Magnetic Island, Airllie Beach, Whit Sundays, and random Rockhampton

WE ARE ON THE ROAD! We have been driving anywhere between 2 to 6 hours a day and have been flying by the wings of fate - with not much planed ahead.

Magnetic Island
We spent 2 days on this island. It is beautiful, but there was not much to do. The occupants' age medium at our hostel (Base) was about 20. After hearing a gasp from a young German girl who had just asked our ages, we felt old.

We spent our days at Magnetic Island on the beach, at the pool. On our last night at Magnetic I experienced Goon for the first time. Goon is, after all, part of Australian culture. It is also cheap wine in a silver bag.

We met a group of young English boys from Newcastle and drank red, white, and rose Goon (yes, it even comes in rose!!). Two of the boys were nice English gentlemen and chatted with us all night - a few of the others were the other kind of English boy. One of the chubby ones was very intoxicated and sang "California" every time I walked by.

Airlie Beach
You know those American movies from the 80s where all the women wear hot pink bikinis and are orangy tan with beach blond hair? You know, where everyone is at a beach town for their spring break? This, in a nutshell, is Airlie Beach. Everyone is in their early to mid 20s, beautiful, and sun kissed.

I never had much of a "spring break" college experience while I was actually IN college - mostly because I had work to worry about. I more than made up for this in Airlie Beach! Our 1st night was spent at a party hostel called 'Magnums.' We were knackered when we arrived and thought we would just shower, have a drink, and go to bed. Our night got a bit more interesting than this.
We were almost done with our one drink - when a VERY handsome man came up and asked to sit with us. Hours later we were playing pool with 3 men, drunk as fishes - leaving the bar to get to a dance club.

This happened very easily. Romane. Romane is the Lithuanian fellow that first came to sit and have a drink with us. Imagine the cutest male model you have ever seen, then add blue eyes. This is Romane. We sat with Romane chatting about life, travel, work, passion, love, and anything else that came up. Romane has traveled all over the world - and LOVED Brazil (of course!). This is one of the best things about traveling. Meeting people like Romane. People that have so much of a similar point of view from your own. People that I am excited to know exist and help me know that no, I am not a crazy person for looking at the world the way I do.

Romane left to shower and 2 Englishmen came to us right away. They asked us to play pool with them - and we obliged. They were rough and tough looking blokes with tattoos on them. The tallest, roughest looking was Adam. Strangely enough, Adam is a cupcake baker!!! ha!

Romane, the two English blokes, Tamara, and myself all struggled to play pool. The longest pool game in the world turned into a great idea to go dancing. We went to 'Mama Africas' and danced all night! I don't remember the last time I have danced so much. AND it was house and electronica (very Euro!).

We arrived back to our awful, smelly room at 4 am... only to arise at 8 for our sailing trip to Whit Sundays.

Whit Sundays
Needless to say I was a bit sick the morning we arrived on the Mandrake (our sailing boat). It didn't last long as the trip to Whit Sundays is beautiful. I wish I had taken more photos, but I was much too involved in experiencing all of it to stop and take pictures - a common Tati phenomenon for which I kick myself constantly after the fact.

We sailed with Tom, a red, large bellied skipper; Jema, a young, beautiful crew member/cook; Lauren, a funny English gal; Kate, an amazing English singer (she brought her guitar); Stephen, a OVERLY excited English bloke (he was in love with all us girls - all for different reasons and his eyes went big whenever he saw a fish or turtle swimming near our sailboat).

We island hoped, snorkeled, and sailed during the day and sang with Kate and her guitar at night (and did a bit of drinking games I admit).

Rockhampton
After Whit Sundays we stayed a night in Airllie. The next morning our hostel was full, so we took it as a sign of fate and moved on.

We drove south until we felt we needed to stop. The towns were all a bit small, so we decided we would drive the 6 hours to Rockhampton - the largest of the small towns.

Let me take this time to talk about driving on the left side of the road. It is strange. I have been doing well, but turning is the strangest part. Tamara is a brave soul and she has been encouraging. :)

Rockhampton is a bit of a historic town. It started with the gold mining. A river runs threw it (very ala every Euro city) and there are some historic pubs and hotels. It is a farm type town - so MEAT is whats for dinner.

We ate at the first hotel - Crition Hotel (something or other) and I had (gasp) a fillet and romp meat pie with smashed peas and gravy (yumma!).

The hostel owner told us about live music that night in the pub below us. The band was great - but the crowd consisted of 18 - 20 year olds and a crazy rodeo clown, whom I am sure is soon to become the town crazy/homeless man.

The funniest part of our night is that the hostel owner told us that he thought it was a crank call when I called him from the highway and reserved 2 beds under the name Tatiana Brasil. He didn't think it was possible to have such a name. He mentioned this, unfortunately for me, in front of the musicians (while on break). Halfway through their session the musician says, "Tatiana Brasil. Tatiana Brasil. Ladies and gentlemen... that is a real name. You would think it was a stripper name, but no. It is a real name and she is sitting right there... in the blue. Talk to her while you can boys." I turned red. I know that I am not known to become embarrassed often - but I was VERY embarrassed. My name came up before love ballots throughout the night.

The drive
We left Rockhampton and drove south. We spent a couple of hours at 1770 - which is a beautiful little beach (and where Captian Cook first arrived in Aus). We are now at Harvey Bay and we leave for Frazer Island tomorrow morning - for which I am VERY excited. Our Swedish friend has met up with us and we are ready to go!

The Plan - still going
Harvey bay - 1 night
Frazer - 2 nights
Harvey bay - 1 night (Tamara's birthday!)
Noosa - 2 nights
Brisbane - 2 nights
Byron bay - 4 nights
Newcastle - 1 week (including my birthday!)
Sydney - ??

Tati

Sanctuary: Mission Beach Paradise

After a couple of nights relaxing and meeting some of our fellow divers and instructers at the Woolshed bar in Cairns, we rented a little compact car and drove south. (Let me take this opportunity to explain how excited we are to have our own car and be on a road trip! Our car is red and we LOVE it... and the independance it gives us.)

Our first stop is Mission Beach. This beach is GORGEOUS and after consulting our trusty Lonely Planet we decided to stay in a place called Sanctuary. It is about 15 minutes north of Mission Beach and once we arrice we have to hike 500 meters uphill - which wasn't easy to do since we were hungover from 2 days at the Woolshed. When we finally got to the "long house" at Sanctuary, it was well worth it.

This place truely lives up to its name. It is in the middle of the jungle on one of the highest hills. You can see the ocean between the trees. Our accomidations were a little cabana with 2 beds, a roof, and mosquito netting. Thats it. You are litteraly IN the jungle with only this green netting between you and wild life.

We spent the 2 days there at the desolate beach, their 'clothing optional' pool (don't worry people, thankfully nobody there opted for that while we where there), read in hammoks, and took naps in various beautiful breezy locations in the long house.

The only negative, I would say, are the night time creepy crawlers. The frogs and huge beetles came out at night and when we were having dinner in the long house they would just hang about us - which made me a little bit uneasy. :S

Leaving the Sanctuary we feel completly relaxed and ready for the next adventure...

Whats next?:

• Magnetic Island for 2 days



• Airllie beach for 1 night



• 2 nights on a sail boat through Whit Sundays islands



• 1 more night in Arlllie beach



• 2 nights on Frazer island



• ...? (we have yet to figure out the rest of our trip... but we know we have to be in Sydney by ~ dec 15th)

Kisses,

Tati

Diving

I just spent a few days on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef. We spent the entire time diving and snorkeling every 2 - 3 hours, only to break to eat and sleep. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

I DIVE. I DIVE. I know that for those of you who know me enough know that this is a strange concept. I DIVE. I have had a strange fear of fish (because they might come suckle on my fingers and toes) and sharks (too many Jaws movies) for most of my life.

My first day I only snorkeled... which I was quickly pretty good at. The second day I tried diving... and quickly fell in LOVE. I felt like the Little Mermaid - as one with the sea with little restrictions on where I could go.

Night two consisted of a night dive (eek!). Although it is dark they give you some small torches (flashlights) and the moon was almost full enough so that you knew where you were going. I saw a turtle friend of mine trying to sleep on the coral. There was a big red bass following us wherever we went. I nicked named him the stalker fish. What else did I see in the deep sea... at night you ask? A SHARK! I saw a shark feeding! It was more annoyed by our presence than anything else. It just wanted to eat the darn fish it was hunting.

I saw quite a few turtles during our trip. I got to touch the shell of one when we dove the 6am dive (yes, me... waking up at 5 am to get into the cold water). Turtles like it when you scratch the algae off of their shells. The best turtle encounter was when I was giving diving a bit of a rest and went in for a snorkel. The turtle swam up to the surface, then came about half way up and started looking at me. He just sort of swam around staring at me probably thinking "what kind of fish are you!?!"

On my final day I went on a cave dive. We swam between bits of coral and found large parrot fish, a BIG clam and some other super life on the reef.

The crew was great and made me think about the possibility of working a few weeks on a boat. I am amazed by what they get to do everyday - although it is hard work. They are all people living their passion everyday. I just have to find out what mine is. My travel buddy Tamara said something that is very relevant. "This travel business of ours, its not just to see experience great things - it is also a spiritual journey and one that will help us everyday find ourselves a bit more."

I plan on getting back on a boat in a few days. We may sail to Whit Sundays islands... and maybe dive along the way.

Tati

Crocs, Jungle, and the Beach

Hello hello!

I just spent a couple of days in Cape Tribulation and it was amazing! We took walks in a forest that is 160 million years old! Its difficult to fathom. It was so beautiful and so green! We took a boat down the Daindree river, saw some crocs; and also went for a little jungle adventure speeding down cables. ! AMAZING! I have about 5 gazillion pictures of beach and trees... I will share them soon.

The most memorable part of Cape Tribulation is a beach party we attended the first day there. We were drinking at the hostel's pub with an American, an English girl, a French hippie, and my Aussie friend. We were just chatting about politics an a hippie came up and invited us to the beach party.

We walked through dark jungle to get there - with a couple of lighters to insure we didn't step on any toads. There were about 60 people around the beach pit fire. There was a group of locals with a guitar singing some Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, and the likes. A small group of Frenchies had a drum and a didjeridu (aboriginal instrument). A group of 3 hippies fire twirled to the rhythm of the music. The sky was clear and you could see the stars. All we really did was sing along and watch the fire twirlers. So far, the most magical night in Aus.

Next we are off to spend a few nights on a boat around the reef.

I have an Australian phone in case anyone wants to text or call: 0414336539

Kisses,

Tati

PORT DOUGLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone!

I arrived in Australia well and have been here for a couple of days already. I have so much to say already... but I'll try to keep it short.

My flight was GREAT! Quantas is BY FAR the best airline. The stuarts were super friendly and always made an effort (they even walked me to my terminal in Sydney so that I would not miss my flight!).

The shuttle bus was waiting for me in Cairns and we drove North to Port Douglas. The drive was BEAUTIFUL! So green... the ocean so clear. In Cairns I found my friend Tamara almost right away.

The hostel is great... almost resort-y with a great pool and friendly people from all over the world. The beaches in Port Douglas are pretty amazing as well.

My first day here was spent at a pub with campaign. It was the race day here in Auss and everyone was out to watch.

My opinion that Aussies are the friendly est people has been reaffirmed time and time again.

Tamara and I have formulated a plan for the first part of our trip. We are heading to Cape Tribulation tomorrow which is basically a forest. After that we are going back to Cairns to take a scenic train around the area. Then we will be spending 2 nights on a boat around the great barrier ref. After our snorkling we are going to rent a van and drive south. I am so excited I can barely contain myself. My cheeks hurt from smiling.


I miss yous all!

kisses,

Tati