I have been bad to you, dear readers. I haven't posted on the blog in an embarrassingly long time. This is not for lack of things to say mind you. In actuality, I have not only been extremely busy with traveling, working and living, but also been intimidated by the sheer thought of transcribing the last few weeks of adventures into coherent stories. I am in the midst of the four greatest weeks of my life (which time period really requires a cool title that I have not decided upon yet) and I am very upset with myself for not being able to fill you in sooner. This behemoth of a period in my life has contained weekend trips of boating in Sydney, skydiving in Byron Bay, snorkeling shipwrecks on Moreton Island, and coming this weekend, my trip to the Great Barrier Reef aka Cairns. As I sit in my dorm room sunburnt and hungry, I will attempt to describe these three indescribable weekends justly while inadvertently creating the longest blog post in Internet history. I told my mate and fellow blogger Jon about my intent to group this all together and he just laughed. I will break it down into trips so you have the option to read a chapter each night before you go to bed... And away we go.
SYDNEY:
Sydney is the most beautiful city I have ever been in. The buildings were amazing, the beaches scenic, the roads, shops and bars busy. Upon arrival our travel group wandered around an area called Kings Cross which has a reputation for being a dangerous and overall sketchy area although we seemed to have no troubles. Our hostel was a crazy, worldly epicenter full of backpacking strangers who bunked together. I seem to always run into traveling Germans who allow me to attempt to speak to them in German at least long enough to amuse me in the hostels I have been to. In Sydney, we shared a room with at least 5 randoms whom were usually out after us and up before us so we did not see much of them. The roof of the hostel was the coolest because it was an area for everyone to hang out and watch the sunset over the Sydney skyline. At the time, this was the best hostel I had stayed in. The next day was arguably the best (certainly one of the best) days of my life. On Saturday our entire group woke up early and went to The Spit (a famous launch area into Sydney Harbor) and boarded a 70 ft. sailboat. The weather was absolutely perfect. On board were my friends from Bond and our friend Jon's golf mates (fellow Bondies) and the captain, Mike. Capt. Mike took us around the harbor en route to some magnificent sites and great photo ops of the opera house from the water. We spent the day having a few drinks, talking, barbecuing and just living the dream. Most of us agreed that the highlight of the day was jumping off the top of the boat into the harbor for a quick swim. Around dinner time most of the group was sent back to the hostel while my friends Jon, Adam, Steven and I stayed on to spend the night along with the Aussies Andrew, James and Ben along with Mike. We had an amazing time that night just hanging out, telling stories and making new friends. We have been meeting up with Andrew and James around campus more frequently and it has been great to become better mates with such quality Aussies. That night, Mike had those of us who had never been on the sailboat before undergo an initiation. I'm not at liberty to describe this secret rite but I will divulge that when we sat down to the table we were looking at 8 tomatoes, a fire extinguisher, a knife, Tim Tams (Oz cookies) a bowl, an assortment of crazy hats and a bottle of Australian rum. Now not all of these were included but needless to say we were baffled and more than a little apprehensive before the process began. Anyway, it was an amazing weekend and it was so much fun just even to be on the boat helping put up the netting or cleaning the dishes. It was a trip I will never forget.
From here I will talk about my trip to Byron Bay to hike to the cape and jump out of a plane. This might be a good time to get up, stretch and get a snack before continuing.
BYRON BAY:
Byron Bay is arguably the coolest area I have been to in Australia. It is a quaint little beach town filled with hippies filtered in from the nearby Australian Amsterdam equivalent known as Nimbin. Apart from having an unbelievably beautiful coastline and wave break, Byron is full of small little shops selling Aboriginal art and surf/hippie style apparel. The food options around were excellent as well. We ate at several small cafes while there and had some of the best food I've had Down Under. Byron Bay is also home to the most easterly point of mainland Oz which we spent a day hiking to up steep cliffs and through temperate coastal rainforest. The sights were breathtaking from the top where we stood silently for a long time just watching the water crash onto the rocks below. Deep in the forest, we were pleased to see a Kookaburra fly right past us and perch on a nearby tree for an ideal photo shoot. As we walked back down the trail from the top of Cape Byron next to the famous lighthouse there, we all were tired but already anxious to skydive the next day. Before we could sleep though we had plans to go to the local club across the street from our hostel, the famous Cheeky Monkeys. We had been staying in an apt. style hostel for the weekend and on our second night we shared with a group from Brazil. We had a great time that night partying with the Brazilians who included some very outgoing and funny guys and absolutely intimidatingly beautiful girls. We all made it out to the bar which is famous for the eclectic backpacker crowd they get every night. People all dance on tables to a fusion of Australian House/Techno and local reggae. I have now been there three times and must admit that Cheeky's never disappoints. On Sunday the airborne craziness began. We had tried (and been denied by the weather) to skydive for what seemed like ages and we were all hoping that today would be the day. The brave crew of us included my friends Marisa, Libby, Allie, Adam, some of the Bentley guys, and myself. Steven was also in attendance but since he had already jumped was there for photos and moral support both of which he did exceptionally well. As we waited for our plane we went outside to see a Koala just walking around in the parking lot which to all of us, was embarrassingly exciting. Someone pointed out that it was"much dirtier than the ones in the zoo" which I found to be accurate and humorous simultaneously. Finally, the clouds broke and we suited up and got into the small plane. The views of the coast from the plane were fantastic. I have never seen such an awe inspiring sight. I had not really been worried until my instructor announced that we had reached 14,000 ft. and were about to dive. Then, quickly, someone threw the door open and several instructors who were there to take pictures of divers jumped out immediately. I was 2nd to go and moving into position at the edge of the plane was one of the most adrenaline pumping moments of my 20 years despite me being maybe 2 feet from the door. The fall itself was the craziest feeling I have ever had. It was a 60 second free fall that will live with me for the rest of my life. I absolutely loved it and was thinking of when my next time might be while the instructor pulled the cord and we floated back to earth. Down on the ground, my adrenaline high would stay with me for a long time as I watched my friends touch down and throw their hands in the air in sheer joy in the field. All in all, it was an epic weekend.
At this point in time, even I had to stop and take a break from writing because this post is absurd as it is and it still requires the weekend most fresh in my mind...
MORETON ISLAND / BRISBANE:
Yesterday I returned from an intense weekend in Brisbane and the nearby Moreton Island. Moreton Island is only the third largest entirely sand island in the world so needless to say, we were not excited at all. We took a ferry to the island on Saturday morning and were immediately thrown into one hardcore SUV for some extreme four wheeling in the sand up the island hills, through the dense forest. There is no concrete on the island. There is one road (read as sand path) on the island. It is one way. We made it to the top in a clearing and we were treated to a view of immense sand dunes on all sides. Our guide Gaz then welcomed us to an area known only as "The Desert". Quite literally, all we could see on all sides was sand hills and more sand hills. I immediately felt like I was Paul Atreides from Dune (nerdy reference +1) Jon, Adam, Chris, Andrew, Joe and I, from then on known to the guides as "Team America" were then handed long flexible sheets of sanded down wood with which we were going to sandboard down the dunes on. As we began our trek to the dune our guide stopped us to show us pieces of rock in the sand that had only appeared due to lightning striking. He then dug down and found some dark covered sandy substance known as coffee rock which he proceeded to tell us tasted like coffee due to some natural occurrence and then laughed at us because he had made us eat plain old sand. Dumb, gullible Americans. As we approached the top of the massive dune he assured us that we would be eating much more sand in a minute. We then went on to shoot down the hot sand at high speeds on a small piece of wood waxed down like a surf board. I am positive that I will never be that sandy again in my life. It was heaps of fun and as we sped back down the sand road towards the beach we were very happy to be snorkeling after sandboarding instead of before. After a quick lunch and some time to chill we were issued snorkels, fins, gloves and 5mm thick wetsuits. I cannot say enough about how cool these wetsuits were. They were completely buoyant and warm. I already have plans for purchasing one back home because to say they are ideal for Lake Waynoka morning ski sessions would be an understatement. We took some time to get used to the flippers and snorkel masks before being led on a crazy snorkel trip around several sunken ships that have created reefs full of tropical fish. We went from wreck to wreck seeing coral, a puffer fish, jellyfish, a stingray, a ginormous lion shark and the entire cast of Finding Nemo. At one point when we swam through a school of fish Gaz threw us a few pieces of bread and I watched as dozens of fish ate right out of my hands. I had never been snorkeling before so it was an unforgettable experience and a great warm-up for next weekend at the Great Barrier Reef. That night we celebrated Adam's 21ist birthday by first eating at a great Thai place and then bar hopping around Brisbane led by our Aussie mate Andrew who grew up there. It is weird to think about how he and his friends have been able to find the best bars around since their 18th birthdays since the drinking age is obviously lower here. It was a great nightcap to an awesome weekend. Back at Bond on Sunday we all went to the beach and then went out to a sushi place to celebrate the weekends proceedings. Today when I was taking the bus to the beach again I realized I had been on a beach the last 4 days in a row. I love my life!
And with that, I will finish this unbelievably long post. Next weekend is Cairns. I have a paper due Thursday and then the trip begins! I promise I won't take as long to update you on the conclusion of my epic 4 week quest of awesomeness. Love from Down Under!
- Jeff
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