Rainbow Beach

YOU GOTTA LOVE SLEEPY BEACH TOWNS.  I find myself in Rainbow Beach, Queensland, Australia.  Population is around 1000 people and around 18 surfboards.  I am stranded due to the disaster flooding to the north and south of me so I couldn't continue north with the Austrian girls Steph & Stef (sailing the Whitsunday Islands), can't go south to (Byron Bay), so I have become a part of Rainbow Beach.  I don't even know how long I have been here or what days I was on Fraser Island.  I don't know when I am leaving.  My days look like this:  wake up, go surfing, have lunch, go surfing, start drinking beer and write, dinner, more writing or live music (Nathan Kaye - more on him later), and then sleep.  Repeat for about a week.  The hostel is empty.  I am the only one in my 7 bed dorm room (which is great as I am still on a famile so no charge for accommodation).

I FEEL TERRIBLE FOR THE FLOOD VICTIMS IN QUEENSLAND AND MY HEART GOES OUT TO EVERYONE AFFECTED.  I glanced at the news the other night and saw Brisbane and just shook my head and walked away.  So not cool.  I feel blessed to be in a safe area.
 I can tell the peak of it is over as my feet don't get wet when I walk to my room in sandals anymore.  It is getting nicer and nicer here.  But then you think the worst has passed and then you get told by reception that a cyclone might be headed to towards Cairns (far from me).  I am looking for my window to get to Byron Bay and I can feel it will be any day now.  Two Greyhound buses ACTUALLY came into Rainbow Beach.  For awhile people were worried that alcohol and gasoline was going to run out in this town and the look on the face of the local that told me this was VERY CONCERNING.  Reminds me of the cyclone handbook I had to read for my job training at the Hilton in Cairns where #2 responsibility for me was to MAKE SURE THE BAR IS FULLY STOCKED.  Queenslanders love their piss.

I WAS TAUGHT HOW TO SURF BY A LEATHERY TAN MAN NAMED GAS.  Once I realized I could be in Rainbow Beach for a week, I called right away to the only surf shop in town and signed up for a morning lesson.  It was stormy that day but we went out anyway.  I was the only one in the surf lesson group.  We were the only ones in the ocean.  When I say sleepy beach town I mean sleepy beach town.  I put smiles on Gas's face because within an hour I was paddling my own waves.  He said I was the fastest learner he had ever instructed in 25 years.  I don't know about that but I am proud to say we started the lesson around 10am and at 10:42 Gas took a picture of my paddling and riding my first wave.  Mind you we are not on huge waves but enough to leave a mark (as I feel my left temple right now the small scratch bruise from the board hitting me in the head this morning).  By the way, Gas, a f'ing cool ass dude with over 30 years of surfing experience, has a tattoo on his back of two cobra snakes twisted up and fighting each other.  Gas.  Gas and I have become friends as he leaves a surf board out around back of the shop for me to use whenever I want and in turn I found him 6 girls to drive to Noosa (so they could catch the Greyhound to Brisbane) for $80 a head.  The hostel was charging $100 a head.  Keep in mind it is only like around an hour to get to Noosa.  $100!  People are dying in floods and you are charging backpackers $100 to go an hour down the beach?  But, it does take a lot of 4WD and time and gas, etc.  Good ol' Queensland always trying to make a buck and capitalize on unfortunate turn of events.

NATHAN KAYE IS AN INCREDIBLY TALENTED MUSICIAN from Byron Bay, Australia.  Very independent with a couple of albums and some t-shirts for sale, he is stuck in Rainbow beach like everyone else and I am about to see him for the 4th time in a week.  He is called a music festival in a human's body (or something like that).  Album can be bought here:  Lucky Man  He didge-boxes (beat boxing in a didgeridoo), plays the slide and normal guitar, sings, beatboxes, and also has foot pedals for bass and snare.  Last night I was allowed to play the bongos with him which felt great to play drums (been since April I think with my cousin and Justin in Echo Park, CA, drinking Charles Shaw all day on the front porch :)) again and with such an amazing musician.  He is the best beat boxer I have ever seen in my life (Bob Jones in Redmond is right their at second).  On the first night at the end of his show he had people yell out 3 random songs for him to make a beat box medley of.  They were Kings of Leon Hearts on Fire, Thriller, and Ice Ice Baby.  HE MURDERED IT.  Absolutely nailed it.  Singing and doing the beats and walking around the crowd.  It was unbelievably awesome.  Funny how getting stuck somewhere on this world will allow you to meet and find some of the most amazing people on the planet.  I told Nathan that when he goes to Los Angeles in February that I will find him a house to play a private show at (thinking Jen's in Hollywood or Greenman's in Long Beach).  He was so thankful.  He said "see that is one of the things I love about Americans, they tell you they will make it happen, and they will actually make it happen...an Aussie will tell you 'oh yeah mate will sortya out righto mate' and they end up getting pissed drunk and it never happens."

I WAS SO THANKFUL TO BE ABLE TO WATCH THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP at a reasonable hour (11:30am) with my own TV and sound.  The only hotel in town has a bar and had ESPN and after talking to the general manager the day before, I was allowed to have my little 'area' to drink beer and watch the Ducks go for gold.  A man came up to me in the first quarter who had one of those neck hole thingies that he has to cover so he can talk like a robot (smoker gone bad) and asked a question.  He asked me why there were more black players on the teams of the football game than white players?  Ryan's response:  "because THOSE players are fast as shit," it doesn't matter what color they are.  Whoever is the fastest, most agile, quick, etc plays I told him.  I then kind of briefly told him that the muscle twitch fibers in the African rooted Americans are tighter and denser than Anglo Saxon European rooted Americans (read something on this a long time ago) due to their geographical and genealogical evolution.  Similar to Asians being short due to their diets?  Anyway, interesting question at an interesting time on this globe.  Then, 3rd quarter, another Australian older man came up to me (breathed normally) and asked how they shoot the laser beam across the field to show the yellow line (for the first down).  "Is there a guy that has to stand/kneel down to shoot the laser beam across the grass?" he says to me.  LOL, oh you Baby Boomers need to get out more!  I explained to him that that it was first down marker and was done by ESPN with computers and superimposed onto the television screen.  He asks again "so that and then there is one guy still down there to tell them where to put the line?"  "No, that is the chain crew, the laser is just done by ESPN" I say to him.  The conversation was like throwing a ball against a brick wall.  I don't know if he ever understood my explanation.  Good ol' Rainbow Beach, Australia.

I BECAME A PART OF RAINBOW BEACH IN THE ?? AMOUNT OF DAYS I WAS THERE (over 2 weeks).  I became on a first name basis with everyone in town; the barmen at the Rainbow Beach Hotel Pub, the PeterPans travel agents (who allowed me to use the internet free whenever I wanted), the waitresses at Arco where I would bring my own beer and do my writing and photography, and the staff at Dingos, the backpacker resort I stayed at.  On the last weekend I did photography for Kate (4 years in Rainbow working at Peterpans Adventure Travel), for her going away party.  The thankfulness in her eyes was so sincere when I told her I would do it she put her hands to her heart and couldn't believe I offered.  It felt great to shoot an event and the pictures came out great of her and her friends.  Couple of days later at around noon (decided to get up early that day) I got a massive pounding dat da da dat dat knock on my door (room 8).  It was Gas.  He said "Ryan, I am going to get a beer and fill the esky (cooler), the surfboards are loaded in the 4x4, we are going to Double Island Point (in Endless Summer 2) mate, all you need is board shorts, your rashie (tight shirt you wear while surfing to prevent board rash), and your camera, 5 minutes be out front).  I was out front in 4.  Double Island Point was unbelievable.  Something out of a novel.  Took around 45 minutes on 4x4 only tracks to get to and you open up into this secluded bay with a lagoon and two huge heads jetting out on each side over the ocean.  This spot was surfed in Endless Summer 2.  We had some beers and made some veggie wraps and surfed some sets.  It was epic proportions.  On the way home we went to Freshwater lake and washed off.  No one their and the mirror of the lake rippled by our slow entrance as we dove down and took pictures and video with our waterproof cameras.  I was so thankful he came and got me.  I bought all the Inner Circle Rum and Cokes that night.  The final night in Rainbow I had a Kangaroo BBQ with Gas at the Surf Shack and drank more Inner Circle Rum and just TALKED; religion, spirituality, forgiving criminals who hurt you or your family, women, Queensland vs. New South Wales.  At the end of the night he gave me a book called "The Disappearance of the Universe."  He said he has been waiting to give it away ($40 dollar book) to someone but no one ever 'got it' and "after knowing you for two weeks and talking tonight, I know that this needs to go with you."  My gift to him is to teach him how to do a blog and google adsense program so that he can write off his expenses on his upcoming travels.  I know that I will see him again somewhere on this globe.  Can't tell you where or when, but I know I will.  Great human being Gas is.  Oh yeah, we fed his pet python 'Marylin' a guinea pig, a rat, and two mice on the last night two.  She was hungry apparently.  Getting stuck in Rainbow Beach was a blessing disguise.  Great adventure.  RCM

Fraser Island

2 AUSTRIAN WOMEN, 3 DUTCH MEN, 1 SWISS MAN, A SCOTTISH GIRL, AND ME are grouped together in a 4x4 Ute that fits 5 in the back on benches (like a military vehicle) and 3 in the front seats.  The briefing was long and detailed.  Merv was the man who gave us the 2pm briefing and countless times said "I am not here to tell you guys what to do BUT..."  There were so many dangers with this Fraser Island 3 day 2 night camping/safari beach tour that is laughable.  "True story" Merv would keep telling us about people being eaten by tiger sharks, cars rolling and crushing humans, girls being airlifted by helicopter, drownings, and a baby that was eaten by a dingo.  And we are going there and paid $ for this again why?  LOL.  Why, because it led to 3 of the funniest and most interesting/amazing days of my travels yet.

YOUR FOOD AND GAS IS PROVIDED BUT YOU BUY YOUR OWN ALCOHOL.  The cooler for the alcohol was like a mini coffin but more square.  It is the biggest cooler I have ever seen.  Over here they are called an 'ESKY' (which is the brand name and has to do with Eskimos or something I don't know).  Anyway, you pack all your gear in to the 4x4 and cargo net it down.  The driver can't see out of the rear view mirror.  The people in the back feel like sardines.  Morale is high and everyone is excited and we head out for the beach spot where the barges pick us up to transport to Fraser Island.  Emmy drove first because she was from Scotland and is used to driving normal roads on the left side of the road.  It is 10am.  I already want to drink beer but can't because the esky is the first thing packed and has a ton of gear on top of it.  Damn it.  The barge takes like 15 minutes to get you on the island.  The huge steel forward hull lowers and the cars that drove in and packed tight drive right out on to the water and sand of the beach.  Here we go.  For those of you that have driven on the beach before, especially with a mission in mind (3 day camping trip), know that there is something special about rallying down the sand with the ocean on your side and caravan with a team.  Little things like communicating between the cars for when to go to 4 wheel drive or 2 wheel drive (first car puts their arm out the window and flashes 4 fingers - which is then passed by car 2, to car 3, etc, etc).  2 fingers was for 2WD.  Flashing your lights means you are in trouble.  Blinkers tell the pack which side of things we are going to pass on as you are not the only thing that moves out there.  You have also study the map and tide chart you were given so that you drive during safe driving times.  You would not believe the pictures I saw on the "Rock Wall" in the Rainbow Beach Hotel that is put up by the Rainbow Beach towing company.  Trucks and utes, and SUVs so F'd over it is unbelievable.  Some of them were so engulfed and sunken into sand and water than you could see just the roof.  Some were against rocks and mangled and crushed it looked like they went through a spin cycle in a washing machine for motor vehicles.  You are concerned about this and just hope the weather will be good and it won't be stormy or wet as that ADDS a ton of water and force to the creeks, washouts, and streams you have to drive through when getting to your Fraser Island destinations.

IT RAINED AND SURGED WET FOR 2 OF THE 3 DAYS WE WERE ON THAT FORSAKEN ISLAND.  It was like camping at Beverly Beach in Oregon, USA in tents with bad weather times 10 (Mom, you would not have been a happy camper lol).  You can't just pack up and leave either.  Your team, or group (we were Group B and were obviously the most fun and dominant group! - love and miss you guys!), has to come together and survive.  My dad just said to me on Skype "it sounds like Survivor" haha, yes Dad, it was, but without the voting off (although I could tell some group members in other groups would love to have implemented a voting off rule haha).  At your campsite:  No showers.  No running water.  No electricity.  No toilet facilities. No structures for cover.  No pillows.  No sleeping pads.  No campfires.  No picnic benches.  No chairs.  Just a few handfuls of international travelers joining together to accomplish a first few initial tasks; putting up your tents on the sand behind the dune to keep wind out while keeping under the tarp rain cover (some people failed at this and slept in the front seats of the 4x4s), and making dinner.  It was so funny the instructions for the menu for our prepacked food for 3 days was written like it was to be read by a 10 year old learning to cook for the first time.  "Remove cheese from package and place on bread slice"..."Remove corned beef from package and put in between cheese and bread"..."put another slice of bread on the beef and cheese"..."put in mouth, chew" - just kidding on the last part but yes the instructions for making a sandwich could have been understood by a kindergartner at snack time.

EVERY MEAL YOU HAVE HAS SAND IN IT.  Every meal we cooked seemed to also have heaps and heaps of water raining on our very small tarped area for cover.  The type of rain that creates huge runoff puddles on the ground around where you are.  Oh what an experience lol Quang Do for cranking this one up because it did was set the laughter meter to a 9 for the entire trip.  The game was a tin cup filled 1 third of the way up with boxed wine, premixed rum and coke, or beer (or sometimes all 3 - thank you Quang Do) with a full deck of playing cards set on top of the cup.  It was passed around the circle and you get one breath to blow off a bit of the cards.  Whoever messes up (not blowing off at least one card or blowing off the whole thing or using two breaths), or is left with the last card drinks the contents in the cup.  I cried a couple of times I was laughing so hard as I we abused this young innocent Swedish girl who didn't get the game well at first and Quang Do kept setting her up for failure.  Oh man it was good times.  Great times.

THE NEXT DAY YOU ARE UP TO BEAT THE TIDES TO GET TO A SHIPWRECK, ELI CREEK, AND INDIAN HEAD.  We lucked out a bit as it seemed to pour rain when we were at camp, cooking and what not, but would not rain when we went out to explore the island.  Eli Creek was a fresh water creek that flooded into the ocean and was no more than knee deep most of the time.  It was neat as we left our bag at the mouth of it and hiked up it and then "crocodile style" swam or cruised in the current down it towards the ocean.  So cold, but so nice.  It was like a lazy river.  Lots of splashing and antics by Group B followed by some bump/set/spike volleyball at the end of the creek on the mouth by the beach.  The shipwreck was fascinating as it is just right there on the beach in the shallow end and you can walk right up to it to take pictures.  Remember the entire island is a World Heritage National Park so everything is protected and historic.  Indian Head was magnificent.  It was named by Cook around 1770 when he was exploring the coast.  A massive bluff jetting out over the shoreline I remember standing there looking left and seeing an endless beach and looking right and seeing another.  Took some good pictures on the tip with only the Pacific Ocean behind me stayed away from the edge as the cliff drop was pretty hefty and there are no ropes or guide rails to keep people from falling off.

THE SECOND NIGHT WAS FILLED WITH COMMUNAL SINGING AND LAUGHTER.  Joel, one of our 2 guides for all 5 vehicles, played guitar into the night with songs like Take Me Home Country Roads and Oasis's Wonderwall.  By this point I have become really good friends and close with a girl named Stephanie from Austria (in my group).  We have the same sense of humor and get along great and it was fun to hang with her and party through the night.  After dinner, drinking games (moved to Asshole the second night where I helped explain the game to everyone the game and also the difference of singles on singles and doubles on doubles, etc), and music, I walked out to the beach with Steph and we just laid there and watched the arsenal of stars and planets in the sky invade our eyes.  We may have kissed and rolled around on the sand under the blanket of the cosmos as well ;)  It wasn't raining at this point.  It was warm.  It was clear.  It was awesome.  The final day was Lake Mackenzie, one of the purest/clearest/freshest (freshest?) freshwater lakes in the world.  It is in the middle of Fraser Island and has a sandy beach surrounding it with tropical foliage surrounding the beach.  It is like something out of a novel.  Apparently you can clean jewelry with the sand it is so fine and yes, you can, drink the water in the lake as you swim.  I did.  The 4x4 track to get to this marvel was something you have to experience.  While it can be a difficult run for a 4x4 normally (we broke and spring and burned a hole in our radiator which we found out when we returned our vehicle), the weather in the past few days made it into some awesome off-roading.  Huge puddles and bogs...Joel, the guide, who has been doing these tours for years said it was the worst he had ever seen it.  You aren't in Kansas anymore when you find yourself in a 4x4 ute in the middle of a 50 mile long island in the Pacific Ocean knee to knee knocking with 4 European men who haven't showered in 3 days.  Not to mention the crazy Austrian girl (jk Steph LUV U! :)) who doesn't seem to care as your heads are hitting your knees and the roof of the vehicle as she MASHES it 15km through some extremely technical 4x4 roadway in what feels like a jungle.  It was an incredible experience/adventure to say the least.  RCM

Surfers Paradise

SO THE THREE MONTHS OF 50 TO 70 HOUR WORK WEEKS ENDS and you find yourself leaving normality to a city 1000 miles away for New Years Eve 2010.  This working holiday visa that I posses is now in full effect as I have 'worked' and now am going to 'holiday.'  I saved money to a point where I left Cairns with more money then when I landed in Brisbane 90 days ago.  You are scared financially though as things you buy here are twice as much as they would be at home.  I actually have forgotten what normal prices for things are.  I guess I am economically acclimating?  Is a bottle of water for $3.50 normal?  Is 2 fifths of Smirnoff vodka really on special for $60?  Is two games of bowling $28?  It doesn't matter though because you are doing things that most people read about in magazines.  You cope and find ways to save costs and shave excessive spending so you can survive and feel comfortable with your travels.

SURFERS PARADISE WAS THE DESTINATION FOR NEW YEARS EVE 2010.  The best way I can describe this city is Miami's South Beach combined with the touristy-niceness of Cancun Mexico type resorts/hotels in and on an area as large as and as expensive as Orange County's coast line in California.  It is a wannabe Las Vegas but more like a richer San Diego.  A pint of vodka was $24.  I only saw a couple of surfers with boards walking to the beach to hit the waves.  It wasn't as crowded as San Diego on a Memorial Day or Labor Day but was close.  Oh how the old nostalgic cities people talk and write about can become over commercialized through the years.  Still very fun though.  The group that Imke, my good German friend I had met when I first landed in Brisbane, met were awesome.  Omar, Aanus, Melissa, Lelit, Ruby and us had an exceptional time.  Tequila and Jaeger (thank you again Kiwis for the duty free purchase and serving us SHOTS! SHOTS! shot SHOTS SHOTS!) were a normal thing before going out dancing and everyone had smiles on their faces.  "For the Boys!" was common phrase that I can explain to you at another time.  We all got after it on New Years and rather than spending $50 to enter a club we just decided to make drinks in water bottles and pack backpacks and rally out of Surfers to a beach area to the north.  The fireworks were amazing and my New Years kiss was right on time :)  The next day went to a water park to hydrate and chill out.  I already miss out group and can't wait to see them in Auckland in August when my best friend and I head there to get bar work before the Rugby World Cup gets there in September.  Foora Boys!

YOU ARE BACK ON THE ROAD WITH NO DESTINATION when you leave your 'working life' on this visa.  Imke is headed to Sydney with a German girl she met, the Kiwis you just partied with are headed to Brisbane for a few nights; everyone is checking out of the city.  Where do you go?  You have a general idea of places you want to go but remember you are a traveler, not a tourist.  You don't have set dates on where and what you are going to do.  You don't use travel agents/bookers for booking your travels, you use them simply for information and benchmarking costs.  You simply find your way as it comes.  I found my next destination a day before I left Surfers on the internet and decided to call Dingos in Rainbow Beach to ask if I could do a famile trip (we have their brochure and book for them in Cairns).  They said when will you be here and I said "tomorrow??" and so there it was.  Bus station.  5 hour bus ticket north.  Hugs goodbye to your friends of 5 nights.  On to Fraser Island and a city called Rainbow Beach and you have know idea what to expect.  Right now as I type this, I am leaving in the morning for a 3 day 2 night beach camping safari with 7 other people in the 4x4 that I have never met out to the some of the most pristine and fresh water lakes and gorgeous scenery one can ever see on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.  The largest sandy island in the world.  Fraser Island.  While the island is amazing, it is also dangerous with numerous drownings, cars being towed out of quicksand/ocean, and helicopter airlifts every year.  This ought to be a good one.  Once again, GO TIME. RCM