It's been a while since my last post, I understand. But to be frank, nothing TOO exciting has been going on. I'll catch you up to speed.
First of all, I managed to find a job. Two jobs to be exact. Even turned down a third. So all the resume' shuffling turned out alright. The first of these shenanigans of jobs was at a car park. I managed to hear about this opening through a girl that lived with me here at the hostel. She suggested I give her manager a call, thus I did and ended up landing a trial run of the position. After an hour long man hunt, trying to find my 'scheduled' ride which would take me to this lady, I found myself about 20 minutes outside of Sydney in an industrial park. This job was to be a valet for a car park of employees for this industrial park. Valet, doesn't sound too bad. Driving other people's flash around a lot of barriers and concrete could be entertaining. The money it-self was also at $15 an hour cash, which would make any American job seekers eyes light up. The promising 50 hour week would also make for some good cash flow in the long run.
But this sounds too good to be true. This place wasn't very busy, I was going to be averaging 10 cars through a 10 hour day. Just doing the trial for 2 hours made me want to rip out my eye balls. Just sitting and waiting for something fun to happen would make me miserable. So after my two hours I turned to the lady and said thanks, but I'm not coming back. It's ironic how I'm to the point in my travels now that I'm actually picky with what jobs I want to take. Even the money aspect of this job wasn't very good in my opinion. Australia has absolutely spoiled me with their 18 dollar an hour minimum, including the potential to work on any given Sunday for close to $26. ( I'll explain wages, loadings, super annuation, taxes, categorised workers, weekend pay, etc little later. )
But my luck was in, as I was leaving the car park that evening I received a call from Movenpick, a fancy Swiss ice cream shop in Darling Harbour. They wanted a trial from me the following day. So I went in the shop and blow away the nontraditional trial (which only lasted 20 minutes). Needless to say, I landed me a job scooping ice cream. It's a neat little place offering our beloved customers 15 different flavours to choose from including shakes, smoothies, made to order desserts such as pancakes, waffles, banasplits, etc. This sounded much more my style of work, but unfortunately with a little less pay. Earning a whole dollar less than the valet... yet still cash in hand. I've been putting in 25ish hours a week at this place, which is a livable wage.
You may be thinking "Your a mad man for turning down a simple, valet job, that a monkey could do... for less money... scooping ice cream." But at the end of the day, my sanity and need for social attention would far out way the daily bludging I'd get away with at the car park.
Like I said, absolutely spoiled I am. $14 an hour and I'm still unhappy and feel the need to make more money, so I continue to hand out resumes to the extend I landed a third trial at a bar only metres out the door of my hostel. Kings Cross Hotel was my third place that offered me employment, and I gladly took it. Knowing bar jobs easily pay the best money for backpackers. For example, last week I worked 20 hours and got $430, a huge chuck of change for a guy that eats 10c noodles daily.
Between both jobs,coning ice cream and pouring booze, I'm trying to rack up the hours and cash to save up for some more traveling. I've made enough so far to book a 10 day motor home rental in New Zealand, airfare included (Motor home? Yea, a motor home....AWESOME). That's planned for late August, so I have something to look forward to before coming home.
OK, something about Australia I haven't touched on so far is the way jobs, wages, etc work over here. It's something that I'm still learning as I go, because it's far more regulated and geared to protect the workers against greedy employers. For starters, there's three different types of employment, full-time, part-time, and casual.
By law, full-time is as it sounds and is a stable job that comes with holiday/sick pay, has a two week notice reciprocation on leaving/firing of the position, etc. Yet this pay can be lower by law because of the stability of it and in the long run, employees will be getting the upper hand as opposed to a causal worker.
Part-time is basically the same as full-time, just with slightly less perks in the holiday/sick pay and obviously only a limited amount of weekly hours.
Finally causal jobs are those that can come and go, weekly, daily, or hourly. You can be hired and fired in the same sitting. It's the nature of the job to be disposable and only used in positions where turnover is high, or amount of work is flexible. Which is why the law puts the minimal wage for causal positions at about $18 hourly, with loadings.
Loadings: (in layman's terms) Is an extra percentage of wage added to your base pay for working in certain times, days, or conditions. Example. In a bar, you work late night hours, which requires a loading on top of the $18. Working weekends is a loading penalty, especially Sundays where loadings can be almost 50% of your hourly wage. Loadings and penalty's are set in place by Australia to make sure employees aren't taken advantage of and are properly paid the correct wages. The best part of the law, is if your one of the lucky ones who can find work on a public holiday, your looking at double time and a half for the day. That's right, 2.5 times your hourly rate. That puts $18 hourly to $45 hourly. Not bad. Christmas is even better, with it being 3x hourly rate.
But don't worry, with all the potential money you can make here in Australia, it goes right back out just as fast. With average joe meals at average joe restaurants being 15 dollars, a case of 24 cheap beers being $40, and a 375ml (12.7oz) can of coke from the vending machine being $2.50 a pop, my money is only a short lived number in my bank account.
www.picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Day 197
Happy Easter all. Hope the big furry animal visited you all. Sydney has been good so far. Hanging out at the hostel, searching for jobs, and wandering around the city is what entails of my daily activities. I've been frantically searching for a job since it seems my funds are getting on the lower side of safe. But I have been making the most of it. It's awesome to see another part of Australia and to finally see the amazing Sydney Opera house and Bridge. The city itself is large with a tremendous amount of concrete and tall buildings (nothing like NYC), that house the criss crossing streets. Its actually not big enough to get lost in, yet filled with outlying suburbs that make up much of the cheaper housing for the city.
Weather has been grand so far. Has only rained once for a short bit, but fairly sunny otherwise. Opposite to you folks back home, the weather is finally starting to cool off. As I'm writing, I'm having to close the drafty window from spewing in 17'c weather (yes, that would be Celsius).
After a few days of being here and passing out resumes like a door-to-door vendor, I've landed a job. After going through what I'd guess was an interview and job offering, I turned down a $15/hr parking garage valet for a position in a ice cream shop. Yea, easy decision, I thought so too. The ice cream shop is called Movenpick and sells Swiss ice cream and desserts. Fancy I know, and the prices reflect just that. So until I can find something that potentially suits me a little better, the ice cream shop will provide perfect employment for me.
Since being here in Sydney I've been living in a hostel. I know that half of you out there don't even know what a hostel is (Besides being the 2005 horror flick with a progressively gory and fast past plot). So I'll explain. Think of a college dorm room, only slightly larger and filled with 4, 6, 8, or even 10 beds. Each person pays for a bed per night, which includes the use of the community kitchen, lounge room, and bathrooms. It's a place that's aimed to providing lodging for a younger crowd with no strings attached. No rules, no quiet hours, no neighbors banging on the wall to shut the music off...it's just the lifestyle of a hostel. You meet heaps of new people, almost daily, who come then go.
So I've been living in this one hostel since I got here, and it hasn't been too bad. The place claims to be one of the cleanest places (which seams pretty accurate seeing how I'm sharing a bathroom with 60 others) where they host many nights out on the town with free drinks and entry to clubs. But the best part is the great weekly deal they have going now, which includes breakfast in the morning and a "dinner" at night. Both not anything that would "WOW" you, but to a traveler, food is food and I'll take all I can get.
Today is April 4. My scheduled flight back is May 18. That's less than a month to finish seeing all I can in this enormously wonderful country. Have I missed home? Sure I have. Am I excited to get back and see all my family and friends? Absolutely. Do I desperately want to hear some good ole' country music again? Please please please, yes.
But....
Am I looking forwards to returning to an 8 dollar an hour job? No way. Am I ready to finally face the world that most college graduates face? Not at all. Am I ready to get home after cutting my visa short by leaving in May? No...which is why I'm not. I'm not doing it, I'm not coming back in May. I've thought long and hard about it and have decided to stay. I've rebooked my flight until September, giving me an extra 4 months here and the opportunity to use the year long visa I was granted.
So I say to all you unfortunate souls who read this, I'll be here trying to scrounge up more trouble and entertainment for your eyes for another 5 months. After that, I will be forced to leave the country.
My pictures thus far. www.picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
Weather has been grand so far. Has only rained once for a short bit, but fairly sunny otherwise. Opposite to you folks back home, the weather is finally starting to cool off. As I'm writing, I'm having to close the drafty window from spewing in 17'c weather (yes, that would be Celsius).
After a few days of being here and passing out resumes like a door-to-door vendor, I've landed a job. After going through what I'd guess was an interview and job offering, I turned down a $15/hr parking garage valet for a position in a ice cream shop. Yea, easy decision, I thought so too. The ice cream shop is called Movenpick and sells Swiss ice cream and desserts. Fancy I know, and the prices reflect just that. So until I can find something that potentially suits me a little better, the ice cream shop will provide perfect employment for me.
Since being here in Sydney I've been living in a hostel. I know that half of you out there don't even know what a hostel is (Besides being the 2005 horror flick with a progressively gory and fast past plot). So I'll explain. Think of a college dorm room, only slightly larger and filled with 4, 6, 8, or even 10 beds. Each person pays for a bed per night, which includes the use of the community kitchen, lounge room, and bathrooms. It's a place that's aimed to providing lodging for a younger crowd with no strings attached. No rules, no quiet hours, no neighbors banging on the wall to shut the music off...it's just the lifestyle of a hostel. You meet heaps of new people, almost daily, who come then go.
So I've been living in this one hostel since I got here, and it hasn't been too bad. The place claims to be one of the cleanest places (which seams pretty accurate seeing how I'm sharing a bathroom with 60 others) where they host many nights out on the town with free drinks and entry to clubs. But the best part is the great weekly deal they have going now, which includes breakfast in the morning and a "dinner" at night. Both not anything that would "WOW" you, but to a traveler, food is food and I'll take all I can get.
Today is April 4. My scheduled flight back is May 18. That's less than a month to finish seeing all I can in this enormously wonderful country. Have I missed home? Sure I have. Am I excited to get back and see all my family and friends? Absolutely. Do I desperately want to hear some good ole' country music again? Please please please, yes.
But....
Am I looking forwards to returning to an 8 dollar an hour job? No way. Am I ready to finally face the world that most college graduates face? Not at all. Am I ready to get home after cutting my visa short by leaving in May? No...which is why I'm not. I'm not doing it, I'm not coming back in May. I've thought long and hard about it and have decided to stay. I've rebooked my flight until September, giving me an extra 4 months here and the opportunity to use the year long visa I was granted.
So I say to all you unfortunate souls who read this, I'll be here trying to scrounge up more trouble and entertainment for your eyes for another 5 months. After that, I will be forced to leave the country.
My pictures thus far. www.picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
Friday, March 26, 2010
Sydney
I did it. I started my next new excited leg of my Australian journey. I left the Gold Coast last night and arrived smack dab in the hustle of Sydney.
"What have I been doing all this time on the Gold Coast and why'd it take so long to get to Sydney?"
It took me 6 months of being in this country to leave the northeast region. Theoretically I have spent more time than necessarily to see the sights I've seen. But I digress I have made the most of the past 6 months and wouldn't change a single minute of it. Charmaine helped me see the best parts of southeastern coast of Queensland. She was a truly wonderful host with a big heart.
"What did I learn since being back on the Goldy???"
Meat pies are addicting, even some that come frozen in a box. I have been making sangas (sandwiches) all wrong my whole life, avocado and a bakery roll is the key. Roulette and Blackjack can be your best friend one night, and then ruin your night the next. Indians (from India, not our Indians) know what there doing when they made curry, but only the spicy kind. Sushi places have trains that go in circles around the tables, and on these trains are plates of sushi, you pick up a plate and eat (you pay by the color of plate the food is on). Australia's 8 states average 8.3 percent of their land mass to be classified as National Parks, and that industry makes over 5 billion dollars annually, so you can only image the facilities/condition of these beautiful places I've been seeing.
Before leaving for Sydney, Charmaine and I took one last camping trip that took us 4 days via 600km and 5 hours southwest of the Gold Coast. It was a great camping trip. We explored the long, winding, apply named Waterfall Way. The route took us through many small farm towns with homie people and unmatched views.
We saw roughly around 8 waterfalls, climbed a giant rock mountain, saw two huge gorges, and made friends with local possums. To the most exciting part first...the possums. We made a cake one night and obviously couldn't eat the whole thing, so after tossing it out in the woods, we later discovered a friendly possum had made his way down from the trees to eat the rest. He looked lonely, so we got in closer for a look. The closer we got, the more relaxed he seamed to get. He never once glared, hissed or snarled at us. He was friendly to the point where we were petting this wild possum and hand feeding him the rest of the cake. I know that a possum may not be on the top of some peoples lists for "Animals to pet in life" but seeing as he was wild and obviously loved my handmade chocolate cake, I liked the little fella.
The water falls were not your average stream trickling over some rocks, these waterfall has height and power. Unfortunately we were not able to get up close and personal to many seeing as they were in remote places, but they all were still very cool.
We also hiked up, what only can be described as a 'rock mountain.' Simply its a large mountain that's completely rock, not just a pile of smaller rocks, but these thing was one solid mass. It was unbelievable. At the top there were some giant boulders doing amazing balancing acts on each other. The whole surrounding area was actually very rock infested and created a very Celtic feeling.
Another great part of the trip was seeing two MASSIVE gorges. If I had a guess at what the Grand Canyon roughly looked like, I'd say this was it. The lookouts we were on literately hung over the sides of the wall, where we were able to get the true feeling of just how deep these suckers were. In one of the gorges was two waterfalls that looked miniscule from the distance we were seeing them, but in fact were in the top 3 of tallest waterfalls in Australia (over 200 metres)
Should be posting pictures from the trip over the next day or two, so check on my pictures page to see them.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
Going to Sydney meant for me to book my first domestic flight here. I found the flights to be extremely cheap, Allegiant Air cheap. Ended on landing a $39 flight from the Gold Coast to Sydney. When traveling to Vanuatu, we went through the standard security and identification check that seamed a little lax in my opinion, but I figured it was just the whole third world country thing. When arriving at the Gold Coast airport, I had the missing feeling of 'hurry-up' since we arrived only an hour before take off. The whole airport seemed to be a bit placid.
As we walked up to the security check, the first thing I noticed was the visual difference between American security checks and Australians. There were no large borders, signs, guard rails, or guide paths that kept people out of the terminal. There was only a hand full of "officers" that kept order. Most were older women that simply just watched you walk through the metal detector and assisted you in loading and unloading the bag screen. There was ID check at this point, there was no ticket check, there was no liquids check, there was no taking-off-the-shoes and hat check. I know that because we did every one of those things including taking 2 bottles of water, not taking off our shoes and hat, and Charmaine even walked through behind me without having a ticket nor showing any indication of boarding a plane. Yet as I was walking towards the gate, I was stopped for a 'random' bomb check were the friendly technician with "the sorry, but its my job to do this" look simply swiped my bag and clothes with a strip of paper and ran it through a machine.
We arrived, parked, checked-in, went through security and were sitting waiting to board all within 20 minutes MAX! Nothing at all like the States.
So here I am, sitting in my hostel named Asylum, looking for a job, back to eating peanut butter and baked beans. Hoping to embrace the cool weather this city has to offer and enjoy the remaining 7 weeks until my scheduled flight home...'scheduled' flight home. Nothings ever final.
Joshua
http://picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
My pictures
"What have I been doing all this time on the Gold Coast and why'd it take so long to get to Sydney?"
It took me 6 months of being in this country to leave the northeast region. Theoretically I have spent more time than necessarily to see the sights I've seen. But I digress I have made the most of the past 6 months and wouldn't change a single minute of it. Charmaine helped me see the best parts of southeastern coast of Queensland. She was a truly wonderful host with a big heart.
"What did I learn since being back on the Goldy???"
Meat pies are addicting, even some that come frozen in a box. I have been making sangas (sandwiches) all wrong my whole life, avocado and a bakery roll is the key. Roulette and Blackjack can be your best friend one night, and then ruin your night the next. Indians (from India, not our Indians) know what there doing when they made curry, but only the spicy kind. Sushi places have trains that go in circles around the tables, and on these trains are plates of sushi, you pick up a plate and eat (you pay by the color of plate the food is on). Australia's 8 states average 8.3 percent of their land mass to be classified as National Parks, and that industry makes over 5 billion dollars annually, so you can only image the facilities/condition of these beautiful places I've been seeing.
Before leaving for Sydney, Charmaine and I took one last camping trip that took us 4 days via 600km and 5 hours southwest of the Gold Coast. It was a great camping trip. We explored the long, winding, apply named Waterfall Way. The route took us through many small farm towns with homie people and unmatched views.
We saw roughly around 8 waterfalls, climbed a giant rock mountain, saw two huge gorges, and made friends with local possums. To the most exciting part first...the possums. We made a cake one night and obviously couldn't eat the whole thing, so after tossing it out in the woods, we later discovered a friendly possum had made his way down from the trees to eat the rest. He looked lonely, so we got in closer for a look. The closer we got, the more relaxed he seamed to get. He never once glared, hissed or snarled at us. He was friendly to the point where we were petting this wild possum and hand feeding him the rest of the cake. I know that a possum may not be on the top of some peoples lists for "Animals to pet in life" but seeing as he was wild and obviously loved my handmade chocolate cake, I liked the little fella.
The water falls were not your average stream trickling over some rocks, these waterfall has height and power. Unfortunately we were not able to get up close and personal to many seeing as they were in remote places, but they all were still very cool.
We also hiked up, what only can be described as a 'rock mountain.' Simply its a large mountain that's completely rock, not just a pile of smaller rocks, but these thing was one solid mass. It was unbelievable. At the top there were some giant boulders doing amazing balancing acts on each other. The whole surrounding area was actually very rock infested and created a very Celtic feeling.
Another great part of the trip was seeing two MASSIVE gorges. If I had a guess at what the Grand Canyon roughly looked like, I'd say this was it. The lookouts we were on literately hung over the sides of the wall, where we were able to get the true feeling of just how deep these suckers were. In one of the gorges was two waterfalls that looked miniscule from the distance we were seeing them, but in fact were in the top 3 of tallest waterfalls in Australia (over 200 metres)
Should be posting pictures from the trip over the next day or two, so check on my pictures page to see them.
http://picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
Going to Sydney meant for me to book my first domestic flight here. I found the flights to be extremely cheap, Allegiant Air cheap. Ended on landing a $39 flight from the Gold Coast to Sydney. When traveling to Vanuatu, we went through the standard security and identification check that seamed a little lax in my opinion, but I figured it was just the whole third world country thing. When arriving at the Gold Coast airport, I had the missing feeling of 'hurry-up' since we arrived only an hour before take off. The whole airport seemed to be a bit placid.
As we walked up to the security check, the first thing I noticed was the visual difference between American security checks and Australians. There were no large borders, signs, guard rails, or guide paths that kept people out of the terminal. There was only a hand full of "officers" that kept order. Most were older women that simply just watched you walk through the metal detector and assisted you in loading and unloading the bag screen. There was ID check at this point, there was no ticket check, there was no liquids check, there was no taking-off-the-shoes and hat check. I know that because we did every one of those things including taking 2 bottles of water, not taking off our shoes and hat, and Charmaine even walked through behind me without having a ticket nor showing any indication of boarding a plane. Yet as I was walking towards the gate, I was stopped for a 'random' bomb check were the friendly technician with "the sorry, but its my job to do this" look simply swiped my bag and clothes with a strip of paper and ran it through a machine.
We arrived, parked, checked-in, went through security and were sitting waiting to board all within 20 minutes MAX! Nothing at all like the States.
So here I am, sitting in my hostel named Asylum, looking for a job, back to eating peanut butter and baked beans. Hoping to embrace the cool weather this city has to offer and enjoy the remaining 7 weeks until my scheduled flight home...'scheduled' flight home. Nothings ever final.
Joshua
http://picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
My pictures
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Vanuatu
During my 'working holiday' here in Australia, I just recently took a mini vacation to the lovely islands of Vanuatu. I'm sure many of you remember Vanuatu as being the location for one of the many "Survivor" seasons. If your unsure of where these groups of islands are located, google it. Their located in the south pacific and about a 3 hour plane ride north east of Brisbane, Australia.
After having a slight deja vu of being back in the airport since my arrival, my first task was to explore the possibilities of the duty free shop. I never understood this whole duty free thing until I arrived in Australia and found that the prices of things were so much higher. Yet in the duty free shops in the airport, I'm able to purchase things as a much cheaper price.
We loaded up on goodies for the trip and sailed over New Caledonia and couple other land masses that could be seen from my window, to Port Villa, Vanuatu. After literally stepping out of the plane while still on the runway, I imminently realized just how underdeveloped this country was. The airport itself was only as big as small rec center, with a very simple design and a poster that read "Vanuatu...voted the most happiest country."
We were met by a 10 man string bad of locals with brilliantly flowered shirts that radiated a jolliness only these people could pull off. Their lifestyle was very much influenced by Jamaica and their music showed it. I must be honest, I loved the sounds that were created from, what appeared to be, homemade instruments and untrained high pitch vocal accompaniment.
After declaring our bags and going through a brief eye check in customs we made our way to our resort. This place was much better than what I was expecting. We stayed on a small island a couple of football fields away from the mainland. We were taxied over via a small, half sinking vessel of sorts through the crystal clear blue water.
Charmaine and I spent our first couple days snorkeling and checking out the local markets. Right across the bay from us was the local markets where all sorts of food were sold. These foods didn't resemble the foods the same ones you'd find at your home Winn-Dixie, these were hand grown, 'organic', fruits and vegetables. They didn't look as pretty as we're use too because of the lack of pesticides and Miracle Grow that doesn't seem to make it on the shipping barge. There even some different looking foods that we gave a try anyway. We even made a friend at the market who cooks home Vanuatu dish's and ate her food for a couple meals. We even convinced her to cook us a gigantic coconut crab meal on our last night (Yes, coconut crabs may be close to extinction, that's why we felt the need to eat one while we still could).
The country, like other third world countries, relies completely on tourism to keep their economy alive. Tourist drive the surrounding prices up, but outside the 'tourism district' prices fall to normal levels to keep locals from bankruptcy. I was surprised that we didn't see more tourists than we did, it must have been their low season. Maybe it was the complete lack sovereignty that I felt while walking through the streets. Yet at the same time, I couldn't have felt more at home. Every one we passed, whether it was in a village or through the main streets was very friendly, helpful, and was always seen with a smile on their face. They weren't lying when they said this was the happiest country on earth.
The snorkeling was amazing, I know with my experience that I don't have much to compare it too, but the amount of fish I saw was astounding. I really felt like I was in an aquarium. The fish were colorful like the ones in the Great Barrier Reef, only some new ones I hadn't seen before. Occasionally I found a boring single color fish, and boy did he look ugly. Times like these I had wished I invested in the underwater version of my camera. One major difference about this snorkeling than that of Australian snorkeling is the existence of deadly marine creatures. We were told by many that the waters had no sharks or jelly fish in them. We took their word for it, and as far as we could tell, there were none. I did get the chance to post a postcard from the worlds first underwater post office. That's right, one of the snorkeling places we visit had a little drop box about 3 metres down were you could deposit a waterproof post card. Yet I'm still unsure if my mail has been delivered, the idea of it is very cool.
Vanuatu in general was lacking completely in dangerous animals. Everyone we asked told us the same thing, there isn't a single creature in these jungles and waters that are capable of killing you. No poisonous snakes, spiders, sharks, tigers...maybe the random wild hog that's looks to jab you with his tusks, but no carnivorous animals looking for its next meal.
On one of our last days, we hired a Vanuatu 'bus' (a guy driving a van) with another couple to take us around the entire island we were on. The trip took all day and covered about 300km. We saw some very neat and original Vanuatu sights, including some old WW2 tanks that were rusted in the ocean. Along with an old American airstrip that was used in Vanuatu. I believe I heard that up to 10,000 troops had been stationed there at one point. When we were there during the war, the soldiers had built up a massive mounds of dirt and grass that spelt out USA when flown over by aircraft. Only the U and parts of the S were still standing today, but to see these iconic war articles were very rewarding to me. We even stopped in a little hut that a native had built that was dedicated to old war scraps and parts he has found over the years. He had a quite big stash, considering all he was doing was sifting through the beach. He had airplane wings, bullet casing, helmets, meal trays, etc. But one cool thing he has was old Coca-Cola bottles. On the bottom of these bottles were the location of origin date manufactured, and surprisingly one of the bottles I found had "Charleston, SC" stamped on the bottom of it.
The 'round the island tour' also took us to a place called Blue Lagoon. A brackish water lagoon that fed into the ocean. The lagoon definitely lived up to its name. It was crystal clear, blue, crisp water. Including an awesome rope swing. We splashed around that watering hole for an hour or so and then jetted to the ocean where there was large coral out of the water where the ocean ran free around them. It created perfect little pools of clear water where we were able to spot a large, colorful, intact shell that we snagged as a souvenir.
We also visit what is called Mele Cascade waterfalls. If you look at the pictures you'll see its a very high water fall that drops off into tiny rock pools at the bottom. The water was clear and the rock was silky smooth. The vegetation surrounding the place made it feel like we we're truly living out something you only see in a movie.
Vanuatu is a very 'Homey' place in my opinion. But the people is what made the visit. There everlasting smiles and generosity to help in any way they could really made our visit there spectacular.
Take a look at the pictures from Vanuatu and the rest of my Aussie adventures so far here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
I'm constanly updating and adding so keep checking back to see more!
After having a slight deja vu of being back in the airport since my arrival, my first task was to explore the possibilities of the duty free shop. I never understood this whole duty free thing until I arrived in Australia and found that the prices of things were so much higher. Yet in the duty free shops in the airport, I'm able to purchase things as a much cheaper price.
We loaded up on goodies for the trip and sailed over New Caledonia and couple other land masses that could be seen from my window, to Port Villa, Vanuatu. After literally stepping out of the plane while still on the runway, I imminently realized just how underdeveloped this country was. The airport itself was only as big as small rec center, with a very simple design and a poster that read "Vanuatu...voted the most happiest country."
We were met by a 10 man string bad of locals with brilliantly flowered shirts that radiated a jolliness only these people could pull off. Their lifestyle was very much influenced by Jamaica and their music showed it. I must be honest, I loved the sounds that were created from, what appeared to be, homemade instruments and untrained high pitch vocal accompaniment.
After declaring our bags and going through a brief eye check in customs we made our way to our resort. This place was much better than what I was expecting. We stayed on a small island a couple of football fields away from the mainland. We were taxied over via a small, half sinking vessel of sorts through the crystal clear blue water.
Charmaine and I spent our first couple days snorkeling and checking out the local markets. Right across the bay from us was the local markets where all sorts of food were sold. These foods didn't resemble the foods the same ones you'd find at your home Winn-Dixie, these were hand grown, 'organic', fruits and vegetables. They didn't look as pretty as we're use too because of the lack of pesticides and Miracle Grow that doesn't seem to make it on the shipping barge. There even some different looking foods that we gave a try anyway. We even made a friend at the market who cooks home Vanuatu dish's and ate her food for a couple meals. We even convinced her to cook us a gigantic coconut crab meal on our last night (Yes, coconut crabs may be close to extinction, that's why we felt the need to eat one while we still could).
The country, like other third world countries, relies completely on tourism to keep their economy alive. Tourist drive the surrounding prices up, but outside the 'tourism district' prices fall to normal levels to keep locals from bankruptcy. I was surprised that we didn't see more tourists than we did, it must have been their low season. Maybe it was the complete lack sovereignty that I felt while walking through the streets. Yet at the same time, I couldn't have felt more at home. Every one we passed, whether it was in a village or through the main streets was very friendly, helpful, and was always seen with a smile on their face. They weren't lying when they said this was the happiest country on earth.
The snorkeling was amazing, I know with my experience that I don't have much to compare it too, but the amount of fish I saw was astounding. I really felt like I was in an aquarium. The fish were colorful like the ones in the Great Barrier Reef, only some new ones I hadn't seen before. Occasionally I found a boring single color fish, and boy did he look ugly. Times like these I had wished I invested in the underwater version of my camera. One major difference about this snorkeling than that of Australian snorkeling is the existence of deadly marine creatures. We were told by many that the waters had no sharks or jelly fish in them. We took their word for it, and as far as we could tell, there were none. I did get the chance to post a postcard from the worlds first underwater post office. That's right, one of the snorkeling places we visit had a little drop box about 3 metres down were you could deposit a waterproof post card. Yet I'm still unsure if my mail has been delivered, the idea of it is very cool.
Vanuatu in general was lacking completely in dangerous animals. Everyone we asked told us the same thing, there isn't a single creature in these jungles and waters that are capable of killing you. No poisonous snakes, spiders, sharks, tigers...maybe the random wild hog that's looks to jab you with his tusks, but no carnivorous animals looking for its next meal.
On one of our last days, we hired a Vanuatu 'bus' (a guy driving a van) with another couple to take us around the entire island we were on. The trip took all day and covered about 300km. We saw some very neat and original Vanuatu sights, including some old WW2 tanks that were rusted in the ocean. Along with an old American airstrip that was used in Vanuatu. I believe I heard that up to 10,000 troops had been stationed there at one point. When we were there during the war, the soldiers had built up a massive mounds of dirt and grass that spelt out USA when flown over by aircraft. Only the U and parts of the S were still standing today, but to see these iconic war articles were very rewarding to me. We even stopped in a little hut that a native had built that was dedicated to old war scraps and parts he has found over the years. He had a quite big stash, considering all he was doing was sifting through the beach. He had airplane wings, bullet casing, helmets, meal trays, etc. But one cool thing he has was old Coca-Cola bottles. On the bottom of these bottles were the location of origin date manufactured, and surprisingly one of the bottles I found had "Charleston, SC" stamped on the bottom of it.
The 'round the island tour' also took us to a place called Blue Lagoon. A brackish water lagoon that fed into the ocean. The lagoon definitely lived up to its name. It was crystal clear, blue, crisp water. Including an awesome rope swing. We splashed around that watering hole for an hour or so and then jetted to the ocean where there was large coral out of the water where the ocean ran free around them. It created perfect little pools of clear water where we were able to spot a large, colorful, intact shell that we snagged as a souvenir.
We also visit what is called Mele Cascade waterfalls. If you look at the pictures you'll see its a very high water fall that drops off into tiny rock pools at the bottom. The water was clear and the rock was silky smooth. The vegetation surrounding the place made it feel like we we're truly living out something you only see in a movie.
Vanuatu is a very 'Homey' place in my opinion. But the people is what made the visit. There everlasting smiles and generosity to help in any way they could really made our visit there spectacular.
Take a look at the pictures from Vanuatu and the rest of my Aussie adventures so far here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joshhorton12
I'm constanly updating and adding so keep checking back to see more!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
I'm back, by popular demand...
Sorry I've been quite slack with updating on here, but with the time constraints I have with laying on the beach and eating delicious home cooked meals, I can't seem to find ANY time.
Yet on I go, back on the Gold Coast as I left you all last. Ahhh, the Gold coast life again, it's been extremely cruzie (relaxing) so far. Its great to be back and see my old stomping ground again. Yet I'm seeing it from a different perspective. I'm actually visiting all the things that I never got around to seeing...plus some.
I've made day trips to famous Byron Bay, seen waterfalls and mountain ranges, and amazing cliffs at the waters edge. Seen a bunch of great views that I was unfortunately unable to take photos of, but all have definitely rated in my top best views I've seen. Views from Byron, Lennox Head, and a couple different camping locations have all be crossed off my 'To Do' list.
Byron Bay, the most easterly point of mainland Australia, has a surrounding area with winding, hilly roads leads up to a terrific old lighthouse. The lighthouse is on a point that over looks the beach down below. The sunset from here was amazing. It's really astonishing just how much I DIDN'T do while I was here 5 months ago. It seems that I missed a lot of the good stuff...good thing I came back.
Visited my first Australian Zoo a couple weeks back, the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. It was a smaller zoo, but still had a good line up of Aussie animals. Saw my first Koala, Wallaby, Wombat, Tasmanian Devil, and even got to pet a Kangaroo...which was obviously one of my main adjectives when coming over here.
The roos were large animals, with a slight zoo stench. There must have been close to a hundred in this large walk thru pin. The roos were everywhere, some were sun bathing, some were laying completely sprawled out on their backs, others were just straight chillin', staring right at us. Even saw a mama roo layin on her side with a little joey taking a siesta in her pouch. That was a cool sight.
Koalas are very lazy animals. They remind me of a sloth, only better looking. The big fuzzy, cuddly animals were in planted tree tops snacking away at the surrounding foliage. I was told that this was quite a sight to see so much movement out of Koalas, seeing how their big bludgers (lazy).
Been trying out more local and foreign cuisine since I've been back. Trying to cook new foods, old foods with new recipes, and simply just throwing some things together to see how it turns out. For starters I can say that I've successfully made a handful of cheesecakes. I didn't think I even liked cheesecakes until I learned to make one. With a little help from the master chef Charmaine, I concocted some delicious ones.
The food here is much like that of the states, only with a few staples that can't go unnoticed. The typical Aussie meal is something called a meat pie. That's right, it's exactly as it sounds, a pie filled with meat. When I first got here and heard about this meat pie deal, I didn't find it too appealing. As most Americans, I've always thought of pies as sweet dessert items, but not here. The most common of these pies are small, enough for just one person, and usually filled with steak and gravy. Yet they do come with all different stuffing's including chicken, curry, mushrooms, veggies, etc. etc. Don't get this famous meal confused with a sort of quiche, it looks and feels exactly like an apple pie, just with meat. I tried my first one not too long ago, and since then I've been craving meat pies. That is something I'm definitely bringing back to the states!
I've got some catching up to do on here, so I'll try to follow up some more stories over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
For the sake of my sanity and wallet, I'm no longer going to try to upload pictures onto the blog, it takes me hours to simply load a handful of pictures. So I've uploaded almost every picture I have onto a web album, so that way everyone can see all of my photos. I'll post that URL when its ready! So be on the look out for that.
Yet on I go, back on the Gold Coast as I left you all last. Ahhh, the Gold coast life again, it's been extremely cruzie (relaxing) so far. Its great to be back and see my old stomping ground again. Yet I'm seeing it from a different perspective. I'm actually visiting all the things that I never got around to seeing...plus some.
I've made day trips to famous Byron Bay, seen waterfalls and mountain ranges, and amazing cliffs at the waters edge. Seen a bunch of great views that I was unfortunately unable to take photos of, but all have definitely rated in my top best views I've seen. Views from Byron, Lennox Head, and a couple different camping locations have all be crossed off my 'To Do' list.
Byron Bay, the most easterly point of mainland Australia, has a surrounding area with winding, hilly roads leads up to a terrific old lighthouse. The lighthouse is on a point that over looks the beach down below. The sunset from here was amazing. It's really astonishing just how much I DIDN'T do while I was here 5 months ago. It seems that I missed a lot of the good stuff...good thing I came back.
Visited my first Australian Zoo a couple weeks back, the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. It was a smaller zoo, but still had a good line up of Aussie animals. Saw my first Koala, Wallaby, Wombat, Tasmanian Devil, and even got to pet a Kangaroo...which was obviously one of my main adjectives when coming over here.
The roos were large animals, with a slight zoo stench. There must have been close to a hundred in this large walk thru pin. The roos were everywhere, some were sun bathing, some were laying completely sprawled out on their backs, others were just straight chillin', staring right at us. Even saw a mama roo layin on her side with a little joey taking a siesta in her pouch. That was a cool sight.
Koalas are very lazy animals. They remind me of a sloth, only better looking. The big fuzzy, cuddly animals were in planted tree tops snacking away at the surrounding foliage. I was told that this was quite a sight to see so much movement out of Koalas, seeing how their big bludgers (lazy).
Been trying out more local and foreign cuisine since I've been back. Trying to cook new foods, old foods with new recipes, and simply just throwing some things together to see how it turns out. For starters I can say that I've successfully made a handful of cheesecakes. I didn't think I even liked cheesecakes until I learned to make one. With a little help from the master chef Charmaine, I concocted some delicious ones.
The food here is much like that of the states, only with a few staples that can't go unnoticed. The typical Aussie meal is something called a meat pie. That's right, it's exactly as it sounds, a pie filled with meat. When I first got here and heard about this meat pie deal, I didn't find it too appealing. As most Americans, I've always thought of pies as sweet dessert items, but not here. The most common of these pies are small, enough for just one person, and usually filled with steak and gravy. Yet they do come with all different stuffing's including chicken, curry, mushrooms, veggies, etc. etc. Don't get this famous meal confused with a sort of quiche, it looks and feels exactly like an apple pie, just with meat. I tried my first one not too long ago, and since then I've been craving meat pies. That is something I'm definitely bringing back to the states!
I've got some catching up to do on here, so I'll try to follow up some more stories over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.
For the sake of my sanity and wallet, I'm no longer going to try to upload pictures onto the blog, it takes me hours to simply load a handful of pictures. So I've uploaded almost every picture I have onto a web album, so that way everyone can see all of my photos. I'll post that URL when its ready! So be on the look out for that.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The ten of us "Gypsie Travelers", as we call ourselves, took the next 4 days after leaving Hervey Bay to travel down south and explore some mountain ranges and lookout points. We saw some really beautiful mountains, but the weather was awful for us the whole time.
Sleeping at night was the worst really. I spent the whole week after leaving the island sleeping either on the floor of a tent or in the back seat of the truck. Either way, when your tired, you'll sleep anywhere. But definitely was in a slightly cranky mood with the whole poor sleeping bit. Either way, we all made sure that we didn't miss a beat.
After a week of camping and traveling, we eventually made our way down to Brisbane where it was time to for all of us to split up. Some wanted to stay in Brisbane, some wanted to keep truckin' it down to Melbourne, and Gerby and I were headed to the Gold Coast. I found myself back where I started my whole Australian adventure...Nobby Beach!
It's funny how the closer we got, the more excited I was to return here. Honestly didn't think I'd be back, not this soon anyway. Things are still the same as when I left here, my bakery is still pumping out savory scrolls and the waves are still filled with surfers.
Had my first actual Krispy Kreme Doughnuts fight. Not just a cute one or two doughnuts being thrown around either, I'm talking we had 8 boxes of doughnuts and a whole beach, lit up with moon, to crush these puppies at each other. Even brought out a mallet for a throw-and-toss fashion of detonating doughnuts. For the record, chocolate covered custard DOES NOT taste good when you're wearing it.
That was quickly topped two days later by a custard battle. This one was however, not planned. For some reason we had an extremely large amount of custard in the fridge, and one thing let to another...next thing you know, the house walls are covered in chocolate custard and were on the beach again smashing handfuls of custard across the sand. Again...custard ON YOU, isn't as good as eating it outright.
Waterfall sliding
doughnut bashing
artsy fartsy picture i took at Pt. Danger
Custard fight
Sleeping at night was the worst really. I spent the whole week after leaving the island sleeping either on the floor of a tent or in the back seat of the truck. Either way, when your tired, you'll sleep anywhere. But definitely was in a slightly cranky mood with the whole poor sleeping bit. Either way, we all made sure that we didn't miss a beat.
After a week of camping and traveling, we eventually made our way down to Brisbane where it was time to for all of us to split up. Some wanted to stay in Brisbane, some wanted to keep truckin' it down to Melbourne, and Gerby and I were headed to the Gold Coast. I found myself back where I started my whole Australian adventure...Nobby Beach!
It's funny how the closer we got, the more excited I was to return here. Honestly didn't think I'd be back, not this soon anyway. Things are still the same as when I left here, my bakery is still pumping out savory scrolls and the waves are still filled with surfers.
Had my first actual Krispy Kreme Doughnuts fight. Not just a cute one or two doughnuts being thrown around either, I'm talking we had 8 boxes of doughnuts and a whole beach, lit up with moon, to crush these puppies at each other. Even brought out a mallet for a throw-and-toss fashion of detonating doughnuts. For the record, chocolate covered custard DOES NOT taste good when you're wearing it.
That was quickly topped two days later by a custard battle. This one was however, not planned. For some reason we had an extremely large amount of custard in the fridge, and one thing let to another...next thing you know, the house walls are covered in chocolate custard and were on the beach again smashing handfuls of custard across the sand. Again...custard ON YOU, isn't as good as eating it outright.
Waterfall sliding
doughnut bashing
artsy fartsy picture i took at Pt. Danger
Custard fight
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)