The End

After 10 fun saturated days down the coast with Keith, I arrived to Brisbane, for the last chapter of my trip.

A French Kiss

Brisbane is a rather large city, located about half way between Cairns and Sydney, my start and end points.
After the sun basking and card playing of the Whitsundays and Fraser Island, i was about to say goodbye to Keith (as he is staying in Brisbane to look for a job), and meet Celine, whom i met in Fiji, and drive down the coast all the way to Sydney, where i shall take my flight back home.

Celine is a 27 years old french girl, originally from Marseille, but for the past 2 years has been living and working in Sidney as a nanny for a french family, and without disclosing too much, i can say she is as beautiful as she is kind.

I picked Celine from the airport on Monday morning, and we spend that day walking the city and breaking the ice that has been building up since Fiji.

That night we went out for a drink with Keith, and the next morning started driving down to Sidney.
Our first stop was Nimbin, which is the Shanti Town of Australia. People smoke weed here just about everywhere, even outside the Police station. it's a weird town, with hippies and Rastafarian man walking the streets. every street corner there's a suspicious guy whispering: "hey man.... wanna smoke?".
We walked around the town for a short hour, and kept on to our night stop at Byron bay, which is one of the most touristy places in the east coast, and rightfully so. it has a very nice stretch of beaches, many restaurants and cafes and is really chilled out and calm.

We had to be in Sydney in 3 days so the majority of each day was basically driving, and stopping only to stretch our body and eat. We arrived to our second stop - port MacQuarie, and the next day we drove to a nice town called Newcastle, and finally arrived to Sidney.

Sydney's Opera house... Check!

Sydney is beautiful.
It's a huge city, resembling to Manhattan in size and buzz, but far less dirty and noisy. Maybe the fact that we arrive to the city on Friday, the beginning of the weekend, soften the shock, but the first impression from walking the wide streets under the tall skyscrapers was amazing.

The next day we went to Bondi beach, which is the most famous beach in Sydney, and from there we walked on the shore line through several more beautiful beaches, nested in the middle of the city. it must be amazing to be able to live in such a huge city, and with a short 5 minutes walk, to perch on such a nice beach. Oh, wait... we have that too...
we had a nice lunch in a very posh restaurant, where we were the only people with flip flops, but felt at home ordering expensive wine.

the next day we went to see the Opera House, which enough had been written about it (I'll just say it's really beautiful and impressive), and from there to the Botanic Gardens and to the vibrant Darling Harbour, where we ate and rested from our long walk.
The weather was really great the whole time, sunny but not hot, so walking in the city was easy and fun.
The following morning we drove outside Sydney to see the blue mountains, which is a huge natural reserve, mainly famous for the blue haze that the mountains wear in the far distance. We planned on walking an hour's trek, but lazily decided not to, when we got there.
The next day we took the ferry to Manly, which is a neighborhood across from Sydney's Harbour, and we walked along the street for a while, sight seeing and gift shopping, before we headed back to the city, and eating a great dinner at a Brazilian restaurant.

My stay in Sydney was magical, mainly because of the presence of Celine. I really appreciate her taking 10 days off her work and flying to meet me in Brisbane. It is so special in my mind, and definitely made the ending of my trip more memorable.

Final Thoughts

Oh My Blog!

Maintaining the blog was hard.

it meant stopping every 10-14 days, and taking the whole day only to write. a blog day meant to find the cheapest Internet you could find, and sit, sometime as much as 6-8 hours writing, uploading videos, rotating and resizing photos and fighting the stupid and annoying blog interface.
still it was great.
I always thought of the blog as my diary for the journey, and was genuinely surprised to find out that people outside my family and friends are reading it. with 12 posts and over 600 view, it averages over 50 views per post, don't ask me why.

End Of Story

I wake up on a metal chair in Sydney Airport. I'm not home yet.
The trip has ended as quickly as it started, with me not understanding what's going on, until it has started already.

I leave behind a distant world of adventures and friends, left to be carried with me in memories and around 100,000 photos from 4 different cameras.
Even the biggest of cynics cannot remain indifferent to the end of such a journey, as vivid and special as it was.
I end my trip with mixed feelings. I know how much i will miss travelling, and how rare these opportunities are, but also excited to start a new chapter of my life, as to reunite with my family and friends i miss so much.

Thinking back on the trip, so many memories of adventures arise. so many happy moments, so many smiles. most made it to the blog, like bungee jumping in queenstown, or the excruciating trek in the tongariro, the 94 people dorm of Beachcomber Island in Fiji, or the incredible ship wreck dive in the Yongala.
still, some didn't make it, and this is the time to disclose.
first, all of my sex-capades were left out, to the dismay of my brothers and friends; then the almost accident i made in Fraser Island driving the jeep up a steep hill; my night in Auckland after diving course, where all of the bags from my room were stolen by another guest, except mine; the 3 consecutive nights we went to a bad striptease club in Wellington; and my dad's ingenious Start up idea - to train chickens to walk with you in treks (with sauce bags around their necks), so you won't have to carry your food while trekking.

Among all the beaches, forests, mountains and valleys, between all the people, the parties, the alcohol and card games, through bungee, canoeing, kayaking, and skydiving, three people stand out.
Jimmy, Rob and Keith, were three very special people i met on the way, walking, even if briefly, on the same trail as I. I would like to send my appreciation and friendship to these guys, and can only hope to stay in touch, despite the distance.

A last word - Warning! Emotions Alert!

Quitting my job at 27, to go half way around the world for 5 months was a rare experience, which will leave a seal on my mind and heart.
After travelling in south America for 5 months at the age of 22, i feel i have a good base for comparison between the two.
without judging neither, it's easy to see they were vastly different.
first, in south America i was with my brother and two friends, and here i was alone. although i met so many people along the way, it was only temporary and at the end of the day, i was alone.
but most importantly, in south America i was young and in the middle of my adolescence, still untouched by the world - every experience was new and most of all i felt like it changed me. in south America i felt i was undergoing a huge change in character, even if unnoticed to others. here i am old. i know what i want, and much less susceptible to other things. although i experience many new things, i cannot say i have changed in any way.

saying that, there's a huge common denominator to both trips.
being far from your family and friends for a long time, is like zooming out on your life, and especially your relationships with these people.
in normal day to day routine life, it's hard to see how much people around you mean to you, and how big is their role in your life.
zooming out does the job for you, as you take every friend and every member of your family with you every step of the way, every trek you walk, every new person you meet, every breathtaking view or new adventure you want to share with them, but most of all, you understand the rareness of your feelings, from the look on people's faces after you tell them about your brothers, your parents or your friends.

I hope my friends feel close to me as I do to them.
I hope my brothers appreciate me as much as I appreciate them.
I hope my children will admire me as much as I admire my parents.

The main conclusion I draw from my travels is the immense luck I have, and my only way to try and pay in back, is by appreciating it appropriately.

It's been a hell of a ride.
I love you all more than I could hope, and more than you can imaging
See you soon

Sivan.

My OZ Expedition

When one travels, the beginning of every country is the beginning of a new chapter. No country is like another, even if the differences seem minuet and unimportant, like the names of the convenience stores, the beer brands, the accent the locals speak in, etc.

About a month after I parted from my NZ friends and after 12 days in sunny paradise, the last thing I wanted was to start a new country. By the time I left Fiji, I had only about a month to spend in Australia, which is not enough to see enough, but still an opportunity to experience some of the things this huge country has to offer.

After a short 3 hours flight out of NZ, I landed in Cairns international airport, and took the shuttle bus to the city center.
Cairns is located at the north of the east coast of Australia, and as I only have 4 weeks to spend in OZ, I decided to concentrate on the east coast - to be perching on sandy beaches, snorkeling and diving, and partying in every town I stumble upon.
The city of Cairns itself is nothing much, but it has a nice artificial beach, where huge amounts of young tourists gather every day for a couple of hours of sun, music, see and be seen.

On my second night in Cairns, as I was sitting in the hostel reading a book, I suddenly heard a shout: "Siven!". I looked up, and there was Sarah, the Canadian girl from diving course in NZ. It was the most random thing to meet a person you've traveled with for a week, almost 4 months after you last seen him, so we had a nice couple of days catching up.

After a couple of days I decided to wait another day for Keith, the Irish guy I met in Fiji, as he was flying in from Sydney to look for a job in Cairns, and maybe persuade him to go on a road trip with me south to Brisbane, and delay the job search for two weeks. The next morning i went and rented a car for my 3 weeks down the east coast, and after meeting with Keith, I was happy to be able to convince him to come with me.

Keith is a 25 years old guy from Northern Ireland, coming to Australia to work and travel. The first thing you notice about the guy is his size, as he is 1.95, and not surprisingly is a rugby player, because he is, as we say back home, “built for TALPIOT”. From our first chat on the beach in Fiji, I knew will get along great. He’s a smart guy, and we share a lot of interests. His only flaw is that he’s taller than me, but I’ll try to work around it.

After a couple of hours of spotting topless chicks on the lagoon, we went to a travel agency to book our little road trip’s adventures. I heard about an amazing ship wreck dive on the east coast, just south of where we were, but they required the divers to have at least 6 dives under their belt, so because I have only dived 4 times in NZ, I had to complete 2 more – so I booked a day’s trip for the great barrier reef, which is the biggest reef in the world, across half of Australia’s east coast. The reef is world famous for its dive sites, and amazing variety of underwater life and vegetation.

The next day I took the bus to Port Douglas, to board the diving boat. I met a nice group of people, and after an hour’s boat ride, and another hour of briefing and gearing up, we were in the water. The dives were really nice, but first of all, it took me a while to become confident again with diving, and second, we didn’t get to see really special things, so all in all it wasn’t what it was built up to be, so I was just happy to get the 2 dives I needed for the ship wreck dive.
The next morning we got our bags packed, and started our way down the east coast.

A Complete Wreck

We arrived to a small town called Alva Beach, from where I was about to go on the dive. As we got to the hostel at around 8pm, we found that the travel agent didn’t book the hostel for us and the dive for me, as he was supposed to do, but very fortunately for us, there were 2 beds left, and another spot at the following day’s boat trip.

Next morning, I got up at 7am, and went to eat breakfast and attend the briefing for the ship wreck dive. The ship is called “The S.S Yongala”, and was in service between 1903 and 1911, when it was drowned during a level 5 cyclone on the shores of Australia’s east coast. The ship was discovered only in the 1960’s, by 2 recreational divers. All 134 crew members were found dead in the chambers, and were moved to a single hall, which was locked and declared as a grave site by Australia’s department of conservation. The Wreck is completely covered with corals, and it’s not allowed to enter the wreck, only to dive around it.

We boarded the dive boat, and took a 45 minutes ride to the site of the ship wreck. The wreck is on the sea floor, at a depth of 30 meters, so because I’ve only completed the “Open waters” course, and not qualified to do deep dives, the instructor took me to the bottom of the ocean, and had me practice a skill for deep dives, which was to show me a board of 16 numbers, and have me point at every consecutive number, and then my nose, just to show you how slowly you think under the influence of nitrogen, when deep diving. I thought I did it rather quickly, but he showed me his stopwatch after I finished, and it showed 1:07 for counting up to 16. To hide my wounded pride, I told him I am dyslectic, and demanded a test out load. After the small test, we started our dive around the ship wreck.

Up to that point, I looked at diving as a new exiting experience for me. Although I enjoyed every single one of the dives I’ve done, I’ve always had a general inconvenience when diving, and most dives I even had problems with my gear, usually a leaky mask, because of my beard.

This dive was different in any way possible. My gear was perfect. I had no leaks in my mask, the amount of weights I was carrying was just right, and I was free from worrying about that. We started our way around the wreck, and the sight was magnificent. The old metal body was tilted on its side, completely covered with brilliant colored corals, and everywhere around were thousands of huge fish swimming a touching distance away. We started our way from the bottom, where the anchor was still deep in sand. Under the vessel there were amazing huge fish resting on the bottom, in the shade of the boat. We swam on, and made our way up to the deck, stopping to peek through dirty glass windows inside the ship. We were just able to barely see the rooms in the dim light, but could still notice two toilet bowls completely covered with corals.

On my way up the side of the ship, I suddenly saw two divers in front of me pointing below me. I turned my head, and then I saw one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life – a HUGE old sea turtle was swimming 1 meter under me. I can’t really describe the sight, but I still have goose bumps writing these words. Without a drop of cynicism, it was fucking majestic.

On the way up to the surface, we managed to see a manta rey swimming calmly around us in its beautiful wavy manner.

I felt free and mesmerized like I’ve never felt before, and that experience was without a doubt, the best thing I’ve done my whole trip. It’s hard for me to think of a better diving experience than this, but I will sure as hell going to look for it.

We ended the dive with a big barbeque back at the hostel, and jumped into the car to head down south to our next stop. After a couple of hours drive, we arrived to Airlie Beach, where we booked a trip to the Whitsundays, which is a group of islands. In these islands, hundreds of young tourists embark on 2 or 3 days cruises, to experience a bit of the sea life, and mainly to drink alcohol.

A Free Spirit

The next morning we drove to the wharf, to check in for the cruise we booked (called “The Pegasus”), when we found that our asshole of an agent made a mistake in the booking for the cruise, and the boat is already full. After calling and arguing with the guy, we had to settle for a different boat, called Habibi.

Before boarding the boat we were told that we cannot take our bags, because of bedbugs we might have on them, so we have to put our stuff in a canvas bag, and also it’s not allowed to take glass bottles on the boat, so we had to pour our rum and whiskey to empty water bottles.

We boarded the boat, along with 20 other people, settled into a tiny room under the deck, and went on to bask and bake in the sun. I read, listened to music, chatted to the other people on the boat, and all in all, chilled out. Every couple of hours, a bell ring was heard, announcing another meal being served.

That night we were taught the drinking card game which was the main motive for the following week, called “the ring of fire”. In this game, the whole pack of cards is set in a circle on the table, and each person takes one card, which has a rule to it. “2 is for you”, meaning you nominate someone else to drink. “3 is for me”, meaning you drink. “4 is the floor”, so everyone has to put their thumbs on the table, last person to do so drinks. “5 is for the guys”, so the guys drink. “6 for chicks”, so girls drink. I can go on and write all the insightful rules this game offers, but as you can guess for yourself, after a very short time, no one cares about the cards, rules, sea, boat, cruise, beaches, other people, or anything else, to be honest, and either finds someone to sleep with, or fall asleep alone, with dreams of clubs and diamonds, hearts and spades and a set of rules that no one really needs.

The next morning, after shaking the hangover, we arrived to the most attractive beach on the Whitsundays group, called “whitehaven beach”. The most amazing thing about this beach, is that the sand contains 99% silica, which makes it’s texture unlike anything you ever saw. First of all, the sand is completely white, secondly, it sticks to your feet life flour, and thirdly, when you walk on it, it makes a squeaky sound, like basketball shoes on a court, when you fake.

As I wrote before, Keith is a rugby player, thus he claims to run fast, so after a short while on the beach we decided to race. We grouped a couple more guys, drew two lines on the sand, 90 meters apart, and went to the start line. A girl was standing on the finish line with her arms in the air, and when she lowered her arms, we started running as fast as we can. Apparently Keith wasn’t ready when we started (or so he claims), because when I started running, I saw him still in his “about to start running” position, and all I heard was: “oh, tits McGee!”, which is Irish for “oh, shit!”.

I won’t say who won, but there is a photo finish shot for you to guess.

We went back on the boat, and continued our journey of doing nothing for that day, and the next day we went back to Airlie Beach. Keith and I agreed that although it was nice, the cruise itself wasn’t what it was built up to be, because except going to the beach, we didn’t do anything off the boat.

The next day we drove to a small town called 1770, which is the place where captain cook first disembarked on the land of Australia, named after the year of that event. We met a girl I was at the Yongala dive with, and we had a nice day at the beach, and a fun evening in the hostel, playing – you guessed it – the ring of fire.

Fraser Island

The following morning we drove to a place called rainbow beach, which is the base town for the Fraser Island self guided tours. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world, meaning that it’s made only from sand. No rocks. The huge trees and bush life filling the island is rooted in white and yellow sand, throughout the island. The tours to the island are self guided, meaning you and 10 more people are received a huge jeep and a map, and you tour the island on your own time and will. The island has numerous camp sites scattered, and you can choose to camp wherever you wish. That night we met our group, a mix of 5 Germans (4 chicks, 1 guy), 3 English girls, and one Finish girl.

The group had instant chemistry, and after the briefing we stayed chatting and laughing together. Fortunately, only one girl was vegetarian, no gluten intolerants, no glucose intolerant, and no fun intolerant, so shopping for the trip was easy. Keith and I bought 3 boxes of goon, which is the cheapest Australian alcoholic drink, which is basically the worst cheapest disgusting box wine, which is 4.4 liter, for $12 (making it 3.3 liters of wine each, every night...)

All together we were 3 groups of 11 people each, from all over the world. It wasn’t surprising for me to discover that I’m the oldest among these 33 people.

The next morning, after packing all of our stuff on the top of the huge monster jeep, we drove to the ferry, to go to Fraser Island. Except me, only Keith and another girl signed as drivers, so I volunteered to start driving, being the oldest in the group.

After a short 15 minutes ferry to the island, we started our journey on the long stretchy beaches. The drive was smooth and fun, and being the oldest in the tribe, our jeep was leading the way through. We took a turn off inland, and drove until we got a beautiful lake called Bujouwaan Lake.

In the middle of the sandy island, there are about 30 fresh water lakes, green and blue amidst the brilliant yellow sand. We had lunch on the beach, and went on to camp on a close by campsite.

That night, after raising our tents and preparing a big feast, made out of burgers and vegetables, we sat the whole group together, and played “the ring of fire”. The game went on as planned, because after a few rounds, everyone was blissfully drunk, barely making his way to the tent.

The next day, after a quick breakfast, we drove to McKinzy Lake, which is the most famous lake on the island, and rightfully so. It is a hidden paradise, with a brilliant turquoise waters turning into deep marine blue in the deep. The cloudy sky cleared up for a sunny hour of basking on the hot sand.

We went on to prepare lunch, drove to the main town on the island, called Eurong, where we made a quick stop to the shop, and drove on to the beach, to camp for the night. Although we weren’t doing too much, the overall relaxed atmosphere was great, and we had a lot of fun in the campsite, eating and drinking together.

The group got along great, and we had a really fun night.

The next morning we packed our stuff for the last time, and we drove on the beach to another lake called “Wabby Lake”, which we got to after a 30 minutes’ walk through the woods. The lake itself was unique, as it was deep green, and surrounded by massive dunes of beach sand. We couldn’t really understand how that scenery was created, but it was indeed very beautiful.
We walked back to the car, and drove back to the ferry, to be taken back to rainbow beach town.

That night we all got a hot shower, hot meal, and after sorting our stuff, assembled in the common room of the hostel, for another karaoke night. Now, I know that the last time I’ve posted a video of me singing drove everyone watching it, out of the room screaming, but this time I recruited Keith to my help.

Keith is a very good singer, and a relentless one too, so I hoped my voice will be disguised by his, even if just a bit. We looked for an appropriate song for our trip together, so “the ring of fire” by Johnny Cash, was an obvious selection.

Announcer: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Mister Johnny Cash!”.

The next morning we said goodbye to all of our friends from the group, and drove down towards Brisbane, to stop for a visit in the “Australia Zoo”.

“Oh, Crikey!”

Steve Irwin was one of Australia’s favorite celebrities. He had a nature TV show; where he used to catch crocodiles, fight with alligators, which brought him world acclaim. Before dying in 2006 from a stingray accident, he built the Australia zoo, just north of Brisbane, which holds amazing animals. I thought that although I have only a month in Australia and I won’t be able to see much wildlife here, I have to go and see it, even if in captivity.

The first thing you see when you enter the zoo is the massive crocodile pools. The huge monsters inside these cages are frightening even to look at.

We went on to see a koala show, and I cannot even begin to describe how cute these creatures are. They look like stuffed puppets, or like robot dolls. They sleep for 18 hours a day, and the rest the use to eat and mate. I took a hundred photos of the poor things in about 3 minutes.

After that, we went to the Cassowaries cage, which is pretty much a huge colored Bat Yaana, with a black hat. After that, we went to see a Tasmanian devil, but on the way we stumbled upon a weird looking lizard...

The devils are a strange looking animal, reminding you of a huge mouse combined with a mole.

Next, we went on to see a crocodile feeding show. The show was very touristy, but before they brought the star croc out, the displayed an amazing array of beautiful birds, some with brilliant colors you can’t believe exist.

The main attraction was a 3.5 meters long crocodile, age of 41, caught in the 80’s. It can sweep as fast as 5 meters per second in the water, and it uses its huge 1.5 meters tail to push itself out of the water for a fast deadly jump on its prey. The trainer gave the monster a small chunk of meat, which didn’t really impress the giant, but after a couple of growls it just turned away and crawled back to its den.

The next thing we did was the main attraction of the day. You walk into a huge roaming zone, where around 30 kangaroos live. You can come as close as you want and even pet them. The encounter with such famous but distant animals was amazing. You grow up hearing about these animals, like Koalas and Kangaroos, but you never expect to see one in real life. The Kangaroos are really calm and relaxed, or maybe just bored.

We finished the trip to the zoo in the Koala sanctuary, where I got to pet a koala, which was also really cool.

We drove down to Brisbane, where I will meet Celine, the French girl I met in Fiji, and we will leave Keith for his job search, and make our way to Sydney.

In 10 days I will board my flight back home. I miss everyone, and can’t wait to come back and start the new chapter in my life, but at the same time I know how much I will miss the feeling of freedom in travelling. I’m not drawing conclusions yet. That’s what the last week is for.

Have a good 10 days; see you sooner than you think.

Love,

Sivan