Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas one and all!

Wow what an amazing year it has been!  Going through my photographs has truly made me appreciate how wonderful life truly is.  I have been so lucky with the roads I have travelled and to truly have learned to appreciate the things in life that mean the most.  Great friends, loving family, adorable nephews, and so many beautiful horizons have greeted me at every turn.  I had no idea when I gave up my apartment and took to wandering over 8 months ago what wonders I would see or mountains I would climb, but by far more extraordinary is the friends I have made and reconnected with.  From having a relaxing beer with Jeff during the cyclone of my departure to learning to climb mountains with Eddie to meeting old family in Illinois and being adopted for a couple nights in Ohio I have been greeted with warmth and happiness from the very beginning.  Drinking with friends and family across Iowa and South Dakota reminded me how many good friends I have even if there have been miles and years between us. 

Spending time at the parentals during my ride was a great chance for me to restock and get ready for the long empty miles of Wyoming but one of the greatest parts of the year was getting to spend a week and half sharing the open road with Mom and Abbydog.  How rare a chance to share adventure and overcoming obstacles with someone that used to give me such support and happiness!  Of course it was nice traveling with mom too :).  Sharing the joy and freedom of the open road with Mom is hands down one of the most amazing and surprising events of my life.  Thank you mom!

Surviving Idaho (yes potato’s are the most interesting thing there) and riding through Oregon with Eli a fellow self-sustained cyclist and meeting up with my best friend Matt just in time to climb the last mountain of the journey and then join me on the last ride of the epic journey through one of the most beautiful parts of America truly was amazing.  I couldn’t have asked for a better friend or a better day to finish such a ride, and to be greeted by Christina, my brother and awesome nephew Dom only made it even more miraculous.

After the ride I took some time off to visit friends across the country.  I spent a week with the Josephs in Portland then flew back to Philadelphia to spend some more time with Erin and catch up with my wonderful friends there.  After Philly I went to Seattle to visit the Midgets, Dom and Cal who are absolutely adorable.  I must admit though after spending 5 days rained inside with a 2yr old I am seriously reconsidering this whole kids thing…

After Seattle I flew back to the Dakota’s (at this point they knew me by name in the margarita bar at the Denver airport) to help Mom recover from a knee replacement.  I really didn’t help too much but I did keep Dad from trying to help, which was probably the more important thing to do.  I got really good at removing the batteries from the smoke detector in the kitchen when it was his turn to cook breakfast :) Mom recovered very well despite her barbaric helpers at home and set a great example for Dad when he got his done.  

After mom could fend for herself I flew back to Seattle to spend a bit more time with the midgets before heading to Australia. 

Australia is amazing, if you ever get the chance come visit!  I have been here 3 months and absolutely love it.  From kangaroos to sharks to amazing food and wonderful people it has been amazing.  Magnificent people have met me at every turn and shared in even more epic adventures.  From scuba diving with sharks to yachting with silver bags of bliss to spending days out in the bush alone with the emu’s and kangaroos to road trips it has been even better than I imagined it could be.

Life truly is amazing my friends, and I have found that sharing it with friends is truly what makes it such.  From camping with mom to riding with Joseph to playing with the midgets to cooking massive feeds for fellow travelers and making new friends from all corners of the world.  Sharing food, goon (cheap box wine), adventures and smiles with friends and family is what has truly made this year so great.  The 7 wonders of the world are paled in comparison to the friendships and smiles shared in every aspect of my year.  Thank you my friends for making it so amazing and Merry Christmas!   

And with that I am off to pack for New Zealand!

SHARK!

Hate to say it but I am pretty sure my reality can beat up your reality, especially after this last week.  Erin arrived at the hostel and it was wonderful catching up with such a good friend.  Robbie (a Canadian that acts like a stereotypical damn yank) had caught a nice 3-kilo Coral Trout and we saved it for the first full day of Erin’s arrival.  I cooked it by drizzling it with coconut milk then adding parsley, curry, colander powdered with a bit of salt and pepper then throwing it on the grill.  It came out delicious especially with the peanut curry sweet potatoes and coconut milk rice and made a proper tropical feed for us here at the Northern Green House hostel.

After a few days Erin and I took off on a 4 night dive expedition aboard the SpoilSport dive boat operated by Mike Ball Dive Expeditions.   It was an amazing boat with an awesome crew.  I have never seen so many people so happy to go to work as the crew on SpoilSport.  Erin and I dove with dive instructor Shea as I was new to the diving world and it had been over a year since Erin dove.  The dive went great although I went through my air a bit fast but Shea worked with me and gave me lots of good tips that really helped the rest of the trip.  The first day was filled with amazing coral and hundreds of different fish of all shapes and sizes and colors.  Beautiful Butterfly fish and buffalo head Parrot fish to small reef sharks and heaps of “Nemo” fish made it an amazing day and that night I went on my first night dive.  At night the giant Trevally and Red Bass have learned to use divers and their lights to hunt the cute little fishies we are trying to see.  You would find a cute colorful Angelfish and there would be a flash of silver and a 10 kilo Trevally would have supper.  Literally we had a swarm of 30-40 massive predator fish following us around the whole dive.  At one point I saw a huge Moray eel which of course had no problem scaring away the Trevally’s and bass and a beautiful Lion fish who was well protected by its poisonous spines.

The next morning I woke up to a quick cup of coffee for a morning dive that was even better than the days previous.  The water was even clearer the closer we got to the Coral Sea and had an absolutely amazing dive.  After surfacing I helped myself to an amazing breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and more delicious things that I have lived without for so long.  A quick nap in the sun on the top deck to help digestion then back in the water again!  It was absolutely amazing to dive with Erin, but as with most people communication can sometimes get a little difficult and being underwater only compounded it.  Despite our limited form of communication by hand signals Erin performed wonderfully and at one point even conveyed her wishes for me to go fornicate with a shark.

That afternoon we went to a special part of the reef where the dive boat does a weekly “Shark Feed” where they sit all of us down on some coral then release 4 tuna heads chained to a float and we get to watch 30+ sharks tear into the tuna creating this massive ball of carnivorous sharks thrashing and tearing at each other and the tuna.  Easily one of the best 30 minutes of my life as I leaned as close as I could getting some amazing pictures and watching a 9 ft shark thrash and convulse its entire body creating enough power to tear the tuna to shreds while 20 other sharks try to join in.  After the last shreds were consumed and the sharks dissipated Erin swam to the rock where the tuna was tied to and started to look for sharks teeth (she found 5) and I swam after a couple sharks getting even more great pictures then went back and found one shark tooth.  My nephews may not appreciate it yet but someday I hope they love the fact that my Christmas present to them is a tooth from a shark I actually swam with :)

Later that evening we went for a night dive along a coral wall not far from the shark feed.  With a gentle current the crew dropped us off half a click up current from the boat so we could enjoy a nice gentle float through dusk into night along a beautiful coral wall.  Erin and I went in and floated along side-by-side with Erin close to the coral and myself between her and the “blue” where we could see a few green eyes swimming along with us.  It was a beautiful dive as we got to see the Butterfly fish and Parrot fish just as they were settling down for the evening then as night fell the nocturnal hunting fish came out.  Including sharks :D   A few largish grey sharks swam along us in the blue and one cute little White Tipped Reef Shark (only 1.5 meters long) swam right up to me.  A little while later he surprised Erin by coming up behind her and swam right between her and the reef wall at which point Erin simply grabbed me and threw me between herself and the shark that was going to “chomp” on her.  Of course her frantic actions scared George (that’s what I named the cute little guy) and he went swimming away into the dark and I followed Erin back to the boat.  Of all times to find when to find out where I stand with Erin it had to end up with her trying to feed me to the sharks :)

The next day anchored at Shark Reef at the southern end of Osprey Reef where we had been diving the last day.  A small group was guided down to the bottom of a wall where I hit my new record of 100 feet below sea level and was overjoyed to find even more sharks on this dive.  At one point I counted 15 grey and white tipped sharks swimming below us.  Bec our guide had brought an empty pop bottle and when she rolled it in her hands it made an interesting crinkling sound that most sharks have never heard before and brought in even more of the cute little devils.  It’s a trick that works great at places that don’t get too many divers and it was a great dive because of it. 

A few hours later Erin and I jumped in for our last dive of the trip.  We stayed on top of the reef wall and by far it was the greatest dive of the trip.  We saw all the cool fish of the reef with the exception of Manta Rays and an eel.  We were very sad to leave the reef and say goodbye to all the cute little sharkies that circled us as we did our decompression rest before boarding the boat for the last time. 

That night we had a great barbeque on board and had lots of laughs with the crew going over pictures from the trip.  By 10:00 I was passed out in my bunk without even crawling under the covers after 3 intense days of diving.  The next morn we said goodbye to the wonderful crew and took the dingy to Lizard Island where we caught a small plane back to Cairns.  A beautiful one hour flight over the reef that we spent so much time enjoying was a great end to the trip and truly impressed on me how massive the Great Barrier Reef truly is.  At times you could watch the reef follow the curve of the horizon as it flowed along the edge of the earth.  

                                                                A truly amazing week.

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Paddling your own canoe

Sorry again for the bit of silence, had a hard time getting around to the blog.  Heaps of things to write about but I have been living in Cairns for the past 3 weeks and kind of just kept going to go play in the sun and water with friends rather that sit down and type out the fun that I have been having.  So lets see here when I left off last time I was just on my way to get certified for scuba diving.  I ended up choosing Rum Runners, a very affordable company that my upstairs neighbor Dave was taking as well so I signed up with Irish for a 1 day classroom 2 day 1 night trip to the reef.  Massa picked us up at 8 am and brought us back to his house.  As Irish and I climbed the steps, leaving our shoes outside the front door and entered a very residential building that in no way resembled a diving school we began to get a bit nervous.  When we sat down at the dining room table with a black cat rubbing our legs with a Hello Kitty Etch & Sketch next to our diving manuals we almost got up and walked out demanding a refund… But we stuck it out and even though there was a bit of a language barrier on the written part of the course but when we got to the pool part everything went amazing when Massa got us underwater.  With 18 years of diving experience he was able to train us using hand signals, as neither of us were very well able to chatter underwater.  My confidence only grew as he got us out on the reef and worked us through the more intricate procedures; the man truly is part fish as he used one third of the oxygen I did!

That night I cooked Kangaroo for a bunch of my roommates and new friends.  I cooked the filets in a pomegranate molasses sauce with risotto and grilled asparagus on the side.  I must say it was satisfying to see that jealous looks other backpackers gave me as they came in to pour boiling water over their instant noodles.  Dinner was a success and all eight of us were completely stuffed before we continued drinking.

Dave (Irish), Harm (Holland) and I walked down to the boat the next morn at 7 am after way to many drinks.  At least we made it on time compared to Annabel our English roommate who was a wee bit late for her pickup and caught grief for it her whole trip.  On the boat we met a nice older couple from Oklahoma, Silke from Germany, and a bunch of young army boys out of Victoria, OZ.  The crew on the 60ft boat consisted of Jase the skipper, Massa the instructor, Craig the dive master, Trinity the dive master in training, and last but not least Kim the cook.  17 of us all together on the sailboat.  She is called Rum Runner because she used to be used to run rum back in the day, but for the life of me I don’t know where they could hide a keg of rum as we took up almost every square inch.

Diving was absolutely amazing.  It is one thing to swim through the water, even snorkeling you may see more than you would 15 meters down, but by diving you become part of the environment, slipping sideways around coral ridges and slipping through narrow canyons and underneath overhangs.  Fish flashing by you shining like the meteor showers seen on a Wyoming mountain.  I felt more at ease 15 meters under water than I did fighting the chop of the surface; it is truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  Better than chocolate cake even J

The wonderful part is that my instructor Massa was so impressed with my ability to take to water like a fish that he offered a sort of internship to me.  If I come work for him Jan through April my housing and food would be taken care of and I would get my dive masters certification for free… By far a very tempting offer, to live on a sailboat in the Great Barrier Reef doing 18+ dives a week.  A far cry from my first job chasing cows on a Wyoming ranch and a bit easier on the conscience than working for the Corporation on the frantic east coast of America. 

Harm, Irish and I finished diving enjoying all aspects of it, for 2 days our lives consisted of diving, sleeping in the sun, and eating 4 delicious meals a day (with snacks in between!) I got in a few snorkel trips where I saw giant clams, lots of Parrot and Trigger fish, some sea cucumbers and lots of things I couldn’t identify.  Easily some of the best days of my life.   Combined with Massa offering me the job and bullshitting with the crew on the way back to civilization I was well ready to accept the internship opportunity and have that be my life for 3 months. 

Coming back to reality I checked my bank account and seeing much less than I expected I set out to find a job.  I dropped resumes at bars, restaurants, landscaping businesses and pretty much anything else that might hire me.  After a week of nothing I ended up getting a response from a cable TV sales company and two bars.  I ended up quitting the cable sales job after one day because it was absolutely horrid and I didn’t fly halfway around the world to annoy people trying to shop in the mall.  Of the two bars I ended up taking a job at the Blue Sky Brewery instead of the Crown because it paid better and would be a lot less trouble as the Crown is a bit shady.  

Sadly the joy of actually being gainfully employed for the first time in 7 months was overshadowed by my friends taking off on new adventures as they travel down the coast.  Harm, Dave, Kai, Ben, Roy, Ashley and Annabel said their goodbyes and for the first time in weeks I was alone in a hostel of strangers.  Cesare Pavese once said “Traveling is a brutality.  It forces you to trust strangers and lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends.  You are constantly off balance.  Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it”.  This is brutally true, but for a week I was able to enjoy the sea, the sky, the dreams and a bit of food and alcohol with great people.  All things that make a place a home were there then left with my friends and I horribly missed having friends and family around especially with the holidays around the corner.   At the backpackers you meet wonderful people whom are a joy to be around, but as with my friend Sarah from the UK they often take off after adventure or work without much notice.

Luckily it only takes a hello and a smile to turn a stranger into a friend and I celebrated Thanksgiving with 3 new friends.  Definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving with Nikhal from London, and Helen and Selina from Germany not understanding the holiday but with Nikhal’s help I cooked a feast of bacon wrapped Kangaroo, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and curried apples which pretty well explained things to them.  Skyping home I got to wish the family a happy Thanksgiving and my 2yr old nephew Dom was as adorable as possible.  According to him this holiday season I am thankful for Kangaroos (poor kid has no idea how right he was J, it was delicious!)

Shortly after Thanksgiving my 3 friends scattered on, continuing their own adventures.  I was pleased to have Marion, my friend from camping in Victoria come into town.  She booked into my hostel and joined Piia, Elina, Corey, Robbie, and Kyle for a pasta diner here at the hostel.  That following Saturday Piia, Elina, Marion and I went down to the docks and climbed onboard the Dreamagic, a 46ft yacht captained by Alan Littleland.  Piia and I sailed with Alan the previous Wednesday and he asked me to come back and help pull ropes for a Saturday race.  I got quite a chuckle out of the girl’s reaction when they were described as my “visitors” meaning they were not crew and weren’t expected to help sailing.  Alan manned the wheel while Ian, John, Claire, and I hoisted the sails and tacked back and forth in the channel waiting for the race to start.  John is quite the character, a professional sailor and helicopter pilot with lots of interesting tales of being stranded rudderless in the ocean and having crocodiles hang off his helicopter runners. 

We got off to a rough start in the race but slowly gained on the pack as we passed through the canal before hitting the open sea.  Out away from land we were able to catch more wind and started overcoming the pack when we heard the announcement of a course change.  Deciding it was too pretty of a day to shorten Alan dropped out of the race, put me at the wheel, and we continued sailing around islands and reefs absolutely enjoying the wonderful weather, company, and a silver bag of bliss.  Passing by a reef we dropped the jib sail and coasted along at 2 knots with just the main.  Running a line out the back we enjoyed jumping into the ocean then getting dragged along, as we would pull ourselves back into the boat.  Of course I waited till Piia was well out there before I made a comment about trolling for sharks, but all we saw was a couple turtles.  A truly beautiful day on the water with great friends. 

Sadly I had to work that night and after a quick shower and super I went into the bar already exhausted.  Work was crazy that night with 3 different Christmas parties on top of the normal Saturday crowd.  I had several groups of annoying Canadian girls come up to the bar trying to get free/cheap drinks by acting like a princess.  Hilariously I just had to ask if they were from America as they were acting like a stereotypical arrogant American.  Turns out I discovered a nice simple way to make annoying Canadians go away J.  Later that week we celebrated Robbie’s 21^st birthday by getting kicked out of 2 different pools, drinking goon (aka silver bags of bliss, box wine) on the beach, then heading out to the bars.  None of us were moving very fast the next morn

I will be here in Cairns for a bit, joined by Erin here shortly then head off to spend a bit of time in New Zealand after a nice long trip out scuba diving on the reef together.  It will be awesome to share the wonders of Australia and New Zealand with such a good friend, not to mention Christmas and New Years.  Life alone on the road is amazing, but it will be many times better to be able to share the joys and wonders of the seas, skies, dreams and mountains with such a good friend.

The open road? Ya, she's never treated me wrong.

G'Day everyone.  Sorry its been so long since the last update but been a bit of everywhere since my ill-fated bus trip to Adelaide.  I made it back to Melbs without incident and had a phenomenal week with  friends touring museums and eating at delicious restaurants.  I went to a vegetarian restaurant that was in an old nunnery, it served all sorts of delicious food (think curry apples, amazing!) buffet style with no price fix, you just paid what you felt the meal was worth.  So you had homeless guys tossing in half a quid sitting next to young hipsters and old businessmen pitching in a $50.  A great night out.  That following weekend I got invited camping with Sam and Marion, who I had met in Halls Gap.  We met at Federal Station early in the morn then took off towards Mildura along the Murray River.  That first day was pretty nasty with massive rain, and we ended up paying for a spot at a caravan park just to have a dry spot to cook supper but then the next day it cleared off just as we hit a small state park.  The park was a unique ecosystem where fig trees randomly sprout out of desert dunes, a beautiful contrast.  It quit raining literally as we pulled up and everyone was delighted to get out of the confines of the car.  The girls pulled their shoes off and ran through the sand and Sam radiated contentment as she let go of all the tension from the long car ride at the simple feeling of sand between her toes and was the catalyst for Marion and I to follow suit. 

After the dunes we headed south away from the river to Hattah National Park where we made a great camp next to a very full lake.  Australia has received more rain since I arrived than they have in the last 4 years, trees had started growing out in the dry lake beds making it hard to appreciate the sunset on the lake but we still had a great fire and cooked a feast of curry, rice, and of course our own version of campfire curry apples which was phenomenal! We finished the evening watching "Shaun of the Dead" on my lappy in celebration of Halloween.  The next day we packed up and headed off to another park that boasted pink lakes.  Sure enough there were 5 lakes all pinkish in hue due to the massive salt content and unique sediments.  Over the last hundred years they mined the pink salt off the lakes as they dried out in the summer, removing something to the tune of 10,000 tons of salt off a 7 acre area.  Even though the operation was shut down and turned into a park there are still mountains of salt around each lake.  We chipped a bit off to use in our supper that night and it was definitely delicious.

Heading south we drove for several more hours giving me heaps of practice driving in the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road and but for 2 lapses where I turned into the wrong lane (no cars for miles, so no harm done :) ) I managed even with driving a manual with all the shifters on the wrong side of my body.  The next park was much drier but very beautiful.  We made camp then went for a short hike then came back and cooked more delicious food.  Sam is a wonderful cook and while it is hard for me to admit, even better than myself as she took my recipes and plans and immediately improved on them.  Marion was quite content to reap the effects of our combined culinary talents and we finished up supper with some really bad wine I mistakenly picked up while warming our toes in the fire and laying back looking at the southern constellations.

The next day we simply packed up and started the long drive back to Melbs randomly stumbling upon a neat little petting zoo in a small city park that had kangaroo, emus, peacocks, and goats with a nice playground for kids.  Once again I was amazed with how well Australian communities come together and work to provide simple amenities and sometimes unique features to their towns then open it up for all who may be passing through out of simple goodness.  I am pleased to say that it is so common that I have started taking it as granted as a sunny day or friendly smile.

Back in Melbs I only had time for a bit of food and sleep before I picked up a rental van and met my friend Ash for a road trip north.  www.standbyrelocs.com is a website for rental companies that need to have vehicles moved from point A to point B with in a certain time frame.  So I rented a campervan to go from Melbourne to Cairns but had to deliver it in  7 days.  We took off and I sidetracked us to go see the Snowy River Mountains.  I grew up watching "The Man from Snowy River" and you must watch it if you haven't yet.  The mountains are amazing and we camped next to a beautiful river an a valley nestled between two impressive snow caped mountains.  A waterfall fell into the river across from us and brook trout raised to insects while kanga's bounced by our camp.  The valley was an old cattle station and the house was unlocked letting just anyone to wander into this beautiful stone building with porches front and back.  It truly was a bit of heaven and I hated to leave as I knew i could spend months in the area and absolutely love it.  We bounced around the mountains then out around Sydney before cutting back to the coast.  I didnt bother with Sydney as the best I heard about the city was that the parties never stopped and it was the cheapest place to buy coke.  Since neither really appealed to me I set a route following mountains and random roads that the gps assured me actually led somewhere.  Sometimes the road would cease with pavement having me drive on narrow gravel roads around mountains and through switchbacks and through cow pastures where marsupials grazed next to bovines. 

One thing to note when traveling with hippies is that you can never expect them to actually have all that they need and sometimes to make the trip enjoyable you have to provide some essentials... like horse tranquilizers.   A few hours of blessed silence and your own music can mean alot when you are spending a week in a car :D.

Actually it wasnt near that bad as we both figured out the others idiocracies and compromised on music and we got along well.  Although when we pulled into Nimbin not only did Ash make me drive all day (Do you know why Helen Keller couldn't drive?.?.?) but do the dishes, laundry AND cook supper.  Definitely some reverse feminism that night (and since I am the one telling the story I can tell it the way that I want.. i mean the way it truly happened)

After the delicious supper I prepared we headed up into town and caught a cool band at the pub.  I should mention that Nimbin is a product of the 60's and hasnt changed much.  Hippies young and old wander the streets in a daze and everybody has a smile on their face.  Back to the pub we watched "The Floating Bridges" perform and loved what they did.  Think regge rock music with a didgeridoo mixed in to give it a true aussie feel.  After their set we drank with them on the patio being entertained by a drunk Welshman (since mothers read this I cant go into too much detail on that conversation) who was hilarious.  The blokes from the "Bridges" told us about a free music fest on the beach a bit north in a couple nights and invited us to meet up with them.  The next day Ash and I headed north west to the coast and ended up catching another random concert in the town of Coolum, QLD where we met more backpackers and locals and had a great time all the way around.  After a couple mixed drinks, which were sold premixed in cans and about as nasty as you would think, we went back to the van and ended up just camping in the ditch.  As we were one vehicle in 10 that never made it out of the ditch that night no one bothered us and we went to the beach to spend the morning.  I decided the beaches in Oz are a lot like the gay clubs in NYC (friends thought it would be funny to see how the South Dakota boy would handle it) as there were not near enough beautiful women and all the men had better abs than me.  So after a quick pout I enjoyed the sun and a good book then we headed up the road a few clicks where we met up with our mates from the "Bridges" and spent a wonderful afternoon on the beach listening to a free concert that the city puts on every 2 weeks.  Townies both blue collared and tattooed spread blankets on the sand and grass and enjoyed local bands.  The showcase was "Tijuana Cartel" who was absolutely phenomenal and had everyone up dancing. 

Because of the couple relaxed days we had lots of kilometers to make up and we were on the road by 5:30 am with the sunrise heading north.  I drove for 17 hours getting us to Home Hill which is another great community that not only has safe places to park for the night but clean and free bathrooms and showers.  After being behind the wheel for 17 hours I was a bit wigged out on caffeine and ecstatic to be out of the car.  Wandering around drinking a cup of wine to slow me down I was startled by a horrific sound coming from a tree over me and I looked up to see the branches shaking and a god awful sound coming from the dark shadows.  Backing away I kept an eye on the tree and was shocked to see a huge 3ft bat erupt from the dark branches, and as it flew over a nearby car a huge white bomb dropped from the leathery beast to splatter the car.  I expected to learn about strange things but never in my life did I want or expect to know what a giant, constipated bat sounded like.

The next morn we enjoyed a free hot shower (which is much rarer than a free hot meal!) and got on the road for the last little bit.  We made it no problems and checked into the hostel and rooms then dropped the car off at the rental place driving over 4,000 km in 6,5 days.  With spending 21 of the last 27 hours behind the wheel I jumped in the pool then just relaxed and got a good night sleep.  The hostel is great and I am now looking for a job to replentish my travel funds as I wait here for a friend from home to visit.  More stories to follow soon as tomorrow I do my first open water dive :)

I hope to see sharks...

Mondays

In the recent past I have notice a wee bit of resentment stemming from me telling stories about my wonderful nomadic unemployed and homeless lifestyle.  Granted I have relished talking about tropical paradises filled with wonderful people from around the world while you my friends have been slaving away in a cubicle or classroom, but today what I have to tell you will make you appreciate your warm safe life.

Yesterday about noon I arrived in Ararat after taking the bus from Warrnambool.  I booked a $70 ticket to Adelaide scheduled to leave at 11:30 that evening so I stashed my pack at the bus depot then headed out to check out the town.  A little while later I would have been found enjoying a local park, reading my book and getting a tan.  Pretty much on par with the wonderful life I had become accustomed to.  About 5 o’clock I packed up and headed back to the bus depot to pick up my pack then I headed to a nearby pokey (casino) where I spent the next 6 hours reading and watching movies on my laptop.  It was as uneventful as you would think it was and I was happy to see the clock hit 10:45.  Packing up again I went out into the cold night and made my way back to the depot, noticing that it was already down to 7 Celsius.  By 11:15 I was checking my watch every 30 sec and by 11:35 I was holding down the glow button and by 11:50 I was taking pictures of it next to the bus sign as evidence.  By midnight I gave up and shouldered the pack and went off in search of a quiet place to sleep.  Heading back towards the park I kept my eyes open for a small spot that would be A: hidden from casual observation B: void of any little nasty bitey things, and C: void of any nasty 2-legged things.  Not finding anything I turned down a road heading for a caravan (camper) park about 5k from the bus depot.  About 2k into the walk I saw a sign advertising another caravan park a measly 1k up this hill towards a big creepy glowing building.  Trusting my luck that so often landed me with wonderful people and beautiful scenery I turned and headed up the hill.  About 2k later I found that the caravan park had been turned into a parking lot for the museum of the criminally insane, that creepy glowy building on the hill.  So I sat there, one in the morn, with an empty lot on my right, creepy museum of the criminally insane that used to be a hospital/jail for the criminally insane on my left, and this huge abandoned building behind me that looked part gymnasium, part green house and all sorts of freaky, wondering where my luck had gone and what was that noise was the off in the grass.

So I turned around and headed back down the hill jumping at the shadows that the moon was throwing from every tree and shrub, picking up the main road again and headed out of town.  A couple clicks later I exited town, crossing what in daylight would be a nice crick with a calm walking path next to a cemetery.  For a seconded I considered pitching my tent between the crick and cemetery but the white marble headstones hazily reflecting the glow of the moon reminded me how my luck was running and I continued on down the road.

A little while later I was walking next to a nice wooded pasture and was thinking about pitching my tent in there for the night when all of a sudden this huge black beast erupted from the very copse of trees I was eyeing for a campsite and thunders through the night right by me while screaming like a little girl.  Why such a ghastly beast would scream like a little girl I don’t know, but it was only that thing and myself out there in the ghostly night and it definitely wasn’t me making that noise.  A this point I had my torch out and blazing away, adrenaline jumping at every sound and shadow my exhausted mind made into a big buggering nasty beast and so I started walking right down the road hoping someone would drive by (hopefully not from the direction of the museum) when I finally came upon a normal caravan park.  I jumped the fence and pitched my tent behind the playground, collapsing into a much-needed sleep right away. 

A little while later I woke up freezing, colder than I have been in years.  I have experienced something close to comfort in my sleeping bag even down to 3 degrees Celsius and here I was shivering away while pulling on and wrapping up with every shred of clothing I had.  Without unzipping the bag I managed to get a second pair of wool socks on then wrap two sweaters and a scarf around my numb feet, pulled two more shirts on then wrapped my last tshirt around my face leaving only a half inch area exposed after I drew the mummy bag shut around me.  Why the tshirt ended up on my face and my scarf around my feet I didn’t even think to question, so cold was the night. 

Even with the added insulation I woke up at 7 to numb feet and wanting nothing but a cup of coffee and a hot shower.  I got out of my tent and went up to the shower and found it and the bathroom locked and no one at the office or responding to the bell.  By this point I really had to piss and was quite pissed at being denied my hot shower so I watered their roses by the office then packed up and headed back into town.  I caught the first bus away from that town and am writing this while sitting in a small cell-like room in an old 1860’s pub turned Chinese buffet/hostel in Ballarat taking my time getting back to Melbourne.  I will still try to get to Adelaide, but definitely not by bus.

And so my friends, life is not all shits and giggles, even for me.  But nights like last give me a bit of perspective.  A friendly smile, good meal, and a long hot shower is an exceptional thing.  A meal of plain rice is made incomparable by the setting in which it is eaten, and a delicious steak is overshadowed by the company it is shared with.  The fact that I have had only one steak this month but eaten over 8 kilos of rice doesn’t make my life any more or less enjoyable.  What makes my life so enjoyable is the fact that this morning exhausted, cold, miserable, and completely wore out I still smiled as I pissed on the roses.

Bali Ha'i

So I ended up staying a few extra days at Halls Gap, catching the Tuesday bus out of town instead of the Sunday.  Saturday night a spontaneous feed led to a great night.  Barb and Mike of NZ were great conversationalists and drew great political and personal rights discussions from everyone at the table.  Barb works for a nonprofit building PR for cyclists in Auckland and Mike is an engineer and both were great at keeping up to date with world politics and open minded and genuinely interested in hearing personal opinions from the people from the different countries.  Sam and Marion, Sam being from NZ herself and Marion from France, seemed to enjoy the conversations and had some great insights.  Simon loved having someone fluent in french to have a full discussion with and translate some of the phrases we had been trying to work out together.  Another nice lady from Belgium made it a balanced discussion and much food and wine was enjoyed by all.  I had made a bit extra pasta and started a tradition of feeding new friends in exchange of wine or conversation.  It is interesting to see the worlds opinion of US politics and sad to say it is viewed as a fallible and corrupt circus.  The one consistent question I am asked is "What happened to Obama? We had such hope."

The next day everyone but Simon moved on in their travels and we sat out a rainy day playing chess and watching french movies.  I decided the french language can either be beautiful or disgusting without much of a middle ground and completely dependent on the person speaking.  Simon and Marion spoke it beautifully where as other french people I have met spoke it in a gutteral tones more akin to speech used in describing rubbish. The weather cleared off for a quick hike and I started packing up to get ready to catch the bus.  Tuesday morn I went for my last run around Halls Gap, a 7k loop through town then back along a hiking trail.  In a proper sendoff I came within 5ft of a kangaroo and her joey then had some emus race me along the hillside (I won :) )

That evening Don Swanson met me at the station in Warrnambool and drove me back to his home.  Don and Terry Swanson were originally from Illinois then moved to Oz 21 years ago.  They are friends of the Whitesides who I spent a couple days with in Moline Il in my bike trip across the US and absolutely wonderful people.  The after a great dinner and even better stories and discussions that first night Terry gave me a tour of Warrnambool and the surrounding countryside.  The land is good for potatoes so lots of Irish settled the area and that next evening after a delicious meal of grilled kangaroo (truly delicious!) we went to enjoy the sunset at a park outside of town with the kangaroos and koalas.

That Thursday morn Don snuck out of the office and threw a wetsuit at me and grabbed his surfboards.  Now I have spent a lot of time on the ocean but always in a nice big boat with either a beer or fishing pole in my hand (or both) but I have never been surfing or body boarding.  After some quick lessons and tips we floundered through the surf and got out to where some nice waves were washing in.  It took me quite a bit but slowly I learned how to balance my weight on the board to first catch, then ride the wave and eventually even managed to stand up, but only long enough to get a giant smile on my face before I ate it ("it" being quite literally the wave).  It was a glorious morning and the water wasn't near as cold as I thought it would be and was mercifully shark free.  While it is nice to know no one has been eaten in over 50 years I couldn't help but think that statistically it was about time for another...

After a quick lunch and shower Don, Terry and I piled in the car and the wonderful Swanson's took me on a road trip to all their favorite spots along the Great Ocean Road.  Towering columns of sandstone eroded by wind and water standing lonely in the pristine blue ocean gave perspective to one of the most beautiful horizons I have ever seen in my life.

Back in town I went with Don to Lex's Shed.  Lex's Shed is a normal shed that musicians gather at every Thursday night and play Irish music.  A dozen wonderful musicians played flutes, fiddles, hand organs, guitars and banjos for hours on end playing all the traditional Irish music better than I have ever heard in my life.  As a person with absolutely no musical talent it was almost magical to see them play so synchronously letting the music communicate to the group and not speak hardly at all.  It truly was Australia in a day; surfing, touring, great food amazing music and absolutely wonderful people in all parts.

Friday was a pretty quiet day.  I did some banking and picked up a prepaid phone.  The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find the number it was associated with and get it activated but after many hours I prevailed and now have a Aussie phone.  That evening I went with Don and Terry's son Mike and his partner Ashley and their adorable daughter Eve to Ashley's parents house for supper and was treated to an authentic Australian dinner.  If you want to know what an authentic Australian dinner consists of I would suggest watching the move "The Castle".  You will either love it or hate it but it is the one movie that I am told captures the essence of Australia.

After dinner I went with Mike and Ash back to their home where I had the perfect Friday night: Scotch video games and zombies.  Well needed and greatly appreciated.  People say that a smile is the best way to connect with people of other nationalities but I think that 17yr old 90 proof liquor and exploding zombie heads brings you much much closer :)

Tonight I go out with Mike and Ash again to see what kind of carnage happens in Warrnambool on a Saturday night, then tomorrow I head out on the road again heading towards Adelaide. It has been absolutely wonderful here in Warrnambool at Casa Del Swanson and yet again I am amazed at how many wonderful people I meet in my travels.

This morn over pancakes we got discussing all the little nasties that can seriously hurt you here in Australia.  From the spiders to poisonous octopus to crocs and sharks to snakes it made for a wonderful way to start the day.  Funny thing is that even with all the deadly little nasties down here, more people die each day in bed rather than by all the other horrific animals people fear.  Just a thought for you :)

Kangaroos, Echidnas and Canadians

Tomorrow I leave Halls Gap and the Grampian Mountains to continue wandering along the southern coast of Australia after spending a wonderful two and a half weeks here.  In that short time Halls Gap became a home.  Beautiful walks filled with all sorts of interesting animals and amazing scenery combined with great times with fun people make it sad to leave.  Shortly after posting the last blog I loaded up the pack again and took off for a few days in the mountains.  I found a nice little campsite about 7k out in the bush and pitched my tent in a small clearing where the steep dense forest of the mountain softened out as it met a lush valley and a meandering stream where I could listen to the tropical birds in the trees behind me and watch the emus, deer, and kangaroos graze below me.  Using this as a base camp I went out on some shorter (14k) day hikes but spent a lot of time just sitting in the sun and reading.  It was a wonderful few days that let me enjoy a good book, bit of scotch, and my own company.  Just as I ran out of food (and finished the book) I packed up and headed back into town to Tim’s Place for a few days.  That evening I met Nick from Tassie and then Robin and Lieken who are hairdressers for Megan.  Robin is an older hippie that owns a beauty saloon and Lieken is a young girl from London that somehow ended up working for Robin in a very blusterous love/hate relationship.  Watching the two stylist go at each other then attack poor Nicky with a bowl of bleach was by far more entertaining than any TV show as I quietly hid in the corner and enjoyed the show and delicious food. 

The next day I hitched a ride into a nearby town where I picked up some cheaper groceries and more books and enjoyed a quiet evening at the hostel before the weekend.  I met Sarah, a friend of Megan’s the following day and Megan, Sarah and I started playing rummy 500 which pretty much set the pace of the weekend.  One game extended into a second day of play with such intensity that the other backpackers were in awe of our concentration.  For the next 3 days any free time we could find was dedicated to the game where the girls started the tradition of making me loose horribly.   Saturday the weather was so nice we had to take a break and get out and do something and after a nice hike we ended up meeting some friends of Megan’s at the Barbie in the park (barbie=barbeque).  Here I met Tim, Lexi and a bunch of other friends who work at the local outdoor adventure shop.  They invited us rock climbing the next day, which we readily accepted.  Poor Sarah was so excited that she couldn’t help but to tease Megan about her newly fashioned pink hair (according to Lieken its all the rage back in Londontown…)

In the afternoon on the next day we met Wildman Tim and the crew and headed up to Hollow Mountain.  After a short hike to the rock cliff Tim and his friend, both experienced climbers, threw on backpacks and scampered up the rock face to set up the ropes.  It took some thinking for me to figure out the harness but with a bit of sarcastic advice I got things squared away and got ready to climb.  When looking at the rock it was easy to see where some hand holds would be, but to a guy accustomed to climbing stairs there wasn’t near enough ledges and holds to make me calm.  Despite the apprehension I started up the rock and was absolutely amazed at how tiny of a hold you need when you are holding on for dear life.  A nub not even an inch wide under one foot is easily enough to support the rest of your body as your arms and remaining leg frantically contort and flail around looking for that next little purchase that will keep you on the rock and not falling away.  Rock climbing is definitely a sport where if you don’t think about the fact that you are hanging 70ft off the ground by only one toe and 3 fingers and the next hand hold is 3 inches beyond the tips of your other hand you will be ok.  And since (as most my teachers and ex’s have proved) I tend to just not let pesky logic and thinking interfere with my day I took right to the sport and absolutely loved the physical challenge of taking on the rock.  While others were climbing it was fun just hanging out down below and listen to the friends.  Bonnie was by far the most entertaining as she brought a level of energy to the group I can only compare to giving a 2yr old red bull.  Constantly cheering the climbers on with a aggressively friendly “Ya ya, climb that rock.  Like tiger RAHHHR” then bouncing around in interpretive dances of kangaroos, echidnas, and leaves.  When she tried to interpret branches in dance she just stood rigid and silent for a few seconds and, never one to miss perfect opportunity as such, Tim in a stroke of genius kept getting her to dance like a branch to give himself a few seconds of blissful silence.

After an exhausting afternoon we packed up and headed back to Halls Gap where I invited everyone back to the hostel for supper where I cooked a delicious sausage, zucchini and mushroom pasta and we sat around the table telling more stories.  I am happy to meet them, as Tim became a good friend.  Monday for me was an easy day with a short hike and a few calls home.  Tuesday I went to visit some waterfalls and hike to the Pinnacle where in accordance with Murphy’s Law it started to rain when I got as far as possible from town and then I remembered I left a flap on my tent open.  A quick fun hike down the mountain over slippery rocks got me back to town just in time for it to quit raining and to mop out my tent.  A cup of tea warmed me up and I continued the rummy tradition of getting horribly beaten by Ashley and Stacie, two girls from Canadia land.  Either lots of Americans are trying to pass off as Canadian to avoid the stigma of being a %*#$ing Yank or Canadians are so bored back home that they enjoy world travel more than us #(*&ing Yanks.  As of yet I have yet to stay at a hostel where the Australians outnumbered the Canadians, but they have all been friendly blokes and I have enjoyed myself in their company.   That night everyone chipped in with food or beer and I cooked curry coconut for everyone and we continued playing rummy.  The next day I went on a nice hike back out to the valley where I camped the week before and enjoyed more of the wildlife and even saw an echidna up close.  A cute little animal that brings squeals of joy from girls that made me wish Tim’s branch command trick worked universally but we all survived.  Later that night Robin and Lieken came back out and Robin cooked a delicious risotto and everyone in the hostel sat around a bonfire.  Nina, a 5yr old German girl traveling with her parents was cute as hell keeping the fire going and convincing her parents that she did not need to go to bed yet.  Even though I didn’t understand the words she used her arguments were clear as day and she played her cuteness and the spectators perfectly and got to stay out till 11. 

The next morning a bunch of us woke up at 6 to go see the sunrise from the mountain top, which was well hid by a great bank of clouds that cut visibility down to 40 meters and pretty much negated getting up that early.  But the clouds went away and we visited a huge waterfall then Ashley and I started a daylong hike back to town from the falls.  It turned into a beautiful day and we enjoyed the 20+ kilometers over the mountains.  At one point several kilometers of the trail was at best 10 inches wide with the cliff dropping off below us.  We got back to the hostel very exhausted but glad we put in the long day of hiking. 

After resting and showering several of us grabbed some beer (way over priced!) and headed over to Tim’s house that he shares with his girlfriend Lexi and Bonnie the Branch.  We continued telling stories and ate delicious lamb and drank lots of wine and beer and had an absolutely smashing evening.  With the mountains and wonderful people like Tim, Lexi, Megan and Bonnie residing here, Halls Gap became one of my favorite places in the world and I am glad to call it home even for a short time.  Tim taught Lexi the branch dance and many laughs were had when he tried it on Bonnie and Lexi at the same time.  The branch dance is definitely an Australian tradition that I need to get started back stateside…

Friday was a cold rainy day and Megan, Ashley and Stacie took off for Melbourne leaving me bored and lonely and I huddled inside watching movies and drinking tea.  Simon from France was the only backpacker with me at the hostel and we hung out and had as much of a conversation as we could.  Simon is a very nice guy spending a bit of time in Australia waiting for a visa to come through for India.  He visited India and fell in love with a beautiful girl and they are working out a way to be together, and listening to him tell the story in his broken English with French accent made every girl in the hostel fall for him foolishly.  A nice guy and I hope things work out for him and his love. 

Like I stated before I will miss Halls Gap and will plan on coming back in my travels.  Beautiful mountains with great people in town make it a wonderful peaceful home.  Tim’s Place is by far the best hostel and I am sad to be disappointed by every other one I stay in from now on.  It is an Eco-hostel utilizing half flush toilets, solar panels and rainwater entrapments and treatment for water.  On a sunny day with enough recent rain it only costs $2 dollars to operate the whole hostel that can sleep 20 people.  On a bad day it still only costs $8.  It is truly an amazing example of how a well-designed building can reduce its impact.  Its one thing to recycle and turn off light switches but Australians have truly learned how to drastically decrease their environmental footprint and make their daily existence not cost the environment near as much as the normal American family.  Needless to say the branch dance is not the only useful trick I plan on bringing back to the states.

Landed

So I survived the 14 hour flight from San Fran, even with the unluckiest of seat selections.  I did have the luck to sit next to a fellow avid trout fisherman from Tasmania and a sweet old lady who were pleasant travel companions.   After over a year of talking I finally got to hear my first honest “G-day mate”.  Surviving the grueling flight across the Pacific I landed in Melbourne and caught a bus to my hostel in the St Kilda suburb.  I picked this hostel because they advertised free pancakes and bikes, which unfortunately was the logic of many drunken Irish and German kids.  I soon learned that I had picked a party hostel that was a favorite among the impish offspring of European well to do families.  Despite the bad first impression I met some cool people and later went out for a pint with Tom, the only Australian staying at the hostel.  In drinking with Tom I learned a bit more of the lingo and we had fun making fun of each other’s speech habits and became mates over the next week.  Sadly I discovered that Aussie doesn’t have refined brewing techniques we have back stateside and the beer is quite bitter and requires a bit of practice before it becomes enjoyable.  St Kilda is the Oceanside suburb of Melbourne and I had a nice 10-acre park outside the hostel and was only 5 blocks from the beach itself.  An older town, it reminded me a bit of New Jersey or Coney Island as it’s heyday has long passed but is slowly returning.  Melbourne itself is the most beautiful city I have visited.  Old Victorian buildings reflect off the shiny twisted surfaces of modern architecture showcasing both where the city has come from and where it is going.  Open flowing parks and lush botanical gardens lead into the city center from St Kilda making Melbourne one of the few cities where it is possible to catch a relaxing breath of fresh air on your walk around.  That combined with the friendliest folk imaginable made Melbourne my favorite city.  Imagine finding the unconditional and sincere welcome of a small midwestern town coming from the citizens of a large city and you have the people of Melbourne.

It just happened that St Kilda’s rugby team was in the finals and I was in town for the footie game.  Imagine landing in Philadelphia during the playoffs when the Phillies are playing the last game and not realize it until you see the drunken fans hanging from the streetlights.  At 6pm some of the Irish kids where yelling “chug chug chug” encouraging each other to reach a grander level of inebriated idiocracy even that early in the night, while drunken German kids (age 19-22) dryhumped the leg anything that didn’t run away fast enough (later that night one particular kid was getting along quite well with a vending machine..)  Luckily Tom and I ran into some other quasicivilized kids and 8 of us escaped the leghumpers and took some beer and wine down to the beach and passed the evening telling stories and learning a bit of French.  In the wee hours of the morning we made our way back to the hostel through the destruction caused by celebration and I climbed into the bunk in a room I shared with 5 others for a bit of sleep before the next day.

Surviving the footie celebrations (it ended with a tie) I joined 3 Americans, 3 Canadians, and one Aussie for a road trip down the Great Ocean Road.  We split into two cars and I was stuck with the Americans.  David was the other driver in my car, a young trustfund kid from LA who still seemed a bit surprised by puberty.   I am not sure if he was ADD or OCD or just a @*#$ing twit but after 13 hours in the car with him I hating yanks as much as anyone.  The two American girls at least were not annoying, but didn’t have enough personality between them to make any conversation interesting.  Sadly the other car was a riot, Adam the Canadian is a great guy who loves the outdoors as much as I do and the other two Canadian girls and Aussie chick had a great time laughing and joking and telling stories while I was stuck with the Twit telling me to please drive 3kph slower than the speed limit.  Despite the company in the car I enjoyed the drive, the southern coast is amazingly beautiful with many different types of ecosystems right next to each other.  I walked through rainforests then an hour later through cattle pastures with koala’s chilling in the trees above.  At Port Campbell I saw the 12 Apostles, which is one of Australia’s most famous rock formations and I was amazed at how beautiful it was.  That and driving on the wrong side of the road in the wrong side of the car is kind of like a bad video game gone all sorts of wrong. 

Coming back to St Kilda I lined out the last of the things I needed to do in the city and made plans to escape to the mountains.  I found a Moroccan café called Shibah that had free wifi and enjoyed Turkish coffee and the chance to skype home.   I ate there with my German friend (not one of the leghumpers) and had one of the most delicious meals of my life.  Then the week after I landed in Melbourne I jumped the train heading west then took a bus a bit farther west, then another bus to Halls Gap, VIC.  Halls Gap sits in the Grampian Mountains and is a nice little town where cockatoos and parrots fly everywhere and roos hop down Main Street at night.  I stayed two nights at Tim’s Place, which is what a hostel should be.  Pudding the cocker spaniel greeted me as I walked up and the rooms were clean and everyone nice and no ones leg was in danger of getting humped as even Pudding had better manners than the kids back in Melbourne.

I took off on a few small hikes into the mountains, which are quite literally behind the hostel.  Paths flow over rocks and around trees leading me to beautiful waterfalls and ridgelines where all of Australia opens up beneath me.  After getting to know the area a bit I took off on a two-day hike around the valley and back up over one mountain range.  As with the bike ride it took a bit to get used to the pack but it was well worth it to be alone in the mountains again.  Having curious stag-like deer follow me for a couple clicks through grassy meadows to watching brilliantly white flights of cockatoos wing beneath me as I stand on the mountain peak was amazing.  That night I pitched my tent next to the path in a flat spot.  I had to hike 3k round trip to get water from that camp but level spaces were hard to come by.  Even though it was warm during the day it dropped down to 4 Celsius during the night and I was huddled in my sleeping bag by 8pm.  That first night shadow camping in the bush I learned that kangaroos sound frightening similar to zombies in horror films as they quietly set their front paws down with just a little bit of noise then drag their larger hind paws through the underbrush much like a zombie would drag a foot…  That combined with their warning cough/moan when they smelled my camp made for a bit of a restless evening but they soon went away and I drifted off to sleep.

I came back down to Tim’s Place and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and a much needed shower.  Later that night I drank scotch and wine around a bonfire with Dominic, Tim’s brother, and Megan, Tim’s niece, who is watching the place while Tim is setting up his second hostel over in France.  Dominic is quite an adventurer himself and we passed the hours telling stories back and forth and being jealous of each other’s experiences.  If I ever make it back to Melbourne Dominic invited me to stay at his place and if I time it right in the summer we will go camping in the sand dunes down by the coast.  As bright and shiny as Melbourne is, this is the Australia I had hoped to find and look forward to spending another week here walking the mountains before I wander on.

 

And so it begins again..

Well here I go again.  Sorry I have been so quiet since I hit the ocean, been of on different types of adventures flying around the country to spend time with loved ones before I take off for Oz.  I had a great time back east even if it was a little weird being back in the town I hadnt hoped to see for a year or more.  It was great catching up with old friends and meeting some new and I didnt have near enough time.  After taking off from Philly again I went to Seattle to spend time with my brother and his family.  The midgets are cute as hell and highly entertaining.  It is often said that the best birth control is someone else's kids and after being rained inside for 5 days with a 2yr old and a 4 month yr old I am hoping that the damage isnt permanent.

I escaped the dreary Seattle weather to South Dakota the day my mom had her knee replaced.  I figured that while I was gainfully unemployed I would come back and help her out.  Her recovery was amazing and it ended out that I really didnt have to help her so much as to just make sure that Dad didnt try to help her too much.  Some people have a gift in caring for sick or injured people, and my father is not one of those types.  Between making sure he didnt step on her bad leg and removing the fire alarm whenever he tried to help out in the kitchen I was pretty busy the first couple days but things soon lined out and mom got better despite the nursing help she had with her.  While in SoDak I finished up the last things I needed to get done for Oz: lining out my finances, finding health insurance and getting a rough will put together and witnessed.  I am guessing I am the first person in the history of man to have clauses for whiskey, midgets, and web-footed nuns in his will but I figured it should be as entertaining as my life :)

Last Saturday I flew back to Seattle to spend a couple last days with the midgets and to finish packing.  Everything I own for the next 6 months fits into one (large) backpack and weights less than 50lbs.  I have one pair of jeans, one pair of convertable pant/shorts, one pair of shorts, two tshirts and two button shirts to wear and the rest is camping/survival gear.  The first month will be interesting getting in the swing of things but my December is looking to be absolutely amazing with all that is planned.  I will keep the blog going as my adventure gets going again.

Thank you again Erin for all your wonderful advice and support.  As with the bike trip my survival in Oz is largely thanks to your insight and advice.  Chief and Stina, as always it was wonderful to see you again and thanks for always opening your home to me.  Thanks mom and dad for putting up with a homeless unemployed son, and Willie for letting me corrupt the midgets :)  I might have hidden some ding-dongs where Dom would find them...... 

With that I have a flight to catch :)

Pictures!

Finally got the pictures up online, not all the descriptions are there but maybe someday!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grrwilson/sets/72157624534513955/

Riding the Last Road

I honestly couldn't ask for a better last ride to finish the journey, or even a more wonderful week.  Before I get too far I forgot to mention in my last post that the night I camped in the canyon, the last night camping on my own, I got to watch a herd of wild horses work their way across the ridge opposite of the lake as the sun set behind them.  It has been years since I saw wild horses and was glad to see them in Oregon.  It truly has been a week of beautiful country, interesting people, friends new and old, and many wonderful sights and experiences. 

Matt Joseph and I finally got on the road about 11am by the time we made it out of the city.  We started off with some heavy traffic but still a beautiful ride through Oregon's wine country.  Blonde wheat fields in the valleys with vineyards contouring the hills graced the road for the first 20 miles till we started climbing the last edge of the Cascades.  We opted for the mountain route despite the 3000 feet of climb but it was well worth it.  Climbing the mountain we stopped to enjoy the beautiful view of the valley, towering pines, and delicious wild plums and raspberries. I ate probably 20 plums (about the size of large grapes) and picked a bunch to share with Dom and Stina, but the ensuing 60 miles kinda turned them to jelly.  Topping the mountain we rode next to a beautiful blue reservoir then descended through one of the most amazing forests I have ever been in.  Mountain pine gave way to ancient oak and sycamore trees while moss softened the hard granite canyon walls.   Passing waterfalls and elk and hardly any people made it one of the most beautiful rides of the trip so far.

We hit Hwy 101 and stopped for a snack before pedaling the last 10 miles to the salt.  Interesting little mountain town, the only place I know of where you can buy a gallon of milk, mac and cheese, and a .50 cal sniper rifle all in the same store.  I definitely made some jokes about the zombie apocalypse after leaving earshot of the owner.   We rode north on 101 till we saw a state park sign that proclaimed camping and whale watching and turned the last turn till water.  I spent the next 6 miles standing as tall as I could striving for that first glimpse of waves.  It was interesting riding that last stretch.  My legs pedaled faster than they had the whole trip but I was torn with emotions.  I wanted to see the water, to look at the edge where I could go no further, but I also didn't want it to end.  The ocean meant that I had accomplished what I had set out to do, but with it ended the freedom and adventure of the open road that I have enjoyed so much.  If I had to return to work on Monday and did not have Oz to look forward to I would have turned around and started pedaling back.

The last 3 miles softened the pedal strokes as the sound of waves hearkened the site that I had envisioned so often the last 2 months.  Topping a small hill the trees gave way to a sandy beach and a family playing in the sand and their puppy in the surf.  All thoughts and feeling and movement ceased as I just smiled at the soothing sight and sound of the waves.  That quiet smile stayed with me as Matt and I climbed the last hill into Pacific City and coasted down to the beach.  Christina joined us on the beach where I sat and enjoyed the beautiful view, fending off the inquisitive questions of various bystanders.  While sitting there a whale breached about 60ft from shore between a jagged rock island and a soft, almost feminine limestone ridge.  With the ensuing meal at the pub, first scotch I have had in 3 states, and arrival of my brother and nephew Dom made it almost a perfect day.  When we had finished the food and hellos we got my bike and followed the sound of the surf down through the dark sand and I truly finished the journey surrounded by many of the most important people in my life.  Dom even volunteered to jump in the water for me (that kid has no fear!)

The journey truly has been great for me.  I have gotten to reconnect with friends and family across the nation, saw so much of this beautiful country and met so many great people.  I learned a bit about myself and a lot of patience and persistence.  While it was much tougher than I let myself believe it would be I never questioned that I could do it and always believed it worth it.  Thank you Eddie for starting this journey with me, Jeff for your friendship and beer in the planning stages, Erin for your support and constantly good advice both in the beginning and throughout, Mom for driving support and sharing in the glory of the open road and self reliance, Eli for your company through Oregon, Matt and Christina for your friendship and support clear to the end, and to my brother and Dom for making the trip down to join me in the end of this epic journey.

And yes I would do it again.

Downhill

It is amazing to think that I am in Portland at my best friends place and that the ocean is waiting just 80 miles away.  Oregon treated me much better than Idaho but I was still amazed at how much of the state was desert and mountains.  I crossed into Nyssa and my phone enjoyed playing games with the timezone changes by jumping back and forth depending on which side of the street I was on.  In Nyssa I actually took time to organize myself and bought a state map and marked which towns actually existed and had food, water or camping in them then pedaled on to spend the night in Vale.  The next morn I got about 5 miles out of town before I had to change a tire and just as I was finishing up Eli came pedaling up on a bike just about as loaded as mine.  The two days previous my Mom had ran into him at a gas station and found out that he was taking the same route I was only 40 mile behind me and told him about me, so we actually knew about each other before even meeting.  We joined up and headed northwest on hwy 26 and ate our lunches at a tiny park in the next town.  Even though we had just actually met, it was cool to see how similar we were as solo self supported riders.  Leaving town we ran into some Bike & Builders taking the same route so for the next 40 miles I had more company than the whole trip combined.

We all stayed that night at a state park outside Unity, Eli and I camping near enough the Bike & Builders to camp for free and enjoy their company.  We (Eli and I) cooked some summer sausage and zucchini pasta which went wonderful with cold Coronas we picked up in town 3 miles back (its interesting biking with a 12 pack on ice in your backpack.  Quite refreshing on a hot day!)  Through the course of the evening just one guy from the bike and builders came over and said hi but almost every single girl came by to talk to Eli.  By the way some of the bike and build kids acted it reminded me a lot of summer camp on wheels.  We guessed that about 20-25% of the people there started dating on the trip and we were just about right.

Sitting at the table and talking to Eli and the nice bike and builders it was interesting to see the differance in journeys and how it changes people.  Being supported and with a group the bike and builders were able to extend thier efforts to Habitats for Humanities and joke and have fun.  Some kids even had nerf swords on their bikes.  Eli on the other hand vocally laughed and joked, but in a quieter manner and wasted no physical effort that could be helped.  The lone road and self reliance of doing a solo trip is much better for helping ones self without lots of people to contend with.  Eli and I agreed that the company was nice for a change, but we preferred our way.   And they started playing rap music at 6am.

The next day we pedaled over the mountains to John Day, OR still enjoying the company of the bike and builders then stopped at a grocery store to restock before pedaling on 30 more miles to camp.  Since both of us had been surviving on pasta and peanut butter (not together) we splurged and bought a medaly of veggies and had zucchini, squash, mushrooms, peas, water chestnuts, and onion in a coconut peanut sauce over curry couscous with a cheap bottle of wine.  It hit a 100 degrees that day so we were very very excited to find a block of ice about 8 miles from camp.  When you are on the road you usually only get ice once every couple of days... if your lucky. To find a huge block when you are nearing heat exhaustion is an absolutely glorious thing.  It kept us cool and entertained the last miles in and even chilled the wine down from the 90ish degrees it had gotten.  By far the most delicious meal ever cooked over a whisperlite camp stove!

Doubled my water capacity and had room for a bottle of wine!

The next morn we packed up and headed back into the high desert mountains.  We passed through Mitchel, Or which has exactly two businesses still in business but only the diner was open.  Leaving there we hit 120 degrees on the asphalt in the bottom of the canyon.  In that heat you can not drink enough and every drop you carry is so warm it is disgusting to the tongue.  That combined with a 4000ft climb with all that gear could easily kill a guy.  We survived by stopping every 5 miles and splashing in a stream running next to the road.  Now this stream would be jealous of a garden hose, so you can imagine what the motorists thought seeing two grown bearded men in spandex splashing around in the middle of the desert....  Tiny as it was at least it was cold coming off the mountain and the climb was about as enjoyable as a mountain could be.  Crossing the summit we came into a completely different ecosystem as we finally reached the ocean side of the mountains.  Where a half mile back the flora was all desert plants we started riding past mountain pastures hip deep with grass and flowers.  Trees were taller and greener and even the air was cooler.  A little while later I saw the first cloud I had seen since Dubois Wy, 2 weeks earlier.  Coming out of the mountains we hit a bit more traffic, and one car in particular was nice and slowed down and waited to pass till a straight safe stretch came up.  I was riding behind Eli 20ft and spent all day yelling "car back" to warn him and seeing a cute girl driving I hollered "cute blonde back"  Eli looked as she went by then stood up and cranked trying to catch up on his bike as she disappeared over a hill.  Poor guy, all I could do was tell him that she was gone and he had to let her go.

Coming into Prineville we were pretty exhausted from climbing 80 miles worth of mountains for the second day running and just wanted to get to camp.  About 2 miles out a shitty little Nissan flies by as close as possible while blaring its horn at us and another car followed suite.  About as the asshole drivers (who's mother obviously did things with an alpaca that even the french wouldn't approve of) did this we flipped them off then rode pass an old guy taking his trash out.  I made eye contact with him and shrugged my shoulders while saying "some people don't know how to share the road."  That old fart replied "They probably agree with me that you don't pay for the road"  for the next 60ft we had a running (even civilized) discussion about how bikers do in fact pay taxes and I probably spent more on gas last year than he did and how by his logic that gave me more rights to the road than him.  I didn't stop and waste my momentum to finish the discussion and ended it by standing up and farting in his general direction (hey, up till then I was civilized!) and pedaling on to camp.

In camp we were pleased to find a family from Amsterdam pedaling across the country.  We exchanged stories about beautiful mountains, rolling fields and stupid rednecks.  This campground was unfortunately the nastiest yet on the trip.  In the bathroom I couldn't decide if the smell was me after 80 miles under the desert sun or remnants of deceased occupants.  It was the shower...  After a couple conversations with the locals I decided I had enough entertainment for the day and went to bed.

The next morn I was surprised to see how fast the family from Amsterdam packed up.  It usually takes me 1 hour to get enough coffee in me that I move in an organized fashion but within 30 min of climbing out of their tents they were packed up and ready for the road.  We shared coffee and farewells and they left Eli and I packing up.  In town we stopped at a restaurant and had a real meal.  It was the first cream and sugar I had had in my coffee since Iowa and have to admit I stole some for the next morn.  Eli and I told stories about our journeys and showed each other pictures from along the way enjoying them as much ourselves.  Both of us were apprehensive about ending the journey.  Definitely we were ready to hit the ocean, but I definitely know I didn't like the idea of the journey ending.  It had been so great (although painful) it was impossible to imagine it truly being over.

Splitting ways after 3 days riding together Eli headed straight for the ocean and I turned northwest towards Portland.  I camped that night in a canyon between Madras and Warm Springs along the Deschutes River.  Riding down into the canyon on a steep twisting road I lost my jar of peanut butter I had strapped to my bags and damn near had to change my shorts.  Even the Tetons were not that intense!  At the bottom I realized I missed a perfect video opportunity but there was no way I was climbing out of the canyon to do it again.  On the next little hill (1/10th as steep and windy as the big hill down) I took this vid, I thought it was cool to see how far I actually have to lean into the curves. 

Checking into camp I asked the lady how the road north out of here was.  She looked at me and at my bike and simply said "you will want to shoot yourself"  she was right..  After pitching camp I wandered down for a swim and found the water deliciously cold.  In town I had picked up a litter of beer so I tied it to 25ft of cord and chucked it in the lake to cool down while I cooked supper.  Worked almost as good as the backpack full of ice :)

At camp I met Terry, a logger working in the area for a week.  He gave me a steak and I shared my pasta with him and he got telling stories about his life.  He was born in Oklahoma, Comanche with a bit of Kiowa in him, but raised by a family in Oregon near where he still lives with his wife.  He talked about riding harleys with his brother and father-in-law, how he has friend in LA owns a chopshop (and is a member of Hells Angels) and reworked his bike for him.   He told one store about riding with a bunch of his buddies and having a car cut off his father-in-law.  Apparently they ran the car down and explained that it wasnt polite to do that and very very bad things would happen if a biker actually got hurt.  He also talked about Quanah Parker, his ancestor and how he fought the whites and then smoothly transitioned onto the reservation and became the richest Native American of his time.  When Quanah moved onto the reservation he had 5 wives and the white director told him that that was unacceptable in a christian society and he could only keep one.  Quanah agreed but with the terms that the director would have to choose the one wife and tell the other 4...  He kept all 5.

After hearing about my journey he couldn't believe that I was traveling without a gun.  We discussed calibers and ballistics and learning that I knew the weight of a 30-06 bullet and actually grew up in the country he all but offered me his Ruger 44 mag.  While definitely one of the more interesting people I had met on the trip, a bit of a shady past but still a good person who I honestly liked and he likewise towards me.  I couldn't help but chuckle that I was probably safer camping next to him (still not sure if he was directly associated with the Hells Angels) than I was camping behind any church along the way.

The next day I crawled painfully up out of the canyon and started towards Mt Hood.  Halfway through the morn I happened to glance over at a car next to me and recognized Christina Joseph, a wonderful friend who somehow puts up with my best friend Matt.  It was wonderful seeing them, especially after pedaling there, and Matt joined me riding back into Portland.  We stopped at Mt Hood Brewery for lunch then enjoyed the ride down my last mountain!  Getting to their house I met Dakota, their 10 month old 90lb puppy.  Poor Dakota is one of the weirdest dogs, and even though she looks tough she is completely scared of everything.  A couple months ago she was sitting on the floor wagging her tail and apparently saw her tail out of the corner of her eye, got scared and jumped up and ran straight into a wall...  a very special dog.

Here at the Josephs I rested up a few days, and now I am ready to take off for the Ocean.  My brother and nephew Dom are coming down from Seattle and tonight I will camp with the sound of the waves.  Hard to believe I am here, a couple days ago I was ready to turn around and start pedaling back.  I sit here with my coffee not thinking about what it will be like to feel the sand and salt, but of all the mountains and emotions of the past 3 months.  It has been amazing.