Australia: The plan is no plan!

OZ
-Here we go! We are on to the next country of our world domination tour: Australia!! At the begining of this trip we had no plans on going to Australia but as Brain and I have said the entire journey "the plan is no plan"! 

-We heard stroies from travelers all over Indo about working in Australia and making lots of cash.We had spent more than expected in our adventures in Europe so we decided to take a shot at some cash money in Australia-- Oh, and did I mention that some of our best amigos from back home were there too. 

So, we got our holiday work visas and were off. 

PERTH

Rad little view of Perth from Kings Park

-On the 20th of January Brian, Sam and malaria/dengue Jan flew into Perth and had a 20 hour layover. We decided to hit the city and ended up taking a bus (with all of our surf grear) to a really cool place called King's Park. We ended up chilling/sleeping there the whole day. It's one big beautiful, botanical garden that includes Trees and flowers from every climate/region in Australia. It was unreal and probably one of the coolest parks we have ever been to!

That grass was oh so comfortable!

-We enjoyed the day sleeping in the green grass and wandering around the gardens in between naps. Jan at this time was quite ill and every other day had serious sweats and a high fever. Sadly his sick day fell on our day in Kings park. Since it was a friday night and a super nice day, we almost missed our connecting flight! Long story short, busses stoped running, cabs were to small for the surf boards and we had no phone to get a hold of anyone. Luckly our flight was delayed an hour and we made our flight. Phewww.

Friday night Perth

BYRON BAY

-We got into Brisbane around 8am and made it to the train station to catch our bus to Byron Bay to meet up with our good old friend JACK JONES. Right when we got into Byron while exiting the bus we saw a golden brown, freckle faced, ginger kid walking down the other side of the street, it was non other than Mr. Jones. We yelled over and he came running to us with a big welcoming hug. 

Strollin over to main beach....All smiles!

-He had been there for some time and awaiting our arrival was the place he rented for us. It was super sick and could sleep 6 people. After a few super jet lagged days we were back on our feet and surfing at least once a day. Our place was about 3 min from Byron Beach and 8 min from a super heady, local spot called cozy corner on Tallows beach.

Nice little view of main beach

-On the 24th of January we met up with a few more chuxsters from back home Mr. Evan Dufour and Mr. Scotty McDonald.... A very small world indeed!!

4 Cheddarheads scoping the scene

-It seems as if the bad weather has followed us around the globe. More wind and rain for the next week or so..This kept us inside cooking big meals and drinking lots of boxed wine Goon!!!

One of our better meals in OZ!

-Australia Day! The 26th of January is considered Australia day and it's kind of a toned down version of Independence day. Everyone still gets super drunk...just no fireworks. We were all for it and made sure to hit the town for some local beers and some dancing. 

Down the coast: Byron Bay

-During this time Jan is still feeling shitty with his cold sweats and fever. When Jack, Brain, Sam, Scott and Evan were all out surfing and having fun, Jan was chilling inside all day. He went from a tan, strong man to a pail, skinny sick child in a matter of weeks. It was time again to go to the hospital. When his blood results came back he not only had dengue fever but Malaria as well! NO Bueno! But to our amazment he really never complained and almost always had a smile on his face. It's just the way Jan is. He got some pills and started feeling better within a few days!. Yes!!!

No more Malaria/Dengue: Jump for Joy!

-During all of this time, we were suposed to be looking for work but after some research it became clear that we were not going to find any good paying jobs in Byron. Dufour had cruised out to Thailand and Scotty Mac Daddy has gone north in search of scuba diving. We decided to chill for a little longer with Jack and Katy (a brave girl who joined our group of sloppy men) but would eventually need to expore outside of the small town for some real work.

Checkin' the Swell

-On Feb 2nd we met up with some dudes who Jack and Brian had met in Costa Rica the year earlier. Bryce McMillon and his homie Jonny from Scotland. We had a really fun surf with both of them and chilled for the afternoon with some of the nicest weather and biggest waves thus far in Australia.

Some nice waves out there and the surfers aren't bad either!

-We had our sick apartment until the 6th of Febuary and that date came quick. After that it was time to fend for ourselves as Jack and Katy cruised off on their own in OZ.

-Splitting up, becoming fully homeless, still no jobs, along with Brian and Jan fully running out of funds brought a bit more stress to the group.....well at least to Sam!  This lead to a night of Brian and Jan getting into serious party mode while Sam was stuck as DD. At the end of the night when Sam reached his breaking point he got a little upset with drunk, inconsiderate Brian and we just about ended up in a fist fight  But really it was nothing more than Brain (fully loaded up with a backpack and surfboard on his back) trying to shove Sam into the car  and Sam letting him fall over due to lack of balance.... So that has been the low of the trip, no hard feelings and things were soon to turn around. At least no one got malaria this time!

Right near da beach, boiiiiii!!!!

- In our desperation we decided to go out on a limb and call Phil Parker (a guy we met in early December in Bali who lives in Nelson Bay, and owns a tree trimming company). He said to call him up if we needed a place to stay and he would maybe have some work. We gave him a call and he said to come on down and he would try to help us figure something out.

-We said good-bye to Jack, Katie and Scotty, took Scotty's friend's car and were off to see what would happen. Still going with "the plan is no plan." It took us about 2 days to cruise down the coast, while checking out some cool scenery on the way and sleeping on the gound at a truck stop. We drove Vivian, a 97 green Toyota carolla, down south which was a win-win for us and Scotty. He got to stay and chill with Jack and we got a car to use. Dank!

Cream cheese, pasta sauce, Lonely Planet: what more do you need?

Campin' out in Vivian

NELSON BAY

PHEWWW!!!!
-Phil's place was SICK and he is a total headmaster! He has two kids Ryan 17 and Lee 19, a really nice wife named Phyllis and a really chill dog named Maxie. He had some work for us around his guest house and let us stay in his garage that he had turned into a cool little Man cave/apartment.

A lovely little kangaroo named Josephine...isn't she a cutie:)

Men at work!

On the biggest moving sand mass in the southern hemisphere...Birubi beach

-We chilled in Nelson Bay for a little over one week.... Jan and Brain traded off working for Bay Trees (Phil's company) and doing yardwork while Sam painted his guest house. When we weren't working we were out playing in the beautiful landscape. We surfed this break called Birubi quite a few times and Brain almost got his first barrel here. Birubi is quite a famous beach because it's THE PLACE where great white sharks go to breed and the it is the largest protected nursery for great whites in all of OZ. Good thing Swank did not know about this when we were surfing. We saw penguins, dolphins and fish while surfing Birubi but thank god no sharks!!

Doin' a little sandsurfing in the Dunes

The FAM!

-On a nice little Sunday when we were off of work, Phil decided to share some of his famous blueberry muffins with us and take us on a little scenic tour of  Nelson Bay and the Port Stephens area in his kitted out Land Cruiser Patrol!

The Headmaster....Layin' down the laws of the Universe

DEAR GOD!!!!...Spiders are everywhere!

-That night (Febuary 12th) we went to the Beach to have a little fire cerimony in memory Ryan Beehler and we saw the most amazing Moon rise. At times it felt like he was chilling there with us. Thinking of you big time RJB! Much love!

Radical moonrise on One Mile Beach

A little Shrine we built and let burn early into the morning

-Our Dutch friend Emiel (who we had meet in Indo) had met up with us in Nelson Bay in search of work. So the wolf pack was now made up of the four friends from Christmas in Indo; Emiel, Jan, Swank and Sam.

After a little over a week in Nelson Bay working and chilling we cruised down to Wangi Wangi on lake Macquirie to try and purchase the car from Scotty's friend Jani, But when we got there his brother in law Jon had a counter offer for us. Instead of us buying the car, he would pay all four of us $16 an hour to renovate his second home; He would also pay us in the vehicle and let us stay there for free while we worked there. Needless to say it was an offer we could not refuse! and we took it instantly!

Wangi Wangi and Lake Macquari

Nice little view of the lake and our gnarly pool!

-Over the next week we worked all day everyday with the exception of one afternoon when we went to Catheran Hill Bay for a day of surf. The days were filled with painting and landscaping with Tea breaks here and there. The nights were spent fishing, chilling, a good amount of laughing and quite a few pranks. After a week or so we started to stack that cheddar and managged to pay for the car, Vivian was ours!!

Beautiful Lake Macquarie

The fish were jumpin' and we weren't catchin'

-On the 24th of Febuary we all cruised down to Sydney for a night of party party, a real dinner out and to say good bye to Sam as he was off to Thailand! Thanks again Mom/Lee for the dinner!  Brain, Jan and Emiel were left with a half painted house to finish and good amout of landscaping to keep them working for as long as they needed. 

Rolling in the Cheddar!

-We stayed up all night partying around the streets of Sydney but we did not get into any clubs because none of us brought jeans. We took a tour of the Opera house around 4:30am and then curled up together under a big tree in the grass of the Botanical gardens. We woke up around 9am and walked around the awesome city of Sydney as much as we could before we had to drop off Sam. Good-bye Sam it has been a great ride!

Nothing like sleeping overnight in a park for the 100th time!

Opera House, enough said 

Sydney harbour from Observatory park

-For the next 10 days I would work at the White Castle in Wangi Wangi attempting to save as much $$ as possible.

Ridin' Dirty in a Lotus Espirit

A little leap year celebration: Gooned out!

-Jan, Emiel and I cruised up to Newcastle (a college town) on a couple nights for some partying and to be more social. We had a few rad surfs at Newcastle and Merewether beach.

Hard work pays off!.....not really

-On the night of the 7th my plan was to cruise to Newcastle and party all night with Emiel, Jan and our new found Ozzie buddies. Then catch the train to Sydney at 4am for my 9:35 flight to Bangkok. BUT, I somehow faded and didn't wake up til 6:45 not giving myself enough time to make it.... Super late for the flight I took the 3 hour train all the way to the airport to talk to Jetstar and see what I could do. No more flights til tomorrow and I'd have to pay $110... Another 3 hours train ride back to Newcastle to chill and try it again... So at 4am on the 9th I jumped on the train and got to the airport around 8 only to find out the new flight was a 6:45am and I missed it again... F*$K!!! Another $210 later I was on the Virgin flight to Melbourne to try and catch my connecting flight to Singapore which would then take me to Bangkok..... A real sweet way to blow $300!

Last night in OZ: Newcastle beach

-All in all Australia was amazing experience and is one place that we most definitly need to come back to. The people were so friendly and the landscape is straight out of the movies. Let the good times roll. The next plan....NO plan. Here we come Asia!!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL AND THANKS FOR READING!!!!!!!