Townsville 'Reef HQ' Aquarium

Now that I wasn't going to dive, I decided to take an early ferry to Townsville to be able to visit an aquarium before catching a bus to my next destination in the afternoon. I've been to several aquariums around the world, but was still surprised about how much I liked this one. The displays were very good, and the fish and corals beautiful. Brrr, the sharks managed to freak me out even from the other side of the glass wall.


What's special about this aquarium is that they have a turtle hospital, where they help sick and damaged marine turtles back to health. I wasn't too impressed by the turtle talk given by a presenter who talked in that annoying nasal voice with a rising tone that makes every sentence sound like a question, very typical to girls on the east coast. This way of speaking really drives me up the wall. She was very proud of how international they were, having video conferences with, quote, "countries like Canada, America, the UK and Europe". Luckily, the presentation was short and we got to visit the hospital and see the turtles. They were in small, open-top containers, and swam to the surface to greet us. They were beautiful, and much cuter than land turtles. I especially liked the green sea turtle called Bonnie.

Lessons learned on a diving course

I had booked a 4-day SSI diving course on Magnetic Island that would certify me to dive down to 18m with a buddy anywhere in the world. I had chosen to do it on Magnetic purely because at $231 it was the cheapest deal I could find. The course consists of 2 days of theory and pool practice, and 2 days out on the sea with 4 dives. On top of that there were extra 2 free dives included in the package. I had been waiting for the course with a mixture of dread and curiosity. I was pretty nervous, expecting I would either hate or love it.

On arrival at the hostel where the dive course would be held, I got a instruction manual in my hand. Only when I was reading through it I realized how scary diving really was... As I've mentioned before, I am slightly claustrophobic. By "slightly" I mean that I am able to control my fear, but feel very uncomfortable and have to make constant effort to stay calm. Now, you would think that there's plenty of space in the ocean... But at the same time, diving in it makes it sort of a closed place, because once you're deep enough, you can't get out anytime you like. When you hang out at 15 meter's depth, you can't just freak out and bolt to the surface, because there's so much nitrogen and compressed air in your body, that there's a high risk that something inside you will explode when the air tries to escape if you rise to the surface too fast.

I imagine myself there at 15 meters, freaking out about something. It would take me about 5 minutes to rise to the surface safely from that depth. I could do it if everything goes well, but give me a shark, a broken mask or anything else to freak me out... even if I know how to fix the problem, I can't guarantee not to panic under the water and drown. Thinking about that makes me terrified.

The instructor was a really nice and patient Norwegian guy, who actually had Finnish parents and so could speak my language. I sat through the first day of theory, went to the pool and dived. I could do every single one of the so-called skills we tried: I could fetch back a lost regulator (the thing you breath from), or put back on a knocked-off mask, or put all the gear on underwater. I could do all that without problems. However, every moment sitting there in the bottom of the pool, my instincts were screaming at me, yelling that all this was so wrong. Every second I had to remind myself to stay calm, to breath slowlier, when all I wanted to do was go up to the surface and breath normally. I've never felt like that when snorkelling.

So I survived the first day, had a shower to warm me up and prepared for a second day of theory and pool training. I went to bed early, only to wake up at 1am to worry about the following day. It took me three hours and a sobbing phone call to mum (thanks to the time difference 3am Aussie time is a perfect time to call) before I could sleep again.

In the morning I went to the diving school a bit early, and told them I wanted to quit. The instructor was surprised, because he thought I had done fine the day before. (Being no Edward, he can't see inside my head.) He tried to talk me into trying one more day in the pool, and assured me that I could do an extra day in the pool (which, btw, one other girl in the course did) before going into the ocean, if I needed it. I had known all that already, but still his convincing made me waver. Had I given up too early? Still, I stood up to my decision and left the course. They told me I could come back anytime if I changed my mind.

That day I was really upset about quitting the course. I didn't care about losing the money. But I was ashamed of being a quitter. It doesn't matter that much what the staff or other students think, because after a few days I would never see them again anyway. But, I had left myself down, sort of failed - then again, it wasn't that I wasn't able to do it, I just didn't want to go as far as needed to get the certificate. I could've completed rest of the pool practice, even done the ocean dives. I was afraid I would've forced myself to go through it, as every day quitting would've got harder and harder. The thing was, I desperately did not want to dive deep.

My mum reminded me that diving was supposed to be a fun thing to do for my enjoyment. I was certainly not having fun, shaking from fear in the water and not being able to sleep at night, crying. It took me a few days to realize, that it was perfectly ok change my mind and quit. Why go through something that made me feel so bad, when I by no means had to? No one needs me to dive - I thought that it might be fun (which is surely would, if I got over my fears) and wanted to prove myself I could do it. Stupid pride.

I was also afraid that I would miss out on something, not diving. But then again, there are heaps of other options available: snorkeling, submersible tours, glassbottom boats, aquariums - all of which are cheaper, safer and more comfortable. How much bigger would my enjoyment diving be, compared to these other options? I came to the conclusion, that the comparable gain was smaller that the pain I would have to go through to achieve it, and therefore my decision was also rational. Then I had to be tougher to myself and told myself to stop whining: no reason to get so upset about a course! (Especially as I could retake it anywhere if I changed my mind.)

A week later, I visited Townsville aquarium (more about that in a later entry). Looking through the window of the tanks, I imagined myself there in the bottom of the tank with the fish. It was only about 5m deep, but I instantly felt a pang of fear and uncomfort. I knew then that I had made the right decision, as I was definitely not ready.

Quitting was a tough lesson in decision making, but I'm very glad I found the courage to say no. Adventures are about testing your limits. I would say mine is about three meters below the surface.

Paradise found

Mmmmm... Magnetic Island. Eight nights spent there, and what can I say, besides that it was fab, amazing and awesome? I fell head over heels in love with the island. I felt very lucky to be there, in a place with perfect weather and gorgeous nature. Maggie landed on my list of TOP3 favourite travel spots in the world (together with Yangshuo in Guangxi province in China, and Panglao island in the Philippines).

The thing that made the island so special was its nature and wildlife. After quitting the diving course, I comforted myself with my two favourite hobbies: hiking and photography. The island was like made for both. I couldn't get enough, so I ended up doing all of the hiking tracks on the island, all of them very different from one another. On the hikes I spotted wild koalas and delicate rock wallabies...

...and about a million small redhead lizards and groups of lovely butterflies. Weirdly, I also saw so many dead animals: toads, a snake with leopard dots on it (even missing its head it was still scary), a big fish, and remains of something resembling a squirrel. Truly heartbreaking was when I found my hostel's resident possum dead by the roadside, having been hit by a car. :(

Before picture... You'd rather not see the after.

Next to the animals, the hiking tracks provided some stunning views and scenery:
I just have to share that I also found the (un)coolest public toilet ever. It looked like a space shuttle, and had a male voice instructing you how to use it ("You have 10 minutes left to use this toilet. Thank you for using Exeloo!") with piano music for entertainment.

Time for a compulsory ad break: Hiking in the heat of course means you just have to finish each track with an icecream. I've tried many new flavours and found a new favourite. Maxibon is pure perfection.

On the island I've also seen some of the most beautiful sunsets of my life. I don't know why the sunsets here are more dramatic than those back home. The sky turns first yellow, then blazing orange, then pink, and eventually purple. It's breathtaking. Pictures can't do them enough justice, but here are some tasters anyway:

Even though I found that diving is not my thing, that didn't keep me out of the water. One day I decided to use a ticket I had got when checking in for complimentary snorkel hire. I had been in the water for one minute and was swimming in shoulder-deep water, when suddenly the sand below me moved and a big sting ray floated up! They are not dangerous to humans. Even though they're pretty common here, it still felt magical to spot one in the wild.

This is about what it looked like. Picture not by me.

The fringing reef is so close to the beach that I can just walk up to it. During low tide the water was so shallow that I could look at the corals without any equipment. One day in the middle of my hike I decided to have a break on a beach called Florence Bay and have a look at the corals. I was walking along the edge of the reef and admiring a big colourful fish, when I felt a light touch on my bare knee. GAAAAAHHH!!!! A jellyfish! It had only touched me with the hat-like part, so I hadn't been harmed. However, I've heard how dangerous they are, and got out of the water very quickly. The idea of being inflicted "extreme pain possibly leading do your death" (I've read about people who, after being stung, still kept screaming in agony after they had fallen unconscious from pain) didn't sound too appealing to me, so I didn't stay to find out whether the stinger would like to stroke me with its less gentle parts aswell (or if it was even alive). I've heard the stinger season is either Nov-Apr or Nov-May, so thought it would be fine to be in the water during the last days of May. I should know better not to trust my luck and take any chances.

I liked both of the hostels I stayed at. First five nights I stayed at Base because they are part of the diving course package. I usually hate party hostels, but actually Base was pretty nice despote being filthy and very loud. I found the A-frame huts we stayed in very cute, enjoyed dining on the beachfront deck, adored the cute possums hanging out around the kitchen at night, and loved laying in a hammock reading or napping.
I preferred my second hostel Bungalow Bay, though. I slept in the rain forest in a hut that only had three proper walls, with one end covered by mosquito net. It was amazing to fall asleep to the sounds of the forest. Sleeping in the fresh air felt like camping, minus the discomfort: I slept in a comfy bunk under a warm blanket, and the mosquito net kept most of the bugs out (I did wake up twice to a moth falling to my face, ewwww). My room mates were really nice. I especially liked the three Aussie girls who broke the ice by making fake farts and giving facials to everyone. There were lots of lorikeet birds around this hostel. Those beautiful but not very clever birds. They were around the camp kitchen every morning, wanting to share my breakfast, and didn't have the sense to bugger off even when I was shushing them away with a knife (kicking the chair they sat on worked, though). However, in the evening all of them came together to fly around in a green, red and blue formation. That was a stunning sight.
I also got to make on childhood dream come true. I had always wanted to go swimming with horses, but had never got the chance, despite practically living at the stables for two years when I was a kid. Now I booked a 2-hour ride, and was pleased to find out I was the only one to go out that day with the two Swedish girls that were my guides. It felt fantastic to be on a horse again, and though it had been ten years since I'd stopped horseriding, it still felt natural and easy. The bush we rode through was gorgeous and filled with butterflies. Cantering through the forest with wallabies bouncing alongside me was magical, one of the coolest things I've experienced during this trip.

After getting through the forest we reached the Horseshoe Bay beach. The first thing I spotted a beautiful eagle resting on a peace of driftwood. We took the saddles off the horses, stripped our clothes off and got into stinger suits. And on to the sea! The water felt very warm when I had my legs around the back of the horse. I was beaming happy. I got to try some acrobatics and learnt to stand on the horse. Sun was low in the sky and everything was perfect.
We reluctantly got out of the water, dried off and rode back to the camp. I could really feel in my buttocks that after a decade's break my muscles were not used to riding, and were going to hurt for days. But who cares about some sores, I couldn't think about a better way to spend $100!

Magnetic Island has definitely been my favourite place in Australia so far. I had an awesome time there, and felt pretty sad when it was time to leave.

Whitsundays

I arrived on Airlie Beach on a cloudy morning after a charming 12-hour bus ride spent napping and listening to a movie, since the TV in my end of the bus didn't work. It was a comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant (I recognized their voices). Knowing their looks and manners pretty well, it was surprisingly easy to close my eyes and imagine how the scenes looked based on the dialogue and background sounds...


I was staying in a resort called Whitsunday Terraces. I knew absolutely nothing about the place, but had booked a bed in a 3-bed-dorm there because it was the only place on Hostelworld that both had a good rating and was affordable. I had to wait until 2pm until my room was ready, and by then I was pretty tired, annoyed, and starving. When I finally opened the door to the room, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was absolutely not a dorm, but a huge apartment with two balconies with ocean views, a big living room and a nice kitchen. The best thing was that the bed assigned to me was a big, comfy queenbed in my own room! I was lucky to get that bed, as the other two people had to sleep in the living room. I was in the seventh heaven. Since my arrival in Australia, I had slept only one night alone, so I was dying for some privacy. It's funny how happy one can be about being able to close the door of your room and shut the world out. And look at the view!

I didn't mind having these chirpy friends for company when snacking on the balcony:

Airlie Beach is a resort town to access the Whitsundays island group, which means that its only purpose seems to be tourism. There is one street with shops, and otherwise only hotels. Supposedly 3500 people live there, but I have no idea where, as I only saw drunk backpackers on the streets. The shore front of the town was beautiful, even though, quite misleadingly, there is no beach, just a fake lagoon.


I had two activities planned for Airlie: First, I was to get a medical check to be allowed to do a diving course. Second, I wanted to do a boat trip around the islands. I had booked a cruise for Tuesday and the medical for Wednesday, but they got swapped around because my initial cruise got cancelled. That was a lucky coincidence though, because when the weather on Tuesday was rainy and not very nice, on Wednesday it was perfect.



I didn't know what to expect of the medical, but certainly not that the first thing I would be asked to pee in a jar. They didn't do too much explaining, so I still have no idea what they needed the urine sample for... I also did a breathing test, and was poked, rubbed and checked everywhere. The biggest surprise was that when I was measured, the nurse marked me down as 3cm taller than I thought I was! I guess being 172cm at 16 doesn't mean I'm going to stay that height forever. I had to cheat a bit when filling the forms and denied having a cough (which wasn't completely true) to get a pass.


The cruise was on a fast rafting boat called Big Fury. The day was a lot of fun in the sun, and I even managed to get a little tanned after wearing only a bikini for the whole day. (I seem to be the only person in Oz who doesn't really tan. It's funny because it makes all the people think I've just arrived.) The other passengers were the usual teenager bunch. (I'm getting sick of other backpackers, most of whom are either 19 and fresh out of high school, or act as if they were.)

During the day we visited the gorgeous Whitehaven Beach, where we had our lunch in the company of two goannas.

We also visited another bay to do some snorkelling on the reef. It was awesome! I got pretty excited, as I've never seen a coral reef with all the lovely, rainbow coloured fish before. First I struggled a bit with the snorkelling, as I've only done it a few times when I was a kid, but quickly got the hang of it. After getting out of the water I dried of sitting on the reel of the boat in the sun. Now this is how life should be!

Fraser Coast aka Coast of Boredom

My next stop was a tiny village called Rainbow Beach. As soon as I got off the bus, I took a dislike to the place. I hated my hostel, that was too loud and crowded and had lousy security. And the village was absolutely dead: nothing was open after 7pm except for a deserted hotel pub. I also instantly hated my roommates, three very loud German guys who only talked about drinking, farting and masturbating, and called me a boring bitch because I refused to go for a bier with them. All this in German, thinking I wouldn't understand. Too bad they didn't realize I was reading a book in German, and also understood every word they said... Luckily I got rid of them after one night, and for the next two nights the people in my room were much nicer.

I had come to RB to visit the famous Fraser Island, which is one of the must-do places for backpackers to visit on the East Coast. Now, I don't like camping too much, being traumatized by chilly Finnish summer nights with too much rain. I also didn't want to spend full two nights and three days on the island with a bunch of strangers I might or might not like. So, instead of doing the fashionable three-day self-drive tour, I decided to go for a more comfortable and cheaper option of a one-day guided tour. And was certainly very happy with the choice.

I like Fraser a lot, though was also sick of it after one day. The sights were lovely: we visited Eli Creek where we could walk on the bottom of the river through rainforest, spotted a dingo when driving on the beach, swam in beautiful Lake McKenzie, admired some coloured pillars of sand, and, my favourite, walked in the stunning rainforest.

These giant ferns are over 2000 years old! How amazing is it that this plant has been in this spot for so long and is still alive.

Rain in the rainforest.

What I didn't like about Fraser Island were the roads, or, more likely, the lack of them. The bumpy drive and on the sand track made me seriously nauseated, and I was covered in bruises after popping up and down on every bump. Driving on the beach, sverving away from the waves, was really dangerous, so I was very happy having an experienced 4WD driver instead of some 21-year-old backpacker driving one for the first time.

The following morning I got up early for the free 7am pancakes. I didn't feel like hanging out in the room with people packing their stuff to go to the island, so I just threw a jumper on the T-shirt and joggers I had slept in and headed for a "short stroll". On my walk I got an idea to visit a place called Carlo Sandblow. I had no idea what it was, but had heard it was about one kilometre away from the village, and I had seen a sign pointing in the right direction. Later it turned out that my adviser had been talking about the local version of coloured sands, and this Sandblow was much further away. After an hour's sweaty hike on the hills I only reached the edge of the Sandy National Park, but was rewarded with a sign sporting a map that said that the Sandblow was only 600m away from where I stood. I took the last part of the track happily, and found a desert.

It is maybe stupid to say that a desert was 'deserted', but there was absolutely no one there. I had the whole sandblow for myself. And what a gorgeous place it was! The sandy patch provided excellent views both to the sea and the surrounding forests. After playing with my camera for a bit, I just sat there for a long time, feeling so lucky to be in such a lovely spot with not a care in the world.

After my tour I had two days to kill in RB. I wasn't too excited about the prospect, as I had come to realize that there was absolutely nothing, nix, nada to do. I read magazines in the shop, used free internet in the travel agency, walked around the non-existent city centre and even visited the tiny local library to browse through National Geographics. And read my super boring German book I'd found somewhere.

When it was time to leave on Wednesday evening, I felt joyous. It turned out my next destination Hervey Bay wasn't much more exciting though. However, in HB my hostel was much nicer: it was quiet at night, and best of all, had a cinema room with free movies.

Next to some other Scandinavian girls, I shared my room with an elderly American lady. She had come to Hervey for a week's holiday to go whale watching. It's only that the whale season doesn't start before July... She was apparently dying to follow her nursing instinct and chose me as her object. She called me kiddo, followed me around and admired my her, nail polish, clothes, and was more interested in my health (I have a cough she likes to monitor very closely and make constant comments on any perceived developments) and diet ("Do you eat enough fruits and vegetables, honey") than I am. She wanted to help me make friends, and kept introducing me to random people all the time. She was very sweet, but started to seriously get on my nerves by the third day. The day I was leaving, she gave me a card with her email address and phone number, and asked me to contact her when I would arrive in Cairns (where she would be then), hinting that I could have a place to stay with her. I smiled politely, took the card and put it in my bag. Inside my head the honest reply was: "In your dreams, psycho!"

***

Being an only child of busy career parents and having lived the first six years of my lige in a tiny village, I've grown up pretty talented at entertaining myself. I very, very rarely feel bored. But oh God how boring the Fraser Coast is! I've walked around, watched movies, sun-bathed, read novels, wrote my blog, took pictures... I only wish there was a forest I could go hiking in. I managed to find an outdoor gym in a park, that is, a bunch of exercise machines in the park free for everybody to use. It's been nice being able to have a proper workout, being too limited budget-wise to pay for a gym. Too bad boredom also makes me snack more, so I'm not going to leave the town with a suddenly superfit body, haha.

Never in my life have I had so much free time in my hands. Even if I don't always come up with anything cool to use it with, I still love the prospect. During my trip, whenever I've been bored or felt low, I've asked myself if I'd rather go home than be where I am. So far the answer has been 'no'. Because when I go wandering about, around some corner I will find something interesting or intriguing. It's not only the big experiences, but also those little moments that make it worth it.

Sunset behind a gas station where my bus stopped for a short break.

Noosa

My next stop was Noosa, a beautiful seaside resort town two-hours' drive up the coast from Brisbane. There's not that much to do there, but it was a lovely place.

I stayed at Halse Lodge hostel, that was everything from really good to really bad. I loathed the cramped, filthy kitchen where for the first time in Oz I've experienced it that people don't do their dishes after eating (guess I've been lucky). There were literally five (5) forks for a hostel with close to a hundred beds. I was always pissed off when having to cook or dine there. Then again, I adored the shady verandah where you could lie on one of the couches and admire the sunset. The couches might've been even too comfy, as I always started to feel drowsy there and also fell asleep once when trying to read.

The town is famous for its surf and its national park. I saw loads of surfers of different ages, from 7-year-old kids to greyhaired elderly people, all of them fit as a fiddle. Mmm, looks like surfer boys will age very well...

I woke up to a sunny Friday, and decided to try the limits of my new-found health, and go hiking for a bit. After the height of my flu, I was still very clogged and had trouble breathing, but couldn't resist taking a look at the gorgeous nature surrounding the town. I went to the national park and chose the supposedly easy coastal track. I promised myself to turn back immediately if the path would turn too steep, to avoid doing anything physically challenging. This didn't prevent me from enjoying the sunshine, hills, forest and the beautiful sea. I kept walking and just couldn't turn back, because the view behind each corner was even more rewarding than the previous one. I ended up walking all the way to the tip of the peninsula to a place called Hell's Gates, where the water rushed against the cliffs and I felt like the wind was about to blow me over.

I had already walked for almost two hours, so it was time to finally turn around. I had only walked for a bit when a rattling sound in the bush startled me and I saw a glimpse of something long and thick slither away from the path. A MASSIVE snake! was my first thought. I crept closer very carefully and sneaked a peek into the middle of the branches. It was not a snake, but a huge lizard. (If it had been a snake, with a tail that thick it would've had to be 2-3 meters long!) It had a dark skin with lighter spots on it, four strong feet and a tongue like that of a snake. I would estimate it was about 1,2 meters in length from head to the tip of its tail. I had been warned about big lizatds called goannas, who claw and bite you if threathened, and presumed I had just found one. (When I google "goanna" now, I see I was right: Picture I found in Google.) The lizard held my gaze for a while, then continued to wherever it was going.

Later that day I was reading a magazine article about saltwater crocodiles, and thought that I'd rather not encounter any lizards bigger than that goanna in the wild, thank you very much.

One evening I went for a night walk on the posh restaurant street on the shore. Taking a glance at the menu, I decided I did not want to fork out 20 dollars (about 14 euros) for a dessert. Not having money to throw out isn't that bad though - I could still sit on a bench in front of the restaurant and listen to the soft singing of the man-and-a-guitar-act that was performing on the terrace. After I got my dose of live music, I returned to the hostel and had a cheap but yummy dessert of choc chip cookies.

My last night in town, I had a sudden realization that the sun was about to set and that the sky was going to be gorgeous. Earlier that they I had walked to a place called Noosa Spit and had come across a perfect spot for watching the sunset. However, this spot was two kilometers away, so I had to run through the forest to get there in time. I madeit with a perfect timing. The sun sank behind an island and I clicked away with my camera. After the moment was gone, an elderly woman approached me, introduced herself as a photographer and started giving advise on how the sunset should be pictured. I listened to her faking patience, thanked her for tips (some were actually good), and secretly hoped she would mind her own business. I am usually very good at receiving feedback, but apparently not when it comes to artistic differences, as this woman and her seemingly condescending attitude made my blood boil. I guess I would be a terrible photography student to teach.

The next evening I hopped on the bus and travelled to my next destination, Rainbow Beach.

Brisbane

The first impression I got when arriving in Brisbane was that the capital of Queensland consists of highways, concrete buildings, and not much else. Carrying my backpack and some other stuff, I was not too happy trying to cross the highways to reach my hostel. And it was true: this is what Brisbane is like.

However, the city also has another side: its parks. Southern bank of the river has some great park lands, including a beach with a view of the skyscrapers. The botanical gardens are a gorgeous place to take a break from the traffic. Not the there's that much buzz though: for a city of more than 1 million inhabitants, there are not that many people around.

I have felt very much at home in my hostel. It is an old Queenslander house (this probably only tells something if you've been to Australia yourself) with lacy wooden decorations. I have again been very lazy, watching TV or reading a book or having breakfast on the sunny balcony.

There are both nice and annoying people in the hostel. I met a guy from Hong Kong who has been very friendly, even cooked some yummy Chinese food for me. Then, there are the other guys. I don't know how I ended up in a male-dominated hostel, but there are hardly any girls there, I saw only 4 during my entire stay. I wonder if this is the reason that leads some of the guys to behave like some Outback idiots who only see women once a year...

My roommate has been very friendly as well. He's shown me a lot of gorgeous pictures from New Zealand, making my travel fever worse still. I have suffered from a flu for several days, which has forced me to stay in bed, and during this time I've got a bit too much of his company, though. The constant babbling started to really get on my nerves in the end. That's exactly why I only want to travel either on my own, or with people I know and like.

I've been spending a lot of time in the library again, using the free internet for research. On my way to library, I have to cross a pedestrian bridge, where I've noticed a very strange lady. She walks the bridge back and forth, barefoot. She's wearing a filthy summer dress and sunnies from the 90s (I had similar ones when I was in primary school and thought they were really cool, that is, back then...). Apparently she does this every day, all day long, as I have spotted her every time I've used the bridge, any time of the day. Walking seems to hurt her feet, but she doesn't stop, just turns around in the end of the bridge and limps back. I have toyed with the idea of going to talk to her. So far I haven't been crazy enough.

One day I got my act together and caught a bus to the mountains, that is Mount Coo-Tha national park. They have a very nice view over Brisbane and surrounding areas. I went hiking on the tracks surrounding the look-out, and found out they were not sign-posted too well, as I managed to get lost. I thought there was a short cut to the other botanical gardens, but apparently not... In the end, I spotted some elderly people on a picnic ground and went to ask for directions, and found out it was better just to walk back the way I came. I ended up hiking about 8 kilometers on the hills. It was really nice though, the forest was beautiful and peaceful, and on my return to the lookout I had a nice slice of cheese cake for a happy ending, gazing over the view.

I don't have much to say about Brisbane. It's just another large city. I had a good time though - I seem to be an expert enjoying just lazing around. It seems like I've been walking around quite a bit though, as I've started to know a lot of random things, like which set of traffic lights is the best place to cross each street, etc.

The city at night.

For once I'm updating this in time. I'm going to leave Brissie in a few hours, heading North. My next entry (ok, Facebook as well - I'm not too good at being mysterious) shall reveal my next destination. Bis dann!

Surfers and hippies

Byron Bay 20.-27.4.

I arrived in Byron on a Tuesday morning, after having a surprisingly good night's sleep in a bus from Sydney. The first impression was that I was going to love the place, and it turned out to be true. In Byron I've felt the most relaxed so far. Spending a whole week there was a good idea because it left me with plenty of time in my hands. My hostel was located on the beach, and all it took to reach the waves of the Pacific Ocean was to walk 50 meters from my room to the beach on a sandy forest track. I swam in the ocean almost every day, letting the huge waves wash over me. I've also loved having time to just relax in a hammock reading a novel or sunbathing on the beach. Taking any book I can lay my hands on (not wanting to buy them, I read what I can find laying around in hostels), I've read some pretty weird novels that I wouldn't choose from the bookstore shelf back home.

On Thursday I got experience the ultimate Aussie thing to do: surfing. I had contemplated whether I would prefer a one-day class just to try it, or a multi-day course to actually learn something. I had a feeling that I wouldn't have much talent for what I was going to do (not having a good balance and being a bit clumsy; and terrified of things moving fast that I can't properly control, like snowboards for example), so I decided it was enough to try once how riding a wave feels like.

So I booked a class, pulled on a wetsuit (looking more like a robot than Siena Miller, I'm afraid), and on to the waves! I pretty much sucked at it, as expected, but managed to do a few good stands. I didn't find in that hard to stand and stay up on the board, but the difficult part was catching the wave: most times I tried I couldn't paddle fast enough and the wave just died under me. It was definitely a lot of fun, standing on the board and riding the surf to the gorgeous sunset.



Friday was the first properly sunny day, so I decided to go hiking in the Cape Byron national park. Walking on the track on the beach and in the forest provided me with some fabulous scenery. I followed a wrong route for a while and was wondering why the route was so difficult that it included climbing over cliffs and having water up to your knees... Unfortunately I didn't manage to spot any wild dolphins that often visit the area. Instead, I encountered a very unfriendly snake in the forest. I only spotted it when I was standing right next to it on the path, close enough for it to attack me. The snake wasn't that big, only about 50 cm in length, but definitely scary enough with its head up, aggressively hissing at me. I had heard enough of those "ten out of the thirteen species of snakes in this park have deadly venom, so don't get bitten" warnings to run away as fast as I could.


On Sunday I joined Jim's Alternative Tour to visit the hippie haven of Nimbin. Apparently what made it "alternative" was that they had a fun soundtrack playing in the bus, with all the songs related to people and places on the way. The bus driver seemed to have lost his sense of hearing ages ago, and apparently wanted to bestow the same fate on us, the music blastic so loud that I had to press my hands on my ears to prevent them from hurting.

Our first stop on the tour were the colourful Bangalow village markets. I enjoyed just walking around and looking at the handicrafts and organic produce. Obviously I couldn't resist the temptation of buying some mudslide ice cream. I do love my chocolate. It seems likely that I will be the first person impoverished because wasting their fortune on ice cream.

Our other stop before Nimbin was a country pub in the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly, it as full of people having ANZAC day lunch (Australia - New Zealand Army..??? - somehow the day was related to the end of the second world war). We tried some local macadamia nuts, which were a lot of effort to break into and didn't really taste like much.

Then we were dumped in the tiny village of Nimbin. We browsed some stores along the only street, a visited the very cool and visul museums that promoted the freedom to consume marihuana (which is illegal in Australia). I hooked up with a Canadian girl from my tour, and together we went in search for some "happy" cookies to try. She openly shared stories of all the drugs she'd ever tried, so I expected her to know what she was talking about. It turned out we had trouble finding any cookies. The people who apparently had them all looked seriously creepy, and we were both suddenly too shy and didn't have the guts to just go and ask them. How do you strike up a conversation like that? "Excuse me, I was wondering if you sell illegal substances in an edible form?" Gave up pretty soon as I didn't want them that much. Don't worry mum, I've been a good girl.

On our way back we drove into a rainforest and visited Minilya falls. As I've mentioned before, I don't have a bid interest for waterfalls. These ones made a big drop of 100 meters, but still they failed to impress me. If I want to see falling water, I have a shower...

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I loved Byron from the minute I arrived in town. I had all kinds of ideas of what I could do, from kayaking to mountain biking, but ended up enjoying doing nothing too much to bother. The day I arrived I was walking on the beach, expecting it to start raining any minute, and gasping at the stunning sea and sky. I was grinning stupidly to myself, because I was just so happy to be there. That wasn't the only surge of happiness during my stay there. Suddenly the words of the photographer from my surf trip seemed very valid: "Why not stay forever?"