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YOU DON'T NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION.....
With the gentle motion of the bus and the sound of the engine, I opened my bleary eyes, in my usual crimpled position to immediate sensory overload of two kinds. The first was the bright stars in the sky, the milkyway that took my breath away (but didn't ruin my appitite boom-boom). More than that though, the Southern Cross (only viewable from the Southern Hemsphere funnily enough) was glowing, like somekind of beacon, it was just amazing. The second sensory overload was coming from my left ear in the form of surging pain. I had managed to fold my ear in half so it fitted nicely between my head and my ruck sack for several hours and when it was eventually unfolded (thank god it did, I would look like something out of startrek otherwise) the pain kicked in. If you have ever slept with a bent ear (? hhummm) you will know exactly what I'm talking about. I then took the obstacle course that was getting to the blocked lav at the end of the bus through the minefield of sleeping bodies. Various body parts blocked the isle and I had to manouver as best as I could through the bomb site, deciding with each step who gets the arse and who gets the crutch......
Several hours later we arrived in the beautiful and serene Hervey Bay. This bay the hub for sailing trips to Fraser Island. Still swaying from the Great Barrier Reef boats I declined the trip and so spent the next couple of days doing what I do best, sleeping in a hammock by the pool, eating and drinking the lovely VB (Victoria Bitter - taste great - killer hangover).
Hervey Bay has miles and miles of white sand beach with an Esplande that goes through villiages for miles, or Williages as Michelle would call them. Her German accent doesn't allow her to pronounce V in the English language, much to my amusement. I mountain biked a couple of days (just to try and offset some of the VB you understand, as I hate exercise as you know) and it was beautiful to ride beside the sea for several miles.
I took peace, serenity and an infected insect bite away from Hervey Bay (hardly suprising as everything I use/touch these days is shared), very nice to.
The 6 hour journey down to Brisbane was uneventful apart from I saw a pub called 'Crack a big woody' which I found mildly amusing. By this time, I was pleased to have had Michelle's company but was ready for my own space and that wonderful feeling of freedom that travelling alone gives me. Also, I could do with a good night out and Michelle likes to be in bed by 8pm each night.....
My day bag finally carcked it at this point as well. Mum (bless you ma) suggested that she take it back for a refund but as I pointed out, it had been used and abused every day for 4 months, kicked, thrown, sat on, slept on and goodness only knows what else on, so I rekon all in all, it had done quite well.
During the first few days in Brisbane it lashed down. Really, really rained. Being used to the East Coast sunshine I was unimpressed (as you would expect ha ha) but from the time that Cat, Kim & Mel met me, things started to really look up. It pretty much started with Dave, the girls dad making us Singapore slings for pre-dinner drinks. What a cool dad!
What can I say, I have been invited into the Wilson families home so warmly that it has almost overwelmed me. They're such lovely, loving people. The first night Cat & Hector took me out for vodka, lime and sodas and to watch a band, the following day we shopped and 'did lunch'. Over the weekend Mel and Kim took me to Surfurs Paradise, the Gold Coast beach to sunbathe (which was the most wonderful quality beach I have ever been on) and we did lunch. Also, they call it 'sunbake' over here, not 'sunbathe'. Saturday night was a big night out and there were a fair few sherberts had by all....(less said the better probably... :-))
Though I will take this moment to say that after only a couple of glasses of wine I was refused entry to a bar for being 'intoxicated' just because I happend to be laughing and joking with someone at the time.... There appears to be a pattern forming here, some of you will remember me being refused entry to the 'Kaz Bar' (or however it's spelt), yes I did say 'Kaz Bar' on a winter Tuesday night for the love of god! Perhaps I just look 'like a drunk', ahem, don't answer that!
Sunday was brilliant. Apart from the killer hangover, Ang (Mel and Kim's sister) got us tickets for a big rugby game (or footie as they call it here) which was the Brisbane Bronco's V the New Zealand warriors. Which we won. I have never been to a rugby match (and it was on my to do list as well) before and was well chuffed to go to my first one while I was down under (so to speak...)
Koala poo stains, I repeat Koala poo stains...... Yes, I cuddled a Koala at the Pine Cone Koala Sanctuary and she poo'd on me, and on Kim so I didn't take it personally. ha ha. She was just amazing though. I also stroked a baby croc which had a laccy band around his chops (his skin felt like a nice handbag), a snake and I fed the Kangaroos. They're sooo cute. Last night however, Cat and Mel took me for dinner and I had a lush meal of...yes, you guessed it, kangaroo! The family asked how i felt about eating their national embrem but it had to be done. It really was very nice as was the chocolate cake I had afterwards....
As you've probably gathered, I'm staying with the Wilsons until I leave tomorrow, their hospitality puts some of the English to shame, they've really been pretty wonderful.
Course we got the news that Steve Irwin had been killed and everyone was in shock. It's massive news here, with lots of tribute programmes, people laying flowers at the Australia Zoo and they have even layed on counsellors for the children in the schools because they think they'll be effected so badly. It's a really sad thing for the locals here.
My time is Oz has been amazing, however, it has to be said, it's also been very easy. The East coast especially is set up simply for the tourist and the industry that brings. Sadly there are lots of brits abroad here (pikeys to you and me and 'Oka's' to the locals here) and so for that reason I'm not sorry to be having a complete change in culture and experience in my path.
My plan is Singapore to live it up my mum and dad for 3 days, then on Wed I fly to Sabah. Sandaka in Malaysia Borneo to be specific. I plan to spend some time with the Orang-utans there and maybe visit turtle island and Kota Kinabala mountain if I have time. After that will be a brief stop in Singapore to try to get the Vietnamese and India visas sorted and then onwards to Cambodia and Vietname before meeting Naomi (ohmigod!) in Delhi. Oh yes, I am whooping and whaling!! This is wicked to say the least.
So now I pack and it's time to move on to my next big challange. Back to squat style lavs, bottled water, 90% humidity (hope I lose a few pounds), not knowing my arse from my elbow and feeling those wonderful excitement butterflies in my tummy (as long as it's not Delhi belly!) I'm very happy and very excited about what I've done so far and what is yet to come. So if you'll excuse me whilst I clamber out of my comfort zone once more, I'm off exploring..... until next time, big hugs xxxx
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