The Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Why doesn't Sydney look like it does in The Matrix?
That was my first thought of this city as we drove across the Sydney Harbor Bridge to the south side. Yesterday, I spent the day wandering around a Brisbane that was finally open for business after the Christmas holiday. It's a very nice clean city with tons of trees and parklands (as is Sydney, for that matter). I also visited the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, as Brisbane is the state capital. I finally saw the dreaded "Box Jellyfish" that is in the beachwaters this time of year. It's huge (about the size of your head, except with tentacles), and it's shaped like a box. Go figure. The most interesting thing I saw and read about was a "camel spider". Yes, this is the internet mail that has been going around for the past two years. The museum actually had a printed copy of the internet email and the photo with the American servicemen in the background. Verdict? Totally debunked. The photo is a play on perspective. The camel spider (which also lives in the States) only grows to the size of a child's palm and is in no way dangerous. Go tell your friends all about it. I also walked through the Art Gallery, which mostly had modern art pieces. It was sort of comical. They had video art pieces. One was called "60 second sculptures". It was an hour long video showing a person (head out of frame) doing stupid stuff and holding that pose for about a minute. I saw him go behind a chalkboard and grip eitherside of the chalkboard so that only his fingers were showing, and then he lifted his legs off the ground. He managed to hold that pose for about five seconds. Another one was where he took a chair and set it so that the legs were against the wall, and he pretended to sit in it, facing the floor, but he tried to support himself with his hands on the floor, of course, out of frame. That lasted about half a second. Art, I am not worthy!
Basically yesterday was an attempt to kill time before my 7pm bus to Sydney. The ride was 18.5 hours long. Can you say it with me? "Awwwwwwwwesome." It was freezing at night wherever it was we stopped. I was warned that the weather would get cooler as I went south; they weren't kidding. I was freezing on the bus all night long. I met a nice German girl (whose name I couldn't understand); we chatted about our travels along the way. I swear, I have met more people here just off the street than anywhere else. I only had a last minute reservation for a room tonight, and I was going to wing it for the rest of my time here in Sydney. My attempts at finding additional nightstay in Sydney were at places that were either too expensive or required an hour trainride. I didn't really worry about it, because you know, ya just gotta wing it. Plus, I knew my friend Fineberg would come through for me in the end.
Well, as it turns out, the place I'm staying at DOES hold rooms off the record, for people who want to stay longer, so I've got four nights in Sydney. So, no sleeping on park benches like I had planned. Who lives a charmed life?
As I left Queensland, I noticed that most Australians wear SHOES in New South Wales. All my observations of Australians prior will have to be directed towards Queenslanders. My apologies to any who were offended.
Happy New Year's everyone! We'll be celebrating it 16-19 hours ahead most of you in the States, two hours ahead of my relatives in Taiwan, and 10 hours ahead of you in the UK.
Basically yesterday was an attempt to kill time before my 7pm bus to Sydney. The ride was 18.5 hours long. Can you say it with me? "Awwwwwwwwesome." It was freezing at night wherever it was we stopped. I was warned that the weather would get cooler as I went south; they weren't kidding. I was freezing on the bus all night long. I met a nice German girl (whose name I couldn't understand); we chatted about our travels along the way. I swear, I have met more people here just off the street than anywhere else. I only had a last minute reservation for a room tonight, and I was going to wing it for the rest of my time here in Sydney. My attempts at finding additional nightstay in Sydney were at places that were either too expensive or required an hour trainride. I didn't really worry about it, because you know, ya just gotta wing it. Plus, I knew my friend Fineberg would come through for me in the end.
Well, as it turns out, the place I'm staying at DOES hold rooms off the record, for people who want to stay longer, so I've got four nights in Sydney. So, no sleeping on park benches like I had planned. Who lives a charmed life?
As I left Queensland, I noticed that most Australians wear SHOES in New South Wales. All my observations of Australians prior will have to be directed towards Queenslanders. My apologies to any who were offended.
Happy New Year's everyone! We'll be celebrating it 16-19 hours ahead most of you in the States, two hours ahead of my relatives in Taiwan, and 10 hours ahead of you in the UK.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Hanging out with Koalas and Kangaroos in Brisbane
Hope you all had a great holidays! I have been completely unaffected by the tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. I'm currently in Brisbane, which will be my last stop in Queensland, before heading to New South Wales. I leave tomorrow.
Fraser Island was awesome. I met was grouped with some awesome folks at the hostel; in alphabetical order: Anna (Germany), Anne (Germany), Anna (Sweden), Johanna (Sweden), Dwayne (Canada), Grant (New Zealand), Malin (Sweden), and Vicki (UK). There was nine of us in a Toyota Landcruiser. It was a diesel model, with a air intake/exhaust off the right side of the windshield. The back had two rows of benches along the length of the vehicle like a troop transport vehicle. We did some awesome driving along the beach. It was tricky in some places, but our two drivers (I opted to stay in the back) kicked ass and got us through the soft stuff.
Fraser Island is covered with sand and jungles and has lots of small freshwater lakes; these lakes are amazing. The photos will blow you away when I get them uploaded (maybe next week...) We camped on the beach, swam in the surf (with the sharks), chased dingos (Fraser Island is the only place with purebreed wild dingos), ate like royalty, drank loads, and shared two tents. It was funny to go bodysurfing, keeping one eye for any sharks. One time we were driving along the beach, we had to stop to watch a shark feeding frenzy. There were a bunch of seagulls flocked over some baitfish, but in all the splashing, you could definitely see about 10 shark fins flopping around, going crazy. This was about 70 yards off the beach. It was awesome. Later in that day, we were bodysurfing at our campsite, we all jumped out when someone sighted a dorsal fin about 70 yards off. I didn't have my glasses, so I just took their words for it.
The Swedes celebrate Christmas on December 24, so we had two Christmases! We had party whistles and candy and fruit cake. It was great tooting away under the stars on the beach. It was a very cool vibe. Lake Mackenzie has powder white sand that goes into a aquamarine blue freshwater lake. The temperature is perfect. We had great fun swimming, slinging sand balls at each other, and racing and diving into the water. Lake Wabby is next to an enormous mini desert. It is about a mile of sandy desert that comes to a 45 degree slope which leads 70 meters down into the lake. It was fun racing down that hill and jumping into perfect water. And then, racing back up. (ouch, my thighs!) Indian Head was rock outcropping about 100 meters up. You could see giant manta rays and huge sharks patrolling the waters below. No swimming there. We had a blast for the three days and two nights on the island and all gathered back for lots of drinking the third night in Rainbow Beach. Dwayne and Vicki were kind enough to give my hungover-almost-puking-ass a ride to Brisbane the next day. Thanks, guys!
Brisbane has been mostly closed for the past couple of days. I guess Australians have the 25th to the 28th off. It has a nice lagoon at the site of Expo '88 where we hung out for most of the afternoon. Today I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and played with koalas and kangaroos. It's a cool place where they have a huge grassy pen where lots of kangroos are lazying around or hopping away from annoying kids. They're tame, so you can come right up to them and pet them and feed them. They also have about 130 koalas so you can pet them too. Did you know...koalas sleep about 20 hours a day (which sort of makes them like ferrets). This is because they spend so much of their energy detoxifying the eucalyptus tree leaves they eat.
Tomorrow I am headed to...I don't know where. But I am going to meet up with Fineberg in Sydney for some partying and no sleep during New Years Eve. I don't have any accommodations booked, so we'll see if I can get lucky!
Fraser Island was awesome. I met was grouped with some awesome folks at the hostel; in alphabetical order: Anna (Germany), Anne (Germany), Anna (Sweden), Johanna (Sweden), Dwayne (Canada), Grant (New Zealand), Malin (Sweden), and Vicki (UK). There was nine of us in a Toyota Landcruiser. It was a diesel model, with a air intake/exhaust off the right side of the windshield. The back had two rows of benches along the length of the vehicle like a troop transport vehicle. We did some awesome driving along the beach. It was tricky in some places, but our two drivers (I opted to stay in the back) kicked ass and got us through the soft stuff.
Fraser Island is covered with sand and jungles and has lots of small freshwater lakes; these lakes are amazing. The photos will blow you away when I get them uploaded (maybe next week...) We camped on the beach, swam in the surf (with the sharks), chased dingos (Fraser Island is the only place with purebreed wild dingos), ate like royalty, drank loads, and shared two tents. It was funny to go bodysurfing, keeping one eye for any sharks. One time we were driving along the beach, we had to stop to watch a shark feeding frenzy. There were a bunch of seagulls flocked over some baitfish, but in all the splashing, you could definitely see about 10 shark fins flopping around, going crazy. This was about 70 yards off the beach. It was awesome. Later in that day, we were bodysurfing at our campsite, we all jumped out when someone sighted a dorsal fin about 70 yards off. I didn't have my glasses, so I just took their words for it.
The Swedes celebrate Christmas on December 24, so we had two Christmases! We had party whistles and candy and fruit cake. It was great tooting away under the stars on the beach. It was a very cool vibe. Lake Mackenzie has powder white sand that goes into a aquamarine blue freshwater lake. The temperature is perfect. We had great fun swimming, slinging sand balls at each other, and racing and diving into the water. Lake Wabby is next to an enormous mini desert. It is about a mile of sandy desert that comes to a 45 degree slope which leads 70 meters down into the lake. It was fun racing down that hill and jumping into perfect water. And then, racing back up. (ouch, my thighs!) Indian Head was rock outcropping about 100 meters up. You could see giant manta rays and huge sharks patrolling the waters below. No swimming there. We had a blast for the three days and two nights on the island and all gathered back for lots of drinking the third night in Rainbow Beach. Dwayne and Vicki were kind enough to give my hungover-almost-puking-ass a ride to Brisbane the next day. Thanks, guys!
Brisbane has been mostly closed for the past couple of days. I guess Australians have the 25th to the 28th off. It has a nice lagoon at the site of Expo '88 where we hung out for most of the afternoon. Today I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and played with koalas and kangaroos. It's a cool place where they have a huge grassy pen where lots of kangroos are lazying around or hopping away from annoying kids. They're tame, so you can come right up to them and pet them and feed them. They also have about 130 koalas so you can pet them too. Did you know...koalas sleep about 20 hours a day (which sort of makes them like ferrets). This is because they spend so much of their energy detoxifying the eucalyptus tree leaves they eat.
Tomorrow I am headed to...I don't know where. But I am going to meet up with Fineberg in Sydney for some partying and no sleep during New Years Eve. I don't have any accommodations booked, so we'll see if I can get lucky!
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Sunny, Hot and Humid at Rainbow Beach
The Bundaberg distillery was awesome. I mean, it's really fascinating about how they make rum out mollasses, the by-product of refining sugar cane into sugar. There are sugar cane fields all over Queensland, the northeast state of Australia. In fact, I am told that Queensland used to provide 70% of the world's sugar.
The tax on alcohol is steep here. They have oak barrels that hold 64,000 L of rum. This comes to about $5 million in booze. I am told that they have to pay 2/3 of that as tax to the government. Don't quote me on this, but it sort of explains why booze is expensive in stores. In bars, however, it's about the same as in the States. In the "bottle shops", liquor stores, the booze is about double the price you would expect to pay in the States, of course it's in Australian dollars, but it ends up being pretty close to double just the same.
Yeah, so the Bundaberg distillery was made extra nice since I got to have two free drinks of whatever I wanted. It was a nice walk back to the youth hostel...about 30 minutes away.
I also got to see the Loggerhead Turtles at Mon Repos. This is about 14 km from Bundaberg. I shared a taxi with two folks I met at the youth hostel across the street. The Loggerheads are a type of sea turtle that come up on the beach from November to March to lay their eggs. It is pretty amazing to see these turtles, about a meter across, crawl out, make a hole, lay eggs, and then bury them and crawl back into the sea. They take about 30 years to reach maturity to lay eggs, and they lay about 125 eggs every 2 weeks for about 2 months. They only lay eggs every 2-4 years. Out of 1000 eggs, only one turtle will reach maturity and return to Mon Repos. (I like factoids, can you tell?) So, it seems like a shame that the turtle, has to face about 50 people in the darkness, with their blinding flashlights and camera flashes after swimming 3000 km to return home to roost.
After Bundaberg, I went to Noosa (nice name), which is a pretty busy place on the Sunshine Coast. I was there the past couple of nights. There are supposed to be some nice restaurants there, and there is a inlet and sound where campers bring their trailers and boats to cruise around in the protected waterways. I hiked around in the Noosa National Park and saw some large monitors (lizards) and some brush turkeys. I had dinner both nights at a Malaysian Noodle house. I had some Laksa curry noodles; pretty good stuff. Wierd considering how I will probably pay 1/8th of what I paid in a few months for the same thing.
I just got to Rainbow Beach, and it's hot and humid. I heard that it might rain, but it doesn't look like it right now. I'll be here for one night, then I go with a group of folks to Fraser Island. We get to drive a 4wd around on this sand island. I read that there is more sand on Fraser Island than in the Sahara desert.(Who counts the grains of sand?) We'll be camping on Fraser for a couple nights, then we return back to Rainbow Beach.
Christmas on Fraser Island.
Merry Christmas everyone!
The tax on alcohol is steep here. They have oak barrels that hold 64,000 L of rum. This comes to about $5 million in booze. I am told that they have to pay 2/3 of that as tax to the government. Don't quote me on this, but it sort of explains why booze is expensive in stores. In bars, however, it's about the same as in the States. In the "bottle shops", liquor stores, the booze is about double the price you would expect to pay in the States, of course it's in Australian dollars, but it ends up being pretty close to double just the same.
Yeah, so the Bundaberg distillery was made extra nice since I got to have two free drinks of whatever I wanted. It was a nice walk back to the youth hostel...about 30 minutes away.
I also got to see the Loggerhead Turtles at Mon Repos. This is about 14 km from Bundaberg. I shared a taxi with two folks I met at the youth hostel across the street. The Loggerheads are a type of sea turtle that come up on the beach from November to March to lay their eggs. It is pretty amazing to see these turtles, about a meter across, crawl out, make a hole, lay eggs, and then bury them and crawl back into the sea. They take about 30 years to reach maturity to lay eggs, and they lay about 125 eggs every 2 weeks for about 2 months. They only lay eggs every 2-4 years. Out of 1000 eggs, only one turtle will reach maturity and return to Mon Repos. (I like factoids, can you tell?) So, it seems like a shame that the turtle, has to face about 50 people in the darkness, with their blinding flashlights and camera flashes after swimming 3000 km to return home to roost.
After Bundaberg, I went to Noosa (nice name), which is a pretty busy place on the Sunshine Coast. I was there the past couple of nights. There are supposed to be some nice restaurants there, and there is a inlet and sound where campers bring their trailers and boats to cruise around in the protected waterways. I hiked around in the Noosa National Park and saw some large monitors (lizards) and some brush turkeys. I had dinner both nights at a Malaysian Noodle house. I had some Laksa curry noodles; pretty good stuff. Wierd considering how I will probably pay 1/8th of what I paid in a few months for the same thing.
I just got to Rainbow Beach, and it's hot and humid. I heard that it might rain, but it doesn't look like it right now. I'll be here for one night, then I go with a group of folks to Fraser Island. We get to drive a 4wd around on this sand island. I read that there is more sand on Fraser Island than in the Sahara desert.(Who counts the grains of sand?) We'll be camping on Fraser for a couple nights, then we return back to Rainbow Beach.
Christmas on Fraser Island.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Friday, December 17, 2004
Stoney Creek Farmstay
I just spent the last four days at a farmstay in Eton, which is a small town outside of Mackay. Four days of no other travellers. Just me, four cattle dogs, 15 horses, 3 calves, and a great family. A farmstay is where city slickers pay countryfolk to live on their property and experience country life. Yeah, it sounds like a scam, but it was a great experience. Their ranch, Dunbarra, is very self sufficient. 700 acres in valley, with a waterfall and creek, and forests and grazing pastures, and solar power. The only utilities they pay is telephone. I got to ride horses and joined them in bringing in the horses and taking them out to graze (with a pickup truck and a cattle dog). Dude, I could be a cowboy. The cabin I lived in didn't have a waterheater so it meant cold showers, which wasn't bad especially when it got up to 104 F. No air conditioning.
These folks have built their own house from modest beginnings (read: tin shack). Now it's a beautiful home with wood and stone, but only after years for work. A couple of the days were absolutely perfect for riding: a breeze, overcast skies, and a little sprinkle of rain. As you crest a ridge with the wind blowing, seeing the green trees and grazing lands, it really is a perfect moment. Pick your theme song: City Slickers or Bonanza. It's awwwwesome. Watching the horses gallop away, being herded by the dog is great. Man, I could spend a month here working with the horses. But that's not to be.
I was going to go down to Rainbow Beach to go to Fraser Island today, but I didn't book a week ahead, so now I have a few days to spend between here and there. I'm headed to Rockhampton today. It's the beef capital of Queensland, or Australia. I'm going to see if I can get into a bar fight there. riiiiight. Actually, from there, I'm going to go to the Great Keppel Island and spend a couple days there. After that, I will probably go to Bundaberg, where they make an awesome rum. It's really sweet like sugar cane, which is a perfect drink for me. You're supposed to be able to see sea turtles hatch near there. Oh, and there's a rum factory tour you can take too. Hmm...
After that, I'll go to Rainbow Beach where I'll meet up with some random people and rent a 4wd to go to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. That'll be during Christmas. Woohoo!
Oh yeah, more on the Whitsundays...
I met some awesome people during our two days on the boat. I also saw a couple sea turtles. One was during the day dive, and one was during the night dive. It is a freaky thing to be swimming in a murky soup with 2 meters visibility, and have a huge sea turtle (a meter across) swim around you. The four of us that were diving, kept it in our lights, as it cruised around us. This is not the sort of thing I would have done with only one other person. It's like walking through an abandoned house in the middle of the night with a flashlight. Pretty exhilirating, but scary as heck.
I also ditched Bernie, the dude from the UK who, may I say, was FREAKING ME OUT. I'll leave it at that. But it's great to be travelling alone again. Rock on!
These folks have built their own house from modest beginnings (read: tin shack). Now it's a beautiful home with wood and stone, but only after years for work. A couple of the days were absolutely perfect for riding: a breeze, overcast skies, and a little sprinkle of rain. As you crest a ridge with the wind blowing, seeing the green trees and grazing lands, it really is a perfect moment. Pick your theme song: City Slickers or Bonanza. It's awwwwesome. Watching the horses gallop away, being herded by the dog is great. Man, I could spend a month here working with the horses. But that's not to be.
I was going to go down to Rainbow Beach to go to Fraser Island today, but I didn't book a week ahead, so now I have a few days to spend between here and there. I'm headed to Rockhampton today. It's the beef capital of Queensland, or Australia. I'm going to see if I can get into a bar fight there. riiiiight. Actually, from there, I'm going to go to the Great Keppel Island and spend a couple days there. After that, I will probably go to Bundaberg, where they make an awesome rum. It's really sweet like sugar cane, which is a perfect drink for me. You're supposed to be able to see sea turtles hatch near there. Oh, and there's a rum factory tour you can take too. Hmm...
After that, I'll go to Rainbow Beach where I'll meet up with some random people and rent a 4wd to go to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. That'll be during Christmas. Woohoo!
Oh yeah, more on the Whitsundays...
I met some awesome people during our two days on the boat. I also saw a couple sea turtles. One was during the day dive, and one was during the night dive. It is a freaky thing to be swimming in a murky soup with 2 meters visibility, and have a huge sea turtle (a meter across) swim around you. The four of us that were diving, kept it in our lights, as it cruised around us. This is not the sort of thing I would have done with only one other person. It's like walking through an abandoned house in the middle of the night with a flashlight. Pretty exhilirating, but scary as heck.
I also ditched Bernie, the dude from the UK who, may I say, was FREAKING ME OUT. I'll leave it at that. But it's great to be travelling alone again. Rock on!
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Back from the Whitsundays
I got back from the Whitsunday Islands this afternoon. It was amazing. There are about 74 islands off the coast of Airlie Beach. There are a lot of boats going out for 3days/2night trips everyday, some of them America's
Cup challengers converted to charter boats. I took a 74-foot schooner out with about 32 people. We mostly motor-sailed; the seas were choppy and the winds about 15-20 knots. They fed us like kings, and I got to dive three more times, including a night dive which was kind of like walking through the woods at night with a few of your friends when you were about five years old; it was pretty spooky. I slept on the deck both nights because it was stuffy in the berths below decks. The stars were amazing, and the breeze was good. I didn't have a blanket or anything, just my shirt and swimming trunks.
I think I'll be headed for Mackay tomorrow.
Cup challengers converted to charter boats. I took a 74-foot schooner out with about 32 people. We mostly motor-sailed; the seas were choppy and the winds about 15-20 knots. They fed us like kings, and I got to dive three more times, including a night dive which was kind of like walking through the woods at night with a few of your friends when you were about five years old; it was pretty spooky. I slept on the deck both nights because it was stuffy in the berths below decks. The stars were amazing, and the breeze was good. I didn't have a blanket or anything, just my shirt and swimming trunks.
I think I'll be headed for Mackay tomorrow.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Airlie Beach
I'm in Airlie Beach. I got here after an eleven-hour bus ride from Cairns yesterday; it was raining up there. Today, the weather is fabulous. It is hot and the sun is shining. There is a good breeze. I'll be on New Horizon, a schooner, for the next three days for sunning, snorkelling, and scuba diving. I was lazying around the pool this morning. Absolutely incredible views here. I will try email some when I get back. Wish you guys were here.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Back in Cairns
The overnight bus to Airlie Beach is full so I'll be staying in Cairns for a night and taking the morning bus. It's an eleven hour ride. woo hoo! The rainforest was pretty incredible. Australia appears to be very environmentally friendly because they have realized through errors that their ecosystem is delicate. In years past the introduction of other species have had devastating impacts on their ecosystem. I like the one about the cane toad which has no predators and whose skin secretes a poison that kills crocadiles and whose eggs are poisonous. This toad was brought over from South America by sugar cane farmers to get rid of a beetle that was ravaging their crop. Apparently it never took care of the beetles either. The toads have spread across Australia in about 30 years.
Interestingly, people lick the toads and smoke their skins to get a hallucinogenic effect. The rainforests were cleared because it was believed that their soil was rich, but actually, it's just sand without the rainforest.
Anyways, I'm not turning into a GreenPeacenik, but it's fascinating to hear about the end of the world especially while I haven't invested in one yet. Did I mention that they sell dog food in the refrigerated sections of the supermarket next to the meat aisle? Either that or it's dog meat. I am told they sell kangaroo meat too. It's supposed to be lean like deer meat, and I'm told that it keeps in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. And there is a section in the supermarket for people who homebrew their beer. This is simply amazing. There is a beer called XXXX. Actually I saw this up in front of a bar and I thought it was an especially dirty nudie bar. Well, as it turns out, it's the name of the beer that tastes like s**t, but since they can't write that everywhere, they just name it "****" or "four-x". The Burger Kings are called Hungry Jack's. I'm not sure why. I keep getting confused with the side of the road to walk on and the way I should be looking for cars at crosslights. It is especially frightening to be sitting in the front while a car is making a left turn at an intersection. It seems to violate my sense of safety. It's a good thing I'm not going to be driving anything around here. There was intermittent rain today while I was in the rainforest. Listening to the rain fall, the insects buzz, and the waves crash at Cape Tribulation was pretty neat. Cape Trib is very quiet and peaceful, and there are few visitors.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of the coast. I bought a Greyhound bus pass that will take me down to Melbourne over the next 30 days.
Interestingly, people lick the toads and smoke their skins to get a hallucinogenic effect. The rainforests were cleared because it was believed that their soil was rich, but actually, it's just sand without the rainforest.
Anyways, I'm not turning into a GreenPeacenik, but it's fascinating to hear about the end of the world especially while I haven't invested in one yet. Did I mention that they sell dog food in the refrigerated sections of the supermarket next to the meat aisle? Either that or it's dog meat. I am told they sell kangaroo meat too. It's supposed to be lean like deer meat, and I'm told that it keeps in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. And there is a section in the supermarket for people who homebrew their beer. This is simply amazing. There is a beer called XXXX. Actually I saw this up in front of a bar and I thought it was an especially dirty nudie bar. Well, as it turns out, it's the name of the beer that tastes like s**t, but since they can't write that everywhere, they just name it "****" or "four-x". The Burger Kings are called Hungry Jack's. I'm not sure why. I keep getting confused with the side of the road to walk on and the way I should be looking for cars at crosslights. It is especially frightening to be sitting in the front while a car is making a left turn at an intersection. It seems to violate my sense of safety. It's a good thing I'm not going to be driving anything around here. There was intermittent rain today while I was in the rainforest. Listening to the rain fall, the insects buzz, and the waves crash at Cape Tribulation was pretty neat. Cape Trib is very quiet and peaceful, and there are few visitors.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of the coast. I bought a Greyhound bus pass that will take me down to Melbourne over the next 30 days.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Aquaman in the Great Barrier Reef!
The Great Barrier Reef is pretty awesome. I was able to dive to about 16m (52ft) for about 30 minutes until I had to go back up. I think I could stay down for about an hour as I never had less than half a tank left. The colors are more muted than I had expected, but I guess that's because the television and photographs have the colors shifted so that they look brighter. I will hold off on uploading more photos as the jungle internet connection is very sloooooow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)