I suppose it was inevitable that winter would eventually catch up with me. After all, aside from a brief trip back to the northern hemisphere at the end of 2009 I haven't experienced a real winter since 2008. After the baking heat of Brisbane landing in Wellington was a bit of a climate shock and I nearly decided to run home for the summer and return to explore New Zealand when it was summer here. However, while it has been an up and down first month in Windy Welly my original purpose for travelling was never just amusement but learning and ideally some self-enlightenment and good old life experience as well, and since I've come across some interesting opportunities all signs seem to point at, for the time being, staying where I am.
I've had such a rapid change in lifestyle recently that sailing off the coast of Qeensland and setting up triathlon transitions seen like a lifetime ago. Really it wasn't of course, and I still have people waiting on the pictures from the sailing trip, so let’s rewind a little, and try and pick up where I left off…
In my last post you got a taste of a little of what I was up to on my Queensland travel stint. I was so excited about my first skydive experience that I wanted to get the pictures up right away so they didn't suffer the fate of excessive procrastination like these ones did. (And a good thing too otherwise some of you might have been left wondering whether I survived the jump). But that little adventure was just once part of my trip up the coast of Queensland.
After being in Brisbane for so I long I decided I needed to get out of town and do a little bit of travel before my visa ran out. I started with a quick drive up to Bundaberg where I was to meet Klaus, my potential boat captain if we liked the looks of each other. To get all the way up there I caught a ride-share with a French couple who were heading that way in a camper, so I had a ride up and a place to stay my first night. I was glad I did because they invited me to go to see sea turtles hatching – possibly the cutest reptile on the planet! And since I was in the home of Bundaberg rum I couldn’t pass up a visit to the rum factory, which included some very tasty samples at the end of the tour.
I had some lovely couchsurfing hosts in Bundaberg, who accommodated my last minute schedule changes, and it worked out really nicely that they were heading the same way as me when I left, and gave me a lift almost the entire way back to Mooloolaba where I was to work at the Mooloolaba triathlon festival. Once I got finished with the heavy lifting, confused athletes and post-race celebrations I was back on my way up to Mackay to meet Klaus and the crew on Zero Gravity, my home for a couple weeks, and set sail. Unfortunately mechanical problems meant we couldn’t leave as planned, so rather than waiting Easter weekend away at the docks I got a lift to Airlyie Beach. I couldn’t spend a nice Easter at home with family so I opted for a thoroughly non-traditional weekend in the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, a backpacker’s haven where empty goon (cheap wine) grow on trees and the club are open late every night. The skydiving was fun, and I did go out for some drinks and dancing – and there was no need to go out alone just because I arrived alone, it’s easy to make friends there, (and nearly as easy to forget them) – but after four days I was eager to return to the serenity of Zero Gravity and a quiet ocean breeze.
The pictures below are just from the sailing portion of my Queensland trip. There are more from the earlier bits, but there were so many of these, and although they represent just a couple weeks it was a fantastic couple weeks and going over them warmed me up a little just by looking at them. People of note: Klaus, our captain – born German but has long been a resident of my very own home town, Victoria; Daniel and Johannes, crew, German, and their friends Rico, who was looking after their car, and Linn, who joined us for a day trip.
Zero Gravity at the dock in Mackay.
Hitching a ride to Airly with Daniel (left) and Rico (middle).
A warning, in case you weren't sacred enough already.
But I did it!
The Goon Tree. (sideways - a mistake, but maybe an appropriate one since it's the state of most people after consuming it).
Fun at the pub in Airlie.
Ahhhhhhh! Bliss!
Piloting the boat towards Whitsunday Island, the largest of the Whitsunday chain, at sunrise.
No bikinis here, unless you want to feel the sting of jellyfish!
Ninja style!
A boat that didn't quite make it through the storms that hit just before our journey.
Captain Klaus, bringing us into harbour.
We flew the Canadian flag, but Germany and the Royal Vcitoria Yacht club were also represented.
Highlights from a day cruise in the Whitsunday Islands.
Klause likes to keep a clean boat.
Exploring the beautiful Magnetic Island - they have a Horseshoe Bay too!
This may be the last time you see me with a tan! Just remember, it did happen!
Stay tuned for news from Windy Welly!
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