Today's installment comes from a laptop and I am pretty sure I will finally be able to get some pictures on it as well.
After reading back I see that last post was made from Byron Bay, hippie capital of Australia and overall not for Scott kind of place. I posted some of this on facebook, but will repeat the good stories here as well. First off Byron is a nice little beach town where hippies go and then never leave. One of the guys was living in a tent at the hostel and was not going to leave until he witnessed a miracle and he had been there for 5 years!!
At any given point in a Byron Bay hostel you may be subjected to a number of hippie experiences, such as: The improptu hippie jamfest/drum circle where good songs go to get butchered. At one point there were three of these going on at once and the only one I could make out was Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train." Other occurrences are the 10am already stoned out of his mid guy, really long and smelly hair that is braided into a heap of crap, the removal of all seats and everyone sitting on the floor, a person going on the mic and asking everyone if they like quantum mechanics and then trying to get everyone to chant and channel each other (She really said quantum mechanics). This was all enough for me to want to leave just about as soon as we got there. But, we stuck it out a night and were off the next morning on a day trip, and that was when disaster struck.
While on the road back to Byron after a day trip our van started making some unusual noises. Now these had to be super noises, because the van woofed like a dog anytime you were going over 20MPH. However, these sounded worse. Before you know it we were on the side of the road on fire. Fantastic. The van was dead and we were stuck in pretty much the middle of nowhere, which in this case was a city called Bangalow. We moved the van to a nearby park and were told that it would be the next day until Big Dave could drive us up a new van from Brisbane. Not a lot to do in Bangalow on a Saturday, the highlight being charging our phones in a local bar. BUT, I was not going to let that ruin my Saturday night.
I could not talk any of the other boys into coming with me, which turned out to be a good thing I think. We had no ride and a cab into town was going to cost around $60, so I did what any naive traveler would do. I hitchhiked into town. Was picked up by he 3rd car to go by. After a very uneventful night in town, weird Byron, you let me down again, the real adventure began. I had no way of getting back and it was about a 12K walk back to the van. Around midnight I was able to track down a bicycle that no one was using at the moment and liberate it into my possession. The ride back was kinda amazing, other than the steep hills that is. It was pitch black and kind of dangerous, but there was a full moon and after the hills it was mostly a downhill ride. Its this kind of stuff that help makes this trip worth doing. I tried to take pictures, but none of them turned out, so you will just have to settle for the picture of the bike.
The next day around 2pm Big Dave (called that even though he was not big, nor his name Dave), dropped of the new van and we were off for the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast is a string of cities along the beach, and the one that we most wanted to go to was Surfer's Paradise. We found a nice vanpark and spent 3 days in the ocean and playing around the city. Nothing too eventful happened, other than we were finally able to get our hands on a football. Playing catch on the beach with 3 Brits (2 of whom do not know how to throw) is an experience I recommend for everyone. They had their laughs at me when the soccer ball was brought out, but at least I knew how to kick it.
The trip was nearing an end as we reached Brisbane, the final destination. Three nights in a DUMP van park and one in a hostel signaled the end of our month long adventure in the van.
Van Afterthoughts:
- A month is too long
- If you have 4 people, dont get a van that holds 4 people, get one that holds 8+
- English folk love talking about food from home, which I bet they complain about while they are at home
- I am revising #2, just dont get in the van in the first place, unless you want stories to tell
- A month without tv is too long as well, TV I miss you
- Gassing up and not paying for it, believe of not, frowned upon in Australia as well.
- Rice and cereal or not part of a balanced diet
- You do get to see some amazing things that would otherwised be missed on a bus or in a plane. (they cant all be negative)
-3 British guys with 3 different accents ='s language barriers, even though we speak the same language.
Now for some pictures, sorry they stink, but I dont know how to load them up correctly yet. The dude on the left in this picture has an awesome camera and we put him in charge of most photos, so when I get them all from him there will be tons of good ones to post. Maybe an all picture posting. The unlabeled pics are of one of the brits that liked the rain about as much as an Asian tourist on Jurrasic park the ride. and Whitehaven beach, the ipod does not do it justice. Most beautiful place I have ever been to.
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