Slurpee Cups and Cover Songs: February 1st - 8th

February 1^st- 8^th

            After the morning surf session, we had big plans for the first day of February (I only knew from just consulting a calendar). We were headed to Springbrook National Park. Google Directions listed the park about 1 hour away, and from the look of the map it was south west of our current location in Varsity Lakes. We packed the car full, filled up, and headed out. My directions were pretty basic, but I had seek advice from the map and I knew (or so I thought) the general area that the park was located.

Unknowingly, we entered the highway going south, when we needed to go north even though the park is southwest. We drove and drove taking the surroundings of the countryside into account much more than the directions that I had copied down. We had been driving for a while now and still no sign of the sign that we were looking for. The crew also discussed that there had been no signs for the park and we were on the biggest highway on the east coast of Australia. I decided to pull over and ask. That was a separate mission in and of itself. The thing about Australia signs is that they are really about 2 or 3 exits before the listed exit, but they don’t generally tell you that. After a laugh and slight jaw drop by the rental office employee, that we decided to ask directions from, they pointed us back to our origin.

            After getting back on the highway and passing our former trail… Of course the exit is one after where we started… IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. I was the driver and the planner of this little day trip and thus I felt / was completely responsible for our mishaps. But if anyone was disappointed about the difficulties they kept it to themselves.

We were driving into the mountains now and with each kilometre we were getting further away from traffic lights, shopping outlets, eateries, and petrol stations. Everyone was now completely intrigued. I think I was the only one saying how intrigued I really was, while the rest of the group just took it all in. Vast mountain ranges, single lane bridges, and little to no guard rails had everyone on their toes while I drove with extreme caution. I liked being in control and now everyone seemed to forget about the 3 hour trip that it took to get to a location that was only 1 away. It was worth it.

We did some walking and then drove to the natural bridge/waterfall/cave of bats. It was really quite a sight, much different than the natural bridge that I had seen in Virginia on my alcohol soaked trip back from the first time I visited Tech.

            I have been in Australia for a MONTH today, Thursday. I cannot believe it. I am travelling this weekend and I had to get one of my old bags out… it had about $40 US… the green pieces of paper looked foreign to me, so I guess I have been here for a while now. Time is flying by, and I need to soak it up. I know that soon enough I will be enjoying my last Victoria Bitter, and I will be calling it a night… not so long after that I will be standing in the Norfolk, Virginia airport: cultured, changed, tan, half sober, and ready to hang with all my friends that I left behind back in the cold winter January days.

            The weekend trip to Noosa was a great success. Not only did we arrive to the intended destination without getting (very) lost, we did the majority of the drive North in the dark. Scarlet (is the name of the car, I don’t believe I mentioned that yet) was running well and surprisingly did not suck down too much gas.

            Our hostel for the weekend is the Koala Backpackers Resort. It was getting pretty late already and the main desk had closed down, so we checked in and got our room keys at the bar. Although this is pretty funny in and of itself, the bartender doesn’t have a real calculator so she resorts to her phone in between pouring drinks and taking our money.

After dropping off our bags in the room, the most important thing was to immediately get the wine on ice. We ran up to the 7-11 and got a bag. The trashcan quickly became a makeshift cooler, and as the wine cooled off from its hot, almost nondrinkable state, I took a quick shower.

[I just realized that my internet is down, hence this blog will get my undivided attention]            

After throwing on some clothes and filling up some stolen 7-11 Slurpee cups, we play a few games and converse about our appreciation of having our 7 person room to ourselves. We headed out to the hostel’s bar, and from there we couldn’t find the intended next stop so we settled for having drunk talks about life on the beach instead.

            I following morning, I awoke Rory in excitement. A bit tired, I assume, he doesn’t show me the same enthusiasm, but gets up wilfully and we search for the beach. As fate would have it, we go the wrong way, initially forgetting the way that our drunken feet took us the night before. We finally got on the right track and found ourselves walking along a wood lined deck path curving in and out of the side of the headland through vast vegetation and sounds of morning bird chirps. We see surfers out, and we decide to return to the house, get the rest of our crew, put some food in our guts, and do nothing else but spend the entire day at the beach.

            The surf is great at Tea Tree Bay… not knowing the proper paddle out or rock jump we follow some guys ahead of us that appear to have been here a few times before. We are taken to a 10 foot rock jump into a small cut out of the rock. After the jump you paddle your ass off to make sure that you do not become a victim to the unforgiving wall of barnacles, crevasses, and caves behind you. In between surf sessions I read some of Bourdain, listened to some tunes, and ate the granola bars that I brought and grown to love. I would soon have the longest wave that I have ever ridden in my entire life.

            The next couple nights we have are of extreme opposites and we had some new found companions that tagged along. Vincent, who spoke little to no English, was from France and Romain from Belgium, would be his translator and our other new roommate. The two were funny and loved exchanging drinking card games and talking about our travels. The first night we went to the strobe light flashing-dizziness inducing likes of The Rock… enough said. In an attempt to forcefully throw myself out of my comfort zone, and one to force an immediate humorous reaction; I participated in a European version of hair gelling. The second night, however; we had made an early conscious decision that we were going to a bar and that we were going to hear live music. We pregamed again with none other than cheap boxed wine, and then walked across the street to the Irish Pub. It was one of the most fun nights since I have been here: A tight knit crew, cold beer by the pints, and music; live, American cover song music.

We were the band’s favourite fans. We sung every song with as much excitement as them, and probably even louder. The girls danced with a drunk that couldn’t see and I laughed, and snapped pictures to document the night correctly.

The beach and surf session on Sunday seemed short. The feeling of an ending weekend is something that no one wants to come to terms, with just like the ice cream that we indulged in before we left. But on the car ride home we decided that we were never going to feel like we were really going to school here. Class is just something you go to for a few hours, a few days a week, and that is it.