May 2004

Week 57: Saturday 1st to Sunday 2nd May

After a good lie in we enjoyed the beach and had a game of Slasher. A game devised in the Blue Mountains, based around cricket, using the set we had bought in Coogee for Richard's birthday. The rules are reasonably simple; bat, bowl, hit the wickets etc, but due to the lack of fielders anything hit out of the boundary is out, anything hit behind is out and if you hit it you must run. Later we walked around the sea front and to an island full of sea birds before a few beers in Hoey Moey watching the footy and listening to the band.

Nimbin is an interesting place, a few years back a group of individuals gathered to celebrate the joys of a certain herb. The police found themselves completely outnumbered and decided to turn a blind eye. The same happened the following year, and before you could say pass the Pringles. Nimbin had become the Marijuana capital of Australia. The legality of this is a mystery to us but weed is freely grown in the fields by the residents of the strange hippy commune of just over 300. Obviously we were just there for the scenery but by a complete accident (unbelievably it actually was) we had managed to arrive smack bang in the middle of the annual Mardi Gras(s), complete with the weed Olympics. This included events such as the speed rolling, bong throwing and of course taste testing of the home grown herbs. We had a walk around, sampled some tasty cookies which had a bit of a kick to them, better than your average digestives. Before heading back to the camp site we grabbed a take-away, of sorts and spent the rest of the evening feeling rather lethargic and at peace with the world. When in Rome and all that.

Week 58: Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th May

We woke up on Monday after a long sleep and struggled to pack the car before heading off to Byron Bay. When we arrived at the campsite the first thing we did, after pitching the tent, was to get a game of cricket going on the beach. We played for most of the afternoon, had a quick e-mailing session then headed to a pub for beer and pizza. Instead of spending too much money on beers in a pub we bought a crate of beers and retreated to the serenity of the beach to drink in the moonlight.

Tuesday was very boring, all we did was move to another campsite in Byron, chill on the beach and browse in the shops.

After getting up late we decided it was about time Felix had a wash. We had no idea when he was last cleaned but he was in dire need of a spruce up. After an hour or so he was gleaming, when he would get another wash nobody knew. Again the day was spent sunbathing and sleeping on the beach before walking into town for a few drinks. We visited a few of the bars and realized that it was quite a lively place, not a bad spot to spend some time. Our route home saw us stumble across the beach getting wet feet and taking much longer than it should have.

We decided to make a move for Brisbane on Thursday, but before we left Byron we had to make one important stop. The detour took us to the most Easterly point of Australia. We are never ones for missing places of such importance. Not only was it the most Easterly point, but also the proud owner of the most powerful lighthouse in the country. We carried onto Brisbane, with a quick look at Surfers Paradise, and met up with our mate Chris Rogers. He was working in Brisbane and had a flat with Anthony, Dave and Josh. We were lucky enough to be able to crash on their lounge floor for our stay in Brisbane. That night the lads took us out and showed us what the city, loosely known as B-Vegas, had to offer.

As we had such a late night, Friday started rather late and very little was done, apart from a little exploring of the city. That night we were out for a few beers again. We can't tell you too much more about the night as we are getting older and our memories aren't what they were. Nothing to do with the alcohol consumption off course.

Chris, Liam, Matt and Phil decided to find a bowling alley and attempt to knock over a few pins. We don't pretend to be expert bowlers or anything but we expect to score over 100 every time. The three of us soon found out that ten-pin bowling isn't Chris' forte, as he failed to break the 100 mark. Of course we didn't let him get away without a ribbing. I doubt Chris will fancy a game next time we meet up. That evening we again headed to town to catch the football. This time we were joined by Fran, who had flown into Brisbane the previous evening. She was lucky enough to be allowed to travel with the world famous Four On Tour for a while up the East Coast. We had a few beers and watched a couple of games over in Fortitude Valley and ended the night dancing foolishly, what else do you expect from a Saturday night?

As the weather was so nice we decided to make use of the barbeque facilities at the nearby park. It seems that we weren't the only ones as the park was packed. We had our fill of burgers and sausages on the free barbeques. Once the food had settled we found a patch of grass and had ourselves a kick about. We managed to continue our exercise until the sun went down and we had no choice but to return to the flat. After being out on the town for the last few nights we decided to have a break and relaxed at the flat watching TV and finishing off the mountain of sausages left over from the BBQ.

Week 59: Monday 10th to Sunday 16th May

After a couple of days in Brisbane we headed south to Surfers Paradise, where we would meet up with Fred Schruf and his wife Robyn. Regular readers might remember that we met Fred in Vietnam months earlier. Fred is a real character who seemed very pleased to see us, as we were to see him. With his booming Austrian voice he talked about Vietnam and was interested in the rest of our travels. We also talked of his travels, which had included some fascinating parts of Asia. They treated us to a fantastic lunch of home made beef burgers and sausages, as well as plenty of beer. He told us about his adventures in Australia before he emigrated and we were treated to some of the produce from his farm, cake and mangoes, as well as liquor distilled from juniper berries with a taste like a very sweet gin. The time flew by and we soon had to leave to find a campsite for the night. It was a splendid afternoon with his backyard over looking the Palm Meadows golf course. Thanks again Fred and Robyn. We checked into a campsite and went out to check out the Famous nightlife of Surfers Paradise. We ended up at Shooters after some difficulty as Phil and Liam had only their drivers licences for ID and only a Passport was accepted. We stayed in the club till around 3am.

The morning was spent playing a game of Slasher on the beach, which it must be said is fantastic, it's just a shame that the surroundings have been spoilt by so many high rise buildings. Still in fairness to Australia this is the only place this has happened on the whole of the East coast. We headed back to Brisbane in the evening and back to Chris' flat.

Most of the day was spent on the road (some of the lucky ones, without driving licences getting a bit of sleep in the back!) before arriving in Noosa for the early evening. Noosa is a fantastic looking place and we were keen to get up early and explore the town so we had a game of cards and headed to bed.

The river / estuary is the focal point of Noosa, so we decided to spend the day on a boat cruising around whilst at the same time doing a spot of fishing. Fortunately there was a supermarket locally so we didn't go hungry when all we managed to catch was some pitifully small puffafish. The town itself is a very smart, laidback place with some great looking wooden apartments, with tree-lined avenues and plenty of coffee shops. We treated ourselves to a coffee before heading to Katos bar to catch the replay of the football. Thankfully the band performing didn't take it too personally when we ignored them in favour of the footy.

Another highlight of Noosa is the national park and beach, which we spent a couple of hours exploring. The park had a nudist section, but you'll be glad to hear that we all kept our clothes on. Felix was feeling under the weather today, as his battery had run flat; we were told at the garage that we needed a new battery so we forked out for one of them. In the evening we went to the Reef club dancing away with some strange locals. It was a pretty drunken stumble back to the campsite.

Another day spent on the road as we moved onto Hervey Bay, the gateway to Fraser Island. On the way we got a little lost trying to find Rainbow beach, so called due to it's different coloured sand. We had a take-away curry for dinner before heading to the local hotel and watching more footy.

Whilst being a pleasant enough place, the main reason Hervey Bay is such a major stop off point is due to its proximity to Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island. Only four-wheel drives are allowed on the island so we spent the day looking for the best deal. We were very pleased to realize that the best option was a self-drive ex-army land rover. We went to the Torquay Hotel later that evening in respect of Liam's hometown. Everybody was eager to get onto Fraser Island and do some off-roading, so it was an early night, as we had to get up early the next day.

Week 60: Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd May

We awoke at 5:30, hastily ate breakfast before jumping into our stylish ex-army Land Rover and heading off to the jetty. We were all pumped up and excited, looking forward to the next couple of days on Fraser Island. We had a little trouble at the ferry port as the company we booked the trip with hadn’t given us the right paperwork, or maybe we had lost it – more likely! Either way it was quickly sorted out and we were off to the largest sand island in the world, with its 200 plus lakes, masses of pristine rainforest and miles of off road track for Liam and Phil to bounce around. Once on the island we headed to Lake Wabby, which is stunning with Eucalypt trees on three sides and a huge sand blow on the other. We had a swim and watched the huge Catfish before heading off to the main highway – the beach. We drove along the 80 kph limited shore to the North over shallow creeks and small sand hills and stopped off at the Maheno wreck. This former passenger ship was blown ashore by a cyclone in 1935. The ship is perched on the waters edge and has rusted down to its framework so yo can see straight through it. We headed on up North to Indian Heads, which is notorious for its soft sand. When you hire your vehicle you are told to go into low ratio four wheel drive, get a good run up and hammer it through the sand. Liam was driving at the time and although he got quite a bit of speed up it wasn’t quite enough and we got stuck. Luckily we managed to reverse out and had to wait while some others dug themselves out of the sand before having a second go. Liam had another go after a while and with a group of spectators putting the pressure on he floored the accelerator and the Land Rover slewed through the sand comfortably making it to the other side. Just the other side of Indian Heads are the Champagne Pools, water trapped in these indentations when the tide goes out forms little swimming pools. This is the only place you can swim in saltwater on the island due to the abundant Jellyfish and Sharks. From here we headed south, stopping at a shop for some provisions and pitched our tent towards the back of the beach. After a failed attempt at a fire we used our stove, ate and retired to our tent.

We rose early so we could make a full day of it and were just in time to see a small plane land on the beach. We got ourselves sorted and headed off to Dili village where we planned to set up our tent in preparation for that evening. As we got to Dili the engine cut out and it wouldn’t restart. A couple of guys who were working at the site tried to help us and even gave us some fuel for free but it didn’t help. We rang the hire company, who told us to try a few things, which we did but still no luck. They sent out the mechanic who turned up over an hour later and by the looks of him he had had a few to drink. A short while later he pinpointed the problem – the fuel line had come loose – and fixed it for us. After calling the hire company we managed to blag an extra day out of them for the time wasted and set off to explore again. We went and visited lakes Jennings and Birrabeen and enjoyed the rough bumpy sand tracks dissecting the immense Pine forests before heading back to camp for the night. This time we had plenty of wood and we had a huge fire.

We again got going early on Wednesday and went straight to Lake McKenzie, the most famous of the lakes. It’s spectacularly clear and white sand beach make it a very popular spot and it was very busy. We spent a couple of hours swimming and relaxing before heading off to the ferry port. We returned the Land Rover to the hire company and collected Felix. That night Matt Rich and Fran went out for a few drinks in Hervey Bay while Liam and Phil had an early night, must have been all the excitement of pretending to be in the army!

We left Hervey Bay on Thursday morning and drove to Childers to find some work. There didn’t seem to be much work there so we carried on to Bundaberg and booked into a campsite. It wasn’t the greatest of sites, it was quite run down and everybody looked like they had been there for 40 years! We had an early night so we could get up early and look for work around the farms.

We got up at 4:45 and drove out to the farms to see if we could find some work. All the farms seemed to have plenty of workers so we headed back to town to find Grunt, the labour agency. We signed up with them and went to see the Bundaberg rum distillery. They have tours every day, which was quite interesting and we even got to sample a few of the products at the end. That evening we went to the cinema to see Troy and later met up with Chris, Jen, Josh and Dave - who had come up from Brisbane to look for work – and had a few beers.

We got up late, met with Chris and the guys and went down to the local park to have a BBQ in the sun. We stayed there playing football until dusk and then headed into town to watch the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Milwall.

After chatting to Dave and Josh the night before and being told that their hostel found them work we decided to go there. We checked out of our campsite and went to the Bundaberg Backpackers. We were told that they had work for the next day but no beds available. So we had to spend another night at the campsite and book into the hostel the next morning when we turned up for work. We spent the rest of the day looking around the town and browsing the Internet before an early night in preparation for a long days work.

Week 61: Monday 24th May to Sunday 6th June

4.30am on Monday came around far too quickly as we were introduced into the murky world of farm working in Australia. Matt and Rich got ‘lucky’ and were on ‘plastics’ whilst the others were picking Zucchinis (courgettes to those in the UK) and Sweet Potatoes. Matt and Rich were anxious to find out what this ‘plastics’ job was all about. As it transpired it wasn’t too bad. All the beds in which the plants are planted in are covered in a plastic sheeting to help with irrigation etc., the end result is a 750m long grow bag. When the crop is exhausted, a tractor rips out the plant and loosens the plastic. We walk up and down the rows holding onto one end of the plastic and piling it up at the other end ready for the dustbin. We were warned that snakes and other baddies may be lurking underneath but we didn’t see any. The Zucchini picking was equally as dull. They grow a few inches off the ground and the job entails carrying a bucket in front of you, bending down, cutting the crop off and putting it in the bucket. We’d love to elaborate but that’s pretty much it. It hurts your back and cuts your arms. Other than that , it’s good fun!

Over the next few days we did a few different jobs ranging from Capsicums (Peppers) and Limes to more Zucchinis, and even better – planting. Matt was lucky enough to get the planting job which involved sitting on a trailer, dropping his seed into the moist earth. Not bad, shame it only lasted a couple of days before he was back on Zucchinis. To meet up with Rich who was on the worst farm in the world under supervision of a complete arsehole called Brian. Brian had quickly built up a reputation for being the worst assignment in Bundy. Zucchinis are bad enough as it is, but this guy took the biscuit. On his first day Rich was threatened with the sack three times for crimes such as talking, dropping veg in the bucket too hard and worst of all emptying the bucket himself and not using the bucket boy. Brian had a reputation for sacking people willy-nilly and indeed two or three of the guys on the farm that day had been sacked by him previously, only to return somehow. Brian also brought his seven 7 and 11 year olds along on weekend and was in the habit of allowing them to drive the tractor and bark orders to the proletariat plying their trade in the rows of courgettes. Allowing your 11 year old to drive 5 tonnes of machinery is one thing, but then to sack someone for wearing a walkman as the pick veggies really does take the rise! None of this seemed to bother Brian who drinks a carton of beer to himself every night, has never left Queensland and has been picking Zucchinis for 25 years. On the Thursday, one hour into his second day, Brian decided to sack Rich, for seemingly no apparent reason. A Canadian had decided he had had enough and quit too so Rich and he walked to the highway and hitched a ride into town, leaving matt and the others to continue. At least he had been spared the indignity of having to take orders from Brain Jnr. The one good thing to come out of this farm was that we met Aidan, a top lad who was to become a good drinking buddy over the next few weeks up the coast. He is from Essex, which of course makes him a Man Utd fan and part from being ever so slightly ball-greedy when we played footy, he’s a top bloke! The next day went better for Rich as he and Phil picked 15 tonnes of Pumpkin. The job was much better and the guys working with them were a good laugh. It was cash in hand so we all went down to Central for $1 pots of beer that evening.

Matt and Liam were the only ones working on Saturday. Matt was still with Brian who had been reprimanded for being too harsh on the staff (which helped his attitude for all of one day) whilst Liam picked tomatoes. That evening we had a big night in Central Hotel which is definitely the pub of choice for the workmates in Bundy that probably has nothing to do with the $6 jugs of beer that flow all night. It is a pretty normal place inside, with a dance floor etc but it has a great beer garden, usually with a live band playing. We all had a day off on Sunday and the most energetic of us headed over to the school to play football on their pitch.

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