Contiki Part 2
Since I was pretty well away from the internet for most of my recent Contiki adventure, I did not get the chance to update at all, so I will test the limits of Livejournal by attempting a massive update now.
I got to Sydney a few days early, and was able to cover a lot of the city on foot before flying to Cairns. The city is beautiful, and I am already looking forward to going back. The pace of it is a bit slower than Toronto, but it still has all the benefits of a big city, and the harbour is an example all water-bordered cities should follow. There wasn't much of note that I did there, except seeing the Stones imax movie which was awesome.
I arrived in Cairns the night before the trip and checked into the hotel, happy to find that I had the room to myself. Since my last tour had an unofficial dinner the night before the tour, I thought I'd wander down to the lobby and see if anything similar was going on this time. Just as I got there, I saw a few people looking at a contiki notice board and something about a 7:30 dinner. It seemed I'd arrived just in time, and seeing the Contiki bus in front of the hotel, I got on and started chatting up some people sitting around me. It was only 10 minutes into the trip that I realized that I had in fact gotten on the wrong bus, as this tour was just ending. I took the lift into town, picked up some food and found my own way home, thinking it was a fitting start to the tour.
The next morning 14 of us plus Tim, our guide, and Shane, our driver, headed out to the Rainforest for the start of the tour. I immediately found some people I got along well with: the only 2 guys there at the time, Brad from Australia and Steve from the UK were really great funny guys and we fell into a natural rhythm. Steph and Shannon, 2 sisters from Texas, are real sweethearts and a lot of fun to party with, though they eased up later in the trip when they both got sick. That night, Ryan (Van) and Rian (Berg), friends from Oregon, arrived late since they'd missed a connecting flight. Though my first impression of them was that they'd be the too cool for school types, they were really great fun guys that turned out to be two of my closest friends on the trip. In fact pretty well everyone on the rainforest portion got along really well, and whether we were partying at the only bar in Cape Tribulation, walking through a rainstorm in the rainforest or seeing a beautiful beach we generally had a great time and it set the tone for the rest of the tour. The hilight of that segment was definitely the swimming hole we visited that only locals know about, that features a 25 foot cliff jump. Unfortunately, when I did it, I badly bruised my eardrum, necessitating antibiotics and antiinflammatories for days afterward. I am a delicate flower.
Contiki tours in Australia work differently than elsewhere, in that it's not just one group of people from beginning to end. Instead people sign up for different modules, so people are always coming and going. The majority of the group met us in Cairns after the rainforest was over. We barely had a chance to exchange greetings before leaving for the Aboriginal reserve, where we got to throw boomerangs and spears. The best moment was when the aboriginal lady was explaining all sorts of berries and weapons and things that they used to use for various purposes and handing them around for everyone to look at and smell. One of the Ryans picked up a rock from beside the bench, and started examining it as if it was one of the items being passed around. Since everyone was so preoccupied with the things and no one was listening to what the lady was saying, most people thought the rock was just part of the show. Watching them try to scratch and sniff it was entertainment at its best.
That afternoon, we had some time to kill in a small town with nothing in it, so we found a pub and about 20 of us all had a drink. It was a good opportunity for the rainforest group, that mostly clung together, to meet some other folks. It was also the first drink of many, as there was a pub crawl that night that was probably the best crawl of any kind I've attended. We went to 6 bars with a variety of music and style and seemed to have good drink deals at all of them. Berg participated in some kind of dance contest that somehow found him in his underwear, and Steve did a hilarious contest that involved him dancing on the bar, competing against 4 rather well built gentlemen, only to have the entire bar cheer his name to ensure a victory for his 95 pound frame. Later on in the night, Berg, Tim, Shane and I spontaneously broke into a boy band routine. Unfortunately, the taxi queues in Cairns are legendarily bad and I ended up waiting about 45 minutes for a cab home. On the bright side, I ran into Tim, who brought along a much needed cheeseburger to ease the pain.
The next day a lot of people were doing optional excursions, but I hadn't planned one so I just hung out at the hotel and took a brief trip into town. It was Brad and Steve's last day so we bid them a sad goodbye. That evening, most of the remaining rainforest group went to Dundee's for dinner, a restaurant famous for serving local animals. We all shared a variety platter that included emu sausage, buffalo, crocodile, kangaroo and barramundi (a local fish). It was excellent and we felt quite adventurous.
I finally partook in an excursion the next afternoon, as I'd signed up for a half day ATV. After some tests to determine skill level, I was happy to be put with the more advanced group. It was very different from the ATVing I did in NZ though equally fun. Rather than open terrain to explore on our own, we were guided the whole time but going through very difficult terrain. The path between trees was often only as wide as the bike, and in some spots the branches were so low that even lying down they bounced off my helmet. A very cool experience.
Our last night in Cairns, we went to the Wool Shed, a great backpacker bar that features great food for fairly cheap, and an upstairs bar where you are encouraged to dance on the tables (there's even a railing on the ceiling for your drink). Since I started my antibiotics that night, it was the beginning of a series of fairly tame evenings for me. It was still fun to watch all the drunks, and I especially enjoyed when Van made out with some girl on the pool table with Berg, another girl and I standing next to them. While it was awkward at first, mostly because they'd turned the lights up for a concert, we found that another half dozen or so people were watching, and we all broke into spontaneous applause that left Van extremely confused.
We headed to the Whitsundays early the next morning. It's a series of about 70 islands, named for some reason that I cannot recall. We stayed on Long Island, and it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Some of my sunset pictures are just incredible. That night we went to the resort bar since there's really nowhere else to party, or do anything else, on the island. Not much of note happened, with the possible exception of my being woken up around 1 AM when my bunkmate Jeremy (Douche) fell onto my bed with a crash when he tried to climb onto a top bunk only to see the entire bed tip over. Jer is a Canadian guy serving in Afghanistan right now, and while my first impression of him was also not the greatest, he is a real sweetheart and the constant life of the party.
Anyway, the second day at Whitsundays was a beautiful day consisting mostly of just hanging out on the beach drinking Long Island Ice Teas. They weren't exactly a deal at 13 bucks a pop, but the setting was too perfect to not indulge a bit. After a breathtaking sunset, everyone got ready to come back to the bar to watch the big New South Wales/Queensland Rugby match. It was a good time, and we closed out the bar drinking with the bartenders Gus and Adam. After finally meandering back to the rooms, Jer decided he wanted to "fuck up a wallabee" (Wallabys were everywhere in the resort, just hanging around). Van went to look for one but was unsuccessful. In the meantime, Jer found a coconut and threw it at Van on the street. After we all convinced Jer to go to bed, I followed him a few minutes later, only to walk into broken glass everywhere and Jer sitting bare ass naked on my bed. I ignored the glass and just told him to get the fuck off my bed. Turned out it was a bottle of red wine and a bottle of cologne. Phil, our other roommate, wasn't there, and Mark (Ninja) had been in bed but claims that when I left the room to tell everyone else about the scene I'd witnessed, Jer looked at the cologne and declared "I'd better rub it all over myself" before comically attempting to prevent it from going to waste. I missed this as I was outside the room, but as I left, I heard a scream, and when I returned I found Jer, still sitting there, still naked, but bleeding out like a gutted fish all over the floor. He had somehow managed to cut the top of his foot on the glass, and was covering the floor like a murder scene. We got him outside and Steph and Gus courageously bandaged him up while Berg, Van and Mark mopped up the blood. Since they were using latex gloves, I could not participate, leaving me to stand there evaluating the scene of possibly the craziest night of my short life.
The day after left me some time to recover from the wild evening previous, as most people went on a boat to a beach for the day while I hung around and did some much needed laundry. Played some frisbee, had another night at the bar. The morning after, we finally bid goodbye to Long Island and drunkenly stumbled onto the ferry. It turns out we'd disturbed some folks, because a woman running a high school tour group came up to Jer and asked if he was the one keeping them up all night, which Jer responded to by lifting his head and screaming "WOOO! I PAID FOR IT!" Rude? Yes. Hilarious? Also yes.
That evening we were booked to stay at a farm for the night, basically as a way to break up the driving between two stops. As it turned out it was one of the most entertaining nights of the trip. In addition to being Van's birthday, it was my first day off the antibiotics so I could drink freely. After a tour around a small part of the 12000 acre property, I settled into our room and had a nap before enjoying a great home cooked meal. The dining room was just a large barn that included a bar selling cheap wine and booze as well as, we discovered, a karaoke machine. It was a night filled with drunken singing, campfires, birthday cake and hysterical pictures to remember it all.
Day 10 featured another ferry trip, as we ventured over to Fraser Island. It was also the first of many days of rain, and most importantly, the first time we decided to switch from wine and beer to hard alcohol. Since we had 2 nights there without a bottle shop (liquor store), 6 of us got 3 bottles, figuring that would last us the 2 days as predrinks before the bar. Sadly, they were all gone in an hour and a half. I forget most of the evening at the Dingo Bar, though apparently I was falling asleep on the steps and posing for rather unappealing photographs. I crashed very hard, such that I don't even remember refusing to leave my bed when Jer pleaded for some alone time with a lady friend. I'm a great guy.
I woke up drunk for the first time ever, and somehow climbed onto a bus for a 1/2 day Fraser Island tour. Now, because the island is entirely sand covered, the tours have to be done in giant 4x4 trucks that bounce in the air as they drive. Not exactly the best post-drinking cure. Still, I survived, and was even feeling chipper by the end of the morning. That evening was an Australia-themed party at the Dingo Bar, which basically meant ridiculous costumes purchased a couple of days earlier at the dollar store. Made for some great pictures.
Surfer's Paradise was our next stop, a small beach/party town that reminded some people of Cancun. Having never been there I realy can't say, but it did remind me of Miami in some strange way. It was a really nice town, and we continued our drinking binge by heading straight to the bottle shop and loading up. The dudes had ourselves a pantsless party, after which we joined most of the rest of the group for dinner and a show at Dracula's, a strange haunted house-type joint that's like a Rocky Horror-Live Music-Dinner cabaret that, needless to say, defies description. We all had a great time, and headed out to a bar afterward. Though the bar was particularly lame (who ever heard of a "no drinking on the dance floor" rule?) everybody had fun.
Leaving Surfer's Paradise meant saying goodbye to some people who had only signed up for that part of the trip. We were quickly back on the bus that morning, heading to Currumba wildlife sanctuary. We got to hang out with some kangaroos and hold koalas, who are just as cute up close. We stopped at Byron Bay for lunch and found it to be a very beautiful and quaint little hippie town. We spent the evening in Coff's Harbor at a surf camp, experiencing their coldest night in recent memory. Since we slept in shipping containers that had no heat, we were just a bit chilly. In other words, I slept with both pants and shorts on. On the bright side, since there wasn't much to do and I wasn't feeling so hot, I got my first good night's sleep in weeks.
Our final night was in the town of Port Stephens, in a resort that, compared to our other accomodations, was rather luxurious. After spending some time in the hot tub with Will and the Ninj, I went down to dinner, which was a cook your own barbecue sort of deal that actually turned out rather well. We partied pretty hard at the otherwise boring bar, and Jer and one of the girls managed to arrange $5 jagerbombs for about 25 of us which was pretty cool. The after party was spent in the Ryans' room, where a couple of the girls had turned all the furniture and the beds upside down. Other than one crazy girl bitching at everybody for an awkward but hilarious moment, the night went smoothly.
We finally arrived in Sydney the next afternoon for a group picture, before saying our official goodbyes at the Travelodge. Since a lot of us were still around we tried to organize a night out but got completely screwed up and spent most of the time moving between locations. I guess this is why Contiki doesn't like having nights in big cities. Still, it was nice to say goodbye to everyone properly.
I had breakfast the next morning with Jer and Greg, another guy on the tour, after which Greg and I split a cab to the airport. Stops in San Francisco and Chicago later, I was finally home. I'm still somewhat jetlagged 4 days later, though it's mostly manifested in sleeping for long periods rather than feeling tired which is good. It's been crazy busy since I've been back, but I'm happy to be here. The trip ended on a high note, and now it's time for the next chapter. We'll see what that means.
I got to Sydney a few days early, and was able to cover a lot of the city on foot before flying to Cairns. The city is beautiful, and I am already looking forward to going back. The pace of it is a bit slower than Toronto, but it still has all the benefits of a big city, and the harbour is an example all water-bordered cities should follow. There wasn't much of note that I did there, except seeing the Stones imax movie which was awesome.
I arrived in Cairns the night before the trip and checked into the hotel, happy to find that I had the room to myself. Since my last tour had an unofficial dinner the night before the tour, I thought I'd wander down to the lobby and see if anything similar was going on this time. Just as I got there, I saw a few people looking at a contiki notice board and something about a 7:30 dinner. It seemed I'd arrived just in time, and seeing the Contiki bus in front of the hotel, I got on and started chatting up some people sitting around me. It was only 10 minutes into the trip that I realized that I had in fact gotten on the wrong bus, as this tour was just ending. I took the lift into town, picked up some food and found my own way home, thinking it was a fitting start to the tour.
The next morning 14 of us plus Tim, our guide, and Shane, our driver, headed out to the Rainforest for the start of the tour. I immediately found some people I got along well with: the only 2 guys there at the time, Brad from Australia and Steve from the UK were really great funny guys and we fell into a natural rhythm. Steph and Shannon, 2 sisters from Texas, are real sweethearts and a lot of fun to party with, though they eased up later in the trip when they both got sick. That night, Ryan (Van) and Rian (Berg), friends from Oregon, arrived late since they'd missed a connecting flight. Though my first impression of them was that they'd be the too cool for school types, they were really great fun guys that turned out to be two of my closest friends on the trip. In fact pretty well everyone on the rainforest portion got along really well, and whether we were partying at the only bar in Cape Tribulation, walking through a rainstorm in the rainforest or seeing a beautiful beach we generally had a great time and it set the tone for the rest of the tour. The hilight of that segment was definitely the swimming hole we visited that only locals know about, that features a 25 foot cliff jump. Unfortunately, when I did it, I badly bruised my eardrum, necessitating antibiotics and antiinflammatories for days afterward. I am a delicate flower.
Contiki tours in Australia work differently than elsewhere, in that it's not just one group of people from beginning to end. Instead people sign up for different modules, so people are always coming and going. The majority of the group met us in Cairns after the rainforest was over. We barely had a chance to exchange greetings before leaving for the Aboriginal reserve, where we got to throw boomerangs and spears. The best moment was when the aboriginal lady was explaining all sorts of berries and weapons and things that they used to use for various purposes and handing them around for everyone to look at and smell. One of the Ryans picked up a rock from beside the bench, and started examining it as if it was one of the items being passed around. Since everyone was so preoccupied with the things and no one was listening to what the lady was saying, most people thought the rock was just part of the show. Watching them try to scratch and sniff it was entertainment at its best.
That afternoon, we had some time to kill in a small town with nothing in it, so we found a pub and about 20 of us all had a drink. It was a good opportunity for the rainforest group, that mostly clung together, to meet some other folks. It was also the first drink of many, as there was a pub crawl that night that was probably the best crawl of any kind I've attended. We went to 6 bars with a variety of music and style and seemed to have good drink deals at all of them. Berg participated in some kind of dance contest that somehow found him in his underwear, and Steve did a hilarious contest that involved him dancing on the bar, competing against 4 rather well built gentlemen, only to have the entire bar cheer his name to ensure a victory for his 95 pound frame. Later on in the night, Berg, Tim, Shane and I spontaneously broke into a boy band routine. Unfortunately, the taxi queues in Cairns are legendarily bad and I ended up waiting about 45 minutes for a cab home. On the bright side, I ran into Tim, who brought along a much needed cheeseburger to ease the pain.
The next day a lot of people were doing optional excursions, but I hadn't planned one so I just hung out at the hotel and took a brief trip into town. It was Brad and Steve's last day so we bid them a sad goodbye. That evening, most of the remaining rainforest group went to Dundee's for dinner, a restaurant famous for serving local animals. We all shared a variety platter that included emu sausage, buffalo, crocodile, kangaroo and barramundi (a local fish). It was excellent and we felt quite adventurous.
I finally partook in an excursion the next afternoon, as I'd signed up for a half day ATV. After some tests to determine skill level, I was happy to be put with the more advanced group. It was very different from the ATVing I did in NZ though equally fun. Rather than open terrain to explore on our own, we were guided the whole time but going through very difficult terrain. The path between trees was often only as wide as the bike, and in some spots the branches were so low that even lying down they bounced off my helmet. A very cool experience.
Our last night in Cairns, we went to the Wool Shed, a great backpacker bar that features great food for fairly cheap, and an upstairs bar where you are encouraged to dance on the tables (there's even a railing on the ceiling for your drink). Since I started my antibiotics that night, it was the beginning of a series of fairly tame evenings for me. It was still fun to watch all the drunks, and I especially enjoyed when Van made out with some girl on the pool table with Berg, another girl and I standing next to them. While it was awkward at first, mostly because they'd turned the lights up for a concert, we found that another half dozen or so people were watching, and we all broke into spontaneous applause that left Van extremely confused.
We headed to the Whitsundays early the next morning. It's a series of about 70 islands, named for some reason that I cannot recall. We stayed on Long Island, and it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Some of my sunset pictures are just incredible. That night we went to the resort bar since there's really nowhere else to party, or do anything else, on the island. Not much of note happened, with the possible exception of my being woken up around 1 AM when my bunkmate Jeremy (Douche) fell onto my bed with a crash when he tried to climb onto a top bunk only to see the entire bed tip over. Jer is a Canadian guy serving in Afghanistan right now, and while my first impression of him was also not the greatest, he is a real sweetheart and the constant life of the party.
Anyway, the second day at Whitsundays was a beautiful day consisting mostly of just hanging out on the beach drinking Long Island Ice Teas. They weren't exactly a deal at 13 bucks a pop, but the setting was too perfect to not indulge a bit. After a breathtaking sunset, everyone got ready to come back to the bar to watch the big New South Wales/Queensland Rugby match. It was a good time, and we closed out the bar drinking with the bartenders Gus and Adam. After finally meandering back to the rooms, Jer decided he wanted to "fuck up a wallabee" (Wallabys were everywhere in the resort, just hanging around). Van went to look for one but was unsuccessful. In the meantime, Jer found a coconut and threw it at Van on the street. After we all convinced Jer to go to bed, I followed him a few minutes later, only to walk into broken glass everywhere and Jer sitting bare ass naked on my bed. I ignored the glass and just told him to get the fuck off my bed. Turned out it was a bottle of red wine and a bottle of cologne. Phil, our other roommate, wasn't there, and Mark (Ninja) had been in bed but claims that when I left the room to tell everyone else about the scene I'd witnessed, Jer looked at the cologne and declared "I'd better rub it all over myself" before comically attempting to prevent it from going to waste. I missed this as I was outside the room, but as I left, I heard a scream, and when I returned I found Jer, still sitting there, still naked, but bleeding out like a gutted fish all over the floor. He had somehow managed to cut the top of his foot on the glass, and was covering the floor like a murder scene. We got him outside and Steph and Gus courageously bandaged him up while Berg, Van and Mark mopped up the blood. Since they were using latex gloves, I could not participate, leaving me to stand there evaluating the scene of possibly the craziest night of my short life.
The day after left me some time to recover from the wild evening previous, as most people went on a boat to a beach for the day while I hung around and did some much needed laundry. Played some frisbee, had another night at the bar. The morning after, we finally bid goodbye to Long Island and drunkenly stumbled onto the ferry. It turns out we'd disturbed some folks, because a woman running a high school tour group came up to Jer and asked if he was the one keeping them up all night, which Jer responded to by lifting his head and screaming "WOOO! I PAID FOR IT!" Rude? Yes. Hilarious? Also yes.
That evening we were booked to stay at a farm for the night, basically as a way to break up the driving between two stops. As it turned out it was one of the most entertaining nights of the trip. In addition to being Van's birthday, it was my first day off the antibiotics so I could drink freely. After a tour around a small part of the 12000 acre property, I settled into our room and had a nap before enjoying a great home cooked meal. The dining room was just a large barn that included a bar selling cheap wine and booze as well as, we discovered, a karaoke machine. It was a night filled with drunken singing, campfires, birthday cake and hysterical pictures to remember it all.
Day 10 featured another ferry trip, as we ventured over to Fraser Island. It was also the first of many days of rain, and most importantly, the first time we decided to switch from wine and beer to hard alcohol. Since we had 2 nights there without a bottle shop (liquor store), 6 of us got 3 bottles, figuring that would last us the 2 days as predrinks before the bar. Sadly, they were all gone in an hour and a half. I forget most of the evening at the Dingo Bar, though apparently I was falling asleep on the steps and posing for rather unappealing photographs. I crashed very hard, such that I don't even remember refusing to leave my bed when Jer pleaded for some alone time with a lady friend. I'm a great guy.
I woke up drunk for the first time ever, and somehow climbed onto a bus for a 1/2 day Fraser Island tour. Now, because the island is entirely sand covered, the tours have to be done in giant 4x4 trucks that bounce in the air as they drive. Not exactly the best post-drinking cure. Still, I survived, and was even feeling chipper by the end of the morning. That evening was an Australia-themed party at the Dingo Bar, which basically meant ridiculous costumes purchased a couple of days earlier at the dollar store. Made for some great pictures.
Surfer's Paradise was our next stop, a small beach/party town that reminded some people of Cancun. Having never been there I realy can't say, but it did remind me of Miami in some strange way. It was a really nice town, and we continued our drinking binge by heading straight to the bottle shop and loading up. The dudes had ourselves a pantsless party, after which we joined most of the rest of the group for dinner and a show at Dracula's, a strange haunted house-type joint that's like a Rocky Horror-Live Music-Dinner cabaret that, needless to say, defies description. We all had a great time, and headed out to a bar afterward. Though the bar was particularly lame (who ever heard of a "no drinking on the dance floor" rule?) everybody had fun.
Leaving Surfer's Paradise meant saying goodbye to some people who had only signed up for that part of the trip. We were quickly back on the bus that morning, heading to Currumba wildlife sanctuary. We got to hang out with some kangaroos and hold koalas, who are just as cute up close. We stopped at Byron Bay for lunch and found it to be a very beautiful and quaint little hippie town. We spent the evening in Coff's Harbor at a surf camp, experiencing their coldest night in recent memory. Since we slept in shipping containers that had no heat, we were just a bit chilly. In other words, I slept with both pants and shorts on. On the bright side, since there wasn't much to do and I wasn't feeling so hot, I got my first good night's sleep in weeks.
Our final night was in the town of Port Stephens, in a resort that, compared to our other accomodations, was rather luxurious. After spending some time in the hot tub with Will and the Ninj, I went down to dinner, which was a cook your own barbecue sort of deal that actually turned out rather well. We partied pretty hard at the otherwise boring bar, and Jer and one of the girls managed to arrange $5 jagerbombs for about 25 of us which was pretty cool. The after party was spent in the Ryans' room, where a couple of the girls had turned all the furniture and the beds upside down. Other than one crazy girl bitching at everybody for an awkward but hilarious moment, the night went smoothly.
We finally arrived in Sydney the next afternoon for a group picture, before saying our official goodbyes at the Travelodge. Since a lot of us were still around we tried to organize a night out but got completely screwed up and spent most of the time moving between locations. I guess this is why Contiki doesn't like having nights in big cities. Still, it was nice to say goodbye to everyone properly.
I had breakfast the next morning with Jer and Greg, another guy on the tour, after which Greg and I split a cab to the airport. Stops in San Francisco and Chicago later, I was finally home. I'm still somewhat jetlagged 4 days later, though it's mostly manifested in sleeping for long periods rather than feeling tired which is good. It's been crazy busy since I've been back, but I'm happy to be here. The trip ended on a high note, and now it's time for the next chapter. We'll see what that means.