Tag: bakcpacking

Bryon Bay, Australia (Hippie Town)

February 23, 2011

We spent two nights in Bryon Bay! Byron Bay is a quaint, old, small hippie town a few hours south of Brisbane. Byron Bay has beautiful beaches, and one of the things that make them so beautiful is the coast line and the mountains in the background. There is a Lighthouse you can hike to and this Lighthouse sits on the easterly most point in Australia. At this point, the way the waves come in and break, surfers can get a 20-25 second ride; which is a long time standing on a surf board! Again, the tides were very strong; like it was hard to even stand in one place without being pulled. I guess that’s the story everywhere here.

We’re on a 10 hour drive to the Blue Mountains. It is supposed to be very beautiful and a great place to hike. We’re being brave and daring today. We started the day out at 6:30 and went to a place called “Minion Falls” for a five hour hike. It was drizzling when we got there so we decided we would start with an hour in and then reevaluate. About the time to reevaluate, we began noticing little inch worm leaches on our ankles and shoes. We had another encounter with them a few weeks ago and it wasn’t pretty! They look cute at first but then you realize they are burrowing into your skin at an amazing speed and you have to pull hard to get them off. They even burrow into shoes and socks! We decided with the rain, blood suckers, and the long drive ahead, that we had seen enough of Minion Falls. On the way out we got to see two large “Kookaburras”, which allowed us to get very close for observation.

Two things I love about Australia are the National Parks and the birds. Everywhere you look, there are National Parks to hike and explore. Although there is less than 10 percent of the Rainforests that was once here, there still seems to be a lot. The birds are so amazing! At Byron Bay there were flocks of hundreds of beautiful, colorful parrots flying around and chattering. The Magpie’s have the most amazing voice and I could never tire of listening to them. The Kookaburras too are so outstanding to see and listen to as they make a loud “laughing” sound, even in the nighttime.

Our time is nearing the end here and I am feeling a bit sad about it. I love this country and the diversity it has to offer. I am trying to remain on the vibration of “love” for what I have experienced here and not let the feeling of sadness enter. One of the most important lessons I have learned on this trip is “trust” and the faith to “let go” and know that there is a plan and it will be revealed every step of the way. We have completely lived one day at a time here and so many times what we thought we were going to do didn’t happen but something just as good or better did! I don’t even think more than a day in advance anymore. I wonder how that will work when I get home!

Hervey Bay, Australia

February 15, 2011

We’re in the little beach town of Hervey Bay at a lovely, quiet hostel across the street from the beach. Kids are out exploring and I am enjoying a much needed moment to myself with my book (“The Secret the Power”), cup of java and computer. Luckily we don’t have internet right now as that would steal my time from me for sure! I am reading about Gratitude and how the more you express it, the more you feel it and how it doubles everything in your life to be grateful for. I love the reminder. Years ago, when Julian was a baby, I read that each morning you should start the day with a mental list of 10 things to be grateful for, and to really feel it. I have practiced that since and I believe it is one of the practices that helped me fall in love with life.

It appeared, yesterday, that we hit a block and had made a wrong choice. Thank you Julian and Nick, for stepping up and reminding me that it was all ok and we were still going to have a good time! We had the idea that we wanted to visit a place called “Frasier Island”, as we have read so much about how beautiful it was and that you could go sand boarding there. We left the farm yesterday around noon to head in the direction of the island, six hour drive, got here and realized it would cost $740 for the group to go for the day! On the internet we had checked out taking the car, as it has a “car ferry price” listed, but it didn’t exactly say that your car had to be 4 wheel drive and that you had to rent it from them at $170 for the day. Anyway, we weighed out every possible option and came to the conclusion that we could live without seeing Frasier Island. It was dark by the time we drove to this little town and found a hostel. Turns out to be a great little town! The hostel has kayaks too, for $5 for the entire day! We’ll be here for another night. I got up this morning and Nick had already been up and done everyone’s laundry! He even hung it on the clothes line all nice and straight! Nick is a great team player.

We’ll sit with the map later and see what other sort of “changes” we may need to make. We are definitely learning “all the time” and most of all learning to “go with the flow”!

It was hard to leave the farm. In such a short time, we became so close to the family. I love getting to that level quickly with someone and knowing they have touched my life, and vice versa. The night before we left there was a party on the “ant hill”; which is the highest point on the property with a great view of the meadow below and the sunset. There were about ten other farming families with adjoining farms. It was a potluck. Everyone also brought beef sausages to grill. They all loved the Florida travelers and were curious about our experiences. I met another traveler who was working on one of the farms. He was interesting. He was Dutch, about 25 years old, and has been traveling for two years. He said he never liked school and after a few years at University (Uni they call it here), he woke up one day and admitted that he “still didn’t like it”, dropped out, got a visa and left. He has read all the inspirational books I’ve read and his intention in life is to live everyday in the present moment. He says he wants to “live his life” not just “do” something as a means to an end. Life happens all the time, right, and every moment is to be treasured.

Australia Bound

AUSTRALIA

January 31, 2011

I’m on a flight from Sydney to Cairns, watched the sunrise from the plane at 6:00am and am listening to my “Travel’ CD (thank you Michele and Jordan!)! Life is good! I love traveling and seeing the world and all it’s charm!

We arrived in Sydney yesterday morning and met up with Nick at the airport. Once again, we arrived in a foreign country, with no reservations for travel, no map, or plan of how to get to the hostel. We checked costs of public transportation and it turned out that it was cheaper to rent a car for the night; we were leaving again at 6:00 this morning. We drove straight to the hostel; checked in, and took the free bus around the city. What a cool city! Old, character, charm, artsy, café’s, bars, people everywhere. The waterfront was happening and looks like a great place to be. In the evening, at the park across from our Hostel we saw bats everywhere with a wingspan of about 15 inches! There were three large Magnolia trees in a row and they were flying all around them and feeding on the seed pods; sometimes fighting over one. They were very cool to observe. One would land on a branch, and use the little hand like things to grab hold and pull itself around the branch. We will be back here at the end of the trip and have time to tour around.

This morning we’re flying to Cairns, which is at the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. From Cairns we’ll visit the Rain Forest and have an Outback experience. We’ve heard a lot about this part of Australia and are looking forward to being there! Our plan is to rent a car In Cairns, spend time there and then take our time visiting little towns along the coast as we work our way back to Sydney; we’ll have 30 days to do it in.