Brisbane, Day 2

The plates on the gates to one of the entrances to the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

DAY 11
Location: Brisbane
Temp: 17 C
Weather: Sunny, but brisk
Activities: City Botanic Gardens, Queen Street Mall
Accommodation: Backpackers Inn (Byron Bay)

To recap last night, Tinbilly didn't actually have any pasta and rice--apparently all the backpackers had the same idea and gorged on the lot while I was away. Somehow, I'm not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. So I ended up going back across the street to Subway and ate the same thing I did for lunch yesterday. Lame. But I didn't feel the most comfortable wandering the city alone at night, so I opted for what was nearby.

Despite being in a 10-bed dorm, I slept relatively well. The bad thing about sharing a dorm with guys is they snore. Seriously. I've never had any girls snore in any of the dorms I've stayed in. But I dropped off to sleep around 8 p.m. really for lack of anything better to do. No free WiFi, no one really to talk to, no food. Meh. I swear, I feel the most alone in the biggest groups. So I prepped what I could last night to check out early today and conked out. I would rather sleep the night away and get up early the next anyway.

I got up around 6, but slept in 'til 7 a.m. because it was cold! I swear it must have been below 10 C (50 F), hey that's cold to me, folks. And besides, most stores are closed until 9 a.m. I didn't have any eats for breakfast, but I hit the street around 8 anyway and secured a liquid protein breakfast before heading for Brisbane's City Botanic Gardens.

I remember walking up to this building and spying the statue from a distance and thinking to myself: "...That looks like Queen Victoria." BAM. It was. She stands tall and proud outside of the Conrad Hotel--what used to be the Lands Administration building off George Street.

Farther down George Street, I spied this statue in profile and though to myself: "...And that looks like Queen Elizabeth II." BAM! It was.

A narrow shot of the impressive Parliament House directly across from the City Botanic Gardens. They had tours, but I hadn't planned for them and I was trapped in my rigid bus schedule.

It was chilly and I walked with the working crowd all the way down George Street until I came up to Queensland's Parliament house and the gardens across the street. I wandered up and down the familiar tropical flora and saw some new ones (Turkish Pine among them) until I stumbled across the Queensland University of Technology and this place just looked like a science school. Clean, new, unusual architecture--Can I enrol?

Maps. Take pictures of maps in case you get lost!  I did get turned around once or twice in this garden--mostly when I walked out of it and back in another way.

This was the Formal Flower Garden and central feature of the park. The park, according to a plaque in the gazebo I took this picture from, was declared a Sri Chinmoy Peace Garden in March, 31, 1993. 

Having walked about the school and back into the gardens, I found the City Council actually hosts free WiFi! Three-hundred minutes worth! I thought that was pretty neat.

A live snapshot of the Queen Street Mall. I shot Lush in particular because my mom is a big fan of their products and I was surprised to find one here in Oz myself.

Afterward, I made my way to Queen Street Mall and entered several of the touristy shops looking for gifts and postcards and collective bric-a-brac for friends and balked at the prices. Sheesh, why does 'Straya have to be so expensive? It may be a mistake to wait until Sydney to make my buys, but at least then I can say these items came from Sydney--I just hope the prices don't gut me or my shrinking wallet.

A couple more shots from the gardens! There were some awfully noisy birds here. The ibis were unassuming, it was some other species that shrieked something fowl (haha). Otherwise it was peaceful.

There was this odd warped square structure on the northern end of the gardens. Some brazen tourists were actually climbing on it while I just snapped a quick one directly into a hard angle of the structure.

I found the local Woolworth's and shopped a bit for my next week's worth of breakfasts, a prepared bag of Caesar salad and baguette for lunch. I took my purchases up to the food court and ignored the wayward stares as I put together my salad, tossed, and ate straight out of the bag. It works AND saves on dishes! I polished off half of the baguette and continued my stroll around the mall, though it was starting to get pretty busy at this point--foot traffic pulsing in the hundreds.

I moved off the main drag and back onto George Street toward TravelBugs where I am again writing this blog post from! I also booked my last few days in Australia down the coast with them--so there's some piece of mind. The YHA (Youth Hostel Association) I wanted to stay at was overbooked, so I had to look elsewhere. But the one I have booked now is still pretty centrally located. I'll be in Sydney in no time flat!

I remember being startled when locals told me not to stay in Brisbane too long--three days was too much, two days was pushing it. But having been here, I can sort of understand that notion. I saw the arts and cultural quarter yesterday and city central and its gardens today. I think I'm good here. But everyone swears by Byron Bay, so I'm pretty excited to see what all the fuss is about there and return to the quieter streets of the coast. Don't get me wrong--Brisbane was neat and worth seeing, but I'm good!

I think I'll post this blog early while I still have free internet; the remainder of my day is mostly getting ready for the bus and then the four-hour bus ride down the coast. And I have to research the places I'm staying so I know where to go once I hop off the 'hound.

I hope to post again soon!  

Less than 24 hours

This is the Greyhound Australia bus route. A 90-day, hop on/hop off pass dubbed the "Mini-Traveller" runs $410 for Sydney-Cairns, Cairns-Sydney. You choose one direction and continue on it, no backtracking. For safety reasons, I won't post my itinerary, but I plan to unveil each city as I go along! That's 1600 miles, 48 hours of bus time, in three weeks. Wish me luck! (Picture from Greyhound Australia)

I won't lie, I got some jitters, but the excitement balances the nerves. I leave for Cairns tomorrow at 2:20 p.m.!

My first international flight is proving to be very involved. Where I usually get to check in 24 hours prior and print my boarding pass, I'll actually have to go up to the reservations desk to get my passport verified before I receive my tickets. Never mind customs on the other side. I'm learning all sorts of things. I sincerely hope Guam doesn't have me jump through any hoops as my layover there is only fifty minutes, hardly enough time to stretch my legs and restock food and water before diving in again.

I went out to purchase a roll-up keyboard the other day and save yourself the headache of ever getting one. My words came out looking like th beaus i js ty e to fa. So that little piggy goes back to the market. Other wireless 'hard' keyboards are at $80 a pop, more for bluetooth. It's money I'd sooner drop on a day trip than a keyboard. Oh well, whatever happens, I'll make it work to maintain the blog.

May 9th for all intents and purposes is my lost day in every sense of the term. My magical 6-hour day which will be spent in transit. I'll never get it back. Ah, but I'll get back a day when I fly in the other direction--not so! May 9, 2013 will be gone forever! Which is pretty humbling in a way. Likewise when I fly out of Sydney, I'll have arrived before I've even left and you better believe I'll be saying that to random passersby all over the airport. "Hey, I don't take off from Australia for another two hours, but look, I'm HERE!" I'll wring every minute out of that insanity. I should journal about that feeling. OO! I should sit somewhere and compose a story about the time paradox. I'll be occupying two places in the same stretch of time! *Head spinning* So many options!

Suffice it to say, I will not be posting on the 9th or tomorrow. Or will I? After all, I'll be a day ahead of most of you sneaking around the back hedge like that. Hmm.

Quick shout out to all my friends who got in touch with me these last few days! You've all been really supportive and I appreciate the enthusiasm! Expect some goodies from down under, ey? Don't worry, this boomerang will come back. Probably.

So wish me luck all, I'll see you on the other side!

Itemizing the Items

I've finally moved into the packing stages. The point where you lay everything on your bed and realize you're carrying (or toting) your world on your back for the next 'X' weeks. Step aside Atlas, I got this one.

In effort to pack light, I've laid out four days worth of clothing that should last me a week in the field between washings. Some hostels I've researched have laundry facilities, not all, but for those that don't I have a Tide detergent to do laundry in the sink AND a clothesline. Yes, I'm going to be that odd backpacker somewhere between sun-tan lotioned tourist and light overnight camper.

The seasons in Australia are reversed! So while the northern hemisphere swings into summer, the southern embraces its winter and I've got to pack accordingly. Here are some notes about going to Oz in May:

Yay for May!
-Off season. Flights, accommodations, tour packages are cheaper!
-Ergo, options are open on said accommodations and tour packages and less competition in last minute bookings.
-In-between brutal summer heat waves (Outback, northern territories) and short days in frigid winter chill (Victoria, southern stretch), unless your aim is to ski Australia of course.
-April to November is considered the "Dry" along the tropical coast, i.e. Queensland, and pretty balmy. (But that may well change the farther south I travel.)

Nay in May...
-Forget sharks. Box jellyfish inhabit the coastal waters from October to May. These translucent, I-didn't-see-it-there! buggers can kill you. I've had my share of jelly stings and Hawaii does get its monthly influx of them, but I have no intention of swinging with these stingers. Australia actually enclose portions of their beaches for swimmers. (Fun fact: Box jellyfish stingers are triggered by chemicals on the skin.)

Ellis beach in Queensland enclosed from box jellyfish. Sharks go wherever they like.

-They also have crocs around the northern bit of the coast. Not just in May, but I wanted to note that.
-Inclement weather. Fall can be rainy on the coast. (I just checked the weather the day of my arrival, 72° high and a 50% chance of rain.) I'm hoping it won't affect my outdoor activities too much, God forbid it rains in the rain forest.

It's fall. I'll be dressing in layers where I can manage it. And should the need call for it, I can always purchase another shirt or umbrella on that end.

Other things I'm packing:
- Cards. It's a wonderful icebreaker and a great way to teach or learn new games with other travelers in transit.
- Key chains. To give away to kind or helpful folks because, whether I like it or not, I am a diplomat for my country. My attitude and bearing speak for not only myself, but U.S. as well. A little token might go a long way in making someones day--I'll report back on those stories here.
- Sleeping Bag. For questionable hostel beds and also because I plan to camp on at least one island at the Whitsundays.

Whiteheaven Beach. (Photo by Jose Porras)

- Eye mask and ear plugs. For those times I'll actually need to sleep.
- Journal. "But Rochelle, you're keeping a blog!" And I will document my information, fun, and mishaps, but what lady gives away all her secrets about the cute Aussie saluting with his XXXX? (It's beer, you naughties.)

And with my last load of laundry done, I'm back to packing!

 

Itemizing the itinerary

Three weeks seems like a long time. Waiting for spring break, Christmas, ahem, the weeks leading up to a vacation, but it's really not long at all. It's a wink. I just blinked and I was there and back already. 

I'm finding more and more three weeks just isn't long enough to really explore new territory--much less a country the size of Australia. (And I plan to just hug the coast. No Uluru this time.) To think I'd originally planned to tackle a 1600 mile road trip in two weeks. Doable sure, but at the cost of sprinting through without really getting to know any one place or the people that inhabit them. Now here my three weeks seems to come up short. 

In attempt to add the more specific details of my itinerary such as hostels, local eateries (BBQ roo at one place), and bus times, I have indeed encountered a wrinkle in time. Calculating dates and bus schedules left me with an 11 hour bus ride from Byron Bay to Sydney, missing several cities in-between. 

As a journalist who can appreciate the severity of crushing deadlines, I understand time management is a crucial skill. The problem is, and perhaps always has been, my sense of curiosity. "OOO, what's down this trail?" Then, "OOO, what's over this rock?" And, "OOO, Where does THIS ravine go!?" And suddenly I'm miles away from civilization, in a ditch in a gorge with the sun setting and no idea which way is up. Dingos howling in the background. I want to see it all simply because it's there, which is neither sensible nor plausible. But DUDE it's Australia! The inner turmoil in a nutshell. 

I HAVE to be in Sydney to catch the tail end of the Sydney Writer's Festival May 26. No exceptions. (Plus, I found an Opera House show I'd like to attend that evening; a modernized version of Shakespeare's Henry 4-- because the Beethoven symphony performance is sold out. Also I won't be there in time for that one.)

So my stitch in time will be to eliminate a city in Queensland to grant me an extra day in New South Wales, which still ends up being somewhat of a push. See below.

Yes, the trip outline is actually somewhat far. (Image borrowed from here.)

But how to choose?? I'll have to work what I've fondly referred to as executive ability to make a decisive, don't-look-back decision and pour over bus schedules again. Hopefully I can lock all the details by tomorrow.

Quick, fetch my space-time continuum iron and my ironing board!

Five days and counting

AND a visa?

I leave Wednesday. Yes, Wednesday. Am I ready? Peek into the madness.

I decided to visit Australia maybe a month ago and this was during the time I was actively working four jobs. Morning, noon, and night, I was somewhere doing something with somebody, pausing only to eat and sleep it seemed. I figured I would still have plenty of time to put together an itinerary in the coming days and didn't start fretting until those days raced into weeks. I peeked at Sydney between working hours, perused travel forum boards for tour ideas, glanced at tours, brushed up on lingo, read about bunyips and drop bears--but it wasn't until I started doing the gritty research that I really began to knuckle down.

-Unless you're a New Zealand native, you need a visa to get into Australia. Huh, I didn't know that.
-Flights out of Honolulu don't fly directly to Sydney. They route through Guam to Cairns. Interesting.
-Those flights only go out every Wednesday and Saturday and there is a 50 minute sprint to board the      connecting flight so if, for whatever reason, I miss the connector then I'm trapped in Guam for three days.
-Cairns to Sydney via the Pacific Highway (and beyond) is about 1600 miles long.
-Nearly 48 hours of my time in Australia will be dedicated to strictly moving down the coast.
-Crossing borders between states/provinces requires you dump whatever fresh food stuffs you might be carrying.
-Sydney is hosting a writing festival! (Most of the workshops I foamed at the mouth for are already sold out, unfortunately, but I might swing by some free events yet.)
-Drop bears are as dangerous as they are legendary.

The details of my itinerary get me down to Brisbane. That's only halfway down the east coast. I'm stuck on Brisbane because I'm just overwhelmed on the sheer size of it. There's just so much to see! But my first two weeks or so have been plotted out from hiking the Daintree National Park to snorkeling or diving the Great Barrier Reef; camping on one of the Whitsundays islands to tearing around Fraser Island--I'm pretty freaking excited. But I'm still trying to leave myself some elbow room to be spontaneous should I find rapport with other hostel occupants. Beyond the enriching experience of something new, the point of this trek is to sate that sense of adventure stitching my side and I fully intend to make new friends along the way.

I applied for both my ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) and STEP (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) today. The ETA application was rather quick and painless and I received a confirmation immediately at a $31 fee which is wonderfully convenient and a load off. Apparently, I won't need a visa stamp. The ETA attaches to my passport number in Australia's immigration database. Neat. I registered with STEP just to stay up to date with the U.S. embassy on any emergencies the country might experience while I'm out there. Hopefully this foresight will nix any such events. 

And while I scrabble to close on the last details of my itinerary, I'm still rushing about trying to finish errands here. I think I'll be working right up to the hour my flight leaves this Wednesday. Yes, Wednesday. Am I ready?

2013: A Life Odyssey

"Best Laid Plans"

If I could frame my last few years in a picture, it would be a young adult slogging through a thick, waist-deep mire plagued by a cloud of mosquitoes; various useful items sinking into the mud from a half-zipped backpack; an expression of suppressed terror for whatever carnivorous creatures lurked in the depths. I would title the picture "Best Laid Plans."

I had them. Oh, how I had them. I'd hire the best construction workers, purchase the sturdiest materials and build a bridge to cross the--I don't have the budget? Okay, Plan B, weave a rope bridge from one bank to the...no anchor points. All right, Plan C, fill the bog with sand until its solid enough to...not enough resources. Right. I'm walking through it then. And while I made progress, each arduous step was a fight with the added bonus of mud flooding my pants and shoes. But I slogged on because it had to get easier at some point--just keep blindly pushing through it and hope for the marsh to thin, the bed to rise, the other shore to appear. I went on like this for years.

And one day I stopped, frustrated. Why was I here? Where was I going? Why did I choose to enter this cesspool? What was so important about the other shore? And while I stood sinking, the morning sun beating on my head, I came to a dehydrated enlightenment. All this hoping was getting me nowhere. All my wishing for the environment to adapt to me was infantile and wholly beyond my capacity to change. But I could change. I could adapt. I chose to come here but I would choose to move beyond.

So as 2013 rolled around, I resolved to make it my year. It answered.

And this is the part I don't think I can put into words, but, this year has conspired to restore my teeth and claws, my fire, my ambition. The old "Just try and stop me" adage returned like a punch to the stomach--other people's stomachs. I set goals at the beginning of the year and have fiercely pursued them. Everything from work to exercise to recreation to novel writing went with clear end goals on a list and I twisted and kicked and snarled to free myself from the mire I'd trapped myself in to reach them. I would make progress on my own terms. I would seize the reins and steer my course, surmount obstacles or bend to pass through them. This year was mine.

And 2013 has answered as I threw myself out there with reckless abandon. Suddenly, all my part-time jobs were trying to schedule over each other, I received an offer to teach ESL, I received an offer to tutor, and I accepted them all. Nose to the grindstone, no holds barred, accepting all opportunities in triple threat offense. The big hitters were crowding back into my corner again. Accomplishment. Satisfaction. Adaptation. Success.

A restored ambition coupled with my acute wanderlust and I decided this would be the year I tackled Europe. I'm still young, I have no commitments, I could get travel under the youth discount. Now is the time.

But as Murphy dictates, the best laid plans got squashed by means beyond my control. And where I would normally have thrown up my hands with a disdainful "SCREW IT! I didn't really want to see Paris's hot nightlife, Italy's summer art festivals, or those gorgeous, dramatic Alps anyway!!" I rebounded before disappointment could even set in, spun a full one-eighty, and set my sights in the opposite direction.

Australia.

Never been. Always wanted to go. In position to do so. I'd have to go solo. Hmm.
"Fine." My teeth gnashed.
"No problem." The fire burned.
"Let's do it." Ambition urged.
That time spent baking in the sun might have sapped a touch of my sanity, but that reckless abandon hasn't dissipated a bit since it seized me in its jaws last December. I'm going. And I'm going to record it here. Just try and stop me.

I hope you'll join me on a trip that will check off a lot of firsts for me--there will doubtless be a lot of hilarious bungles, insightful musings, and educational moments as wont to happen in any journey to Oz.