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.