This will likely be my only update from now until mid-December as finding internet is becoming more difficult. We are currently in Yepoon which is 7 hours north of the Sunshine Coast where we will be taking a ferry across to Pumpkin Island tomorrow. We drove up here on Tuesday in OUR NEW VAN but weren't able to get to Pumpkin until tomorrow because the water has been rough according to the owners Wayne and Laureth.
Let's backtrack a little shall we. First of all, after looking at 4 different vans and getting our hopes up each time that it would work out we finally ended up with a Mazda E2000, year 2000 with just over 200,000 clicks on it. It was in pretty great condition besides being filled with the stink of curry as it was owned by an idian dude who worked in an indian restaurant and must have used the van as the restaurants garbage depot. We took it to our mechanic and bff Bruno over at B & T Autmotives in Nambour where they gave us some new tires, tuned up the beast and cleaned out the curry from the dashboard...yes there was literal curry in the dashboard when we drove it over which almost resulted in me vommitting all over the van. We got a great deal and brought Em to drive it off the lot as Stew and I didn't know how to drive manual. With an awesome instructor (Em) and some side streets we were able to learn and are getting better with each drive. We're still a little nervous on hills but overall, the stalling is becoming less and less. Now we just need some sweet sunglasses to drive in and more hippie stuff to decorate and we'll have the most epic vehicle Aus has seen.
We moved out of our apartment and left 56 alcohol bottles nicely displayed on the shelves in the kitchen. Our final count was 2 bottles of CC, 2 Vodka and 54 bottles of wine. Well over a bottle a day for the amount of time we were there. I'm sure the cleaning staff will LOVE us and I'm sure they'd love to have us back there. lol. We crashed with Em on Monday night and then hit the road on Tuesday.
A long 7 hour drive and we made it to Emu National Park where our Pumpkin Island friends were able to get us into the Hostel for free for the night as we weren't able to get to pumpkin right away. Spent one night in the hostel and then bummed around the nothing town of Emu on Wednesday. We decided to go x to the z xzibit on our van and totally revamped it taping down a tarp on the ground which was MUCH cleaner after a solid cleansweep session with our friend Zac on Monday (top to bottom scrubbing was a must). We tarped the ground, decorated and organized our van to have a bed and storage for everything we own. Em gave us a Canadian flag to sport inside it and we have a Merry Christmas decal on the window. We're going to get bumper stickers in each place we visit with our van so it can be a part of our journey. While we still need more comforters to make the bed comfortable we survived our first night sleeping in it last night and didn't suffocate from the heat. There was a huge bus group that came in from Airlie beach so we couldnt stay in the rooms last night but were still able to use all the facilities and just sleep in our van on the lot. We met some Swed's and had some drinks with them.
Today we got up early and headed into Yepoon, saw the harbour where we will be departing from and walked around the town of Yepoon that had some cool shops. We are currently sitting on the floor of the mall where we found oulets to charge our electronics and free wifi which is pretty hard to come by here in Australia. Tonight we get another free stay at the hostel and then we'll be heading to take the boat to the island in the morning.
Peregion was a great time back a couple sundays. We took the bus up and met Em and Zac and Mick there. We had lunch and listened to live music and drank some beers on the lawn. Definitely a hippie festival and some great music. Our last night in Mooloolaba was probably one of the best. We went to our friend Matt and Jay's (who we met our surfing one day) and the girls joined for some drinks before we all headed to O'Malley's. Matt and Jay's was hilarious as they had a fake wedding ceremony for Matt and his fiance Kyla. I guess it's not fake since they are really getting married in Aug and Lisa and Jay got ordained online haha but it was the classiest ceremony yet on their balcony with vows exchanged in high-fives and the reception being in a pub with cheap scooners lol. A lot of fun but bittersweet having to say goodbye to everyone. A lot of the Canadians were heading back to Canada for Christmas as they all just graduated from teachers college and its time to go. Seems strange since we're just starting our journey really. It was really hard saying goodbye to Em and we missher so much already!
Amanda Kutner or shall i say KUBES came to visit us last week who I met in the hostel who is the most hilarious Canadian girl as I mentioned previously. She partied with us a couple nights in Mooloo and it was so amazing to catch up with her. We were hoping to take her surfing but the weather was pretty crappy while she was here so we just bummed around, watched movies and caught up on each others adventures. Definitely going to miss her SO much when she heads back to Canada but we've already promised to keep in touch and have stuck to that almost every day. I'd love to travel with her again in the future as we have a great time together.
It's really starting to get hot here as the summer kicks off which is awesome but meltinggggggggggg. Also seems weird when we're in the mall with Christmas decorations and Christmas carols in the grocery store--just seems weird to be in bathing suits and barefoot all the time with Christmas around the corner. I definitely will miss the snow just for Christmas but the heat is something else :)
We're really excited to get to the Island tomorrow as there isn't too much to do in Emu and we just want to see what we've been anticipating for a while. Then its our journey back down the coast where we will be meeting Mick and Andrew in Byron Bay for Stew's 26th birthday December 18. We're gonna be itching to surf by then so it'll be great to get down there and reunite with our buddy!
Won't be able to update while on Pumpkin but I will update when we reach internet again soon! SO excited for daddy to get here for Christmas and only 21 days away now. Cannot believe I'll get to see him here in Australia! woo woo! Anyways, happy Christmas shopping to everyone and miss you all back home! Hope those who snowboard are taking advantage as I would love to board this time of year but will take the beach easily.
Halfway through November and the mustaches are coming along quite nicely. Stew's kind of looks like a pirate or something with his little soul patch hahaha. Mick is also participating now and his looks more like a creeper since his is strawberry blonde-ish lol.
We are making some serious progress on the hunt for our campervan and may actually have one by the end of the week. We found this sweet Nissan Urvan through this guy in Buderim not far from here. It's hand painted and looks like a reptile in the front and then ocean scenery along the sides, extremely hippie. This beast is going to stand out like crazy amongst the other white campers. The inside pops up so we'll actually be able to stand up in it. It has 2 benches and a table that fold down into a big bed. It is also stacked with a stove, fridge, cupboards, etc. so we can literally live in it for the next 10 months of our journey. The only issues were having right now is what its goingto cost us to replace the valve seals and some rust along the frame in order to get it safety certified and road worthy. We've been in contact with a few mechanics and may have found a deal with a sweet place recommended to me by a girl at work. Fingers crossed! Pictures will definitely be coming asap as this is something you have to see to understand how unreal it is.
The surf has been kinda crappy lately, just really flat or choppy waves that are ok to play in but not so much for trying to surf on. Still been at the beach almost every day though. I've been running a bit more and think my groove is coming back slowly but surely. It's hard to believe but we're up and starting our day around 7:30am every day. Mooloolaba is definitely a morning place so if you're not up and going by 8am it feels like you've slept your day away, so different. Most places are open by 6am for breakfast and Sundays are the most insane day for breakfast as Stew and I usually work it and its bonkers. I worked this past sunday and tables turned over SO fast. People were sitting down at dirty tables before I could even clear them. It's crazy because even a cheap breakfast here with eggs and toast only is still like $10. If you want a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, hashbrowns, etc youre looking at at least $15, so crazy. Makes me miss the riverdale a lot for the $5 delicious breakfast that included a coffee! I get to eat for free at Karma when I work so I've had my breakfasts without the financial pain.
This Sunday Mick, Emily (aussie), Rachel (Em's sister), Stew and I are heading up to Perigion (sp?) which is like half an hour north of here where there is a big hippie beach party. It starts early with everyone surfing and then they have live bands on the beach where people can drink, dance, etc. We're pretty stoked as this place does this at the beginning and 3rd Sunday of each month. It'll be one of our last outings here before heading up to Pumpkin Island. We're going to be goingto Emily (canadian em)'s graduation for teachers college next week like a couple of proud parents lol then we'll be celebrating her being finished likely by hitting the bar right after. We're super stoked for Pumpkin Island too and have been wondering what its going to be like. A little nervous about surfing there if there is surf since apparently they have gigantic fish and aquatic life, which can often mean sharks as well. Guess we'll find out fast when we get there with our boards if the couple who owns it tells us otherwise. My biggest goal while at Pumpkin Island is to spear a fish. Yes, spear it. Like survivor man or man vs. wild. We will definitely catch it on camera and potentially video. If I can make this happen I will literally crap my pants with excitement. It's on my bucket list and would be hilarious if I can pull it off. We're going to be living survivor styles anyways so its only necessary.
I've reached VIP status at the cafe Emjays we go to to use the internet. You only have to buy a coffee and you can stay here for hours using their internet. They've already created a card for me and stamp the shit out of it every time I come in so I get free coffees. Stew is pissed cause him and Em come here all the time and not only DONT have cards but haven't gotten any free coffee mou ha ha ha.
Anyways, I'm going to write one more blog before we go up to Pumpkin and peace out of Mooloolaba. It's going to be bitter sweet leaving here because while we're soooo excited to go to the barrier reef we've met some really awesome people here. Even walkin down the esplanade people recognize us from a) being likely the most tanned people here, b) always walking barefoot with surfboards and c) working and being canadian. its awesome.
I'm going to leave this blog on the note that everyone whose reading this should listen to two songs:
1. Be As You Are by Kenny Chesney
2. Small Town and Big Dreams by Paul Brandt
These songs always come on on my ipod and make life that much better :)
And it's November already. Today is Stew's one month of being in Australia which he is spending working at Hippodrome from 5:30am-3pm, can you say shittiest shift ever? I on the other hand do not work until 6pm tonight so have gotten up early to e-mail and blog and will be heading to the beach shortly. woo hoo!
Work at Karma Waters has been great so far and I really love the staff and owner. Everyone is so friendly and I'm gettin a good amount of hours. I work mostly in the evening so I have all day to surf, tan and embrace the beach. Stew and I got up this week at 5am the one day to go fishing since he bought a rod and equipment. We headed to the pier in Mooloolaba and within the first 20min of fishing a shark came up towards his line! Stew shouted "theres a fuckin shark! get the camera!!" so I scrambled to go see it and sure enough saw the shark swimming along the rock line. So crazy! not a huge shark but a shark none the less but sadly was not quick enough with the camera. We also saw a stingray that was HUGE swimming around and following Stew's bait. He caught one relatively big fish there but it was too big to reel in so it fell off the line. We moved to another bridge location later where he caught a couple small fish that we let go. Later that day we went surfing and I got to try out a friend's mini malibu which is a thicker board and was able to stand and ride a couple waves which was amazing and followed by my screaming and cheering for myself...lol. I caught a fish yesterday and was so proud of myself even if it was super small. Stew caught a tonne yesterday when he went out in the morning while I was working, we just need bigger fish to eat!
Surfing is getting better, I'm starting to pick it up more and more and can stand far more easier and am not as afraid of the big waves. We met an Aussie named Emily and her two roommates Rachel her sister and Rachel a Canadian. Theyve been coming out surfing with us so we have an official crew on the water which is awesome. Or should I say gang since our Board Short Mafia gang is picking up, its going to be the next best thing to hit Mooloolaba soon enough...watch out.
It's so much fun sitting out on the waves waiting for a good one and being able to chat with friends. It's awesome. Yesterday was crazy busy on the water so it was a little stressful and the tide was so strong we kept gettin dragged into the flag area where we weren't supposed to be. Didn't catch anything yesterday but saw some sweet ass surfers ripping it up.
This week we went down to the wharf and checked out the fish market. We were able to get shark steaks and some fresh prawns for like $20 and they were delicious. Shark tastes a lot like chicken to me but it's so good and cheap as hell! The guy who sold it to us said "better we eat them then they eat us" amen brother and they are delicious so bring it on. They have these crab looking things too called 'bugs' which for so long we have thought meant actual bugs on the menus in restaurants but are like crabs...mystery solved. We also got a delicious seafood curry meal this week at Hot Pipi's restaurant where our new bff emily works and how we met her. The food was delicious and we got a new friend out of it so bonus!
I finally saw the movie Fubar this week as Stew had it on his hard drive and I cannot believe it took me this long to see it. It definitely made me think of Monster Jam and I loved it. There's a country music festival in January somewhere near Sydney apparently so its already in the works for our plans. There's also the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Surf competition on the Gold Coast in March-ish so we're going to try and make it to that too as it would be amazing! The pros can tear it up its unreal. We saw videos of surfers doing flips and landing back on the wave...just insane.
Anyways, its reaching that time that I need to head to the beach. I don't think I can get any more tanned but it is so awesome laying in the sun, surfing and listening to music on the beach. My back is sore today from the crazy amount of paddling required yesterday but we'll probably get back out there again today later on when the swell picks up.
Good luck to all those participating in Movember. Stew is starting his but we don't know many aussies participating so far. Can't wait to see pictures!
Let's backtrack a little shall we. First of all, after looking at 4 different vans and getting our hopes up each time that it would work out we finally ended up with a Mazda E2000, year 2000 with just over 200,000 clicks on it. It was in pretty great condition besides being filled with the stink of curry as it was owned by an idian dude who worked in an indian restaurant and must have used the van as the restaurants garbage depot. We took it to our mechanic and bff Bruno over at B & T Autmotives in Nambour where they gave us some new tires, tuned up the beast and cleaned out the curry from the dashboard...yes there was literal curry in the dashboard when we drove it over which almost resulted in me vommitting all over the van. We got a great deal and brought Em to drive it off the lot as Stew and I didn't know how to drive manual. With an awesome instructor (Em) and some side streets we were able to learn and are getting better with each drive. We're still a little nervous on hills but overall, the stalling is becoming less and less. Now we just need some sweet sunglasses to drive in and more hippie stuff to decorate and we'll have the most epic vehicle Aus has seen. 