Road Trip...

3 November 2011

On a random Wednesday, we decided to drive to Bowen: a small, somewhat dilapidated town an hour and a half  from Airlie Beach. It's old and eerie and  you can feel it as you drive through. On driving into town, note the excessively large mango to your left. It's a famous landmark as Bowen is known for producing mangoes I guess. The people are really friendly  and are delighted to show you where to go and what to see there. We started by driving through the town to a restaurant on top of a hill (it definitely has a name). It had some amazing views of Gloucester Island.

After lunch, consisting of some tasty calamari and a New Zealand Coke each (the tasty kind) we drove to Grays beach for a nice long swim. It's perfectly sheltered from the wind, smooth as a swimming pool. We tried to do a bit of snorkelling but there was not much to see. Grays is the prettiest beach but Bowen has lots of other beaches with some waves! Obviously the area is still recovering from the storm damage and that's what adds to the eeriness of the town. Lining the beaches, hundreds of neglected palm trees heavy with coconuts, were just begging to be harvested. I wanted to climb one of the trees and throw down some coconuts but Richard said that wasn't such a good idea. I told him then to go and shake one of the trees, certain that at least one of the nuts would drop to the ground, but he said that was also not such a good idea. After one last drive through the centre of town, to check out the historic buildings and pretty murals, we headed back past the massive mango and home, to Airlie Beach.  Apparently, we forgot to check out one of the largest ever outdoor film sets -for the movie 'Australia'! Oh well. Next time. Maybe.

I thought I had just come up with an even better, greatest idea ever....

JP:

Since I now had my boat license, I thought we should make some use of it by renting a boat. So we did. Richard's cousin was in town that weekend, and a friend in the same boat class with me (who also had his license) joined us. Perfect! There's four of us and we'll hop into a boat with some rods and go visit some islands for the day.

Not. SO. Fast. Did you really think it was going to be that easy? Meet Jerry.

He was the very particular guy we were renting our boat from. He had a small fleet and we were renting the largest. I was a bit intimidated about renting such a large boat (but of course, we would be thankful at the end of the trip for it's largeness).

As soon as we stepped foot on the dock, we are met by a very abrupt, "I told you it was not a nice day. I told you! Tomorrow better!". I look up and see that it's slightly breezy, maybe drizzly. But it would clear. "But you know, what I can say? Nothing. You do as you like". Um, how about a "hello", or a "nice to meet you" or a "welcome" first? Great start to the day.

He examines the four of us up and down and asks, "OK, who is skipper? Who knows how to drive boat?".

I said that I had my license and that I would definitely be driving. I also assured him that Richard had lots of experience driving a boat.

And as if I didn't exist, "Ok Richard. And you", he points to Simon. "You two come with me". Ok, whatever. That's cool. I'll just relax then.

First thing he asks Richard is, "How do you stop a boat?" I could see the frustration welling up behind his eyes. LOL. Jerry goes on to ask more insulting questions and explains the rules of his boat, the responsibilities of everyone on board etc. He told us where to go and where (exactly) not to go, how fast to go. Basically, he scared the crap out of us for two hours. I was so worried that we would even scratch the boat. You should have seen his face when we brought the box of beer on board. Priceless.

After being reduced to feeling completely incapable of driving a boat, we were off. And, of course, the harbour is serene. But as we moved a little further out, the waters became choppy.

"If the wind goes above 20 knots, you cannot cross channel". How exactly were we supposed to know how fast the wind was blowing? We reached the channel between the Molle islands and the mainland. The swell was so large that the peaks were breaking. Tremendous, I thought. This is happening again. I tried to assure myself that at least I was on a large boat with excellent drivers and an ex-lifeguard/star swimmer. We should be just fine? The boat was being launched off of one swell and slapped back down behind another. Waves were breaking over the boat and we were soaked. My eyeballs were stinging- the water is unnecessarily salty here. I thought about putting on my mask and snorkel. I might not have ingested so much water that way. We tried slowing down and taking the waves at different angles. I wanted to turn around but then realised we were too far into it to turn back.

Eventually we made it to calmer waters and that was only the beginning. Our plan was to head out to Whitsunday island. And we had another massive channel to cross.

The journey across the second channel was the same as before, except a little bit worse:

Deeper waters. Bigger swells. And the loss of Richard's fishing rod - which was ejected from the rod holder as the boat flew between two breaking waves. (It's been really hard to get over that).

When we did make it to the area between Whitsunday and Hook island, it was very calm. The sun came out and we could finally dry off. We made our way to Whitehaven- rated one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It has pure-white, silica sands that squeak under your feet as you walk and brilliant blue waters. And let me tell you, it is THE most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I have been to many places but with this one, I felt for the first time like I was in another world. If anyone has seen the movie Contact with Jodie Foster, the scene where she finds herself on an alien beach? It feels like that. There was hardly anyone else there and it's silent. We anchored the boat a few meters off shore and swam in. Amazing. I think we only spent an hour there but wanted to stay all day. I want to live there. On a boat. Forever.

We made our way back to the calm waters between Hook and Whitsunday islands- Hook passage. We parked off close to a reef and fished for a while. It was a decent spot- we were pulling up small reef fish but nothing large enough yet to keep. Gliding in the distance, we noticed a few sea eagles. They spotted us fishing and immediately flew over to our boat. We threw some bait into the air and the eagles swooped down and caught it. They are amazingly accurate and so beautiful to watch. They seemed pretty tame so Richard thought he would feed one of them right out of his hand. Genius. Those birds are enormous with four knives at the end of each foot. The bird almost took it out of his hand a few times but (thankfully) hesitated and flew off. It was awesome to see them so close up though.

Richard and me, Whitehaven Beach

The ride back to the harbour was the same as crossing the channel before, except A LOT WORSE. The winds had definitely picked up to above 20 knots and the channel had turned into a rumbling mess. I was sure Jerry would not be happy to receive a distress call at this time of day. And we were late. It took two hours to make it back, but nothing went overboard this time. Jerry was thrilled to see his boat in one piece and we all felt like some sort of huge mission had been completed. We slept well that night, except for the rocking feeling we felt when closing our eyes. The burning eyeballs, sunburn, ingested salt water (about 2 litres), lost fishing rod and intense feelings of dread : totally worth it.

Me, Richard and Simon, Whitehaven Beach look-out

The differences

RP: 
I guess we've written a little about what we've done here in Australia, but we haven't really explained what it's like or how it compares to the States.

The first thing we've come to discover is that the sense of plenty we had grown accustomed to in the US (as compared to Africa) is not as abundant here as it may appear while vacationing here. Don't get me wrong, it's all available, but there is normally a price for oppulence or the extras. Actually, a simple but good example is how they charge for tomato sauce (ketchup) if you're getting any kind of take-away. While on the subject of tomato sauce... the personal packets here are far improved over the American design; they can be opened, dispensed and closed with one hand - very cool.

There are other less subtle differences that you may already be familiar with: driving on the other side of the road, drop bears (no really, look at the official Australian museum link on these carnivorous marsupials), guys wearing short shorts, "budgie smugglers" at the beach, uncensored television, sockets (240V not 110V), toilet water going down the other way, kangaroos - wtf?!, mullets (although most of them have been cut in a new-age way, so aren't too bad), no ducted air-conditioning, most cars being manual transmission, cockatoos screeching like pterodactyls, no sunblock stronger than 30+spf despite the sun here leaving you two tones darker after 20 minutes in the sun (with sunblock on), vegemite sandwiches, and much more.

So aside from the differences which I think Jenna and I are already accustomed to, it is refreshing being here from the employment perspective. The economy, although primarily supported by the coal and iron ore industry, is doing very well and looks positioned to stay fruitful in the near and mid-term future thanks to the demand in Asia and the rest of the world.

As for settling in, it's naturally been a little hard for us to entirely setup and get into a routine as the project I'm working on is only temporary. As such, we're in a limbo as the Whitsundays is a tourist destination and we're not quite locals, and we can't afford the tourist premiums on a regular basis. That said, the limbo has actually been positive in at least one way... Jenna has discovered that she is a natural squash player as we have recently become regulars at the local courts!  As the rainy season sets in, the project I'm working on may slip further behind schedule. Hopefully Jenna's license will transfer before too long allowing her to get a job here as a nurse. Once that happens I could opt for a fly-in/fly-out rotation on the project until it's done which would be quite good for the two of us.

I thought we had come up with the greatest idea ever

JP: 11/09/2011

- to rent a kayak so that we could explore all 71 of the surrounding Whitsunday islands. We would do this at our own pace in one day trips. So we set out early on Sunday morning, for our first excursion, with all our gear for the day (including a tasty meat pie each and some Milo bars, for energy of course). We packed one towel and no change of clothes, I mean, why would we need them? The plan was to kayak over to the islands, snorkel for a bit and then frollic around on the beach, drying off in the warm sunshine.

So at the rental place, our guide takes one look at us and obviously thinks we look like experts because he FAILED to let us know what the conditions were like out there. He hands us a 15-year old tub of flares and says "well nobody's ever had to use these, so don't be the first ones alright?" Ok. Well, actually, I'm pretty sure that somebody must have tried to use them in the past but they're so old and crusty I doubt they worked. But thanks mate. "Oh and stay away from the Beak". "The Beak?", I ask. He points to a old bleached map. I don't know what he's pointing to because the lines are so faint but tells us it's the most dangerous area on the left with strong currents and strong winds. Great. We're going right.

All packed, we set out to the right, through the harbour and I can't tell you how excited I am. The water is a perfect shade of turquoise and calm as can be. There is a slight breeze but it feels nice. We move slowly out of the harbour and make our way around the first island. It's a bit more windy and the water is deeper. It's a bit choppy too but nothing alarming. After a slightly vigorous paddle, we make it around the first island, and then the second. It's a lot more windy now and we decide the conditions are too rough to snorkel. We look ahead of us and see South Molle island. There's a beach there and it looks a lot more sheltered. We thought we would stop there and have a rest.

South Molle Island - Sandy Beach 

Lesson # 1: everything appears to be closer than it really is.  We were paddling for ages. Then all of a sudden, we are in the middle of the channel, halfway to the island and the wind is extreme. Huge pyramid-like swells appeared out of nowhere, almost swallowing the kayak. I'm in the front, paddling as hard as I can, struggling as we crest one swell and slide down the steep back of it into another.  Richard's shouting words of encouragement at me and I'm finding it hard not to panic. "Where is that crusty tub full of fireworks? Can I use them now?!" I can't help staring to my left. The Beak seems to be getting closer and closer. Awesome. Eventually I decided to just put my head down and paddle as hard as _ _ _ _ . If I can't see what's happening around me, then I can't panic.

After what felt like hours, we obviously made it to the calmer waters of South Molle island. But my body was wrecked. I had never paddled so hard in my life for such a distance so I had lost the use of my arms. We did see an amazing sea turtle feeding in the small bay. But really, all I cared about was getting out of the damn kayak.

Lesson #2: always pack a change of clothing or at least a hoodie.

It was SO cold. And we were soaking wet. The fierce wind prevented us from warming up. We hung our clothes up on trees so that they could dry. The island was desolate except for a couple of campers further inland. We took a walk to find some shelter but there wasn't any, except for a large, dark, wooden bench next to the long drop. We both lay down on it and felt the warmth on our backs. NICE. Exhausted, we passed out. Smart one. We woke up some time later, toasted.

Freezing cold in the sun... 

Anyways, to end this I'm just going to say that eventually we called for help and got a ride back to the harbour. We found out that the tide was going out, the wind was blowing in and it was a full moon i.e not nice for being out on the water. Kayaking is fun and everything, but I'm getting my boat license soon. The end.

The J.O.B. and what comes with it...

RP: 
I heard there was a need for a site engineer near a rural town named Proserpine so I spoke with Jen and with very little investigation into the area I accepted the assignment. Fortunately, the assignment couldn't have been to a more beautiful place. Proserpine is a farm town centered around cane farming (sugar cane) and happens to also be the gateway to a tourist hotspot - The Whitsunday Islands.

A friendly cockatoo sitting below our balcony

The J.O.B. itself is the remediation/closure of an exploratory pit intended to determine suitability for oil production. There are heaps of issues associated with the pit itself ranging from: number 1. politics, to technical issues associated with the excavated material having oxidized over the 30 years it has been exposed to the atmosphere (instead of exposure to the water table which it would have been under). The good news is that our client only wants to pay for me to be on site 40 hours a week, so with construction being conducted almost every daylight hour I get to have a good amount of time to explore the area.

The irrigation dam near the site I'm working on covered in fog

A magpie begging for food on the side mirror of my work truck

We've been to beautiful beaches - Dingo, Hideaway Bay (Montes Resort), Coral, and Shingley and taken a kayak out to Molle Island. The environment is fascinating - tropical plants, parrots and cockatoos, black swans, kookaburras, kangaroos, huge sea turtles, humpback whales, and even a giant, coastal carpet python. My only complaint has been that I have been entirely unsuccessful fishing! I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I am now at the point where I'd be happy catching a sardine.

At Dingo Beach. The only thing on the line is bait...

Brissy

RP:
... a.k.a Brisbane.

31 hours from Austin, Texas to Brisbane, Australia is quite the trip. It's odd to think I didnt once touch ground on July 28th, or that effectively my 24 hour day was crunched into a few hours in total. Having made such a massive trip it's no surprise arrival in Brisbane was refreshing; not only did I get to take my first shower in ages, but the cool weather certainly was a great change from the 100+ degree days we had been experiencing back in the US of A.

As Jenna had to stay behind for visa purposes, I had the first two weeks in Brisbane alone. One of the first things I found different about Australia and USA is that everything but nightclubs and restaurants close very early, so once one leaves work for the day you would be lucky to find anything open. With it being winter to early spring, and Queensland not observing daylight savings time, it makes for a very quiet city in August. Nonetheless, over the weekends I managed to canvass the streets with my cousin, Storm, and explore the Gold Coast with all the relatives. It's been quite remarkable to have landed a job across the world and by chance ended up less than an hour away from family that I am only now getting to know more closely!

Story Bridge, Brisbane - Day One