Byron Bay, Nimbin, Surfers Paradise, Frasier Island, Austraila Zoo, Maloolooba and Tasmania, wahoooo!

Dear mates, (upon request from Pele)

What an epic journey ever since I performed the rain song on the last entry it has been nice almost every day! That day I last wrote we saw a little rain during the day but by time nightfall it cleared up and we had an awesome night filled with a wet T-shirt contest and lots of dancing and good house music. The funny thing about wet T-shirt contests is that it always ends up one girl taking off her shirt and the other girls getting jealous and then they aren't suddenly shy anymore and they take their shirts off and it's a big cat fight until obviously the girl with the biggest boobs wins, every time it's the same outcome so why do we still go to these stupid contests? Haha we go because everyone is a winner in the end! The next day we hung out with our newly acquired Scottish campaignen Jo and went to the beach to body board for a couple hours before getrting our trip iternary planned out for the next week or so.

We also decided to abolish the rule that you can’t say “fuck” because despite the fact that it is a terrible word, we all realised that we definitely enjoy saying it. We therefore decided to re-implement a previous rule from our Eurotrip last year that was you can’t say the word “mine” or you have to do “5” star jumps, which are like doing jumping jacks but yelling out at the top of your lungs “I’m a star!” Believe me it may sound like nothing on paper but in person it’s the real deal and it embarrasses the crap out of you, trust me! During the day we became bored so we shopped around town for some surf gear and quickly learned that shopping wasn’t the best thing for us as everything was so expensive we just cried. We made it to a chemist/pharmacy where we tried on sweet ass sun glasses for about an hour and I flirted with the counter girl pretty hard until she gave me a tourist discount and turned me down for dinner that night, but I still think she liked me for the record. We ventured out again that night to a club called the Cheeky Monkey and along the way we broke Scottish in (Jo) with the “mine” game and she quickly became known for her amazing ability to do star jumps and not give a hoot what anything thinks about her, it was good fun to see her joining the gang with such good spirit! The bar/club was filled with picnic tables that everyone danced on and after about a half hour of dancing I locked eyes with a gorgeous Swedish girl and she quickly became my entertainment for the night as we danced the night away with her and her friends as well as our gang joining in. Elina and I decided to call it a night after getting sweaty dancing and head back to the hostel. The walk back was actually pretty hilarious because we were both pissed and walked the complete wrong way until after about a half hour of walking we found our way back amongst a town the size of probably a thousand people, haha. I said bye to Elina the next day, hoping I’d met her sooner, but glad I met her anyway and we loaded up the car and realised our car was dead again (this would be a reoccurring thing the rest of the time with our car which we named “Lucy”). We swooped up some jumper cables and head them across the street until someone stopped to give us a jump, it was actually quite amusing and embarrassing all at the same time. Off to Surfers Paradise and the continuation of our endless Aussie summer…

Leaving Byron Bay which we all agreed was our favourite spot in Australia thus far, we took off for Surfers Paradise but made a detour to Nimbin which is a little hippie town inland from Byron. This little town was so funny as there were heaps of old hippie people cruizen the streets and just loving life so peacefully. There was a marijuana museum that we went to and took some pretty hilarious photos and don’t worry we didn’t dable with any drugs. The only really drug related story would be that I got my palm read by this crazy cracked out old guy that actually proved out to be quite hilarious and read me pretty well, I was impressed I must say but not impressed enough to belief is BS! He did tell me I’m not getting married until between 30 and 35 so I was totally stoked and pumped about that because I definitely don’t want a wife anytime soon. Note to future wife: If you read this I was totally kidding!

Getting to Surfers the weather turned soar again and even though we only really came to Surfers because of the great night life scene we had hoped to surf but never got the chance as the swells picked up and were super choppy. Some random guy had given Jay a bottle of a liquor called “cowgirl” which tasted like bubble game delight that would stick around us for the next week as she became our mascot, long story I won’t get into haha. Anyway, the first night in surfers we went out but weren’t really feeling up to it so we called it a pretty early night. The next day I got some exercise by running down the really long stretch of beach and doing push ups which felt really good to get some fitness in. This sounds really bad but we didn’t do very much during the day but just had a nice relaxing time. It sounds like we drink a lot and I am about to dive into another fun night out but for the record I could talk more about what we’ve been doing in the day but it would probably bore you as we have been pretty low key waiting for the weather to turn. The second night out was last Saturday and it was the night of the big five bar pub crawl night which turned out to be the best pub crawl I’ve ever been on! The clubs in Surfers are massive and play really good dance/house music and the girls are seriously out of this world gorgeous! We met two Swedish girls who were really cool and another Swedish girl who turned out to be cool but a little on the crazy side. All the bars were heaps of fun and after the last bar we were all just tired and sweaty from dancing so we called it a night.

The next day we got a jump for our car and once Lucy was kicking we took off for the three hour drive to Rainbow Beach, our hub before heading off to Frasier Island which is the biggest sand island in the entire world. We met the rest of our group that night and called it a night to recover for the long two days ahead. Our group of eleven included our gang (Jay, Meadow and Jo), two hot Swedish lesbians and five not attractive German girls. So even though we had all girls in our group it would turn out to be not what we expected as far as everyone being down to party and have a good time.

The next morning we loaded all of our gear into our Safari four wheel drive SUV and the eleven of us piled in while Jay drove and off to Frasier we went! The ferry across to the island is only like 10 minutes and after about a five minute drive getting off the island we had to stop because a loud noise was clanking against the ground below. We got out and took one look underneath the car to know what had happened, our muffler had fallen off, just great! We loaded the muffler across the floor inside and as Jay says “kept it liquid” meaning we kept it moving just with one less muffler, haha! We got to Lake Mckenzie where we spent most of our first day which was absolutely phenomenal; white picturesque sand beache that surrounded a lake of crystal clear aqua blue water. We knew right away who our crew out of the eleven was going to be when the annoying German girls asked when dinner was and the two hot Sweeds replied “grab a bag of goon!” Goon for all of you who don’t know is box wine or the bladder as some of us more commonly refer it as. After a little bit we decided it probably was a good idea after baking ourselves in the sun to grab some food so we headed north up the east coast and set up camp along a doon about 50 feet from the beach. After we started cooking wild Dingo’s started showing up and trying to grab scraps of our food and noise their way into the rubbish bag we had. It became the males jobs of course to scare and chase the Dingo’s off which turned out to be quite fun. We got used to the Dingo’s by the end and just kind of accepted them as they wondered around our camp and kept to themselves. That night we met our neighbours who had shagged up next to our camp site and got acquainted with what else but the Goon! The tents that they had given us were three person tents and since I lost my ownership with the gang because I wouldn’t do my cats and dogs at a restaurant I was voted out of the tent which turned out to be the best thing ever. If you put two and two together if you recall we were with two super hot Swedish Lesbian chicks who were super rad so what do you think Grant did but shag up in their tent of course! I haven’t had many dreams of home but that night before I woke in the morning I had a dream I was going to present an offer as I was a real estate agent, which is what I plan to do when I get home, and thinking about how good my life was when I was sleeping in a tent with two hot lesbian Swedish girls. And than just as I began to get really pissed I woke up a hot Swedish girls arms around me and realised I was living the dream! I know now when I am driving back home to present an offer to a client in the near future that moment will come back to me and I assure you I will probably swerve off the road and kill myself, haha just kidding!

The next day on Frasier we got up super early and took off about an hour north to Indian Head and played in some tide pools call the “Champaign Pools” for the first half of the day. I met a really cute Dutch girl and walked with her and her group up to Indian Head which was about a 500 foot cliff that over looked the violent sea below filled up with sharks. Sharks off Frasier Island use this ocean for breading which is why you won’t hear any stories of me boarding in the ocean off Frasier or skinny dipping during the night as that’s when they hunt. You can only drive on the highway, which is the beach, when the tide is low so you can’t only drive in designated times during the day so after about mid afternoon we took off for Eli Creek, which I thought was lame but others found it quite cool as they saw a fresh water eel and played games, and then took off for Lake Wobby. Meadow thought it would be cool to run to Lake Wobby, about a 30 min walk, so he took off and Jay and Jo and I walked to the lake through a massive sand dune and took some pretty hilarious pictures. It was really incredible to be completely surrounded by a desert and still be able to see the ocean and then cross over a hill, which we slalom skied on our feet down, and than come across a small lake as if it was an oasis. We took off after the sun started to set and four wheeled it back to camp. We were all super drained and a bit tired of the annoying German girls telling us to slow down when were going over bumps, which to our defense we were, and from the sun all day so we called it an early night.

The next day we be one to remember as we woke up around 6:30 am so we could drive at low tide and before driving we walked to the beach for a breathtaking sunset but not without our friend the Goon bag, great call Jo! After a rude awakening from the Goon bag we took off for our last half day to our favourite spot, Lake Mckenzie. We got smashed all day and got a bunch of people to join in on our festivities and good spirited fun and took a much needed rest before taking off back to Rainbow Beach and leaving our new favourite place Frasier Island behind.

The next day we of course got a jump start for our car and took off south for what would become an Epic day. We really wanted to go to the famous Steve Irwin Australian Zoo and to our great amazement that day turned out to be the Remembrance Day called Steve Irwin Day! Getting to the Zoo you could tell by all the signs how much of an impact the enthusiastic and passionate Steve Irwin had on not only the Australian Zoo but on the tourism in this country as well, what an incredible person who will be surely missed by all the world that loved him. We also saw Terry and Bindi and I definitely felt so sad for them. We got to pet Kangaroos, Koalas, Wombats and other cool animals and had a great day at the Zoo, definitely one of the best. We ran into our Swedish girls and were meant to meet back up with them in Brisbane but we never ended up making it so that was the last we would see of our beautiful Swedish girls who were so good together and great fun to have along the way. Leaving the Zoo we headed to Mooloolaba where I was meant to meet up with a buddy named Nathan whom I had met in London last year on my Eurotrip. Mooloolaba was a cool little upscale surf town with a really good vibe. I met up with Nathan that night while the boys got pissed and played Goon Pong (Beer pong with goon) and I kept it pretty mellow catching up with my buddy.

The next day Nathan picked us up and we headed to Noosa for a quick paddle out and surf, which ended up being just a quick paddle out as it was too chop and the current was too strong to get out. Jay and I were paddling out and I’ll never forget that we were almost passed the last set when I solid wave just came bombing into us and smashed both of us. We didn’t have leashes on our boards so they took off to the beach while we had to make a paddle back in while we were beat tired from paddling out there, not fun at all. We watched Nathan for a bit who was a super good surfer shredding and cutting when the opportunity arouse and after body surfing a bit we took off back to our hostel. Our hostel was filled with mostly long timers, meaning people working and just chilling there for extended times, and we all definitely felt this was the chillest and most fun hostel yet. We said bye to Jo when we got back from Noosa and it was pretty hard as we had all grown pretty attached to hear and all loved her so much as such a good hearted fun spirited girl. Have fun in Perth Jo and come see us in the states when you get around to it! The boys decided it was best to take a night off that night and since I had taking the previous night off and feeling pretty amped after meeting some hot Canadian chicks I decided to go solo and go out. It was a great call because the Canadian girls were a lot of fun and after playing some drinking games I was taking a liking to one of them whose name was Lindsay and turned out to be a super rad chick. With their friend Matt we all four went to a club called “Friday’s” which was covenant as it was Friday and kept the rules from our previous games and had some fun at the bar. We were all really comfortable with each other and by the time we got to the dance part of the club we were all having a blast. I quickly grabbed Lindsay’s hand and danced with her for the whole night as we exchanged laughs back and forth amongst the booming loud dance beats. We got bummed out at the club as most the kids their were young and university kids who just got out of school so we walked to the beach and laid under a palm tree under the stars for hours talking. It was a really good night and after having some run ins with some really lame Canadians previously, Lindsay totally redeemed the Canucks for me! Rad girl who I hung out with a little the next day before we got yet another jump for our car and took off for the Brisbane airport and barely made out flight where we are currently, Tasmania!

We got in last night and were greeted by my mate Jimmy at the baggage pick up holding a six pack and dressed in a suit! He took us to his house, which is lovely and super homey, and then we went to his buddies engagement party! Not going to lie, it was a little awkward but heaps of fun as Jay and Meadow broke it down on the dance floor with their ill robot skills and dance moves while I had some champagne and caught up with good old hilarious Jimmy! Some of you met Jimmy when he came to visit in Portland and if you did you know what I’m talking about as he is a freaking great kid.

Today Jimmy took us to a cricket match, Australia vs. Sri Lanka, and we sat in the sun all day while having some beers and just chilling out and relaxing. It was a really good cultural experience that I definitely won’t forget and I still have no idea what the hell is going on in that sport but I am getting the hang out it. Afterwards we came back for a barby at Jimmy’s where is parents cooked us some insanely good sausage, lasagne, hamburger, salad and much more! Some of Jimmy’s mates had come over and we played cricket for awhile which Jay, Meadow and I proved to be incredible awful at but managed to hold our own. Oh ya I almost forgot, in the morning we picked up our friend Pele, whom Meadow and I travelled with for about three weeks in Europe with, and Meadows girlfriend Amanda from the airport. We now have a crew of five, well six including Jimmy but we leaving him tomorrow for our road trip around Tassie. Tonight all the boys turned their cars towards Jimmy’s massive front lawn and turned on their lights and stereos up and we played grid iron (football) for like 3 hours! It was heaps of fun as all the Tassie boys through out all the southern football cliché slang they learned in movies and we all just had a riot laughing and playing some football, which Jay and I miss horribly!

Well, I am finally caught up to this very moment and I am sorry I haven’t written in ages as I’ve once again been lost in translation and having an epic time! I haven’t proof read this all and I’m too tired to care so I’m sorry for all my grammatical errors. I hope you all keep reading my blog as my intention is to inspire all of you to get off the couch and see the world! It’s late her in Tassie and I need to get some shut eye so I best be off as always.

Cheers,

Grant