Noosa - The Adventure Begins...

What an experience, 3nights camping, one in a supposed hostel, which is really just a shed with hammocks and the other two spent wrapped up in sleep bags, in a real life outdoor tent. Probably one of the more sociable things I’ve done in Australia, made heaps of friends (‘heaps’ being an ozzy slang word for lots). Purchasing enough food to accommodate for three nights, not to mention stocking up on ‘Goon’ which is an Australian alcoholic drink made up of the remains of white wine and stored in a box with a little tap that pops out for your convenience. The Golden Oaks brand, isn’t too bad, and when I say ‘not too bad’ I mean barely drinkable, if you are a real wine fan, then this stuff will literally mortify you; however, it’s cheap, pretty strong and most popular in the backpacker way of life. The Sovereign brand however, isn’t even drinkable! It tastes more than disgusting; I can’t even find a lady like term for the stuff! The simple fact that it gets manufactured is beyond me. It contains a fish egg that is all you really need to know. Yuck!   

Moving on, the camping experience, shifting from city life in an apartment/boyfriends house to non-flushing toilets, tiny tents, pitch blackness and campfires in the middle of practically no-where was a shock to the system to say the least. I’d recommend trying a night in the back garden before fully jumping into the deep end! Not that I didn’t absolutely love it.

On the first day/night, it was plummeting with what I can only describe as torrential rain! This didn’t help the adapting to new surrounding process and the missing home (Brisbane) feeling that loomed over every once in a while. The fact that we had the car however was a massive help. To know that I could have had to deal with lugging my now 48 kilo backpack around the place gives me the shakes! Fair enough it has wheels but non-the-less I really do need to sort and lose a great deal of possessions before I carry on any further up the coast. As I was saying, it was raining. Excessively. Luckily it was our first night, and that meant we were eased in by staying one night in the shed described as a hostel. We simply unpacked all our sleep bags, cooked dinner, made a huge camp fire and drank the night away, playing pool and socialising with our new camp mates.

On the second day, the weather was much, much more delightful! The sun was beaming and the temperature, from what I remember ranged from 24-25 degrees Celsius. It was the day that was arranged for us to go canoeing down the everglades. This is known as the river of mirrors, the story tells of how black the water appears due to the roots of the trees, yet still pure and crystal clear, thus leaving the water reflecting and mirror like. The Canoes were made to fit three people, which happened to be music to my ears, as I found kayaking for 1 hour testing, and to think that I might have to paddle for two hours against the wind, by myself would simply have been death by rowing in my opinion. Luckily this was not the case, my boyfriend sat in the front, and lovely guy sat in the back, whilst I slipped comfortanbly in the middle.

We paddled all the way up the river, and crossed a huge lake, until we stopped at the beach, where there was a historic pub providing much needed lunch completed with a Malibu and pineapple. Appropriate for the occasion. I forget the name of the actual pub which is a shame, however it seemed to be the only one in the small town we rowed to, I know that it was the second pub to be licenced in all of Queensland. On the way back, we were advised to take a detour, which took a little longer but enabled us to discover a hidden tree swing. The guys had a ball, swinging and dropping into the river, minding fallen trees and hidden rocks, the activity was I’ll admit extremely dangerous and not suitable at all for those that are weak swimmers or under the age of 12, however an extreme thrill. I myself was too dry/chicken to do it, but it looked like great fun. We spent the night cooking dinner as per usual and drinking once more around a camp fire, playing drinking games.

On the third day, we had the option to either go canoeing again on a shorter route, or to visit a near-by Quarry. I had only ever seen one Quarry before, and that was in Brisbane, but I never went swimming in it to fully appreciate the wonderfulness of this untouched nature oasis. The definition which I researched on Wikipedia (not the most reliable source I know, but convenient and accurate enough non-the-less) is that “A Quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock and minerals are extracted” and from my understanding, Quarries are prone to flooding because they are sometime dug below the water table and struck on clear spring water, this creates a swimming pool like area, where many people, swim/ dive into the crystal blue waters. After walking for I’d say a good 20 minutes in the scorching heat, we all stripped down to our swim wear and jumped in. The feeling was immense. The water was so clear and the feeling the cool liquid wash over your body; it was brilliant. Located just next to the Quarry was what we were told were mud pools. We went over and it was exactly that, a pool filled with natural mud, which had the texture of clay, most people were covering themselves in the substance, as it’s known to be very good for your skin. Me and my cousin, fully aware that most celebrities pay more than thousands for this kind of spa treatment obviously plastered ourselves from head to toe!

The evening came, and I was dreading sleeping in the tent, having already done it the night before, the temperature dropped to what I could describe as ‘bloody freezing’ and the mosquitoes would come and bite my skin all over, despite the amount of bug repellent I sprayed on myself, my sleep bag and tent. But on a positive note, it was a character build, I’d learnt to live without the luxuries of hair straighteners, and (although it would have been easy enough for me to apply) make-up, I felt it was a tad too much for the occasion. So a quick touch of mouse and eyeliner after a hot shower was all it took for me to ‘get ready.’ This was great news I guess to my boyfriend, as I would usually require exactly 2 hours and 15 minutes to fully class myself as ready.

After meeting amazing people and enduring a most challenging yet amazing experience, it was time to leave and head off to ‘Fraser Island.’ By far the best thing I have done so far in Australia, and judging by my previous blog entries, you can imagine how great this really was. 

What do I do with my Drunken Sailor?

I’m in love, yes. It’s happened. No, this is not a poor attempt at writing a fiction novel; this is real life. As I said before, a few weeks after my birthday, we decided to head down to the Boundary Hotel. This is a Bar located in an area, known as the West End in Brisbane. It is currently known as ‘the place to be’ for a ‘Sunday session.’

Apparently Australia missed the memo on quiet Sunday afternoon Roasts and DVD’s prepping for work the next day. Sunday to them is THE night to go out and get smashed, regardless of the fact that work occurs bright and early on the Monday morning.

I myself personally would prefer not to feel hung-over and useless at the beginning of the week, however on this odd occasion, I decided to join my cousin and her boyfriend for a few festive bevs. 

So we headed into town, and met up with a few friends, chatting away. The best thing I’d say about Australia, is that for some reason, everyone is your friend and it’s standard for a person to sit and start talking to you as if they have known you for ten years !? In the beginning I found this particularly odd, like if I was to pop into the local shop to grab a fix of Red Bull or Gum, the shopkeeper would just start a conversation usually along the lines of “Hi, How you going?” or “What have you been up too, any plans for today?”…

As you can imagine, my initial reaction was like ‘what the hell?’ I guess in London, speaking so informally to someone who you don’t know, especially whilst you’re working just simply isn’t the way.

Moving on, the place was pretty crowded, full of all sorts of different age ranged people, so we found a place to sit at the opposite end of the bar. This is where I met my sailor. Him and his friends came over and asked to sit at the same table as us and due to the fact the bar was overflowing and we occupied I’d say at least a 10 person table, my cousins boyfriend more than happily offered the seats.

Despite the fact that I was completely naïve to the fact that this was a pick up line, my sailor started a conversation asking if it was preferable for his shirt to be buttoned up fully or half way done. Me being oblivious to whole Pickup one liner, happily stated my opinion, however also suggested that he asked my cousin across the table as she is go-to girl for fashion advice.  We got talking for the whole night and learnt so much about each other in such a short space of time. Not thinking that this could be anything more than ‘just another guy you met at a bar’ I was enjoying the company. As the night went on, we exchanged numbers and discovered that we both have a major passion for a good steak. My Sailor mentions a great Steak place that he said he’d take me to. I was a little tipsy at this stage so without thinking I agreed that I’d love to go.

Monday morning hits and I receive a text from my sailor saying:

“I’m taking you for a steak on Tuesday if you are down.” Typical Australian laid back attitude if you ask me. I was a bit taken back, but went along, as I was a bit curious and sort of thrilled by the forcefulness of the text message. The date was nothing short of magical, full flowing conversation through out the whole night, the steak was AMAZING- Cha Cha Cha’s in Brisbane CBD near the river on Eagle Street Pier, if you make it to Brisbane and have a few cents to spare, GO THERE. After dinner we walked along the river then drove up to Mount Co-tha look out, where we swapped stories and I was taught a few star collations such as the Southern Cross and the Saucepan.

My sailor was a complete gentleman and got me home by midnight. A few weeks had past and I had been on four or five additional dates including, go carting at Kingston park – biggest race course I’ve ever seen, the power in the cars was incredible, and ok I know it’s not the same, but to feel the thrill of driving after so long felt so good! We also went out for drinks, dinner and picnics. I found myself spending a lot of time with this one person that I had only met for a few hours in a bar, then before I knew it, we were boyfriend and girlfriend, I’ll admit, at the time I was a bit foolish as I was fully aware that I am only in Australia on a 1 year working holiday visa, so entering into a relationship with someone who wasn’t travelling sounded bizarre.

Usual boyfriend/girlfriend events occurred. Meeting each others friends, laughing, talking ect. We’d be spending so much time together it seemed strange to be apart. I imagine my sailor must have felt the same, as he mentioned to me that he’d be off work for a while so he has some free time, and said that he would come up the coast with me! Well! This was a surge of mixed emotions overwhelming my body. 

It was still early days as we weren’t planning to leave for coast for another few months or so, so I happily acknowledged the idea, however not fully taking it on. We started to get fairly serious, I mean I was showering and straightening my hair at his place, which every 15-23 year old female must understand, is a big step. There came nights where there was no make up. He would drive me to work every morning and drop my things off to me in the evening should I need them the next day. We began to spend more and more time together, and I found myself being by his side for the majority of my free time.