So I spent a week in Brisbane, chilled out by myself caught an awesome festival over the weekend that I was there ( the 6th and 7th). I had some awesome dinner with Rainey on the Friday before while her and Trent were flying through here on their way to Rainbow beach and Fraser Island. But other than that I kept it pretty chill. I got to Mooloolaba last Wednesday and so far I'm loving it. I met up with these awesome girls here that have been living in the hostel for a while and they just kinda adopted me into their clique. It's awesome I pushed off my next bus and went to Nimbin with them for a road trip to see one of their friends who lives in Lismore (that's just a little way from Nimbin) and guess what I got to drive for part of the way!!! I only tried to turn onto the wrong side of the road twice... the first time was taking a left hand turn (thank god it was a back highway and no one was coming), and the second time was at a traffic light in Lismore that had a evil sign with a right arrow that said this lane right only, so I turned right... What would you do in a situation like that?!?! But the sign meant that this lane was the center lane that is intended for those going all the way around (turning right I guess even though there is no directional right that you take to complete this action so I feel that I'm not the retarded one... hello it's called english people!!! Say what you mean). But that was also later in the day so thank god there was no one in my way lol, and everyone got out of the van safely and with clean shorts so mission accomplished.
I went to the Crocodile Hunter's zoo last Friday and it was fantastic!!!! They even had an additional tour that I paid another 35 dollars for but I got a tour of the wildlife clinic that they have just off site. It's dedicated to Steve Irwin's Mom Lyn and it is beautiful I put in my resume at the zoo already but I"ll see if there's a different website for this place because Eegad amazing!!!! There was no one else on the tour so I got to see everything pretty closely and ask whatever questions I wanted, there was baby koala's (like no fur tiny looking ET babies they were pretty cute in an alien kinda way), and there was a female Koala under anesthetic that the Veterinarian had just finished doing an exploratory surgery on because she had just been hit by a car and they needed to assess her internal damages (and repair her intestines). It was absolutely amazing. There's also a clinic just down the street from the backpackers so I'm going to go drop off my resume there too and see what happens I think I wanna stay here just a little longer and I still have lots of time to head north, as long as I get through Darwin by October I'll be golden and there seems to be no fruit to be picked at this point. So that's where I'm at having loads of fun with new friends, and contemplating remaining in Mooloolaba (say it 5 times fast I dare you) but we'll see what the receptionist at the vet clinic says first if they aren't looking at all I'm out of here on Thursday for Noosa. Love you loads!!
~Jess
Monday, June 15, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
So beautiful it hurts my retinas
So we land in Fiji and the first thing that happens when they open the airplane door is this wave of warm pleasantly humid air that is so ridiculously refreshing after all the rain that we had to endure in Oz for the past week and a half. Off comes the sweater it's tank top time Baby!!! We get through customs ok and find Megan (Trent's sister) her 2 nursing friends (Kayla and Erin) and our travel lady, who is mildly confused about our water taxi vouchers but soon enough a driver arrives to take us to the port. We aren't able to go with Megan and her friends but meh we'll see them at the resort. We get to the port and the driver helps us carry all our stuff to the boat, we had to buy mix for our booze and water because we were told that people have gotten sick from the island water. The captain and the mate of this little motor boat (it's a fair size but rudimentary and cute) help us load all our stuff in and off we go. They answer all my silly questions as we go and laugh every time we dive into our purses for our cameras. They even stopped the boat so Rocko (the mate) could take a picture of Rainey and I in front of the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen, I couldn't look away I was seeing a large blue spot for hours after... I figure my contacts are UV protectant so I'm covered right? We get to the island and break out the Duty Free liquor and the water bottles, and lo and behold a little hung over the next day but that's what beach napping was invented for. We all went scuba diving on Friday; Rainey, Meagan, Kayla, and Erin took an Intro dive course and we all went out to the reef together we fed the fish and found Nemo and I got some awesome pictures I LOVE that camera... the Divemasters were equally excited about it, Bola (not sure if that's how his name is spelled) and I kept passing it back and forth, he's way better at the underwater shots than I, but I'm still focusing on not sucking my air tank dry in 20 minutes. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the Dive shop staff are all so fantastic.... I went out on 3 more dives throughout the weekend it was awesome. Saturday I went on a Shark dive; they boat you out to just off an island called Supermarket and there's a deep trench that you dive along (27m is how deep I went), and this is where the sharks usually live.... however there was some a**hole spear gun fishing (which is illegal by the way in Fiji) and all the sharks were scared away because of him (or attracted to where he was fishing?? I never thought to clarify that point with the Divemaster). After Supermarket we went to another site where the corral grew in large vertical mounds, saw a large Rock lobster and a Clam, sea cucumbers and clown fish (oh my) it was fantabulous. Sunday morning I got to dive down to the Salamander. The Salamander was a pleasure cruise kinda boat that would host evening party cruises or dinner cruises, it was purpose sunk 18 years ago and was completely fascinating. I got to see a Lion Fish (Fishy Fishy Fishy-and for those of you who do not get the reference you need to brush up on your Deuce Bigalow exposure) but my favorite part, and don't any of you dare laugh at me... The toilet. It is so surreal and kind of scary to see something as every day ordinary as a toilet submerged 25m and covered with oceanic growth. And then I thought about what kind of pose I would strike if I had a camera and could take a picture in my scuba gear on it... I think "The thinker" would be an appropriate one LMAO, so do I hold nothing sacred?!?!?! Sunday night was a blast we had met 2 more nurses from Alberta (Medicine Hat and Calgary) and we where all partying in honor of Megan's Birthday. We ended up at the bar (which has a sand dance floor by the way, so much fun!!) and Rainey kept darting in to change the song on the lab top that was hooked up to the speaker system when the DJ wasn't looking... I don't know how the next part happened but all of a sudden I look over and there's Rainey playing DJ with her I-pod plugged in. We had Country Birthday Times in Fiji, another surreal moment for the books. We had so much fun though and the other guests seem to enjoy it to, they let us keep going way after the bar closed, so we danced our feet off (I have cuts) until 3:30am. We slipped the DJ a 50 for being so cool.
I love all the staff here though most of them know us as "Canada" but all the dive staff know me by name. We got invited to have Kava with a few of the guys and that was interesting. Kava is a very astringent (the other girls thought it was gross but I didn't mind it so much) drink that is used in every traditional and non traditional Fijian ceremony out there, on our island though they drink it with the tourists or just to relax after the day is done. It makes your tongue go numb and after awhile you start to feel pretty mellow and chill. Someone told me that it has hallucinogen properties but you have to drink like 30 bowls of it, I stuck to about 15 lol. You sit in a circle and if you are in the presence of a chief or it's a formal ceremony then women need to have their knees and shoulders covered (very modest people these Fijians but very tolerant of us as tourists in fact high fives everywhere and we didn't have to cover for our Kava because we were just chilling with the Dive shop guys). There is a small bowl that gets dipped into the larger bowl of Kava and then passed to the first person who says "Bula" and drinks it then hands it back to get refilled and so on. There was casual conversation and good times in between but like I said this was just an informal chill out time but we were told if we don't say Bula and smile after drinking then the sun won't shine the next day. Bula is their word for Hello/Cheers and it gets thrown out there all the time; every time they see a tourist out it comes, it was awesome I just started saying it to them first it was like a game of who could make eye contact and smile and say Bula first when ever I passed anyone on the foot path. We met this awesome couple from Charleville, Australia Matt and Karen; Matt hunts kangaroos and they offered me a room in their house if I make it that way apparently there's lots of meat packaging and farm work there, right be a good way to get my Visa covered but when I went to add Karen on to Face book (I can't remember Matt's last name) there's like 20 Karen Butler's and I don't see a picture that I recognize... so I think I may be out of luck, that's too bad cause they were awesome fun. Our last night comes around and we are bravely finishing our duty free liquor and chatting it up with yet more awesome people, I had a wicked time visiting with Jo from Alberta (no lie I travelled all the way around the world and I keep meeting people from Alberta, Jo's from St. Paul), who is a writer we swapped books although I am now carrying around a small library, I'm ridiculous.
Crawl out of bed in time for breakfast and check out and to catch the little boat that will take us out to the ferry, and who do I see on the little boat coming in from the ferry but Ralph my friend from Byron Bay. We had been in touch via Facebook so I knew that he was coming but I thought we were going to miss each other... Although I guess we kinda did. But there was enough time for a "Hey!!! How are you? and Have fun" across the ocean, Lol I love travelling!!!! He's going to Hawaii after Fiji, lucky bastard (who am I kidding I wouldn't trade my Oz trip for the world). Plane ride home was pretty unremarkable and Rainey jumped on a flight to Sydney to meet Trent and Megan, so now its "All by myself...." Lol pretty much just got to my hostel and passed out for 16 hours, I think it's time to take it easy and recoup, my liver hurts.
I love all the staff here though most of them know us as "Canada" but all the dive staff know me by name. We got invited to have Kava with a few of the guys and that was interesting. Kava is a very astringent (the other girls thought it was gross but I didn't mind it so much) drink that is used in every traditional and non traditional Fijian ceremony out there, on our island though they drink it with the tourists or just to relax after the day is done. It makes your tongue go numb and after awhile you start to feel pretty mellow and chill. Someone told me that it has hallucinogen properties but you have to drink like 30 bowls of it, I stuck to about 15 lol. You sit in a circle and if you are in the presence of a chief or it's a formal ceremony then women need to have their knees and shoulders covered (very modest people these Fijians but very tolerant of us as tourists in fact high fives everywhere and we didn't have to cover for our Kava because we were just chilling with the Dive shop guys). There is a small bowl that gets dipped into the larger bowl of Kava and then passed to the first person who says "Bula" and drinks it then hands it back to get refilled and so on. There was casual conversation and good times in between but like I said this was just an informal chill out time but we were told if we don't say Bula and smile after drinking then the sun won't shine the next day. Bula is their word for Hello/Cheers and it gets thrown out there all the time; every time they see a tourist out it comes, it was awesome I just started saying it to them first it was like a game of who could make eye contact and smile and say Bula first when ever I passed anyone on the foot path. We met this awesome couple from Charleville, Australia Matt and Karen; Matt hunts kangaroos and they offered me a room in their house if I make it that way apparently there's lots of meat packaging and farm work there, right be a good way to get my Visa covered but when I went to add Karen on to Face book (I can't remember Matt's last name) there's like 20 Karen Butler's and I don't see a picture that I recognize... so I think I may be out of luck, that's too bad cause they were awesome fun. Our last night comes around and we are bravely finishing our duty free liquor and chatting it up with yet more awesome people, I had a wicked time visiting with Jo from Alberta (no lie I travelled all the way around the world and I keep meeting people from Alberta, Jo's from St. Paul), who is a writer we swapped books although I am now carrying around a small library, I'm ridiculous.
Crawl out of bed in time for breakfast and check out and to catch the little boat that will take us out to the ferry, and who do I see on the little boat coming in from the ferry but Ralph my friend from Byron Bay. We had been in touch via Facebook so I knew that he was coming but I thought we were going to miss each other... Although I guess we kinda did. But there was enough time for a "Hey!!! How are you? and Have fun" across the ocean, Lol I love travelling!!!! He's going to Hawaii after Fiji, lucky bastard (who am I kidding I wouldn't trade my Oz trip for the world). Plane ride home was pretty unremarkable and Rainey jumped on a flight to Sydney to meet Trent and Megan, so now its "All by myself...." Lol pretty much just got to my hostel and passed out for 16 hours, I think it's time to take it easy and recoup, my liver hurts.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Pre Fiji
... And now I miss Fiji terribly. But I feel that there needs to be some back tracking for a little bit as I have been retardedly delinquent with my blog and I apologize to all of you who are reading it, especially to those of you who are interested in my well being as well as my shenanigans. The last two days I spent in byron bay were spent in my rain coat... Damn I'm so glad I got that thing (Thank you Wilma and Brent) and were mildly uneventful just a lot of chilling out with new friends, I love travelling it's like the first day of kindergarten; you all glance shyly at each other until someone needs the black crayon (or in this case salt of other communal condiment) then it's nothing but monkey bars and pattycake and BFF, or at least until recess.
So hit the road on the Oz Bus to Surfers Paradise and the storm was so bad that the bus was swerving all over the road from the wind, we found out the next day that a man had died in his apartment when a piece of metal blew into his apartment window and the glass had penetrated his chest. There were blackouts in Surfers Paradise but I made it there safe and sound in spite of the weather. As a result of this distressing storm the Draught that had had Queensland pinned under it's tenacious thumb for the past decade or so has broken and this is good, but the ocean is so nasty that there is no surfing in Surfers Paradise, or swimming for that matter, so Rainey and I spent the days lounging around the hostel and exploring the town. We found a second hand book shop and I invested in a fair few books... 3 of which are self help Eegad!!! but I figure on my journey of travelling/running away from my life, I might as well try and attain some insight as to a couple whys I've been carrying around for the past decade or so. We spent 3 rainy days in surfers and then up to Brisbane where we stayed at the Moreton Bay backpackers (Manly) again and collected my camera!!!!! Good times had by me, thank-you horse shoe suppository, however you got up there. Pretty Mellow in Manly it is a cute little place and I feel relaxed there, we spent 2 nights there and then moved to downtown Brisbane so we could easily get to the airport in the morning for our much anticipated Fiji foray. So we decide that a drink after dinner would be awesome... but lo and behold what is this but Karaoke and cheap drinks that's right had a blast met some awesome backpackers some wicked locals drank a fair few and sang my voice hoarse (it was already mildly sore from partying in the rain in Byron bay). Rainey even sang she did "hooked on a feeling" and we got up together and sang "Hakuna Matata", our motto was these people don't know us, Lol oh us. 6am came wicked early though, but we made it and got our train to the airport and our duty free liquor (there aren't any stores on the island) and managed to sneak in time for Rainey to call her boyfriend and me to go to 3 different currency stands to try and get some fijian cash. We got on the plane ok even though Rainey was the last one on, I was afraid that she was gonna miss it, and she says "I was worried you weren't here yet" Lol she's so irrational without sleep, I'd been on board for 10 minutes almost. Miss you all but I'll have to fill you in on Fiji on the next blog because I'm on some free internet and there are like 3 people here waiting to get on so until next time...
Toodles
~J
So hit the road on the Oz Bus to Surfers Paradise and the storm was so bad that the bus was swerving all over the road from the wind, we found out the next day that a man had died in his apartment when a piece of metal blew into his apartment window and the glass had penetrated his chest. There were blackouts in Surfers Paradise but I made it there safe and sound in spite of the weather. As a result of this distressing storm the Draught that had had Queensland pinned under it's tenacious thumb for the past decade or so has broken and this is good, but the ocean is so nasty that there is no surfing in Surfers Paradise, or swimming for that matter, so Rainey and I spent the days lounging around the hostel and exploring the town. We found a second hand book shop and I invested in a fair few books... 3 of which are self help Eegad!!! but I figure on my journey of travelling/running away from my life, I might as well try and attain some insight as to a couple whys I've been carrying around for the past decade or so. We spent 3 rainy days in surfers and then up to Brisbane where we stayed at the Moreton Bay backpackers (Manly) again and collected my camera!!!!! Good times had by me, thank-you horse shoe suppository, however you got up there. Pretty Mellow in Manly it is a cute little place and I feel relaxed there, we spent 2 nights there and then moved to downtown Brisbane so we could easily get to the airport in the morning for our much anticipated Fiji foray. So we decide that a drink after dinner would be awesome... but lo and behold what is this but Karaoke and cheap drinks that's right had a blast met some awesome backpackers some wicked locals drank a fair few and sang my voice hoarse (it was already mildly sore from partying in the rain in Byron bay). Rainey even sang she did "hooked on a feeling" and we got up together and sang "Hakuna Matata", our motto was these people don't know us, Lol oh us. 6am came wicked early though, but we made it and got our train to the airport and our duty free liquor (there aren't any stores on the island) and managed to sneak in time for Rainey to call her boyfriend and me to go to 3 different currency stands to try and get some fijian cash. We got on the plane ok even though Rainey was the last one on, I was afraid that she was gonna miss it, and she says "I was worried you weren't here yet" Lol she's so irrational without sleep, I'd been on board for 10 minutes almost. Miss you all but I'll have to fill you in on Fiji on the next blog because I'm on some free internet and there are like 3 people here waiting to get on so until next time...
Toodles
~J
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