The Life of a Bogan - part 2

January 1^st – January 4^th, 2010. Frazer Island. Getting up at 9 am on the 1^st of January for a 14 hour drive isn’t as hard as you think – well if the circumstances include the fact that you didn’t go to bed until after 3 am and you and your best friend can continue to sleep while the two boys are being responsible in the front. We arrived to Rainbow Beach after our long journey at nearly 1am, were shown to our hostel room by the attractive Frenchmen “Fransico” and passed out before waking up again at 6:15 am for our 7am briefing before the safari. Let’s just say it wasn’t the smoothest of mornings. I woke everyone up, teary eyed and shaking, to shower and pack their one small garbage bag full of belongings for the next 3 days. As we loaded the car with the rest of our packs, Emily and Jim Beam had a bit of a fight as he fell out of the car and cut her hand open. In the midst of Emily in shock and finding a nurse, we find out that it was actually only 6am!!! I forgot to set my clock ahead for the time change in Queensland and got everyone up an hour early at 5:15am....whoooops. Despite a few set backs, we met Murry, our safari driver, and the rest of our team and headed off to Frazer. Think of Jurassic Park – dirty Jeeps filled with sand, food and camping gear speeding down the beach and roughing it through the rain forest. The “biblical” rain going on in Queensland had just ended and we lucked out with 3 days of gorgeous weather. We had 2 nights and 3 days of camping, swimming in freshwater lakes and champagne pools, climbing sand dunes, exploring a 75 year old shipwreck, scaring off dingos from our tent….and all and all being bogan. Never have I ever had been told to grab the shovel if I had to go the bathroom, shower in a lake, wash my dirty dishes in the ocean, or sleep in a tent by the beach….also never have I ever thought I would laugh and smile away through all these things, hike through a sand dune to discover a magical lagoon, climb to the edge of a cliff overlooking the clear ocean, eat a live pippy (mussel), or catch up on the beach with both old and new friends while holding a beer, dodging bats and swapping at mossys, looking up at the vast Milky Way. I could not be more content with life.

January 5^th-January 8th, 2010 - I returned to Rainbow beach from Frazer Island dirty, smelly, tired and never more thrilled in my life to relax and take a warm shower. Little did we know, another BIG bump in our travel plans was coming. This “biblical rain” had caused so much flooding that the 3 major highways leading up north to Airlie beach were closed off. Basically, all of Australia between where we were headed and where we needed to be is underwater. As the boys enjoyed their naps and Em and I began to compulsively shake from lack of sleep and sheer panic – we went on a limb, hoped for the best and booked the cheapest flights out of Brisbane up to a town north of Airlie. It was an unexpected cost, but in the end – it was the best decision we made the entire trip. Our Whitsunday sailing trip on the Clipper was my favorite part of our 3 week adventure. We arrived to Airlie beach in surprisingly beautiful weather, in much contrast to the flooding just a few hours south of us. And the biggest surprise?? “Cousin” Josh flew up from Melbourne to meet us! We all celebrated our reunion that night, packed our garbage bags for the next 3 days and headed to the boat. The ONLY time it really rained on our trip convenieltley happened during our 20 minute walk to the harbor….so here come the 3 extremely loud Americans in singlets, an English guy heaving slabs of beer and an obnoxious Canadian very late and SOAKED as we walked up to the rest of the passengers. Good first impression, huh? The only way to describe the Whitsundays is paradise. During the day we went out to a deserted island and swam in the clear blue water amongst jellies. At night, we could watch dolphins come play by the boat and feed on fish. You think that being in the ocean in the middle of sharks and other wildlife the crew would be a bit strick…..but no, we’re in Australia here. We partied by night with the crew and snorkled/scuba dived by day. I wasn’t going to pay the extra money to scuba because I’m a slight bogan and on a budget…but at the last minute Kyle and I decided it was a chance in a lifetime that we just couldn’t give up. So on the last day of the trip, I emptied my wallet and went to talk to Rizza, the scuba instructor. Rizza looked at me, slightly hungover, and said “no worries, mate!” No sooner was I strapped in a 50 pound tank with weights, waddling my way to a small boat with Kyle looking at me nervously as I could easily fall into the water and drown right then and there. In the States, you have to pay a couple hundred dollars to take lessons in a shallow pool before even making it into a real body of water. In Australia, strap on a tank in the Great Barrier Reef, get to the beach and have a 10 minute briefing. I couldn’t stop laughing on the beach about our bizarre situation - I didn’t even know what thing to breathe out of and Kyle was freaking out that his oxygen was leaking. No worries though – I ended up learning that Rizza will be in National Geographic next year for scuba diving 2 straight weeks from Melbourne to Tasmania with only 10 minute breaks above water for food supplements – I was in good hands! The dive was absolutely unreal. As soon as I was comfortable, I took off and was exploring caves, touching coral, and trying to ride a fish as big as me – little did I know Rizza kept signaling for me to come back! I made it alive though, dived 10 meters and can’t wait to have another go.

Sunday January 9^th, 2011 – On the Ferry to Hamilton Island to take us back to Melbourne. I’m sad to leave and more depressed to say goodbye to those I’ve met. I have little to no money left to my name. I have to live out of my garbage bag for yet another week while our next apartment is getting fixed up. I’m currently unemployed as I try to get myself out of hospitality work and into nutrition. On the other hand, I couldn’t be more happy with my life and I couldn’t be more lucky to have my bogan family right by my side to share it with. It's the life of a bogan - I may hate goodbyes, but will never regret these past 3 weeks that have forever altered my life and where I may be headed.

The Life of a Bogan - part 1

Sunday January 9^th, 2011. I was sitting on top of a ferry to the Great Barrier Reef airport, looking at the deep blue water reflecting from the sky across the Whitsunday Islands, reminiscing on the past 3 weeks. As I was sulking about the end of a great adventure, one of my best friends turned to me and put it in perspective for me.

“You know – the last 3 weeks I could have been sitting on my couch, playing video games and relaxing from the hell of finals. And you know what – I’d be completely content with that. But instead, here I am with you – in this gorgeous paradise – sad that I’m probably never going to see any of these people again. But what’s better - Being content because I’m completely unaware of what I’m missing out on? Or completely broken up about the fact that I have to say goodbye to this wonderful place? I say the latter. And that’s just what you have to deal with, Patty, it’s the life of a bogan. You have the highs where you get to experience things completely unfathomable to other people, but you have to deal with the lows as well. It’s the life of a traveler, you always have to say goodbye.”

I can’t begin to describe the last 3 weeks of my life. Honestly, I think the only people that will ever truly understand my experiences will be the people I traveled with – but I’ll do the best to tell you the highlights. Dave Matthews has a good lyric “Turns out it’s not where, but who you are with that really matters”. I love this quote, however I really think I got the best of both worlds on this trip. Chris, Kyle, Em and I began our road trip on a 7 hour drive to Mount Kosciusko in New South Wales. It was Boxing Day and we were already thoroughly worn out from our 3 day Christmas extravaganza together. Its funny how close you can come to people from sharing a holiday away from home together – we had already become a family and were sad to leave one of our members behind, “Cousin Josh”. Despite our bodies already telling us noooo, we were in great spirits. I’m not known to enjoy car rides, but I have to say that this trip up the east coast of Australia was an unforgettable one and I don't regret one minute of the 32 hours of driving.

December 28^th – 30^th, 2010. It’s sad to say the only kangaroos I saw this trip were road kill. Ya bummer....but other than this slightly depressing site, the views up this mountain were breathtaking. If in the states, the last 2 hour drive to Thredbo probably would have been cut in half by a big road carved up the middle of the mountain. The Aussies, however, are known in many aspects to appreciate the environment and keep it in it’s natural beauty – soooo instead of a nice drive, we trusted our lives to Chris as he did multiple 180s up the winding narrow paths through the dark woods. It’s currently summertime, but as we were driving into “the largest ski resort in Australia” (aka tiny mountain town with one street) I could imagine the winter village it turns into during the cold snowy months. Cabins set among the creeks, cobble stones lined with Christmas lights…it was the Christmas wonderland I’d been waiting for! The next day was spent climbing one of the 7 summits of the world!!! The scenery was nothing I’d seen before – very peaceful with rock pools everywhere and no animals in sight. I felt like I was in the Lion King after Mufasa had died, a quiet safari but beautiful at the same time. Climbing the highest summit in Australia, check that off my bucket list!

December 30^th – January 1^st, 2010. Sydney, Australia. The ride into Sydney was a pretty easy one until about 20 minutes outside the city and wait – Em left her wallet back at Macca's almost 2 hours ago. We weren’t all too thrilled about the 4 hour detour, but ONLY in Australia would a person spot a girl crying in the parking lot, make the connection about Kyle Melling walking down the side of the highway in desperate search and stop their car to help them out. Emily had left her wallet on top of the car, so as we drove out of the fast food place onto the on-ramp her wallet and all of her belongings flew into the air. An Australian woman spotted the wallet has she drove past. She stopped and pointed Kyle to the right direction 1oo feet away. Em’s wallet (although run over and “slightly” torn) and all of her money/credit cards were found after a quite amusing Easter egg hunt along the highway. Success. We finally got into Sydney and met our jet lagged friend Jeff at his cousin’s gorgeous condo overlooking the harbor. We had a fun night relaxing and dancing on the beach of Bondi Bay before calling it a night to rest for the next days festivities. How can I describe my NYE in Sydney? – really only by my constant feeling of “wow, where the heck am I?!” Sydney was unbelievable. Throughout the day, Kyle kept putting it nicely – “OH.MY.GOD. I just went to the bathroom in the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE. I POOPED in the opera house!!” “OHHH.MY.GOD. I’m drinking by the Sydney harbor bridge. I have a BEER by the Sydney harbor bridge!!” We explored the city all day, amongst many pub crawls and beers in the park, and somehow made it to a point under the bridge to watch the midnight fireworks. Popping a bottle of champagne with 3 best friends at midnight on NYE in one of the coolest places in the world, doesn’t get better than that :)