Rain, Leeches, and Squeeky Sand

March 1. Monday. 4-wheel drive class.
Bright and early we headed north of Brisbane…again. 4-wheel drive class, round 2. …and this time we made it on time, without any mishaps! …though, still raining. Unfortunately, because of the rain we were unable to do all of the course…but still, TONS OF FUN! We learned so much about off roading and how to control the vehicle in extreme situatios, and what to do when stuck. Very practical. Some of the obstacles included a “river” crossing, steep slippery hills, huge ruts, and moguls (which are paired pothole and hill in a checker-type pattern – this means that when the front right tire and the left rear tire are on hills the other two tires are floating in the air…and 4-wheel drive can’t accelerate with only two wheels on the ground.) For those of you on facebook, I’ve uploaded a couple videos showing both Ali and I going through the moguls.

Also, there are new photos if you go to the link called "Photos" on the right-hand side of this page.

Tuesday through Thursday were pretty chill. Worked in the office, still diggin’ the landslides, and faults, and debris flows…etc. Ali and I hit up the fancy restaurant in town for dinner on Wednesday night. It was an Indian place that had a sampler meal for two people. We got to try so many more options. One funny thing about eating out here though, you bring your own booze to dinner. Most places don’t have liquor licenses, but they’ll allow you to bring your own in. Some places charge a ‘corkage’ fee, but others don’t.

There are really large bats here. We have been going for runs along the river after work, usually right before dusk and the bats COME OUT! They’re everywhere…in the sky that is! Mitch told us that they are fruit bats. The wing span is about 3 feet and whenever I see them flying over, all I can think of is… Gotham City!...and that Batman must be near. To top it all off, there’s a building that looks exactly like a Gotham City building in the middle of downtown.

…and a small vocabulary lesson:
That’s okay – you’re welcome
No worries – you’re welcome
Dodgy – sketchy
Tyres – tires
Toggs – swimsuits
Budgee smugglers – men’s speedos
Reckon – think
Right-O – sure
How’re you going? – How’s it going?
Haych – “H”

March 5 Weekend. Lamington National Park.

A co-worker from the office here, Shah, a Malaysian transplant of 8 years, asked us if we wanted were interested in going somewhere for the weekend. He had a car, we just had to come up with a plan. So, plan we did! We left Friday after work and stopped for food on the way…at a Texas style roadhouse! Very weird. I suppose that’s what it must feel like for Aussies to go to the Outback steakhouse. The ribs were good and messy, so I left satisfied and grinning. By the time we turned into the park it was dark and raining. The forecast had been for rain all weekend long, with possible breaks on Sunday, but we decided we could handle it…besides, it was still about 75 degrees! The road got narrower and more windy as we drove up, up, and up, in and out of fog. We made it to the campsite just about 9pm, still raining. The rain is different here. It’s like a weird warm rain that feels like a mist, but soaks you within seconds. I don't mind it as long as it's warm.

Saturday morning we woke up to wallabies nibbling on the grass in the small field below our tents, so cute. We had a full day of hiking planned and packed up to hit the trail, but not before stopping for coffee at the resort across the street from the hike entrance. The coffee was good, the hike was wet, and leeches are NOT your friends. The hike was very jungle-like with vines hanging all over the place, broad-leaf plants crowding any available patch of free space, wild birds singing loud exotic songs, mist hanging in the air, and LEECHES everywhere! They sit on the trail and when the feel vibrations of your feet stomping closer, they stretch out and latch onto you as you pass. If you stay in one place…they actually chase after you! And they are NOT slow like slugs, nor do they die easily. At one point – before we discovered that deet or skin-so-soft works on the little suckers – we thought about turning back they were so thick. But thankfully we conquered (and re-applied often) and continued on our way.
The waterfalls were beautiful. We only saw 5 people on the 12 mile loop trail. We encountered a blue lobster looking creature, both in the water and far from it – called the Blue Mountain Crayfish. It hissed and stuck it’s claws out at you if you got too close. Unfortunately, since it was raining and cloudy the viewpoint was a point with no views, but the waterfalls and the jungle were totally worth it. After dragging ourselves across the finish line we did a leech check and settled in for dinner and drinks at a picnic table under a canopy. Stories were told, laughter was had, jungle sounds, minimal bugs, no leeches. Perfect.

Sunday morning we went in search of a hot breakfast. We found a great little café in town with open air seating and COFFEE! After sleeping two nights in a row on hard ground, you’d need a nice tall mug of vanilla latte too! (I couldn't fit my sleeping pad into my luggage...grr)
After breakfast we zipped off toward the Gold Coast, to Broad beach, an area just south of Surfer’s Paradise. I slathered on the sunscreen before hitting the beach and it’s a good thing I did. I am a whitey compared to most people here and the sun is intense! (apparently the hole in the ozone layer is directly above Australia) I only got a tiny little burn on my shoulder after putting on 30+ and being out for 3 hours. Just down the beach there were tons of people and loud speakers going, so Ali and I headed over to check it out. (Shah took a nap under a tree in the dunes) It turned out that there was a huge competition where teams of all ages from towns up and down the coast were swimming, boarding, kayaking…etc in races and relays to buoys approx. 200 meters out from shore. It was fascinating to watch.
After doing a little swimming of our own followed by sunbathing, we headed back to our little hotel ‘home’. I slept like a rock.