Yeah. It's coming up.
The day when I sell my surfboard. The day when I have to fit all this stuff back into the three tiny bags it came over in. The day I hop on a train and go to Sydney and then get on a plane and bid farewell to this wonderful country, likely forever.
In my "cross-cultural understanding" class, a class I am required to take through the program, we've spent the semester discussing adjusting to Australian culture. Now, the discussion has shifted to the re-adjustment period, which is often longer and more difficult. I've made a completely new set of friends, changed my lifestyle almost completely, learned a new city, all of which is going to be completely thrown out as my life just jumps back 6 months.
I'm excited to go home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss wrenching on a car. I can't wait to move into my house in Platteville. I miss lots of American food, mostly mexican and buffalo wings! I miss cheap beer!
but...it's going to be cold. I'm going to have to get a job and do lots of school work. I won't have a budget of money for whatever I need. I'm going to miss going to the beach and mucking about in the ocean whenever I feel like it.
It's going to be interesting.
Also, on the way to the grocery store today, I walked through a bookstore who has their clearance books outside, and found a book by one of my favorite authors marked down from $25AUD to $10AUD, which is about $6USD. Score!
30 October 2008
27 October 2008
Byron Bay: Round Two: Return of the Daves
I spent this last weekend in Byron Bay to play in an invitation Rugby 7's tournament. The bus departed from Newcastle at 8:00AM. Upon boarding our leased chariot, I was promptly handed a beer and a rugby jersey, name on back "DAVE". This was a pretty good symbol of things to come.
Rules were established. Rugby jersey or no shirt must be worn at all times. When asked your name, you are to answer "Dave". When asked who Dave is, you are to answer "I'm Dave!". Chicks are sweet. Youngest player on tour, hereby called "Baby Dave" is not to allow "Softhands Dave/Incredible Dave/Inflatable Dave" (inflatable dude from the Incredibles wearing a Dave jersey) out of arms length at any time for the entire duration of tour. What happens on Rugby tour, stays on rugby tour. 10 hours and three pub stops later, we arrived in Byron.
If I tried to describe all of the hilarious things that happened in these wonderful three days, a few things would happen. I would wear myself out typing and probably have the longest post ever. I would become very frustrated with myself for getting way too much of what happened. I would also probably offend a lot of people, mostly Canadians, New Zealanders, and ugly chicks. Thusly, here are a few highlights.
Every night, Dave court was held and charges were levied against Daves. Most of these charges stemmed from "Conduct unbecoming of a Dave" or "Aggravated fraternization with University Rugby Girls". Having been placed on the Dave jury one night and presented with the case of a Dave being a terrible wingman, I suggest that he be bound hand and foot to another Dave until morning. That was probably the funniest night of the tour.
We played four games. There were some teams very serious about this tournament, but there are many teams that just go to have as much fun as possible. We are in the second category. There is over $20,000 in prize money available, and thus, some very serious teams show up and it is not worth getting bent out of shape over a loss.
The first game began and sure enough, we are matched up against a team of giant Fijians in very serious jerseys. They ran drills, stretched, huddled and warmed up before the game. We each had a beer. The game began. We did not do any chasing once it appeared they were going to score. They did things like punch us in the heads and other things that were completely not necessary when you're up 50-5. Thus, at halftime, a crucial strategic decision was made. Today was now "pants off Friday". Any Dave entering the game must first remove his rugby shorts.
This seemed to enrage the Fijians and every tackle now included an attempt to de-undie the Dave. Many things were seen by the crowd that should not have been seen. Married Dave got his torn clean off and was forced to do the walk of shame out of the game, half naked.
The story was the same the second game. Serious business, blah blah blah, we are not wearing pants and playing a man down, as Inflatable Dave entered the game. By this point, the Daves have drawn quite the crowd. There are big teams from international countries on surrounding fields being ignored while everyone laughs at the pantsless local guys. The tiniest Fijian got the ball as I was sprinting at him with full force. I tried to really, really smack him, but ended up knocking the wind out of myself harder than ever before. DAVE DOWN! I couldn't breathe or speak, and Doctor Dave was sent onto the field. As soon as he made it across the field (after explaining "I'm not the 8th man, I've still got my pants on!") I finally managed to regain my breath and I just got up and rejoined the game, prompting more laughter from the crowd.
Between the second and third games we headed to the ocean. We went for a quick swim in our rugby shorts, which are made of some amazing material which is apparently used by NASA for water retention purposes. I still think mine are wet from this incident.
The next day, we finally got into a fun game. The first half was semi-serious, but the the rules changed often in the second half. For a few minutes, speedwalking Rugby was played, where one foot must remain on the ground at both times and tackles were decided by rock-paper-scissors. There was also a period of no-hands rugby which resembled playing soccer with an egg. I also have to mention that I scored on a 60 metre try near the end of the first half. I picked the ball up off the ground, ran through one tackle, sidestepped another, and then ran a long distance, only to be confronted by a frowning, giant Fijian at the other end of the field. I was able to slide the ball over the try line whilst getting tossed. One of my team mates apparently called for a pass at some point during this run but then remembered that my brain is still programmed for American Football and I can't pass underhand anyways, and he yelled "Actually, just take it". Scoring this try was a key moment which I will explain later.
I had started the trip as "Seppo Dave/American Dave". I was then re-named "Cougar Dave". After this game, we headed to the ocean again. For a period of 15 minutes, I was called "Shameless Dave" as I went for a swim in my tighty-whities.
The first three times I fell asleep I woke up hogtied with giant zipties. The first two times I woke up in the process of. The first time it happened, I apparently had an indescribable look of profound terror on my face. The two Daves responsible looked at each other, wide eyed, not sure to continue or run, afraid that I was going to kill them or something. Haha. The last time, I managed to sleep through it entirely and woke up in the morning with my two legs now functioning as one leg.
The last night, I got revenge.
I rounded up Married Dave, Sarge Dave, and Duff Dave and took revenge on all of the other Daves that had participated. Two of the Daves were jumped and tied in their beds (one of which switched beds and was the wrong Dave, but we didn't know this until morning). Two of the upstairs rooms had their doorknobs tied together so that neither room had an exit. As soon as this was finished, I heard a toilet flush and married Dave, who we thought was in one of the rooms, walked out of the bathroom. I informed him that we would cut the tie and allow him back in, but we would be re-attaching it as soon as he was inside. He sighed, grabbed a Gatorade bottle, and walked into his room.
I was awakened the next morning by "BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! SNAP!" followed by the sound of a person urinating for about a minute and a half. He didn't use the Gatorade bottle after all!
On the ride back home, the bus was stopped about an hour and a half outside of Newcastle for the nudie run. All Daves that did not score a try and/or prevented repeated offenses were made to strip down and run across a half K bridge while traffic raced by in both directions. Yeah, I was happy to have scored that try.
All in all, it's good to be back in Newcastle and get some sleep! I'm pretty sore from the whole weekend (attributed mostly to beach sumo wrestling, that was a poor idea).
The Daves have continued their legendary reign of terror. I have been invited back for the 10th year anniversary of the Daves. I bought a Rugby ball and the team signed it. I was also presented with an honorary shirt reading "I'm not drunk, I'm Australian", having been the first American to ever make the tour.
Rules were established. Rugby jersey or no shirt must be worn at all times. When asked your name, you are to answer "Dave". When asked who Dave is, you are to answer "I'm Dave!". Chicks are sweet. Youngest player on tour, hereby called "Baby Dave" is not to allow "Softhands Dave/Incredible Dave/Inflatable Dave" (inflatable dude from the Incredibles wearing a Dave jersey) out of arms length at any time for the entire duration of tour. What happens on Rugby tour, stays on rugby tour. 10 hours and three pub stops later, we arrived in Byron.
If I tried to describe all of the hilarious things that happened in these wonderful three days, a few things would happen. I would wear myself out typing and probably have the longest post ever. I would become very frustrated with myself for getting way too much of what happened. I would also probably offend a lot of people, mostly Canadians, New Zealanders, and ugly chicks. Thusly, here are a few highlights.
Every night, Dave court was held and charges were levied against Daves. Most of these charges stemmed from "Conduct unbecoming of a Dave" or "Aggravated fraternization with University Rugby Girls". Having been placed on the Dave jury one night and presented with the case of a Dave being a terrible wingman, I suggest that he be bound hand and foot to another Dave until morning. That was probably the funniest night of the tour.
We played four games. There were some teams very serious about this tournament, but there are many teams that just go to have as much fun as possible. We are in the second category. There is over $20,000 in prize money available, and thus, some very serious teams show up and it is not worth getting bent out of shape over a loss.
The first game began and sure enough, we are matched up against a team of giant Fijians in very serious jerseys. They ran drills, stretched, huddled and warmed up before the game. We each had a beer. The game began. We did not do any chasing once it appeared they were going to score. They did things like punch us in the heads and other things that were completely not necessary when you're up 50-5. Thus, at halftime, a crucial strategic decision was made. Today was now "pants off Friday". Any Dave entering the game must first remove his rugby shorts.
This seemed to enrage the Fijians and every tackle now included an attempt to de-undie the Dave. Many things were seen by the crowd that should not have been seen. Married Dave got his torn clean off and was forced to do the walk of shame out of the game, half naked.
The story was the same the second game. Serious business, blah blah blah, we are not wearing pants and playing a man down, as Inflatable Dave entered the game. By this point, the Daves have drawn quite the crowd. There are big teams from international countries on surrounding fields being ignored while everyone laughs at the pantsless local guys. The tiniest Fijian got the ball as I was sprinting at him with full force. I tried to really, really smack him, but ended up knocking the wind out of myself harder than ever before. DAVE DOWN! I couldn't breathe or speak, and Doctor Dave was sent onto the field. As soon as he made it across the field (after explaining "I'm not the 8th man, I've still got my pants on!") I finally managed to regain my breath and I just got up and rejoined the game, prompting more laughter from the crowd.
Between the second and third games we headed to the ocean. We went for a quick swim in our rugby shorts, which are made of some amazing material which is apparently used by NASA for water retention purposes. I still think mine are wet from this incident.
The next day, we finally got into a fun game. The first half was semi-serious, but the the rules changed often in the second half. For a few minutes, speedwalking Rugby was played, where one foot must remain on the ground at both times and tackles were decided by rock-paper-scissors. There was also a period of no-hands rugby which resembled playing soccer with an egg. I also have to mention that I scored on a 60 metre try near the end of the first half. I picked the ball up off the ground, ran through one tackle, sidestepped another, and then ran a long distance, only to be confronted by a frowning, giant Fijian at the other end of the field. I was able to slide the ball over the try line whilst getting tossed. One of my team mates apparently called for a pass at some point during this run but then remembered that my brain is still programmed for American Football and I can't pass underhand anyways, and he yelled "Actually, just take it". Scoring this try was a key moment which I will explain later.
I had started the trip as "Seppo Dave/American Dave". I was then re-named "Cougar Dave". After this game, we headed to the ocean again. For a period of 15 minutes, I was called "Shameless Dave" as I went for a swim in my tighty-whities.
The first three times I fell asleep I woke up hogtied with giant zipties. The first two times I woke up in the process of. The first time it happened, I apparently had an indescribable look of profound terror on my face. The two Daves responsible looked at each other, wide eyed, not sure to continue or run, afraid that I was going to kill them or something. Haha. The last time, I managed to sleep through it entirely and woke up in the morning with my two legs now functioning as one leg.
The last night, I got revenge.
I rounded up Married Dave, Sarge Dave, and Duff Dave and took revenge on all of the other Daves that had participated. Two of the Daves were jumped and tied in their beds (one of which switched beds and was the wrong Dave, but we didn't know this until morning). Two of the upstairs rooms had their doorknobs tied together so that neither room had an exit. As soon as this was finished, I heard a toilet flush and married Dave, who we thought was in one of the rooms, walked out of the bathroom. I informed him that we would cut the tie and allow him back in, but we would be re-attaching it as soon as he was inside. He sighed, grabbed a Gatorade bottle, and walked into his room.
I was awakened the next morning by "BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! SNAP!" followed by the sound of a person urinating for about a minute and a half. He didn't use the Gatorade bottle after all!
On the ride back home, the bus was stopped about an hour and a half outside of Newcastle for the nudie run. All Daves that did not score a try and/or prevented repeated offenses were made to strip down and run across a half K bridge while traffic raced by in both directions. Yeah, I was happy to have scored that try.
All in all, it's good to be back in Newcastle and get some sleep! I'm pretty sore from the whole weekend (attributed mostly to beach sumo wrestling, that was a poor idea).
The Daves have continued their legendary reign of terror. I have been invited back for the 10th year anniversary of the Daves. I bought a Rugby ball and the team signed it. I was also presented with an honorary shirt reading "I'm not drunk, I'm Australian", having been the first American to ever make the tour.
Day 14 - Cape Tribulation Day Tour
Today's task was a day tour of the Daintree Rainforest at Cape Tribulation.
We were collected at 6:55AM again (hurray!) and fitted onto a bus for the lengthy ride North. The scenery along the way kind of reminded me of home. For a while, the roads were tiny two lane country roads with farms lining the roads. Different, however, were the miniature scale railways between the fields and the roads. These were sugarcane farms, and the sugarcane would be put into carts on this railway, where it would be pulled by tractors into town to the refinery.
There were also several osprey nests pointed out to us on the way. The nests, and birds, are both GIANT.
Here's the view from Flagstaff Hill, which was one of our stops during the northward journey.
We arrived and took a guided tour through the rainforest. Some nifty views of the ocean included!
We were set loose on a beach to eat the lunch we had packed.
I had a bag of chips and an 8 pack of miniature pancakes I had found. They were delicious, but the lunch was missing something...
Coconuts!
I was a little disappointed that more of this was not documented. It looks so easy here in these three pictures. Climb tree, bash with log, drink milk!
It actually went more like, climb log, curse, fall down, throw things at coconuts, collect coconuts, bash with log, curse, take to beach, beat on pointy rocks, find crack, muscle apart, endure "gorilla man" taunts, success!
After this, we walked back out and took a croc spotting tour in a boat. Kinda dissappointing, but we were reminded that the animals were not there to entertain us. We were there late in the day so the crocs had finished sunning themselves and had retreated into the mangroves for the most part. We did see two, though!
That big dude is apparently named "Scarface".
I'm not sure what this was, but it looked cool.
Just a lil guy!
The funniest part of the afternoon was when we were passing another croc tour boat going in the opposite direction. The operator was on his own PA, telling his own boat "Now that we've seen a croc drag a buffalo into the water and a python strangle a kangaroo, let's check out some birds!". Well played, I laughed.
We returned home without incident. I was pretty tired and headed to bed early. Somewhere in here, I earned the nickname "Hans". *shrugs*
Day 15 - White Water Rafting
I am awakened at 4:30AM by the sound of smashing glass followed by Irish cursing. This is going to be a great day.
One of the giant glass sliding doors leading to our balcony was giving us troubles, not quite opening properly all week. Apparently, it had been off the track, and when one of the Irish dudes had gone out for a cigarette, it completely fell out and shattered a few minutes later. (Irish) lucky for him, he was not sitting in the obvious chair near the door, which had been flattened by the door, but a further, less flattened chair. He informed us that he was going to reception to tell them what happened. I, and the 6 others in the room grunted something in reply and tried to go back to bed.
Five minutes later, I am awakened by the largest, angriest, most Pacific Islander man I have ever seen. His head was the size of my torso. "Pack your stuff and get the hell out. All of you." What? I was asleep! Everyone argues about what happens. Each argument takes a few seconds to process. His brow furrows. He grunts, and generally repeats the last thing he told us. Someone mentions that throwing us out at 4:30 in the morning is ridiculous. He says that we should have thought of that before we kicked the door out. I am about to laugh, but then realize that it might mean a very sleepless morning. I mention that the door was screwed up all week. After the others tell him some other things, he grunts and leaves the room.
At this point, I figure I'm off the hook or he's either coming back with 5 of his friends. I decide to go back to sleep. I am vaguely aware of two people entering the room and then I hear sweeping glass. I fall asleep. Apparently, I am the only one out of the 8.
I wake up again at 6:30, this time to my alarm. I stop by reception on my way out the door to ask what was going to happen. I am informed that nothing will happen until I get back from my day trip.
In order to get pumped up for white water rafting, I would think there should be a better way than a muscular guy with blonde hair and a hoarse voice yelling things at you from the front of a bus. This man will say extreme things and lie to you about the length of the bus ride. I will become agitated when I am on a bus for 2.5 hours instead of "about an hour and a half". Agitated means I get stabby when handed a paddle, not padd-ly.
He asks us to form groups. I am sitting with one person I know and we form a group. We are supposed to form a group of 7. Muscular dude comes over and asks if I have a group. I inform him that I do. He calls us "Nigel no-friends" and says he will come back to us. We wonder who will join Hans and Nigel on their rafting adventure.
Groups are formed, we are handed a helmet, a paddle, and a vest. We walk down from the bus and get into the raft without being told a single thing. Finally our raft instructor (one of the two river medics on duty) gives us a quick briefing. This includes things like, how to sit, how to lock your legs in to hang on, and commands like "over left", "over right", "get down", and "hold on", and most importantly, how to keep everyone's teeth in while executing said commands. He did not, however, teach us how to paddle. With three girls in the boat, this was a problem. My brain was telling me that how fast the boat moves is proportionate to how much water we move, and how much water we move is an equation of the amount of the paddle in the water times the length of the stroke, but I just told the girls to put more of the paddle into the water and move it as far as they could. Problem solved.
The first hour is pretty boring. Everyone goes through the rapids one at a time. Our boat goes through first, and then we "park" and the medic gets out with a line, just in case. Everyone is dumped into the water and taught how to float down the rapids and made to swim against the current, just in case. It was pretty fun.
We stop for lunch, the signature Aussie BBQ. (What's that? Sausages? Of course!)
The next three hours were probably the most fun I've had since I've been in Australia.
The morning training session aside, the rapids were faster and we went down them faster, only really stopping to make sure no boats were left behind. Some of the rapids, we were told to go at full force and paddle all the way through. It was an absolute blast. Between rapids, we were allowed to go for group swims.
There was a natural waterslide a few meters tall and very thin. We put everyone in the nose of the boat and went down it. The boat flipped straight up, intentionally dumping everyone except for the instructor. We folded the boat in half between rocks...lengthwise (on purpose) and sideways (on accident)...which was really interesting looking. The person in the front and the back of the boat hit heads.
All the boats stopped at a 4 meter tall rock in the middle of the river. We got out and jumped into the water. Receiving a dare from my instructor, I did a front flip, then swam upstream and got out again and did a backflip. "You're wearing a vest and a helmet and the water is deep, you should feel pretty invincible". Haha.
More rapids. Fun stuff. I am talking to my friend sitting next to me when a rock happens to slide right under him and just pops him out of the boat mid sentence. The instructor informs us that he buys the next round. (I am disappointed later when this does not happen).
We head back to their bar/home base and people who want them buy pictures. The prices were pretty ridiculous and I look silly in a helmet anyways, so no pictures! Had a few beers with the instructors and then got back on the bus and returned home.
My stuff is gone. I was told nothing would happen, but my bag is still stashed in my room, and my other bag and everything on my bed is gone. Shoes, iPod, charger, everything. I go back to reception and it takes them half an hour to find it, but everything seems to be intact. Everyone else in my room has been moved, but the door has been replaced, so I decide to stay there. (Later, when the maids come in, they inform me that the room is out of order, and I am only there by some flaw in the system.) I enjoy having the room to myself.
Day 16 - Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...
It's raining. It's kinda rained the last three mornings and then cleared up by afternoon...thus is life in a rainforest. I call the skydiving place and they tell me my pickup has been bumped back 30 minutes. Finally, it stops raining, I am picked up on time and driven to the jump office, where I am shown a short video and made to sign forms. I meet my instructor, who is a man half my size. I ask if there are any problems being front heavy, and he just says we're going to fall faster. Haha.
I've been skydiving before. I took a class and did a line jump, by myself at 3500 feet. This is 14,000 feet with a minute of free fall, and with an instructor, all new things to me. We are strapped up and driven to the airport where we are hurried onto a small plane. Last time, it was about 4 or 5 hours from the time arrived to the time I jumped. This time, I was at the airport and back again within 20 minutes. Not much time to think about it! We climb on the plane and strap in. The instructor straps himself to my back. I am first out of the plane. The video instructs us to cross our arms when we get to the door, and the instructor will rock back and forth three times. Looking out, I hesitate just for a second. We're really, really high. The instructor rocks once and then we are falling. They tell you to cross your arms so that you can't grab the plane.
There's literally nothing I can type here to describe the feeling of free fall. It was absolutely nuts. My physics told me that I would reach terminal velocity and then cease to accelerate. Later, I learned this was about 130mph. The wind noise at this level is deafening. The instructor was apparently yelling things in my ears the whole time. I was oblivious. All I got out of it was that by pushing my hands towards the earth, I can steer the both of us. That was really, really cool.
I see something that looks like a target on top of the clouds beneath us. At first, I wondered if it was a spotlight or something from earth, a target...but then my brain processes it. It's a rainbow! Here's an image I found on flickr that was apparently taken from a plane that might help.
The clouds rush towards us. It is suddenly very cold and very humid, just what you would think falling through a cloud would be like. We fall right through the center of the rainbow, an image I will never forget. It's hot and dry again. I feel us slow down, but not stop...something's wrong. The chute is tangled. He pulls at the strings and I kick my feet and the chute pops open completely. Just as I remember...absolute silence, just hanging in the air. I get control of the chute and have some fun, but we don't have that much altitude to play with. Coming in for landing, as he is about a foot shorter than me, I am told to put my legs straight out in front of me and I slide in on my butt. It's hard to believe it was over that fast. My friend lands, and the only phrase he repeats for the next half hour is "That...was....awesome!!!". I was getting annoyed, but not because he wasn't right!
One of my roommates is afraid of heights. She was terrified in the plane and told the instructor she would have to be pushed out. He did, and she loved it, which reinforces what I've been telling people this whole time. Of all the extreme things I've done, skydiving is probably has the best fun:scary ratio. Abseiling/rapelling was fun, but that was definitely very high on the scary:fun ratio. That scared the crap out of me.
Day 17 - Finally going home...
The day was spent in the sun until we grabbed a taxi at 4PM for our 6PM flight. There were four of us on this flight, we split a cab and grabbed some Hungry Jack's in the airport. Security was pretty lax compared to a US airport, the security screening was unobtrusive and I was never even asked for ID! I bought a magazine for the flight and it went by pretty fast. We had an hour before our train...I predicted we would be cutting it close...and we ended up missing it by thirty seconds. Boo. I went to a bar for the 2.5 hours until the next train, the others tried to sleep on the platform.
On the train home, as we were arriving into Newcastle, I had just woken up. I was the first out of the four. Just then, I knew I had no way of getting into my apartment. It's funny how stuff just pops into your head like that. My keys were on my bedside table. I left them there so I wouldn't lose them, assuming one of my roommates would let me in. All of my roommates were coming back the next day. I spent the night at my friend's and the cleaners let me in the next morning.
I could not have had a better two weeks with a better bunch of people. I knew probably about half of the people on the trip at the beginning, but by the end, it seemed like everyone got along great.
Also, I am so pleased to have finally gotten this online! Sorry for the delay! Things have been busy here as well...
We were collected at 6:55AM again (hurray!) and fitted onto a bus for the lengthy ride North. The scenery along the way kind of reminded me of home. For a while, the roads were tiny two lane country roads with farms lining the roads. Different, however, were the miniature scale railways between the fields and the roads. These were sugarcane farms, and the sugarcane would be put into carts on this railway, where it would be pulled by tractors into town to the refinery.
There were also several osprey nests pointed out to us on the way. The nests, and birds, are both GIANT.
Here's the view from Flagstaff Hill, which was one of our stops during the northward journey.
We arrived and took a guided tour through the rainforest. Some nifty views of the ocean included!
We were set loose on a beach to eat the lunch we had packed.
I had a bag of chips and an 8 pack of miniature pancakes I had found. They were delicious, but the lunch was missing something...
Coconuts!
I was a little disappointed that more of this was not documented. It looks so easy here in these three pictures. Climb tree, bash with log, drink milk!
It actually went more like, climb log, curse, fall down, throw things at coconuts, collect coconuts, bash with log, curse, take to beach, beat on pointy rocks, find crack, muscle apart, endure "gorilla man" taunts, success!
After this, we walked back out and took a croc spotting tour in a boat. Kinda dissappointing, but we were reminded that the animals were not there to entertain us. We were there late in the day so the crocs had finished sunning themselves and had retreated into the mangroves for the most part. We did see two, though!
That big dude is apparently named "Scarface".
I'm not sure what this was, but it looked cool.
Just a lil guy!
The funniest part of the afternoon was when we were passing another croc tour boat going in the opposite direction. The operator was on his own PA, telling his own boat "Now that we've seen a croc drag a buffalo into the water and a python strangle a kangaroo, let's check out some birds!". Well played, I laughed.
We returned home without incident. I was pretty tired and headed to bed early. Somewhere in here, I earned the nickname "Hans". *shrugs*
Day 15 - White Water Rafting
I am awakened at 4:30AM by the sound of smashing glass followed by Irish cursing. This is going to be a great day.
One of the giant glass sliding doors leading to our balcony was giving us troubles, not quite opening properly all week. Apparently, it had been off the track, and when one of the Irish dudes had gone out for a cigarette, it completely fell out and shattered a few minutes later. (Irish) lucky for him, he was not sitting in the obvious chair near the door, which had been flattened by the door, but a further, less flattened chair. He informed us that he was going to reception to tell them what happened. I, and the 6 others in the room grunted something in reply and tried to go back to bed.
Five minutes later, I am awakened by the largest, angriest, most Pacific Islander man I have ever seen. His head was the size of my torso. "Pack your stuff and get the hell out. All of you." What? I was asleep! Everyone argues about what happens. Each argument takes a few seconds to process. His brow furrows. He grunts, and generally repeats the last thing he told us. Someone mentions that throwing us out at 4:30 in the morning is ridiculous. He says that we should have thought of that before we kicked the door out. I am about to laugh, but then realize that it might mean a very sleepless morning. I mention that the door was screwed up all week. After the others tell him some other things, he grunts and leaves the room.
At this point, I figure I'm off the hook or he's either coming back with 5 of his friends. I decide to go back to sleep. I am vaguely aware of two people entering the room and then I hear sweeping glass. I fall asleep. Apparently, I am the only one out of the 8.
I wake up again at 6:30, this time to my alarm. I stop by reception on my way out the door to ask what was going to happen. I am informed that nothing will happen until I get back from my day trip.
In order to get pumped up for white water rafting, I would think there should be a better way than a muscular guy with blonde hair and a hoarse voice yelling things at you from the front of a bus. This man will say extreme things and lie to you about the length of the bus ride. I will become agitated when I am on a bus for 2.5 hours instead of "about an hour and a half". Agitated means I get stabby when handed a paddle, not padd-ly.
He asks us to form groups. I am sitting with one person I know and we form a group. We are supposed to form a group of 7. Muscular dude comes over and asks if I have a group. I inform him that I do. He calls us "Nigel no-friends" and says he will come back to us. We wonder who will join Hans and Nigel on their rafting adventure.
Groups are formed, we are handed a helmet, a paddle, and a vest. We walk down from the bus and get into the raft without being told a single thing. Finally our raft instructor (one of the two river medics on duty) gives us a quick briefing. This includes things like, how to sit, how to lock your legs in to hang on, and commands like "over left", "over right", "get down", and "hold on", and most importantly, how to keep everyone's teeth in while executing said commands. He did not, however, teach us how to paddle. With three girls in the boat, this was a problem. My brain was telling me that how fast the boat moves is proportionate to how much water we move, and how much water we move is an equation of the amount of the paddle in the water times the length of the stroke, but I just told the girls to put more of the paddle into the water and move it as far as they could. Problem solved.
The first hour is pretty boring. Everyone goes through the rapids one at a time. Our boat goes through first, and then we "park" and the medic gets out with a line, just in case. Everyone is dumped into the water and taught how to float down the rapids and made to swim against the current, just in case. It was pretty fun.
We stop for lunch, the signature Aussie BBQ. (What's that? Sausages? Of course!)
The next three hours were probably the most fun I've had since I've been in Australia.
The morning training session aside, the rapids were faster and we went down them faster, only really stopping to make sure no boats were left behind. Some of the rapids, we were told to go at full force and paddle all the way through. It was an absolute blast. Between rapids, we were allowed to go for group swims.
There was a natural waterslide a few meters tall and very thin. We put everyone in the nose of the boat and went down it. The boat flipped straight up, intentionally dumping everyone except for the instructor. We folded the boat in half between rocks...lengthwise (on purpose) and sideways (on accident)...which was really interesting looking. The person in the front and the back of the boat hit heads.
All the boats stopped at a 4 meter tall rock in the middle of the river. We got out and jumped into the water. Receiving a dare from my instructor, I did a front flip, then swam upstream and got out again and did a backflip. "You're wearing a vest and a helmet and the water is deep, you should feel pretty invincible". Haha.
More rapids. Fun stuff. I am talking to my friend sitting next to me when a rock happens to slide right under him and just pops him out of the boat mid sentence. The instructor informs us that he buys the next round. (I am disappointed later when this does not happen).
We head back to their bar/home base and people who want them buy pictures. The prices were pretty ridiculous and I look silly in a helmet anyways, so no pictures! Had a few beers with the instructors and then got back on the bus and returned home.
My stuff is gone. I was told nothing would happen, but my bag is still stashed in my room, and my other bag and everything on my bed is gone. Shoes, iPod, charger, everything. I go back to reception and it takes them half an hour to find it, but everything seems to be intact. Everyone else in my room has been moved, but the door has been replaced, so I decide to stay there. (Later, when the maids come in, they inform me that the room is out of order, and I am only there by some flaw in the system.) I enjoy having the room to myself.
Day 16 - Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...
It's raining. It's kinda rained the last three mornings and then cleared up by afternoon...thus is life in a rainforest. I call the skydiving place and they tell me my pickup has been bumped back 30 minutes. Finally, it stops raining, I am picked up on time and driven to the jump office, where I am shown a short video and made to sign forms. I meet my instructor, who is a man half my size. I ask if there are any problems being front heavy, and he just says we're going to fall faster. Haha.
I've been skydiving before. I took a class and did a line jump, by myself at 3500 feet. This is 14,000 feet with a minute of free fall, and with an instructor, all new things to me. We are strapped up and driven to the airport where we are hurried onto a small plane. Last time, it was about 4 or 5 hours from the time arrived to the time I jumped. This time, I was at the airport and back again within 20 minutes. Not much time to think about it! We climb on the plane and strap in. The instructor straps himself to my back. I am first out of the plane. The video instructs us to cross our arms when we get to the door, and the instructor will rock back and forth three times. Looking out, I hesitate just for a second. We're really, really high. The instructor rocks once and then we are falling. They tell you to cross your arms so that you can't grab the plane.
There's literally nothing I can type here to describe the feeling of free fall. It was absolutely nuts. My physics told me that I would reach terminal velocity and then cease to accelerate. Later, I learned this was about 130mph. The wind noise at this level is deafening. The instructor was apparently yelling things in my ears the whole time. I was oblivious. All I got out of it was that by pushing my hands towards the earth, I can steer the both of us. That was really, really cool.
I see something that looks like a target on top of the clouds beneath us. At first, I wondered if it was a spotlight or something from earth, a target...but then my brain processes it. It's a rainbow! Here's an image I found on flickr that was apparently taken from a plane that might help.
The clouds rush towards us. It is suddenly very cold and very humid, just what you would think falling through a cloud would be like. We fall right through the center of the rainbow, an image I will never forget. It's hot and dry again. I feel us slow down, but not stop...something's wrong. The chute is tangled. He pulls at the strings and I kick my feet and the chute pops open completely. Just as I remember...absolute silence, just hanging in the air. I get control of the chute and have some fun, but we don't have that much altitude to play with. Coming in for landing, as he is about a foot shorter than me, I am told to put my legs straight out in front of me and I slide in on my butt. It's hard to believe it was over that fast. My friend lands, and the only phrase he repeats for the next half hour is "That...was....awesome!!!". I was getting annoyed, but not because he wasn't right!
One of my roommates is afraid of heights. She was terrified in the plane and told the instructor she would have to be pushed out. He did, and she loved it, which reinforces what I've been telling people this whole time. Of all the extreme things I've done, skydiving is probably has the best fun:scary ratio. Abseiling/rapelling was fun, but that was definitely very high on the scary:fun ratio. That scared the crap out of me.
Day 17 - Finally going home...
The day was spent in the sun until we grabbed a taxi at 4PM for our 6PM flight. There were four of us on this flight, we split a cab and grabbed some Hungry Jack's in the airport. Security was pretty lax compared to a US airport, the security screening was unobtrusive and I was never even asked for ID! I bought a magazine for the flight and it went by pretty fast. We had an hour before our train...I predicted we would be cutting it close...and we ended up missing it by thirty seconds. Boo. I went to a bar for the 2.5 hours until the next train, the others tried to sleep on the platform.
On the train home, as we were arriving into Newcastle, I had just woken up. I was the first out of the four. Just then, I knew I had no way of getting into my apartment. It's funny how stuff just pops into your head like that. My keys were on my bedside table. I left them there so I wouldn't lose them, assuming one of my roommates would let me in. All of my roommates were coming back the next day. I spent the night at my friend's and the cleaners let me in the next morning.
I could not have had a better two weeks with a better bunch of people. I knew probably about half of the people on the trip at the beginning, but by the end, it seemed like everyone got along great.
Also, I am so pleased to have finally gotten this online! Sorry for the delay! Things have been busy here as well...
Day 12 - Finally in Cairns!
The final bus ride ended at 6:05am. Again, I slept for most of it. I've gotten the hang of this!
We walked to the hostel only to find out that we weren't allowed to check in until 2:00PM. Lovely. Some people were vocally expressing their discontent with STA, who booked our trip...I think alot of people just like to find things to complain about. These are the same people who were going to ask for refunds because we didn't get to see the beach or because the bus was late on the first night...neither of which really mattered in the long run or was STA's fault, if you ask me. I don't know, either I check into my room and go sit by the pool, or I sit by the pool and then go check in, I really just don't see the point in getting worked up over something like that.
Rant over, moving on. We dropped our luggage off and went for a walk. Managing to find a cafe open at 7AM, I ordered a giant burger. THAT's the way to start a day!
We walked over to the lagoon, which was a fresh water pool near the ocean and spent most of the day here.
Mmm, low tide.
Note the UV index. The purple is supposedly what your skin would look like without sunscreen.
We spent all of the morning here, sleeping in what felt like an oven. The Australian sun really is brutal! We walked back to the hostel and I randomly ran into three of my friends from Newcastle University who had planned their own trip to Cairns and had no idea we were staying in the same hostel. (Me: "So, what do you guys have planned?" Them: "I'm not really sure. We just got on an airplane and now we're here.")
We happened to walk past the hostel bar and OMG OMG NFL FOOTBALL LIVE!!!! Monday Night Football, Vikings vs. Saints. The whole group detoured into the bar and we ordered a couple of pitchers and cheered against the Vikings. I guess I always thought of our spring break group as being a pretty homogeneous group, as we were all American, but sitting down to watch the NFL game, I realized that this same group back home would have been as diverse as they come. We had two Packer fans, a Viking fan, a Seahawks fan, a Bears fan, a Chargers fan, a Cardinals fan, and a Redskins fan, all of them from those areas. It was good fun watching Reggie Bush run back two punts, but it wasn't enough and the Vikings came out on top.
At the hotel bar that night, the special was two for one drinks. Someone took this opportunity to catch me sipping on two lemon/lime vodkas. Haha.
Day 13 - Reefquest, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.
Today's itinerary included two scuba dives and all-day snorkeling. We hopped aboard a very fancy looking boat that it appears I have neglected to take a picture of. We departed Cairns and began the 1.5 hour trek to the Great Barrier Reef. "The Captain presses a button, and Windows 95 will navigate us to the reef"
The divers were broken into several groups, the intro divers, divers doing a class onboard, divers doing a certification test, and finally the fully certified divers. There were about 12 of us total, and we paired off with our dive buddies for the dive briefing, which describes conditions, currents, temperatures, hazards, and the surrounding ocean floor. Here's a map of one of the dives. The boat was anchored near the middle bottom. My partner and I went west and then north, up the "ski slope", and then back around.
Really amazing scenery! Your first dive of the day is always your deepest, and I made sure to go down as far as I was certified, a full 18 metres. I've never been down nearly that deep before, it was cool. Once again, I burned through air faster than he did, reaching the minimum 50 bar when he was around 90. We headed back to the boat and did some snorkeling before lunch.
Our second dive was scheduled for 1-2PM, up to an hour, or when one partner runs out of air. I made sure to ask why I was running through air so quickly. I'm an experienced diver and I know how to slow my breathing, it shouldn't be happening. One of the instructors overfilled my tank to 240bar. I still managed to tear through this before Adam took in his 200, he had 70 left when I was out. I really think I have sports induced asthma or something, making me gasp for air and tear through it faster than Al Roker through an "All you can eat" sign.
The highlight of this dive was seeing two white tipped reef sharks. The first one was just kinda posted up in the reef, watching everything happen. The second, I chased around whilst making chomping motions with my hands. OM NOM NOM!
We saw plenty of clownfish and "little nemos" Some of the fish are really ridiculous colors. There was an outcropping of reef and a GIANT really ugly fish underneath it. I barely even saw it, it was wonderfully camouflaged. Coming upon a school, I noticed that if you swim calmly, the fish ignore you, and you can swim right with them. Very cool!
I went for another quick snorkle, this time going off by myself and lying very still in the very deep, cold water off the back of the boat. While everyone else was studying the same anemones I had seen while underwater, I saw another shark, a family of giant manta rays, and the largest school of fish I've ever seen. I wish I had pictures!
At this time, I went back into the cabin to change back into my boardies. I heard gunshots and saw the captain, who was in his 50's or 60's, playing Farcry, a shooting game, on his laptop. We made small talk until it was time to go. He mentioned that the game allowed you to pilot boats and planes, and I asked him what piloting the boats was like. Haha.
One last shot of the reef. It was really cool to see waves breaking in the middle of the ocean. Haha.
We walked to the hostel only to find out that we weren't allowed to check in until 2:00PM. Lovely. Some people were vocally expressing their discontent with STA, who booked our trip...I think alot of people just like to find things to complain about. These are the same people who were going to ask for refunds because we didn't get to see the beach or because the bus was late on the first night...neither of which really mattered in the long run or was STA's fault, if you ask me. I don't know, either I check into my room and go sit by the pool, or I sit by the pool and then go check in, I really just don't see the point in getting worked up over something like that.
Rant over, moving on. We dropped our luggage off and went for a walk. Managing to find a cafe open at 7AM, I ordered a giant burger. THAT's the way to start a day!
We walked over to the lagoon, which was a fresh water pool near the ocean and spent most of the day here.
Mmm, low tide.
Note the UV index. The purple is supposedly what your skin would look like without sunscreen.
We spent all of the morning here, sleeping in what felt like an oven. The Australian sun really is brutal! We walked back to the hostel and I randomly ran into three of my friends from Newcastle University who had planned their own trip to Cairns and had no idea we were staying in the same hostel. (Me: "So, what do you guys have planned?" Them: "I'm not really sure. We just got on an airplane and now we're here.")
We happened to walk past the hostel bar and OMG OMG NFL FOOTBALL LIVE!!!! Monday Night Football, Vikings vs. Saints. The whole group detoured into the bar and we ordered a couple of pitchers and cheered against the Vikings. I guess I always thought of our spring break group as being a pretty homogeneous group, as we were all American, but sitting down to watch the NFL game, I realized that this same group back home would have been as diverse as they come. We had two Packer fans, a Viking fan, a Seahawks fan, a Bears fan, a Chargers fan, a Cardinals fan, and a Redskins fan, all of them from those areas. It was good fun watching Reggie Bush run back two punts, but it wasn't enough and the Vikings came out on top.
At the hotel bar that night, the special was two for one drinks. Someone took this opportunity to catch me sipping on two lemon/lime vodkas. Haha.
Day 13 - Reefquest, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.
Today's itinerary included two scuba dives and all-day snorkeling. We hopped aboard a very fancy looking boat that it appears I have neglected to take a picture of. We departed Cairns and began the 1.5 hour trek to the Great Barrier Reef. "The Captain presses a button, and Windows 95 will navigate us to the reef"
The divers were broken into several groups, the intro divers, divers doing a class onboard, divers doing a certification test, and finally the fully certified divers. There were about 12 of us total, and we paired off with our dive buddies for the dive briefing, which describes conditions, currents, temperatures, hazards, and the surrounding ocean floor. Here's a map of one of the dives. The boat was anchored near the middle bottom. My partner and I went west and then north, up the "ski slope", and then back around.
Really amazing scenery! Your first dive of the day is always your deepest, and I made sure to go down as far as I was certified, a full 18 metres. I've never been down nearly that deep before, it was cool. Once again, I burned through air faster than he did, reaching the minimum 50 bar when he was around 90. We headed back to the boat and did some snorkeling before lunch.
Our second dive was scheduled for 1-2PM, up to an hour, or when one partner runs out of air. I made sure to ask why I was running through air so quickly. I'm an experienced diver and I know how to slow my breathing, it shouldn't be happening. One of the instructors overfilled my tank to 240bar. I still managed to tear through this before Adam took in his 200, he had 70 left when I was out. I really think I have sports induced asthma or something, making me gasp for air and tear through it faster than Al Roker through an "All you can eat" sign.
The highlight of this dive was seeing two white tipped reef sharks. The first one was just kinda posted up in the reef, watching everything happen. The second, I chased around whilst making chomping motions with my hands. OM NOM NOM!
We saw plenty of clownfish and "little nemos" Some of the fish are really ridiculous colors. There was an outcropping of reef and a GIANT really ugly fish underneath it. I barely even saw it, it was wonderfully camouflaged. Coming upon a school, I noticed that if you swim calmly, the fish ignore you, and you can swim right with them. Very cool!
I went for another quick snorkle, this time going off by myself and lying very still in the very deep, cold water off the back of the boat. While everyone else was studying the same anemones I had seen while underwater, I saw another shark, a family of giant manta rays, and the largest school of fish I've ever seen. I wish I had pictures!
At this time, I went back into the cabin to change back into my boardies. I heard gunshots and saw the captain, who was in his 50's or 60's, playing Farcry, a shooting game, on his laptop. We made small talk until it was time to go. He mentioned that the game allowed you to pilot boats and planes, and I asked him what piloting the boats was like. Haha.
One last shot of the reef. It was really cool to see waves breaking in the middle of the ocean. Haha.
Day 9 - Airlie Beach/Whitsundays
Up once again very early! The hostel was about 90* F and everyone sorta woke up at 7AM. We went for a walk and I bought a smoothie and a chicken/avacado wrap. I assumed this would be a good start to a great day, until a bird crapped on my hand. Luckily, it was the hand not holding the wrap, but I still was led to pause for a second and go "Did that really just happen? C'mon!"
We headed out to the Marina at 12:30PM to check in for our sail. The boat was returning a little late and needed some prep time. I took this time to remember that I had forgotten my toothbrush. Luckily, the marina cafe had one for the awesome price of $5. "I bet that's the last time you forget your toothbrush!" said the clerk.
Waiting for the boat
Matador is 85ft in length and is the largest IOR Maxi ever built. Matador was designed, developed and constructed at a cost of over US$20 million in 1991. The yacht is constructed from carbon fibre, titanium and aluminium. Matador competed in 52 races, 8 regattas and 2 maxi world champions and was undefeated!
http://www.sailing-whitsundays.com/WhitsundaySailing.php?id=1015
Final systems check: Go. We start motoring out of the harbour.
Airlie Beach as we departed.
The sail down
The sail going up
And the massive effort needed to raise the sail after the reduction gearing broke.
While sailing, the boat sits at quite a fantastic angle. Here's the Defender, another boat that left the Harbour with us.
Here's what the deck looks like while sailing. Stay on the high side!
Here's about where we dropped anchor for the night after an afternoon of sailing.
The scenery was stupid beautiful. The ocean shifted between dark blue and gorgeous green, there were island in any direction, it seemed, if you looked hard enough. It's hard to believe some people sail for a living and live on the ocean.
The inside of the boat...the galley and some of the bunks.
I saw this, kinda did a double take, then sauntered over and took a picture. I didn't laugh really hard until I saw the picture a week later.
Some nifty shots of the sunset that night.
Before it got dark, after we were anchored, the crew took down some of the railing and some of jumped off the boat and swam for a bit. There was a bit of a competition, as there always is when boys are jumping into water. I was doing alright until someone sprinted past the line and did a flip over the railing into the water. Unexpected!
I don't know if I've ever seen a larger pot of spaghetti, and everyone was incredibly hungry, it hit the spot in fantastic fashion.
The boat was over-booked. I think there was originally supposed to be two boats for us, but we all ended up on one. There was not enough room for everyone to sleep, so 10 people hopped on the dinghy with camping equipment and headed to shore. I chose to stay on board and I'm glad I did. The gentle rocking of the ocean put me to sleep in no time.
Day 10 - Swimming with the Fishes
We were up at DAWN. The boat started and everyone got up and started having a brekky feed. I did not agree with this and stayed in my cot as long as possible.
We motored to a different location and set anchor for scuba diving. Adam and I were the only two certified divers on board, but we needed a group of four, so two other divers who had gone before were chosen.
I was a little concerned, as I haven't been in a BCD since my certification dive in Summer of 2005, so I sat through the training course, but it all came back to me, just like riding a bicycle.
This actually was the smoothest dive I've ever had, I think.
There's a lot of stuff on the ocean floor! The five of us jumped in and I floated on my back as taught in training, to listen for bubbles. I heard a leak and alerted my instructor, who told me it was just a pin leak from the regulator and would be fine for the dive. We went down and explored for a bit.
You know when you see a bunch of seagulls on the beach and some idiot sprints towards them and scatters the crowd? I'm that idiot. This state of mind also seems to apply under the ocean, as I caught myself swimming quickly to scatter schools of fish on numerous occasions. I ran out of air first and gave the signal that I was low and heading to the surface. The dinghy came and picked me up. I was at 50bar when everyone else was around 75-100bar. I assumed this was just a result of the leak, as I used to be very good with air.
While we were diving, everyone else was snorkeling. Upon return to the boat, I traded in my gear, keeping the flippers and mask. I was really amazed how buoyant you actually are in a full wetsuit without the weight belt that scuba divers wear. There was no effort required to float. I spent quite a bit of time relaxing face down and watching the ocean floor beneath me.
There were three other groups of four divers each. The first group was all intro divers, and they were all girls. Two of them panicked when they got under water. When you panic, you breathe fast and shallow, and when you breathe fast and shallow, the air doesn't have time to get through your regulator and into your lungs. I suppose this is an advantage of learning in a swimming pool, like I did, as opposed to being tossed into the ocean.
On the itinerary for the day was docking at Whitehaven beach, the purest beach in the world. Apparently, the beach is pure silica and it's like walking in flour. Tourists are not allowed to take the sand, as NASA uses it in the construction of super pure space glass or some such technobabble. We were apparently running behind and the grumpy old skipper informed us that we couldn't go. The girls did quite a bit of complaining and he eventually said we could go. This meant that the last group of scuba divers missed their dive. Also, he failed to mention that we wouldn't actually go to the beach, just go past it. Thanks for that.
Here's as close as I got to Whitehaven beach. It looks cool, I guess!
We often encountered fields of this floaty brown stuff. When asked, a member of the crew convinced a group of girls that it was whale crap. Hahaha. It's actually a perfectly natural reef byproduct, and that's all I know about that.
We sailed back to the beach we camped at the first night. The skipper went below deck and one of the crew members I had spent quite a bit of time talking to about navigation and sailing was left in charge of the wheel. After explaining to me where the sandbar was that we had to go around, he gave me the wheel and left to do other things on the boat. Very cool!
We set anchor and enjoyed a roast beef and potato dinner. It reminded me of home! Everyone had a few drinks and then they climbed into the dinghy for transport to the camping site. One problem: The dinghy wouldn't start! After a half hour of trying, it was declared dead and now we had 12 extra people to sleep on this already cramped boat! The two crew members slept on the floor of the captain's cabin. The remaining 10 people doubled and tripled up beds or slept on the deck. As I got up to use the toilet, I noticed one of my friends sleeping on top of a chest freezer, with everything below his knees hanging off the end. Hahaha.
Apparently one of the crew members came up to the deck and pulled out the sail cover and everyone on the deck slept under it to stay dry. The boat was really hot, the skipper was snoring very loud, and it was raining a decent amount. The boat was doing more than gentle rocking and I wondered if I was ever going to get to sleep. However, just like every other night I've wondered that, I was somehow asleep shortly after.
Day 11 - Whitsundays/Airlie Beach
Up at dawn again, despite the rough night. Everyone was tired, it seemed. After some more diving and jumping off the side of the boat, anchor was raised and we motored back to Airlie Beach.
It was at this point that I happened to glance down and notice I was actually pretty tan. I was pretty confused.
We got back in without issue. The cool members of the crew begged us to skip our bus ride that night and go out on the town with them that night. We met them at 5PM at a local restaurant for a few drinks, but then it was time for one last bus ride at 7:30PM.
We headed out to the Marina at 12:30PM to check in for our sail. The boat was returning a little late and needed some prep time. I took this time to remember that I had forgotten my toothbrush. Luckily, the marina cafe had one for the awesome price of $5. "I bet that's the last time you forget your toothbrush!" said the clerk.
Waiting for the boat
Matador is 85ft in length and is the largest IOR Maxi ever built. Matador was designed, developed and constructed at a cost of over US$20 million in 1991. The yacht is constructed from carbon fibre, titanium and aluminium. Matador competed in 52 races, 8 regattas and 2 maxi world champions and was undefeated!
http://www.sailing-whitsundays.com/WhitsundaySailing.php?id=1015
Final systems check: Go. We start motoring out of the harbour.
Airlie Beach as we departed.
The sail down
The sail going up
And the massive effort needed to raise the sail after the reduction gearing broke.
While sailing, the boat sits at quite a fantastic angle. Here's the Defender, another boat that left the Harbour with us.
Here's what the deck looks like while sailing. Stay on the high side!
Here's about where we dropped anchor for the night after an afternoon of sailing.
The scenery was stupid beautiful. The ocean shifted between dark blue and gorgeous green, there were island in any direction, it seemed, if you looked hard enough. It's hard to believe some people sail for a living and live on the ocean.
The inside of the boat...the galley and some of the bunks.
I saw this, kinda did a double take, then sauntered over and took a picture. I didn't laugh really hard until I saw the picture a week later.
Some nifty shots of the sunset that night.
Before it got dark, after we were anchored, the crew took down some of the railing and some of jumped off the boat and swam for a bit. There was a bit of a competition, as there always is when boys are jumping into water. I was doing alright until someone sprinted past the line and did a flip over the railing into the water. Unexpected!
I don't know if I've ever seen a larger pot of spaghetti, and everyone was incredibly hungry, it hit the spot in fantastic fashion.
The boat was over-booked. I think there was originally supposed to be two boats for us, but we all ended up on one. There was not enough room for everyone to sleep, so 10 people hopped on the dinghy with camping equipment and headed to shore. I chose to stay on board and I'm glad I did. The gentle rocking of the ocean put me to sleep in no time.
Day 10 - Swimming with the Fishes
We were up at DAWN. The boat started and everyone got up and started having a brekky feed. I did not agree with this and stayed in my cot as long as possible.
We motored to a different location and set anchor for scuba diving. Adam and I were the only two certified divers on board, but we needed a group of four, so two other divers who had gone before were chosen.
I was a little concerned, as I haven't been in a BCD since my certification dive in Summer of 2005, so I sat through the training course, but it all came back to me, just like riding a bicycle.
This actually was the smoothest dive I've ever had, I think.
There's a lot of stuff on the ocean floor! The five of us jumped in and I floated on my back as taught in training, to listen for bubbles. I heard a leak and alerted my instructor, who told me it was just a pin leak from the regulator and would be fine for the dive. We went down and explored for a bit.
You know when you see a bunch of seagulls on the beach and some idiot sprints towards them and scatters the crowd? I'm that idiot. This state of mind also seems to apply under the ocean, as I caught myself swimming quickly to scatter schools of fish on numerous occasions. I ran out of air first and gave the signal that I was low and heading to the surface. The dinghy came and picked me up. I was at 50bar when everyone else was around 75-100bar. I assumed this was just a result of the leak, as I used to be very good with air.
While we were diving, everyone else was snorkeling. Upon return to the boat, I traded in my gear, keeping the flippers and mask. I was really amazed how buoyant you actually are in a full wetsuit without the weight belt that scuba divers wear. There was no effort required to float. I spent quite a bit of time relaxing face down and watching the ocean floor beneath me.
There were three other groups of four divers each. The first group was all intro divers, and they were all girls. Two of them panicked when they got under water. When you panic, you breathe fast and shallow, and when you breathe fast and shallow, the air doesn't have time to get through your regulator and into your lungs. I suppose this is an advantage of learning in a swimming pool, like I did, as opposed to being tossed into the ocean.
On the itinerary for the day was docking at Whitehaven beach, the purest beach in the world. Apparently, the beach is pure silica and it's like walking in flour. Tourists are not allowed to take the sand, as NASA uses it in the construction of super pure space glass or some such technobabble. We were apparently running behind and the grumpy old skipper informed us that we couldn't go. The girls did quite a bit of complaining and he eventually said we could go. This meant that the last group of scuba divers missed their dive. Also, he failed to mention that we wouldn't actually go to the beach, just go past it. Thanks for that.
Here's as close as I got to Whitehaven beach. It looks cool, I guess!
We often encountered fields of this floaty brown stuff. When asked, a member of the crew convinced a group of girls that it was whale crap. Hahaha. It's actually a perfectly natural reef byproduct, and that's all I know about that.
We sailed back to the beach we camped at the first night. The skipper went below deck and one of the crew members I had spent quite a bit of time talking to about navigation and sailing was left in charge of the wheel. After explaining to me where the sandbar was that we had to go around, he gave me the wheel and left to do other things on the boat. Very cool!
We set anchor and enjoyed a roast beef and potato dinner. It reminded me of home! Everyone had a few drinks and then they climbed into the dinghy for transport to the camping site. One problem: The dinghy wouldn't start! After a half hour of trying, it was declared dead and now we had 12 extra people to sleep on this already cramped boat! The two crew members slept on the floor of the captain's cabin. The remaining 10 people doubled and tripled up beds or slept on the deck. As I got up to use the toilet, I noticed one of my friends sleeping on top of a chest freezer, with everything below his knees hanging off the end. Hahaha.
Apparently one of the crew members came up to the deck and pulled out the sail cover and everyone on the deck slept under it to stay dry. The boat was really hot, the skipper was snoring very loud, and it was raining a decent amount. The boat was doing more than gentle rocking and I wondered if I was ever going to get to sleep. However, just like every other night I've wondered that, I was somehow asleep shortly after.
Day 11 - Whitsundays/Airlie Beach
Up at dawn again, despite the rough night. Everyone was tired, it seemed. After some more diving and jumping off the side of the boat, anchor was raised and we motored back to Airlie Beach.
It was at this point that I happened to glance down and notice I was actually pretty tan. I was pretty confused.
We got back in without issue. The cool members of the crew begged us to skip our bus ride that night and go out on the town with them that night. We met them at 5PM at a local restaurant for a few drinks, but then it was time for one last bus ride at 7:30PM.
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