From Townsville to the Gold coast (more photos to come)

We said our good byes to the awesome Norwegian friends we made in townsville and headed back onto the road. It was a good feeling to start travveling again the excitement and reality of our adventure was reawakened. Heather, Nelson and myself would be driving from Townsville to the Gold Coast where we were going to collect MikGater and continue our voyage into the unknown.
This recollection may be a little sloppy because I'm writing it after the fact. But I'll do my best to recollect accurately, and you don't know the specifics so you'll just have to take my word for it i guess. :) Anyways we left Townsville and drove to Mackay, Heather took the opportunity to have her eyebrows ripped off, as girls do apparently. Nels and i went for a stroll down the street and decided we didn't like Mackay, by the time we finished our summary on how average we thought the town was Heather had finished having her face modified and we were good to go. As i recall we also had subway mmmm mm. Anyways we drove from Mackay to a place called Ball Bay, we found it listed in the Camps 5 book that Mattie and Jeannie had kindly donated prior to our departure from wagga. Anyways we arrived at Ball Bay after getting slightly lost. And it was amazingly awesome. The bay had a view of Brampton Island, that for some reason i was calling Bradbroke, possibly because I'm stupid but i could have sworn that Dougie Doug the campsite booking master called it that. anyways we set up camp between two palm trees and stayed there for 2 nights, we did some fishing, nelson caught a couple and through them back, thinking we would do better, i hooked something big but it broke the line.... ahhh the one that got away. After our second lovely night at Ball bay it was time to depart. Our next destination was further south.

campalicious

Ball bay

It was night time by the time we arrived in Yeppoon and Heather had found a campsite listed in her copy of camps 5 so we sought it out. Turns out it was a shitty site in the middle of a mozzie infested forest and Heather was scared because there were crocodile warning signs on the entry. We set up a brief camp and cooked some steak sanga;s and went to bed.

We awoke early the next morning eager to leave this site behind us so we ventured forth to the illustrious precinct of 1770 and Agnes Waters. We tried our luck with another camps 5 site, this one i can remember the name of because it was a cool place. "Workman's Beach" we set up camp and marvelled at the seemingly feral children that were inhabiting the area. One of the children had fashioned a fancy wind toy out of a stick and a plastic bag and was running around quite proud of itself. We received some complements on our handsome vehicle from a fellow troopy owner, watched some shows on the laptop and went to bed.
I woke up that morning to the sound of talons on the roof of the troopy, a bush turkey had clambered onto the roof and was scratching around, i then witnessed it jump from the roof onto our rubbish bag we had tied up in a tree it proceeded to destroy the bag and everything in it, thanks turkey. Anyways we packed up camp and hit the road again, this time we wanted to stay in a caravan park because we all stunk from not showering and we had heaps of washing bulit up.
Gympie was the choice of destination and the caravan park was our x on the map. We set up camp and enjoyed overdue showers; showers i have learnt are a very underrated luxury and should not be taken for granted, standing in the shower and watching days of dirt go down the drain and hobbit feet become clean again was a massively rewarding experience. The following day we woke up and did some more washing and then set off in search of the Alpaca farm, Heff loves Alpacas because her head is fluffy like one, so we found the farm and fed some camel sheep. I discovered i can speak alpaca, and the owner of the farm was more than keen to discuss the mating procedures that the Alpacas indulge in. After the Alpacas we went back to the van park and had some tea and chatted to our new neighbours. They were headed for Brisbane and told us that there was to be a zombie walk there. So that's where our next stop would be.
Next morning we packed up camp with amazing efficiency and drove to Briz vegas. We chortled around the city for a while untill we found the zombie walk, they blocked the intersection for at least 20mins and all the taxi drivers around us were irate which i found amusing. Our evening destination was the Treasure Island Caravan Park. Nelso and i realised we had stayed there before whilst on a High school trip to great Keppel Island HAHAHAHAH, not funny. We set up camp bitched about our British Neighbours and waited untill we coud collect Mikki G from the Airport. Heff arrived back at camp with Mik in the Van and there was much rejoice, the wolfpack was reunited and rainbows spilled out of the clouds carrying butterflies and gold. After collecting as many butterflies as we could and catching up with Mik we went to bed and mentally prepared ourselves for the following days Theme park bonanza.  That night i was a little concerned as a massive thunderstorm was rolling in and i was sleeping in my roof top tent on top of the bumble bee watching the storm approach. I updated my status on facebook just incase it was my last, closed the windows in the tent and thought happy thoughts untill i fell asleep.
Woohooo Movieworld day, we caught the bus to Movie world and made a beeline for the superman ride. Its the newest roller coaster at Movieworld and is really fun. Unlike most roller coasters that winch you up an incline before starting this one launches you fast... Superman fast as the voice over will tell you. 0 to 100+ kms in a couple of seconds its awesome but its so fact that the ride is almost over by the time your brain catches up wit your head, hence why we rode it multiple times in the day. The other multi time rides were the lethal weapon and the scooby doo roller coaster. All the rides were mega awesome we had  a ball.
Stay tuned for the next chapter that will include my birthday and Broken hill. Peace.

FATBOY

What an awesome experience, this post is a little late, but better late than in a garbage bin... Right? The experience i speak of is that of riding a harley davidson. It was a fantastic weekend, i did at least 700kms on the bike and loved every minute of it.


I stumbled across the website when i was looking at rentals for something to do, i think it was because i had recieved the money from selling my statesman and the money was burning a hole in my pocket, that and i'm still in holiday mode, and i don't have to justify my actions so give me a break. Point of the matter is i got the idea of riding a harley in my head, then i couldn't shake it, it was haunting me like a stain on my brain. The only option was to fulfill the desire and go and hire one.

After 2 or 3 phone calls getting diverted to other people finally i got into contact with someone that was at the office, i organised to hire the bike for the weekend, which meant i could pick it up at 4 o'clock that day (friday) and drop it back at 10am monday. Waiting for 4pm to arrive was so hard the time was standing still. At one point i could swear it was going backwards.

Eventually the time came to go and find the promised harley, i was excited and nervous, a similar feeling to when you go for a licence test. I was nervous because the biggest bike i had ridden previous to this was my gpx250 which is a learner legal bike with a 250cc engine the harley had a 1600cc engine . Quite the difference. And after signing over $2500 in case i crashed the magestic steed i was given an introduction.

"it likes to be ridden hard, this is how you start it, i'm sure you know you've risdden before". With that the keeper of the steed handed me the keys and went back inside. I jumped on and started it, the gurgle of the engine was awesome, makes you feel like you're sitting on an angry monster, turns out that feeling is correct. I started off down the road and was immediatley greeted with an excess of power under my control. After some gentle riding to get to know it i started to relax and enjoy myself. That afternoon i picked Mikyla up from her work, she was excited to see her night in shining armour ready to go for a ride on the noble steed, i was thinking more like a bogan on a big bike but whatev's we went for a ride into the city and got some supplies and went the long way home, pretty sure we were both sporting goofy grins, something will need to be done about that you can't look like you're having fun on a bike like that. Anyways after some fun overtaking and taking off from the lights quickly we went home. That night i dreamt about riding the harley and when i woke up it was still there, gotta love that. (i hate those dreams where you dream of having something awesome and look for it when you wake up only to be dissapointed.) i was definently not dissapointed upon waking up i got straight up and dresses and went for another ride. I rode to the dam at townsville and had a look it was ok but not as cool as the hog so i got back on it and went for a fang on a back accesss road around the dam wooohoo. I got back home and Heather and Nelson were awake Mik had gone to work. Heather was all but ready to go for a ride. So we saddled up and decided we would go for a ride up mt stuart.... We rode for about 20mins in the opposite direction, Heather told me to go that way, pretty sure she just wanted to be an exhaust babe for as long as possible. We stopped and had a look around for mt stuart (which is hard to miss because its huge and has reception towers on top of it) it was behind us in the opposite direction so we spent half an hour driving back through the city, a few squeals from Heather later and we were at the base of mt stuart, it is an awesome windy road up the back of the mountain, rewarded by an amazing view of townsville and magnetic island. A little parched we headed of back down the mountain, stopped at a servo, read the news headline that backpackers are being condemmed for gettin naked on the strand, had a drink and headed back home. Later that arvo i went to get some fuel and Heather insisted she come with me, we found the furthest servo possible and topped up the tank ready for my big ride on sunday. When we got home we went for a swim in the pool garden paradise and then veged for the evening.

Sunday morning i set off for ayr to meet my uncle at a rest stop called sandy corner. By this time i was donning a bandana to cover my goofy grin and keep bugs out of my teeth and beard, there were lots of bikers on the road i think there must have been a ulysees ride on, when i pulled into the rest stop my uncle was not sure it was me, so i played on it a bit. After i revealed myself i was greeted with a handshake and a hug and a brief conversation, then we set off for my uncles house. We went on the back roads which was cool, got to open up the bike a bit, the power was awesome. We had a drink at his house and fixed the blinker on the harley which had vibrated itslef loose. We then went for a scenic ride along the backroads between sugar cane fields, that was cool the smell of sugar cane burning off is intoxicating i loved it. We rode around the western side of the mountain range near Ayr and made our way back to the higway leading to townsville. We had a kebab on the strand and chatted and caught up for a while, then my unc decided we should check out rollingstone beach which is about 70kms north of townsville. It was an awesome spot and i took the wolfpack (albeit speparatly) later. After checking that out unc escorted me back to my house and we bid our farewells. It was an excellent day of riding i did over 500kms and had numb hands and a numb bum. Mik finished work at 9pm and we decided we'd go for a ride back to rollingstone beach in the early morning and watch the sun come up.

Monday morning with a refreshing 4hrs sleep i picked mik up despite the sprinkling rain. We set off in the dark in search for a rising sun, once we hit the highway i was having difficulty seeing due to the open face helmet rain and lack of light, i pulled over and put my sunnies on to stop the rain stabbing my eyes, it helped somewhat but all i could see was the lines on the road and the lights of oncoming and cars in front. But we pushed on, by this time we were pretty wet (from the now quite heavy) and it didn't matter. We got to the beach just as the sun was coming up just in time to watch the clouds light up, but not the epic sunrise we had hoped for.

The ride home was better and worse, i could see at least but it was pissing down, by the time we got home we were drenched to the bone, i had water leaking into my boots through my pants. But it was still a good experience and as Mik said " things don't have to be perfect to be good". Awesome quote Mikki. :) we had showers and stuffed around for a bit and the time had come to take back my new love. I enjoyed the ride back to the hire place and dropped it back to them with a heavy heart. But at least i can now say i've ridden a harley and was king of the road (for a brief time).

Please donate to the Craig wants a harley fund, everyone who donates i'll take for a ride. :) thats a good deal yeah?

Is this right?

An ill fitting helmet could not ruin the experience

off we go

Mutherf*cker on a motorcycle

Total Badass

awwww :)

Cairns and Friends

Waaa woo wee wah what an amazing few days we have had. It has finally and fully sunken in the gravity and awesomeness of this adventure in which i am part of. The Wolfpack are an awesome group of people and North Queensland is a mind blowing part of this country.
A brief overview of the last few days: we travelled from Townsville up to Cairns stayed a night, drove back to Paronella Park and stayed there a night then on the way home visited a waterfall.


View Larger Map
There you go some sort of layout of our Trip

A: Townsville
B: Ingham
C: Cardwell
D: Cairns
E: Gilligans Backpackers Cairns
F: Josephine Falls
G: Paronella Park
H: Wallaman Falls
I: Townsville

Now for those who want the full story in gory detail...
It was a beautiful day in Townsville (i think... I'm becoming kind of bias and every day regardless of weather seems to be excellent). We drove to Ingham to pick up Mik who had been fishing with some friends she has made in the area (she's totally a local now). We met Mik at the McDonalds in Ingham and she was impressed that we were reasonably on time, which is always nice so we continued on our merry way to Cairns, i was driving until we reached Caldwell unfortunately i didn't get any photos at Caldwell but i did take some footage which will be in the first episode of (unnamed- suggestions?) soon to be edited. Anyways the drive was amazingly scenic and it was about to get even more amazing. Nelson took over driving so i started taking photos, below are some from the trip between Caldwell and Cairns.

Selfie with the Girlies in the back.

these photos don't due justice to the size of these mountains.

I thought it was sad for such a beautiful place to have a refinery, So i took a photo.

The density of the lushness just kept on increasing.

When we arrived in Cairns we checked into Gilligans which is like the backpackers to end all backpackers my phone was flat so this part of the journey isn't documented in my photo's sorry, after we checked in we went to AJ Hackett and watched Heather and Mik go on the Minjin Swing it looked amazing and the girls were very brave, I took some footage that will also be in the first episode of (unnamed- suggestions?). Basically its a swing that you are suspended from then winched backwards until you are 40m off the ground (level with the bungee platform) then you have to pull the release pin and swing, apparently at the bottom apex of the swing you are doing about 120kms p/h which is very fast in a small amount of time hahah. The girls loved it so much they did it twice, i watched, filmed and drank beer.

After all of that commotion was complete we went for a shop in the night markets in Cairns I bought a hippie headband and Sunglasses and Heff bought a pair of hippy fanta pants (you'll see them in an upcoming photo). That night we went to the bar in Gilligans which is ridiculous its huge and multifaceted it had about 3 or 4 different bars and lots of international guests all drinking and eating, the meal i got was $10 it was an open grill chicken sandwich with salad and chips, included in the price is a free drink... i opted for Bourbon, the first of many that were to be consumed that night. The hour following tea was 2 for 1 drinks so for 7.50 i was getting 2 Bourbons i bought 3 lots in that hour. After that hour the drinks were back to standard prices which meant we could use our stamps (given to guests of the backpackers) to get discounted drinks, this meant Bourbons were now $5 ea more expensive than the previous hour, but still amazingly cheap, not sure how many we drank in this hour but it would have been at least 4 or 5. Heather was keeping up with me drink for drink which was quite impressive also we were all getting quite loose and enjoying the bogan rock that was playing. Little did we know that the bogan rock was an intro into Bogan Bingo which was hilarious. Hosted by to funny blokes dressed up in flanos and mullets, they were the funniest pair of MC's i've witnessed.
"41, up ya bum.... no babies" each number had a funny bogan comment to go with it and a song,
"15, not quite legal!" this was backed up with cherry pie i was almost crying with laughter, pretty sure the excessively cheap alcohol was helping with the mood. About an hour must have passed, the bogans announced the hour of power, another incentive to drink more. The hour of power is $10 to opt in you get a voucher with 6 drinks on it, So i had 6 drinks again in this hour. Heather managed to get 8 because the chick at the bar didn't take the voucher when she got her drinks. It was about this time Nelson Said
"Pretty cool place hey" to which i replied
"I'm wasted" i had misheard him and revealed the extent of my intoxication i one foul swoop. After such a calamity the only obvious next step is to go and dance, so we Nelson, Heather and Myself danced with such prowess that other backpackers were joining us and some were even taking photos, obviously because I'm such a talent on the dance floor!
The next morning was kinda blurry so after checkout in my blurry hungover state i thought it was a great idea to get a facial piercing! So i marched into the nearest piercing shop and walked out with a sore lip and a chunk of metal in it.

I have a shiny sprinkle on my face.

Well what came next.. aha yes our next stop was Josephine falls it was a little way off the highway but definitely worth the trek. It was a gorgeous lush rain forest waterfall that i really enjoyed. I didn't go for a swim because i was concerned about my lip. but i did enjoy the rain forest walk and the spectacular waterfall.

Josephine Falls (i had to pick my jaw up from the ground)

It so lush that everything has something else growing from it!

After Nelson and Heff had a swim and i had a smoke with Mik and washed my mouth out with mouthwash. We continued to our next port of call, being Paronella Park it was simply breathtaking. Its like a mini Spanish Castle set on a waterfall and every building on the site is made to accentuate or frame the waterfall in one way or another.

Don't worry i know what I'm doing

almost there....

Bam and the Penthouse is ready!

After setting up camp we went on the night tour and again my phone was flat so i couldn't take any pictures but i took some the following morning.  On the night tour we were all given a torch each and followed the very bubbly tour guide around the park. The highlight for me wasn't actually the park itself but the Firefly's! When the tour guide was feeding some turtle i started looking up, spacing out no doubt. But regardless i looked up and saw what i thought were fairy lights, i remember thinking that's a bit tacky to have in a nice place like this, but the fairy lights started moving this is when i pointed it out to Mikyla, just to make sure i wasn't hallucinating or something. Turns out they were firefly's, i didn't even realise we had them in Australia, but they are a definent highlight in this trip and in my life, very very special. After a good nights sleep we went packed up camp and set off on our merry way to do the morning tour, it was much more informative than the night one but somehow despite that it was slightly more boring (may be an insight into my brain). Anyways we cruised around and took some glamour shots. It's impossible to take an ugly photo in this place!

The main building

View from the bottom of the grand staircase.

Same spot as the above image just turned 180degrees

Stunning gravity fed water fountain

Morning tour Heff's afore mentioned Fanta Pants

I can't remember the name of these trees but apparently the
Australian Army Camouflage is based on the pattern.

The Waterfall from the top

This was once the refrestment cafe and entrance to the ballroom



From above the falls looking over the Eel pool.

 Paronella Park is a must and i recommend it for anyone thinking of coming up this direction. Sadly we had to leave this beautiful place and continue on our Journey back to Townsville. We had one last stop of which turned out to be epically spectacular! Wallaman Falls is the largest free falling waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere 268m of free falling water its amazing, half the water is mist before it reaches the bottom which looks excellent because the mist is blown up the valley and appears to go back to the top of the falls.

The Wolfpack at Wallaman Falls, (you can see it in the middle)

After that we returned to Townsville, which was weird because it felt like driving home from a holiday but as it turns out it was a holiday within a holiday! Awesome. Peace.