inevitable goodbye

One of the hardest things I've had to do lately was say 'goodbye' to my friend, Storey. After getting to know each other, and hanging out together in Antarctica, and then traveling together for three weeks in New Zealand and Australia, I was beginning to get used to talking to him and finding things to do with him. He's a phenomenal friend to me.

But, we are from two different states, so he flew from LA to his life in Northern California and I flew back the Bellingham, Washington. It makes me a little sad. We had some fantastic, some dorky, and some definitely memorable moments traveling together, and we still got along after three weeks of touring through foreign countries with each other! I am blessed to know him. He's been an invaluable friend to me and I hope we'll stay that way!

Thanks for the memories, Storey!

by the numbers

I just acquired status with American Airlines, so before we left Australia we had breakfast at the Qantas Club before pushing off for a 13 hour trip across the Pacific. All-in-all, we put on 3337 kilometers on 12 day rental car using about 6 tanks of petrol (at about $1.33 per litre). We hit at least 9 Northeastern Australian and 2 New Zealand beaches. We camped 2 nights in the car, 9 nights in a tent, and splurged for 3 nights in a hostel or hotel with friends. And, while I'm talking numbers and friends, we encountered 5 friends from The Ice while we were in Australia. Our St. Patrick's day was 41 hours long since we crossed the International Dateline and started the 17th all over again. We had breakfast 2 times; once in Brisbane, then lunch on the plane, and breakfast again before landing in Los Angeles. We each had 7 flights to get us from McMurdo to our airport of departure. 2 many numbers, but definitely 1 fantastic trip!

jack in brisbane

We tried to get Jack Johnson tickets while we were in New Zealand, but it ended up that they were sold out. Since we were back in Brisbane on the day of the concert, we decided that seeing the show would be a great way to finish our trip in Australia. So, we drove into the city and arrived at the Botanical Garden to look for tickets, but found out that there were two botanical gardens in Brisbane and we were at the wrong one. We thought parking was too easy at that location, so we drove back into the city and with road closures, a big concert, and very little street parking, we drove around for over an hour before finally finding a place to park across the river from the Botanical Gardens. There was a foot bridge to cross that brought us right to the gates of the concert and we sat waiting for someone to offer up their precious pieces of paper to us.

We were beginning to doubt that anyone would come forward with passes, but finally a guy passed us with a yellow envelope and we got our tickets after all!

The concert was a blast! An Australian, Will Connor played to kick off the show and Jack actually came out and played with him for a song. Then, one of my favorites, Matt Costa, also played (incidentally, he was also at Calvin College, my alma mater, two weeks prior). My favorite tune of his, Yellow Taxi Cab, came up and was so fun to hear in concert.

Before Jack Johnson came on to play, they had an Aboriginal welcome which included an Aboriginal man coming on stage in body paint, playing a didgeridoo. We were really happy we saw this concert in Australia right then!

Jack Johnson music was chill and happy as usual. It was grass seating at the Botanical Gardens and most people stood for the entire concert. He played a lot of his old music as well as a few songs from his new CD, which was good for Storey and I because we were not familiar with most of the new CD.

The concert was the perfect way to end our trip. Afterward, we hustled to get gas and find the house of a friend-of-a-friend. When we got there the house was dark and no one opened the door, so we may have googled the directions wrong. Due to the fact that we had to leave for the airport within 5 hours, we decided to drive around the neighborhood and find some unsecured network to get some internet and then we headed to a park to nap a bit before taking off for the Brisbane International Airport. So, our last night was as uncomfortable as the first in our car!
(photos from the Brisbane Times).

From the Sunshine Coast Daily:
A sell-out crowd chilled out under clear skies on Sunday to watch Johnson perform at Brisbane’s Riverstage, supported by Californian and fellow Brushfire Records artist Matt Costa and Byron Bay’s Will Conner...All three artists are touring on the back of new albums, but it was Jack who stole show, giving fans an awesome two-hour performance. Australia is the first stop on his world tour to promote his new release, Sleep Through the Static, which had clearly been listened to many times over by the fans attending his show. The crowd...sang along to song after song from his extensive catalogue of hits, but they saved their biggest screams for his hit songs Taylor and Good People. About the only time they went quiet was when he faded off into covers of songs by Led Zepplin and Janes Addiction. Johnson topped off a brilliant performance by coming out for an encore to perform three intimate solo tracks from Sleep Through the Static.

the hunt for the koala

I cannot tell you how often we looked in the trees for koala bears; well, I seemed to be scouting the dark forests of eucalyptus while Storey drove. We determined that it's a myth for tourists. On our last full day in Australia, we visited the Daisy Hill Koala Park. We saw one koala and it was in the visitors' centre. We took a walk through the park and didn't see one sleepy bear the entire time!

So, we came up with a theory that the one koala they have and the few others that hang out in the zoos and wildlife centers are actually wombats with plastic surgery. They put the wombat in a tree at the visitor's centre so that there is hope of seeing one in the 'wild' and then market part of their Australian tourism campaign around this mythical creature. That's what we came up with.

surfers paradise

We liked the idea of checking out Surfers Paradise and seeing some good waves, but the city was pretty expensive, and since it was our last couple days in Australia, we wanted to keep things on the cheap. That meant no SeaWorld, or fancy hotel. Instead, we headed to Philip Park across from SeaWorld on the Pacific Ocean side of the spit. The first item on the agenda was to eat our fantastic pineapple that we had purchased at a roadside stand. It was delicious; even after we each had half of the huge thing!

Then we took off for the sand and surf. The beach was beautiful and very clean. We saw a variety of bluish jellyfish and though they were pretty, we wanted to be sure they weren't dangerous before we waded in the water. After talking to a local couple, we found out that we might feel a little sting, but they were harmless and most of them would not sting at all.

We watched a lot of people swim, surf, boogie board, and sunbathe. We looked at the sand a lot and found some crazy critters washing ashore. On our way back, we got in the water and did a little body surfing until we got in trouble for swimming where there was no lifeguard. It was too bad. We were having a lot of fun and staying close enough to the shore to remain safe, too.

Friends from Antarctica, Amanda and Seth, were staying at a hostel in the area that night, so Storey and I went to check in there as well. The only beds they had left were in the 10 bunk staff dorm room, so we settled in there and played Speed until our friends arrived. They showed up just in time for dinner and so we spent the evening talking over our travels and plans for the future. It was really great to be able to hang out with some familiar faces for a night!

salty experiences

Driving up the Northeastern side of Australia, it would be a shame if we didn't get out to see the Great Barrier Reef area. So, while Storey was living out his childhood dream on a 2 night sailing trip, I took a shorter day trip through the Whitsunday Islands aboard the Reefjet.

Our first stop was at a snorkeling and diving spot. I decided to try scuba diving for the first time. I didn't know if I really wanted to go under the water and Storey doubted that I would actually dive, so I had something to prove to he and myself! I was the only person on my boat to dive for the first time, so I had an instructor, Iain, all to myself, which was nice. It made me feel extra safe. I put on a stinger suit to protect me from the jellyfish and give me some buoyancy. Then came all the scuba gear which is super heavy!

Before I knew it, I was jumping in the water, learning how to empty my mask of water, and catch my regulator if it would fall out of my mouth. Then it was time to dive. I was a bit scared. I'm not sure why. The breathing didn't seem to be a problem for me, but I suppose I was exploring entirely new territory that was dark and a bit spooky got to me a bit. The first half of the dive I was thinking about what I was doing how I was breathing. The second half I feel like I was finally able to look around and see all the amazing creatures around me. The Reef is quite alive with corals, huge clams with big purple lips and tons of schools of fish. It was surreal and amazing! After we came out of the water, the dive master on the boat said he had seen a white finned shark. I missed that!

The second stop was at Whitsunday Island, in a little cove where green sea turtles frequent the water. I saw two huge ones poke their necks out of the water. These turtles can stay down 5-6 hours at a time, but when active you may see the same one every hour, or two. At this stop we took a pontoon boat to the island for a short, one kilometer, walk up to a lookout toward Whitehaven Beach. The walk was nice and the lookout is the 4th most photographed spot in Australia.

When we pulled into this bay, Storey's sailboat was also taking a stop there. We nearly saw each other, but missed each other by about 15 minutes. If nothing else, it was nice to get a picture of our boats in the same frame!

Whitehaven Beach is one of the most pristine silica beaches in the world. The rumor is that 50 ton of sand from this beach was given to the Hubble Telescope project and when it was messed up, the Australian government denied the project from taking anymore of it's National Park's sand. The sand is a result of the coral in the area and two plates rubbing together to create a "washing machine" effect. Coral from the Reef area is pulled in, ground up, and washed up on the beach here. It is fine and great for exfoliation, cleaning jewelry, and sinking your feet into!

The actual beach was our final stop on our trip. The boat pulled right up to the shore, so we all put on our stinger suits, hopped off the back, and waded about 5 meters to the shore. Some played cricket, took walks, sat in the sun, or built sand castles. I sat and wrote in my journal for awhile and then hung out in the boat to stay out of the sun.

The trip back seemed long, but it was a nice afternoon to be boating through the beautiful islands and seen the amazing blues and turquoise of the Coral Sea.

great barrier

Monday morning came and we decided to head back into Airlie Beach so Storey could get ready for his two day, two night boat trip that left on Tuesday. We spent part of the morning in the inland town of Proserpine where we found cheap internet at the local library. Proserpine, incidentally, is also the town where there is a hospital equipped to take airlifted patients from the water to the emergency room for a three day stay if you have the unfortunate collision with a box jellyfish, or irukandji stinger.

After settling in our camp later in Airlie, we took off to find some late lunch at one of the restaurants on the tourist strip and take an evening swim in the town Lagoon. The Lagoon is a huge swimming pool built into the shoreline so that people can safely swim without the stingers all year long. It's also a close option for swimming as the tide can go out quite a ways when it is down. We successfully stayed out of the sun all day long to protect our sunburns and the water was so nice after a hot and humid day.

The next day, we spent the morning purchasing sunscreen, a beach bag, and an underwater camera for Storey's trip and I booked my own day trip for the next day. I was excited and sad to spend a day on my own, so I was happy to run into my friend Nichole, and her boyfriend, Drew, who were staying in the area. After I dropped off Storey at the marina, I caught up with them for the afternoon and evening.

Nichole and Drew had seen some colorful lorakeets in the palm trees the night before, so we took a walk to see if they would return. They did come back around 7:30pm. In all their noise, they are quite beautiful little birds. They swarmed the trees to find a mate. By the time we left them, they were all paired off. We had dinner together as well at Fish D'Vine. I had Spanish Mackerel fish 'n chips. This turned out to be a poor decision as I came down with a little case of food poisoning that night and the next morning.

beauty of bowen

One of my favorite memories from this trip will be the lazy day we spent wandering around our slow town of Bowen on Sunday. Nothing was open so we had to find our own entertainment. There were three things on our to-do list as tourists: Check out the Mullers Lagoon, walk the boardwalk from Horseshoe Bay to Rose Bay, and look for stingrays and turtles on the pier.

Our first stop was Muller's Lagoon. We were a bit disappointed that the upkeep of this city-centre park wasn't up to par with that of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, but it was a nice day to walk around the lagoon and spot a couple of their over 100 birds that visit the park.

We never found the start of the boardwalk, at Horseshoe Bay before we started bouldering our way around the coastline. It was a memorable and fantastic time negotiating our way around the huge rocks. Occasionally we saw a sea creature scitter across the rock and we found an entire dead cow, but most of the time we bounced from rock to rock. Somewhere around the beds and turns we found a coconut. Storey broke it open and we got to eat fresh coconut on the beach! I think I'll remember that as one of the best memories in Australia!

After beach combing for awhile, we stopped back at our beach on Rose Bay and sat for a long time on the rocks there watching the waves come and go, a couple sea turtles surface for air and dive back down, and a crab clinging to the rocks while the tide washed over it.

After all the rock scrambling, we went to find the pier. We walked in a lot of wind to the end and saw plenty of two meter waves, but no turtles and no stingrays. There were some peculiar birds on the sand and we watched a couple of kite surfers finish their day on the waves.

It was a pretty great day spent together until later when I woke up with the worst sunburn I can remember on my back. The sun is pretty intense in Australia and the water probably amplified the problem; even on my SPF 45 coated back! A bottle of ice on the neck cooled me off quite a bit and helped me get some sleep. It felt a little better by morning and we determined it would be best to stay out of the sun all day!

the north tip of the roadtrip

We took a relatively short drive up to Airlie Beach on our next day of driving. We were ready to stop somewhere and figure out where we should take our trips out to the Reef. A friend of mine was staying in Airlie and so we wandered into the town, booked a trip for Storey and then promptly left to find a place to put down the tent for a couple nights before his trip took off.

The little town we found to spend some time in was Bowen; home of the big mango. This beach town is normally distinguished with many beautiful beaches, but due to recent storms and a levy breaking in a river, the water was silty and had damaged a few establishments close to the water. We seem to miss the rain wherever we go, so everyone has some weather to talk about and we nod our heads and are grateful that God has blessed us with beautiful sunny beach days.

We found Bowen to be a sleepy little town with genuine hospitality an little to do after 6pm (even the grocer). I suppose in that way, it was a nice place to spend a couple of days after being on the road so long!

While we adjusted to our new surroundings by doing about 12 laps around the town in our little Toyota, we found the "best view in town" on the top of a hill with a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. We also found Rose Bay Caravan Park where we plopped the tent down at a discount because it was the owners 50th birthday and her maiden name matched Storey's last name.

On yet another loop around Bowen, we found a beautiful sunset. We pulled over and watched it for awhile. We also realized that this town sported "Storey Street." However, this was the only street in town to be missing its' street sign; a true disappointment!

another driving day

We spent another day driving up the Australian Coast. We were hoping that the A1, Bruce Highway Motorway would be a little like the Pacific Highway 1 in the States. Unfortunately, we infrequently were able to take in the coastline as we drove through eucalyptus trees and kept a line of hills or mountains between us and the coast. We did take a couple of 25-40 kilometer detours to check out the coastline, or find information on an area.

While Storey took a rest break in Sarina, I went in and talked to the two nice women who worked in the information station there. They were very kind and one had never seen snow before. Coming from Antarctica, that seemed ridiculous, but it gave her something to accomplish yet in life! Sarina prides itself in the sugar industry and since I worked in that industry in Chicago, I found this and the surrounding cities quite nostalgic. I rattled off quite a few sugar facts to Storey as we cruised through hundreds of kilometers of sugarcane country!

We also cruised through Rockhampton. The city's claim to fame is the beef and cattle industry, but it also boasts the Tropic of Capricorn; that little invisible line that wraps around the bottom half of the world indicating we are in the tropics. Hello, humid sunshine!

For our evening of camping, we found Cape Hillsborough National Park on the coast and called it a day. We had our rainforest, we had our beach, and we even found that we had kangaroos. Since we'd only seen a dead one on the side of the road, we were thrilled that kangaroos were hopping through the campground and on the beach as well. For the second night in a row, we found a fantastic place to camp.

After setting up the tent on the spot right next to the beach, we walked around to explore our park. We found the kangaroos feeding on scraps left by the park staff, and then we took a walk on the beach to enjoy the sunset and water. We had entered "stinger" country which is the northeastern shore of the Coral Sea from November to May. The box jellyfish can give you a sting you won't forget. The smaller Irukandji can issue a death sting and is as small as a fingernail. Both will land you in the hospital for three days while the body detoxifies! That said, we stayed out of the water, but enjoyed the broad beach and the unique-to-us shells and beach life at dusk.

The next morning we took another daylight walk on the sand and saw our kangaroos making themselves at home near the surf as well. I've never put kangaroos and beaches together, but that's how they roll in these parts.

hit the road

We had a nice morning walk on the Pelegian Beach and waded through atrocious amounts of sea foam as the tide peaked and then ebbed back towards some far away shore. It didn't take much to realize that Storey and I spend most of our time walking the beach with our head toward the sand, looking for any peculiar color or shape in the sea shells!

Excited to get on the road, we left the beach and headed north; just a little too quickly. We were pulled over going 110kph in a 100 zone. Apparently the Australian police can pull you over for no reason at all and make you blow an alcohol test at 9:45am. We got a warning, a little heads up that they don't really ticket foreigners anyway, and then we were merrily on our way.

Our next stop was Bundaberg for some information and maps. Bundaberg is where they make my favorite Ginger Beer (like Gingerale; just stronger). I picked some up of course and we happily went on our way from the town with a few more maps and a couple of places to explore.

Determined not to sleep in the car again, we looked for a place to camp quite early. We had eyed out Emu Point as a stopping place, but after seeing the campground there, we continued a few kilometers north and ended up at Kinka Beach and a fantasitc campground resort. They had a pool, ocean and lake access, a huge jumping pillow (pictured) and the cleanest, nicest bathrooms I've seen at a camp; complete with background music! This place made a long day of traveling entirely worth it!

brisbane and then some

After two sunfilled days in Syndey, Storey and I continued our Australian adventure up to Brisbane. We picked up $79 tickets one-way up there and were thrilled when they didn't charge us for any extra luggage. It turns out that on discount airlines, and most domestic Australia flights, they use their commercial airline to cart cargo around the country, thus limiting personal bags. But, we passed and after some question, found our car rental and finally got on the road.

We made very little progress our first day, but used it to get our feet on the ground and our car supplied with food and such for our 12 day roadtrip. As dusk approached and we hadn't found a place to camp, we saw an amazing number of bats fly over our motorway. It looked a touch like a horror movie, but we were capivated by their silouettes against the sunset.

We ended up on Peregian Beach, just south of Noosa Heads. Camps were closed when we rolled in and though the beach was absolutely stunning, as well as the stars that we hadn't seen in awhile, we ended up sleeping in our little Toyota Yaris.

re-exploring sydney

Our first two days in Australia were in Sydney. Being my second time in the city, it was extra fun to have Storey along this year. It's amazing how many things other people see that I would have missed otherwise.

One of Storey's friends, Dallas, from the WAIS Divide field camp where he was working for 5 weeks in Antarctica, was also in Sydney for the two days we were in town. We met up with him for dinner and then also spent a full day on a walking tour of the city with him.

Our self-guided tour took us downtown. Storey and I had explored some of the amazing architecture in the buildings (the Queen Victoria Building, mostly) and revisited them briefly. We walked through Hyde Park and then the Botanical Gardens where dozens of bats hung from the trees!

We saw cockatoos all over the gardens and watched their funny characteristics come out when a few crumbs of granola bar were offered to them.

Of course, we saw the opera house and noted that the sails are actually completely covered in small white tiles. We laid back and enjoyed the view of the Opera House for awhile before continuing on sore feet to walk across the Sydney Bridge. Storey swung the three of us a view from the top of one of the pylons for free, so we were able to see a great 360 degree view of the city from above!

The bridge is an amazing feature and we took plenty of pictures. My favorite was this of the sun behind the structure! We also saw the shadow of the bridge against the water!