Traveling Alone

SITTING IN AN OLD MOTEL HOTEL IN KURANDA, QLD, DRINKING A JUG OF BEER it has come to me that traveling by yourself is a fascinating thing.  You find yourself in the strangest and most captivating places, moments, and times of your life.  You THINK a lot.  You ponder life and who you are and where you are going.  Little things you pass by you take a lot more notice to.  Back in the states, while I was a huge advocate of going to the movies (usually double headers bought on a child ticket from the automated machines = yes they don't notice when they rip your ticket) alone, there were still things that you would probably not do alone.  Most people wouldn't go on excursions or fun events by themselves.  You probably wouldn't go to a theme park by yourself or go to a music festival by yourself.  When you travel solo, you would.  It isn't that you don't have friends or that you are a loner, you just open your mind and body to moving around the globe without the accompaniment of other people.  I didn't think twice, for example, on going by myself on an old train up through a historic railway in the World Heritage Rainforest to a small little shop town called Kuranda.  You aren't lonely.  You take pictures, you listen to music, and you ponder a lot.  You have brief encounters with people (like me helping a couple from Sydney today on the train with their Nikon D3000 = a little brother to my DSLR) that you will never see again but yet you shared a moment.  There is an under privileged man in Cairns (maybe homeless?) who sits on various storefront steps in the early evening.  His beard speaks volumes and the leathery skin on his caucasian face could write a novel.  Every time I pass him, I give him all the coins that are in my pocket (doesn't matter if it is 20 cents or a ton of 1 and 2 dollar coins).  Every time I pass him, I ask him if I can buy him a beer and every time he declines.  I hope one of these days he will say yes and I can sit down with him and just talk.  He doesn't have anyone to talk to.  It makes me frigid to think what his Christmas will be like this year.

I LISTEN TO A LOT OF FRANK SINATRA when I find myself in old places;  couped up at that back 2 person table at a low lit pub or hotel, jug of beer to the left, backpack to the right, headphones on.  I people watch a lot.  Sometimes listen.  There is something about music from the 30's 40's and 50's that adds a mental ambiance to your situation that puts one into a nostalgic trance.  I sometimes picture when settled down what my evenings would be and how the best to enjoy them.  I have told my friend Joe Armbruster this.  Old music, (i.e. Frank) big-ass red wine glass filled with a mid-priced cabernet, and a coffee table book about something that has history and culture (like the History of Palm Springs book at my friend Shelby's house in Indian Wells, CA) in it.  Perhaps light eats of small meats and cheeses to accompany the wine.  Perhaps a fire burning.  Perhaps in the mountains or on a beach.  Perhaps.

THE MENTAL REFLECTION OF YOUR LIFE AND BODY ON THIS EARTH that happens while doing adventures by yourself is something remarkable.  Cognitive analysis is a day to day thing...the time I try and not think about anything is when I meditate (new weekly class I am taking on Zen and Guided Meditation) and let me tell you that it is not easy to make your mind go blank in a foreign country with 10 open months of no real plans ahead of you.  While my daily life was routine before, it is so sporadic now.  You just take it as it comes.  Capricorns would freak out.  There are no plans or organization to your future.  You pick a city or area and you just GO.  You start thinking in months and years and not weeks or days.  You start pinning down GENERAL ideas of what you will do when you get there (work, play, sights, etc).  It is liberating.  Talk about a catalyst for human thought; 20 years of school, 7 years of corporate work...to, no plan.  I remember my good friends Ben and Mandel Maughan saying to me so "basically, McLeod, you are on the 'no plan' plan."  LOL.  Yes, you can only plan so much, especially in Australia, because there are so many ways you can go.  It is almost overwhelming.  But times like this when I just got off the Sky Rail from Kuranda (the rail that inspired the flyover scenes in Avatar) and am in a weird restaurant waiting for my bus back to Cairns drinking a beer and writing, feeling tight (as Hemingway would say), everything is worth it.

Cairns - Living and Working

LIVING AND WORKING IN CAIRNS is an incredible experience.  The tropical northern part of Queensland, Australia is a tranquil escape that I wish every traveler could experience.  One day you are partying with backpackers at a hostel's beer garden and the next day you are on a tiny island off the coast of the Great Barrier Reef diving or snorkeling with rare species and unnamed types of coral.  My days are mostly spent working.  It took me 4 days and about 9 resumes handed out to get 2 jobs.  While I want to to tell you it easy to get a job in Cairns, I must say that you will go up against some competition in numbers (thousands of backpackers from all around the world).  What will take you a long way when looking for a job is a positive attitude, the ability to speak English CLEARLY (a lot of times the people from England over here are the hardest to understand!), and the ability to learn quickly.  The main industries working holiday makers like myself find work in up here is hospitality, food and beverage, retail, bar work, and farm work.  I found my first job as a receptionist at Koala Beach Resort (hostel and tour booking company) simply by walking down the street and seeing a sign on the door for help wanted.  My second job was found the same way as I walked into Mondo's, a restaurant at the Hilton Cairns, and started asking around.  I am a proud member of the Hilton family now as I am much appreciated in the banquets department for my work on private dinners, weddings, corporate lunches, gala dinners, etc.

WORKING AT THE HILTON I AM SEEING A CULMINATION of 10 years of off-and-on food and beverage experience in the United States.  From starting as a busser at the Bluwater Bistro in Seattle in college, to working at the 5 star Mister A's in San Diego, to bartending with The French Gourmet (Corey and Gus thank you for teaching me the ways of a catering bartender wizard), to when I first learned how to serve tables at a Red Robin in high school (the only job I was ever fired from - eat shit Scott, I wrote the schedule down wrong!), my experience in this industry has culminated in a way that I am a huge asset to the Hilton.  Within weeks they were putting me on the important events; events that the people are tipping me on (remember their is no tipping in Australia as your wage of $18 to $30 an hour pays for your gratuity)  No tipping at bars, restaurants, nowhere.  It feels good to know a trade well and excel at it.  Mind you it is not a career choice of mine but it pleases me to know that my 12 years of work in various places, I can please my superiors with hard work and pleasurable charisma while on the clock.  I don't take the two 15 minute paid breaks they give us.  Also, there are only like 2 security cameras at the Hilton.  I feel that is a good example of how things are a bit more relaxed out here. I have looked all around and can't seem to find any cameras and the ones we have I don't think are even monitored as I have seen the security room and it looks like a shack. (Ben McLeod, a bit different than your Ritz/Marriott in Los Angeles yeah?).  The Hilton takes care of us well too...uniform is washed and pressed for you for when you get to work and they feed us mid shift with decent grub.  Showers, lockers, it is like almost like going to the gym, yet you are not lifting weights, but more lifting massive tables and chairs, and you aren't sweating from cardio but from anaerobic activity that seems to never end.  I would love to see how many miles I walk in a busy night where I am bouncing around from event to event.

THE WEATHER IN CAIRNS IS LIKE FLORIDA IN THE SPRING with more creatures (especially parrots and bats, yes bats).  When I walk to work in the day or morning, you can see and hear hundreds of bats in the trees and if you walk down a certain portion of the sidewalks you will walk through their droppings; only to hurry your steps worried that you are going to get bat shit on your face.  At dusk, the bats MOVE.  And man do they move.  Looking up at the sky it looks like 500 Batman logos flying around as if Gotham city was about to be attacked by nuclear missiles.  They squeak, flap, and screech their way to...well...I actually don't know where they go (maybe their cave?).  Besides the not-very-scary bats, Cairns is beautiful.  Green and red parrots casually frolic from tree to tree.  I remember one night at a bar on the outside deck just watching families of parrots doing whatever it is they do...probably about 5 feet away from me I could almost touch one.  I work right on the water and as much as the breakfast shift can suck (up at 6am), the walk in the morning along the public lagoon overlooking bikeriders, people doing Yoga, and the Pacific Ocean; it is breathtaking.  Add some good headphone music in, like Deadmau5's Faxing Berlin, and some sandals and backpack, and you are now picturing the first small chapter of the working holiday of Ryan McLeod.  I walk everywhere.  I haven't driven a car in 4 months and it hasn't occurred to me until right now.  I think I am going to buy a bike tomorrow as I want to explore the outer parts of the city center that is a bit too far for my tired and aching feet.  On a good day, I am on my feet only 5 hours of work...on a heavier day (Koala shift into a heavy Hilton shift), I can be on my feet for 17 hours.  I am not complaining, just stating that some good insoles can go along way when doing this type of labor.  Socks get reused, outfits get repeated, sandals are very WORN.  Some nights I will get home from the Hilton around 2am exhausted and set my alarm for 7:45am having to work a 10 hour double in the morning at Koala.  Some mornings I feel like a zombie walking down the one story of stairs down to reception.  Most mornings eye drops are a life saver.

WORKING AT KOALAS IS EXTREMELY DEMANDING AND DIFFICULT.  I sit at the front desk and read (right now The Thorn Birds - thank you Brian Hayden, great novel), write, work on my upcoming travel websites, play Hearts on the Windows, Pinball on Windows, and at some points I have fallen asleep on the couches in the lobby there.  Oh yeah, and I check people in and out of their rooms, book some tours here and there, and close the doors and gates at the end of the night.  Sometimes I have to take the garbage out and clean some coffee mugs in the back sink.  Let me just say I don't take this job for granted at all.  I also get free trips through Koala's which is awesome as you have seen some of the cool trips I have been doing (bungee, skydive, river rafting, etc).  Funny, looking back a year ago in Los Angeles when I was researching this holiday work visa, I never pictured getting my first job at such a cool place that can allow for so many adventures.  Ryan is very thankful for this position and will miss Koala's dearly I am sure as I head south after Christmas.

MY ROOM HAS LIZARDS IN IT.  Well, they come and go as they please.  Little geckos only about a finger length, they scurry all over.  Just last night I was going into my room at 1am after a long Hilton shift, and one of the lizards was on my door.  "In or out buddy, your call" I said to him.  He decided to stay out.  My heart doesn't jump anymore when things scamper around my feet.  As I know a lot of you are like me (like Lindsay in North Carolina with water bugs), people who do not care for large (or small for that matter) cockroaches.  Well, I can say that I squashed one the other day (progress) like Mr. Miagi talked about grapes to Daniel, and I thought for a moment that the fear of these harmless and pointless creatures was gone.  The next night walking home from work, one came shooting towards me, reversed direction, reversed again and came right at my vulnerable toes only to have me do a double jump out of the way with slight heart palpitations.  God I love those things.  Back to my room for those of you who care.  I live at Koala Beach Resort in room 112.  Old Cad members at Sigma Chi in college can appreciate the ROOM 112 (Mike B, T Smith, and D)  It is an ensuite (has private bathroom) 4 bed dorm room with a fridge and a sink.  I have it to myself which is nice as it is actually almost as big as my last studio in Los Angeles lol.  The AC works good and with the curtains closed, I sleep well.  Working 70 hours a week probably has something to do with sleeping well too :/

ACCLIMATING TO THIS ENVIRONMENT AND THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE is still happening after almost 60 days of being in Oz.  Around week 3 I got a bad whooping cough and when some foods (especially meat) would hit my stomach (thank you Gilligan's and your dogshit CURRY SAUSAGES SLOP AND RICE free dinner) in a way that I can only explain as a 'twisted knot of lead in the center of my gut.'  The cough went away but my good friend and counterpart at the Hilton, Michael, said that it has to do with the hot air and the air conditioning, etc.  I also noticed that the spin of the earth can affect my walking (some of you are probably laughing at this right now).  Yes, there were (and still sometimes) times when I would be walking down the street in Cairns (sober) and I would feel like the ground under me is shifting and I could fall over.  You think I am crazy but my best two friends, Jeff & Dave (Irish guys mentioned before), also felt the same thing one day at Palm Cove.  I am not crazy, just know that I FEEL different when doing day to day things over here (like walking).  There are times at the Hilton where I am running plates of food in and out of multiple rooms (no AC, then tons of AC) at a fast pace and the fluorescent lights are beaming down; I feel like I could faint.  Hydration is something I took lightly my first month here and now I drink almost two liters of water before lunch.  I didn't realize how bad I was dehydrated and when you add fun nights and days with alcohol, your body just prunes into oblivion.  One day I could FEEL myself not getting enough water and oxygen to itself (vomited and was confused at reception - I think it was a mild heat stroke - closed reception early and had my night shift covered - slept and drank water) and that was the day I said that a water bottle will always be with me and I will be constantly drinking the good fresh tap water of Cairns (it is quality actually as it comes from good mountain fresh water sources from the World Heritage Rainforest).   I can feel a large difference in my health; mentally and physically already.  Derek Zoolander was on to something in his 'Merman' commercial.  RCM

The Working Holiday Project 2010

Skydive from 14,000 feet over the GREAT BARRIER REEF

SKYDIVING IS SOMETHING NOT NORMAL TO HUMANS.  Thanks again to my short term career choice with Koala Beach Resort in Cairns, I was able to do a 'famile' skydive with Australia Skydive (one of the biggest in the world now due to two companies merging).  My jump cost me $35.  Jumps are usually around $300.  Happy days.  I wasn't as nervous as I was in Interlaken, Switzerland 7 years ago...funny how age can calm your nerves a bit and when you are younger you are more aware of scary shit that can kill you or give you a heart attack.  I guess as we get older we seem to get lazy in our paranoid thinking?  Anyhow, for all of you whom have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane know that SKYDIVING IS UNREAL.  One can watch movies and television and see skydivers doing there thing but let me tell you that when that door opens up in that little Cessna at 14,000 feet and you are higher than clouds and houses and cows are the same size, you question a lot of things about the short-term past, present, and future.  PAST = drank two beers.  PRESENT = 120 MPH free fall looking down on a tropical rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.  FUTURE = "where do I sign up to get certified?"

I HAVE COME TO REALIZE AFTER 30 YEARS OF LIVING on this planet that there are must do's.  Skydiving is a must do.  I don't care how scared you are of heights, or how much anxiety flying gives you, or how you can get motion sickness...if you want to really FEEL like a human in this 10+ billion year old universe, JUMP OUT OF AN AIRPLANE.  12 people fill this tiny, tiny plane and I would say it probably gets better gas mileage than a car it is so small.  You are packed in like sardines and no one knows to laugh or cry during the ascent.  Your jump master continues to show you his altimeter and you start realizing that this is getting close to the stage that jet airliners turn off the FASTEN SEAT BELT sign.  You go above clouds.  You can't make out things on the ground from houses to cars to animals to buildings.  The door opens and the cold air hits everyone resulting in SCREAMING and SMILES and FACES OF TERROR.  I put my dive glasses on and crossed my arms as I watch a girl in front of me (who was fairly nervous about the jump at the shop earlier) and her instructor head to the edge of the cabin to jump and she does not follow the rules and cross her arms but proceeds to grab the ceiling, door, wall, ground; basically everything to keep her from plummeting from the aircraft.  She exited the plane on the ground that day.  The kid next also grabbed the door when he is supposed to have his arms crossed.  Switzerland, 7 years ago, I grabbed the door like a child reaching for his mother.  This time, I just smiled and crossed my arms and let Jeremy, my instructor, scoot us up to the ledge.  It is frightening.  Sheer terror in a good way I guess.  Before you can realize what you are actually doing or where you are or what is about to happen, you have exited the plane.  One barrel roll and (thanks to my instructor advising me to keep my eyes open) you are looking back and waving to the aircraft.  It was a white plane I think.  Jeremy taps my arm signaling me to uncross my arms and let them FLY.  You are flying.  You are going 120 MPH.  I have told many of you throughout the years that the best way to picture what is like is to imagine a freeway.  You are standing 10 feet next to this freeway watching the cars ZOOM by.  So fast as they just WIZZ by. Probably doing 65 MPH (or if you live in California you are probably imagining cars going 80 MPH or 90 MPH), see the cars flying by as your head turns.  Now picture that same car moving at almost double that speed, or 120 MPH.  Now those cars are literally ROARING BY you and your head can't turn fast enough to eye them as they cruise by.  Now, picture you, yes, YOU, next to that car like Superman keeping pace with it as it flies down the asphalt.  Now picture yourself staying next to that car for a minute.  It is around a minute but it feels like a second thinking back.  A minute doing 120 MPH without a seat belt is almost life changing.  There really isn't anything else in the world that can give you the sensation that skydiving does.  We as kids stuck our heads out the window of the family van headed out on a camping trip and that was fun.  But double the speed and get rid of the cabin you are riding in and you will feel like Neo in the Matrix.

BEING A TRAVEL WRITER, I OBVIOUSLY ASKED A LOT OF QUESTIONS to Jeremy in the field (drop zone) we landed in.  Some of you already know that there are 2 parachutes on every jump.  If the first gets tangled you are trained to cut the first one and deploy the second.  What fascinates me the most is the computer generating emergency deployment.  A lot of people worry about dying when skydiving but it is safer than walking around a major city.  You see, if your body is still moving at 120 MPH at 700 feet (seems a bit low for me ay?), the computer inside parachute #2 will deploy automatically.  This is so rare and my instructor said that if you are having computer generated deployments that you shouldn't being skydiving.  My question, but never asked for obvious reasons, is "what happens if the computer fails?"  Thank you electrical engineers.

AFTER THE CANOPY IS OPENED AND YOU ARE JERKED AWAY from your superhero speed towards the earth, you look up and thankfully watch your parachute fill with air.  For a millisecond you see the cords untangling and think to yourself are we going to have a malfunction?  Jeremy has done around 3000 jumps and just recently had his first malfunction.  Funny how cords can knot up and tangle yeah?  I have enough trouble getting my shitty headphones for my mp3 player to straighten out.  (similar to losing your mask/regulator diving at the ocean floor), you simply follow your training and know exactly where to release your main shoot and deploy the second.  People don't die in the air, they die on landing.  With power lines, wind, trees, buildings, etc, most skydiving deaths are correlated to the landing going wrong.  Before the landing is almost my favorite part.  While the freefall is amazing and intense, the parachuting around at slower speeds is so tranquil and transcendentally calming that it is hard to explain.  Looking out and seeing the reef, the rainforest, Cairns, on a sunny day in the Southern Hemisphere is beyond breathtaking.  I was allowed to steer the parachute which was not offered in Switzerland.  By tugging on these large yellow ropes with handles, one is able to turn the parachute to the right and left.  One of the turns we did was so hard that our bodies were almost parallel with the ground of the globe we were jumping over.  It is just incredible people.  Highly recommended and definitely will do again, and again, and again.  Like scuba diving, things are just different to you when you are down there (or up there I should say in this case :) )  Good adventure, RCM

Cairns - Captain Matty's Barefoot Tour

CAPTAIN MATTY'S BAREFOOT TOUR WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL DAY.  Pickup at 7:30am on a Sunday morning came a bit early but knowing that the day was going to be great once I was up I got excited (like getting up for skiing).  The van holds 17 passengers who were mostly German girls, my two Irish friends, Dave and Jeff, my two new English friends, Jenna and Sarah, a French Couple, and a woman from Sweden.  The five questions Captain Matty asks everyone over the loudspeaker was age, where you are from, when you are leaving Cairns, your relationship status, and finally and most importantly, whether you scrunch or fold your toilet paper after going #2.  People were a bit more awake after this early morning bus passenger interview.  I am a folder.  Sam, my British work counterpart, and I were smart enough to buy a case of beer for the group the night before (we got the trip for free due to working at Koala Adventures) as it was the nice thing to do.  With beer on ice in the back being closely guarded and eyed by the Irish at 8am in the morning, we headed into the hills for the Atheton Tablelands.

First stop was to be the Cathedral Fig Tree (500 years old) but unfortunately closed for maintenance.  We blew by that exit and headed to Lake Eacham for breakfast and an early morning swim.  This lake was basically inside of a rainforest and before we reached it, Captain Matty described to us the dangerous snakes that may encounter as just last week someone reported running into a King Brown on the east bank of the lake on the pedestrian trail.  Captain Matty is certified in CPR, first aid, and snake bite first aid.  He proceeds to describe to us how it will go down if we are bitten by a venomous snake (the King Brown, or my favorite is the WILD and AGGRESSIVE Taipan snake).  Apparently the first thing to do after being bit is to remain calm.  Yeah, okay, I am sure.  Totally, I will just kick my feet up and pour some tea to drink and read the morning paper with two small holes in my shin dripping with juice that can kill me in an hour.  Anyway, remaining calm is so that your heart rate doesn't rise resulting in higher blood flow which results in the venom moving through your body faster and faster.  Once relaxation has been attained by the bite, he or she will then give his credit card to Captain Matty.  The credit card would then be placed directly onto the bite and the Captain would start wrapping the bite very tightly.  After wrapping that area he would then continue to wrap the entire limb (apparently 90% of bites happen on a human limb) from top to bottom.  So, why the credit card?  Firstly, some doctors in smaller medical centers (where it is best to take you as the large hospitals do not have the ability to help you quickly enough) won't help you until you have paid up front.  By having the credit card under the bandage, he has to unwrap it, resulting in major blood/venom flow, which in turn he would need to help you right then and there or watch you die.  Secondly, the credit card keeps the venom from hitting the bandages which would result in the venom being soaked up and much harder to take a sample of so that the doctor could identify which snake anti venom needs to be used to save your ass.  Thirdly, that credit card will make for a great bar story/souvenir.  That is, if you don't die before treatment becomes available, and if you make it through the 3 week sickness/hangover that the anti venom causes.

LAKE EACHAM WAS BRILLIANT; quiet, tranquil, and relaxing.  Only a couple of cars in the parking lot, our 17 travelers pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Picture a lake in the middle of a rainforest that has no shore waves, no ripples, and turtles and fish swimming in the shallows at a rate of .5 MPH.  The fish that saw us and we could see them basically were treading water and just chillin out not scared of a soul in the world.  Some lizards were on the bank too staring at us like we were welcome, but wanting to know who the hell we were and where we came from?  The core of our bus group (younger English and Irish and German people...oh yeah, and the one American like every trip; me) changed into our swimwear on the swimming dock and one by one took the plunge into the fresh, bath water temperature, water of the quiet Lake Eacham.  It is always funny how an early morning swim can wipe any past-night alcohol cobwebs right out of one's head.  After taking a group plunge shot, we dried off, and hiked back up to where Captain Matty was so kindly cooking bacon and eggs that he had bought for the group.  Some brown bread, ketchup, and bbq sauce later, we all were chomping down bacon and egg morning sandwiches.  Captain Matty is one of the best hosts I have been around in as.  From New Zealand, his long goatee and dreadlocked hair, combined with his tan, tattoos and beads, results in a seasoned and weathered 30 year old who knows two things; how to to make people feel comfortable, and everything about the Atheton Tablelands around Cairns.  Oh yeah, and he casually has guided people on white water rafts for over 7000 hours.  7000 hours.

THE WEATHER STARTED TO TURN FOR THE WORSE.  As we head to our 2nd stop, Dinner Falls and The Crater, the overcast and dry morning began to be a overly gray and wet morning.  Not a probably though as everyone was having a great time.  This stop had a very large sink hole (kind of like a cenote in Mexico) that was created by volcanic activity over 50,000 years ago.  We brought a large rock so that we could throw it off the viewing deck and into the The Crater.  We all remained quiet as this poor rock plummeted for a few long seconds and broke a big hole onto the green algae film covering the surface of the deep water.  By this time it was time for lunch and beer.  We zoomed into a town called Millaa Millaa (means water water) which has a population of 350.  At the only pub in town everyone ate steak sandwiches with chips, and cold Australian jugs of beer (two of which Captain Matty was so nice to buy for the group for his appreciation of having a full paying van that day).  I played a pull tab machine for a $1 and won $5.  Only gambling I have done this country and left a winner.

AFTER PUTTING SMILES ON THE LOCAL'S FACES AT THE MILLAA MILLAA PUB, it was time to move onto 6 more stops, Millaa Millaa Falls, Zillie Falls, Ellinjaa Falls, Crawford's Lookout, Josephine Falls, and Babinda Boulders.  Captain Matty doesn't wear a watch and is different from other tours as he doesn't say "okay you have 15 minutes to take pictures then be back at the bus"...we simply leave as a group when the concensus is it is time to leave.  Captain Matty doesn't wear footwear either (hence the BAREFOOT TOUR).  So back to the highlights.  The best was swimming under Millaa Millaa falls with my friends.  It was like something out of a novel.  Pouring down rain and a gorgeous waterfall in the middle of a tropical rainforest and I am swimming with people I have befriended in the past 3 weeks/days from all across the world.  One of the British girls and I kissed briefly under the falls just because it seemed like the thing to do.  Ellinjaa Falls was spectacular as well but no swimming, just pictures and a soft mist on the face.  Crawford's Lookout was cool to see that far into a gorge, happy we didn't attempt the 1.6KM many meter decent as we were mainly all in sandals and half drenched from the rain.  That hike would be a whole day.  Josephine Falls was near the end and was POWERFUL and INTIMIDATING.  Many young men have died here (27 since 1979 when the famous German people took the photographs that had faces in them...look it up on your own for the story).  People will swim in the top pool and be swept down the river and try to stand up and get their foot wedged into a rock gap and the raging water will break their knees/back and they will lunge forward and drown.  Captain Matty has taken two tourists out of the Tully river due to this very accident on a rafting trip that a brother raft company had lost (apparently a guide will not remove his dead as it will rattle him to much to continue his job).  So the guides help each other and dig out each other's dead.  Um, when is my rafting trip again, oh yeah, it is in a couple of weeks.
WE ENDED THE BUZZED, FUN, AND EPIC DAY with Captain Matty cooking up a sausage sizzle at the Babinda Boulders.  It was dawn and pouring rain so rather than hiking in to to see the boulders, our group stayed under cover and listened to Captain Matty's stories as we scarfed down sausage and grilled onion sandwiches, again, on just good ol' brown sandwich bread.  The stoves are cool at these places...all through these World Heritage locations, National Parks, etc, their are solar powered bbq grills that can be used by anyone.  You don't need charcoal briquettes or light fluid.  You simply hit a button and it runs on a timer and you can just leave it for the next person.  Such a novel idea I was a fan.  Captain Matty left us for a moment and went into the dark jungle and after 5-10 minutes, he came back with a Cane Toad.  The Cane Toad apparently is RUINING ecosystems as its back has a poison on it that kills anything that tries to eat it.  The Australian government has put a bounty out on this young toad's head and allows anyone to kill as many as they like.  Captain Matty does not demonstrate this killing on his tour in case it offends an animal activist so he more told us about in his backyard how he plays TOAD GOLF here and there with mates and a lot of times the toads are on fire before they are 9-ironed into the darkness of night and out of his backyard.  Overall great trip as it was great to get out of the city and away from work.  One more thing, for all of you who know how I can sleep...I took 5 naps on the bus that day (twice the amount of most of the rest of the group).  Trust me they were all very needed :)

Less Drinking, More Diving and BREATHING

LESS DRINKING and MORE DIVING has been the last week or so in Cairns which is a good thing if you have read how the first couple of weeks went.  I also got a job the other day which is great as I can now budget and have something steady.  The job is with Koala Guest Houses and its amenities are a bit above a hostel and just less than a resort/hotel.  I will be working the front desk, booking tours/trips, checking people in and out, opening/closing the front area etc.  I am stoked for this job as it was explained to me to be a 'cake' job and the pay is good and the hours are decent.  Plus, I get to call the companies we sell tours for (i.e. Skydiving) and let them know I am the new Koala Resorts trip booker and can I come on your excursion as a famile (free trip to familiarize myself with it so I can sell it).  Hopefully will lead to some cool events and journeys around Northern QLD.

DIVING IS INSANELY FUN and slightly dangerous.  Hard to explain what it is like when you are down there.  The world of the ocean is a world like none other.  Picture when you go underwater as a kid to dive in the pool for, say, loose change, or someones sunglasses; it is great down there and you wish you could stay down longer but unfortunately your little lungs need to surface for air and you rifle to the top.  Well diving is strange in that you do not have to rifle to the top and you can do whatever you want for a good amount of time.  It is so bizarre because your mind is saying this doesn't feel right but your lungs say "yeah, we're cool."  I can't tell you how much more respect you have for oxygen after going through a dive certification course (trust me as this is coming from a chest breather who has had slight anxiety in the past).  I have always been fascinated with being underwater but I hate holding my breath and cannot do it for very long.  I knew this course was going to take some mental focus and determination.  Let me put it this way, one person started drowning in the deep end on the first day and two instructors had to dive in to save him.  He was right next to me.  Wow.

THE COURSE I AM DOING is the 5 Day Open Water Diving PADI Certification which involves 2 full days of classroom and in the pool with a Dive Instructor and 3 days aboard a large vessel with other divers to complete your open water training dives and exercises.  A lot of the pool on the first day is in the shallow end on your knees and the class (around 12 people) are in a semi-circle facing the instructor.  We are all geared up with our regulators in, O2 flowing, etc.  The best way I can describe these classes under water is like a kindergarten class for deaf kids.  The instructor uses all sorts of hand signals to make us pay attention to him, demonstrate, number the exercises we are doing, join up with our buddy, etc.  So the first thing we learn is how to throw away our regulators (the big black thing that is always in your mouth allowing you to breath) and find them by reaching back behind us.  Sounds simple but let me tell you it is INTENSE.  3 or 4 in our group had to get up out of the water to breath because this idea of taking o2 away from their lungs made their brain say NOPE.  Crazy.

THE FIRST DAY after lunch everyone is told to get into the deep end (16 feet) and tread water for 10 minutes.  No more than 3 minutes went by when this beginner swimmer next to me started going under water as he paddled to try and stay above water.  Both instructors jumped in to rescue him.  Why someone would try and take a scuba diving certification course and can't swim or tread water is mind blowing.  Rest of the day was exercises to get comfortable with the BCD (buoyancy control device; inflates and deflates your jacket), the regulator (the black thing that goes in your mouth and provides air), the alternate air source, the tank, the primary and secondary air stages, etc.  This day for Ryan McLeod in Australia was the best yet as I was instantly addicted to diving and couldn't wait to get under water again, and when I got dropped off for my final job interview at Koala Guest Houses, I was already on the schedule and was told I would start Tuesday.  Had a couple of beers to celebrate and then went to bed early.

Day 2 INVOLVES THE POOL ALL MORNING until lunch at 1pm then classroom after that to take the final exam and do final lessons.  9am, everyone in the pool to do a 200m swim.  Everyone passed.  Now into the deep end to learn descending and ascending, how to get air from your buddy if your regulator goes out of if you are an idiot and run out of air, how to find a neutral buoyancy, how to let your mask fill up with water and then blow it out, how to take your mask completely off under water and put it back on (more on this in the ocean later).  Finished the written exam around 5:30pm, passed, headed home and took it easy again as we were to be picked up at 7:45am to head out on the liveaboard

THE OCEAN WAS SURGING that day.  Some rain, wind, people puking into bags, BIG sways and medium sized swells.  Guess who has 4 training dives to do in what looks to be a Wet N' Wild wave pool on crack?  Our team of 12 innocent travelers that just want to find Nemo on a coral reef.  The snorkels that come with the course suck and so you can picture 4 guys and 8 girls sucking down sea water and smashing into the side of the boat as our instructor is explaining our surface training exercises.  Some of them involved rescue swimming/carrying of our buddy (pushing and pulling).  Some of them require swimming a certain distance, some of them are buoyancy tests.  Picture trying to find neutral buoyancy in the conditions described above.  It was insane, at one point I just started laughing to myself;  is this really happening?  I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean smashing against a large boat and large anchor chain/rope with 11 people I have never met and we are being judged on how well we can not drink seawater.  LOL.  It was awesome.  At this point, I felt as if I am on that new Discovery Channel show, Surviving The Cut.  After being battered around over like a bear on a bunny and accomplishing all of our surface exercises, we dive to 12 meters to start underwater exercises.

THERE ARE A LOT OF TRAINING EXERCISES to get your certification but I am going to focus on the one that is the scariest and everyone is afraid of.  If you don't know already the open water dive certification is to get to a level of diving where you can go WITHOUT A GUIDE OR INSTRUCTOR.  You can dive with a buddy anywhere in the world if you can show your license and log book (describes each dive in detail; depth, bottom time, surface intervals, etc).  So from the pool over 2 days to the 4 training dives in the ocean, you are required to gradually practice life threatening situations.  The main one is if you lose your mask underwater.  This may sound like no biggie in a pool or a lake but let me be the first to tell you that at 15 meters underwater in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, it is a little bit stressful.  So, at first the instructor points at you and runs his pointer finger horizontally up his dive mask half way.  This means grab the top of your mask and let water in half way up filling your nose and mouth.  To clear, you simply lean back a tad and hold the top of your mask and exhale hard through your nose and you have 'cleared your mask'.  Somewhat easy.  Then, next dive, he signals for you to fill up your mask to the brim with very salty water from the Pacific Ocean, which isn't exactly like chlorine water if you open your eyes.  Then, the final test, yes at 15 meters, or around 45 feet on the ocean floor, you are to COMPLETELY TAKE OF YOUR MASK to simulate it being knocked off while diving, and put it back on.  Not exactly something you are excited for, especially when you can't see 20 feet around you, there is sand coming up all around you, underwater currents are trying to move you on your knees to the left and right.  IT IS THE MOST FRIGHTENING THING A LOT OF US HAVE HAD TO DO IN OUR LIVES.  On training dive 3, I forgot to fill my mask from the top and filled it from the bottom...well...I drank a half a pint of seawater (breathed in through my nose on accident) and spit out my regulator (yes the item that gives you oxygen to stay alive at 18 meters).  Due to great training from the days before I remembered to continue to blow out of my mouth everything and Lewis, my instructor, who sees this type of thing all the time and is right there in front of you to make sure you don't drown, put my regulator in and blasted me a breath of air I will never forget for the rest of my life.  We have all had panic moments swimming/jumping bridges/etc as a child but this trumped anything I can remember in any deep end of any pool.  I couldn't not think about it all night, couldn't get to sleep that night, had dreams about it and woke up every 2 hours.  I talked to Lewis about it and he says to me "yeah mate, you don't want to spit your regulator out at those depths...very bad things can happen."  I thanked him for putting my regulator back in, and, basically saving my life, and he said "no worries mate, happens a lot on the mask fill test, that is why we are here."  Really?  Okay so you just keep people from drowning every week that is cool.  So, to conquer this new fear of being under, on training dive 4 (our last training dive), before the full mask take off test, I told him I want to do the partial mask fill, full mask fill, and THEN, yep, do the whole mask off.  A little bit of saltwater later and some zen like breathing I had practiced all night and morning to Florence And The Machine's Between Two Lungs, I dominated all three and overcame any fear I had the prior day.  Again, he was right in front of all of us with his hand on our arm and his other hand right in front of our regulators just casually waiting to make sure you stay alive on the ocean floor.  Unbelievable experience.  Another girl in our group who was doing well like I was through training also had a small slip up where when we were descending on the last training dive.  She went to fix her mask a bit and inhaled/drank about a pint of seawater, had to go back up to the boat and was RATTLED about going down again.  I talked to her about it a lot and one make up dive later with her buddy and our instructor, she conquered her fear as well and overcame.  This certification is probably the most scariest, fun, intense, and nerve racking thing I have ever done in my life (close second is canyoning in Interlaken, Switzerland).

AFTER TRAINING DIVE 4 IS COMPLETE, you are a certified PADI Open Water Scuba Diver.  From here is where the fun started.  We had 6 more dives over 2 days on the boat all for pleasure.  The night dive was interesting as when we plunged into the water their were small reef sharks circling the back of the boat (where we jump in).  Everyone has torches (large gun like flashlights) and it was the first time in my life I ever felt what it would be like to be a Navy Seal.  Visibility like 10 feet, flashlights of divers beaming all directions around huge coral walls and coming over a ridge with my team of 5 and merging into another group of 6 divers and now we have 11 lights spotlighting in all directions as we descend down a cavern.  Hard to explain diving at night.  If you have any claustrophobia or fear of confined spaces I do not recommend going on it.  You have no idea how far you are to the surface by looking, you don't know where you are going (except following the guide), and you have no idea what creatures are around any corner, including our good curious friend, the reef shark.

THE WEATHER CHANGED FOR THE BETTER.  By day 2 the surging was ending and the sun tried to come out throughout the day.  The first pleasure dive is crazy because you have been with your instructor all day (and some evenings) everyday for the last few days and he basically becomes the biggest badass and leader your will ever follow.  Well, your first pleasure dive is without him and no one else with any experience hire than 4 dives (like me and my buddy, Merriam).  So, just like anything else, you remember your training and everything that has been hammered into your head and you set off to go see Troppos (the reef location we were at that day) on your own with no one else.  Merriam did awesome, our dive got to a reasonable 15 meters and were down for about 20 minutes.  The dives just got better and better.  The weather got better and better.  My breathing got better and better (if you breath too much you waste air and can't stay down as long).  By the final dive, today (gorgeous weather on the reef; hot, sunny, blue waters...like you picture or see in magazines) we were down for nearly 40 minutes, covered the entire reef dive location and I came up way far away from the boat as we were cruising through so many up and overs, cold water blasts, warm water blasts, currents that launch you over reefs, so many fish, coral, turtles, and crustaceans that it would take an entire other blog entry to describe.  The diversity is unbelievable on the Great Barrier Reef.  It is something I can only wish everyone could see in their life.  Uplifting, emotional, and real it was one of the best experiences of my entire 29 years of living.  The best part about it is it runs north/south as long as the entire West Coast of the United States...so...lets just say I will probably be back to see another part of it sooner than later.

ON THE SMALLER BOAT NOW (picked us up off of Ocean Quest II, the liveaboard) headed back to Cairns.  Start work in the morning at 8am which is exciting.  Final Hilton interview Friday morning which is great.  Dave and Jeff should have some good new contacts and stories, it will be great to see them.  With a couple of band aids on my left foot, burps of Victoria Beer with some remnant salt water, music in my ears, a tan, a sore upper nose, and a physically/mentally exhausted, yet accomplished mind and body, I am excited to step foot and land and start looking for the next adventure.  RCM

Cairns Part 1...

This place is one big party.  It feels like I am on senior trip in Mexico but with WAY MORE tourist oriented things to do; bungee jumping, overnight moon party jungle

excursions (which I was going to go on according to me last night on a pub crawl with Alicia and Emma but woke up this morning and said yeah right), sky diving,

diving, 4x4 tours, boating tours, reef tours, snorkeling, helicopter rides over the reef, etc, etc, etc.  This place is like Disneyland for travelers between the age

of 18 and 38.  I got into Cairns airport late afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see a guy holding a sign with R. Mcloud on it.  Might have to say that is a first

as we always wonder the day will come when you pass those limo drivers in the airport when your name will be on one.  This wasn't a limo driver though.  It was a

bushwacking hat wearing pure Queenslander guy with messed up teeth, dirt in his finger nails, and jeans that appeared they were washed last in January.  Very friendly

man although who instructed me where the Gilligan's van was.  Gilligan's is an over the top backpackers hotel and resort complete with a nightclub, a gym, a waterfall

going into a man made lagoon, kitchens on every floor, and 24 hour reception.  This place is pretty cool for $30 bucks a night.  I got my 7th night free for booking a

week and the guy at the counter was cool enough to give me a week long locker rental for $20 (normally $7 a night).  Checked into my room (a 6 bed deluxe...meaning we

have a TV and a fridge) to find I had the place to myself.  Balcony looks west and down on the night club.

The van driver I met at the airport gave me some brief info on the streets as we approached Gilligan's.    The main thing that caught my ear was that there was a pub

crawl going on at 9pm out of JB Obriens down the street for $20 and you get 5 drinks at 5 different places.  After showering and resting for a bit, I headed out to

find this infamous pub crawl.  WHAT A BLAST this thing was.  Right away, Snapper, the gentleman who is the business man behind this operation and a few others,

introduced me to Alicia (from Nevada) and Emma (from England) and we became friends within 30 minutes.  We 3 joined forces with some other British people to make the

dance floors and places we went to as fun as possible.  Let me add in here that my first night Cairns, I saw 2 girls take their underwear and public nudity in private

establishments.  You see, on every stop on the pub crawl, Snapper would get on the microphone and do contests.  The first one at the first bar was a combination of

musical chairs and a scavenger hunt.  Boys and girls dancing on the dance floor would need to go and find things in the bar when the music stopped.  Well, one of them

were underwear and Alicia and Emma, my new friends, did not have a problem with this.  Long story short, Alicia won the contest and received a buy one get one free on

some kayaking thing for the next day that she was going to take me on (if I went on the overnight thing to Cape Tribulation).  Later, actually back in Gilligan's night

club, (3rd stop on the crawl).  The game as I remember involved groups of people that had to build a line on the ground of clothing and hats and bar items and none of

them touching could be the same thing.  The next thing I notice is their are people ripping their clothes off and running around the bar ripping other peoples clothing

and belongings from them.  My white mesh hat had no chance and was soon on the ground helping Alicia and Emma's team with there line of objects.  The winning team

barely had clothes on at the end and I have a vague image of young adults holding their 'junk' as their loyalty to the game had resulted in using every piece of

clothing on their body.  I don't know what they won.

Day 1 involved going to the bank to get money out and see if my debit card had came yet.  It hasn't.  Then to the City Center to find a prepay cell phone, find free

Internet in an establishment that sells beer, and to buy postage.  Posted up in an Italian place near the food court that had great Internet and $5 beers.  Had a

couple and worked on my websites and photography.  Back at Gilligan's now for dinner (penne with red sauce) and beer.  About to head out to meet Quenten, a bloke of

Mark Kickbush's whom I met on a golf course in Los Angeles.  You hear that Australians are very nice and I can tell you that is true.  I met Mark for maybe 4 hours and

he has already referred me to people in QLD that I could meet up with.  Tonight is ladies night and after last night watching girls dancing on tables at the Wood Shed,

I am very curious to see what a Thursday night in this northern tropical city is like.  Tomorrow:  start looking for work, find the coast, and find the public lagoon.

Saturday, 26/9/10.  This place is unbelievably cool.  The other night I went out two Ozzies whom live in Cairns and an absolute BLAST.  The night started at Gilligan's.

in our back beer garden and it wasn't very long until the girls said "we are going to take you out dancing and

show you a Cairns night."  It didn't take long to agree.  Long story short I ended up waking up in a taxi cab at 5am talking to a gentleman I thought was one of my

Irish roommates and he was explaining to me that I owe $30 for the cab and if understood what he was saying.  Coming out of my nice taxi slumber, I realized that it is

a Cairns police officer and he was helping me, and the taxi driver out to get me home.  He was very nice and helpful and I thanked him sincerely.  The main thing I

remember from the night was dancing on tables at the Wool Shed.  Hard to explain but this bar is built around the concept of dancing on tables (wooden and rectangle)

to where you can touch the low ceiling so you don't fall over and can be stable.  It is very dark and the music is very LOUD.  Great bar.  I think part of the reason for the lost recollection of the night is due to starting the night off with a box of GOON in our room.  GOON is boxed wine and is the cheapest way to to drink in Australia.  You can buy 5L for $10 to $15.  It makes for a BLAST of a night but the next day can be a bit weary due to the sugar content.  I will easily drink it again.   Went to the public lagoon

the next day to swim and sunbathe on the sand.  Listened to some music and re hydrated.  That evening went with Jeff and Dave to Bella Vista to get $5 pizzas and 2 for

1 pints for $5.  It is amazing sometimes how being in the right place at the right time works itself out.  After beers and starting to feel tight (as Hemingway would

say...we would say buzzed), I noticed a Tusa dive shirt on this woman next to our table.  Long story short these two instructors gave me A TON of information on

getting certified to dive.  I was even given the director of ProDive's cell phone number and a referral from Steve, the guy I met that night.  Prodive has a cook

position open as well that I already have the application for...so calling Alex, the director, today and then going in Monday morning with my app and resume to hit up

Paul (who I emailed with actually back in the states before I came to Oz).  ProDive is the #1 dive company in the world and am excited to learn from and hopefully work

for, the best.  

My new roommates are very cool.  2 Irish, 1 German, and 2 Japanese.  Everyone is very nice and the Irish guys and I have clicked so well that I could see myself

traveling with them at the end of October when they head south in Dave's 4x4.  Jeff works at the Hilton in housekeeping and Dave is a painter.  Their accents are very

thick and it feels like I am rooming with the Boondock Saints.  Tania, who dates Dave, is around here and there and is a very cool Australian from New South Wales.

She offered to send an email for me to the owner for Deep Sea Diving Tours.  I met her for like an hour and she was already willing to refer me to someone which was so

appreciated and so kind of her.  There are no Americans here.  None.  I would say for most people with holiday making travelers/workers I come across over here the

English come in #1, then Germans #2, and then Canadians and Australians tied for 3rd.  In two cities and like 9 nights out.  I have met 1 American who was doing the

same thing I am doing.  I wish more Americans knew about this holiday work visa and/or more Americans would get out in the world more.  I just feel bad as there is so

much cool shit to see that isn't in our little West Coast backyard.  If any of you want info on this visa and or this process of doing a career break or gap year or

two let me know as I would love for people to experience the things/people/places of the world and to broaden their horizons :)

Getting close to finding work.  10 resumes dropped and a couple of call backs and a face to face on Thursday.  Keeping fingers crossed.  Finding work I wouldn't say is

any harder than any other city in the world except for the fact that there are thousands of backpackers just like me traveling.  On the flip/positive side, the fact

that I speak clear and crisp English, have an American accent, and have a positive/outgoing/likeable personality (so the English receptionist at my old hostel in

Brisbane so kindly complimented), it has been easier to be received when approaching establishments.  The RSA (liquor license) to serve in Queensland was cake as it

took about 30 minutes online and cost about $70.  I didn't get the dive boat hostie job I wanted but I am excited that I got a September discount special with Deep Sea

Divers Den to get my 5 day certification for open water.  The first two days are in the classroom and the last 3 are overnight on a large vessel on the Outer Reef of

the GBR.  10 dives in all while out to sea including a night dive with sharks!  Should be amazing I am so excited for this as I have always had a fascination with

diving in pools growing up.  After the course is over I may have the opportunity to volunteer on one of their boats as well as a hostie for 5 days where all dives and

food and accommodation is provided.  Stoked for the future of diving with Ryan McLeod and perhaps photography?  Definitely not out of the question...

Cairns is the most explosive small town I have ever been to.  It is a bit over 140,000 in population yet it feels smaller than the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.  I

can walk from one side of the city to the other in 15 minutes basically.  There is 1 post office, 1 grocery store, 1 mall, 1 public lagoon, 1 marina area, and only 1

GILLIGAN'S.  Gilligan's never sleeps.  Picture a backpackers resort with a beer garden, a night club, an outdoor pool with a waterfall and sand to lay out in, 5

stories like a hotel, communal kitchens/fridges/stoves on every floor, and 600+ people from all around the world drinking beer specials every night.  Probably one of

the coolest and most efficient hostels I have ever stayed in.  Last few nights been hanging out with the Irish, Torsten (cool German guy in our room), and Deb and

Katie.  Deb is a cool chick from the UK and Katie is a very rad hippie from Calgary.  They are heading south in a campervan for 30 days and are looking to pick up 2

more people to split the cost.  I would join them but I have more of Cairns to see before the wet season hits.  Just now getting my feet on the ground and wet and

don't not ready to pick up and move just yet.  Cairns has a lot more for Ryan McLeod...

Australia is expensive.  For example, going to the movies will cost you $19 dollars.  A pack of cigarettes will run you from $12 to $30 depending on the quality of

tobacco you would like to torch into your lungs.  Rolling smokes on your own is the way to go to save money.  A pint of beer is usually always $7 to $8 dollars.  A

case of beer or 30 pack will be anywhere from $30 to $50 dollars depending on domestic and imports.  Let go of my arm and my shoulder Queensland I don't even have a

source of income yet to pay for GOON!  I get $5 pints at Gilligan's due to staying there and trust me that is an attractive price.  I just passed through

Woolworths today to by peanut butter and jelly ingredients and noticed beach towels were over $20 and they did not look big and thick.  Just different, but worth it.

The mood, culture, way of life, and scenery is all laid back and chill and their is always a no-rush feeling in the air that I can't seem to put my finger on it just

yet.  I have heard that Sydney (from Katie and Deb) is the exact opposite of here.  They say there is no work to find, clubs you can't get into, people are in a hurry

like Paris, NYC, and LA, and they LOVED Cairns so much already in two nights as it is just DIFFERENT than the bigger cities to the south.  This is not keeping me from

Sydney as the support I have had thanks to all of you friends and family with regard to contacts and connections over here has been AMAZING.  Thank you all again who

have extended vouches I appreciate it so much.

Alright, gotta end the first Cairns segment so I can finalize this travel blog and get it ready to email out to everyone.  Thank you all for the support I

miss you all and hope everyone is safe and sound.  Cheers for now and lots more to come.  RCM

Brisbane

The days are LONG.  It is so weird how long these first two days have gone.  And I have a year here?  Awesome and unbelievable.  Went on a run yesterday morning down

to the South Bank and checked out the river, the cityscape, and the shops and boardwalk.  Did some meditation by the public pool lake thingy by the lifeguards.  The

water was crisp and cold and was very refreshing to splash on my hot and sweaty head from the run.  On the way home I stumbled upon a Peach and Tranquility Festival in

the a park.  Roamed the vendors and almost walked in front of the small stage where the MC was opening up the event.  Headphones and exercise in a new city can really

transcend your mind as I almost walked right between a speaker and an audience and didn't have any clue.

That night was the most fun yet.  The girls in 217 showed up late afternoon and it didn't take long for Paul and I to get jugs (beer) and go up to their room to harass

them (nicely).  This group in this room is so funny; 1 English guy named Toby, an English girl named Fiona, a German girl named Imke (whom I call

Aetna because she calls me Brian Brown; her friend she knew during her host family time of 10 months in Ohio), and 3 other German girls (Sandra, Lara, and Webe).  They all are part of the same

gap year program and have never met but you were think by the way the automatically interact that they have been friends for years.  Imke and I hit it off extremely

well.  I don't think a minute goes by when we are conversing that we are not laughing.  Same sarcastic and matter of fact humor, we just rock the conversation nicely

together with many quips and anecdotes.  Probably the funniest one was at happy hour over Strongbow last night where she was talking about a volcano and her English

vocab book hit like a light bulb and she remembered the word LAVA.  Lol it was the funniest thing I have ever seen; an ESL cute German girl with her English grammar

and vocab education coming on like a lamp in her head.  Imke is an outstanding young woman; smart, educated, funny, kind, and care-free.

We had an OUTSTANDING time

over the course of 4 nights.  I hope to see her again somewhere on this globe.  I have a feeling I will.

Coffee here is way different than in the states.  In a cafe right now and ordered a "short black" coffee for $2.70 and got probably two ounces of frothy black tar

looking liquid.  VERY STRONG the coffee is down here.  No refills either or waitresses running around filling people's mugs like you would see at a Denny's in the

States.  Oh yeah, and the coffee is served in a bar glass that we would usually drink a gin and tonic out of.  Tasty though but I think next time I will try the tea.

Alcohol is VERY different.  First of all, happy hour is truly an hour.  1 hour.  At my hostel it ran from 5pm to 6pm and they let me tell you that due to it only being

an hour, people plan their day around it.  The other reason for planning their day around it is because alcohol is fairly expensive in Queensland.  The first pint of

beer I ordered was $8 (at my hostel).  A jug (2.5 large pints basically), which would be a pitcher in the States, is $14.  Happy hour prices go from $14 to $11 for a

jug.  The cool thing though at my hostel was that everyday of the week they had specials.  For example, one night was $4 Strongbow bottles, another night was $5

dollar Jaeger Bombs from 9pm to 10pm.  The thing I have initially noticed about Australia is that because everyone loves to drink and have a good time, the

culture/government has implemented certain rules and restrictions so that every citizen doesn't black out and become poor.  The tour guide at the XXXX Brewery told me

that there was a bar that did drink tickets and it went out of business very fast because no one would go there unless they did the deal they initially offered (twas

like 5 drinks for $20 dollars or something stupid like that).

The Fourex (XXXX) brewery was okay.  Some videos at the start followed by a cheesy rotating seat watching wax statues talk about the start of XXXX.  XXXX competes

largely with VB (Victoria Bitter) which is made in Victoria.  Fourex is the very proud Queensland beer (the XXXX Gold and XXXX Bitter are their flagship).  The 2nd

half of the tour was simply watching a bottle factory at work but was very cool to see thousands of kegs stacked up as the forklift drivers moved them this way and

that.  The labelers were very cool too.  At the end we all received 4 sample schooners for the ticket price of $22 which was a good deal.

That day we (Toby, Imke, Fiona, and Lara) all went into the city and saw the Queensland Museum.  Free entry to all the Australian museums is great and I feel has

something to do with it being a Commonwealth Country.  Favorite part of the museum was the Burke and Wills exhibit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition.  It told the story of the explorers that headed north up the gut of Queensland to explore and map out the

middle of the state.  They did perish but were renowned as national heroes similar to Lewis and Clark.

I have forgotten how international travel can be so delightfully funny, entertaining, and involving a ton of care free laughter.  For one, sitting around on picnic



lick of words from the British.  The Australian confuses everyone with his accent and slang.  The Germans speak in and out of German so you don't know what or who they

are talking about, especially when they start laughing hysterically and you want to laugh with them but have no idea what is funny.  It reminds me of Indiana Jones and

the Last Crusade towards the end when the German says "the Americana, the captain de fieba!" (brother you will appreciate this).  Everyone understands me due to the

American accent being so clean and crisp grammar and vocab-wise.

On the final night, the girls, Paul, and I all jumped into the cold outdoor swimming pool (had been raining the last 2 days) as a tradition for people who stay at BBH.

 Everyone was in their underwear and no one thought twice about it.  After that we all (3 girls and 2 guys) showered in the girls outside bathroom (clothed you

perverts).  Tons of laughter and pictures and funny faces and poses and for a moment no one even remembered that we were a combined tens of thousands miles away from

our homes around this very small earth.  Funny how 5 strangers from 4 different countries can come together in 96 hours of knowing each other and have so much fun; not

judging, not blaming, not worrying about how they seem or appear to others...simply trying to nullify the loneliness that can come with traveling in far off lands solo

with no shoulders to rest their head on.  It was a great time and it was only my 5th night in this country they call Australia and this very interesting state they

call Queensland...very excited to get to Cairns.

Flight Down Under 9.17.10

Well, here I am.  Sitting drinking my first Australian beer in the West End of Brisbane, QLD at a place called Archive.  Couldn't tell you one person's name around me as I watch across the street from my sidewalk adjacent outdoor patio a group of young hipsters in weird clothing setting up different sets and props with a blue couch and red different color Asian sun umbrellas.  They are all laughing and seem to don't have much a care in the world.  Asked for a hoppy beer with a smooth finish and that is exactly what I got.  More on beer later.

So the flight was awesome.  After a nail biting wait in the ticketing area of LAX, finally on the second group my name was called to come forward to retrieve thy boarding pass and very quickly check my very large and heavy backpack.  Met some great middle ages people while waiting for this auction-like feeling of tickets and that feeling of "who is going to make it who has to dwindle off into Los Angeles to buy a hotel room and try again tomorrow."  Before arriving to Australia I could tell I liked the men and women.  This came from the people I met while waiting to get on the flight and also the flight attendants.  You know how on flights in the USA sometimes you get that feeling that "oh shit this stewardess is having a bad day", or "well she is a real bitch isn't she?"  Perhaps you get that feeling that they are only doing what they need to do and don't want to go any extra miles?  Well, I can tell you, that the service on V Australia, and I would assume all Australian service on an airplane, is the EXACT OPPOSITE.  The best way I can explain it, after years of working in hospitality/weddings/catering/etc, is that they all seemed to be working the 320 passengers as if a very large, end of the flight, tip/gratuity was involved at the end of the flight.  So eager to help, always smiling, and, if for some small reason they can't help you with your request and it is out of their hands, their apology is SINCERE.  More on the people later.

Flight surprisingly went fast.  Please quickly note that the 16th of September never did exist for Ryan McLeod and 319 other passengers as we took off late on the 15th and landed in the morning of the 17th.  Watched some inflight entertainment for awhile which flowed into a hot and delicious pulled beef meal with mixed veggies and mashed potatoes.  The fly time is 13 hours on the new ER-300 (extended range) model of Boeing's 777 series.  I waited until about 3 or 4 hours in to take my bar of Xanex...........WOKE UP to the unparalleled service mentioned above awake and active and blasting hot eggs and coffee to everyone in all classes of the plane.  My first thought was "Do these people ever quit?  Where did they sleep? Um, they just served 320 hot dinner meals and now they are serving 320 more for breakfast?"  It was a great wake up to go back to my movie and have some hot tea and a nice meal.  I did actually find out where they sleep (these are things that go through my head) as I was using the lavatory before landing.  There was a door in between the back row of the plane and the bathrooms that said "CREW ONLY MAX OCC. 8"  What blew me away is initially reading this door I thought it was a god damn storage closet!  After blinking a couple of times at it and the size of it I couldn't believe they could fit 8 adults in there...it has to go below deck.  It has to.  The point I guess I am trying to make here; is that while waking up 12 hours into an overnight flight and looking around to hair tossed and drooling people who maybe slept some...there was the dolled up gorgeous and cordial Virgin Australia team looking exactly the same and just as on point as they were when we had dinner.  V Australia = Two Thumbs Up.