Siris caught a native baby Wallaby and the girls were not happy about that. She then proceeded to devour it in front of the glass only leaving part of the tail and a little bit of innards.
I enjoyed my last few days on the serene Mount Nebo with the plans set in stone for the last days of the year. I told Eden that I'll be back in two months and she gave me a look like "that's too long." She made a ten dollar bet that I wouldn't return again. As Silvanna was pulling out of the driveway to head to the epic Woodford Folk Festival, I was back up in the kitchen when she yelled at the top of her lungs, "I love you Andrew!" As I gave Summer a last hug she said softly in her deliciously sweet accent, "you're a great friend." The night before I left me and Elissa hugged on the couch for a solid forty five minutes. This family is so special to me.
The morning of my new journey I gave Elissa an unknown amount of hugs and we kept saying I love you over and over again. Eden took me to the bus stop at the bottom of the mountain and I could already feel the warmer more humid air enveloping me. Mount Nebo stays about six degrees celsius cooler than Brisbane.
I took a bus and then a train to central Brisbane where I met up with Haowen's goofy ass again. Always a joy with this guy. I was greeted by Haowen's friend Feifan at their cozy basement flat with a fanned Mango and chopped watermelon. So refreshing during the heat of the day. Afterwards I immediately swooped up my skate and bombed the road they live on. I missed being on my board. And it was hilarious watching Haowen's uncordinated limpy frame trying to balance and do an ollie.
Later on they took me to an authentic Chinese restaurant and walking in I noticed I was the only non-oriental person. A good sign. We talked more about Chinese culture and as I always am, was fascinated by it all. They have a strong sense of family, always eating together. Parents have a cultural obligation to pay for their kids all the way through college. There is an intense focus on schooling and education in China. It's normal for schools to go from early morning until nighttime with a few breaks in between. As I was mentally jumping off a cliff thinking about that lifestyle I kept listening. The culturally engrained expectation is that you study hard, get into a good University, get a degree, then work work work, get married, and have a kid (ideally a boy). You can only have one kid in China, possibly two depending on the situation. After hearing all this it made sense why I have not met one Chinese person backpacking in my travels. That kind of free lifestyle without schooling would be unimaginable to them and totally against the cultural norm. There is a strange (to me) emphasis on owning your own home. People will work ridiculously hard for that, and in some parts, if you're not in a government position or part of an established company, it's next to impossible to save up enough. In China they eat everything (all sorts of bugs, all parts of animals, turtles, birds, etc). And I wasn't surprised to hear of the corruption in the government and education system. A lot of information, even on the internet, goes through a filtering process by the government. What government isn't corrupt at some level? Our three dishes of Maocai came out and Haowen said they would pay for it. It's tradition to really take care of your guests. With a sly look on my face I said, "I'm really liking Chinese culture." One of the best meals I've had all year. A delectable assortment of veggies, agaricus mushroom, see through rice noodles, peanuts, and either lamb, beef, or seafood in a spicy broth with rice on the side. Talk about umami. As we walked out I looked the waiter in the eye and said "xiexie." Thank you.
Ever since we met on Mount Nebo Haowen kept telling me about hot pot. "You must try a hot pot, fuckeen delicious." And I would just crack up at his accent. Finally the next day they cooked me up the famous Chinese hot pot. It consists of a super spicy boiling broth and then you throw in the sides one at a time and it cooks very quickly. Bamboo, crab & beef balls, chicken giblets, and lettuce. T'was an experience, and it's always fun to have a meal stretched out, eating a little at a time.
After dinner we roamed the streets barefoot down to the huge Brisbane river that weaves in and out of the city. The temperature at night could not be better. What a sight to see.
Boarded a train. Hopped in a taxi. And here were are boarding the ferry over to the third largest sand island in the world, free of charge thanks to my friend Nick. Who says you need money to travel the world? I spend less money out traveling than I do living back in the states.
There she is. What a bewdy.
Ship wrecks out in the distance for exploring via snorkelling.
We glided in right on the sand and the entire front of the ferry flipped down, like a boat storming Normandy on D-day, then heaps of trucks and jeeps with their tire pressure dialed down rolled out onto the sand.
We had no idea where our campground was, so we did what anyone does in that situation, just choose a direction and start walking.
Dreamy beaches and sun blasted turquoise water for daze.
We resorted to the old school way of asking someone where our campground was. T'weasy mate.
We eventually found our lil spot but couldn't find anyone that worked their so we left our bags and headed out to the water for a dip. Haowen doesn't know how to swim, but I made sure he got in by calling him a Chinese baby among other things.
The water in south Queensland could not be dreamier. Cool enough to be refreshing, but just the right temperature where you could swim for hours and not get cold.
After thoroughly enjoying the water we ate our lunch on the beach then wandered down to the "middle road" that leads to the other side of the island. We had no idea how far it was but kept walking until a car came up behind us. The bloke said hop on. We then went from walking to blazing through the sandy twists and turns and hills hanging on for dear life as the driver shamelessly drove on like we were in some epic race. I was making small talk to the driver, taking pictures, and realising that if anyone falls it ain't gonna be pretty.
We finally made it to the other side and had it not been for that Auzzie family it would have taken us a few hours. There are no towns and barely anyone lives on the island. At this juncture it was just cars flying by on the beach, so we found a spot in the shade and enjoyed the scenery before we thought we should probably hitch a ride back before sundown. Not knowing we were standing in a super sandy spot, we stood waiting for a car, they stopped, and next thing you know they are completely stuck in place. A few good samaritans helped out and they were on their way. After getting denied by a few cars that had no space, with no others in sight, we decided to just start walking. Soon after that a car came through but only had two spots. I told Haowen and Feifan to go ahead. I kept walking and walking with not a care in the world. What possible human situation could warrant useless worrying? I am eternal. After about forty five minutes a lovely Samoan family picked me up. Apparently they were lost and had looped around this same road twice. In the words of the driver, "I think the Universe was telling us to pick you up." They had to make a turn before the end of the road so I of course got out and walked the rest of the way.
The walk was vivid and then coming to the end of the road I was greeted with a magical sunset.
Haowen and Feifan were up a ways conversing on the beach and I sprinted into the water like a cartoon while they filmed me. A dreamy sunset swim would ensue.
When we arrived at our campsite there still was no one to be found. Haowen was getting really anxious and I told him to chill out. I don't know what he was thinking but he didn't bring much food at all. Luckily there was an outdoor kitchen at our site and some leftover rice so we cooked that up. We ended up borrowing sleeping bags & pads from the campground below ours and chose one of the available pre setup tents. We met two guys from the Gold Coast who were grilling up some snags and sippin' on beers. Later they started a fire under the crystal clear stars. What a time.
The next morning Haowen and Feifan ventured out to check out the sunken ships while I alternatively ran on the beach, then floated around in the cool turquoise dream, and repeated that over and over again.
Soon enough we were boarding the ferry again sun toasted and happy.
Gliding across the water we saw hundreds and hundreds of blue blubber jellyfish near the surface. Jellyfish are to my eyes what the Indian sitar is to my ears. Pure grace.
