chill week

so, we've come back to magnetic island for the holiday's. it seems as though this is the best and closest thing we can call "going home for christmas". it's been great seeing all our old friends here and manny has come over from ayr as well to celibrate the season. i'll post some post-chirstmas party pics after christmas but this post is for all my friends and family back home who may or may not still be keeping in touch through the blog here.

Happy holidays to you all and much love your way for the season. remember not to fret too much and enjoy your company who ever your with this christmas. think about what christmas really means to you, & not what others, or tv , or flyers tell you to think. christmas is about the others in your life. and it doesn't matter one bit whether you got enough presents received or to give. give human traits as gifts... give love, be kind, patience, give respect towards others in your life that you love. this will bring far greater joy than any thing from walmart you pick up last minute will do. much love to you all. peter.

the falla

so any of you reading this from magnetic island, welcome to my slow world of updates. it's been a great trip since we left maggie, lots of travelling around the atherton tablelands, up to cairns (yes i did finally make it there) and as far north as cape tribulation. after that the road futher north gets a little rough so we decided to head back down south and find a farm job in the tablelands near atherton. it's been good here helping out on a cattle farm doing odd jobs and eating beef 3 times a day. the land is gorgeous like the land hobbits would live in in the lord of the rings. we're both doing this a: for second year visa requirements in which you must complete 3 months of agricultural work and b: for just new experiences. a wild king parrot who decided the bird feed was worth the risk.we ate some cow brain lunch meat that kind of tasted like tuna. i guess there's a first time for everything. been going around on the atvs/quads and checking out some good swimming holes and trails.

so about a week ago we took a small sailing boat w/ about 15 other passengers out to the great barrier reef. my first time out there. it was amazing, clear and calm got to go snorkling a few times. went out to a sandy white beach about 10 metres wide in the middle of the ocean. on the way out got to drive the boat most of the way trading off with mikaela, anyone else was welcome to steer but i guess we were the only volunteers. on the way back we had a "how many times can you catch the piece of watermellon in your mouth' contest. i seemed to have won after disputing the fact myself but the judge insisted i had won. i had a funny feeling about what happens to the "winner"...a giant mixing bowl of all the left over watermellon thrown over my whole body. (and a beer and a watermellon crown)

2 up

So today i'll be leaving this island i've grown to love. i've felt so much joy from the people and the natural surroundings here. i've gone on many more amazing hikes and swims seen turtles walabes and countless weirds giant bugs to name a few. i've since had two awesome flatmates (roomates) adam and adrien to hang and chat with. adam is australian artist/bartender and is in the first stage of becoming a traveller of his own country, having rarely ventured much outside sydney. adrien is an irish dj nomad who will be taking over for me in the kitchen slinging currys and chicken parmys.

my continuing journey anyway will include mikalea along with me on the bike. we've made quite a few sacrifices with our possesions to fit it all on the bike (the guitar stays though). when i met her in the first few days here, she told me of her plans after her time here as a ranger and they were very similar with my own. quite like getting the chef job here, i knew once i met her we would travel together. i'll be continuing up north to cairns and quite likely going to see the great barrier reef for the first time. this is my main goal for going up there although there will be much to see and do along the way. and now having somone to share will is quite exciting too.

these are my flatmates. the last day at dentorious and a little too much fun with face paints.

for those opposed to lows

well i really did standby on my plans to cairns(pronounced cans in case you didn't understand my rhyme scheme). i've been living on the tropical magnetic island just of the coast of townsville queensland for the last 3 weeks or so and i intend to be here for a few more. 9/10 of the island is a national park, there's about 15 different beachs, one road about 10km, and apparenty there is the most wildlife per square kilometre in all of australia.
i got a job as the 2nd chef in a restaurant called swanson's . i also got my own house for super cheap that i'll be renting for the next month or so. i'll be able to save some good coin since there's not much to spend your money on and all the hiking trails and beach dwelling is free. i'm also getting paid even better than my leaving rate as head chef at my last cooking job and it's just a starting wage!

so coming over to the island i took a vehicle barge which was so rocky i had to sit on the bike the whole time and just try to keep it steady. started driving the perimetre of the island and was blown away by the views; in particular seeing oz from beyond a short distance of ocean water. once i got to my camping destination i saw a sign for cooks wanted and imediately knew i would be staying here for a while.

since then i've hiked countless hours around mountains and boulders separating beautiful white sandy beaches each one with it's own unique personality. yesterday and the day before i went snorkling with my lady friend mikala whom i met on the island the first week i was here. we swam amongst all kinds of tropical fish, coral, reef sharks, sting rays to name a few. breathtaking . the hikes are always really interesting too. mikala's job here is being a ranger for the zoo that's right beside the restaurant so it's like having my own personal forest tour guide telling me what each animal and plant is and what it does etc. there's really such an abundance of things to do here that don't cost a cent so i'm able to save my money for the next leg of the trip.

my camera is being really weird and i can't preview and chose the pics i want so whats up here is kind of a crap-shoot. that's the jist of my life so far here; i've met some really good people too, and many of them spend there island life pursuring the arts who then make up an interesting bunch. it's really nice to become familar with locals too instead of only talking with travelers and backbackers.

i started working on a bamboo version of my xaphoon. it acctually works! (although it's a little flat.)
those are lorakeets which are everywhere like the sparrow or seagull here, i call them mini parrotsthats a curlew which screams like a small child in the middle of the night, really freaky sometimeskoalas are protected everywhere in oz but one of the only places their population is growing is magnetic island everywhere else they mainly only have 2 babies that survive thus only replacing the 2 that created them.these guys are in my house all the time.art projectmikala in the middle of creatingmy first beach boulder walk here, which was not the last.

stand by on plans to cairns

So i've made it as far as townsville now... looking back on the last week since i left brisbane on saturday was one of ups and downs. this time not the roads but in myself. it can be a lonesome journey sometimes. and alas, manny has abandoned me; he only got as far as brisbane and felt at home and is planting roots. i'll see him when i go back that way though. and benni is planted too for a while , i met up with him again in bunderburg... nice town, i may go back to check it out for a while.

i spent a couple days in a hotel in prosperpine just to get my back feeling better. i can only do a couple days in the tent now in a row, i guess i'm not as young as i used to be. that being said this journey has been good but i've decided not to circumfrence the country, instead i need a home base. after travelling up to cairns next i'll probably head back down south via a different route and find that launching point. travelling allday everyday is in every way tiresome and not enjoyable, but if i break it up it's awesome. from the home base (in which ill find some work before i go broke) i can do separate trips to all the different states. i still have melbourne in mind for that it's pretty central to everywhere else i want to go but who knows.
so there's frogs and lizards and sugar refinaries everywhere(this one was my fav. maybe jzeros next psychic pollution cover?)

what a nice frog...

...to eat!
lots of the landscape is pretty barren wasteland. dryed up creek beds pass by mile after mile and i wonder what they are like during the rain season. oh that's also influencing my decision not to go around north ... monsoons + tropical storms is no place for a motorbike and tent. also abandon cars littered every so often makes me realize the auto theft here is real.
also i saw my first kangaroos!
i was wondering if they were only mythical creatures. 3 weeks in and i hadn't seen any. still no koalas though....or crocs. apparenty over on magnetic island, just a 20 min ferry from townsville, are lots of wild animals. it's also really interesting to listen to the chorus of birds in the morning. different mix every day i wake. some sound like monkeys, others finish each others beautiful songs.


bamboo! ahh made me think of the old watering hole.

big guy, little guy and other guy.
i also crossed the tropic of capricorn for the first time in rockhampton.(well i guess i did in the plane) but it was still pretty neat since i'm a capricorn.i can see the constellation here too i don't think you can in canada. i never even knew it is a SEA goat not just goat. huh. well now we know.
did you know? australia doesn't use the penny. everything is rounded to the nickel. genius!

where i am

i'm actually in mackay now. + i'll do some posts when i get to townsville. i'll probably stay in that area for a while just to much to say and i gotta find out where to sleep in the next hour.

awesome possum/

so ive been in brisbane for a few days now dont really like it much better than sydney but its ok. its been super hot since i crossed the border into queensland probably on average 28-35 deg and my face burnt the first day being here leaving a lovely outline of my sunglasses.


been hanging with manny again and always finding fun stuff to do during the nights. last knight we witnessed a possum fight in a tree which was quite entertaining & we found a giant chess board and played king vs king... it ended up being a stalemate. the night before we had shopping cart races and went to a fake beach in the middle of the city which had fake sand and a giant clorinated pool.


although i'm having a good time, i'm getting the same itchy feet to leave brisbane as well and get up to cairns (pronounced cans). probably the most beautiful land and the furthest north ill go. i'll be travelling up the sunshine coast which will soon be great barrier reef teritory. i can't wait....

oh yeah if you ever want to get ahold of me text or call 0011 61 414226563.


true or false, there are more kangaroos then humans in australia?

pacific coasting roller coaster roads

so i made it up to brisbane 3 days later, a few muscles sorer, and a couple extra pounds of dirt on the bike, which i cant stop calling goldy even though i'm trying to come up with a more original name.

anyway got out of sydney finally at about noon after getting kind of lost on the way out. remind you this was my first real day driving in sydney and on the left hand side, kinda confusing at first but i think i got the hang of it now. i get as far as wyong about 3 hours into my trip and stop at a cafe for lunch and realize when i look the other way down the road it says "sydney 77". i've only gone 77kms and i'm 3/4 the way through a tank of gas... me thinks this is going to be one expensive trip especially since brisbane is only about 1000kms away.

once i hit some open road though, which isn't stop and start city travel, i can get about 200km on a tank. better. still think the bike needs a good tune up.

1st generation of luggage. have you ever seen a more ridiculous set up on a bike , oh.... well, if you've never seen my other touring set ups that is.

so to fill you in on the way i bike travel it's : wake up when the birds wake you up, drive as far as you can in a day(and obviously insert other stuff/activites etc. here) , then about an hour before sunset find where to lay your head for the night, preferably for free or close to free. the problem/advantage with this system is you never know what area/city/town/farm/ho(s)tel/rest-stop you'll end up in so it's impossible to book ahead. and i love it that way. benni had a great quote which i think i might steal: person A "where are you going to sleep tonight?" person B "i don't know?... where ever i wake up."

so anyway first night i only get as far as forster (pronounced foster like the beer, no aussie says the r sound). i'm in "the great lakes" region. and of course i laugh because we canadians know what great lakes are. suns coming down fast and there's okanagan sized mountains around so that'll cut a good 1/2 of light out of my time. so i took the first gravel road with the camping sign on it, soon to realize it's 10km of windy gravel roads with potholes everywhere. but suns setting fast and i got to set up before nightfall. first day riding a new-to-me bike down an unfamiliar road at dusk. great. it was the long weekend too so it was quite likely to be full. luckly i made it up and down and all around the shaky road & i got the last spot just in time, really, a car was looking for a spot right behind me. set up, and an aussie couple came over to chat and give me my first vegemite sandwich in oz. delicious, seemed i forgot to take any food or drinks even water with me. whoops.
i got to start rushing through this now it's costing me $5 an hour



2nd night i made it to the queensland border and what a sight! the road leading up to it was 25kms of wonderland. but i have very few pics to prove it, because while i'm trying to enjoy the beauty of the land again night is falling within the hour and i know i got about an hour left of riding through these windy hilly roads. worst of all my oil indicator light is flickering, bad news. i later find out it was just low but it was making me pretty nervous. anyway, i've never driven any road like it. majestic i guess would decribe it best. i had no time for photos except at the very beginning when i crossed the first of many single wooden bridges and... oh yeah! at the very end the road acctually turned into a roller coaster steep steep hills straight up and down about 6 times. i'll go back on my way down south again and set the camera up to movie capture to show u what i mean.
that's some of it anyway. this has cost me about $8 so far, and if i was making money at the time too it wouldn't bother me so much. you'll have to buy the book to get the rest of the story....