Ode to the Backpacker

Let me take a break from telling you all about my whereabouts to talk a little bit about backpackers. You all know how much I love the backpacking culture and with last years travels and this years... I have attained some backpacking 'wisdom'. What good is wisdom if it is not shared right?

Backpackers Commandments

1. A backpacker MUST always travel with a backpack. None of this rolly bag bull. Stuff it in a backpack and lug it around mate.
2. Stay in hostels. Even if a hotel comes out cheaper - there is nothing like interacting and living in hostels whilst traveling.
3. Always respect your fellow backpackers. This includes never turning on the lights when you get in from a night out, NOT stealing from your fellow poor colleagues, cleaning up after yourself in the shared kitchens, and not taking long showers.
4. Tell all good and bad experiences. Learning where to go and what to do from backpackers is one of the best parts of traveling this way.
5. Share. We are all poor and we become like a little family. Make that spaghetti for two!
6. No high hells. Get over it gals, your backpacking - your aposta look like a bum.
7. Wander. Don't over plan. You want to sort of drift to places as you hear about them and stay longer where you enjoy to - and leave where you don't.
8. Talk to randoms. You will meet people from all over the world in hostels - just start up convo.
9. Pass it forward. Sometimes you stay with a friend of a friend of a friend in Berlin, or an aquantance in Melbourne... when the time comes, let a semi stranger stay in your home or make them dinner.
10. Do what you would not normally do at home. Maybe you can pick up work feeding llamas or start surfing eventhough you are normally a little afraid of the ocean and its habitants. This is the time when you are learning the most about yourself, so push those limits.

Fraser Island as a Goonie

Fraser island is a sand island. It is a nature reservation - and , to say the least, it is a gorgeous place. There are a few resorts on the island, but most people camp on the island. Visiting the island at minimum impact is ideal. We went on a self driven tour via Paradise tours.

Our 4X4 included 10 people total. The camping equipment (which was, falling to pieces mostly) was given to us along with the car. We were to purchase our groceries, cook, camp, and navigate the island on our own.

We knew we had a good group off the bat. Tamara and I were accompanied by our Sweedish friend Carine; Jack, an English recent grad lawyer with a sarcastic sense of humor and an eye for Tamara; Anette, a 'sweet' Sweedish girl that rarely spoke unless she got hammered and started showing her true, slightly scary, sexual experiences; Tom, a dreamy English man traveling all over who just jumped in to help everywhere he could and did most of the driving... and most of the drinking... but not at the same time; Phil, a chubby English fella constantly conserned over everything and who navigated most of the way (hence why we got lost a few times) and a fobia of EVERY creater - including march flies; Dave, Phil's brother who seems to spend lots of time working out and is very proud of his body yet keeps to himself a lot of the time; Kelly, a young British girl whos age shows, is more fun while drunk, and tends to nag her boyfriend 23 hours a day; Mark (pronounced, by Kelly as MAAAHARKKK), a 25 year old Brit with the maturity level of a 10 year old - Mark's random gestures and comments might have been top on our list of highlights for the trip.

The first half hour on Frasers we managed to mess up our tires - rookies. We didn't notice the mess until the next morning, which is good because we had such a great day that to know about the tire any earlier might have taken away from it. We started off at Lake Wobby, which is a beautiful fresh water lake between the doones and a forest area. It was the most refreshing swim. We played a lamer version of volleyball in the water while Tom snuck up on each girl 'croc' style.

After Lake Wobby we decided it was enough excitement and we wanted to get to our campsite. We settled in front of the beach and set up camp. This is, mind you, a sand island. Sand is EVERYWHERE and there is nowhere to hide. This and the lack of showers made us all look like hobbos by the end of day 1.

We played soccer on the beach and cooked up a barbeque. After eating we played Ring of Fire, which is my new favorite drinking game to date. It usually involves drinking Goon, which can get nasty. By the end of night 1 I had a name for us.

We are... The Goonies.

Day 2 was spent at Champagne Falls, the lookout, and an early dinner. I drove a bit on day 2, which was scary and exciting. We played Ring of Fire on night 2 and it was even more interesting than the 1st. A small group camped near us and joined in. We had pasta for dinner - which had sand in it - for texture. At this point one cooler had red blood leaked all over it from our meat and the other had red goon all over from our goon. :S

Day 3 was spent in Lake Mckenzie which was even better than Lake Wobby. The water is clear and warm. It was gorgeous and we spent most the time attacking eachother with sand balls and throwing the football around.

The largest drama that happened to the Goonies was our trip back to our ferry. the last ferry off the island was at 4 pm and we were on our way to 'central station' where we THOUGHT we were to fill our tires back up and get on the ferry. Well, we got to the station and it was the wrong location. We needed to go to the port in Fishermans Bay 18 KM away! On terrain like that of Frasers, this is not an easy distance to reach. Luckily Tom was at the wheel and he went as fast as possible in those conditions. It was the first time our car was completely quiet, with the exception of someone asking the time every now and again. We had 2 minutes to go when we were filling up our tires. We arrived to the port and the ferry was leaving. We all screamed and pleaded and... the ferry came back! We made it on and jumped around. Everyone on the ferry was clapping. The captain told us that some people had come up to him and asked "where are the Goonies? I don't think they are on yet!" ha!

We arrived back to Harvey Bay and spent Tamara's birthday night at our hostel... playing Ring of Fire.

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