Trip Downunder – Dingo’s, Kangaroos and a few Kiwis

Hervey Bay

Well you would think that flying from LA to Auckland then to Brisbane the evening after a race like Breathless Agony would mean that I would sleep ok in a plane. Well nope. It was restless and I only managed to rest for 4hrs. I was very disappointed in myself. I just cannot get comfortable enough in Cattle Class not that I have flown in any other class. Anyway after a dam long flight and a heap of TV watching I got to Brisbane to be greeted by a very tired Bridget who had had less sleep than me the night before. Anyway we picked up our little Suzuki Swift Rental car and headed north at about the same time I realized that I had left my Lance Armstrong book on the plane. Dam. That’s the second time I had done that. After visiting a Ginger Factory and getting hit by a big rainstorm in Maryborough we arrived in Hervey Bay where we were to hang out for 4 days and nights. It was a nice wee spot though very quiet. In fact all of Aussie was quiet. It’s the off season I guess and also the global recession has not helped the cause.

The next day we did a bit of road tripping round the area and ended up in the town of Bundaberg (famous for its Rum) where there wasn't really much to do. We had on the way there found a great ice cream place. All hand-made and the creamiest Ice Cream I had ever had. We had also found a bunch of wild Kangaroos hanging in a school yard to watch as well as some sleepy seaside towns. The local farming was cool. Sugar Cane for as far as you could see.

On the Wednesday we did a day trip to Fraser Island. It’s a National Park and a World Heritage site. It’s the largest sand island in the world and we checked out most of the highlights on a whirlwind day tour aboard a large 4WD Bus. It was good fun though rushed and ideally I would have had my own 4WD to spend a good few days camping around the island where it would be possible to get away from the crowds. We did see the highlights of the island though such are crystal clear creeks which make no sound as its all sand and no stones, also the rainforest and heaps of birds within it including some very colorful parrots. There is also the Maheno Shipwreck and the colored sands cliffs which were a real disappointment to me. They were not very spectacular and had been described as being so. I guess when you are use to big mountains in NZ and the US that Aussie overall is pretty flat for the most part, though it does have some ‘mountains’ in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales. The best area for me however was Lake Mackenzie. It had some of the clearest water I had ever seen. It was a freshwater lake and over the years many minerals had leached from the sands and bedrock giving it a PH of 4.2. It is pretty acidic in other words and people clean their jewelry in it. Sunscreen is also a waste of time as the water simply washes it off straight away. There was also a couple of Dingo’s hanging out on the beach seeing if they could scab any food off people.

The final full day in Hervey Bay was chilled out. We went for a big walk and watched the new Star-trek Movie. It was a dam fine movie, much better than I expected. I can't wait till the next one now. Story and pacing was good and the special effects were awesome.

 Noosa

We spent the day inside the little Swift making our way south to Noosa via back roads and the little beach towns such Rainbow Beach. We eventually got to Noosa to be greeted by Craig and Amanda who I had not seen for years (they are now living in Brisbane). Paul was to arrive later that night (from the Northern town of Gladstone) after being held up in traffic due to a motorcyclist crashing into a car that pulled out into the road without looking, unfortunately the cyclist died. That evening we chilled out, had a nice dinner and yet more ice cream. I ate my fair share on this trip. We had a great apartment Craig had found just up from the Noosa Main Street and beach. It was just a 5 min walk down the hill to what is normally a party spot but was super quite due to the economy I suspect.

The next morning after their flight from Auckland Marke and Paula arrived. Again it was great to see some mates I had not seen in a couple of years. We chilled for the rest of the day after Myself, Bridge and Paul had a good few hour walk out to a headlands and some sweet beaches. Ha, one happened to be a nudist beach. We had some great Indian for dinner that night and swam in the pool right under our main deck and hung in the Spa.

The next day we headed down to another beach to chill for a bit and see a new spot. After playing some beach soccer and breaking one of my toes ‘I suspect’ Craig and I went for a swim before having a great feed of Fish 'n' Chips before yet more swimming at the apartment. That Arvo Lance my brother showed up and 5 of us went on this exciting boat ride in the Ocean. It was a pretty wicked boat, the same type the SAS uses for sea transport. We got heaps of air hitting the big swells and got sore legs from holding ourselves up to stop our backsides getting smashed up on the specially designed seats. I recommend this trip. The way it can corner too is impressive too; close to as good as a river jet can turn.

That night after wicked Pizza we watched Armageddon (what a cheesy movie) before hitting the sack. It was lucky Lance had been there. He was sleeping up stairs in the living room to awake to an intruder breaking in. Long story short he scared the guy who had obviously robbed this place before to hell. Lance attempted to catch the little bast%$d but he was off like a little monkey in the night. Jumping off the balcony onto a tin shed by our room (I don’t know why I didn't hear it) running past the pool, leaping anther fence and off into the bush where evil monkeys belong. Anyhow we were lucky because we would have been cleaned out as many people had their wallets and valuables lying around on the top floor. In the morning Lance who wants to be a cop was most disappointed about not catching him and teaching him a few moves he learnt in the Army. Haha – Once a Grunt always a Grunt :-)

 

Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Mew Zealand

The next day was pack up day. We said good bye to everyone and headed out of Noosa on our way back to Brisbane. On the way back I, Lance, Bridget, Craig and Amanda stopped at the 'Big Kart Track' where we spent in the next hour racing each other round well a big outdoor kart track. They were pretty fast and the competition was pretty tight. Craig got two bung cars. The first one was slow as a dog and I felt sorry for him, the next one was fast as hell due to what seemed to be higher gearing. He flew past on the straights though could not hold the lead in the corners due to slow acceleration. The overall champion would have to be Bridget though both Lance and I would say that it was the weight advantage she had over us. She always pulled away on the straights, though I gotta say she is a bit of a dare-devil and I am pleased she does not drive like that on the road (well most of the time) :-)

After dropping Bridge off at the Airport that arvo I spent the next day and a half with Lance at his place on the Gold Coast. We went to the X-Men movie which was good but not nearly as good as Startrek and also had some drinks and good food. Mmmm La Porchetta. The next day we went to Wet 'n' Wild. What a flop. It’s a big water park which should be called 'Get Wet for no reason'. It was boring. It was too safety conscious and I am pleased it was off season cause I would have cried if I needed to line up for the boring rides. All they needed to do was pump more water down the tubes and the thrill factor would have gone way up. Anyway don’t go, only good for kids under 15. We expected to spend the whole day their but instead left after 2.5hrs to check out the wicked houses in the canals (where the ‘stupidly’ rich live) and just hang out in Surfer's Paradise.

Lance dropped me off at some silly hour at Brisbane Airport where I spent the whole day flying to Timaru to catch-up with Mum, Dad and Lauren for just a day and a night. It was worth it of course though it was a real flying visit. Lauren who loves music more than I like bikes was well happy that she somehow ended up with my Sony MP3 Player as an early Birthday present after her last MP3 player had broken. Spoilt little sister’s aye…

The next evening I flew back to Welly to spend my last few days here catching up with Bridget and all my mates that were around that weekend and still living in Welly. Many have left. Anyway it was a great few days involving much eating and drinking and visiting people. It’s always good seeing people you haven't seen for ages. I experienced some typical Welly weather. Gales and horizontal rain going every which way and also looked at all the local hills and trails wishing I had my MTB and more time to go get Muddy.

Anyway till the next race report keep well,

Kurt