Deep in the Daintree rain forest...

I awoke early Monday morning, the 26th, to get to the bus stop 2 or 3 km's up Cairns' boardwalk. I was supposed to arrive 20 minutes early to the pick up location for the 7:00 AM departure. I woke up at 5:00 AM without an alarm. Thanks UPS, for making me an early riser :) I finished packing and checked out at the reception, then set out on my way up the boardwalk. Even though the morning air was still cool, the humidity was very high, and I was sticky-sweaty before long. I got to the bus stop a few minutes before the bus, and sat and waited with a half a dozen other passengers. I was pleasantly surprised to see my bus when it rolled up. It was a Unimog style vehicle, with the 'bed' converted into a ~18 person coach bus. This pleased my inner off-roader, because a Unimog military vehicle to an off road enthusiast is like a Ford GT Super Car or Nissan Skyline GTR is to a fast-and-powerful car enthusiast. The Unimog's axles are extra strong, and use complicated drive line technology to provide otherwise unheard of ground clearance.

Anyway, I instantly knew I was in for an off road adventure. The first hour and a half or so of the trip was spent on a winding, nearly deserted road right along the coast of northern Queensland. On one side of the bus (my side, window seat) was the ocean and the beach. On the other side were steep hills thickly populated with rain forest. Beautiful views either way I looked. Soon enough we curved off and headed up into the hills, and into the trees, though still providing glimpses of the ocean every once in a while. The further on we went, the rougher the terrain. The paved road ended and red-dirt and clay road took its place. Tire ruts and water channels carved their way through the road, and I felt like I was back in Michigan, two-tracking up north in my Jeep. Except this was countless times better because of the scenery, wildlife, and the fact that it was in Australia. At one point we had to cross the Daintree River on a ferry. The ferry was one of those cable-pulled types, with a cable secured to land on either bank of the river, and a motor attatched to the cable that pulled us across. Soon enough we came to a sign that read "4x4 Vehicles Only Beyond This Point". Past this sign, the road got even more rough, complete with river crossings. It was still technically dry season, however, so the crossing were never more than a foot deep. Every few kilometers there was a 'Cassowary Crossing' sign.

All of the stops along the way seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. There always seemed to be nothing around but rain forest, but then out of nowhere a backpacker's or rain forest resort or small town would appear from out of the thick trees, and we would stop to let a passenger or two off the bus. It was no different for my stop. Brad had told me earlier via e-mail to ask the driver to drop me at Degarra in Bloomfield. I had no idea what Degarra was, but I imagined it was the name of a store or street or something in Bloomfield. Nope. It was a corrugated piece of steel propped up in a piece of wood with 'Degarra' spray painted on it, with no buildings, people, or vehicles in sight save for Brad and his truck. All the roads here are red dirt. No gravel or pavement to be seen until you get into closest town, called Wujal Wujal.

Brad's place was only a minute's drive from the drop off point. We pulled into his driveway and came first to a small shed that he calls the 'Donga'.

 "This is your house," he said. "It's a bit of a work in progress, but it's got everything you need." The floor and walls are unfinished, but it's got a satellite TV, an AC unit, and a tea kettle. Good enough for me! I dropped my bags and we went up to the main house where he gave me the grand tour of the three rooms, which took all of 30 seconds. One huge main room with a kitchen, dining area, and living area, with access to a huge veranda; a bathroom; his bedroom. It sounds simple enough, but I really like the house and property. The whole house is set on a hill, so the veranda is raised, essentially a second story deck, giving views above the trees and into the rain forest canopy.

Brad brews his own beer and spirits. He doesn't have any spirits made at the moment, but his beer is quite good, and pretty strong too.

On his property, Brad has a Purple Mangasteen tree, six or seven banana trees, a grape vine, tomato plants, plenty of young pineapples, Pumpkin plants (not the Halloween type pumpkins), a Tamarind tree, the seed of which is used in making curry and can be picked off the tree and sucked on like a loli-pop; a Mango tree, Paw Paw trees (Papaya), a Sour Sop tree, Bread Fruit tree, Custard Apple tree, and some others I'm sure I'm forgetting. A job we have been working on is making some raised garden beds for veggies.

Purple Mangasteen, tastes a bit like kiwi, but not really like anything else I have ever eaten

Brad has two cats, a dozen or so chickens, and four peacocks that kind of just hang around the property.

It turns out peacocks can fly quite well. I always thought them to be like chickens; only able to hop and flutter a few feet in the air. I figured this out when one of the males flew right over my head and up into a tree 50+ feet up. It was a strange sight to see the big bird flying up there with his long tail feathers trailing behind him.

Huntsman Spider. Nearly as big as a Tarantula

We have been on plenty of adventures already, and I have met a few of the locals. There is plenty more to write about, including butchering a rooster, and the best views I've seen in Aus yet. And of course plenty more pictures. All of which will be included in the next couple of entries. For now, I'll end it here, as I am about to take the motorbike up to the creek to have a swim.

Cheers! Happy Holidays and all that good stuff!

Airlie Beach and Cairns

I'll start this off one off by telling you about what Aussies call 'Schoolies'. Schoolies is the week after final exams for seniors in high school. This marks the end of their high school education, and basically every single high school senior within driving distance of the east coast of Aus flocks to the beaches of Byron, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Airlie Beach, etc. for a week long party. The Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast seem to be the most popular for this even, as those are the only places ever mentioned on the news. For this reason, I expected to avoid the crowd when I went to Airlie Beach. Well, I expected wrong.

The overnight train from Gympie to Prosperpine was long and uneventful. I arrived at Proserpine station and took a 30 minute bus to Airlie beach. The city was very familiar to me, and just as Brian and I had left it last year, with the addition of some 3000 students. Because of this, I was unable to find a room in any of the seven or eight hostels along the main strip. I ended up having to spend $100 on a hotel room for the night. An unwanted expense, but a welcomed luxury. I had my own private room and bathroom, balcony, wifi, the works. Lucky for my wallet, that was the last day of Schoolies, and I was able to find a hostel room the next night.

I had looked up some (free) local attractions for the area before leaving Mothar Mountain. After getting checked into my hotel on the first day, I grabbed a city map from the information center, and found my way to the Airlie Creek Track; a two hour return trip walking track through the rain forest hills just behind the main strip of the city. I came to the end all too soon, and found myself wanting to keep exploring. The end of the track was rather open-ended, so I just kept going. It quickly turned from walking into climbing boulders and cliffs. There were vines growing up (or down?) a cliff face that looked like they would be good to use to climb up. So I did just that.

A bit further on, I came to some steep, rocky terrain that also made for good climbing. To capture this pic, I set my camera up on a rock and put it on its ten second timer, and made it up as far as I could before it snapped the pic. I only fell once on the way up :)

Later, I found an information/tour center and asked if there were any good rain forest walks in the area. I was given a map and shown the way to the Great Whitsunday Walk. The lady told me that is was a two hour trip up and one hour down, because of how steep it was. I figured out later that the real Great Whitsunday Walk was actually a three day trek. The part I did was only a small leg from the start of the trail to a lookout point.
I had to check out of the hostel at 10 AM the next morning, so I woke up early to give myself time to do the whole trail, come back and shower and pack. The trail was indeed very steep, and even in the cooler early morning hours I was sweating heavily only a half hour into the walk. Now in case you didn't get it before, let me say that this trail was steep. It wound its way up and through the hills behind Airlie Beach, through thick rain forest inhabited by many species of birds and countless small lizards and skinks.
 The Mount Pilchuk hike in Washington was pretty difficult, but I could handle it just fine. This trail, however, left me sweating buckets and stopping to catch my breath; but I kept pushing through to the top, and was rewarded with an amazing view from the lookout at the top.

It wasn't until I got to the lookout that I realized how long the trail was, and how far I had gone. Where I'm pointing is roughly the location of the main Airlie Beach strip, and where my hostel was.

The marina in that picture, just to the left of my finger, is where Brian and I boarded the Tri-maran for our 3 day reef diving trip we took last year.

Fast forward a bit, 12 hour overnight Greyhound to Cairns. Again I had no luck with finding a hostel room. I think from now on I'll book in advance online... Anyway, I managed to find a decently cheap hotel for two nights. I checked in and made my way by memory to the McDonalds that I remembered had free wifi. I sat there for a while and people-watched and caught up on emails and such. I noticed that there was a larger Aboriginal population here than anywhere else I had been so far.

My stay in Cairns was pretty relaxed and uninteresting. Browsing through downtown Cairns, the souvenir shops, the art galleries  etc. On the second day, I wandered into an Aboriginal art gallery. I looked around for a few minutes before coming to the didgeridoo section. The man working there must have noticed how interested in the instruments I looked, because he came over and greeted me, and offered to tell me about them. He told me the natives make and use the instruments for more of a ceremonial purpose. They would spend most of a day making each didge, play it during the celebration or ceremony that night, then actually toss it into the fire at the end.
I was also offered a quick lesson on how to play them; of course, I accepted. At first, the noises I was making sounded more like I was farting through a wooden tube, but before long I was impressing myself at the notes and pitches I was able to make. Each instrument is unique and no two sound or look alike. Of course, this makes sense because they are made from tree limbs, no two of which are ever the same. Because of this, it takes some testing to find out which one works best for the player, so I was advised to go around and test different didge's. I spent the better part of an hour in the gallery playing them, and I was very, very tempted to buy one and send it home. The $400-$3000 price tags finally convinced me otherwise.

That's about it for Cairns. I got on the bus to Bloomfield early the next morning, which is where I'll start in my next post.

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for being alive and healthy in this wonderful wide world of ours.

I am thankful for my extraordinary family. I am thankful that each and every member of my family is loving and caring, generous and welcoming. I am thankful that each and every member of my family is a respectable human being, which is sadly becoming less and less common these days.

I am thankful for the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet. I am thankful for the food in my belly. I am thankful for having a roof over my head and a pillow beneath it.

I am thankful for my three amazing brothers, each of whom I could probably write a novel about. But I'll keep it short, since most of you know them anyway :)

I am thankful to be born to the most wonderful parents ever to raise children; who would, and have, sacrificed much in the name of giving the best for my brothers and I; who taught me honesty, respect, love, and good morals; who gave me a good education; who are there for me whenever I need them; again, a novel for each of them, but I don't have that kind of time or focus.

I am thankful for the opportunity to go out and explore and experience the world.

I am thankful for my gorgeous golden-red locks.

I am thankful for having the means to buy new socks, should I get tired of the holes in my current pairs.

I am thankful for my little magical plastic box that plays all my favorite music whenever I tell it to.

I am thankful for bananas. They're delicious.

I am thankful for the internet. Without which, it would be much harder to keep in contact with you all.

I am thankful for the invention of glasses and contact lenses.

I am thankful for being given the freedom and opportunity to do and be what I want in life; whether it be a doctor, a business owner, or a bum.


I used to be so hasty to grow up and graduate from the kids table at grandma's house every Thanksgiving. Now, I would give just about anything to be back at that table.

I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays! Love you and miss you all!