Let's get off this $#@$%!& rock!
Well we have finished the work portion of our trip, and we are back on the road.
Justin, Devon and Andrew from Vancouver, Kiwi Kylee and I loaded into the Jackaroo and returned to civilization yesterday.
Some of the highlights of this past couple weeks:
Getting bullied by the head chefs.
Confronting and making a fool of the head chefs.
Getting the 3 head chefs fired, and literally being called heroes.
Late night road trip to Happy Valley with Kylee and Jessica.
Pushing Dave onto what I thought was a harmless snake, turned out to be a king brown.
Dave lighting his stomach on fire with spray deodorant and putting a cigarette out on his chest.
Playing Monopory with the Asian girls on Christmas eve.
Justin, Adam, Chan and Miguel going shark fishing on Christmas day.
Running into the sexy pastry chef from Deerhurt that I've never talked to before.
Getting the Jackaroo airborn and landing way too hard, ripping the front bumper off.
Ahh memories.
It's probably a good thing we left the island, there is talk of a cyclone hitting on saturday, and the whole island may have to be evacuated.
The plan today is to drop Kylee Dev and Andrew off, and head north. I'm going to miss these guys, Kylee especially. hey-o.
We had a lot of fun on the island, and made a lot of intense friendships. If we had more time, I would have stayed.
Sailing in the Whitsundays is next, diving the Great Barrier reef in Cairns, selling the Jackaroo and New Zealand here we come....

So last night was the staff Christmas party...
As most Christmas parties go, it was a complete drunken disaster.
Justin got thrown out, Dave smashed a bottle on the resort and we almost got in about 10 fights.
Not a good night.
In other news...
Yesterday was my first day as manager of the shop, I'm a real hardass to work for.
My first act as manager was initiating a 'icecream break for non-smokers' every afternoon.
Justin and I handed in our resignation sighting 'the food' as the reason why we're leaving.
Vancouver Devon is leaving on boxing day with us, so Christmas Eve is going to be a Canadian themed going away party.
Justin and Nicky are in love.
It's getting really hot here.

Justin, Aussie Dave and I all had a few days off, so we are on a roadtrip.
Getting off this island is a juggling act. Barge times, tide tables, it was a bit of a chore to get onto the mainland.
It feels nice to drive on a road and eat something other than resort buffet.We headed back to Noosa Heads, we didn't get enough last time.
We went to an Irish pub last night, and guess who was there? My cousin Michelle.
She's on her way to the Whitsundays, our next stop before Cairns. We hope to do some sailing there.
I went and saw the Bee Movie, two thumbs down.
Today we are going to surf and pick up supplies- it's strange the things we can't get on the island.
They don't believe in gum, stick deodorant, bottles of beer...
I think I may have conviced Justin to stay on the island for a little while longer.
Well, I give myself credit, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Nicky from the store. hey-o.
As my lovely sister rudely pointed out, we didn't come here to work and stay in one place, but I love it here.
Decisions decisions...

So I'm at the shop...
This really pretty girl walks in and buys an ice-cream.
I don't know why, but something seemed very familiar about her.
I asked her if she knew me, she had no idea.
We got to talking, and she's from the town my grandparents are from in Canada!
We chatted, she left, then came back in about an hour and asked me out for a drink after my shift.
What are the odds she's from Clinton Ontario?
This is where things get weird.
A couple hours and a couple hundred drinks later, she mentions that her grandma had a dog named taco.. That's weird, my dad's aunt had a dog named taco....
We realised, halfway through the night, that although we had never met in person, we are in fact second cousins!
Crazy.
This lady comes in every morning, pulls all the milk out of the fridge and looks for the latest expiry date.
That was a joke.

D-Day...
Justin and I have decided to go our seperate ways.
I think island life is getting to him.
I don't know what more you could ask for...
We work on a beach with stressfree jobs, resort food, beautiful women every day, free accomodation....
He's got his heart set on workin in the outback on a cattle farm. I have more than one problem with that.
I don't want him to stay if he's not happy here, but it's great having a friend around.. we'll see.
On the lighter side of life...
Every day at the shop, some man calls, in a very serious voice says a 4 or 5 digit number and then hangs up.
I have no idea what it is, but I hope it's not anything important.
I keep meeting Aussies who have seem more of Canada than I have...
I need to do a Canadian adventure in '08, who's with me?

Day 30... must have missed a few days somewhere...

So how is this for a scenario...
My friend Dave from Australia, Mic from Ireland, Miguel from Mexico and I were playing tennis under the lights last night.
Miguel fires a ball over the fence.
One of the two large dingos that were watching us play ran over, grabbed the ball and started playing with it.
We played paper scissor rock, Dave lost, so he had to go get the ball back while the three of us yelled at the dingo.
A great moment.
What else...
The manager of the resort told me to shave my beard, I told him that wasn't an option. He was cool with that.
This guy at the shop came in today and asked me what part of America I was from. "The Canadian part" I said.
We both had a good chuckle, but then I stared at him straight faced until it got weird and he left the store.
I'm training a new girl tomorrow, Nicky from Holland. Gorgeous.
I think I'm going to cool it on the Blogaroo for a while. Work work work.
End transmission.

Day 27
Andy 1 Justin 0
Justin ripped on me the entire day yesterday because he scored the better job.
I went in to work today, mentally prepared to wash dishes in a hot kitchen for 10-12 hours. Before even stepping into the kitchen, I got promoted to work at the general store in town.
I work 10 days on, 4 days off, 10 hour days, 8-6.
Justin works a lame shift, 10-2 and then 5-9ish.
Luckily I'm working with my friend Devon from Vancouver, she keeps me entertained when the store gets slow.
After work, everyone heads to the bar and spends all the money they earned that day.
Working the cash register is great. There are no one cent pieces in Australia, so everything is rounded. There are no quarters, but 20 and 50 cent pieces.
Internet about to run out. That is all.
Andy out.

Day 26
Score!
Justin and I were both able to score jobs here at the Eurong Beach resort on Fraser (not Frasier) island!
Justin is going to start in the bakery, and I am going to be washing dishes.
The 'town' is one sandy road perpendicular to the beach, about 100 meters long. Everything revolves around the resort which employs about 40 people.
I'm not looking forward to the work, but it's really great to relax, actually meet people and get on some sort of a schedule. The ol' bank account will thank me too.
Our jobs include accomodation, 3 meals a day, use of all the facilities and pays fairly well.
It looks like we will be here through Christmas and New Years.
Justin, myself, and two ladies - Devon and Lonnie- went for a late night beach walk. There is phosphorous in the sand here, and when you kick it the sand glows green. No juicy stories, sorry.
You can't swim in the ocean on this beach, it is riddled with sharks.
You can't throw knives at my dartboard, it's riddled with darts.
http://www.eurong.com/

Day 25
The sun rises here at about 4:30 am...
Well we should have listened to warnings about the tide.
We travelled today at all the wrong times, the Jackaroo almost became the first Australian submarine.
Spent the day at Lake McKenzie, this incredible little freshwater lake.
White sands, crystal clear water, beautiful things on the beach, it had it all.
Headed to a rock face called Indian Head, overlooking the ocean. Not much to say about it, wait til you see the pictures.
On our way through this small town called Eurong (No, YOU'RE wrong) Justin and I asked at the resort if there was any work for two handsome Canadian travellers.
"MAYBE!" we were told.
They offered us a cabin to stay in for the night, we find out tomorrow morning if there is any work for us.
We hung out at the bar and played foosball.

Day 24!
"Jackaroo, you've done it again!"
We loaded ol' Jackarooski onto a huge barge and cruised over to Frasier Island.
The island is 4 wheel drive vehicles only, there are no roads.
The east beach (75 mile beach) is the 'highway'.
Some of the nastiest off roading trails I have ever seen, and old Jacky has so far been up to the challenge.
We actually pulled this German family out of the sand when they got their truck stuck.
Justin has yelled "Jackaroo, you've done it again!" about 300 times so far today.
Very scenic, there are rainforests, freshwater lakes, red sand dunes, it's a weird but fastinating place.
We found a protective dune to park behind and set up camp.
Justin slept in the truck, I had a picture perfect hammock spot picked out, but got violently rained on at 2:30 in the morning.

Day 23?
Woke up in a state.
Justin and I drove to Rainbow beach, the access point for Frasier Island- our next destination.
We rented a couple Harleys and cruised around town for a few hours.
We sorted out all of our permits and paperwork to stay on the island.
Hung out around a hostel, played basketball, Justin met a nice German guy.
We are headed to Frasier Island, the world's largest sand Island.
It's about 100 kilometers from tip to tip.
We waited until dark to figure out where to sleep- bad idea.
I was laying in a spider forest on hard mud. Miserable night.
Tomorrow we'll take a barge over to the island to explore Frasier.

Day 22
Surfs up!
Justin and I took surf lessons today, and it has been the highlight of our trip so far.
The instructor was hilarious and made sure we all stood up.
While we were all struggling to get the basics down, he showed off by doing handstands on his board.
We are still in Noosa Head.
I get asked a lot what we eat...
Every morning I usually eat a bowl of muesli with vanilla meal replacement shake and a banana.
We snack around lunch time- we've probably eaten 30 packages of rice crackers. Peanut butter and Nutella on bread or crackers is a favourite mid day snack.
Dinner generally consists of soup or stew with rice or pasta. We eat all kinds of fresh fruit throughout the day.
Yes I'm still a vegetarian, no I wouldn't eat meat under any circumstance.
We went to the Koala bar and an Irish pub looking for a little excitement but cut out early.
I slept on the beach which was wicked, but got rained on.
No clue what we're doing tomorrow.

Day 21
WTF.
Bad day haha.
Called Tom again this morning. "sorry mate, raining again, give me a shout tomorrow"
Justin's job had finished, and I was tired of getting the run around, so we decided to cut our losses and leave the city.
Not only had I not made ANY money (Tom didn't have cash on him the day I did work for him), but I had lost money eating, staying in hostels, driving to Mount Nebo etc.
Icing on the cake, Justin and I forgot to register the Jackaroo within 14 days of buying it and we are in for huge late fees!
We got to the RTA office only to find out that because we are in a different state than we bought the truck in (bought it in New South Wales, Brisbane is in Queensland) we would need to start all over with certification, Queensland plates, the whole works.
BRAINSTORM! Let's drive back to the border, register the truck in the first small town in NSW, and continue on our journey!
It actually worked out, we had skipped a town called Twead Heads on the way up, and it was really nice to see. The lady at the RTA office even waved the late fee!
Thankfully we hadn't driven too far out of state, so we hit the road again, gave Brisbane the finger heading North, and landed in a town called Noosa Heads.
Signed up for surf lessons for the following morning and slept in a park.

Day 20
My first day of work!
I woke up at 5am today and called my boss. Yes! he said, there would be work.
I drove almost an hour, straight up a mountain to a town called Mount Nebo.
I met Tom at a cafe, and he showed me my task for the day- digging six 5 feet deep holes. barf.
Not even two hours into my backbreaking work, it started to pour down rain and we were forced to stop.
Bittersweet I think is the word I'm looking for.
It didn't rain in the city, so Justin had another full day of work.
The point of the Brisbane stop was to earn some money, so far that hasn't worked out too well.
A little disapointed, I needed a change of scenery, so we switched hostels to 'Cloud 9' down the street.
We roomed with an Australian girl, Justin had a crush on her.

Day 19
Got up at 5am to get ready for work.
Somebody had completely blocked me in so I couldn't get the truck out.
Long story.
Finally got it out, as I'm leaving the hostel, it starts raining.
My boss told me to call him if it rains, so I did, and sure enough he called off work for the day.
Justin went off to work.
We entered quiz night as Team Canada at the bar, there was a $100 top prize.
We cheated and still got thwamped.
How many states are there in the US?
They have rum and coked on tap here. Literally, it comes in kegs premixed, and is comes out of a tap just like beer. Justin hates it.
Itching to leave the city.

Day 18
Sunday today, not much going on.
We spent the day sprawling out, watching movies, exploring a bit.
Picked up a pair of work shoes, start my landscaping job tomorrow.
There is half decent cover band playing in the bar all day today. About the most exciting thing happening.
Finished 'Into the Wild'. Really great book, if the movie ever plays here I'll see it.
Bought 'Walden and Civil Disobedience' by Henry Thoreau. It was quoted a couple times in a documentary I did called 'Off the Grid', so I wanted to see what it was all about.
Finally got some pictures up.
Laundry.

Day 17
Fufilled a long time life goal today.
Justin and I went to the Australia Zoo, just outside of Brisbane.
This is the Zoo Steve Irwin's parents started back in the 80's, and where Steve got his start.
The guy running the tour was a personal friend of Steve's, so we got a behind the scenes look.
On the way there we watched a documentary about his life, and were told some really amazing stories.
The zoo itself was beyond my expecations. Steve was a believer that 'if you can touch and interact with the animals, you will fall in love with them, and want to save them'. The whole zoo is interactive.
We watched the famous crock feeding in the 'Crocoseum'.
Justin and I became Wildlife Warriors, donating to the tiger rehab program.
On the way back we stopped at a pineapple and macadamia nut plantation. mmmm....

Day 16
Justin went off to work again, so I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Koalas are cool little animals, I got to hold one of them and hand feed a couple kangaroos.
Spent the rest of the day exploring Brisbane, walking around, taking buses, getting lost.
I have a bone to pick. Justin and I got called 'flashpackers' today.
Apparently backpackers are the uber cool budget travellers who hop on trains, eat at soup kitchens and play hackysack.
Flashpackers are spoiled kids who scuba dive, drink and party, stay in hostels and, get this, 'enjoy their time'.
Why the hell would you save enough money to go somewhere, and not leave yourself any funds to do anything?
I didn't come here to see the Great Barrier Reef from the beach, I came here to wrestle sharks and giant turtles 60 feet down.
I would much rather sky dive than do a free walking tour.
Screw those guys.
I bought 'Into the Wild' today and I've read half of it already. Fantastic.

Day 15
Pretty relaxing day.
Justin went off to work, so I stayed home and took care of the kids.
He worked with some contractor installing a fence. $140, not bad.
The front desk hands out cash jobs daily, I scored a job monday and tuesday doing landscaping.
If nothing better comes up, I guess I can do that.
Showed Australia how to drink last night.
All the toilets here have two buttons on the top. One for a full flush, the other for a half flush.
There is a huge fresh water shortage.
None of the toilets here so far have rotated in either direction, they all kinda suck straight down.
The fifty cent piece here is about the size and weight of a small dinner plate, but you need them in your pocket to make phone calls.
Tomorrow I'm going to check out a koala bear park, Justin is back working the chain gang.

Day 14
Two weeks in!
Whoever said Justin and I would kill each other within 2 weeks can go fly a kite. (if there is enough wind)
Drove to Brisbane today to find work.
We checked in to City Backpackers because they have free parking and are very helpful with finding work.
We are supposed to be sleeping in the Jackaroo to save money, but it's hard to meet people, and VERY hard on our friendship.
We were offered a job 'shovelling dirt and shit'. Justin jumped at the chance. $17 an hour cash in hand.
I may have a job as a bouncer at the bar downstairs, but I want to do something tv/video related.
This hostel is an absolute party fest at night. Had a few sociables and hit the sack.
Job hunting tomorrow.

Day 13
A couple of disapointments today. I had booked and paid for a sky dive. I got out to the airfield only to be told I'm too heavy. Justin's kite surfing didn't work out either- not enough wind.
Kinda bummed, we left Byron Bay today and headed for Surfer's Paradise.
As my guidebook said, this town is ALL hype, suuuper expensive, and not worth stopping.
It was 'Schoolies' week, so we thought it would be a huge party.
It was, if you're under 20.
We felt like old creepy men as we sat in an Irish pub, sipping Guiness, watching 20,000+ teenagers run around and fall over.
This one kid, Tim, kept begging me to punch him in the face.
Broke down and splurged on a cheap hotel. It was nice to recharge and sleeping on a bed was pretty great.
We leave Lamesville tomorrow, heading to Brisbane to find work.
*I need to lose 9 kilos.
*I need to find out how much 9 kilos is in pounds.

Day 12
Slept in my hammock, broke the kangaroo crusher grill on the front of the Jackaroo.
We went on 'Jim's Alternative Adventure' tour today. 10/10 an absolute must-do.
It was Justin, myself, and about 20 hot chicks. We all loaded into this old hippy van and drove to Nimbin, making stops along the way. The whole trip was perfectly timed to stoner music.
At one point he stopped at the top of this mountain, told us all to hold on. He put on a Pink Floyd song and RIPPED down the mountain. About 4 terrifying minutes later, as we rolled to a stop, the song was fading out. Impressive.
Justin booked a 3 hour kite surfing lesson for tomorrow, and I booked a 14,000 ft. 70 second freefall sky dive!
Byron Bay has been my favourite place so far. A bit smaller and more condensed than a-burg, with a picture perfect beach front, tonnes of cool shops and a whole lot of hippies.
Hit a couple of bars, but tucked in early, Jim took a lot out of us.
Tomorrow we head to Surfer's Paradise, and then Brisbane to work.

Day 11
Left Coff's Harbour quietly so as to not wake the sleeping German.
He wanted to come with us I think.
Drove to Byron Bay, what a town.
It's known as the hippy capital of oz.
Justin and I are getting on each others nerves, so we had some scheduled alone time.
Talked to Raymond online, linked us up with a bunch of friends he has over here, we hope to meet some of them. Thanks Raymo.
Found a cool campsite right on the beach, 'First Sun Holiday Park'.
Watched a group of Hangliders and tried to work up the courage to go up. Not today.
Booked a tour with Jim's Adventures. It's supposed to be world renowned.
Walked around downtown for a bit, went back to the campsite, called it a night.
There are a tonne of bats here. They are about the size of my weiner dog, with a 3 foot wingspan.
*I don't like bats.

Day 10
Ended up in a town called Coffs Harbour.
I was really excited to do a whale watching tour, but it was cancelled.
We looked for a football, settled on a rugby ball. I bought a Minessota Vikings undershirt.
Played football in the waves for a bit.
Booked in at the 'Hoey Moey' hostel on the beach. 'Party Central!' it said! pfft.
Some pushy German guy came into our room and watched the original Star Wars with us.
Went to see a band called 'Wasabi' at the Hoey Moey tavern.
All accoustic guitar players that we have seen also play a kick drum. pretty cool.
Stopped to get a falafel and a MASSIVE cockroach ran across the floor.
For whatever reason, I told the girl behind the counter I was American. She told me right to my face that she hates Americans and that they're all assholes. I couldn't believe it.
We are heading to Byron Bay, and then eventually Surfer's Paradise.
It's 'Schoolies Week' right now in Surfers. Basically spring break.
*rugby balls are heavy. ouch.

Day 9
Booked it to South West Rocks to check out Hat Head National Park.
Not like any national park I have ever seen.
There is cheap camping, and they run on an honour system so we thought we'd stay a night.
We took a wrong turn (purposely) and ended up driving on the beach.
Had to floor it the whole way to avoid getting stuck.
Our campsite was occupied when we got there. Occupied by a family of kangaroos!
Justin naturally tried to box one of them. (video)
As we were setting up, this MONSTER lizard strolls onto our site, shooting its tounge out. It looked like a kimono dragon, even though it probably wasn't.
Justin scared it up a big tree on our site.
I didn't feel safe staying there with godzilla pissed off up a tree, so we headed out.
*kangaroos smell like gym socks.

Day 8
We got a lead on some good beaches in Port Macquarie so we headed up there.
We had NO business being out in that water.
We were both violently thrashed around for about 20 minutes, then decided to call it quits.

This may sound weird, but it is very overwhelming having all this free time. Justin and I both work long hard hours, and make the best of the little time we have at night and on weekends.
We find ourselves saying 'what now?' a lot.
Went to an Irish pub for quiz night. I got 1 out of 15 because I knew what PDF stands for.
Went to see 'Lambs for Lions' or whatever the hell it was. 2 thumbs down.
Slept on a park bench.
*monkeys win banana chips at ape casinos

Day 7
Got woken up by a guy collecting shopping carts.
Brushed my teeth in a bush, then waited til 9 to hit the mall.

We loaded up on supplies, groceries, camping stuff ...

Went into this music store to ask about the best surf spots. Ended up getting our ear chewed off for an hour haha, these guys are passionate about waves.

They offered me this backpacker guitar for half price, so I snagged it.

Drove to Shelly beach and surfed/body boarded all day.

Every park and beach has public BBQs available, so cooking dinner is no problem.
While eating dinner, some locals spotted us looking at maps, and joined us with tonnes of advice and stories.

*Cars in Australia don't 'crash', they 'come together'.

Day 6
Just when I thought Justin's ideas couldn't get any dummer, he convinces me to buy a Jackaroo and TOTALLY redeems himself!

Picked up the truck today, what a beauty.

Driving on the left side of the road, from the right side of the car, in a big manual transmission SUV is quite a rush.

We headed North until we hit a town called Wyong. We pulled into a shopping center, I strapped my hammock from the front bumper of the Jackaroo to a shopping cart pole and called it a night. Justin slept in the truck.

Day 5
We were supposed to pick up the truck today, but the old girl hasn't passed the safety inspection yet.
Hopped a bus to Bondi beach and sprawled out on the sand for a couple hours.
Found a really cool hostel right on the beach, so we'll stay a night and hopefully grab the Jackaroo tomorrow and get some kms behind us.

We said goodbye to Carla and Luke today. Super nice blokes, I hope we cross paths again.

Justin bought a surf board today.

Day 4
Well, 4 days into the trip, I lost my camera.
We stopped to get pizza, I was showing Justin some cool photos and the next thing I knew it was gone. Worst part is with the stupid Jackaroo, my budget is too tight to replace it.

We did a harbour tour today which was cool. Took a lot of really sweet PICTURES of the Sydney Opera House and harbour bridge....

The Killers are playing tonight but it's $87 and Justin doesn't want to go.

We leave Sydney tomorrow. Hanging out with Luke and Carla tonight and drinking 'Goon' (cheap 4 liter bottles of wine)

I guess you win some, you loose some. Today, I lost.

Day 3
Took a bus to Coogee beach for a free bbq on the beach. Drinking is kosher anywhere in public and on the beach. Met some really cool Scottish people, and one jerk from Toronto. Went to 'Scubar', this huge backpacker bar for free drinks. The place was paaacked so we took off and found some hole in the wall. Watched cricket, met some actual Aussies, and drank our faces off.Justin puked the next morning.Went to the Australian aquarium, pretty cool.We pick up the JACKAROO tomorrow, so the adventure can begin....

Day 2
Against my better judgement, Justin and I are now proud owners of a 1989 Holden 'Jackaroo' suv. Pictures coming soon.
Justin fell in love with it the second he saw it, there was no reasoning with him.We got a huge deal, it's a 4 cylinder, and it will allow us to get to a lot of 4wd only areas.
We pick up the truck monday, so we have 3 more days to blow in Sydney. Bondi (topless) beach on Sunday, aquarium and zoo tomorrow, free 1 hour of booze and then 15 free drinks around town tonight. Today we have to get our bank accounts and my cell phone set up.
It's been raining since we got here. Spent last night chatting with the English couple, really cool people. Learned the term 'propper dodgey'. FYI You are not allowed to bring a mickey of booze on an airplane, but there is NO rule against taking 13 1 oz. bottles

-Day 1

Ok, so internet is crazy expensive, so I wont have time to email everybody I should. Here is the trip in a nutshell:
Flew Detroit-Chicago-San Fansisco-Sydney.We're here now, all settled in at Legend Has it West end hostel.Sydney is wicked, but me and Hunt are both anxious to get out and explore. We did a mono-rail tour of the city and went car shopping today. Found a '95 Holden Commodore that is calling our names. Station wagons own. Rooming with a nice English couple, Luc and Carla. Went to an Irish pub, watched American music videos, drank English beer and ate falafels. Pretty sure I haven't talked to a single 'Australian' yet.

We need to get out of the city.