are our finger tips to help us find temporary employment. We would like to stay an work in Cairns so that we could be apart of this lovely weather for a bit longer, however, the job force is in greater demand in Perth.
Well, yesterday, we ran around town looking for jobs. Going to different job recruitment places, hopping into a few bars and hostels, and then spending some time online.
When we were in Coolangatta camping, our neighbor camper had told us about how his son ran a business for backpackers called the job-shop. He gave us the website and we promised to check it out. Sure enough, turned out to be a great start to our job hunt. We signed up, sent out a few applications, and spent the rest of the day job hunting.
Because it was a holiday, a lot of places said to come back tomorrow, which is what we did today. We walked 8 blocks in every direction. Some places sounded promising while others seemed like duds. The good thing, is that we got lots of call backs, lots of response emails and a few interviews set up!
I have had several interviews so far for teaching English, but the hiring process is long and dragged on. On the up side, we both have some prospects so keep your fingers crossed for us.
On our walk around the city, we ran into a small park with these giant, tall root trees. We noticed the tops of the trees were just FULL of bats. I loved it! They should have been sleeping, but it was a hot day, so they were fussy, and a lot of them were fanning themselves with a wing. Again, we got some awesome pictures and video. I am just glad we managed to get these things on film. They are everywhere here! They make the most awful noises but they have such cute little faces! I just couldnt believe how many there were!
On our way back home, we walked along the muddy plains and got some more pictures of the crabs, wharfs and mud skippers. We laid out in the park for a bit and took a small nap under the sun. It sucks that you cant swim in the water here (crocs have been sighted !) but the park is green and welcoming, so we couldnt resist.
I went to sleep around 6 oclock, hopping my headache would end, and John spent some much needed time, putting together his resume and applying for jobs online.

06.13.10

Cairns is a small town. A very small town. Thats what half the charm is though. The city center itself is just a few blocks by a few blocks. It seems as though it was built for no other reason then to be a place for young adults and backpackers to gather and party. Backpacking hostels are at every other corner as well as tourist info centers. I keep trying to think of a city in the States that I can reference it too, but Ive got nothing. In the way it attracts young people, it is like Myrtle Beach or Miami. The strangest thing about this wonderful busy city is that it has no real beach. Its actually made up of mud plains. In the morning, the tide is up and it looks like a normal ocean, but during the day when it goes out, it is nothing but a giant mud puddle. It goes for quite a ways out too. I told John it remind me of Pirates 3 when Jack is stuck in the desert with those crabs. Imagine that, just muddy and wet, and yes, FULL of crabs! There were tons of different species of mud crabs, some I believe were fiddler crabs, but they could just be a close relative. We also saw lots of mud skippers and these giant cone shells called wharfs! We got good pictures and some video.
When we arrived yesterday, we walked around, changed into summer clothes, and then checked into a hotel. Well, a hostel to be exact. Because Cairns is such a popular backpackers destination, finding a place to couch surf was impossible. Everyone was full of surfers already! There really is no close camping, so we will be staying at our first hostel. So far, not so bad. Its kind of neat actually. Due to some law and regulation that Australia has on their hostels (probably for hygiene and so forth) its one bed per person. So though the rates are cheap, John and I have to buy two beds, which then makes it expensive. In all, there are three beds in our room. For now we are by ourselves which is nice. There is a kitchen full of amenities, a small pool, and a lounge room with a TV. Its a few blocks away from the city center but they have a shuttle service to and from the city every hour.
Before we headed back to our hostel, we stopped into an info center. We found a decent deal on diving for the day. I guess still expensive for our tight budget, but well worth it. How could we possibly be right next to the Great Barrier Reef and not go diving? Well the awesome guy who owns the place also gave us free meal vouchers, free wet suit rentals for the dive and two free post cards! You have no idea how much we appreciated him doing that. I guess it made spending all that money a little bit easier for us!
We rented a digital camera that had a underwater case around it so we could take pictures, we grabbed our free meal and then went back to the hostel.
We woke up bright and early to make it to the marina before take off. We got onto our large boat called Ocean Spirit. We joined everyone inside and had some coffee before we took off. The staff did a friendly briefing on our ride to and from the reef and what to do incase someone fell over or got seasick. Unfortunately, the water was choppy that day and it was really windy. Regardless, we sat up on the upper deck and enjoyed the hour and a half cruise out to sea!
We had our dive briefing on the way there as well. They taught us about how our bodies change underwater and under the pressure. They told us about the different pieces and parts of the scuba equipment and what SCUBA stands for, Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Not going to lie, I NEVER knew scuba was an acronym! They went through all the safety information and what we will do when we get into the water to equalize and so forth. Now we were getting really excited!
On the plane ride into Cairns, you flew over parts of the reef. Just to clarify, the reef is huge. Its one long stretch of island like clusters that go up the northern coast all the way to the very tippy-top of Australia. When I say island-like, I mean that it IS NOT one long stretch of coral and reef. Its in patches. Anyways, you could see the reef patches from the plane. The most incredible shades of green, turquoise and blues. You cant find colors like these anywhere else in nature! Then they are speckled with brown/amber like dots, which would be the coral, and surrounded by tan sand. Just gorgeous.
We knew when we were close to the reef because we could see all these colors out in the ocean. Brilliant shades even more so then in the plane.
Yeah!!! We are here!
The reef we swam at was called Oyster reef. We were supposed to go dive at Opolu Reef as well, but as the day went on it got to choppy which means greater chance of running into coral, so we spent the entire day at Oyster.
They did the diving in groups of 3 or 4, per instructor. Because we arent licensed, the instructor has to hold onto us through the entire dive. This was only an introductory dive as well, not anything that would go towards a license or anything. (PADI certification is WAY too expensive out here. We will wait till we are in Indonesia when it is ¼ of the price!).
John and I were in the second dive group. We threw on our wet suits and went to the loading base at the stern of the boat. They gave us our scuba jacket and tank and in we went! I stuck my head into the water right away. I wanted to make sure my underwater breathing apparatus worked properly. It did just fine. At first, John felt like he couldnt breath right, so he compensated by breathing too quickly. He eventually adapted once we spent more time underwater.
The first thing we did was go to the side of the boat where they had a bar to hold onto, with a second bar a few meters hanging down into the water. The instructor checked to make sure we understood all the underwater communication signals and then one by one we dropped down.
The first and most important rule to diving is to always breath, dont hold your breath. The most serious and important aspect of diving is your ability to equalize. Equalization is how your body adjusts to change of pressure. If you have flown before, you will have noticed your ears popping as you go up and then come back down. This is your body equalizing. If you cant equalize properly, they say to chew gum or pop your ears by yawning. Its the same thing when you go under water, except the technique is different. Your supposed to hold your nose and then blow, except keep your mouth shut. There are several different ways to equalize, but this is the way they taught us.
Im quickly going to go off tangent for a second to when I was in Mexico. For those that dont know, John and I had gone swimming with the sharks in a half zoo/half natural reservation pool. It was 25 feet deep, and the bottom was where one particular shark was, digging under some rocks for some fish that got away. Mind you, we were only snorkeling, but some of the instructors in the pool with us asked me if I wanted to go down to the bottom to touch him. Not knowing anything about swimming large depths, I said sure! I wasnt even close to the shark and my ears felt like they were going to burst. I came to the top and was in the worst pain ever. I thought my ears were bleeding. I told the man how bad they hurt and he said, 'oh yeah, your supposed to equalize every few meters'. Well geeze, thanks for telling me that now! He shouldnt have taken me to the bottom especially without telling me how to properly equalize. Your ear drum is covered by a very thin layer of skin, and without proper equalization, this piece of skin can rupture, causing severe damage. Needless to say, my ears hurt for a while after that experience, and I will never forget how it felt. (now, back to Australia.)
Well, we start going down, it had to only be a few feet, and I start feeling that same pain I did in Mexico. I try to equalize, but the pain doesnt go away. Scared by the pain, and fearing I may have permanently damaged my ears, I slightly panic. (You will see in the one video John took, where right at the end I shake my head. This is the exact moment I am talking about. He got my first decent recorded but shut it off when I started having problems.)
The instructor was very patient with me though, and insisted I stay until I could equalize properly. It took me a while longer, but I eventually did. John and I played around on the bottom bar, staring at the fish under the boat while the other 2 people finished their descent.
Oh, the things I can say about the ocean. What a vast, incredible, unknown earth that is down there. I stare out at sea, knowing that somewhere on the other end, there is America. You cant help but think of all the unknown, unseen creatures and places that must lurk in these waters, in their varying depths. It is just absolutely impossible to ever explore all of it. What makes it more mysterious is the fact that it is constantly changing. The water, and everything in it, never stays in one place.
You are completely helpless when you are in the ocean as a diver. When I was under, I looked out, and its just the eeriest thing ever, but at the same time, really neat. Its a lot like when Nemo looks out into the ocean from the reef, and how its just this big empty blue space. It goes on and on and on. The scariest part is how you wouldnt even know what was coming at you until it was already too late. Even in crystal blue waters, our eyes perceive things completely differently. We cant see into the distance like the fish can. Everything seems a lot closer then it really is.
I was slightly nerved by my creepy blue surroundings, but my mind was quickly averted as we started to swim towards the reef.
When you dive, you have to descend slowly. You have to come up even more slowly because of your body equalizing. Go down too fast, and you can blow your ears, your head or even your lungs. Come up too fast and your blood (pressure) fills with bubbles, goes all wacky and you get the Benz. Very painful, debilitating consequence that I dont ever want to experience.
We slowly made our way deeper and deeper. At first I was having trouble equalizing. My ears were hurting badly, and I just couldnt get them to pop right. I kept trying though and managed to make it happen by just wiggling my jaw around. As we got deeper, it got easier and I got more use to it. John was fine the entire time, and at one point had to be yanked back up because he started going down too fast and was no longer connected to our instructor.
The reef was breathtaking! I need a new word for it, breathtaking isnt enough. It was the supercalifragalisticexpealidoscious of the ocean! AMAZING! Unfortunately, because of the high winds and choppy water, it was a bit clouded and stirred up. We were so close though that it didnt matter.
We saw fishes of every kind and every color. There were massive coral forests that were branchy and tall, deep shades of red with blue, neon tips. The massive coral clusters were covered in so many different living organisms, it just blows your mind! When you think of how long it takes for one of these creatures to get to the size it was, you cant even begin to think of the many things they have seen in its billion year lifetime. Some were hard and didnt move, others were super vibrant in color, some were soft and wave like, and then you had some that even opened and closed, or hid when you started to swim towards it! They know you are there just by the change of water pressure and current. Incredible.
The thing I loved seeing the most was the giant clams. They were literally part of giant rocks, and the only way you knew it was there was by its 's' like, waving mouth. We saw tons of them, and a few of them that were just massive in size. At one point, we kneeled at the bottom of the ocean and got right up close to one. It was the biggest one we saw. His shell was covered in some beautiful coral, and its mouth was speckled by these blue/green florescent glitter pieces. It looked JUST like tiny sequins. The best part was that we got to touch the inside of its mouth! The first touch, and he closed up. It scared me! The last thing I want to do is get eaten by a clam!! He eventually closed all the way up but his insides were still exposed. It was the softest, squishiest, texture ever. It would be nice to cuddle up with. : ) We got some excellent video of it though, so check it out!
The next best part was seeing the clown fish in the sea anemones. I made sure John got a good picture so I could send it to my mom. She just loves Finding Nemo (as do I) and would love to see that.
We saw tons of neat, creepy, beautiful, and strange creatures, so be sure to check out the gallery for pictures and videos. We got LOTS of videos!
The dive lasted for about 30 minutes. I was pooped by the time we got back to the boat. I was also really cold and hungry so I wasnt mad that I had to get out of the water.
The good news is that our scuba vest, with the air tank and all, weights about the same as our backpack, so that was no problem. The bad news is that all of the buffet lunch had been devoured by the time we got back on the boat. We were left with scraps of fruit and veggies, which most had to be scrapped from the table (the stuff that got pushed off the serving plates). I was pissed! Sorry for my language, but I was! They had the divers after us make plates and set them aside before they went out, but we had our dive before the food was even put out. Half the perk of paying the price we did was to eat the buffet lunch, and we completely missed out. I tried to subdue my anger and instead, we found a sunny spot on the boat, out of the wind, and took a small cat nap.
The ride back was really choppy. A good portion of the boat was sea sick, and that didnt help anyone else who was just on the verge. John and I sat on the top deck again, full winds and all, before realizing there was a small nook at the lower deck that was not nearly as windy.
We enjoyed our glass of bubbly they gave us, and were soon home. We turned in the rented camera, and quickly fell asleep.
I loved that we spent the money to do this. The only problem is that we know how bad we love it, and are sure we are addicted for life.

06.11.10

Yesterday was a pretty bum day. We walked around and enjoy the beach down the street. We had a lot of stuff to plan out for the next few days before we leave for Cairns so we watched some TV and I spent the rest of the evening finishing my school final. (I did eventually finish it!)
This morning we got up to head out to Coolangatta. Close to an hour south of Paradise Point; this is where the airport was that we would be flying out of to Cairns. There was also the Wintersun Festival being held that we were hoping to go to.
We found a camping ground that was only 600 meters from the airport. It was also a hop, skip and a jump away from the festival which we walked to after we set up the tent.
The Wintersun Festival is a nostalgia throwback, with old cars, dated music and little booths selling clothes and shoes from back in the day. John loved the cars, and was like a little kid in the candy store. The cars are named differently out here, and there are different makers. So he really enjoyed seeing the differences and the similarities. I was just excited to be at a fair! We even splurged and bought a $4 dollar whoopie pie! (Brownbettysbakery.com.au) It was one of the most delightful pastries I have had in some time!
We ate, we watched cars, we walked around. We headed back just at sunset and enjoyed the romantic time together next to the beach.
We head out early tomorrow morning for Carins, which is more North and is where part of the Great Barrier Reef is. Supposed to be warmer, sunnier, and more beachy! Does it really get better then this?


ps. The $25 groceries lasted us perfectly!

06.09.10


Yesterday we spent the day down in Burliegh Heads. Its about 35 minutes south of Paradise Point, and also had a park nearby that we wanted to walk through.
Our initial plan was to head out West to the Lamington and Springbrook National Park. The park itself is free to get into, but the ride out is not. Unless you have your own vehicle, which we do not, you can take a shuttle or tour bus, which costs $80 bucks a person. We didnt want to go that bad. We are still in the process of getting our international driver licenses so we couldnt rent a car, and there is absolutely no public transport that makes its way out there. We did end up finding Burleigh Heads Park, and settled for that instead.
It was gorgeous and private. Nothing huge, but the park itself was at the end of a beach which was also really nice. There were two main paths for the park, the ocean walk and the rainforest walk. We decided to climb up the small mountain through the bush first.
On our walk, we ran into several brush turkeys, enormous spiders, and lots of neat plant life. At the top of the mountain was an incredible view overlooking the Gold Coast skyline and the vast distance of the ocean. We got some incredible pictures of the creatures and the view!
On the way back we walked the ocean side and watched the surfers. The waves were pretty awesome and it is so intriguing to see people out in the ocean trying to surf. There were lots of spectators actually. Just not quite sure if they were looking at the surfers or looking for sharks!
The best part of the day is that in the park they had boiling water tanks. There specifically for families who are picnicking and need a tea time. As it is the thing to do here in Australia. We used the water instead to make cup-o-soup. Part of our $25 dollar groceries, we managed to eat lunch and then headed back home to continue working on my school final.
This morning we woke up bright and early to get ready for another shoot. This time, right in the center of the city at Surfers Paradise beach.
Gold Coast is your typical beach city. The only skyscrapers are tall hotels, and the streets are just a mix of tourist shops, dinning, cafés and more shopping. Like Brisbane, the houses are on stilts and have palms and exotic looking plants surrounding it. Marinas, boat docks, and seafood places are plentiful, and everything, both hotel, stores, and restaurants, have some sort of nautical name, like ocean spray, sea foam, mermaids landing, seagull hideaway. Even all the streets were cleverly named after different sea creatures.
The beaches are long. Just one huge long stretch of beach from top to bottom, and then some. I dont know how they decide when one beach starts and the other ends, since there are several beaches all within this long stretch of coast.
It has been kind of windy, and therefore chilly, but today was perfect. We first grabbed a 5 dollar breaky, and then plopped down on the beach. The waves were big, the air smelled like salt and annoying as they are, the seagulls just topped the whole day off. A beach isnt a beach without its seagulls.
We spent a few hours on the beach, did the photo shoot, and then headed back for home. On our way we stopped at a seafood market/restaurant to try some local catch. John got a seafood basket and I grabbed a fish sandwich. While we waited, we walked around the cold counter to view all the neat seafood. Mussels and oysters, all different kinds of crabs and lobsters, fishes galore and prawns. The food was endless, and delicious. I cant lie though, even though the fish was good, it doesnt come close to my grandpas fish in Sandusky. Maybe it is the fresh water/salt water difference, or maybe it's just my grandpa ; ) ? Who knows!
Having been in cold weather since we left home and since we have been in Australia, a day full of sea, salt, sand, sun and fish was exactly what we needed!

06.07.10

Our last day in Brisbane was yesterday. After we woke up, we packed up and headed back down town for my photo shoot. The shoot took most of the day, so right after, around 5:30, we headed for the train station and made our way to the Gold Coast. It was about a 40 minute train ride, which isnt too bad.
We will be staying with our 2nd couch surfing host. Her name is Carlie and she lives with her sister and two other roomies. She invited us to stay with her for the entire 5 days we would be in the area, and she seemed really cool, so we are excited to say the least. We called her to let her know we were close, and turns out that there were 3 other couch surfers staying the same night. In lue of waiting for us, they decided to make a night of it and drink up. Having known this, we were even more excited to kick back and let our backpacks rest for a few days.
Once we got to the Gold Coast, we had to find our way to the bus stop and onto our first bus transfer. Mind you, there are no clear directions on what bus to get on, what will take you where, etc etc. You cant even try and predict which way the bus will go, because often times, they go in funky weird circles, so when you think youre headed in the right direction, turns out you just looped 45 minutes out of your way. It was no different at this bus station.
We read the plaques that said what bus to get on, at the exact time it should arrive, where we need to get off, and tried to figure out what direction we needed to head. We did manage to make it to our first bus stop for a bus transfer. We accidentally got off one exit too early, so we walked to the next one. One our way, we crossed the river and saw a manna-ray cruising around the boat loading area. On top of that, we also some weird chicken-duck thing and a few fish jumping for insects. We were awfully excited to have been making our way down to this sea-crest city, so seeing these ocean dwellers made it even better. It was dark out, and on the brink of getting late, but we were, surprisingly, in good moods still!
Still unsure of our proper bus route; as an insurance policy, we asked the bus driver! Now come on, if you ask the dang DRIVER if you are headed in the right direction, wouldnt you think that is all you needed to know? Well, turns out this bus driver was as loopy as the circles he drove in! Not only were we 8 minutes away from our final destination when we got on the bus, but the bus driver was going in the wrong direction, we just didnt know it yet!
The Gold Coast is a long, stretched out city. At the top is Paradise Point; thats where we needed to be. Then you go through the city to Surfers Paradise, Mermaid Beach, Paradise Fair, Burleigh Head to Tweeds Head and then down to Coolangatta. The bus route is just a huge circle from top to bottom. You will get to your destination, no matter what direction you go in, its just that one way will always be out of the way. Plus, they charge you per zone you travel through, and its not cheap if you end up going the long way.
Even though we asked the bus driver, and he said 'Yes, I will be going to that city', we still managed to go in the lonnnnngggggg direction. All the way down to Burleigh Heads to be exact. But you wont believe what happens next.
Its now 10pm and John and I are the only two people on the bus. Its now officially late and we seem to be one of the last few people even driving on the roads. We text Carlie again to let her know we were semi-lost on the bus, but her and her mates were getting tired anyways so it was no biggie.
Out of no-where, the bus driver stops. Just pulls up to the side of a road and tells us we need to get off. He said we got on the wrong bus, that we should have gotten on the bus across the road instead. He said he had to take a lunch break, for us to wait at the bus station across the road, and that he would be back for us in 40 minutes!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!
So there John and I are, no clue where we are, and cant even begin to grab a sense of direction because its so dark outside. We let Carlie know, and this time she just said that she would be off to bed, but to call when we got there so she could let us in. Great, we missed the party!
At 12:30, we finally made it to her place. Except, shes not answering. Not sure exactly if the house was divided into apartments, and not so sure what door to go to, we opted from knocking, even though we did see lights on. We waited about 30 minutes, and then decided to pitch a tent right there in her front yard instead. We were tired, frustrated, freezing and felt slightly uneasy about sleeping in the front yard since we didnt even exactly know if we got the right house. Oh well!
She woke us with a sympathetic phone call in the morning. She quickly showed us around, introduced us to the German/French surfers and took off for work. We were both very tired still; having less then a good nights sleep. We sat around for a while, trying to settle inbetween the other 3 surfers, and then decided to walk around to see what we had available to us for the next few days.
She lives smack dab, right in the middle of Paradise Point. Cute little town that seems to be apart of some weird island-peninsula-archipelago unit. On the end of her street is the water. Not quite sure if it is a bay or the river, but is very calm, quite beautiful and had a personal beach, and small park.
Just across the way from the beach is a smaller center, market place. A small food works and some cafés, and even some little boutique stores.
The islands on the other side of the water are lined with luxury apartments and hotels. It was like the secret place that people come to get away, from their get-away homes.
We ran up to the local Coles market, and grabbed groceries for the week. We spent $25.00 dollars, so I am anxious to see how far that will go.
We spent the rest of the evening getting to know everyone in the house. Anja, is German. Her boyfriend, Yann and his friend Greg, are French. These three were the other couch surfers. Hurley was the amazingly loveable dog, and Tina, the other dog, was only there for the night. Carlie, her sister Nicole, Dennis and Matty were the actual occupants of the house.
We hung out, I spent some time working on my school final and then we went to bed on a very comfortable air mattress! The things you begin to appreciate once you start sleeping on the ground. I love it!

06.06.10

Well the day we left Tonys, we decided we would find a beach and try to camp out there for the night. Unknowing that most of the coast near Brisbane is mangroves, we just picked a train that went to the coastline and figured we would walk. We spent about 2 hours getting on the right train and making our way East. When we got off the train, a man asked us where we were going. Turns out, we were nowhere near a beach. He told us how to get on the train that would take us to where we wanted to go, and spent another hour making our way to Shorncliffe.
Shorncliffe is a very cute seaside town. Very homey and seemed rich in community life. The train station was only a small walk away from the beach, and thats exactly where we headed.
On the way we found a small café and decided to get a cappuccino and use the internet while they were still open (everything closes at 5:30 here, even the malls!). We sit down, ordered our coffee and started rummaging through our stuff to get everything we need to use the computer.
Now let me tell you something about our laptop...its massive! The computer screen is larger than most peoples desktop computers. The beast must weight 10 pounds, not including the charger which weights an additional 2 or 3 pounds. Its the heaviest item we have, but also the most important. Its the biggest pain in the butt, but what are we going to do?
When we got here (Australia), we got an internet USB card so that we could plug into the internet anywhere we go. Unfortunately, my beastly computer is running on the last few useable hours of its battery, which means we cant use it unless its plugged in. This posses another obstacle when trying to find a place to sit down and use it, as we have to be near a plug.
We had the computer set up, plugged in, ready to go when I realize that the internet card isnt in my purse, which is where we have been keeping it. Crapola, we must have left it at Tonys!
We packed everything up and started walking. Trying to decide on whether or not we should go back to Tonys tonight, or just wait and go tomorrow. The problem in this troublesome equation is that I have only a few days left to complete my teaching certificate. You have a year to complete the program and I am quickly approaching my deadline. Without the internet, I cant do a thing, and if we stayed for the night, that would be one more day that I didnt get anything done.
We walked up the street cause we were going to stay and then changed our mind, we walked back down the street and then decided to stay, then we sat down to try and make up our minds, and failed. Our backpacks our heavy, our bones hurt after walking all day, and John was on his 2nd day without cigarettes. It was now getting dark and we were crabby.
We finally decided to stay and started walking up the boardwalk. There is a beautiful park that runs for miles along the edge of the city. It has a nice pathway and is lined with gorgeous landscaping, picnic tables and BBQ pits. We started to head back just as the sun was setting and took a minute to enjoy the serene atmosphere. Even as we are, backpackers, we forget to stop and see all that is around us.
We did end up finding a beach. A tiny one, but none the less a beach. We were in a park and didnt think they would be too fond of us pitching a tent so we opted for the playground instead!
There was a massive wooden tree house, with three little cabana type things. We made our way to the one at the top and got our sleeping bags out. That was where we would sleep.
It was pitch dark and only 7:30. Sheesh it was going to be a long night. We knew we would need to be up at the break of dawn, so we tried to sleep but it was hard. There were people still in the park well into the night, and sleeping on planks of wood is even worse then sleeping on a cobble patch for camping. The nice part was that you could hear the gentle breaks of the ocean, and the air was so fresh and crisp. We did managed to make it through the night, just not with a lot of sleep.
We were woken up by the INSANE bird chirping. It was obnoxious! It was just a calamity of all these birds getting ready to start the day,with or without the sun. Neither of us have woken up so early before without a reason. We decided to take advantage of our early bird rising, and watch the sun come up.
It was breath-taking. You could actually feel the air get warmer the further in the sky the sun went. It was nice to take a minute to watch the Australian sun-rise.
After, we got washed up and headed back out to Tonys.
Sure enough, Tony had the internet card and we were ready to head out for the day. We went back to the Starbucks down town and did some more work. We packed up and decided to just head back to the same campground we stayed in before.
We took some amazing refreshing showers, I finished my last assignment for my teaching certificate and fell asleep...a much needed, in our safe tiny tent, good nights sleep.

06.03.10

Yesterday we slept in the best we could. Lets just say that it will take some time to get used to sleeping on the hard ground all the time.
We woke up and took the bus back into the city. We just walked around and ended up running into a small farmers market. It was wonderful because there were all these fresh products and produce, and almost every single stand was giving out samples! We munched on muesli, peanuts, every kind of fruit you can think of, pates, popcorn, and even a variety of brownies. We ended up buying some fruit and kept on walking.
Turns out, the farmers market was attached to a large shopping district. I ended up grabbing a cheap pair of flip-flops and we ran into the grocery store for some items we could take back to the tent. We headed back to the campground just before dark, munched on a few pears, and then took the train back into the city to see Sex and the City 2.
The movie was excellent, so dont listen to the reviews! Unfortunately, we got out of the movie too late and missed the last buses and trains back home. We had to spend 30 bucks on a taxi, for fear we would never find our way back if we walked. That and it was one in the morning. We got back safely though, and went straight to sleep.
We had to be up early to check out of the camping park. Our plans for tonight were lined up for our first couch-surfing experience.
Couchsurfing.com is a massive backpacking community. It was put together a while ago as a way for other backpackers to stay in communication while traveling, and for them to offer their spare couch, or bed room to other travelers when they werent on the road.
Its funny when we see other backpackers now. It seems as though you click with them immediately on some strange medium that other people dont understand. Its like a secret club we are apart of, and we are all different people, from different places from around the world, all brought together by the same crazy idea. Its pretty neat!
Well, Tonight we had arranged to stay at our first couch surfing experience. The girl we had originally been talking to, ended up getting sick and had to cancel. Luckily we had some other people that we had talked to a few days earlier, and on our walk back to the train station, we get a call from Tony. He says that he has had a cancellation for the night and that we could stay with him if we wanted! Strange how things work out.
We had read his profile and all the referrals of backpackers that had stayed with him prior to us. How can you ever be completely comfortable though? I guess its all apart of the adaptation.
Anyways, on the way to his home, he told us all about how he likes to show people the real Aussie way of life. Having stayed with Len and Jen for so long, we figured that we had a pretty good idea of the Aussie life. But according to Tony, we were totally wrong!
You could tell he loved music from the minute you walked in. He had posters of his favorite bands all over the walls, along with piles of CDs and records. The first thing he did was bring us a beer and we started chatting. We were either calls for celebration or this was his nightly routine, but a few neighbors came by and helped Tony take down a bottle of rum and more beers. John and I only drank the first beer and insisted on sobriety for the rest of the night.
I hate being a stick in the mud, but everyone was smoking in the house and it was making my eyes so itchy. Not to mention that I couldnt breath. John can handle it, but I cant. I just shuffled off to bed instead. John stayed up with everyone for a while and they must have been having a good time because I could hear them laughing all night long.
I cant lie though, I was scared at first. Who wouldnt be? Unfortunately, everyone is a bad guy when you are traveling like we are. You cant help but be on your guard, and assume everyone is out to get-ya. We cant afford to loose any of the few possessions we have. But as the night went on, we came to realize that Tony and his friends were totally awesome. Tony is the father of 5 handsome boys, has two insanely adorable dogs, and a rather chatty cockatoo. He is a real cool dude and had a lot of great things to offer as far as advice for traveling, life stories, and past experiences. We hope to stay in touch with him and his neighbors as we move forward.
We both curled up in our sleeping bags and past out. The mattress was far from amazing, but man was it better then sleeping on the ground! We are thankful for that, and thankful that we made it through our first couch surfing experience! Thanks Tony.youre the man!
Not knowing exactly how to get back to the train station, we just started to walk. On our way, we got offered a ride by a local Aussie-Asian. Now, we wouldnt normally except rides from strangers, but for some reason, we excepted. He said that he is just trying to do some good in the world and cant stand seeing people (like us) walk. He told us about how he breeds fish, and has a lazy-labor gene because all he has are two girlsno boys. It was interested in hear him talk about how living in a freedom country makes it hard to control your kids. He said its a good thing because you are free, but it is bad because you cant keep your kids in line. The things we take for granted! He is a happy man who was even more happy to have given us a lift. The best part of the ride was that this man, by at least my standards, had the most stereotypical Australian accent I have heard yet! Everyone else sounds more British, or they are so Bogan that they use slang that you cant understand anyways. But this man; his accent sounds like it does when you think of Australia. He had the accent that they use in all the American movies with Aussies in it and he was Asian! I loved it!
We dropped us off at the train station that would have taken us an hour (or more) to walk to. We gave him a card, and thanked him for the ride.
While we waited for the train, I admitted to John that I was kind a scared, but John said something so important We need to start realizing that there is more good in this world then not....and he is right.

06.01.10

And so it begins! We barely slept last night. John spent a good few hours putting wheels on the bag (it was a success!), and I wrapped up a few last things for the blog and preparing for all our flights and so forth. By the time we hit the sack, it was 3am. John was so excited that he couldnt fall asleep. He spent some time on the internet, and then laid in bed like a little kid on the night before Christmas. It was cutebut Im sure we didnt finally fall asleep till 4am.
We got up bright and early at 6am. We stored away all the luggage left behind and cleaned up the room. Justine even got up to say goodbye. I will admit, I got kind of teary-eyed, but I just ran for the car so no one could see my welting eyes. Its a bitter sweet thing, ya know? Right before we left, John got a call from his family too. They were all together back home for Memorial weekend, so he got to chat with everyone one last time.
We were in the car and ready to go at 7am, but of course we didnt delay on the excitement. I had recalled seeing two different airports in Melbourne and thought to check our boarding pass to verify which one. Turns out the one we needed to go to was an hour away, and Len had never even been there before! Not to mention we are facing peak rush hour battles, and we have to be checked in for our flight no later then 8:30. Traffic was stop and go, and I tried not to freak out about it.
Its really funny because, out here, the teenagers that have their pimped out cars, bumping their stereos, racing at stop lights, and doing burn outsthey call them hoons. Len cant stand them, but this morning he was hooning it up! Switching lanes, going as fast as he possibly could; just so we could get there on timeand we did : ) (Thanks Len!)
This was the second tiniest airport I had ever seen. Only one airline, Jetstar, and was about the size of 2 or 3 gates at a normal airport. It was just a large room really. Check in was super easy, and far more lenient then in the USA. They did, of course, confiscate Johns utility knife, my nail clippers and a pair of small scissors, but they laughed about it! If that were in the states, they would have lectured us and made us feel like terrorists (with good reason though).
We were kind of worried that our carry-on luggage was too big. The stipulation to the cheap airfare we got was that you only had one small carry on bag. Our backpacks are easily twice the length of a small suitcase. Luckily, they gave us no problems, but I have a feeling we wont be so lucky in other situations.
After a short nap and plane ride later, we safely landed in Brisbane! What can I say? This is it! We took a train into the city and walked a bit until we found a star bucks. We grabbed two seats, got some tea, and started making our plan for the day. Where will we sleep tonight?
I was super tired already but it doesnt help that our backpacks are super heavy, and really force us to work muscles that I didnt even know existed! I ended up falling asleep in the chair.
We stayed at starbucks for some time until we found a camp ground just a few seconds out of the city. We took the bus, and got there just before dark. John just finished setting up the tent, and I am sitting outside, writing my blog, underneath the gorgeous Brisbane stars. Oh, and not to mention all the bats squeaking at one another. We just got a glimpse of one in the little palm tree by our camp site. It was MASSIVE! The biggest bat I have ever seen! It was so neat to see it crawling through the tree. We scared it by accident, and then it scared us by flaying right over our heads!
The weather here is sooo much more warm and sunny. It will only get hotter from here-on-in the more we move up north too. Its nice because even the nights are warmer and not too chilly.
So there you have it. Our first, official, backpacking night. We will be camping here for two nights, and then will move on. Right now though, I have to go unroll my sleeping bag!