Road Trippin' Pt.1

4 hot chicks in a camper van.

'Right then.  It's been a while.  I know, I dropped the ball.  All this time I could have been writing stories of hippie surf towns, revisiting Sydney, surfing massive waves (or rather trying not to die), exploring the freezing south coast of Australia, checking out dark, seedy bars in Melbourne and so on and so forth.

But I got lazy.  Or rather, I didn't have the time or the focus to sit down on my iPhone and attempt to describe the ridiculously funny incidents or the ridiculously scary waves.  I was too busy laughing, exploring, driving, drinking (although not together), playing ukulele or working out the secrets of the universe.  Because those are the kinds of things that happen when the best of friends get together for a 2,000km road trip in a beast of a camper van so aptly named the "FemPurr" -- derived from "of the feminine persuasion."

So what now?  Do I attempt to recount everything?  Just the highlights?  Or do I move on completely, letting the memories bounce around in my brain until they slowly fade into a warm, fuzzy, distant notion of a lost time and place?  No -- no, I don't think that would do.  But I also don't want to overwhelm you (or me) so we will do this in increments.  I'll try to leave it on cliffhanger so you come back for more.

Ok, so.  I stayed with Emma in Brisbane before Annette and Sara arrived.  For those of you who don't know, Annette, Sara and I went to high school together.  To be completely honest I did not know Sara very well before this trip, but living with somebody in a van for two weeks you either grow to love or hate them.  Fortunately both are awesome chicks and we only grew closer over our time together.

Emma and I picked up Annette and Sara from the airport.  From that moment on we were either laughing hysterically, telling a crazy story about an encounter in some remote (many marriage proposals included), cooking delicious food or... who knows what.  Emma hosted all of us before we picked up the FemPurr and headed down to our first stop: Byron Bay.

A note on driving the FemPurr -- not only had I never driven a van that big, but I had not driven in eight months, never drove a manual transmission with the shift on the left, and was driving on the wrong side of the road.  Does anyone else think it is a miracle that we drove 2,000km and never crashed once?!  I certainly do...

Byron Bay.  It's the place that everybody tells you to go to: "Oh, you are going to Australia? Make sure you get to Byron Bay.  You'll love it."  It is the hippie-surf capitol of Australia, with a perfect right hand, sandy point break at "The Pass" and miles of open beach break as well.  The culture of the little surf town is mellow and down to earth, although one does get a yuppie vibe as well as a darker, underground drug scene going on.  Needless to say, we had a blast there.

 Burying Annette and giving her incorrect anatomy...

Emma joined us on our Byron expedition so the four of us raised hell in the beachside campground we stayed at.  We played loud music all day, drank goon (cheap box wine) all night, surfed heaps, played on the beach and made new friends.  Our last night there we hitched a ride out to the backpackers pub with a newspaper delivery man, who randomly offered to pack all six of us in the back of his van, just so long as we didn't sit on the newspapers.  That is the kind of thing that would happen in Byron Bay.

Annette managed to capture my steeze on a little left at "The Wreck"

That night at the pub was an open mic, and I must admit it was the best open mic I have ever been to.  There was a wide range of musical types, and everybody was good -- so good that I was deterred from getting up and rocking the ukulele -- probably for the best.  The next morning we headed out to The Pass where I surfed small but perfect waves.  The water was so clear that, as I cruised along on a slow roller, I watched a sea turtle ride along with me in the face of the wave.  I could see myself spending a long time there.  Unfortunately, we had to move on. 

BRB (lol)

I have not been ignoring you - I promise. The truth is I can't stand the thought of writing an entire blog post on an iPhone, and as I have been trekking around in a camper van with two awesome chicks, I have not had time to stop at a computer.  I want you to know, however, that we are having a great time (in spite of a speeding ticket or two) and are almost to Melbourne. Once we settle down a bit I will relate stories of camping in a deluge, perfect point breaks, triple rainbows, massive close out beach breaks, writing songs, and general shenanigans.

Sailor's and Surfer's Paradise

Ah yes, Salty Schneider is back at it.  Well, was at it, for two days -- which, as far as I am concerned -- was plenty.  We arrived at the Oz-like setting that is the Gold Coast early this morning after smashing up the coast from Port Stephens for the past two days.  I say "smashing" but in reality it was a fairly easy sail with fresh southerlies and a nice current pushing us along the whole way.

We left Port Stephens in the dark on Easter morning.  For the first half day or so the winds were pretty light so we had to motor quite a bit, but in the afternoon the wind filled in and we had a steady 20+ southerly knot breeze pushing all the way to the Gold Coast.

 Because the seas were relatively calm we were able to have a nice Easter lunch of ham and scalloped potatoes, which was great because eating is by far my favorite pastime on passage (and in general, I suppose).  We had a beautiful sunset the first night followed by a bright moon all night, which when offshore, is a best friend.  There was quite a bit of freighter traffic along the coast so watches were a bit more vigilant than when we are hundreds of miles offshore, but all in all it was quite a relaxed passage.  I'd also like to give a shout out to the awesome current that pushed us north, enabling us to hit 10 knots surfing down waves under mainsail alone.

Two relatively easy days of sailing and now we are anchored off Surfer's Paradise.  (I say "relatively" because it takes, oh, an hour to fly from Sydney to the Gold Coast...)  But I am pretty stoked to have the boat backin Queensland.  It always feels good to get out and moving again, and it always feels good to get into a nice, calm, safe port after moving around as well.   

Looks like the plan is to kick it around Surfer's Paradise and the Gold Coast for a few days.  While Surfer's Paradise has a nice, long sandy beach and tons of surf shops, the waves are not that good and it is totally overrun with tourists.  But it does have a great name.  Who knows, maybe I will go fight the crowds and surf Snapper Rocks, just for the hell of it.

Chapter Sydney

Thus concludes Chapter Sydney.  Did you like it?  I did.  If you remember way back, I originally intended to spend the holidays in Sydney with Mom and Dad and then return to the Sunshine Coast.  Three months later I am leaving Sydney to return to the Sunshine Coast - where I will meet up with my good friends Annette and Sara, and we will road trip from Brisbane to Melbourne.  

But first things first.  I quit my job yesterday!  In a melodramatic, "I am leaving never to return" kind of way I said goodbye to my co-workers and thanked my boss for all the work (money) he has given me.  I had been telling them I was leaving Sydney for the past three weeks now, so I think they were all glad to be rid of me, although there is a small chance I will get another few days of work with them when I am back down this way.

Yes, Sydney was good to me.  I tend to love any city that has surf, and Sydney definitely delivered in the wave department.  It also delivered in the night-life department, beach scene, art scene, tourist scene and on and on.  There are tons of travelers and foreigners in the city, so I fit right in.  

In reflection, I think Manly is my favorite part of Sydney.  Geographically it is awesome because as it is at the northern point of the bay, the anchorage is nice and protected from the northerly winds.  From the bay to the beach is an easy two block stroll past designer surf shops and swanky cafes.  When the winds turn southerly it makes the waves at Manly hollow and fast, and although one has to dodge all the beginners, surf skis, paddleboards and angry locals, it is a damn good place to surf.  

On the weekend you can find the local bars of Manly packed with good looking young people - backpackers and locals, tourists and transplants; everybody radiating the sun soaked up on the sand all day.  I must admit there is a bit of a "bro" vibe in the bars, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to be taken to an open mic night on Thursday where everybody was not perfectly tanned with bleach blonde hair.  I was impressed to find this little pocket of eclectic, poetry reading, didgeridoo playing group of people in the midst of the "RoxyBillabongHotelBarHighRentAndHighHeelsOnly" vibe of Manly, which I generally tend to ignore.  It was refreshing.

Cool little pockets of funky bars and cafes, music and art scenes exist all over Sydney, and I must admit that I am a bit blind-sighted by my quest for surf and forget to explore more of the underground scenes.  If you make it to Sydney I would highly recommend checking out Newtown, Surrey Hills and the northern beaches in addition to Manly and the Opera House.

Yes, the northern beaches is where we are now.  Palm Beach is the northernmost point of the spit of land that makes Pittwater, where we are currently anchored.  The plan is to weigh anchor at 05:00 tomorrow morning and head north towards Brisbane.  It's hard to say when and where we will stop, as there are many nice bays and anchorages (and surf!) along the way.  

It feels like one chapter is ending and another is beginning as we leave Sydney.  I always get a bit anxious when we leave a place - particularly one we stay in for a long time and one I like so much - but such is the life of a salty sailor.  It's actually pretty exciting to be on the go again, and the idea of meeting up with old friends as well as meeting new gets me stoked on the whole thing all over again.

Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll (and my birthday!)

How do I begin to describe my life in a realistic, reasonable and rational light? 

Shredding birthday waves!

Quarter century, baby!  That's how long I've been around on this planet.  And I must say, for the past 10 years or so, each year has been successively better.  Each year I can't imagine how the coming year will top the last, but lo and behold, it does.  Granted, my expectations are getting extremely high - from crossing oceans to free diving pristine coral atolls, from working on super yachts to working as a writer - but I hope with a good attitude and an adventurous spirit, my expectations will continue to be met.

The past few weeks, however, have been somewhat ridiculous and a bit too much fun, therefore I do not expect the rest of my life to top the party that has been my life recently.  You see, a visit from Emma, Sydney Mardi Gras, a Cat Empire concert, epic waves and my 25th birthday just happened coincide within a few very action packed weeks.

A few weeks back I convinced Emma to come down to Sydney from Brisbane for Sydney Mardi Gras on Saturday night, and then managed to swoop two tickets to see the Cat Empire on Sunday.  She flew in on Thursday night and we proceeded to have a four day party, which started off with drinks with Couchsurfing friends on Friday night - complete with dancing at a seedy club until 3am.

Saturday night was Sydney's Mardi Gras, which is the official gay and lesbian party of the year.  Emma, our friend Alex and I headed downtown, but not before convincing Mom and Dad to join us.  The streets were absolutely packed with people young and old, wasted and sober, gay, straight, transgender and everything in between.  As we got there a bit late we did not see much of the parade (too many people) but we managed to find a table at our favorite bar, Coco Cubano, and people-watched and shared silly stories until the early morning.  It was a pretty wild scene.  (For the record, Mom and Dad did not join us at the bar, but I might have seen them dancing on a float that went by in the parade.)  

Mazel Tov Mardi Gras!

If I remember correctly, Emma and I spent most of Sunday sleeping and recovering from the two previous nights before gearing up for the Cat Empire concert.  It was on my bucket list to see the Cat Empire - my favorite Aussie band - in concert while I was in Australia, and I am sure glad I did.  The show was at the Metro and, while the Cat Empire usually plays huge venues and headlines music festivals, this concert was in a smaller venue where everybody could see the musicians and sing and dance along.

The Cat Empire rocks.  They have two lead singers, brass, keys, a DJ and drums.  They jam super hard and although they have a new album out that they were debuting, they played a great mix of old and new songs.  It can be kind of tedious to stand there and listen to songs you have never heard before at a concert, but I loved all the new songs I heard, and all of the old songs I know and love were played in slightly different versions, all awesome and rock-a-licious.  I think it might be the best show I have ever been to.

Fortunately I didn't work on Monday, as I would have been totally ruined and useless after partying all weekend.  In all honesty, I do not remember too much about the next week, only that I might have worked a day or two, and spent the rest of my time gallivanting around Sydney with Emma.  I convinced Emma to extend her "long weekend" trip and stay for my birthday, a few days away.

A day before my birthday Mom and Dad took the boat up to Manly upon my request, as I could think of nothing nicer than waking up in Manly, walking over to the beach side and catching some epic birthday waves.  While Rutea sailed past the Opera House Emma and I took heaps of photos, trying to capture the the beauty of the city and the iconic, "I sailed here on my sailboat" photo. 

"I sailed here on my sailboat"

The next day was my birthday and I awoke in Manly to bright blue skies.  Dad offered to take some pictures of me surfing and managed to get a few, although I swear the waves were WAY bigger than they look on camera.  After surfing Mom made me an excellent Mexican breakfast - made with legit Mexican products imported (smuggled) in from the US (and Mexico).  We spent the day drinking screwdrivers, swimming off the boat, listening to music and enjoying life.  In the evening we went out for a fun sushi dinner and to the bar afterward for a totally unnecessary drink.

Happy birthday to me: Screwdrivers, sunshine and two of my favorite chicks!

By this time I am sure you are thinking, "Doesn't she work?  Is she an alcoholic?  What a bum!"  And yes, I am a bit of a bum.  Work has been very spotty and way less hours than I would like, but I have been making the most of my free time.  And yes, I have been partying quite a bit but, hey mate, that's the Aussie way of life!  I do, however, expect things to mellow out for a while - at least until my friends Annette and Sara, who are currently traveling Asia, meet me in Brisbane for a road trip. 

I live a charmed life.  I know this.  I recognize the fact that I have been given so many fantastic opportunities, and try - really try! - not to take them for granted. 

Surfing - Couch - Surfing

India, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, Spain, France and Turkey to name a few...

Surfing -- you know I am all about it.  And I am sure you know of couch surfing, whether it be in the form of a flashback from 1969 or a current reality (p.s. your friends are getting tired of your dirty laundry all over their couch).  You might have also read about my brief encounters with couch surfing in previous posts, but over the weekend I had what one could consider a "full on CS experience", and I would like to share it with you.

Yes, there is actually a website called Couchsurfing.  Couchsurfing.org to be exact.  The mission of this website is to connect travelers with other travelers as well as locals all over the world.  It is not only a website that hooks people up with a free place to stay for the night, but also a forum to post casual activities like, "Drinks tonight at Bondi", so that people such as myself who don't have too many friends don't have to drink alone.  Noble, don't you think?

While I usually use CS to meet people to surf with, this past weekend I decided to join a camping trip to Jervis Bay, three hours south of Sydney.  I saw that a few people I know (and like) were attending, so I decided, what the hell, and signed up.

By the night before we were to leave, nearly thirty people had signed up for the trip.  How was anybody ever going to organize and coordinate getting thirty people - mostly backpackers, who are about as easy to herd as cats - into cars at 9am on a Saturday morning?

Miraculously, people showed up on time, perhaps because the organizer, a guy named Dan, threatened to leave anybody late behind (which I am pretty sure we did).  By 9:30 we were on the road headed for Jervis Bay.  I was riding with my buddy Alex, who is also a keen surfer (the real kind) so along the way we sussed out a few waves.

Although we had an agonizingly long stop at a Woolworth's for everybody who didn't buy food and drinks to do so before we went out into the boonies, everything was amazingly well coordinated.  I guess it just comes down to the fact that, being adults, when told to be at a certain place at a certain time, we can usually do it.

Around three in the afternoon we finally made it to the campsite, where the rangers stuck us in the far corner so as not to disturb any of the nice families, which we managed to do anyway.  However, we had a nice big space to ourselves  - our big, happy family.

The thing that struck me most about this experience was the cultural mismash of people.  It was amazing.  We had people from all over the world: the UK, the US, France, Spain, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, Russia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India and Australia.  We had Muslims and Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, atheists and devotees.  Sure, there were a few religious and political discussions, but people were far more concerned with playing soccer (football), swimming, drinking, eating and having a good time than solving the world's problems.  

No cheesy icebreaker games but a cheesy underwater picture (or 200).

There were no cheesy icebreaker games and although there was a general game plan: arrive 3:00pm, start drinking 3:01pm, we were all free to do as we pleased.  Alex and I considered sneaking off to go find a decent wave to surf, but decided to hang out with the group and get to know people a bit better. 

There is something a bit exhausting about starting a friendship from square one, but it is exciting and exhilarating as well.  Particularly with Couchsurfing, people come from such different backgrounds than mine that they always have at least one mind-bending story to tell.  From sharing ridiculously strong (and bile-like) spirits with a Turkish dude to watching two British chicks trying to set up a tent, we had many entertaining moments.

I tend to like the people I meet on CS.  Granted, you can pick and choose the people you want to interact with, but I find that, in general, Couchsurfers are genuine people, interested in other people and doing interesting things.  They are the people who did more than just talk about getting out there - they are out there doing it right now.

But you don't necessarily have to be a backpacker on a budget to be involved with CS.  I have met a few Ozzies that host couchsurfers just to keep their lives interesting.  When things get a little boring, invite a Russian to crash on your couch for the night and that should spice things up!  

Granted, as with meeting anybody online, one has to use good judgement when meeting and finding people to stay with.  Everybody has a profile and can get responses and feedback from other people, but  I guess to takes faith in humanity for this site to work.  

As far as my experiences have gone, Couchsurfing has only given me more faith in humanity, as it is not only good for a casual beer and an interesting conversation, but also demonstrates that people from all over the world and from all different backgrounds and can have one hell of a time roughing it out in the wilds of Jervis Bay for 24 hours or so.

Oz Day and Other Exciting Information

This tree fell within 1 meter of Emma's car - yikes!

It's been a long time, I know.  It's not you - it's me.  I want to be able to wow you with crazy and exotic stories, but life here is just a bit too normal at the moment.  It has gotten to the point where, when I take the ferry to Manly to go surf I am more interested in watching Judge Judy or whatever else happens to be on the TV than taking pictures of the opera house and harbour bridge.  I am not trying to be smug, but one can only have so many pictures of the opera house, and we don't have TV on the boat.

To be fair, this is exactly what I wanted - to get to know a place and people, to learn my way around.  Unfortunately I still get terribly lost every once in a while.  I have been seriously considering joining the 21st century and getting an iPhone so that I might know where I am all the time, but it seems like it might take a lot of the excitement out of trying to get to work in the morning.

In other news, Australia Day was last weekend!  Australia Day is the Aussie equivalent of 4th of July meets Columbus Day.  Nobody could be bothered to tell me the exact significance of the holiday, except that you drink all day, have swimming races and listen to Triple J radio station's hottest 100 countdown.

Actually, Triple J is a really cool radio station.  If you are interested in listening to new and awesome music, check out their website at http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/.  It is a government run radio station so there are no commercials, so brand endorsements, and no bad language censoring.  It has been great to catch up on all the new music I have missed over the past two years.  The hottest 100 countdown is the world's biggest music democracy, with millions of people from all over the world voting for their favorite songs of the year.  Of course I had not heard of most of the songs, but believe it or not there is some great new music out there.

Aside from listening to the hottest 100 countdown, I survived my first cyclone.  Ok, it was not a legitimate cyclone, but I forgot to check the weather before I flew up to the Sunshine Coast for a little weekend trip to spend the holiday with Emma and her mates, and as the tail end of Cyclone Evan crashed into Queensland I was in for a bit of flooding, power outages and falling trees.  

Nevertheless, it was great to spend time with Emma and be back on the Sunny coast.  It felt like visiting my old neighborhood!  I surfed Noosa twice, which was a bit stormy but there was plenty of swell in the water, and we went to a party at Emma's friends house down the coast a ways for Oz Day.  In spite of the torrential rain and howling winds, we partied until the sun came up (or at least until the sky was light).

That afternoon as we were recovering from shenanigans we watched Django in the family's home cinema.  Just as we were to the climax of the movie - have you seen it?  I don't want to spoil anything - where Django is about to DIE, the power went out.  We were all left in the pitch black to wonder if Django makes it out alive.  If you have not seen the movie I would highly recommend you do so - it is pretty good and relatively not-too-gory, at least by Tarentino's standards.

On Sunday evening we returned to Brisbane as the weather got even worse and the news on TV spewed doomsday segments.  To be fair, Bundaberg (remember Bundy?!) was hit with the worst flooding in the town's history and thousands of homes were lost.  People there are still homeless.  Fortunately Brisbane was not hit too hard, although a few boats broke loose from their moorings and a tree fell down in front of Emma and Rowan's house, narrowly missing Emma's car.  At least our minds were put at ease as we downloaded (shhhhh!!) the last 20 minutes of Django and saw it through to the end.

Alas, other than a quick weekend trip, a national holiday, a bit of work and a bit of cyclone, that is all the news that is fit to print.  I have made nice friends in Sydney, have good work (albeit a bit spotty), and surf as much as I can.  I have to enjoy these sandy beach breaks before we head back up to the tropical, razor sharp reef breaks of Indonesia.  At least, that is the plan at this point.  But who knows what the future will hold?!