Two Beers and a Pretzel

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.

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.

I’ll get some photos soon.  I’ve been taking it easy to get over my cold; and no, it’s not the swine flu…  The Olympus is on the fritz, but Olympus has offered to fix it, so I’ll probablly send it in to the Aussie repair shop.

I took the shuttle to Surfer’s Paradise and met Aaron and Corrinna at the bus terminal.  Surfer’s reminded me of “Anywhere Florida”, and I was still felling like crap, so I got on the bus with them to Brisbane.

There we ran into a bunch of people from MojoSurf, including Jenny and Roberta (on her birthday).  We all went out for Robbie’s birthday, then I retired early to sleep off this cold.  I woke up late this morning and my strategy appears to have worked!!

Today I got a charger for my cell, and will try to get my last Twinrex vaccination.  Aaron and I are booking nearly 3 weeks of Aussie travel from Canoeing and camping in Noosen, to driving around Frasier Island, surfing 1770, and sailing/snorkeling in the Whitsunday’s…  And I still have a skydive voucher good for Mission Beach or Carnes.

That means I’ll get to Thailand around the 21st and have about 3 weeks there before heading to India.   Right now I’m thinking about buying a digireedoo and a small guitar or ukelele since I’ll be spending most of the next 3 weeks in places where recharging the iPod will be questionable.  Tonight is probably a normal city activity of going to a movie (X-Men Wolverine) with Jenny, Jimmy, and Roberta.

It’s hard to leave a laid back surfer town when you know you’re heading for a city infested with tourists, shopping malls and condo towers.  I tried to stick around and attempt the skydive again, but it was still windy at 14,000 ft, and I’m still 108 kilos.  New Zealand and Australia have put a halt on my weight loss at around 235 lbs - but at least I’m not gaining any.  I figure I was just bulking up from surfing – my arms are pretty big now…

So we had a helluva BBQ on Sunday night.  Ant confirmed that we were his best bus ever and was stunned that 32/53 of us were still hanging out together for a big beach party (the rest had already moved up the coast).  The most that had ever stayed ’till Sunday before was 4.

I took the initiative to make “Shrimp on the Barby”

We even got busted by the cops for having alcahol in a public park…  but they let us off easy – just empty the bottles.  Lucky for me, they don’t suspect a 1.25 liter Coke bottle that may or may not have 33% burbon inside.

On Monday I went with a few of the Dutch girls to Nimbin.

Nimbin is a former ranch town turned hippie – famous for a festival in 1973 where a few revellers were arrested for smoking weed, then all their friends overwhelmed the police and busted them out.  Now it’s Australia’s Ganja capital and the site of the annual Mardi-Grass festival to legalize pot (earlty May).  This town looked like what you’d expect (compared to the commercialized El Bolson back in Argentina).

Just outside of town are the “Nimbin Rocks” which were revered by the Aboriginees as a “power center” of the Earth.  Can you wonder why the hippies like it??

A woman in the Happy High Herbs shop told me that Byron Bay was a town with one dirt road 15 years ago…  Then McDonald’s came in and all the Faries, Pixies, and onther magical creatures left town.  Thus, Nimbin now has an abundance of etheral and magical life forms… and apparantly some very potent mushrooms.

As you can imagine, this store is currently being sued by the Billabong surf company…

And everyone in town loves Barak Obama…  who they have invited to MardiGrass ’09 (May 2-3).

Somehow, I don’t think he’ll show up…

One shop had strange hours…

After the Germans on our bus had bought weed and “special” cookies, the bus disembarked for a park where we had a cookout – just in time for high Germans with the muinchies.  It turned out that the “cookies” (3 for $20) were most likely plain chocolate chip, as the dutch girls tried some, but did not get a buz.  Then again, they were Dutch girls.

Finally, on to a local waterfall where you can jump 2 stories into freezing cold water.  Being sober, I decided to watch…

Today (Tuesday) was a rest day for me.  Something in the last to days gave me an intestinal bug, and I caught a light sore throat that turned into a mild chest cold.  Tomorrow I’m going to the overdeveloped Surfer’s Paradise for a few days and then catching a transfer to Frasier Island and sailing the Whitsundays with a few guys from the Mojo bus.  I’m guessing I’ll be on to Thailand in less than 2 weeks, then India (I need to e-mail Sreekanth and set a time).

Cheers-

I finished the surf school this morning and we all got back on the bus to get to Byron Bay.  I booked a skydive from 14,000 ft for Saturday at 11:30 AM.  I can’t wait!   I’m getting the full photo/video package, so expect to see it here.  I’m in an internet cafe now and can’t upload pics, so possibly tomorrow I’ll add surf and skydive pics and videos.  (EDIT – skydiving canceled due to high wind).

Any single guys reading this back in America… you should seriously consider surf school in Australia.  The average age is 22 (including me and a “must be about 70″ guy), the average sex is female, and the average nationality is a tie between Dutch and Norwegian…  If that was too confusing, try this:  I’m surrounded by hot, young women from Northern Europe.  A whole cabin of girls was not at the bus photo, so here’s a few of my favorites…

For the lady readers, our bus driver / head suf instructor was a crazy Aussie named “Ant” who looked like Steve McQueen.

The last 3 days of surfing were brilliant:  We arrived at Spot X on Tuesday evening after surfing the chop at Crescent Head in the morning.

Wednesday was 6:30 AM surf lesson, kayaking before lunch, and another lesson at 3:30 PM with a storm off in the distance and a massive double rainbow over the ocean during sunset.

It was getting easier to catch a wave and get up on the board, and direct the board where you want to go.

Thursday was a partly cloudy with a good offshore Southerly breeze and some of the best waves we’ve had yet.  We all starting to get a feel for catching a wave, if not fully riding it.

I actually stood up and rode that wave to the beach, but even with my weightloss, you don’t want to see me in a wetsuit…

Friday was hot sun, great waves, and fun surfing.  Today I rarely missed a wave, often surfed until the board bottomed on beach, and actually took a video of myself while catching a wave – but lost it trying to turn the camera to see myself…

The best part of surfing lessons is that it’s 2 hours twice a day of wading thru waves and currents, catching waves, jumping up on the board, and carying a board over wet sand.  That 2 hours is so much fun that it barely seems like a workout… until about 2 hours later when you start to feel it.  Luckilly there’s a campfire top relax around every night.

The only bad thing is that as you learn the correct moves for paddling, catching, and jumping up, you rub a lot of parts raw:  palms, fingertips, knees, toes, forearms, etc…  My toes have been bleeding for 3 days, and my fingerprints look like I got in a fight with a blender.  …but it was totally worth it.

We’re all getting loose tonight at the Cheeky Monkey bar in Byron Bay!!  (edit next day … Where apparantly the waitresses were topless with body paint)