Back in Sydney

2 days until my birthday.  Since it is not a special one, I doubt that I am going to make a big deal about it down here.  Pretty sure I am going to go watch the NBA finals, go to the park and play hoops, and then maybe go see a movie.  The crazy thing is that no one down here will have any clue, and with me hating that kind of attention it works out for everyone.

I think the last post was just as I got out of the van.  Been about 2 weeks since then and not too much has happened.

Spent a relaxing week in Brisbane at a friends house.  Home cooked meals, sleeping in a bed, having my own room.  It was a little taste of being back home.  Still no tv to watch, so if anyone can mail me all the episodes of all the shows that I have missed or am going to miss, that would be great.  Mad Men, the Office, Game of Thrones, True Blood..................  The list could go on and on.

I then hopped a flight back to Sydney and am anxiously awaiting the arrivals of Mom, newly prego sister, and Ms. Jessica Plowman.  That will mark a return to the traveling life and I will get another month to tour this beautiful country.  I am currently staying in a whole different part of Sydney and I love it.  I am right downtown in the heart of it all.  Went out last night for the first time in a week and it would be easy to say that I lead the way.  "Americans lead the way!!!"  Next up is sports sports sports sports.  Rugby tomorrow, then the Australia/Iraq World Cup qualifier (Ill be wearing my Iraqi green, because how often to you get to cheer for them and piss off a whole stadium of Australians.  Then another rugby match.  By then the packages should have arrived.

I have a new list of notes and observations that I have made of late.
-Everyone here walks slow, I am like a Ferrari on the sidewalks here.  Nice to be fast again.
-Australia is full of terrible basketball players, terrible shots and a ton of basketball jerseys.  Saw a Spurs T-mac that blew my mind.  I didn't even know he was on that team.
-I made a dinner for myself, it was terrible.  Thai noodles, chicken mince, and half cooked broccoli in stir fty sauce.  I am a joke of a chef.
-Cant find an Iraqui soccer jersey, weird I know, so I will be wearing a green chive shirt.
-Went to Wire trivia night and almost won the thing by myself.  There were only 7 teams, but me and a person who had never seen the show before almost won it.  I got a free WMD shot.
-Took another loooooooooooong walk in Brisbane.  7am till 11am.  I got to stop staying out so late!
-Met "actress" Lindsay Loon.  Shes American, has not been in anything, and when she showed me the poster to the movie she was filming it was here in bed with what seemed to be a tree.  I think she is being taking advantage of.
- I miss my tent!
- One night is Brisbane it rained the hardest I have ever heard in my life.  Woke me up at 4 am, sounded like the sky was falling.  Kinda liked it.
-Virgin AU airline sucks, no frills and expensive everything.  They should take a flight on Virgin America and see how much of a party that airline is.
-In the movie fast 6, how long is that runway in the final scenes???
- Keeping with Hall tradition, I walked/fell into a fountain.  Pictures to follow.  Karly fell in Trevi fountain in Italy, mine was in a much less memorable fountain in a much less historic place.
-They have a monorail in Sydney and get this, it actually goes places you would want to go and people use it. Take notes Seattle.
-I posted this again on FB, but if you are really sad to see someone leave in Brisbane, they will let you go through security, to the gate, and then make out for about an hour.  Interesting.
-You are allowed to BYOB almost everywhere in Australia, including Brisbane city hall!
-ABC no longer stands for Always Be Closing, it now means always be charging, cause I have a lot of technology and you never know when you are going to find your next outlet.
- Look at the cast of the movie Smoking Aces, holy cow....  and 3 regulars from the show Lost.

Picture time

 This was all our stuff out of the van after it caught on fire.  Of course it was raining as well, if you squint you can see the famous Kemp jersey in that pile.

 I hate this guy, if you know me, you can guess why.

 Australia's laughable Louvre looking glass window.  Good thing its guarded.

 Suncorp stadium in Brisbane, will have ANZ stadium, and Allianz in the upcoming days

 I somehow managed to get a photo of the airport couple not making out, I am seated, and yes we were that close.

 The fountain I walked into

 Says no swimming, its about 2 feet deep, is that necessary?

 If you go see one movie this year make it fast 6 on the worlds biggest screen......and for $8.50!!  I also have seen Hangover 3 (sucked), Star Trek 2 (enjoyed it), and Iron Man 3 (egh...not worth the $20.50 for a ticket).

 I should have written them down, but here are some of the insane things in this movie.  The Vin mid air catch, the never ending runway, all the 40 foot jumps into moving vechicles, Paul Walker being only the 3rd worst actor in a movie, Michelle Rodriguez is still terrible, and........I still freaking LOVED it.  No joke.

 Hoop Dreams: Sydney.  At least they weren't double rimmed.  5'8 asians are easy to beat

Sydneys Darling Harbour, pretty freaking awesome.

That's it for now.  Need to get the pictures from one of the van mates.  He has a ton.

New post when the ladies get here!!

Out of the van!!!

I apologize again that it has been so long since I last posted an update.  The Ipod posts have been tough to write and after reading back over a couple, tough to read as well with auto-correct and bad spelling being the major issues.

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.

 The boys and I at our first Rugby match

 The crocs were too scared to face me, still have yet to see one

 My favorite picture thus far.

 A kangaroo that tried to kill me.  I was able to fight it off

 My borrowed ride home

 Some Star Wars outfits for a fun run in Brisbane and below is an attempted 360 shot of Brisbane at night

Filling in the gaps

The last real post I made was after an underwater adventure with Nemo in which I was able to not throw up!!  Things have happened since then and here they are.  From Cairns my ragged group of travelers first headed about 4 hours north to where Capt James Cook shipwrecked.  This was off a hot tip from a local.  Well F, that guy nc the only thing in cooktown was........?  It still has yet to be discovered.  We talked in Deliverance accents and were happen no one was, well you know.  Cooktown also notes our first night in the van and my post about my panic attack.

We got the heck out of there and stopped in the northern Australia rainforest for a couple of nights.  This is where I was able to connect with fellow American traveler Joey Lawrence.  The Brits went on a tour and I went for a jog.  Out of nowhere the muscleman that is Joe was on the side of the road and taking me on a tour of the ole swimming hole.  So after a Stand By Me walk across some train tracks. We got to the giant rope swing.  We were met by about 12,000 Mosquitos, but that was not nearly the worst of it.  I walked around the creek to get a safe passage into the water.  I picked the wrong route. I heard a rustle in the bushes and before I know it I was face to face with a man eating extra from the movie Anaconda. ( after calming down and doing some research it was actually a non venomous green treen snake that was about 3 feet long).  My girlish screams were enough to keep the snake away, but after he went into the water that made the chances of me going in 0.0%.

We left Port Douglas the next day and drove back to Cairns to restock.  I'd wouldn't say the trip up was a waste cause I got to see Joey, but it was, sorry Joe.

After the brief stay in Cairns the crew went south to Townsville.  A city with NOTHING, but military bases, a few bars and more guys if the military guys were not enough.  We stayed for four days.  Our planning thus far had not been up to par.  Rested and relaxed the next dot on the map was Airlie Beach.  From where we have just left.  Airlie Beach was an amazing time, thanks mostly to the three day boat cruise to the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  Whitsunday/white haven beach is pretty much the beach in your dreams.  The sand was so fine it squeaked as you walked through it and apparently can clean silver.  Enough about the sites, how about some boat stories??

Our group was the first to arrive at the pickup point, so we had the luck of counting the numerous groups of guys that kept joining our cruise.  8:2 guys, 13:2 guys, we ended 22:8 guys/girls ratio, but that didn't matter to me, bc I was deep into some ad Nelson and knew I could create my own fun.  "You are the craziest American...no, guy I've met so far". How I was described by my new French buddy Alex.  I guess you get me on a boat full of booze, food, sun, beaches, and about 14 Germans that I can't stand, and I go a little wild.   Activities such as trying to drown your friends snorkeling, jumping from the boat, getting the female cook so drink she passes out in your bed, causing you to sleep in the iPod room that was about 2'x4', sleeping on the top deck and waking up 5 minutes after the sun comes up. Oh and my favorite exchange of the trip

Deckhand: " you boys going snorkeling?"
Brit #1 "what are the chances we see a sea turtle?"
Me "or a shark"
Deckhand "actually the water is really murkey and you'd be lucky to see much of anything. (He was holding a boat of ten people waiting to go snorkel while we decide.
Me "hey you idiots in the boat have a great time (it was the Germans, so don't get mad, bc I was rude, they started it.

The trip has been amazing and since leaving airlie we have bombed about 12 hours down to hippie central Byron bay.  After stoping in Brisbane for a $8.50 showing of Star Trek.  F yeah!!!!

Ill write about this place and the hippies next time.

11 days left in the van. Not that I'm counting.

What's going on in your lives???


Scott

Quick update

I am bummed out that its been so long since I've had a chance to write on here, but typing from the iPod on pirated Internet is really a pain. So I will do a quick post just to check in.  I am alive, going broke, and living a gypsy life.  Couple nights ago I slept outside the van on the side of the road. It rained.

Current location: airlie beach and its been a blast.  Beach volleyball, sleeping in a tent and trivia every night.  Bout as good as it gets.  Internet is still super spotty and I won't have a good connection until I finally get to Brisbane.

I have been chronicling all the things I need to post later but here is a taste of the posts to come:
- living in a van, it's exactly as terrible as it sounds
- was about 3 feet from a snake in the wild, did not do well composure wise
-Germans everywhere
-the Brits really love their hometown food, beans with every meal
-I've read 6 books. Breaking the total I read from 1996-2012.
- easy Mac is still delicious.
-I need a job or to win the lottery
- still hate the $2 coin
-had a clostrophobic panic attack in the van: that was a new experience
- got to talk to mom on Mother's Day: little things mean a lot
-my fantasy baseball team is doing way better without me
- how did I not win the bigger dance??
-common daily question: what day is it? (Day of the week)
-a tiny kangaroo humped my leg
-I'm immune to most bug bites by now: hand to god was bit while I typed that
-I now know I could be on survivor
- life gets pretty smelly when showers are a luxury
- clothes are now worn based on what smells best.   Currently wearing a bathing suit and kemp jersey


That's all for now.  I swear when I hit a city
Ill write more and post pictures!

Ever thrown up......underwater??

I am going to try and type all this out from a phone so please bear with me, as I am sure I will get frustrated and throw it across the room and have to start over multiple times.  I think last I updated I was about to go scuba diving.  That day has come and gone and here is the tale that goes with it.

The scuba bus picked me up at 6:45 in the morning. Fresh of a going away party and about 3 hours sleep I was primed and ready for my first ever underwater experience.  I signed up for an intro dive and could snorkel the reef the rest of the time the boat was out.  Things started off poorly as I tried to board the wrong ship and had to be ferried to the correct one so that I made it on in time.  The day was warm and a cyclone had just hit the see we were about to sail on.   To say the ride was choppy does not do it justice.  Take "Deadliest Catch" and back it off a couple of notches.  We were told to sit inside for the 1 hr or so ride.  People began vomiting nearly immediately.  Like 10 minutes into it.  Asian guy sitting right across from me went through 5 puke bags before they had even introduced the crew.

They seat you with your diving groups.  Groups of four and I was in group one.   Group one consisted of myself, Asian guy, his gf, and a middle aged lady.  Scratch the Asian couple off instantly, then never got up from that point on.  The water had beaten them.  Now add a couple of brothers from Ireland that were about my age.  Much like Willy Wonka's factory tour, we started progressively losing people at each checkpoint.  Asian couple-Augustus Gloup.  Next we were suited up and I'm the water learning how to use the tanks.  It was pretty damn cool.  As we dunked our heads and breathed through the regulators for the first time, Irish brother #2 had a full meltdown and was pulled out.  He went out saying "my mates are going to give me much shit at home for this."  Group is down to three.  The next step I'm the process was to lower ourselves down a metal ladder to get used to breathing underwater.  We hit ladder 2 and middle aged girl had ear pain and was pulled out.  She's done for the day, down to me and Irish #1.  At this point I am astonished how well I am doing, as its my first time and the three thoughts going through my head are 1) this is amazing. 2) breath, you really have to remind yourself and 3) don't throw up- watching the others earlier combined with the bumpy ride was not helping me with this task.

Last step in the training process was to let go of our regulator underwater.  Stay composed and the re-insert it.  Again, my three steps thought process got me right though the task. Just me, Irish #1 let go of his and could not get it back.  The instructor had to grab it for him and he was spooked to the point of calling it quits.  Group #1- just me.  So, I got a solo 20 minute underwater trip.  I tell you this, the cyclone made visibility so bad it was hard too see too much.  Nothing exotic that's for sure, however, I still had the most amazing time.  I would have signed up to just swim around in a pool if the would have let me.

Group #2 did not fair much better than group one as I watched them one by one come out of the water.  In the end, one girl made it all the way through, but she was visibly not having a good time.  They asked us if we wanted to go again and for $40 I quickly jumped at the chance.  Our next dive spot was much clearer and again I got the instructor all to myself.  This time however I kept getting acid reflux burps and as unpleasant as they are on the surface.  They are 1,000,000x worse underwater.  I quickly abandoned breath and enjoy yourself and focused on not throwing up.  Now, it would make a better story if I say I pulled out my regulator and became an underwater volcano of puke, and calmly put it back in.  Sadly, none of that happened and I was perfectly fine.....until the ride home.

The boat trip back was much worse than out.  The usual suspects were at it again, throwing up all over the place.  We were forced to sit inside again, and this proved deadly for me as my seat faced backwards.  Ever felt sick sitting in the back of a friends old school Volvo (Ryan Duncan)?   It was much like that, and with several other passengers already throwing up (puke seems to be the focus of this post, I swear the scuba was amazing). Like Andy Defurame against the sisters at Shawshank I fight the good fight.  As our instructor came over to give me my dive complete certificate I jerked up and instantly threw up in my mouth, caught it all in, and put it back from whence it came.  I was not about to become another statistic.  We got back into harbor and the mission was complete.  What a day!!

Here are the few pics I took. God I am cheap. Never mind I can't figure out how to do them from my phone.  Have to post them later and use you imaginations for now.  Tomorrow I embark on a 30 road trip down the east coast in a 1976 pos campervan, with three awesome English dudes.  Hopefully we all come out of it alive and sane.  Going to be tons to write about that is for sure.