Day 32 - A few photo's from my trek up the coast.

 

Dinning on local cuisine. Wild New Zealand spinach I found along the shoreline north of Byron Bay. Yummy!

 

Camp. Tucked away offshore in the trees.

 

Me by the fire. Camped out on the beach near Pottsville, NSW. It was a very cold night.

 Found this little critter scurrying up a bank of rocks along the Brisbane River. I believe this to be a species of Australian Eastern Water Dragon. Could make for a nice light lunch!

Day 30 - Brisbane

            Day 30
 

            It was long haul from Byron Bay to Brisbane. Over the course of about five days I traveled approximately 165Km. Four out of five nights spent camped out along the beach. 

            I left Byron mid afternoon on the first day, making my way north along the beach – Destination Tweed Heads. The first day I took my time, making it just south of Brunswick Heads where I stopped, sure that I could find a spot to make my camp for the night. It’s a good thing I did too!

            That night I feasted on a gourmet of boiled New Zealand Spinach I had picked earlier that day. It was, to my surprise, much better tasting than I had expected! 

            I had waited till almost dark to set up camp and till well after to get my fire lit so I wouldn’t attract too much attention. About 20’ in the bush off the beach I found a small clearing under some low growing trees and set up there. Using the last remaining light I pitched my tent in record time! I then scurried about to finish collecting enough firewood for the evening. I only needed enough to boil a small pot of water to cook the spinach. 

            Being winter, dark comes early. June 21 being the shortest day of the year was almost here, and it showed, 6:00PM and it was dark!

            Turns out I had collected just enough wood for to finish cooking the spinach after building a decent bed of coals. Then it was off to bed.

            The next day I awoke early and was quick to tear down and get on the move again. It was  good two hours in the sun heading up the beach to Brunswick Heads, the soft sand not letting me move quite as quick as I had hoped. But never-the-less I made it into and past town and found my way back to the shoreline by noon. Once again it was off along the coast, an endless expanse of ocean to my right, temperate rainforests to my left - my own little sub-tropical paradise. 

            I was several more days heading up the coast, feeding on mainly Pigface, Spinach and on about day three, to my delight I stumbled upon a Mandarin Orange tree. Heaven! 

            The roughly 65Km route I had planned was definitely a great test of both myself and my pack. But before I could make it into Tweed Heads I had to detour back onto the road side for a while, and was almost instantly offered a ride north. Since I had no real itinerary I accepted the ride and found myself being dropped off just south of Miami, near Burleigh Heads. Reassuring me there were many, many backpacker hostels all around, I was left to wander town. I found out very quickly there were, in fact, NO such things within 15-20Km. SO I walked to the north end of Miami and bunked in a the first and cheapest little motel I could.

            I found myself in a similar situation that I would have had I tried to walk out of Sydney. One town becomes the next. No chance of pitching a tent and no chance of hitch-hiking. So after a hot shower and a chance to rest my body I set out first thing the net morning for Brisbane. I walked for eight hours, trudging from Miami almost right to Pimpama, 40Kms. Finally I was offered a ride right into Brisbane where I am now.

            Thanks to strained tendons in my ankle I am laying low for another few days while I plan the next stage of the trek. An opportunity has risen to travel about 800Km west in a remote cattle station near Augathella, Queensland. Finally, the real outback! from there I will make the decision to either backtrack somewhat to the coast, to Fraser Island, and then continue on to Cairns, or to continue heading west to Alice Spring seeing as I will be half way there already. My timeline may shift slightly, putting me in Cairns for late August if I take that route. Though landing me in Alice almost right on schedule if I continue west.

*As many of you may have noticed and already become aware, Google Adsense is no longer operating on this site. Google decided that the amount of traffic generating from my blog was due to "Suspicious Activity", and after appealing to their board they decided to remove the program from my blog, feeling I was abusing their system. Just to clear that up with anyone who might have been wondering.

Day 20 - Arrive in Byron Bay

Day 20

 I arrived in Byron Bay tonight at about 7:30PM, marking 770Km I have traveled in the last three weeks. Hitch-hiking has been so effective I have actually had to slow down my pace a bit and spend a bit more time in town and a few days less on the road. Otherwise, I may be nearly in Cairns by now!

 Since leaving Coffs Harbour I have spent nearly a week in the Grafton area, between a few nights where I was taken in by Wayne and Jean Gadke - parents of a good friend of mine in Calgary. Thanks for that connection Matt!
 After a great couple of days there I was offered a Wwoofing position for a few more days with another connection provided to me by the Gadkes' son Matt.
    
                    - Wwoofing  is a type of work-stay employment. Where "wwoofers" are given
                      accommodations and meals in exchange for working a few hours each day. Work type and
                      length varies from farm to farm, but the premiss is always the same. Usually found on organic
                      and cattle farms, Wwoofing originated in England in 1972, and farms can now be found all
                      around the world.

 I spent several nights Wwoofing with Tim and his dog Gandhi. Even though we only had one day without torrential  rains, it was still good to get my hands dirty and lend a hand for a bit. We spent an entire day pulling and cutting wild peach plants which are apparently very toxic. They resulted in deaths of two cows after they started feeding on them early last week.

 I was also introduced to Black Beans which can be found commonly along river banks throughout the temperate rainforests around Oz. The seeds of these gigantic pods are edible, though they require about 10-14 days preparation before consumption to ensure that they are thoroughly rid of their toxins. The aboriginals used to eat these seeds after soaking them for at least 10 days (14 is recommended), then either cutting them into slices and baking them, or drying and grinding them into a flower like powder.
 Unfortunately I did not have 14 days to prepare any of the huge bundle I came across - each measuring at about 6-8" long, but will keep them in mind for future reference.

Black Bean Pod and Seeds

I was lucky to have had the opportunities I did in the Grafton area, as we have experienced nearly 2 weeks straight of harsh rain. I made my departure (or escape I suppose) from Grafton just in time. Due to the harsh rains many roads were flooded and washed out, and even several days later now I am still hearing about flooding and road closures all over the southern coast.

 Between Grafton and Byron Bay was Ballina. I caught a ride outside of Grafton with a couple and offered a place to stay for the night. This quickly turned into a great opportunity, and I was offered several nights stay with Chris and Emma and their two kids in exchange for a few days work with them.

 Which brings us to Byron Bay...

Day 11 - Coffs Harbor

Day 11

 Coffs has treated me well. I have made new friends, and saw my first wild Kangaroos!

 It has become apparent that I will be hitch-hiking much of the way up the East Coast, working my way through the national parks as much as possible, as it is much easier to find suitable area for pitching a tent rather than along the main highway.

 In 11 days I have seen large cities, small towns, open fields of cattle, subtropical rainforests and muddy mangrove swaps. I have yet to cross paths with any snakes, not that I am complaining. Though I have seen several different types of spiders and as mentioned Kangaroos.
 I find it quite funny really, in Canada we hear about kangaroos down in Oz and think of wide open ranges, and groups of kangaroos running through the wild outback. When in all reality, they are found in very populated areas. Here in Coffs Harbor for example, we spotted  well over a dozen in a small developed community on the north end of town grazing on front lawns and beside houses. Kangaroos here and to elk in Banff.
 Never-the-less it was exciting to see them. As well it is the migratory season for Humpback Whales here. I managed to spot one surface quite far off shore from Mutton bird Island the other evening. It is also a regular occurrence here to see manta rays and giant sea turtles just off shore.

 I am learning a lot about the country, and have much much more to learn still. As assumed, the East Coast leg of my journey is far more civilized then what is to come when I head West through Central Queensland. It is becoming slightly more apparent to me why so many backpackers travel Australia by renting a van, or for those sticking to the East coast, as many do, taking a bus.

 I am excited to see what awaits me. Today I leave for Grafton, only about 85Km north of my current location. From there I will head for Byron Bay - where I expect to be by Saturday.

 And the adventure continues...

Goodbye Sydney

Day 5 begins.

 Sydney has treated me well, as have the people in it. It was a short stay for this leg, but I will return after the outback.

 I made great new friends, Ariel and Mandy, as mentioned. I owe them a lot of thanks for helping me get my footing after landing in this crazy new world. Sydney is an interesting place. Many things are very different here than in Canada - internet access being a big one. Not many people are on home based internet connections it seems, but rather pre-paid wireless internet sticks.

 I had a great backstage tour of the Sydney Opera house yesterday thanks to an old friend I graduated from The Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology with, Matt Giusti. It was an awesome experience. In my opinion, a much better way to see the landmark than a paid guided tour. Vivd Fest is on this week here, so the place was hustling and bustle with stage crews getting prepped.

 Now I make my way to Newcastle via train. My last trip by public transit out of Sydney. Its a 158Km trip, which will give me a solid start on the some 3000Km trek up the coastline. After only a night in Newcastle I will begin my trek towards Coffs Harbor, where I will hopefully spend a few days to watch the Humpback Whale migration taking place right now.

  I have nearly all my supplies now, all that's left if cooking fuel and fishing line which I will get in Newcastle of Coffs. I found both books I was searching for and an excellent map for my route. The books are bush survival type guides on edible plants and animals in Australia. They are (and I highly recommend them to anyone thinking of doing a similar trip to mine);  the Bush Tucker Field Guide, by Les Hiddins, and Edible Wild Food Plants of Australia, by Tim Low.

These books are now my survival guides, my cookbooks, the centre of my survival. Along with these two books I have a third, Dangerous Creatures. This book outlines all the most deadly animals in australia, how to identify them, and how to treat their wounds.

 So here I go, with my feet on the ground, to face the lonely continent, across the wilderness, of Australia.

Welcome to Oz

            Here I am, Sydney, Australia – The other side of the world. 

            We landed about 8:30am yesterday morning. It was a much quicker process through customs than I had imagined – No complaints here.

            It’s a different feel down here, the people have a different vibe. Everyone, not just the Aussies, are very friendly and generous. Not even half an hour off the plane I encountered this when a very nice German girl approached to and asked if I was taking the train into town. I told her the truth, “I don’t have any idea where I am going.” She smiled and handed me a small, yellow card holder, inside were two transit tickets, valid for the next three days. I had money, I had transportation, I had a plan.

            After orienting myself and checking map routes I made my way into the city. It didn’t take long to get used to get a handle on train procedures – although having two identical cards that do completely different tasks is still a little confusing. 

            Later in the afternoon I met up with my new friends Ariel and Mandy, whom I had met through Couchsurfing.org. They were eager to show me around and things started off great. We explored the area surrounding them a bit, had a Thai dinner, an began making plans for the rest of the evening. Plans wouldn’t take us too far though. A night out on the town quickly turned into a much-needed very, very long nap.

            I’ll be leaving Sydney in other two or three days. The trip up the coast will be a gong show. Thanks to Sydney’s train system I should be able to make good time along the way. I expect to reach Cairns by roughly August 1st.

  For now though, its off to pick up the last of my supplies, gather some information on the lay of the land, and get exploring!

Final Countdown and NEW Sponsors!

3 Days till Australia!

 As I sit here sorting my gear one last time, dozens of thoughts fly through my mind - I can't rush it - I can't forget ANYTHING.
 I'm dropping gear, lightening my load - again.

 Another sponsorship has come through with some great new gear. Mad Outfitters, located in Barry's Bay, Ontario has set me up with a great OR Fleece and Columbia Quick-Dry Pants. As well, Ranger Tactical, who was the first to jump on board with the Adventure, has set me up with two fantastic knives on top of the gear they had already provided. The Remington Excursion - a great tough, all purpose utility knife, and the Tailwind Assisted Opener from United Cutlery - easy opening, one-handed action makes this a key tool to have on hand.

 The final chapter in preparation began about a week ago, when I arrived in Ontario. In a mad scramble I still was moving out of my house in Calgary the MORNING of my flight to Ontario. But we managed, fitting it all into a single 5'x5'x8' storage locker. And off to Ottawa.
 The remainder of my gear met me here over the last week - A sleeping mat from Exped and a set of base layers courtesy of Icebreaker Canada. 

 Its a relief to be able to sit back look at my kit and know I have more gear than I need sitting in front of me. So back to it - cut, cut, cut!