Days 204-210 Brisbane and the Reef

After the excitement that was Day 203 and its 3 am wakeup call, I decided to take it nice and easy on Day 204. Besides that fact, it’s really warm over here (not complaining though!) so running out on errands is a bit nutty.

I started the day with a walk around 8 am in the morning. I headed down to the port area in Brisbane and it did not disappoint, but I was sweating so I headed back up to the inn to take a shower. See this is why I’d never get on Survivor – I really enjoy my creature comforts!

Following a short break as mentioned I headed back down the same path, as it was my intention to go enjoy the ferry ride, which lead me over to Southbank – very family friendly. And I found a free swimming pool as I had been told there was! Bonus.

After a nice short dip – not too long, as I’m travelling alone, it’s a bit nervewracking to leave my stuff all by itself – I checked out the market of local wares. Australia I’ve noticed is very low key this way, they really enjoy their markets and it’s great to see what local people have produced. I meant to pick up a framed matted photo, but alas I had no cash on me and they wouldn’t take credit. The shame of it all is that it wouldn’t have lasted in my pack as it is getting quite full at this point.

Further down the Southbank area was a theatre advertising its last days of Avenue Q. As I had seen it before I was cool with not going again, not a problem. Please be advised that Wicked is a different sort of beast and does not apply to this situation of repeat offendership.

Look, I made up a word! Screw you, Wikipedia!

I then crossed over a footbridge before encountering the falling domino window effect of one of the town’s squares, before heading back for dinner.

In the evening, armed with my ferry pass still good, I took a mini 20 minute cruise on the water. It was great but after all of that walking I was done!

Day 205 was going to be my last in Brisbane but I was still in the mode of taking it easy. With that being said, however, I still got in some activities.

The state government house of Queensland is in Brisbane so I decided to take a tour. One of the really neat things is that in the 1920’s, the House of Lords (like the Senate in Canada) decided they were ineffective and voted themselves out of a job! How about that! Government self disciplining. As a result they still have a house of representatives/commons which often sends things to committee.

Further to that there was a school group in the house of commons and they were debating whether or not to abolish homework!

Side note: When I was 16 and in Grade 10 I participated in an activity through the Rotary Club in my area and was chosen to go to a program called “Adventures in Citizenship”. This is where about 200 kids from across Canada came together to learn about their country. We actually got to sit in the House of Commons which is quite rare (I think I even have a picture in the speaker of the house’s chair, will have to dig it out and scan it). It’s a shame Canada doesn’t do this.

Back to the main game then and I picked up the Mumford and Sons CD. Which I would tell you is excellent but I’m having problems moving it from the CD to the memory stick so I can put it on Bort (my netbook, please call him as such) and then enjoy it through my mp3 player. I guess I will have to just wait.

Following an episode of Millionaire Hot Seat where they had a $250K winner (which I knew was going to happen, it was the tape date before mine and Chris’) it was off to pack and then to get ready for a loooooong train ride the next day.

Day 206 and it was time for the longest train ride I’ve ever taken. But the nice thing was that it was extremely scenic, and I was able to get a single seat. No couchette as they were all booked up due to the previous two trains being cancelled as a result of the cyclone.

The train was quite similar to the CountryLink Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane ride, save for the slightly more reclining seats and an extra food car. It was a bit of a go for the first several hours as a grandma, her daughter and three grandchildren of I reckon, ages 5, 2 and 18months (at best) moved in. And HURRAH they were going to Townsville as well.

It promised to be a loud train ride. These kids weren’t crying; they were whining the whole ride. It was a bit of a patience tester, frankly.

Thankfully salvation was in the form of a British couple my age named Pete and Vanessa. Got chatting to them just past Bundaberg and we ended up chatting through dinner, then through the evening and through many games of cards.

The night actually wasn’t too bad… although I’m reminded that I am a not huge fan of sleeping overnight in a chair. But to pass the time I just enjoyed some podcasting on the mp3 player and soon enough it was day 207.

9 am arrived and after spending four minutes shy of an entire day on the train I piled in with Vanessa and Pete to grab a taxi in to our accommodations. I was relieved not that my room was ready but rather I was permitted to use the shower while I waited. It was nice to destinkify – Susie, can you verify that in the OED?

The rest of the day was really much of just doing errands. Got my bus tickets bought. Had lunch. Skyped the parents. Checked my email to find out that someone wanted to use something online in a current affairs program for the Seven Network over here.

I enjoyed a nice dinner with Vanessa and Pete, some great pasta at a little Italian place between our accommodations. And then a night in.

Complete with a solid nine hours of rest that lead into day 208. I took the time to walk a bit around Townsville and enjoy the sights. The nicest place by far was The Strand, just a great boardwalk and some activities for the kids.

Left Townsville for Ayr and an hour later I was met by Cassie of Yongala Dive and with her driving and Christine from near Munich as the other passenger, we headed off to Alva Beach, where the dive lodge was.

Instantly I fell in love with Alva Beach. So beautifully peaceful. And the dive lodge was great. A room of 6 bunks, a room of 4 bunks and a room with a queen bed. It turned out that Christine and I were the only ones to be in the six bunk room so it was nice to be able to be spread out. But what it really came down to was that it didn’t feel like a hostel at all. Classy as hell, and really well set up. A steal for $27 AUS a night.

Unfortunately when we arrived that evening we were instantly told that we wouldn’t be going out the next day due to high winds already predicted. Really, there’s nothing you can do about it, so I was happy that I had booked for two days.

We enjoyed the rest of the evening with Cassie and Louis from the UK who are the interns at the dive lodge to help us keep entertained and also Chris came around, who ironically I ran into at the internet café in Townsville. We broke open a box of goon and had a good evening, following a viewing of Hancock.

There really wasn’t a huge rush to do anything on the morning of Day 209 as a normal 6.30 wakeup for dive day breakfast wasn’t necessary. I wandered down to the beach mid-morning to go for a walk, very peaceful and actually Christine was there as well so we chatted together for about two hours whilst walking.

The thing that made it brilliant was the fact that this beach felt like the end of the world. Beautiful, serene, untouched, and barely anyone there.

Enjoyed a bit of lunch back at the lodge and following a small après-food nap, I heard “we’re going into town, do you want to come”? What a silly question. I grabbed my bathing costume (that’s for you, Yongala crew, if you’re reading this) and towel and hopped in the truck. Chris needed to do skill work with Louis so Cassie, Christine and I all came along.

Louis is working on his Divemaster course and was required to do a 400m continuous swim followed by 15 minutes of treading water, then a whole whack of skill sets. Understandably he was tired when it had all wrapped up! I was just pleased to be in the pool however I would have rather been at the bottom!
On the way home we did our usual bus pick up at 4.40 and bagged us an Irishman named Paul. We all headed back to home base and had a quieter night (although how we missed getting Chris’ attention for the chicken feed is beyond me)
PIC
But we did seem some frogs on the stairs!

It’s a regular Animal Planet.

Day 210 and we were a go. They’ve only gone out twice in the last fortnight but we are off to explore the SS Yongala, reportedly the best wreck dive in the country.

We are up at 6.30 am for brekky, and I’m downstairs to start getting my gear ready at around 7.15 am. For some odd reason I am the first one done… I suppose this is a rarity and Chris tells me to just take it easy until we get everyone ready for the briefing.

Which starts around 8.10 am, right on schedule. There is a lot to take in so I am pleased that we are doing it on dry land, as I am about to find out several times throughout the day. We are assigned into groups according to our experience in the van – I am startled to find out that I have a few hundred dives on, well, everybody. This is perfectly find however as I am used to this fact.

We start the trip out and this is the nice calm water that I see to start:

This is the last I’ll be seeing of the boat ride. Somehow I survive the ride out but just before I start kitting up for the first dive I decided (not on purpose, trust me) to feed the fish. If you don’t understand the term, just think about it, then look it up. This will become a reoccurring fact during the day’s proceedings.

After finishing that I was happy to get in the water. I had rented a 3 mil suit as my 7 mil would have roasted me on a shish kebab as the water was about 80F at depth. It was a great dive for the wildlife… such as the turtles and the rays and all the neat fish that I captured videos of which I’ll post up as soon as I can sort through my videos.

Following that first wonderful dive the fish feeding kept on coming. On the surface waiting to get back on the boat. During the surface interval. On the surface waiting to go down on the second dive. And then most disturbingly, 30 feet down on the dive. With once more at the surface after the second dive for good measure.

So sufficient to say that the day can be summed up like this: diving, great. Me and the 2 metre swells, not so much.

I was anxious to eat some lunch back at home base when we got there, and it was delightfully good steak (I’m sure I could have pretty much eaten ANYTHING at that point). Decided to go into town to pick up the next bus guest with Cassie, and here’s the conversation I have with the young female getting off the bus:

“Hey, you’ve got a MEC bag! Where in Canada are you from?”

“Toronto.”

“Cool! I live in Newmarket.”

“Really? I’m from Aurora.”

“Get out!”

And so we keep discussing and she even knew a student I used to teach. Kristen had just finished her degree at Western and was doing the traditional gap year.

That evening Cassie, Louis, Kristen and I took it easy, having some good laughs, including Kristen challenging Louie to a hand stand competition.

Even with my recent training at the circus, I decided to pass, and I think we were all shocked when Louis won!

Off to Cairns for my last stop until I head home!

Cheers,
Vick.