Steve’s Travel Blog

Hello all,

Well it has been a bit of a whirlwind since i wrote last and I have a lot to say, I will try to stay in the correct order but i fell behind in my journal a bit so I may have a few days

mixed up a bit

Last time I told you that I was headed back to Fraser Island with Esther and Sanna, so I will start there.  We booked our tour with Trailblazer which is a different company

than the first time and we departed from Noosa at 8am on Aug 22nd.  Our guide, Cam, was an interesting bloke and will talk more about him later.  We drove from Noosa to

Rainbow Beach and picked up a few others and then onto a barge for the short trip over to Fraser Island.  We landed on the southern tip and then drove up the beach on the

east side to the beach house backpackers accommodation we were staying at.  We had lunch and then back on the bus to see some sights.  Our first stop was at the

colored sands and they were pretty much the same as the first time.  From there we went to Indian Head and I told Cam about the story I was told the first time I went here

and that the natives were pushed off the edge and killed bcause there were to many of them.  Cam had never heard such a story and said that he did not think that it was

true.  We talked with a few other guides and it looks like the guide from my first trip was telling a tale.  I was a little upet with this but oh well, what can you do.  We saw a

few whales from the top but the excitement started when we got back to the bus and a whale about 300 meters off shore started breaching and it was a mej site.  It flopped

around for a long time and Esther got a great pic of it as well.  After the whale we headed to the Meheno shipwreck where I was able to see both sides of the wreck this time

because of low tide and it was completely different than the first time.  It made for much better photos and it was fun to walk all the way aroud it.  Our last stop of the day

was to Eli Creek and I walked in the creek again but Esther and Sanna stayed on the boardwalk because they did not bring any swimming gear.  Before we left we had a

snack and then Sanna and I were playing around.  I threw Sanna over my shoulder and walked over to the creek to throw her in.  I had about 30 people shouting to throw her

in and she was begging me not to.  I walked all the way into the creek and was ready to do it and something told me that this would be a very bad idea so I let her down

nicely in the creek which was not deep and she thanked me but I don’t think all the others were that impressed.  We then headed for our beach house and chilled for a while.

 Some went to the beach for the sunset but we just relaxed and waited for supper.  After supper some of the others went to the pub just down the road, but Esther and I

stayed at the house and had a good chat.  With the accommodation right on the beach it makes for a nicer place than the first time.  The second day was flled with new

adventures as well.  We started off the day at Lake Boomanjin where the water looks rusty because it is full of teatree oils, but I went for a swim anyway and was the only

one to do so, I actually found out after that I was the first person Cam had that ever swam in the lake, not like me to be like everyone else.  We did a walked to different

parts of the lake and then headed for Lake Birrabeen for another swim.  From there we drove thru Central Station and then went on the rain forest walk.  At one point Cam got the bus stuck and we had to get out and push, which was fun.  I was a great walk and I did most of it with Esther.  After the walk we headed back to the beach house and Felix (young German guy) and I got to go fishing from the beach.  They provided the

big beach rods and reels and we bought some bait.  We did not fair very well and gave up once the sun set.  The best part of the fishing was seeing a dingo coming up the

beach while the sun was setting.  That night we had supper again and then Esther told me a great story about her home town and family and how some of it relates to

Venezuela.  It is a long and interesting story but to long for here.  We ended up been the last to go to bed again and it was only 12:30.  Felix and I woke up early 5:30 and

headed out fishing again with much better luck this time.  It did not start off that well but then Felix caught 2 fish and we got a picture with one of them.  He put them in the

bucket we had but then the tide came in closer than we thought and had tipped the bucket over and the 2 fish were gone.  I then caught one and was getting ready to take a

picture when the little bugger got off the hook and was gone.  A few mintues later I had another one and this one was not getting away.  Felix to a pic right away and I put it

in the bucket, and what happens, yes you guesssed it, the tide came in to far again and tipped the bucket and my fish was gone as well.  Thank god we had pictures or no

one would have believed us and the fish were tiny anyway, not big enough to eat.  The bus was late leaving because we took so long fishing but to bad we were having fun. 

We then went to Lake Wabby which is a lake at the bottom of a sand dune and we were able to ride a boogie board into the lake.  A ton of fun but a lot of work walking up

the dune.  We hung around the lake for a few hours and then headed back for the barge and off the island.  We stopped along the way to have lunch on the beach before we

headed home for the day.  We got back to Noosa and went to a nice little cafe for a tea and then stayed for supper as well.

We slept in until our check out at 10am and then we drove from Noosa back to Brisbane.  We wanted to stay closer to the airport this time so we booked in at a hostel

called Bunk.  Sanna wanted to go shopping before she left for New Zealand and Esther and I tagged along.  We went into a few shops and Sanna found one that she liked

and was talking with a sales guy and finally told us that she would meet up with us later and Esther and I went out on our own.  Now it was time to decide what I was going

to do even though I had made up my mind long before and so we went to a travel agency and booked a flight to Alice Springs for the 28th.  After getting that all done we went

for a beer at a pub near the hostel.  We figured we better hurry back so that Sanna was not waiting for us and when we got back she was not there yet.  When Sanna did

get back she was carrying all kinds of bags and had ton a lot of shopping, she was so happy she nearly hit the ceiling and it was 20 feet high.  She showed us all her new

stuff and tried it all on.  We had to stop her so that we could go for supper.  It was Sanna’s last night with us so she decided on chinese food, which was good since we

were in the heart of chinatown.  After supper we went back to the hostel and chilled for the evening.  The next morning was an early start so that we could get Sanna to the

airport for 7:30.  I was an emtional goodbye to her with lots of hugs and tears.  I know she will have fun in New Zealand as it is a beautiful country and I did give some tips to

help her out.  After that Esther and I checked into the Brisbane Backpackers where we had stayed when we met.  We got our room and settled in, then went for a walk

along Southback for lunch and then went to the library to check our emails and such.  Kim met us at the library and we all chatted for a while and made plans to meet up for

the evening.  We headed back to the hostel and had some supper and then headed to Ridges where Tim works for a couple of drinks.  It was nice to sleep in the next

morning and not have to worry about going anywhere.  We talked with Felix and made plans to meet at Southbank for lunch.  Once there we sat in the sun and chilled for

the afternoon.  Felix taught me a german card game (Bonanza) that we all played together and had a blast.  Kim met up with us as well and we all walk into the downtown

area but most of the shops were closed or closing.  It is a lot different here than at home as most stores close at 5pm and some are not open on Sundays, none of this 24

hour stuff and shop when you want.  We picked up some beers and headed back to Southback and sat by the river drinking our beer and talking, that was until the nice

police man informed us that it is illegal to drink there and that it was a $250 fine, but he let us off with a warning, dumb tourists.  We then made our way to Ridges again to

see Tim and played another game of Bonanza in the bar.  After the game Felix gave me the card game and said
that I could have it.  It was really cool and now i have to play the game with
others and then send a pic to Felix to show him that I am using the game. 
It should be interesting me explaining the rules to a German game, I hope
I remember all the rules because they are all in German.  I talked to Tim
about looking after my car while I was gone with Esther and he agreed to put
it under his name so that it would not cost anything to park it.  We headed
back to the hostel after that and had a late supper of whatever was left in the
 food bag that we could not take on the plane the next day.

We had to get up super early (4:20) to catch our flight to Alice Springs and it was not easy to get up.  We made it to our bus and had no problems with the flight either. 

There are no direct flights to Alice Springs so we had to fly to Cairns first, which was cool because we could see the Great Barrier Reef for most of the flight and this was the

first time Esther was able to see it.  After a 2 hour layover in Cairns we were on our way to Alice Springs.  When we landed I found a backpackers to stay at and we got a

free shutle to it.  Once we got checked in we talked to them about a tour out to Uluru and booked a 3 day tour with a company called Adventure Tours.  After that we took a

walk into the town center and checked out some of the shops.  I was still without hiking shoes after losing the one earlier and really needed something for all the hiking that

we were going to do.  Unfortunately I could not find and that fit me and did not want to waste my money on shoes I did not really want so I decided to just go with the flip

flops.  The town has a lot of aboriginal people on the street and most of the really look lost, actually we did not know how to describe them but once we got on the tour out

guide called them that and it made sense.  We went back to the hostel and had some supper and then were in bed fairly early because we had another early start with the

tour the next day.  We were up the next morning at 5:30 to catch our bus tour, I am begining to hate these early starts and Esther is not a big fan of them either.  Our guide

for this tour was a guy named Molly, must be a relative of a “boy named sue”.  He was young but really knew his stuff, he had only worked for the company for a few months

and before that he had rode his pedal bike around the country for one year for a charity.  We also slowly got to know the group of people on the bus and a bunch of them

were German.  I got along with one guy, Tobi really well and Esther met Martine from Austria.  When we first saw Tobi he swore that he met us before but I sure did not remember him.  We finaly figured it out when he asked about Brisbane and he was watching tv when Esther and I first met.  He was trying to watch the Simpsons and all I was doing was talking, you could tell he was frustrated with us but I did not care to much as I was much more interested in Esther.  We had a good lagh about it and now he will always be the simpsons guy.  We had a big drive in front of us and headed out on the road after getting all 17 passangers.  The first day requires getting all the way to Uluru which is 6 hours away and still fit in a hike at Kata Juta “valley of the winds”.  This is the same hike I did with Meghan but this time there were a lot more prople around but still really cool.  It is a very relaxing place and on the way back we saw a rare rock wallaby.  From Kata Juta we made our way to watch the sunset at Uluru.  I was looking forward to this because the first time I was at Uluru there were to many clouds to give a good sunset, and what happens agian but the clouds rolling in and having no sunset at all.  We made our way to our camp for the night where we all stayed in nice tents that had 2 cots in each.  Esther and I picked out ours and then we helped with preparing supper.  After supper we sat around a camp fire for a while but everyone was pretty tired and we had

another early start the next morning.  We were up real early as the plan was to watch the sin rise on Uluru so it was a 5am wake up.  We had breakfast and were on the

road before 6am.  We got to Uluru just as the sun was supposed to be risinf but of course the clouds were there as well and it did not add up to very much.  It was damn

cold as well with it being around 5 degrees and everyone bundled up.  After the sunrise we did a walk around the base of Uluru for 2 hours but thur most of it we were cold

and I had to go to the bathroom, I was not the only one that had to go.  There are no toilets at Uluru so after the walk we got on the bus and went to the cultural center for an

hour and used the facilites there.  After that we went back to Uluru and Molly gave us a guided tour of the Mala walk and told us more about the aboriginal culture.  He was

very informative and really told the truth about the natives.  This was nice to hear as our guide at Fraser (Cam) did not see them in the same way and I think that is becasue

he never took the time to try to understand them.  I think it would be the way most of us see the Natives in Canada, which I have said before when I was here in May. 

Molly’s comments really make you think of how they were treated and them lets you form your own opinion.  We learned a few words in the Pitjantjara language like “palya” which means hello or goodbye, “Nupurgi Nupurgi” which means “whats mine is yours” and a big reason why the never seem to get rich, and “Jukarrpa” which is the word that means aboriginal law and their ways of life.  After our walk we got back onto the bus and then drove to Kings Canyon which is a 2 hour drive.  On the way was one of the highlights for me, we stopped in the middle of the outback in search of a Witchite Grub.  Now imagine a big white worm about the size of you middle finger.  We had to dig under a Witchite shrub and then follow along the roots.  Inside the root is where the grub grows and we were able to find a really big one.  Now as you all know I will eat anything and today the grub was on the menu, actually there were 3 of us that wanted to try it.  A french guy took the first bite and then passed it to me, with most of the guts hanging out I got a really good bite and then passed the rest onto Colm (Irish guy) to finish it off.  It did

not have much taste, maybe like tofu but the skin was pretty tough to bite thru.  Somehow Esther managed to take some great pics but was totally disgusted by it and when we got back on the bus she would barely sit beside me.  I couldn’t blame as I had witchite grub guts all over my pull over and Colm’s girlfriend (Georgina) would let him anywhere near her either.  We got to our camp at Kings Canyon with the same set up as the night before and relaxed for a bit.  For some reason I voulenteered to help cook again, which was stupid because I missed an amazing sunset with Esther.  After supper we all sat around a big camp fire but it was still really cold.  I went and had a hot shower nad felt a lot better and clean.  After a while everyone started going to bed becasue yes again we had another early start.  Up again in the dark and having breakfast before we go, but most of us were half asleep while this was going on.  We left by 6:30 and were at Kings Canyon at 7 where we started our hike around the canyon.  This was the same hike I did with Meghan and Carolyn in May.  It was a great walk again but a lot different in flip flops.  Molly was a bit of a joker and had everyone convinced of a rare speices of pygmie koalas that was actually a toy he had put up in the tree on an earlier trip.  Everyone was taking pictures except for Esther and I, we just knew something was not right.  Earlier in the trip he had also put dried camel shit on a couple of seats in the bus.  After that I had a plan for him and I will get to that.  Molly took us thru the area and gave us some great insights to the aboriginal culture in the area and Esther and I had lots of questions.  After the walk we had a 6 hour drive back to Alice Springs so most of us sat back and relaxed and in no time we were asleep. xcept for Molly I think.  We had several stops on the way back and I had time to plan some revenge on Molly.  Molly gave out a few rewards for some of us that he called stars on the trip. I got 2 awards, one for eating the grub and a second for hiking 27 kms in flip flops.  After our last stop, with 2 hours left to drive, I asked Molly for the microphone because I had a story for everyone.  Most of them already knew my story of traveling the world for 8 – 10 years but I expanded on that.  I told them that I was actually working while I travel for a company called Tui International (the company that owned the tour we were on and that my job was to check out different tours around the world, Esther was from the head office in Germany.  I had a very convincing story and he took the bait hook, line and sinker.  For the last 2 hours I left him think about it and you could see his h4ad just spinning.  I went to the rest of the people on the bus and let them in on the joke and we all thought it was pretty funny except one Austrain girl (Martine) that had got to know Esther and she thought that everything that they talked about for 3 days was a big lie.  That made me laugh even more and I ended up getting a few smacks from her.  When we got back into Alcie Springs I finally let Molly in on the joke and he was stunned.  He said that it made so much sense and was going to ask me if he dould get a transfer to another country and be a guide somewhere else.  I was all very funny and he took it in stride.  We all met up for supper that night and joked about it some more and then went to the pub for a few more laughs and drinks. 

Esther and I ended up back at the hostel at around 2:30 and went straingt to bed.  We slept till 9:30 and then had to get ready to check out.  We had breakfast and showered after our checkout and then I chilled for the rest of the morning.  Esther went ot a place called “School of the Air” where they teach children in the outback by video screens with the teacher in Alice Springs and the students in there homes.  Esther said that it was pretty impressive and with her as a teacher that not a big surprise. 

She got back early in the afternoon and we went for some lunch and took a look around downtown again.  We got picked up at 3:00 for our flight to Adelaide and were on our way.  Tobi was also on the same flight and we all stayed at the same backpackers.  We went and got a pizza for supper and just chilled for the evening.  It was an okay place but it was really cold and in the morning the place smelt like fish from the market next to it.  Esther and I slept in till after 10 and then finally got our buts in gear.  We walked to the train station to book tickets for a train ride to Melboune on Friday and then walked around the city.  It was really cold and it rained to but not for very long. We made it back to the hostel and chilled for a while and then watched the movie Australia while we were having supper.  It was a long movie and a little cheesy after actually being in Australia and seeing the real culture.  We headed for bed afterthe movie and tried to get a ggod sleep.  It was cold in the room again and so with one night left together we decided to change hostels and booked into the YHA 2 blocks away.  We got into a 4 bed dorm that we got to ourselves and it was warm and very clean.  We decided to do some shopping as we both needed a few things and I got a new pair of shoes and a shirt and Esther was able to get a few birthday gifts for friends and family. We picked up some groceries and made our way back to the hostel.  We just chilled out in the room for a few hours and then ended up having a late supper. Then it was time for bed as we had another early start for our train ride.
Friday Sept. 4th (Esther and my last day together), we were up early and got a taxi to the train station.  There was another German kid looking to go to the same place so we shared a cab, I could not believe how much stuff he had and he was only on hte road for 8 weeks, probably double of what I am carrying.  We got our seats and the train left at 7:40 am.  It was going to be an 11 hour ride so we had lots of time to relax and reflect on our time together.  You could tell that it was on both our minds and we did our best to look at the sites and not worry about having to say good-bye.  I spent about an hour on my own talking with a nice gentleman from Melbourne and Esther wrote some postcards.  The toughest part was the last hour as we started our goodbye early.  Esther gave me a birthday present that I am not allowed to open until the 14th and it is wrapped and put away so that I do not touch it.  I gave Esther a small book that had sayings about friendship and I also wrote a few things in it.  We were already in tears and I had one more gift for Esther.  If you remeber back to my travels in New Zealand, I stopped in a place called Barrytown, this is where I did the bone carving that I have been wearing around my neck ever since.  It is Mauri tradition to create these carvings and then wear them.  They say that a piece of yourself goes into the carving and when the time is right you give the craving to someone special so that they always have a part of you with them.  When I did the carving I had no idea where it was going to go but after meeting Esther there was no doubt where it belonged.  It was a very emotional moment for both of us and it will help me to know that a part me is with her as we are apart.  We did not say a lot of words to each other and we really did not have to.  The train got to the station and we picked up our bags and it was time to say goodbye.

 To be honest I can’t even remember what I said but it was very little as we hugged and kissed each other.  This was one of the toughest goodbyes I have ever had to say and I can’t wait until we meet up again, where ever and when ever that will be.  The hostel I was staying at was only 2 blocks away and I went there and did very little except think of Esther.  Earlier in the trip she gave me a book called “The Celestine Prophecy” and I started to read it and I like the book very much.  I can see a lot of me in the book and the more I read the more I learn about Esther as well.  I my last blog I had mentioned a new word “mej”, well this is what the last 3 weeks have been for me, completely and totally MEJ!!!  Now it is time to move on and continue my journey through out the world. 

I had planned to stay in Melbourne for the weekend and then get my Visa extension worked out but on Saturday morning I went on line and found out that I could do it in Brisbane as well and then I booked a flight for later that day.  It was really cold in Melbourne as well so it was nice to get back to some warmer weather.  I talked with Kim but made no plans for the evening and continued to read my book.  I woke up in the morning felling better and made my way to the library to chck emails and facebook and

start writing this blog. Tim and Kim met me after a while and we had a good chat.  They invited me to there place for Monday evening for some drinks and social time.  On

Monday morning I went to the office to get my visa extened and found out the best way to do it was online and so back to the library and got everything completed.  I think

now I will leave Brisbane tomorrow and start to make my way to Sydney with stops at Coffs Harbour and the Blue Mountains.  I would like to go to the Sydny Opera House

for my birthday and see smoe kind of show.  I also got to talk to mom and dad on skype sothat was great, as always.

That is about it for now, so I hope everyone takes care and drives safe over the long weekend at home.

Love ya all and thanks for the great comments on the last blog.
Esther left me a message to put on the blog but I can’t until I read which will be on my birthday, so that will be on the next one.

Steve

PS: I missed the aniversary of my Uncle Richard and Auntie Lill, I still remember having tons of fun at your party last year.  Some big birthdays coming up as well with my

buddy Rob on the 11th, John who working with was always fun on the 11th, and my brother Greg on the 13th, and I guess mine the next day. By the way I am getting

younger, not older.

Tags: Australia

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