If you look up the word 'random' in the dictionary, you will see a picture of me, Vanilla Ice, and about 20 hot chicks dancing on stage at a small hostel in Airlie Beach.
That's right, Vanilla Ice.
I didn't bring my camera, I have no proof it happened, but I swear on anything Vanilla Ice, THE Vanilla Ice played a show at Magnums backpackers last night.
He ditched the blond hair, he's covered in tattoos and does shitty rap rock now.
Wasn't the worst show I've ever seen.
Justin called me yesterday, he made it to Cairns in one piece.
He has a line on a couple of jobs, I hope he picks something up.
I went and talked to the mechanic about the truck today. Nothing new, still waiting for parts.
As much as I miss ol Justy, it's kinda nice being alone for a while. I've made a couple of great friends, Luke from Perth, Jeff from Saskatchewan, and Mike from the UK. They had all heard of and love Survivorman.
We hit the bar pretty hard last night after the show.
You aren't supposed to swim in the water here, there are killer jelly fish everywhere, so the town built a huge lagoon/swimming pool right near the harbour. It's a great place to sprawl out and meet people.
Should be a big night tonight, and then I'm off to visit Michelle on the island tomorrow.

Low blow Australia, low blow...
We spent another night in Airlie Beach, waiting for our truck to get fixed.
We were supposed to be on the road today...
Called the mechanic, he tried to do the repairs and found that we had a snapped axle on top of everything else.
It's not going to be too pricey, an additional 100 bucks, but finding an axle for an '89 Jackaroo will be a challenge.
He has to wait until Monday to call a wrecker to see if he has a compatible truck.
If not, we might really be in a jam.
Justin is going to take a bus out of town tomorrow, head up to Cairns and find work.
I'm going to stick it out here, get the truck fixed, and meet him up there.
In between here and Cairns is the Yongala wreck dive. It's listed as one of the top 10 ten dive sites in the world, I'm aching to get down there.
We booked our New Zealand bus tour today through http://www.kiwiexperience.com/
Justin woke up today with the worst peeling skin I have ever seen. Yesterday he was fine, today he has the map of Russia across his chest.
I miss Eurong.

Chips ahoy!
Justin and I have returned safely from our 3 day sailing adventure aboard the Anaconda II yacht.
A typical day went like this. Sail, sail, drop anchor, snorkel, drink beer, sail, drink beer, drop anchor, drink beer, snorkel, more beer, snorkel, sail... by 9 o'clock the first night we were both passed out.
There were 18 people aboard, crew included. The chef was from Grand Bend and she spoiled me with tasty vegetarian food.
This was a true sailing boat, it used to race the Sydney to Hobart race.
Right out of the harbour we hit some super strong winds and almost tipped, Justin loved it.
For new years eve all of the sail boats parked in a calm bay and loaded onto a tiny resort island.
I've never seen 100+ people all cooperating and playing drinking games at a bar.
No fights, no drama, just good ol fashioned alcohol abuse.
At midnight there was a big fireworks display. I tried to sleep on deck of the boat but got rained on.
Trouble in paradise- the Jackaroo had to go in for service. The left rear wheel bearings collapsed and the ol' girl sounds like hell when we drive.
It's going to set us back around 600 dollarydoos and the 'warranty', of course, does not cover it.
I got a sim card for my cellphone, the number is (04) 4983 9051 if anyone wants to prank call me.
We are stuck in Airlie Beach until the truck is fixed, we might try and go see Michelle on Hamilton Island tomorrow.

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.