Two Beers and a Pretzel

Aaron and I tried to look like badass bikers with handlebar mustaches on chopper-esque mopeds. This is a horrible pic of me, but here goes…

And here are our hog wild bikes being led by a real cruiser…

You can check it out for a time-lapse video of the whole ride…

And the sunset over one of the only places on the East coast of Oz where you can see the sunset over the ocean…

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.  It also has a rainforest, a nice variety freshwater lakes, shipwrecks, and you can drive on the beach.  You cannot go into the ocean because there are serious rip currents and semi-permanent packs of sharks (including a few great whites).  It is a UN World Heritage Site, because it had some unique habitats and endangered species.

From our hostel (Pippies) in Rainbow Beach.  This hostel had some pretty strict rules.

If you don’t know, GOON is almost wine in a box.  A real box, but not really wine…  It will not actually say “wine” anywhere.  It will be called “Sweet Dry White” and some boxes have ingredients like grape juice, alcohol, eggs and fish.  It’s called GOON because when empty, the mylar bag in side the box can be inflated into a pillow and apparently the Aboriginal word for pillow is GOON.  It’s also a backpacker favorite because it’s like $8 for 2 liters.

So anyway… 11 of us (4 Germans, 3 Brazilians, 2 Swedes, 1 Canadian, and Me) loaded 3 days provisions and tents on the roof and packed into an early ’90′s Toyota Land Cruiser.

It was a beautiful day for the 10 minute ferry crossing. We made it to gorgeous Lake Mckenzie before the rain started.

I couldn’t resist testing the underwater abilities of the Olympus u-8000 – especuially with the dramatic dropoff.

The rain was intermittent as we setup camp and Aaron had some fun unloading the roof rack.

The next day we went to the shipwreck and a spot where rocks jut out called Indian Head

On the way to campsite #2, Arron and I had to change a flat tire that eventually cost us $20/person.  We had a little help…

Then we moved on to an Aboriginee camp where “Nick” hosted us for a campfire and some digireedoo playing…

He gave us PVC digireedoo’s to learn the playing method.

There were also a few dingos roaming around.

The next day we woke up very early to beat the tide on the beach and drove to lake Wobbi before catching the ferry back to the mainland.  Janine apparently did not enjoy the fact that I was taking a picture while driving…

Lake Wobbi is full of algae, so it’s green.  This pic is from the sand dune about 50 meters above the lake.  We actually had enough sun for me to get a mild burn while playing frisbee in the water.

Then a long drive on the beach back to the ferry…

Back to the hostel to relax and catch a bus to 1770 the next day, where Aaron and I booked a “Chopper-roo” biker tour and a 4×4 rain forrest tour.

Back on may 9th Aaron and I went to the Australia Zoo in Beerwah (love that name), Australia.  The home of the late, great Steve Irwin.  It’s 1 hour South of Noosa, and we nabbed the bus transfer plus admission for $46AUD each (about $38USD)

Unfortunately, commercialism is prevalent and every TV monitor is touting his daughter Bindi’s videos and the stores are all selling her tween clothing line.  It’s actually kind of creepy.

Once you get over that, it’s actually a pretty nice small zoo full of mostly the large native Aussie species that Steve loved…  snakes, lizards, crocs, koala, kangaroo, etc…  with tigers, elephants, and the occasional komodo dragon mixed in for good measure.  Another great thing is that Steve’s message of habitat conservation and preservation of wildlife come thru loud and clear over the obvious money making endeavors.

There are nowhere near as many exhibits as the zoos in Ohio, but it is growing, and the exhibits are very open and well crafted for the animals they have.  We were there from 10:15am to 3:45pm, and that was plenty of time to see some exhibits, eat lunch, watch the main show, see the rest of everthing, and grab a snack before leaving.

There’s also a hands-on, kid friendly focus – where you can feed the tortises and elephants, pet koalas, and wander among the kangaroo – all for free.

The twice daily crocodile and free flight bird show was pretty good (again, free).

My favorites were the red panda exhibit…

…and the tasmanian devil.

Tomorrow (the 10th) Aaron and I are catching a bus to Rainbow Beach on the South end of Fraser Island, then early next week we go for a 3 day self drive around the island with an 11 person SUV full of people we haven’t met yet.  Of course, we’re hoping for female, European, 20-somethings.

I bought a new Olympus u-Tough 8000 – which is the replacement for the 1030sw.

The only real bummer is that the Aussie version of the 8000 doesn’t have the alarm clock option that the US version of the 1030 had.  Other than that, they’re pretty much the same camera with a useless upgrade from 10 to 12 MP and a few other fancy options that sell cameras, but don’t do me any good.  Lucky for me they use the same battery and memory card, and I get a $45 VAT refund when I leave Oz in a few weeks.

The old 1030 finally met its’ match in the bus seat on the way back from surf camp.  It’s still waterproof, but the LCD cracked on the inside.

The stupid thing is that it’s not really dead yet.  It still takes pictures just fine.  However, using the zoom more than 1/2 way shuts the camera down, and the crack in the LCD covers up the indicator that tells you how the battery is doing.

So I’ve shipped it back to Olympus to see if they’ll fix it for a cheap price.  If not, it made it thru a year of absolute abuse that few cameras could tolerate, much less function thru.

I don’t like the 8000 as much.  It feels like the colors aren’t as vibrant.  It has this annoying “Beauty” mode to remove facial wrinkles, and the very nice Available Light mode is missing from the SCN menu.

The 8000 is also missing the dial option for “Favorites” where you can store a few of your best pics.  Oddly, mine were all of girls I’d met along the trip like Ingrid, Rafa, Julia and Marianna, Erin and Katie, Holly, Meghan, Jessica, Corinna, etc…  I feel like you need to listen to David Lee Roth singing “Just a Jiggilo” as you read that list…  or possibly “I’ll be Gone in the Mornin” by Dwight Yokum.

Anyway, in spite of the demise of the 1030SW, I still highly recommend the Olympus tough cams as a great travel camera.  Nothing else I can think of would have survived as long.  The Canon G9 still takes vastly superior pics and is much better for landscapes and artsy shots, but I baby it like an SLR.

Yes, I am alive.  No, I’m not in jail.

I just got back from 3 days canoeing in Great Sandy National Park.

It rained.

It rained a LOT!!

I slept in a puddle.

Aaron and I were picked up by the tour company on the 5th and taken by boat to the park.  We loaded up canoes with 5 other groups and were all off on our own to paddle up a river frequented by bull sharks.

12k canoeing in light rain to our campsite.  It was actually not raining whie we setup camp…  then after a Campbell’s Chunky dinner, the downpour came.

The morning of the 6th was nice.  We started a 6k paddle up to a trail, and a 6k walk to a high sand dune.

6k back to the canoes, and 6k paddle back to camp.  About 10 minutes into canoeing, the monsoon began.

It didn’t let up until 4 am.  The water puddled around our campsite, and rose about a foot.  Our tent was 2″ under water, so as the rain broke, we took a stove to the cooking shelter and tried to stay dry.

Aside from really large bats, snakes, spiders and wild turkey’s, I told one Canadian girl to watch out for Albino Vampire Kangaroo.  She was a bit gullible and thought there actually was such a thing.

We got back to the hostel on the 7th.  Corinna was still there, as well as a bunch of dutch girls from the surf camp.  After I took a 4 hour nap, Corinna, Aaron and I played Texas Hold’em for a while.  Then Aaron went to bed and Corinna had to do laundry, so I started playing solitaire.

This is when the night got interesting…

A thin British guy (Daniel) walks up and wants to play poker for  beer.  I oblige and cede a beer to him.  Then I proceed to win 4 beers.  Another guy (Chris) with a crippled right arm walks up and joins us.  Corinna comes back and Daniel strikes out in a bad attempt at hitting on her.  The bar closed, so I went back to my room to bring out some bourbon.  A few poker games and toasts later, and Daniel is hammered.

Then, out of nowhere, a husk German guy walks up and asks why 2 normal guys are hanging out with a genetic freak with a deformity.  We make it clear that we are all friends and his comments are not welcome.  He procees to tell us that Chris should have been killed as a child (the bad arm was a result of a brain tumor removed wen he was 6, not a birth defect), his parents must have inbred, and he should not procreate.

We told the German to “get the F&^% out of here” and he left… for a while.

He came back and announced that he was an American in the US Special Forces, a US Marine, had killed 3 kangaroo, he rigged the election so that Obama would win and the US would fail as a superpower, loved George Bush because Bush gave him videos to show how to use all the wonderful weapons from the USA, then reiterated that Chris did not deserve to be alive.

I told him that he did not have the eyes or swagger of a US Marine, roadkill does not count as a boastful kill, Chris has a better right to live than him in my opinion, and it’s obvious to anyone that aliens control all US elections.

That really confused him and he started arguing that aliens do not exist.

I told him that Aliens control his thoughts and he should go to his camper to shield himself from the space rays.

Daniel wanted to kill him (after telling us he used to be the Queen’s butler – yes, he really said that).  So Daniel went to get his truck and a chain to tow the German’s camper into the river.  Chris and I stopped that, but failed to stop Daniel from stripping to his skivies and jumping off the bridge into the Noosa river at midnight (where 2 fisherman has just seen a Bull Shark).  Actually, I stopped Daniel once, but he was too quick the 2nd time.  He made it safe to shore, albeit tangled in fishing line, so I dumped his clothes on the land and told him I’m not babysitting.  Chris and I walked back to the hostel, and I went to bed.

2 more days in Noosa and it’s finally nice out…  but no surf…

We are heading to Fraser Island in a few days!  Tomorrow is Australia Zoo – home of Steve Irwin’s Legacy.