One Good Thing Leads To Another

Australia is a beautiful, beautiful place.  The beaches are expansive and serene.  The people are happy and welcoming. The travelers are adventurous and outgoing.  Things are good here.

In my last update I was on my way to Byron Bay.  Well I made it just in time for an amazing weekend, with good people, good ambiance, and just the right amount of fun and relaxation.

Preparing the Gallery

Saturday Night: (really, it was Saturday)  Kat's art exhibition was a smash hit.  Beyond the White Picket Fence.  14 artists on display, lots of local sponsorship, large, pricey art pieces and smaller inexpensive items to take home - there was a little something for everyone.  There was a raffle, BBQ, raw/vegan desserts and beer and wine for sale.  A line-up of musical guests kept good vibrations all night long and just when you thought it was over, Kat had one more trick up her sleeve.  The projector finally was working, as people relaxed and laid in the grass a surf/skate video showed on a screen hanging on the back shed and another band (by far the best of the night) improvised music to go along with the images. 

Backyard - Just the Beginning

I felt the whole night as though I was a fish just brought home from the pet store and placed in a new aquarium - still in a plastic bag watching the new environment from within yet at a distance, waiting to match the temperature of its new home.  I was kind of in a mood to keep to myself for the assimilation period, but did manage to chat up a few good folks here and there. 

As things really started to wind down we realized it was quite late.  I decided to go to the beach and wait out the darkness for the sunrise.  Kat lives 2 streets away from a secluded-ish beach, so I walked down as everyone else started to fall asleep.  They have all surely seen the sunrise on more than one occasion, but I felt I should take advantage of the chance even if it meant a solo mission.  The moon was full and as I faced the ocean it was in the sky directly behind me creating a very crisp moonshadow I could chase around the beach. 

I honestly don't know why I even bothered with a picture

As I was completely alone, I took off my dress and did some yoga and handstands in the moonlight.  I walked, ran, and jumped around a bit and finally tired myself out.   I took a seat almost exactly mid-point of the 15km stretch of of sand called Tallow Beach.  To my left I could see the Cape Byron Lighthouse perched atop the most easterly point of mainland Australia, rotating its beam at me at 5:30 in the morning.  To my right a rocky point marked the southern tip of the beach.  As the sky started to change colors, I put my dress back on and other sunrise observers slowly filtered in.  It was quite light out by the time the sun finally appeared directly in front of me in the center of the sky, the moon still quite high a 180 degree turn from the emerging sun.  How sweet it was…  I am only sad that I can't do that every day of my life.  It was Sunday morning.

Although almost everyday is Saturday, this day, I'll admit, was perfectly Sunday.

I had pulled an all nighter, went back to Kat's place and slept for a couple of hours, but it wasn't long before the heat made it impossible to rest comfortably.  Erica and Reed came over, we went for a swim and an ice cream and I returned to Kat's place just in time to hop in a car and drive out to a friend's farm about 30 minutes away.  At the farm we laid out blankets in the shade of a massive tree.  A 2x4 attached to some ropes hung from a low branch for swinging, we passed around fresh fruit, napped, someone played the guitar, and a couple of people played chess until we decided it was time for a Sunday Afternoon float down the river.  There were 10 to 15 of us - we grabbed some tubes, someone took a long board, and a couple other flotation devices.  We trekked barefoot through tall grass until we found an entry to the cool and shaded, slow-moving lazy river.  (No crocodiles - I asked.  Purely luck that we didn't step on a snake on the way down though...)  Its hard to believe how truly enjoyable floating down a river for 30 minutes or so can be.  Most everyone agreed this might be the best day of our lives.

So that's the scene in Byron Bay:  An art-loving, dreadlock-wearing, bearded, barefooted, organic farming, rusty bike riding, pot-smoking, free-spirited, full-moon surfing, taking-it-easy, upscale modern hippie community.   Kat's house is even home to 2 chickens, and Odie, a middle aged Jack Russell terrier, splits his time up between a few loving houses around the neighborhood. 

After that weekend I'm not sure I should go on, because I'm pretty sure it can't get better… Funny thing is, I've thought that before and great things are apparently plentiful.

Erica, Coffs Harbour, Suburbs? Australia Sucks

I came down to Coffs Harbour with Erica after that to check out her new life in Australia.  She is doing a masters in marine science and management at the university here.  Coffs Harbour is basically a suburban town with nice neighborhoods, a shopping center, and a small main street area.  Nothing too special as a town, reminds me of the US, but of course its sits on the never-ending Australian coast which adds a nice touch to anything.  I will stay here for the weekend, and then go back up north. 

The Quicksilver Pro surfing competition starts on the Gold Coast tomorrow and runs for about a week and a half.  I have sorted out a place to stay on Couchsurfing which it turns out is a small world connection.  The girl who agreed to host me, we later found out via Facebook, is friends with a German girl I knew from surfcamp.  Giulia, the German girl, had lived in Australia for a while after we met in France, and that's how she met Carlie who I will meet in a few days.  That should be some good times next week, then I will go back to Byron Bay.

Until next time...

Animal Beatbox - Australian For Win

This is what Australians consider a winner in the short film department...

Byron Bay

Are you kidding me?

I've been initiated.  From now on when I speak of this place my eyes will twinkle as well.

Oi Oi Oi

Well alright then.  I've made it to Australia.  It only took me 10 years to do it.  

So anyway, here I am.  In Gili everyone kept saying its too bad I started my trip there, because I went to the best place first and now what would I do?

Pleased to find out, they were wrong. 

The flight here was pretty uncomfortable.  I boarded in Denpasar, Bali at around 11pm, arrived in Darwin, AU at 3am, which I think Bali time was actually 1 or 130 or something.  I felt a little sick the whole way on the plane, but was also tired and trying to "sleep" or whatever it is I do with my eyes closed on my jaw open on airplanes.  Then I was waited in the customs line, still feeling a little nauseous.  Finally it was my turn, I walk up to the nice customs lady and hand her my passport.  Looking frantic and perhaps suspect I then as gracefully as I could excused myself and rushed off to the bathroom, threw up a little, and felt much better.  The customs ladies were nice, only wanted to make sure I was OK, and told me everything was fine with my visa, welcome to Australia.

Then from 3am-6am I curled up on a small double seat and dozed in and out of a little bit conscious and a little bit not conscious.  Luckily the seat was padded, but it was freezing and I wished I had not checked my sleeping bag.  

Finally made it to Brisbane by 11am the next day. Reed, my friend Erica's boyfriend, lives in Brisbane and gathered me from the airport.  He was so kind to bring me home, provide me with a sandwich, drinking water, a warm fresh water shower, and a napping space.  I thought I could resist the nap, but after about 15 seconds I realized the real difficulty was going to be resisting sleeping through the night.  After a couple of hours I forced myself out of bed for BBQ and beer with Reed and his roommates, then a night out on the town in Brisbane.  

At the farm, they are kind of like deer.

The next morning we drove about an hour and a half up to Noosa Heads.  Reed's parents live just outside of Noosa in a town called Cooroy on a beautiful ranch with 6 horses, a huge dog not to be mistaken for a horse, and kangaroos that visit throughout the day.  Reed's parents are unbelievably kind and hospitable and were sure to let me know that if I EVER need ANYTHING any of the time I am in Australia I am to call them.  Also, if my dad wants to come to Queensland he absolutely has to come stay with them.  Also, if you are reading this right now and you ever come to Queensland you have to come stay with them as well.  If you know anyone who is ever coming to Queensland they have to come stay with them, and if you aren't coming, and you don't know anyone who is coming, well then you should all make plans to come and then come here and stay with them.  

A walk through Noosa National Park

Reed left me with his parents, where I went for a lovely run around the area, was well fed and then rested up.  The next morning Reed's mother, Trish, dropped me off in town at a hostel.  Noosa Heads is a pretty popular backpacker/vacation destination where I hung out for a couple of days, met other migrant young adults, and went surfing.  The water was warm, the waves weren't great, the view from the break back onto the shoreline and Noosa National Park was basically breath-taking, that thing with the sun and the burning happened only a little in the back of my legs this time, and surfing makes me happy.  

Dedicated surfers take a pretty good hike to get here.

I stayed in Noosa for 5 nights, split between Reed's parents house and the hostel.  Reed's sister also showed up and took me around a bit.  I think they may be the nicest, happiest, warmest, and genuine group of people I have ever met.  I'm now on a train back to Brisbane and tonight Reed and I will drive to Byron Bay to find Kat and hopefully Erica will come up from Coffs Harbour to meet us.  Kat is having an art exhibition party at her house which may become my house too.

Side note:  Erica and I met working in the surf shop in Santa Monica 5 or so years ago.  One day I walk into work, and there is Erica, and voila! - Life long friendship.  In the past 5 years we have worked, lived, and played together all over California.  Now we are just going to have to do some of that on a new continent.

Kat and I met working at surfcamp in France 3 or 4 years ago.  One day I'm sitting at a picnic table at surfcamp and there is Kat, and voila! - Life long friendship. Every day for about 2 months we worked, surfed, and played together on the west coast of France.  I've been threatening to come visit her for years now and its about time.

Every time I mentioned Byron Bay to anyone who had been there, even the people in Gili who insisted I had already found the best place on earth, everyone gets this contented knowing look on their face like I am about to be initiated into a secret club, and they tell me "you are going to love Byron".  

No time to put up pictures now.  Check back if you want some, they will come.  

Oh yeah, I organized a cell phone for myself.  So call me.  Or don't - I'm not really much of a phone person.

Brother gifted me this bag years ago.  I still use it and love it.

Australia

It's good.

Ava Luna

Hell Yes, Ava Luna. Brother and band in France.

AVA LUNA "Cement Lunch" @ Transmusicales from Ludo on Vimeo.

And another thing...

So of all the good time I've been having here, its hard to ignore how unbalanced the world is.

Its like people from other places, richer places, come here and have turned this place from natural beauty to a Disneyland attraction.  Take a bike tour through the "Real Bali."  "Oh, look how cute the Balinese are working in their rice fields!"  Beautiful coastline is either hidden by a row of resorts, or covered in construction machinery tearing it apart to build another.  Its hard not to feel like an asshole for even being here.  You don't see Indonesian vacationers attending dive school. 

One could argue that we bring money into the country and tourism majorly contributes to their economy.  The truth is the money comes in from the tourist, and leaves just as quickly to the foreign business owners while the locals struggle to sell you a sarong or ripped DVD for a dollar or two.  They relentlessly follow and harass you for a stretch, but it just shows how desperate the situation is for their survival.  Eat at a restaurant and you can be sure the employees' daily wages amount to less than the cost of your meal.  On Gili Trawangan (or anywhere else for that matter) it would be a far cry to even call the residences "modest", while grown women do backpacking 20-35 year olds laundry for a quick buck, children sleep behind storefront counters, and starving horses pull around carts of tourists' luggage. 

But what does that mean to me?  Some people (like me) do contemplate these things, others clearly give no thought whatsoever to the bigger picture.  You can at least be humble and respectful and some visitors really seem like they go above and beyond to make a point to abuse their privilege to be here. 

Sure, with tourism and the money it brings it does do something for some kinds of development in the country, but I wouldn't be surprised if a large number of people miss some of the peace and quiet they used to have.  I had dinner with some people I met yesterday at a pretty upscale resort and I was a little in disbelief about the art they chose to display on the wall in the middle of the restaurant.  The message isn't to hard to grasp, but it did surprise me that it was right there as a reminder, or maybe an eye-opener, or maybe as a piece of material that is often stared at in a drunken blur and disregarded.

These things bother me because it makes me feel helpless and hypocritical.  What can you do about it?  By the time you make some of these realizations about the world, you are also realizing your place in a system that has taken thousands of years to develop, and you are already pretty steadfast in your ranking in society.  The powers that got us here are bigger and stronger than me, and were the situation reversed the exploited would be doing the exploiting.  We do it in our own countries, and we do it in our own towns.  Everyone is a sell-out really.  Everyone.  Except Emily, but even she sells out for snowboarding.  So I guess just be as grateful and as respectful as possible?

It troubles me a bit.  Even having the ability to wonder "what to do with your life" is a privilege most people in the world do not have.  Seeing the world and all of its beauty and all of its beast at least gives you a better understanding of how it all works together.  Maybe its at least good to have some of this knowledge to consider and apply to the decisions I make in my fortunate life.  Even if that's not what everyone takes away from visiting a place like this, the ones that do can make some sort of impact with every small choice made that is influenced by this awareness.  The big ball is already rolling, and there's no point to stand in front of it and get yourself killed.  As with many things in life, however, its the little things that count. 

Or just throw in the towel, buy your ticket to hell and enjoy the ride.  The universe and eternity make it hard to be convinced that any of it really matters sometimes.

Here I Go Again

How many times can I write about diving and hold your attention?  My guess is I'm reaching the end of the line.  I don't even want to write more about it, and I've even reached a temporary saturation point of actually doing it finally, after 2 weeks straight.  But... a last few words...

Night Dive, Take 1

There's the night dive to the sunken dock.  The ridiculous fun and anxiety of the rescue diving.  Learning how to handle unconscious or panicked divers and swimmers.  The temporary extended family of the dive school (both employees and patrons), fully equipped with all the family members you love, don't know so well, never really knew how to connect with, feel you really understand, really enjoy their company, don't really know how you feel about their company, only see for the holidays, will be right here at home always and forever, and so on.  But you do all share something, and you are all right here and right now and something brings you all together.  In this case its actually a shared interest or two, not an obligatory DNA binding.

Night Dive, Take 2

In the end I have to stop trying to capture all the excitement and emotion of this experience here.  It has been wonderful in so many ways.  I wish I had a chip in my brain that could I could upload here so you could just experience my sensory overload.  Although writing stuff down can be satisfying, most often its just humbling when I realize how limited I am. 



Staying on for 2 weeks, and going through several skill levels, completing 16 dives total, getting a little routine on the island, from my sleeping quarters, to my preferred breakfast place, to the beng-beng chocolate fix, to the evening local food night market… I got a pretty good taste of what it's like to be a Gili Island dive junky.  It tastes good, and staying to savor some more of it is tempting, very very tempting.  But not for me, not right now.  Variety is the spice of life, they say.  And I've always been a fan of spicy.

I love beng-beng.

real chocolate, caramel, wafer, cream, and crispy

Went to the cinema for my last night in Gili.  They were featuring I Love You, Phillip Morris.  I do wish that cinemas like this one existed everywhere; the cinema was a tile floor with a thatched grass roof.  On the floor were rows of mats and wedge pillows facing a screen.  My main hang up about going to the movies is normally that I can't think of anything more uncomfortable than sitting awkwardly upright for 1.5 to 3 hours.  This particular setup was quite sandy, which was a downside, but with slightly higher levels of maintenance I'm sure something like this could be very popular in a theater near you. 

Made it safely back to Bali.  Sitting in Sanur were I have been relaxing like crazy, getting my wifi fix.  And tomorrow night im off again!  To the Land Down Under.  You know, Kangaroo burgers and shit.

Amateur Underwater Photographer for the Day

Nick from England, Lives in Africa, Vacations in Indonesia, Fellow Advanced/Rescue Dive Student

School of Moorish Idols

Advanced Divers

Big Fish Just Over Yonder

Eddie, Advanced/Rescue Dive Instructor.  Magic wand/crazy hair, mad scientist/wizard aura. 

Fishies

Stuff

Turtle!

I like Turtle

Turtle and Divers

Drop Tank, Spare Air Exercise

Clown Fish!  I found Him!

Lion Fish (Danger, Poison!)

I thought it looked cool.

Again

The End

More Photos

Baby Turtle at the Turtle Sanctuary on the Island, No Touching

You Can Hold The Older Ones Though

I felt kinda bad a about it...

But couldn't really resist... I still have guilt.

Turtle Sanctuary By The Sea

Need Wifi?  Right here on these pillows on the sand...

It Rained.

My "street"

I'm in the middle.

Humble Abode

Diver Celebration Dinner!

Open Water Dive Instructor, Aan

Just Graduated Dive Master, Laura

Dive Master Final Challenge: Snorkel Test

Pygmy Seahorse

I forgot to mention that we were lucky enough to see some of these on one of the dives.  Tiny pink seahorses that basically look exactly like the pink coral they live in.  Sounds kinda like a fairy tale, doesn't it?

A lot of the dive masters in training haven't even seen them.  Eddie found two little guys in some coral a couple of days ago.  I shrieked with excitement; they had mentioned the pygmy seahorse before and I knew it was special.  The ones we saw were definitely smaller than a centimeter tall.  That's pretty much what it looked like, right here.

New Post

This morning I started my third level of SCUBA certification at Manta: Rescue Diver.  I decided pretty much right after starting the advanced course that I would stay on for Rescue Diver and then I'm really gonna go.  I bought my ticket to Australia to make sure. 

The progression works like this: Open Water Certification to 18 meters (4 days, 4 dives), Advanced Diver to 30 meters (3 days, 5 dives), Rescue Diver (3-4 days, 6-8 dives), then comes the real commitment, Dive Master.  This takes at least 1-2 months, I think you have to complete about 90 dives (?) by the end of it.  I figured I'm here and having fun with this so I may as well complete as much as I can with the time that I have (racking up quite a bill here!).  Plus, part of the Rescue Diver course is First Aid, Emergency Response training (CPR, etc) which is probably a good thing to do anyway. 

After this, if I ever find myself somewhere else wonderful and beautiful where I'd like to spend 2 months diving I can just pick right up and go for dive master.  The dive masters in training end up being assistants to the instructors, because after dive master you just do 10 more days of training to become an instructor, and that's basically just 10 days of learning how to teach, no more learning how to dive.

So today we did 2 rescue diver practice dives, Me, Nick (British) and Kevin (Canadian).  The instructor and two dive masters in training come along, and do all kinds of ridiculous things, fake panic, rip my goggles off, try to steal my alternate air source, and I'm supposed to be the one to gain control and fix the situation.  Of course once we are all comfortable and un-suited back on the boat, somehow they are off the boat "drowning".  Its pretty fun and pretty stressful so far.  Everyone who has been through the course keeps telling us how much more fun the next couple of days are going to be.  Then we came back and practiced CPR on the saddest looking, most torn up and battered CPR dummy I bet has ever existed. 

I will be doing this for a few more days, and then have to get back to Bali to catch a flight to Brisbane at around 10pm on the 11th.  I may have a few days to play with next week if I want to make one more stop in Indonesia, either on Bali, or Lombok, or somewhere else but I'm not really sure what I want to do yet.  I'll think about that.

2 days ago Nick, Kevin, Susanna, and I finished our advanced course, a group of people had just finished their open water course, and 2 girls had just finished their dive master certification, so we organized a big dinner at a nice-ish place down the road.  We ended up being about 35 for dinner, and it was really a great time.  After that, to the bar for Vodka Joss shots, which are awful.  Joss is come kind of red bull in powder form, and the local vodka is pretty painful to ingest.  The protocol is, open the Joss packet, empty it into your mouth like pop rocks, take the shot, swish it around a little, and then swallow it all.  Its cruel and unusual punishment really.  Being the only night out so far, one of those and a couple of cocktails was enough to punish me the next day.  I decided in advance to take the day off from diving the next day since I completed my course, and it was just as well as I spent the day having my own "after party" consisting of water and movies. 

And that brings us to now.  I am in my room, thinking about dinner.  I have to stay away from the cheap local food, it disagrees strongly with my digestive track.  But actually, a safer and very decent meal is not so much more expensive so its really really worth it.  Not to mention cheap local food does not include anything salad-like, which I often crave.  Nasi Goreng or Mie Goreng, fried rice and/or noodles, some kind of cooked vegetables, and you can get fried chicken, fried looking boiled eggs, beef, and other things that are edible but I'm never really sure what it is.  It's pretty tasty, add the homemade chili to it and its really a lot of fun to eat, but as I said, it sits like a brick in your tummy and the discomfort does not stop there.  I learned to avoid it after just a couple of trials.

Anyway, I'm really glad I came here (Gili) and wish I could tell you about 10,000 more things about it and Bali, but I feel like I've barely told you anything and somehow still wrote so much.  Like, I haven't even talked about the cats and the dogs!  This is already long enough, I will write some kind of reflective essay coming I think.

I leave Indonesia one week from today, but right now I'm going to find dinner and wifi.