Australia Part 1

Hey. It's me. I am still alive. You wouldn't think so from the number of posts since Taiwan. Wow, 7 months since the blog post, and about 10 months since I was actually in Taiwan. It goes by pretty fast. So, since that time, 5 and a half months were spent in Australia, and I'm gonna tell you about them. I'll try again to keep this brief, although I have yet to succeed at this. Actually, this probably won't be brief lol.

So, February 6th I said my see yas to Kyle in Taiwan and made my lonely way to the airport after a pretty solid night of partying, and a farewell Mike and Kyle (officially known as 'The Mockumentary') performance at The Armory. The 2 hours of drunk sleep didn't seem to phase the nervous excited energy from flying to a new country in a new hemisphere, where my friends were waiting. A 9 hour layover in Hong Kong gave me time to walk around town and reminisce of the weekend Kyle and I had spent there, and an overnight flight later, I landed in Brisbane. As I'm getting out some Australian $ at the airport, I turn around and see who? Adam from back home! That was awesome. He had come to meet me and show me to his apartment, which was surrounded by palm trees and had a great pool area, and it was a beautiful sunny day. We drank and jammed all day by the pool until we were red in the face (and shoulders) then hit the town. It was a rad first day. I spent a week there chilling with Adam and Jen, who arrived shortly after from being out of town for work.

Then, I headed to Byron Bay to surprise Ashley. We hadn't seen each other in over 13 months...she knew I was coming to Australia but she didn't know when. I had kept it a secret for the 3 months that I knew the exact date I'd be arriving, but something possessed me to throw it on my facebook status the night before I boarded the plane, without think about it. This took some scrambling to get out of. I ended up having to tell her that my flight from Hong Kong was cancelled and I was turning lemons into lemonade and staying in Hong Kong for two weeks. This way, I could show up in a week and at least surprise her a little bit. I wanted to make it on a weekend so she didn't have school the next day, and this lined right up with Valentine's day. Perfect. Next problem, I couldn't ask for her address cause it would be a dead giveaway, so I had to get Jen and Adam to say they were visiting her that weekend so she'd give them the addy. It was the only way to get it and make sure she would be around. So, 5 hours on the bus and I walked up to her door. And oh was she surprised. We spent that weekend together as she showed me byron bay where she was doing the teaching experience section of her Master's of Education. She had been renting a room in a house with another girl and I promptly moved in with her.

So a beautiful house in a beautiful town fell right into my lap. For the remaining 4 months of her practicuum, Ash headed to school during the days, and I busied myself with a handful of activities: trying to surf (trying...), bodyboarding, hiking in the rainforest, chilling on the beach, barefoot jogging, sea kayaking to spot dolphins and sea turtles, scuba diving, hanggliding, abseiling, lawn bowling, and cooking. I actually got very into cooking, since it was the first time I had a massive kitchen mostly to myself. Ash even showed me how to make Kangaroo burgers! It was very fun times.

To give you an idea of this town, Byron Bay, it was a little surfing town that had blown up in recent decades to become a huge surfing/backpacking destination, but was still a pretty small place that managed to keep its charm. The crowds were clearly divided between the travellers, and the locals, the vast majority of which were full-on hippies. This place wasn't only known for its surfing, but also its music. Buskers came and went here, and every night there are a number of live acts on tour to choose from, at large venues that were always packed. I auditioned for a buskers permit here and made busking on the street another hobby, and a way to make a bit of money, and get used to singing in front of people. There are many surfing breaks here, one of which takes you along the shore for several MINUTES and drops you off just in front of a cafe, where you can grab a beer before heading back for another run. Some of the primary schools here have surf classes one morning a week, where class is in the ocean, even for the teachers. Those 4 months in Byron Bay were 'punctuated' by many awesome things such as visits from Andrew and Chris, the Soundwave Music Festival in Brisbane (w/ bands like Billy Talent, Alice in Chains, NIN, New Found Glory, Saves The Day, Finch, Moneen, Attack in Black, the list goes on and on), Bluesfest in byron (I was given one of the ridiculously expensive tickets while busking), and many small trips up and down the coast, including Fraser Island when everybody was visiting (Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world, and is also a paradise, in which you cruise around in huge 4X4 trucks and get drunko while seeing the most beautiful scenery you've seen in your life...whoever started this was a genius...however we were evacuated early thanks to hurricane Hamish moving in fast).

To be continued...