Going Green...no, not from scurvy

In my ongoing effort to slash costs while still getting
good value for my traveling dollar (that sounds way too
much like politician speak), I decided to pack up my bike
and pedal my way down from Sydney to Melbourne. This would
prove to be a formidable jaunt of roughly 1250 km. After
the fact, I thought that if I was really clever, I would
have created some kind of pseudo-charity or "pedal for the
planet" type benefit, that could have earned me money for
my eco-friendly traveling. But I'm not really clever. As
it was, I think my pasta and coffee costs alone would
probably have bought me enough fuel to drive down. It was
an awesome way to travel though. I saw tons of cool crap
and met some good blokes. Here's some pics.

Contrary to my expectations, it does rain in Oz.

...but it dries out quick.

As you'd expect in the southern hemisphere
the christmas trees grow upside down.


On one side of town they're holding bakesales
for a new linear accelerator...


...and on the other they're selling Emu oil.
What century is this again?

The trip involved a bit of off-roading...


...and some places you really wouldn't want
to blow a tire.


Some edible wildlife.

Thats all for now. More soon.

Australia on a budget

After returning to Sydney following 3 months on the hedonistic east coast, it was time to bring my living expenses down to 3rd world levels and milk a few more weeks out of my travel budget. In doing so, I came across some pretty good ways to save money in what can be a very expensive country. I also found some not-so-effective ways of saving coin. Here's all I know about living on the cheap in Australia.

Good Ideas:

1. Make friends with the goon (aka: the animal). This is of course boxed wine. At a street price of around $10 for 4 litres, its the single best way to save money is Oz (putting aside the unspeakable horror of sobriety). The empty foil bag also makes a dandy pillow for those overnight bus rides (see tip #4).
2. 30 cent ice cream cones at McDonalds. This is unreal. In Sydney, where you'd be hard pressed to find a coffee or a slice of pizza for less than 4 bucks, you can pick up a delicious soft serve treat for a bit of couch change. Its surely the best dining value in the city.
3. Tenting. If you don't mind sleeping in the bush, then you're pretty much set. Free accommodation wherever you are. Tenting in city parks and like areas, is apparently illegal and not recommended...unless you can find some good bush cover. Stealth tenting can be a very useful skill to acquire though, should you ever need to camp in a city.
4. Overnight buses. This is a pretty standard one, and a no-brainer really. You're paying for the bus anyways (unless you're riding your bike, but thats advanced material that we'll leave alone for now ;), so why not get a free nights accommodation out of it too? With the 1,2 punch of finishing a bag of goon and the resulting pillow (tip #1), you'll think you've just checked in at the Hilton!

Bad Ideas:

1. Free radio!...when you buy four $9 vodka-guarana drinks at the bar. Unfortunately, it turns out that alcohol impairs judgment. What seemed like a better deal than the Louisiana purchase at the time turned out to be more of a Betamax purchase in the morning.
2. Saving on train tickets by...not buying train tickets. I tried this one in a moment of near mental shutdown. At some train stations you don't need to go through a turnstile to get onto the train. Brilliantly, I figured I'd outsmarted the system and waltzed on "au gratuis"! Well, someone had obviously thought things through one step farther than me and had installed exit turnstiles at all the major stops in the city. Luckily, I had my running shoes on, so I hopped the gate and pulled a runner! I didn't have to go far to evade the lazy transit cops, but it was nonetheless slightly too much effort (for a $4.50 savings) to make my "good idea" list.

Lord of the Flies

Ok, as promised, here is the video of the unfortunate horse-fly that landed on my leg and was subsequently flicked into the spider web... of death! I wouldn't normally be so cavalier about taking a creature's life, but this little bastard deserved it and hell, it was damn entertaining! So sit back and relax as you watch this masacre unfold!

As I'm writing, I'm back in Sydney, waiting to get on
a standby flight home. So with a bit of time on my hands,
this will hopefully be the first in a flurry of blog posts
as I try desperately to make up for my neglectful posting
over the last few months.

CCR songs are coming to life!

G'Day!

Seeing as though I had to end my last post abruptly, and you sickos are probably all waiting around to hear how badly I seared myself while playing with fire, I'll first let you know that I'm fine. Disappointing huh? I escaped with only a few small burns and some black marks on my shirt. On the plus side, I did learn a pretty cool move with the poi chains.

Anyways, due to various socio-economic factors that are mostly beyond my control (the Bargain Entertainment to Equity Ratio is out of control in Australia) I've been forced to start looking for ways to earn some money. To this end, I've found myself on a farm outside a little boon town called Bowen.

I just happened to talk to the right person on the phone when I was calling for a place to stay, and she new of a farmer looking for some help. So I'm now staying at this working hostel out in the middle of nowhere. By another stroke of luck, I met the guy who runs the place and he happens to be a fellow Canadain. James came out to Oz when he was 19 or something, married an Aussi girl and has been here since. Anways, their place is closed down now since its off season for farm work, but he offered to let me stay with him, his wife and his mother in law for free, in exchange for doing a bit of work around the place. Wicked.

I've been working on this farm a few kms away where they grow passion fruit. Yes I do get to eat them, and yes they are delicious. I've been digging in seedlings, chucking around hay bales, weeding, and all sorts of random little tasks. Its hard work, but its pretty rewarding and as an added bonus, I often get the feeling that I'm living a CCR song (Cotton Fields and Lodi both fit pretty well). The other day I got to spray a bunch of feilds with herbacide while hanging out the side of an old farm truck...that I was also driving. A bit tricky to begin with, but better than shoveling out in the sun - its 35 degrees or so by the way. Another highlight of the job is that James is lending me his Honda 250 trail bike to ride to work and back. Such a sweet bike. I've yet to feel more Australian than ripping down the gravel road at 6:00 in the morning watching the sun coming up and the kangaroos skattering in a panic in front of me! James also has a smaller CR100 (2-stroker) which rips really well for its size. I can even pop some little wheelies on that one! I'm definately going to get a bike when I get home, or maybe even over here. Soooo rad. Oh, and another interesting coincidence; The farmer I'm working for is a mechanical engineer! He hated sitting behind a desk all day, so he bought the farm (so to speak). He still does a bit of consulting work for the coal mines to keep the cash flow looking good, but he loves the farming life. He's got a sweet little shop with welders, drill press, lathe, etc... where he does all his own maintenance on the farm equipment. Oh, and he also brews his own beer. I think he's actually my hero/role model of the moment. I'm really loving the farm work, and I think it would be even better if it was your own farm.

I've been tossing around my ideas for the northern BC 'fallout shelter'/'hippy commune' and its been getting rave reviews. Gabriel (James' wife) was telling me about a straw bale house they built a few years back. Basically, you just stack together straw bales wherever you want your walls, then cover them with a clay 'render' you make from the ground. Dirt cheap and they reckon its the best type of house for hot (or in our case cold) climates because of the huge insulation value of the walls. They're totally into all sorts of alternative housing. Naturally, I entertained them with a few good dome building stories. But the straw house puts those fancy domes to shame.

The flys here are absolutely atrocious. Saw my first horsefly a couple weeks ago, and wouldn't at all be disappointed if it was my last. At first I thought, 'oh ok, big annoying fly, I'll just ignore it', then the bastard took a chunk out of me! I got a small, but satisfying bit of revenge on his species though. A bunch of us were walking alongside this river, and we saw a spider web with a fairly sizable owner. We stopped to check it out for a bit and thought it would be cool to see it eat something. Just then, one of the horseflys landed on the back of my leg, and in a move I'm still surprised with and quite proud of, I turned, bent my leg up and flicked the unlucky fly right into the web! What followed was simply awesome. The fly got stuck and the fat spider was on him instantly. I think the spider may have given him a quick bite, but then immediately started wrapping him up in webbing. It was all over in about 20 seconds. I even got most of the massacre on video. I only wish I had got the fly flick too, but its still pretty good. I'm going to try and post it soon. If anyone has experienced these carnivorous little insects before and has any other ideas for tormenting them, please let me know. I'm hoping to teach flys fear by the time I leave Australia. They reproduce pretty quickly, so I think I have a chance teaching the entire species to fear me through natural selection. If not, there should still be some pretty good entertainment involved.

Still working on getting some pictures up. So, ya. Any day now....

Anyways, this is kind of a rambling email, but I think it reflects my thoughs right now pretty well. Hope everyone's hanging tough through the Canadian winter. Even though I've been making up plenty of stories about polar bear maulings and heated fire hydrants, I know there's plenty of awesome back there right now. See ya soon mates!

Dave

It's been confirmed...

...I am a lazy bum. I think its been well over a month now since I've posted anything. In my defenense though, I have managed to get a small collection of pics up on facebook. Its a weak defense I know, but I've been impeded by alcohol and other distractions. Anyways, I spent a very different Christmas in Byron Bay with a bunch of cool folks I met there. Byron Bay is basically the Australian counterpart to Whistler: surfing instead of snowboarding, board shorts instead of boarding gear and Canadians instead of Aussies. Its crazy how many canucks hang out there. Its also got the same pary atmosphere as Whistler. Definately a good time.

After stopping over at a few places in between, I ended up in a place called Noosa, where I stayed for 3 weeks while working at a hostel there. I guess its some sick form of retributional justice that I had to vacuum and do houskeeping work for 3 hours every day, but I did get a free bed and meal in exchange. I bought a beat up old surfboard in Noosa and continued my battle against the waves. It was a great place to learn though, and I was able to stand up on at least a few waves every day. I feel I'm well on my way to equaling the skill of a 5 year old Aussi kid - well, maybe by the end of my trip.

A few of the random and entertaining events that happened in Noosa:

- One night, drinking behind the hostel at with a few friends, a couple local guys walk by and shout g'day or something. We say g'day and they come over and start talking. One guy is apparantly from London and starts talking with one of our buddies who is also from London. They're yakking about this and that from London, and then someone makes a crack about pommies (aussi slang for brits) and the guy all of a sudden switched off the London accent. It turn out he was really an Aussi. And just messing with us. I was blown away, but more relevantly, so was the Londoner. Then (and I forget how exactly this started) the fake-pommie starts rapping. Yes, rapping. I kind of laughed it off at first, but then listened for a bit and he was actually really good. He was freestyling for 3 or 4 minutes at a time - no breaks. We of course were egging him on as much as possible. Then he tells his buddy, who was silent up until now, do do a little beat boxing! Buddy starts up with a sick beat and then this aussi Marshall Mathers starts up freestyling again. It was straight out of 8 mile!

- Another night me and a work buddy from the hostel were having a no-drinking night (this is how every night in Noosa started) and went up to the bar for a game of pool. It was almost closing time (12:00) when we met a couple aussi girls who forced us to break the no-drinking pact and head to a club with them. The best laid plans... blah blah blah... Anyways, after the club we end up meeting up with a few of their friends at the beach. One of their friends brings his fire spinning stuff and starts waving around flames. We are endlessly amused. Cool. Then fire spinning guy, comes over and insists that we give it a try. Hmmmm. I've never done this before and drunk on the beach at 3 am doesn't really seem like the ideal time to learn. Crap, my bus just got here, this story will have to be continued...really! Hopefully sooner than a month from now.

Bye for now!

Dave

Dunes, rain and the washing machine

First off, yes I'm still alive. Despite the wide variety of things that can kill you here (sharks, snakes, spiders, boxed wine, etc...) I've managed to ward off death and am making my way up the east coast of Australia. The east coast is basically a big tourist highway, with a particular emphasis on catering to the cheap backpacker. Its maybe not the most adventuresome place to travel, but its fun as hell! After finally prying myself and my rapidly lightening wallet away from the Sydney party hostel I was staying at, I moved north to a small town called Anna Bay. I met a couple cool friends on the way and we stayed at a small backpackers place a little ways outside of the city. The quietness was a welcome change and I was finally able to catch up on some much needed sleep. Also, the people who ran the backpackers had a pet kangaroo! The three of us met up with a couple guy driving up the coast in a beat up old jeep and ended up traveling with them for a few days. We took the jeep out to these immense and beautiful sand dunes near Anna Bay pounded 'er around for a bit until (I'm sure you can see this coming) we got stuck. No worries though! With a little digging, and 4 of us pushing, we got it out. Too easy! I'm trying to pick up as much Aussi slang as possible, by the way. The backpackers had a bunch of sand boards they lent us, so we gave that a go while we were out there. It was pretty fun, though I learned that sand isn't always as soft as you might think.

After Anna Bay, we camped out a couple night in some amazing national parks further up the coast. Australia really is a beautiful country. We were even lucky enough to experience an authentic sub-tropical rainstorm! In tents! Yay! Actually, its been raining quite a lot since I've been here, which I guess makes sense, since they call this the rainy season. At least its warm rain though and it usually doesn't last that long.

I've been in a little town called Coffs Harbour for the last few days. I found a cheap hostel to stay in that has free surfboard rentals, so thats pretty much what I've been doing during the day. Surfing is awesome, but very hard work. I'm a pretty terrible swimmer too, so its a bit of an uphill battle tring to get waves. Oh, also, the waves here are huge. I still have no idea what I'm doing but am really keen to learn. A couple says ago I paddled out to where I saw some other surfers floating around waiting waves. The waves were looking pretty big, but I figured if they were out there, I should be too. So after a good 15 minutes or so of furious paddling, and swallowing way too much saltwater, I made it out. I was pretty exhausted from the effort, so I just sat around for a bit on the board before trying to get a wave. After a couple minutes, I saw a good one coming, so I started paddling, but my timing was way off and the wave broke right on top of me. Then came the washing machine. This is what they call it when you're just tossed around under water like you're... well, you know. Its a crazy feeling and you lose all your sense of orientation. When the water settled down, I started swimming for what I thought was the surface, only to touch the bottom! I did a 180 and popped up to the surface with lots of breath left, but it was still a bit of a shake up. The next day I decided it would be a good idea to take a couple lessons. I've had one so far and it was definately worthwhile. I told the guy teaching the lesson about my washing machine experience and he told was pretty surrprised I had been out there. Apparantly they call the area where I was 'great white' or something like that. Anyways, I think I'm going to stick to some smaller stuff for a while.

Life's a party!

Dave

It begins!

I'm happy to announce that I've successfully violated the rules of quantum mechanics and traveled forward in time! By crossing the international date line on my flight to Sydney, I skipped ahead in the space-time fabric by just less than a day. The effects of this phenomenon were surprisingly small. A little sleep deprivation and a small kink in the neck. Anyways, enough with the nerdiness. The flight went surprisingly well. I slept most of the time and we had a pleasant 1 hr stop-over in Honolulu. There was this awesome Japanese/Hawaiin zen garden in the middle of the airport and I spent most of the break stretching my legs there.

On the flight, I randomly met a friend from the Canadian national cycling team on my flight who was on her way to compete in a world cup track race going on in Sydney this coming Saturday. I was pretty stoked to hear this and am definately going to go cheer her and the other canucks on next weekend. The race is supposed to be huge, with teams coming in from all over the world. Wicked.

My aunt's brother Graeme and his wife Ann-Marie were nice enough to pick me and my bike up from the airport and give me a place to stay for the night. They and their son Chris have been great hosts so far, showing me around their town of Bankstown and giving me tips on getting around Sydney. Tomorrow, I'm taking a train into Sydney and am planning on staying a few nights at a hostel downtown. Adventures and pictures to follow.

Dave