Packing 101

Leading up to this adventure of mine the most difficult decisions involved what to bring. Having oodles of friends who have backpacked before I got tons of advice before hand. However, just as every person on this Earth is unique, everyone has a different packing style. It's always intriguing to see what fellow travellers deem important enough to take up what precious space we have.

Luxury items are one things I don't understand why people pack. Mostly the female population is guilty of this as I'm talking about blow dryers, hair-straighteners, and make-up. Here these girls are, staying at some of the cheapest accomodation, eating the cheapest food, and yet they still feel the need to put on this facade of wealth and beauty. Why? I don't get it. I am a tad guilty of this as I have eye liner and mascara but those items are so small they take up minimal space in my bag. I've seen some large make-up bags and I just can't help but think how much space they take up. Plus almost every guy I've ever talked to prefers the natural look, why not give it a try?

On the same subject, I have seen so many fancy/club clothes. When I packed, it never even occured to me that I might need clothes for a night on the town. I have acquired some 'fancy' clothes, but I kid you not I have gone out wearing Lulu Lemon pants, a sports bra, and a bunnyhug and still had a phenominal time. I'm all for practicality, I'll wear those clothes everywhere, whereas a dress wouldn't do me much good while camping.

I've also seen travellers as minimalist as possible. I have met people who have sold everything they have except for what they can fit into their single backpack. I like to think that I could do that, but that little voice in my head says 'Pff who are you kidding'.

The worst are the 'just in case' items I have/bought. I burnt once while I was in Panama, went out and bought some aloe vera gel and haven't burnt since. I would get rid of it but, knowing my luck, I would burn again. This sort of applies to my First-Aid kit as well. It has come in handy more than once but I could have also just gone to the store and bought the things I needed. The endless debate of keep or ditch.

Personally, I know I have too much stuff. I somehow acquired 4 bags, something that got pointed out to me in Surfer's Paradise. Now, 1 of these bags is my food bag and if I didn't have that I would be golden. What these people didn't realize was that if I really wanted to I could have packed everything except my food into 1 bag. The only thing is that would take a series amount of Tetrising that I just don't want to do every 3 or 4 days. I'm of the mind that if I cannot carry all my belongings by myself, then I don't need it. Needless to say, I've gotten some pretty entertaining looks from shuttle drivers when I tell them I don't need a hand with my things.

It's also interesting to see how people pack. I've noticed the roll and stuff wherever there's space is quite common. I tried that in Bocas and the 2 weeks I did it drove me insane. That's probably due more to the fact that I'm an anally organized person and having things shoved haphazardly into my bag just didn't cut it for me. In come my Aunt and Uncle to the rescue with Packing Cubes they purchased in Miami. I'd been told by a friend that they are a game changer and that my friends is an understatement. There was a room full of people drooling over how clean and organized my bag looked in Townsville. Never again will I travel without these magic cubes, it's like having a dresser inside my backpack. The things that make backpackers happy :P.a

 

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Cities to Towns

As I've somewhat slowed down my sight seeing (it's gonna pick up again real quick), the blog topics in my head are filtering towards observations rather than events. My last 4 stops had just about the same MO; sunshine, beach, writing, reading, and the occasional night out.

Every new place I arrive in I always take some time to walk around and get a feel for the place. Even though they're fairly close together they each had a different vibe that they gave off.

Brisbane was the biggest city I'd been in for almost a month and a half and it definitely had a big city feel. It was the first time I had seen droves of people walking around the streets in suits and ties and I felt a bit out of place in my shorts and tank top. However, if you head across the river to South Bank, you're back at the beach. This is helped along by the public lagoon, art galleries, science centres, and street artists.

Next came Surfer's Paradise and this one was a bit of a mystery. Based on the name I expected to see a bit of a hippie town, what I got instead was a big city trying to masquerade as a town. There are high rises everywhere and even a train, somehow just doesn't fit the surfer stereotype. The dance clubs and the boutique shops also seemed quite out of place, albeit fun. I had one of my best nights while in Surfers. What looked to be a quiet night at the pub turned into 3 of us closing down 3 bars in the same outing. You have never seen adults more excited to hear Gangster's Paradise playing in th club. Awesome beats and awesome company can make any night spectacular.

Byron Bay was another mystery. It reminded me of Banff or Waskiseu at home, here was a hippie town mixed with a hit of chique. Minus the one bar, there really wasn't much of anything to do at night. Days could be spent doing one of multiple activities. I spent most of my time walking the beach and walking around the trails to the lighthouse. During these walks I was lucky enough see whales breaching, dolphins, and some pretty cool scenery. During one of said walks my friend, Tori, and I were approached to go hang gliding as they had some no shows and didn't want to have a wasted trip. Having talked about wanting to try that only hours earlier we jumped at the opportunity. After lots of nervouse laughter and lots of 'I can't believe we're doing this', we took the leap of faith and had a blast! I can't wait to see the video of our flight, old DVD players don't like new burnt dics.

Lovely Yamba. I wish I had more time to spend here. Yamba itself has a great small town vibe, something I think the other places I've been to in Australia are missing. While out on my walks, I had more people say 'Hi' to me than any where else, and the YHA feels more like a home than a hostel. Super small, tons of space, incredibly friendly and welcoming staff, throw in a dog named Charlie, and you might as well call it home. Most people come here to surf, the waves are quite large (and I saw them on a 'small' day) but if you ever get the chance you have to go on Shane's tour. Never had so much fun yet been so nervous/scared in my entire life. Just one more town on the ever growing list of I want to visit again.

Downtown Brisbane

Bird's Eye View Byron

Main Beach Yamba

 

 

 

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A Bit of Perspective

As I'm nearing my final 3 weeks in Australia, it's crunch time and I need to make some hard decisions, like where I'm going to go and where I'm going to stay. Now I am a frugal person, I will be the first to admit that. 9 out of 10 times I will go for the cheaper, easier option. I thought about ending my time in Australia that way until I got a bit of perspective.

It sort of began during my visit to the Australia Zoo. I loved watching the Crocodile Hunter growing up (some of my friends and family can attest to that), and it was always my goal to someday go to the Australia Zoo. Mission accomplished! I have to say it was so cool to walk around the crocodile enclosures and see places I recognized from the show. It was also really cool to recognize some of the crocs like Snappa and Agro. Not going to lie, I teared up a couple times walking around the tributes and museum. I was walking around the life's work of a man who so loved the animals of this country that he inspired a 13 year old girl from halfway around the globe to come and learn more. The Australia Zoo didn't feel like a zoo, I have never seen animals so active in their enclosures, or such large enclosures. Minus the fences, I felt like I was just taking a stroll through the wild. Such a great day.

A few days later, I got the news from home that a family friend was losing/has since lost a hard fought battle with cancer. Interesting how death and the reality of it can sway a persons decisions. Before all this I had planned some extra travel within Australia that wouldn't fit into my original east coast budget. I was getting all worked up at how much this would cost me, and then I had my bit of perspective. So I'll be coming home with a little less money than I wanted to, big flippin' deal. I can always go find a job and eventually make that money back. Why miss out on a golden opportunity to do something I've never done before, just because of a few dollar signs.

Knowing how fragile life can be, I've always tried to be open and willing to try and do abolsutely anything, if the opportunity presented itself. I think I'd forgotten that and these events were my proverbial slap in the face. So between spending time out in the sun and walking endless kilometers, I've planned activities that you'll have to tune in next time to hear about :P

Hero

 

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Don't Sleep on the Road!

My next adventure took me to K'gari (Fraser Island) and I never thought anything would top the Whitsundsays, but Drop Bear Adventures blew my sailing trip out of the water! I had the most amazing jam packed and fun three days, we were all sad when it was over.

The ferry over from Hervey Bay was quite uneventful, but as we were docking a dingo came out of the trees and wandered around the car park for a bit. A nice little welcoming party from the island. K'gari is made entirely of sand, so the drive over to Eurong was another interesting welcome to the island. The driving here reminded me of dirt road driving back home, but you had to stick to the tracks like winter driving. Luckily for us the roads were in pretty good shape and we didn't have any trouble the entire trip. We arrived at our base camp where Mark and Hanna, owners and founders of Drop Bear, gave us a welcome and told us a little about the history of the company. Once we got a bit settled, Dave, our tour guide, took us out to Lake Wabby for our first excursion as a group, taking the island highway, the beach! Lake Wabby is a sacred place for the Butchulla men, the Butchulla woman do not go anywhere near it, and is the place where boys become men. Our group spent a couple hours here getting to know eachother and taking turns throwing a boomerang! After supper that night, we had a campfire, did some star gazing on the beach, and tried our hands at a didgeridoo. All this and it was only day one!

The next morning we had an early wake-up call by didgeridoo to go and watch the sunrise over the ocean. Little did I know that morning that I would see and do so many awesome things that day! Our day started at the Kirrar sandblow. Here we saw all sorts of tracks and were able to see our first whales of the day out past the break. After we were done climbing around the dunes we went to Eli Creek. Since the entire island is sand all fresh water here is extremely clean. As a group we 'crocodiled' down the creek and ended up back at the ocean. Next we went to the wreck of the Maheno and somewhere during our drives we saw 2 or 3 humpback whales slapping the water with their pectoral fins past the break! We had a quick stop at the Pinnacles, one of the Butchulla women's sacred sights and then we collected shellfish that Dave cooked for us as an appetizer at dinner. This all before lunch! Post lunch we drove up to the Champane pools, natural salt water pools, had a quick swim and played some volleyball. A quick drive and hike later we were at Indian Head. Here there were stunning views of the ocean and the entire island, we saw a couple more whales and even a turtle! This place is also the most sacred site for the Butchulla people and Dave shared the history of the island and the Butchulla peoples story for the creation of K'gari. On our way home we stopped to feel the heartbeat of the island, crocodiled once more down Eli Creek, and came across some more dingos on the beach. But wait there's more! We had another fire that night, but Dave invited some of his friends to join us! One was an awesome guitar player, he could play pretty much anything you asked, and the other two were Butchulla men. You could hear the passion they had for their traditions and the island while they were telling us their stories. When they found out I was from Canada they were so interested in our First Nations culture, I wish I had known more so I could have shared it with them. Hard to believe we did all this in just one day!

The last morning of the trip started much like the first, a didgeridoo wake-up call (it was actually quite a nice way to wake up) and then off to Lake McKenzie for a couple hours at the beach. Here we were extremely fortunate, our Butchulla friends had told us about a second beach that no other tour group goes to. A short walk and we had a huge stretch of beach to ourselves all morning. The sand here is pure silica, which is a great exfoliant. I scrubbed my body from head to toe (hair and teeth included, we did a monkey circle to get eachothers backs!) and then rinsed off. The Butchulla people believe that the wind from the lake whispers to you here. Taking advice from the night before, I took a walk to see what K'gari had to say to me. It was such a beautiful and tranquil place, unchanged by time, I definitely believe she talked to me there. Our last stop on the trip was Central Station and Wanggoolba Creek. The creek is the second sacred place for the Butchulla women, the place where they came to give birth. Again the water here was so clear you could see every ripple of sand and it made absolutely no sound. As an example of how dedicated the Butchulla people still are to their culture, a couple years ago a huge storm moved through the island and downed some trees. They sat there for months as the park rangers are Butchulla men and wouldn't enter the area to clear it up out of respect for their traditions. Central Station itself was the place where the European logging companies made camp when the industry was still active on the island. K'gari is the only place in the world where rainforest grows entirely on sand and has some of the biggest trees I've ever seen.

Even though this was a sight-seeing tour, it felt like so much more. Our group as a whole got very close and were always smiling and laughing. I learned so much about the Butchulla people and the history of the island, it was so eye-opening. Being from a western culture it's so hard to understand how precious these sites are to the aboriginal culture, but I think learning and trying to appreciate the significance of the site is a solid start. I've tried to put into words how truly spectacular my time on K'gari was. It wasn't just one part but the entire trip, I feel very lucky and blessed to have had such an amazing experience!

Welcome to K'gari!

Kirrar Sandblow (awesome photo courtesy of Dave)

In all her beauty!

Lake McKenzie, my favourite place

 

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Whitsundays and the New Horizon

July is gone already! What happened to all the time I thought I had here? So much to do in so little time, but at least I'm not bored yet! I've already talked about my time on Magnetic Island but Australia's east coast seems to be riddled with them so I've had a few more island adventures since my last post.

The absolutely stunning Whitsunday Islands! I was iniatally only going to do these as a day trip, but an elderly woman in Cairns told me that it was way better to do a sailing trip. I am so extremely happy I took her advice as it was a fantastic couple days on the boat. My ships name was New Horizon and I was very pleased with the tour. The crew was fantastic and my fellow landlubbers onboard made for fun filled days. We had a quick hike to look over the blue waters of White Haven beach and then spent a couple hours soaking up the sun in the sand. The rest of the trip was spent moving between the islands to find the best snorkeling/diving spots. I hadn't planned on diving during this trip but I am so happy I did. During my first dive I didn't see anything spectacular underwater, but as we were swimming along we could hear whales singing! A beautiful sound if not a little eeire. Then, at surface, the skipper pointed a turtle not 100 ft away from us that had surfaced to grab some air. To top it all off, once we were back at the New Horizon the whales decided to come through the bay right next to the boat! Words cannot describe how awesome that hour was.

After a rowdy night and a very early morning, I had my second dive of the trip. Probably the earliest dive I've had so far as we were in the water by 7:30 at the latest. Found a couple nudibranches and saw tons of fish as usual but here the coral stole my heart. Towards the end of the dive, we went through an area that had 4 or 5 huge rocks and every single inch of these rocks was covered in branching coral. It looked like I was flying over mountains covered in trees. Absolutely gorgegous!

The New Horizon

White Haven Beach

 

 

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Under-Appreciated No More Part 3

More adventures coming soon, but in the meantime...

#11 Your Own Kitchen: Hostel cooking is always an experience. Some of you reading this have experienced this before and may know exactly what I'm talking about. For the most part all the kitchens I've had are fairly clean and organized which is fantastic. Cooking around 3 or 4 different people can get a little hectic at times which can be annoying but managable. My biggest pet peeve in hostel kitchens is when people clean off their plates like there is a garbage disposal in the sink. Seeing old pasta, oatmeal, even pieces of raw chicken irks me more than it should. This could be because I come from a very clean household but I am looking forward to the day where I have my own cooking space again.

#12 Your Own Bathroom: In keeping with the household theme, having your own bathroom is AMAZING! Having stayed in camps for work sharing showers isn't that huge a deal it just gets annoying having to carry all your toiletries back and forth. The worst is when you forget something, have to run back to your room and then run to the bathroom again. Annoying but having running water is hugely awesome.

#13 Drinkable Tap Water: Now I was lucky in Panama, the place that I stayed treated its rain water so I was able to drink it, but I know most places in Bocas didn't do that. Buying bottled was the only option if I forgot my bottle at home. Not having to ask if the water is drinkable in every hostel is amazing and still feels like such a novelty.

#14 Free and Good Wifi: For some reason wifi in Australia SUCKS. I had better wifi walking around Bocas Town than I do at most hostels here. On one hand it's nice to not be attached to the internet but when trying to look up information on the next town you're going to, it can be extremely annoying when the page won't load. That and paying for wifi means I will spend more time at McDonald's than I ever would at home

#15 Cell Phone: I'm not sure how much of this is laziness, but I don't have any form of cellular service in Australia. So far I've made it alright without having a phone, but in the absence of wifi (see #14) booking my next hostel or tour can be quite the challenge. Luckily most hostels and travel agencies will make those bookings for you, but I'm so used to being self-reliant it's a bit difficult to get used to. I could just cave and go grab a phone but I'm so stubborn it's now become a challenge to make it through 3 months without one. As I haven't done it yet, I'm not sure how I'll feel once I get home and turn off airplane mode, so I apologize in advance if I become a cell phone scrooge.

 

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Beaches! (That you should not swim at!)

Yes, Australia has some phenominal beaches, but due to all the dangers in the water, it is highly recommended that you do not swim in the water. These dangers include crocodiles, sharks, stingers (not in season right now but the signs are still everywhere), and currents. Throw on top of that the occasional stingray and my favorite place to be is now potentially the most dangerous. Doesn't stop me from enjoying the beaches though!

So since I can't spend every waking hour at the beach I need to find other things to do with my time, and luckily Australia is full of activities! All of my favourite ones so far happen to involve animals, which is no surprise really.

I spent a morning at Reef HQ in Townsville, seeing the sharks was very interesting but my favourite part was the sea turtles. Reef HQ is a turtle hospital, so they take care of and home injured marine turtles until they're strong enough to return to the wild. They had a couple green turtles and it shocked me as to how big they actually are! Stevie was in the predator tank and absolutely dwarfed all the sharks in there. Saw tons of interesting fish, but nothing beats seeing them out on the reef. I had planned to walk the Esplanade that afternoon but I ended up at the Museum of Tropical Queensland instead. I thought it would be a like any other museum but it was so much fun! Almost every exhibit had a hands on, interactive component. I learned so much about the human body, animals of Queensland and the Pandora, a ship that sank just off the coast of Australia.

At Magnetic Island I had my first experience with a Koala! So fluffy!! Anyways, I stayed at Bungalow Bay which has an animal sanctuary right on sight. The sanctuary was awesome, they allowed you to hold and touch most of the animals that are there. Turtles, snakes, baby salt water crocodiles, lizards, and of course Koalas! I got to hold Pebbles and I have never felt anything so soft in my life, I didn't want to give her back. The sanctuary also feeds a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets every afternoon and all guests are welcome to help out. By far one of my favourite activities as having birds swarm around you is quite an experience.

I met a couple girls from Holland and we had decided that the one day we would walk to a couple of the other bays on the island and go snorkeling. Well our snorkeling day turned into more of a hiking day as the paths between bays were more rock than paths and more uphill than anything. Needless to say a quick cool down was necessary and every stop involved a swim. We even stopped at the nudist beach which was... interesting. Beautiful little bay, we saw a small stingray and tons of needlefish in there but... well... yea...

Blue-Tounged Lizard

Happiest person ever!

The 'path' between bays.

 

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