Hello,
I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving dinner. Mine turned out wonderful.
All the waiting around in airlie beach and boat switching was well worth it. I ended up on a boat called Iluka, and normally it takes 16 passengers--we had six people plus three crew. That meant i got my own room (something that should have cost me another two hundred dollars! man, the free stuff just kept coming).
I few nights before i met a cool girl from the UK, helen, and found out that she was also going to be on Iluka. it was a good thing for both of us because sometimes its weird when you're the only non-couple. the other people were: an american couple studying in australia, sandra and john; and an english/australian couple, marie and jerry. the crew was: jess, the hostess/chef; cat, the deckwoman; and bryan, the coolest cap'n on the sea. (my apologies for any names incorrectly spelled).
The weather wasn't the greatest on the first day but it made for some interesting boating--so much rocking. we used only the motor so we could sail down wind the next two days. the boat brought us to whitehaven beach, which ranks as one of the coolest beaches i've ever seen. it was 100% silica; it made it incredibly white and had a quicksand feel to it. since the weather wasn't the best, we had the massive beach to ourselves. that night we had great food and great conversations about everything. trying to sleep was extremely difficult. i have never tried to sleep in such heat ever in my life. i slept on the single bed that was right next to two portholes and all i could think about was when the next breeze was going to bring me a brief moment of happy cool air. the good thing is that with all of the time awake, i got to think a lot about how cool it was to be sleeping on a sailboat the day before thanksgiving.
The next morning everyone was so honest about having a craps night sleep but we all laughed about it. the day was half beautiful sun / half clouds and showers, but i was happy to take it. we suited up in the stinger suits and went for some snorkeling. We used the sails for the first time and its the greatest experience when they turn off the motor and all you can hear is the wind pushing you along. For thanksgiving dinner we had a wickedly good (and incredibly hot hot) chicken curry.
that night i was not going back to the boiler room of doom and decided to sleep out on the top of the boat. there were some mean looking clouds coming but i thought either be awake and hot or awake and wet...awake and wet seemed the better option. the clouds scared everyone else back to their rooms so i was left solo. i couldn't be more happier with my choice and i think sleeping there was one of the highlights of australia. mean cloud after mean cloud would make its way over the boat and slowly disappear. that opened the sky to stars (some shooting), bright light of the full moon, and an amazing moonset over the water. the wind was crazily fast but where i placed my sleep mat i could only feel a nice cooling breeze (pjs and a t-shirt was all i needed). sometime after three and before four it started pouring down rain--but that was alright because i had prepared everything in case it would happen. a few drops later i was in the boat on a sofa/bench and finished off the nights sleep nice and dry.
for the last day we did some snorkeling at a place where the fish have been used to people coming around. everytime we swam in one area a big group of bluish-silver fish would come and form a school around you. anywhere you went, they would come along. also, there were some smaller dark striped ones that would come right up to your mask and stare right back at you (it was checking out the reflection). i had to keep coming up to empty my mask because i couldn't stop laughing at them.
now, i'm back on land and its hard to shake off the sea legs. i had to brace myself in the shower whenever i closed my eyes because it was tough to stand. tonight we are going to a bar with everyone from the boat (expcept for the american couple. they're on their way to hervey bay).
have a good day, and take out the christmas tunes (its officially christmas music time!)
your friend
chad
Friday, November 26, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Invasion of the schoolies
Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving holiday. i guess i've only been away from home for thanksgiving once when i did the semester in florence. Adrianna and i had lasagna with eggs in it. I'm not sure what thanksgiving dinner will be this time.
my whitsunday boat ride has been delayed two days. originally i wanted to go on monday, but they said that the boat i wanted had changed its departure date to tuesday. when i checked in on monday the lady at the desk said that the boat actually left earlier that day. it was really confusing but in the end: i leave on wednesday now, but on a better boat and they gave me a free stinger suit rental, a free bus pickup, and a free underwater one-time use camera (about 70 dollars of free stuff! sweet). it should make for a really cool three days. it means thanksgiving will be spent on a sailboat somewhere in the whitsundays islands, with a bbq on the back, listening to chill music, and drinking some semi-nice wine.
the bad part is that i am going to have to skip out on fraser island. i could squeeze it in, but only if i arrive at brisbane at 6am to fly to tokyo 4 hours later. thats really cutting it close, and its not relaxed at all. sometimes crap happens, but as long as i'm having a good time with the things i do end up doing, i can't really ask for anything more.
the yha at airlie beach where i've been staying has been really laid back and relaxed, which is completely opposite of airlie beach as a whole. i guess every year the high school graduates have a few weeks of partying to celebrate finishing school--its pretty comparable to the u.s.'s spring break (except all of these people are 17 and 18 years old and they call them schoolies). it seems my time here happened to fall on the first week of partying. come sunset, the streets are filled with belligerent teens. i think its pretty funny to watch.
wherever you are, happy thanksgiving.
your friend
chad
I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving holiday. i guess i've only been away from home for thanksgiving once when i did the semester in florence. Adrianna and i had lasagna with eggs in it. I'm not sure what thanksgiving dinner will be this time.
my whitsunday boat ride has been delayed two days. originally i wanted to go on monday, but they said that the boat i wanted had changed its departure date to tuesday. when i checked in on monday the lady at the desk said that the boat actually left earlier that day. it was really confusing but in the end: i leave on wednesday now, but on a better boat and they gave me a free stinger suit rental, a free bus pickup, and a free underwater one-time use camera (about 70 dollars of free stuff! sweet). it should make for a really cool three days. it means thanksgiving will be spent on a sailboat somewhere in the whitsundays islands, with a bbq on the back, listening to chill music, and drinking some semi-nice wine.
the bad part is that i am going to have to skip out on fraser island. i could squeeze it in, but only if i arrive at brisbane at 6am to fly to tokyo 4 hours later. thats really cutting it close, and its not relaxed at all. sometimes crap happens, but as long as i'm having a good time with the things i do end up doing, i can't really ask for anything more.
the yha at airlie beach where i've been staying has been really laid back and relaxed, which is completely opposite of airlie beach as a whole. i guess every year the high school graduates have a few weeks of partying to celebrate finishing school--its pretty comparable to the u.s.'s spring break (except all of these people are 17 and 18 years old and they call them schoolies). it seems my time here happened to fall on the first week of partying. come sunset, the streets are filled with belligerent teens. i think its pretty funny to watch.
wherever you are, happy thanksgiving.
your friend
chad
Friday, November 19, 2004
Hardcore jellyfish
Hello,
I hope everyone is having a good day.
So, first the test results: they came back frustratingly (at the time) negative. you know when you are sick and someone says "oh, you may have something something." and you look up the symptoms and maybe have 4 out of the 10; and thats stretching it. well, i looked up giardia online at webmd.com and i had 9 out of the ten. i'm only (happily) missing one thing, and some of them are pretty unique symptoms. the final red flag was one of the friends i was traveling with in fiji was also sick for days and also had to see a doctor. the reason why i was frustrated was that if it wasn't giardia, and my medication didn't work, i didn't want to go 8 more months with my eyes on a constant lookout for the bathroom. the doctor did say that sometimes you have to take the test three times before anything shows up and that i should finish taking the medicine. if its not better, then i would need to see a specialist--not a fan of that option.
for now, i've got one more day of medicine left and i feel much much better. the mornings are still not quite normal, but the rest of the day is perfect. come sunday, i will be one normal individual.
i met my dad, and uncles family (wife, son, son's girlfriend, son's friend, and loki the family dog) in brisbane and had a nice time. they are the greatest people and it sucked to not stay there longer. i'd have to say that i'm pretty lucky i flew in on monday instead of sunday. had i flown in on sunday, my dad and i would have booked the monday night train to cairns. that train crashed. we flew instead--since the bus would have taken days and the rails haven't re-opened yet.
yesterday we went to the great barrier reef for some snorkeling and lounging. we met holly and sara, a rad mother/daughter group, that really made the two hours on the boat getting out there and back enjoyable. at the reef we had to wear these weird lycra suits, apparently getting stung by "stingers" is not the greatest feeling in the world (its some kind of hardcore jellyfish).
I'll be hanging out with my dad in cairns until sunday. then he flys back to brisbane and i'll bus down to whitsundays for a 3 day/2 night boat ride thing. after that its fraser island for a 3 day/2 night adventure 4wd truck thing. then japan...
have a good day
your friend
chad
I hope everyone is having a good day.
So, first the test results: they came back frustratingly (at the time) negative. you know when you are sick and someone says "oh, you may have something something." and you look up the symptoms and maybe have 4 out of the 10; and thats stretching it. well, i looked up giardia online at webmd.com and i had 9 out of the ten. i'm only (happily) missing one thing, and some of them are pretty unique symptoms. the final red flag was one of the friends i was traveling with in fiji was also sick for days and also had to see a doctor. the reason why i was frustrated was that if it wasn't giardia, and my medication didn't work, i didn't want to go 8 more months with my eyes on a constant lookout for the bathroom. the doctor did say that sometimes you have to take the test three times before anything shows up and that i should finish taking the medicine. if its not better, then i would need to see a specialist--not a fan of that option.
for now, i've got one more day of medicine left and i feel much much better. the mornings are still not quite normal, but the rest of the day is perfect. come sunday, i will be one normal individual.
i met my dad, and uncles family (wife, son, son's girlfriend, son's friend, and loki the family dog) in brisbane and had a nice time. they are the greatest people and it sucked to not stay there longer. i'd have to say that i'm pretty lucky i flew in on monday instead of sunday. had i flown in on sunday, my dad and i would have booked the monday night train to cairns. that train crashed. we flew instead--since the bus would have taken days and the rails haven't re-opened yet.
yesterday we went to the great barrier reef for some snorkeling and lounging. we met holly and sara, a rad mother/daughter group, that really made the two hours on the boat getting out there and back enjoyable. at the reef we had to wear these weird lycra suits, apparently getting stung by "stingers" is not the greatest feeling in the world (its some kind of hardcore jellyfish).
I'll be hanging out with my dad in cairns until sunday. then he flys back to brisbane and i'll bus down to whitsundays for a 3 day/2 night boat ride thing. after that its fraser island for a 3 day/2 night adventure 4wd truck thing. then japan...
have a good day
your friend
chad
Sunday, November 14, 2004
test results eve!
Hello,
Nearly out of time for this internet session, so it must be limited. the medicine the doctor gave me has given me a small taste of what it was like to be normal--i went number 1 for the first time in over a week! it was a great, happy moment.
Today i went to the newtown music festival in one of the suburbs in sydney. it was an all day event filled with great bands, sitting on the grass, and visiting peoples dogs. some of the bands i checked out: the fragments, peabody, her name in lights, itu, newtown high rock band, and evermore. but, what's the deal with most bands now sounding like radiohead? they all sound good, but i never end up buying the cd--i'd rather just have radiohead.
the sun got pretty hot, so i went to see Garden State at the cinema. thanks brett and adrianna for recommending that movie. you were both right; it really was a great movie. if you haven't seen it, you should.
Tomorrow i get the test results on what kind of bacteria i've got living in me. if i've got giardia, i've decided to name it Gary or Jerry depending on the pronounciation of giardia (those kind of things need to have alliteration).
have a good day
your friend
chad
Nearly out of time for this internet session, so it must be limited. the medicine the doctor gave me has given me a small taste of what it was like to be normal--i went number 1 for the first time in over a week! it was a great, happy moment.
Today i went to the newtown music festival in one of the suburbs in sydney. it was an all day event filled with great bands, sitting on the grass, and visiting peoples dogs. some of the bands i checked out: the fragments, peabody, her name in lights, itu, newtown high rock band, and evermore. but, what's the deal with most bands now sounding like radiohead? they all sound good, but i never end up buying the cd--i'd rather just have radiohead.
the sun got pretty hot, so i went to see Garden State at the cinema. thanks brett and adrianna for recommending that movie. you were both right; it really was a great movie. if you haven't seen it, you should.
Tomorrow i get the test results on what kind of bacteria i've got living in me. if i've got giardia, i've decided to name it Gary or Jerry depending on the pronounciation of giardia (those kind of things need to have alliteration).
have a good day
your friend
chad
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Underneath a giant painting
Hello,
This website so far has been a pretty good summation of everything that has happened on my travels, so in keeping with that, i must get somewhat more personal for this one...
I've decided that i liked fiji so much that i would take some of it with me--in the form of a stomach parasite (or bacteria or whatever it happens to be). I haven't been well for the last 9 days or so. don't get me wrong, i'm having a great time and this has definitely added to the memoriability/enjoyment of the trip. you can't have a year long trip around the world without one of these, so its better to get it out of the way.
two days ago i asked a girl who had a lonely planet guide if i could look at a few of the maps (i wanted to see where frasier island was). the guidebook turned out to be french, as well as the girl, lucie. she convinced me to not go to bondi beach and to stay in the blue mountains for one more day to check out the caves that are there. the caves where sweet (910 more stairs!) and now i'm in sydney with lucie, who turns out to be a nurse that has been working in new caledonia. doctors/nurses seem to appear when i am in need of repair.
so today was one of the funniest medical clinic moments of my life. i'll do my best to explain without using too many words. when you check in you fill out a small form and wait in a certain area of chairs where everyone is quiet. then the doctor sees you and if you need any tests done you have to sit on the other side of the room in three chairs underneath a giant painting. this by far was the best part--everyone there looks at each others papers and talks about what got them there. i'm glad i wasn't the last guy because he was getting some serious testing done, but the asmthatic next to me was pretty funny. after seeing the nurse i had to "obtain a sample", and i don't think i have ever laughed so much in a bathroom. for about five minutes i sat on the loo with a small container in one hand and a lid/scoop in the other, trying to come up with the best method. good times.
so what does it all mean? the doctor thinks i have giardia (i haven't the slightest idea how it is pronounced). you can get it from messed up water sources (stupid kuata). i won't find out until monday morning, but he is pretty confident that that is what i have and has already put me on antibiotics. i don't know if i'm supposed to hope for a yes-i-have-giardia on monday or not. i think i want to have it because at least i'll know why i'm sick and then can be on my way to getting better. that and it would be cool to say i picked up some bacteria in fiji--its like the travel version of a tattoo.
have a good day
your friend
chad
This website so far has been a pretty good summation of everything that has happened on my travels, so in keeping with that, i must get somewhat more personal for this one...
I've decided that i liked fiji so much that i would take some of it with me--in the form of a stomach parasite (or bacteria or whatever it happens to be). I haven't been well for the last 9 days or so. don't get me wrong, i'm having a great time and this has definitely added to the memoriability/enjoyment of the trip. you can't have a year long trip around the world without one of these, so its better to get it out of the way.
two days ago i asked a girl who had a lonely planet guide if i could look at a few of the maps (i wanted to see where frasier island was). the guidebook turned out to be french, as well as the girl, lucie. she convinced me to not go to bondi beach and to stay in the blue mountains for one more day to check out the caves that are there. the caves where sweet (910 more stairs!) and now i'm in sydney with lucie, who turns out to be a nurse that has been working in new caledonia. doctors/nurses seem to appear when i am in need of repair.
so today was one of the funniest medical clinic moments of my life. i'll do my best to explain without using too many words. when you check in you fill out a small form and wait in a certain area of chairs where everyone is quiet. then the doctor sees you and if you need any tests done you have to sit on the other side of the room in three chairs underneath a giant painting. this by far was the best part--everyone there looks at each others papers and talks about what got them there. i'm glad i wasn't the last guy because he was getting some serious testing done, but the asmthatic next to me was pretty funny. after seeing the nurse i had to "obtain a sample", and i don't think i have ever laughed so much in a bathroom. for about five minutes i sat on the loo with a small container in one hand and a lid/scoop in the other, trying to come up with the best method. good times.
so what does it all mean? the doctor thinks i have giardia (i haven't the slightest idea how it is pronounced). you can get it from messed up water sources (stupid kuata). i won't find out until monday morning, but he is pretty confident that that is what i have and has already put me on antibiotics. i don't know if i'm supposed to hope for a yes-i-have-giardia on monday or not. i think i want to have it because at least i'll know why i'm sick and then can be on my way to getting better. that and it would be cool to say i picked up some bacteria in fiji--its like the travel version of a tattoo.
have a good day
your friend
chad
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
blue mountains
Hello,
Thank you pauline for recommending the blue mountains!
Sydney itself is an amazing city, but the hostels are all geared around party people. i don't really mind that but i'm not the kind of person that wakes up in the morning wanting to hear dance and party music. that really is the only cds they had, so thats all they played.
Yesterday i took a two hour train ride to Katoomba (i like the name, it sounds like some place in africa) where the blue mountains are located. and the music at the blue mountains youth hostel--jazz and norah jones. the place here has a lot of character and the people say hello in the halls. all the information that i had for the blue mountains was that the "three sisters" were there.
The lady at the reception said that it would probably rain the next day, so it would be a good idea to walk to the three sisters that afternoon. the first walk option she gave me sounded good, so i went with it. now, i'm not sure if she said "900 steps" or if i read it somewhere, or even if it is 900 steps (it should be 900 stairs, steps sounds too easy), but it was tough however many there were. i think if i were to pick, i like going up stairs better than down. going up is painful but controlled with the speed you go. going down didn't hurt at all; the problem was the uncontrollable shaking of my legs (i'm guessing since i don't use those parts of the muscles as often).
So, that was the hard part of the trek. the blue mountains themselves are really cool. imagine the grand canyon but instead of deathly hot and dry, its filled with rainforrests and waterfalls. something about the clay and moisture makes it a perfect place for rainforrest. along the way there was this section that was filled with birds making the strangest sound (at least i'm assuming they were birds, i didn't actually see any of them). the sound that they made was identical to a submarine radar ping, and when it was coming from all around, it was really creepy. at the end of the 5 hour trek was echo point (there is a quicker route from the hostel which takes about 20 minutes...but i didn't go that way), with a lookout on to the "three sisters"--its just three towers of sandstone. i thought the rest of the view was way better. the overcast day made it look like misty blue mountains (is that a lord of the rings thing?).
This afternoon i checked out Katoomba, which didn't take very long. the rest of the day it was crap weather (good thing i walked yesterday) so i lounged on comfy couches, read, and wrote. tomorrow i'm going to the opposite side of sydney--bondi (bon-die) beach. i guess its pretty popular, but i've never heard of it before. then its off to my uncle's house in brisbane on the 15 nov. my dad's there too, so it should be fun. i'm still debating on if i should go to whitsundays (for a 3 day/ 2 night boat cruise) and fraser island (for a 3 day/ 2 night 4wd truck trek on an island). I'd like to, but i think i might be rushing things--since it would take about 4 days to get there and back. i refuse to be the rushed traveller, so i'm thinking it may be better to say "next time" on this one. i figure i'll enjoy brisbane and surrounding area with the family (including thanksgiving!...but they don't cellebrate thanksgiving, since they are austalians.... and they're vegetarians). maybe my dad and i will sneak out for some turkey sandwiches.
have a good day
your friend
chad
Thank you pauline for recommending the blue mountains!
Sydney itself is an amazing city, but the hostels are all geared around party people. i don't really mind that but i'm not the kind of person that wakes up in the morning wanting to hear dance and party music. that really is the only cds they had, so thats all they played.
Yesterday i took a two hour train ride to Katoomba (i like the name, it sounds like some place in africa) where the blue mountains are located. and the music at the blue mountains youth hostel--jazz and norah jones. the place here has a lot of character and the people say hello in the halls. all the information that i had for the blue mountains was that the "three sisters" were there.
The lady at the reception said that it would probably rain the next day, so it would be a good idea to walk to the three sisters that afternoon. the first walk option she gave me sounded good, so i went with it. now, i'm not sure if she said "900 steps" or if i read it somewhere, or even if it is 900 steps (it should be 900 stairs, steps sounds too easy), but it was tough however many there were. i think if i were to pick, i like going up stairs better than down. going up is painful but controlled with the speed you go. going down didn't hurt at all; the problem was the uncontrollable shaking of my legs (i'm guessing since i don't use those parts of the muscles as often).
So, that was the hard part of the trek. the blue mountains themselves are really cool. imagine the grand canyon but instead of deathly hot and dry, its filled with rainforrests and waterfalls. something about the clay and moisture makes it a perfect place for rainforrest. along the way there was this section that was filled with birds making the strangest sound (at least i'm assuming they were birds, i didn't actually see any of them). the sound that they made was identical to a submarine radar ping, and when it was coming from all around, it was really creepy. at the end of the 5 hour trek was echo point (there is a quicker route from the hostel which takes about 20 minutes...but i didn't go that way), with a lookout on to the "three sisters"--its just three towers of sandstone. i thought the rest of the view was way better. the overcast day made it look like misty blue mountains (is that a lord of the rings thing?).
This afternoon i checked out Katoomba, which didn't take very long. the rest of the day it was crap weather (good thing i walked yesterday) so i lounged on comfy couches, read, and wrote. tomorrow i'm going to the opposite side of sydney--bondi (bon-die) beach. i guess its pretty popular, but i've never heard of it before. then its off to my uncle's house in brisbane on the 15 nov. my dad's there too, so it should be fun. i'm still debating on if i should go to whitsundays (for a 3 day/ 2 night boat cruise) and fraser island (for a 3 day/ 2 night 4wd truck trek on an island). I'd like to, but i think i might be rushing things--since it would take about 4 days to get there and back. i refuse to be the rushed traveller, so i'm thinking it may be better to say "next time" on this one. i figure i'll enjoy brisbane and surrounding area with the family (including thanksgiving!...but they don't cellebrate thanksgiving, since they are austalians.... and they're vegetarians). maybe my dad and i will sneak out for some turkey sandwiches.
have a good day
your friend
chad
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Found Nemo
Hello,
Sydney has officially become my favorite big city. Its big but is able to have character throughout all parts of the city. The skyscrapers (well, i don't know what the official height of a building has to be for it to be a skyscrapers, so maybe its just the really tall buildings) are each unique in some way. there aren't many of the standard rectangle ones that fill most cities. lots of glass, strange angles, and columns.
Yesterday was a happy day for me. you know when you do or see something and realize that its on your "cool things to do/see in life list," but you just didn't know it--so its kind of a surprise goal. well, this goal started in fiji when i saw the manta ray and couldn't get the teacher's voice out of my head from finding nemo. then i also saw what looked like the silver fish that gave marlin and dori directions to the eac. the goal was completed at the sydney aquarium where they had a whole area just for nemo! I saw dori, bubbles (the yellow fish in the dentist aquarium that says bubbles bubbles bubbles anytime theres bubbles), deb and her twin sister flo, gill, and of course nemo. after re-reading this last paragraph over again, i realize how much of a dork i am. but if its on my "cool things to do / see in life" list, i can't do anything about that.
Tonight was one of the last days of the sydney Italian film festival 2004 (i like things with dates). it was so cool to see an italian film again. the movie was prima dammi un baccio (kiss me first). i really enjoyed it: good soundtrack, good characters, and good story about love and fate.
Tomorrow i'm going by train to the blue mountains. someone in my room went yesterday on a day trip and said that he couldn't see anything at all in the crap weather. so good weather tomorrow please. it cleared up some in the afternoon today so i'm hoping the trend continues. After the blue mountains i'll be going to bondi beach. i hear its really laid back there. anything that includes beach and laid back reminds me of san diego, and thats a good thing.
have a good day
your friend
chad
Sydney has officially become my favorite big city. Its big but is able to have character throughout all parts of the city. The skyscrapers (well, i don't know what the official height of a building has to be for it to be a skyscrapers, so maybe its just the really tall buildings) are each unique in some way. there aren't many of the standard rectangle ones that fill most cities. lots of glass, strange angles, and columns.
Yesterday was a happy day for me. you know when you do or see something and realize that its on your "cool things to do/see in life list," but you just didn't know it--so its kind of a surprise goal. well, this goal started in fiji when i saw the manta ray and couldn't get the teacher's voice out of my head from finding nemo. then i also saw what looked like the silver fish that gave marlin and dori directions to the eac. the goal was completed at the sydney aquarium where they had a whole area just for nemo! I saw dori, bubbles (the yellow fish in the dentist aquarium that says bubbles bubbles bubbles anytime theres bubbles), deb and her twin sister flo, gill, and of course nemo. after re-reading this last paragraph over again, i realize how much of a dork i am. but if its on my "cool things to do / see in life" list, i can't do anything about that.
Tonight was one of the last days of the sydney Italian film festival 2004 (i like things with dates). it was so cool to see an italian film again. the movie was prima dammi un baccio (kiss me first). i really enjoyed it: good soundtrack, good characters, and good story about love and fate.
Tomorrow i'm going by train to the blue mountains. someone in my room went yesterday on a day trip and said that he couldn't see anything at all in the crap weather. so good weather tomorrow please. it cleared up some in the afternoon today so i'm hoping the trend continues. After the blue mountains i'll be going to bondi beach. i hear its really laid back there. anything that includes beach and laid back reminds me of san diego, and thats a good thing.
have a good day
your friend
chad
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Bula! Bula! Bula!
Bula everyone!
I hope everyone has had a good last few weeks. I'll try to sum up how my time in fiji has gone but it will be difficult. i'll do my best. (right now i'm at an internet cafe in sydney, but we'll get to that later) here it goes:
You can't go more than 15 minutes in fiji without hearing Bula! (boo-la) from someone. and i don't mean hearing it once in the first 15 minutes of fiji; i mean every 15 minutes of every day...all the time. it means welcome, kind of like hawaii's aloha.
The first day was a bit of a disappointment--hear me out on this one. for some reason i expected to land on an island that was just big enough to fit an airplane, had i done any research at all before arriving i would have known that the main island of fiji is a big one. i landed and saw no beach, went to the hotel i was staying at and still no beach. the nadi bay resort was great but really it could be anywhere that could support palm trees--although the little frogs that you could see jumping around definitely added to it.
Pauline and Laura from new zealand had arrived a few days earlier and stayed in the same hotel. they left a note telling me their fiji plans and the next day i was off to meet them at the smaller islands with a bula pass (bula really is everywhere) for the boat ferry service. The island they were at was booked up so i had to stay at a different one called Bounty Island. This was a very very happy day for me. everything that i imagined fiji to be was true and the disappointment from the day before was completely erased. On the boat ride to bounty someone said, "the water is so aqua." i think that sums it up nicely and is funny at the same time.
On bounty i was with two canadian girls who were very cool. we hung out all day: walked around the entire island (25 minutes); swam; snorkeled; swam to one of those platform things out in the water and napped on it; and played a lot of games (did you know that chutes and ladders is really called snakes and ladders for the rest of the world?). Highlights for bounty: an attacking crab on our walk (one of the funniest things i have seen on the trip so far), the biggest steak for dinner--huge!, and smiling all day because i couldn't believe i was in fiji.
The next day i got on the yasawa flyer (the name of the ferry boat) and it picked up laura and pauline from the next island. we went all the way to the top of the yasawa island chain to a place called safe landing. now the further away you get from the mainland, the less commercial you get, and we where the farthest possible in the direction we chose. Safe landing was an amazing place. originally we got a dorm but upgraded to a shared bure (hut) that was right on the beach--it ended up being only 5 fijian dollars more a night...roughly 3.50 us dollars more a night. You open the door and all you see is the beach; and a nice hammock tied right next to us. it truly was paradise. Ryan F., it is difficult to find a hammock that isn't tied between two palm trees.
We stayed at safe landing for only two nights but it was incredibly hard to leave because we got so attached to the people there. Hannah was a really nice girl staying in our bure and our swedish couple neighbors were the raddest people ever. Sebastion looks like cris carraba from dashboard confessional and his girlfriend Sophia was really cool. also, we really connected to the staff there. But we had more islands to see...
Otto and Fanny's place was the next stop and honestly we probably didn't give it a fair judgement because we were missing safe landing so much. the semi cool thing about otto's was that it was pretty much a palm tree forrest. i say semi cool because as we were walking to the beach we heard a deep thud from a coconut hitting the ground. it didn't take us long to imagine a scenario of one of them banging off our heads. another plus, was my first night ever (at least from what i can remember) of sleeping with a mosquito net. they creeped me out at first because they remined me of ghosts for some reason--at least a place where ghosts would hang out.
coconut bay made the trip amazing. it felt more like living within a village. there seemed to be a lot of people working (but really really more like living) there. they all tried to learn our names and would call them out whenever we ran into them--of course only after the bula!. everywhere we went though, laura was always the most liked. within a few minutes of getting off the boat we met moses, brooks, oscar, bel, and bill-the man who built everything at coconut bay and even wove us baskets. laura and pauline got purse looking things made out of palm leaves (i know its supposed to be frons but not sure on the spelling). i got a fijian man bag.
our first night there we learned the bula! dance, which has been described as the fijian maccarena. we also had a ballon dance, which i lost. it was hard. the next day was awesome. after breakfast laura booked a dive so we went along with her to snorkel around a coral wall while she dove. One of the guys from the boat went spear fishing and it was incredible to see him swimming around and getting the fish. pauline and i were also happy to stick with him because we would have easily gotten lost. It was fijian night that night so we had a ground cooked meal followed by a kava ceremony. kava is the fijian traditional drink. most people say it tastes like muddy water, which in a way it is. it is water run through a ground up powder of a root. i think it tastes more like medicine...probably because it is a medicine. it is a seditive that makes your tongue go numb (especially if you hold it in your mouth for awhile). it is the funniest thing to see a bunch of old fijians on the kava mat; they are the most sedate group you will ever find.
the next day was the toughest day in fiji by far. we thought a trip to a local village was cool so we set one up for after breakfast, along with about 7 others. someone may have casually mentioned bringing water so i picked up a 1/2 liter fiji water; but what they really should have said was "prepare for a walk of doom up slippery rocks, through hot grasses...twice, and up and down a mountain" seriously, the walk itself wasn't too bad. the problem was that it took over an hour to get to the village and i easily sweated a 1/2 liter in the incredible humid heat...easy. and with my rationed water, it was tough because i knew we had to go back.
the village, however, made any walk worth it. we visited the chief's house but he was away so we just talked with his wife. the best part was a trip to the kindergarden. for 20 minutes the kids sang and danced for us (they were practicing for their singing and dancing tests which were coming up). there is so much life in the faces of the kids there. we also checked out the local hospital before going back on the trek of terror. i walked back with tim and a cool couple, rich and charlie. we couldn't go slow because the heat was killing us and we just wanted it to end. tim didn't bring any water at all for the whole walk so we shared the 200 mL that i had left (he's crazy).
it was not easy to leave coconut but it wasn't so bad because he were going to meet up with rich and charlie on a later island. wanataki cruise was the next nights place since we got it free with our bula! boat pass. i really enjoyed it for many reasons: sebastion and sophia were also on the boat that night, so it was good to have friends there; there was air conditioning!!; and it was a unique experience. laura and pauline were really exhausted from the village walk, but i thought it would be a good time to try out the kayaks. when i got back it was just in time for a quick ride in a small boat to a beach to play volleyball. now, fijians take everything nice and easy..except for games. i have never played such a serious game of volleyball. i wouldn't be surprised if they ever won the olympics in volleyball. i finished off the evening with jumping off of the big boat with sebastion and sophia. busy exhausting day.
the night was short because most of us got up at 6am to swim with the manta rays!! we took a small boat to a tidal current of water. they drop us off and all we do is float with the current. the guides stand on the boat and tell us where to float. and then all of a sudden in the water a massive massive ray appears and swims upstream right past you. we saw three and i got behind one and measured with my arms--it was bigger than my 6 foot armspan. we also saw a shark. a short break for breakfast and then back into the water for snorkeling. fish all over the place, another shark, (some saw an eel, but i was out of luck), and a blowfish. the real highlight of that swim for me was swimming with a school of little bluish greenish fish. at first they tried to get away from me but then they decided i was alright. ten minutes of good swimming surrounded by fish. one thing i found out--laughing with your snorkel mask on means water up the nose.
Octopus resort was probably the poshest place we stayed at and it was a good mix of everything. good people, good food, and amazing location. our first night there was movie night. it was a great setup: outside, under the stars, on a projection screen with quality surround sound. (see, posh) for some reason we thought it was going to be big fish, but it turned out to be 13 going on 30. i was bummed but 15 minutes into it i was hooked (i'm a nerd)...and then the dvd stopped working. the movie was changed to gothika and i promptly got up and left. only happy thoughts in fiji, not scary movies. No worries though, it was on the plane to australia...jenna does end up with matt after all.
Sebastion and sophia, the swedish couple, came the next day and we had a nice chill day. we played bouls a lot, which is some game of throwing heavy balls around the sand. We went to the village--thankfully this one was much closer--on sunday to go to church. the service was interesting but hard to stay focused. the heat was tough and the entire service was in fijian, which i don't know. We went back to the village the next day for a fijian ceremony and market. i got a bookmark for a dollar.
Laura had to go to america (and she's already in france now, crazy!) so it was just pauline and i for the last few nights. we went to Kuata and met up with rich and charlie. this was the worst place for a few reasons (don't get me wrong though...i'd go back there any day, its more like the least favorable island in fiji): since we were much more south it was becoming much more commercial, we didn't meet anyone that was fijian there; the setup of the place made it difficult to meet people, but really rich, charlie, pauline and i were happy to hang out alone; and (this is just a guess) we ate/drank something that made the rest of the trip much more interesting. the good thing was amazing snorkeling.
We all headed for south sea island for the last night. this is the closest island to the mainland and is tiny tiny. its about a five minute walk around the island with flip-flops on. since the beach was so full of shells and i'm such a weenie, it took about 15 minutes to get 3/4 around. the final day was sunbathing (in clouds unfortunately), bathroom breaks (stupid kuata), and snorkeling. the final evening was everyone preparing for the next travel destination: pauline, rich and charlie are now in the cook islands, and i'm in australia.
i feel like i've started traveling all over again. after going two weeks of seeing no cars, computers, or buildings in general, sydney has been a bit of a shock. things i miss: not wearing any clothes (shoes are crap), hearing Bula!, friends and friendly people. Sydneys a city so most people are busy. my hostel is big and people don't say hi in the hallways.
my first day was difficult because i didn't know what was going on, but after a free concert that night, i'm seeing the little things that make places great (like a nap on a patch of grass overlooking the sydney opera house). today it was a medival fair that included an ochestra and a choir in a cathedral. tomorrow is a spanish festival. as a big city, sydney is growing on me.
so, thats most of it. hope it was enjoyable. thanks for reading such a long post. if you have emailed me during the last two weeks, i have just seen it for the first time yesterday. i will respond, but with a short delay.
have a good day
your friend
chad
I hope everyone has had a good last few weeks. I'll try to sum up how my time in fiji has gone but it will be difficult. i'll do my best. (right now i'm at an internet cafe in sydney, but we'll get to that later) here it goes:
You can't go more than 15 minutes in fiji without hearing Bula! (boo-la) from someone. and i don't mean hearing it once in the first 15 minutes of fiji; i mean every 15 minutes of every day...all the time. it means welcome, kind of like hawaii's aloha.
The first day was a bit of a disappointment--hear me out on this one. for some reason i expected to land on an island that was just big enough to fit an airplane, had i done any research at all before arriving i would have known that the main island of fiji is a big one. i landed and saw no beach, went to the hotel i was staying at and still no beach. the nadi bay resort was great but really it could be anywhere that could support palm trees--although the little frogs that you could see jumping around definitely added to it.
Pauline and Laura from new zealand had arrived a few days earlier and stayed in the same hotel. they left a note telling me their fiji plans and the next day i was off to meet them at the smaller islands with a bula pass (bula really is everywhere) for the boat ferry service. The island they were at was booked up so i had to stay at a different one called Bounty Island. This was a very very happy day for me. everything that i imagined fiji to be was true and the disappointment from the day before was completely erased. On the boat ride to bounty someone said, "the water is so aqua." i think that sums it up nicely and is funny at the same time.
On bounty i was with two canadian girls who were very cool. we hung out all day: walked around the entire island (25 minutes); swam; snorkeled; swam to one of those platform things out in the water and napped on it; and played a lot of games (did you know that chutes and ladders is really called snakes and ladders for the rest of the world?). Highlights for bounty: an attacking crab on our walk (one of the funniest things i have seen on the trip so far), the biggest steak for dinner--huge!, and smiling all day because i couldn't believe i was in fiji.
The next day i got on the yasawa flyer (the name of the ferry boat) and it picked up laura and pauline from the next island. we went all the way to the top of the yasawa island chain to a place called safe landing. now the further away you get from the mainland, the less commercial you get, and we where the farthest possible in the direction we chose. Safe landing was an amazing place. originally we got a dorm but upgraded to a shared bure (hut) that was right on the beach--it ended up being only 5 fijian dollars more a night...roughly 3.50 us dollars more a night. You open the door and all you see is the beach; and a nice hammock tied right next to us. it truly was paradise. Ryan F., it is difficult to find a hammock that isn't tied between two palm trees.
We stayed at safe landing for only two nights but it was incredibly hard to leave because we got so attached to the people there. Hannah was a really nice girl staying in our bure and our swedish couple neighbors were the raddest people ever. Sebastion looks like cris carraba from dashboard confessional and his girlfriend Sophia was really cool. also, we really connected to the staff there. But we had more islands to see...
Otto and Fanny's place was the next stop and honestly we probably didn't give it a fair judgement because we were missing safe landing so much. the semi cool thing about otto's was that it was pretty much a palm tree forrest. i say semi cool because as we were walking to the beach we heard a deep thud from a coconut hitting the ground. it didn't take us long to imagine a scenario of one of them banging off our heads. another plus, was my first night ever (at least from what i can remember) of sleeping with a mosquito net. they creeped me out at first because they remined me of ghosts for some reason--at least a place where ghosts would hang out.
coconut bay made the trip amazing. it felt more like living within a village. there seemed to be a lot of people working (but really really more like living) there. they all tried to learn our names and would call them out whenever we ran into them--of course only after the bula!. everywhere we went though, laura was always the most liked. within a few minutes of getting off the boat we met moses, brooks, oscar, bel, and bill-the man who built everything at coconut bay and even wove us baskets. laura and pauline got purse looking things made out of palm leaves (i know its supposed to be frons but not sure on the spelling). i got a fijian man bag.
our first night there we learned the bula! dance, which has been described as the fijian maccarena. we also had a ballon dance, which i lost. it was hard. the next day was awesome. after breakfast laura booked a dive so we went along with her to snorkel around a coral wall while she dove. One of the guys from the boat went spear fishing and it was incredible to see him swimming around and getting the fish. pauline and i were also happy to stick with him because we would have easily gotten lost. It was fijian night that night so we had a ground cooked meal followed by a kava ceremony. kava is the fijian traditional drink. most people say it tastes like muddy water, which in a way it is. it is water run through a ground up powder of a root. i think it tastes more like medicine...probably because it is a medicine. it is a seditive that makes your tongue go numb (especially if you hold it in your mouth for awhile). it is the funniest thing to see a bunch of old fijians on the kava mat; they are the most sedate group you will ever find.
the next day was the toughest day in fiji by far. we thought a trip to a local village was cool so we set one up for after breakfast, along with about 7 others. someone may have casually mentioned bringing water so i picked up a 1/2 liter fiji water; but what they really should have said was "prepare for a walk of doom up slippery rocks, through hot grasses...twice, and up and down a mountain" seriously, the walk itself wasn't too bad. the problem was that it took over an hour to get to the village and i easily sweated a 1/2 liter in the incredible humid heat...easy. and with my rationed water, it was tough because i knew we had to go back.
the village, however, made any walk worth it. we visited the chief's house but he was away so we just talked with his wife. the best part was a trip to the kindergarden. for 20 minutes the kids sang and danced for us (they were practicing for their singing and dancing tests which were coming up). there is so much life in the faces of the kids there. we also checked out the local hospital before going back on the trek of terror. i walked back with tim and a cool couple, rich and charlie. we couldn't go slow because the heat was killing us and we just wanted it to end. tim didn't bring any water at all for the whole walk so we shared the 200 mL that i had left (he's crazy).
it was not easy to leave coconut but it wasn't so bad because he were going to meet up with rich and charlie on a later island. wanataki cruise was the next nights place since we got it free with our bula! boat pass. i really enjoyed it for many reasons: sebastion and sophia were also on the boat that night, so it was good to have friends there; there was air conditioning!!; and it was a unique experience. laura and pauline were really exhausted from the village walk, but i thought it would be a good time to try out the kayaks. when i got back it was just in time for a quick ride in a small boat to a beach to play volleyball. now, fijians take everything nice and easy..except for games. i have never played such a serious game of volleyball. i wouldn't be surprised if they ever won the olympics in volleyball. i finished off the evening with jumping off of the big boat with sebastion and sophia. busy exhausting day.
the night was short because most of us got up at 6am to swim with the manta rays!! we took a small boat to a tidal current of water. they drop us off and all we do is float with the current. the guides stand on the boat and tell us where to float. and then all of a sudden in the water a massive massive ray appears and swims upstream right past you. we saw three and i got behind one and measured with my arms--it was bigger than my 6 foot armspan. we also saw a shark. a short break for breakfast and then back into the water for snorkeling. fish all over the place, another shark, (some saw an eel, but i was out of luck), and a blowfish. the real highlight of that swim for me was swimming with a school of little bluish greenish fish. at first they tried to get away from me but then they decided i was alright. ten minutes of good swimming surrounded by fish. one thing i found out--laughing with your snorkel mask on means water up the nose.
Octopus resort was probably the poshest place we stayed at and it was a good mix of everything. good people, good food, and amazing location. our first night there was movie night. it was a great setup: outside, under the stars, on a projection screen with quality surround sound. (see, posh) for some reason we thought it was going to be big fish, but it turned out to be 13 going on 30. i was bummed but 15 minutes into it i was hooked (i'm a nerd)...and then the dvd stopped working. the movie was changed to gothika and i promptly got up and left. only happy thoughts in fiji, not scary movies. No worries though, it was on the plane to australia...jenna does end up with matt after all.
Sebastion and sophia, the swedish couple, came the next day and we had a nice chill day. we played bouls a lot, which is some game of throwing heavy balls around the sand. We went to the village--thankfully this one was much closer--on sunday to go to church. the service was interesting but hard to stay focused. the heat was tough and the entire service was in fijian, which i don't know. We went back to the village the next day for a fijian ceremony and market. i got a bookmark for a dollar.
Laura had to go to america (and she's already in france now, crazy!) so it was just pauline and i for the last few nights. we went to Kuata and met up with rich and charlie. this was the worst place for a few reasons (don't get me wrong though...i'd go back there any day, its more like the least favorable island in fiji): since we were much more south it was becoming much more commercial, we didn't meet anyone that was fijian there; the setup of the place made it difficult to meet people, but really rich, charlie, pauline and i were happy to hang out alone; and (this is just a guess) we ate/drank something that made the rest of the trip much more interesting. the good thing was amazing snorkeling.
We all headed for south sea island for the last night. this is the closest island to the mainland and is tiny tiny. its about a five minute walk around the island with flip-flops on. since the beach was so full of shells and i'm such a weenie, it took about 15 minutes to get 3/4 around. the final day was sunbathing (in clouds unfortunately), bathroom breaks (stupid kuata), and snorkeling. the final evening was everyone preparing for the next travel destination: pauline, rich and charlie are now in the cook islands, and i'm in australia.
i feel like i've started traveling all over again. after going two weeks of seeing no cars, computers, or buildings in general, sydney has been a bit of a shock. things i miss: not wearing any clothes (shoes are crap), hearing Bula!, friends and friendly people. Sydneys a city so most people are busy. my hostel is big and people don't say hi in the hallways.
my first day was difficult because i didn't know what was going on, but after a free concert that night, i'm seeing the little things that make places great (like a nap on a patch of grass overlooking the sydney opera house). today it was a medival fair that included an ochestra and a choir in a cathedral. tomorrow is a spanish festival. as a big city, sydney is growing on me.
so, thats most of it. hope it was enjoyable. thanks for reading such a long post. if you have emailed me during the last two weeks, i have just seen it for the first time yesterday. i will respond, but with a short delay.
have a good day
your friend
chad
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