Still in Port Douglas

Hey everyone I know it has been a very very long time since my last entry and I am gonna be honest that I wish I had done one earlier.  It has been difficult to get the time to do this however and this morning I feel like I have the time because nobody is online and I don't have to go do work for another hour or so.  Well as you may know I went out into the Coral Sea to the Herald Cays which are these tiny Cays 210NM east of the GBR, so it  is a decent way out to sea and took us around 21-22 hrs to get there.  The only bad thing that occurred was me getting sick.  I had started to get a cold when I arrived the day previous and it was starting to hit me pretty hard at this point.  So the whole trip out and for a little bit while we were there I was feeling like crap.  I couldn't dive more than 5ft. below the surface w/o my sinuses wanting to explode and I felt horrible for the first 2 days or so of the trip.  Once I started feeling better everything started becoming much prettier and more enjoyable, everything that is except the weather.  It was raining and blowing about 20kts. some days gusting upwards of 30kts.  When we would go walk around the Cay to check out the birds (Tropic Bird posted above) the rain would sting from the strength of the wind.  The island was gorgeous nonetheless but we opted to leave early because the anchorage was super rolly and head to Opal Reef which is part of the GBR.  For those of you who don't know GBR stands for Great Barrier Reef, if you don't know what that is Google it.  So we steamed into Opal reef on the 4th morning of the trip and that gave us a chance to do some fishing and diving.  The reef was gorgeous full of colorful corals, beautiful fish, and amazing little drop off free-dives.  After one night there the wind started getting really ugly so we opted to leave and go farther in to Low Isles which is only about 1hr. from Port and it is a lovely little island that has a lighthouse and a couple of volunteer caretaker shacks the reef out here is pretty neat as well a lot of fish because there is no fishing allowed in the area so there is a pretty large amount of sea life out there.  After one night at Low we came back in and then work began for me the next week.  It was all garden work out in the sun so I was basically sweating like I was working out in a sauna.  It was around 30 degrees centigrade and the humidity was around 80+ some days.  I would drink about 8-10 liters of water per day and would never need to use the facilities.  So worked for a week and a half and the rest of the time I have been doing some boat repairs.  I would like to give thanks to Sam and Jose for teaching me the art of fiberglass repair because I am the only one in the Northern QLD area it seems like that can do repairs so I have gotten work thanks to that.  I have been doing some paddling with a club up here, and doing a lot of coaching at the same time.  The club is pretty much self taught so they asked if I would help with their stroke and I have been helping out at the practices I have been too.  I plan to be in Port for another day or two waiting for my new bank card to come in... yes I opened a bank account and my card is pink hahaha.  Then I will be off to Cairns to do some repairs on a 4man and a 6man then back down south for Christmas and maybe the New Year.  I'll give you guys another post when I get down south.  So until next time...
"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." 
— Socrates

Change of Pace

Well I got to Buddina on Sunday... it is now Tuesday and I leave tomorrow for Cairns then get on a boat and head 210 nautical miles east of the Barrier Reef to the Coral Sea for 8 days.  Damn its a rough life, to have to choose between staying here and paddling or flying up to beautiful Cairns to go for a cruise through the Coral Sea.  In the words of Atmosphere (thats who I heard it from first) "These problems are the good ones to have."  So this is how it all went down, FLASHBACK DOODALOO DOODALOO DOODALOO.
I had just gotten back from grabbing a coffee with Sue and watching Kalani swim and I went to check my e-mails.  The first one that catches my attention is from my mom saying "URGENT PLEASE READ NOW!!!" or along those lines anyway.  For about half a second I got nervous thinking something at home had happened when really the e-mail was about this trip and Wendy (the lady wanting me to come) had sent my mom an e-mail about it as well as me.  So when I opened up Wendys e-mail it told about the trip and how great it was gonna be but there was one little hitch... they leave Thursday morning and I have to be there by Wednesday evening or first flight on Thursday.  So decision had to made... NOW.  Looked at my funds... looked at flights and it wasn't looking very good cause last minute flights aren't the cheapest.  I e-mailed Wendy back and so I don't know if I would be able to afford, and that I would need some work once I got up there to be able to continue my journey.  She e-mailed me back giving me her phone number just saying call me.  So I got the phone, called her she picked up and we said our hellos and she said to "Kyle, this is an opportunity that you don't want to miss.  It's an opportunity that I don't want you to miss.  It is rare that anyone gets to cruise the Coral Sea with the freedom of a sailboat.  How about I pay for your flight and then you stay here and do some gardening or some labor work to pay it off for us, because this is something that you CAN'T miss."  Amazed at what was just offer it took me a second to gain my voice back and I agreed to do what she had just mentioned.
So I am off tomorrow morning to get on a flight up to Cairns, get picked up, go to an outrigger race meeting, then off to the boat to prepare to depart the next afternoon.
So until next time... "Life is more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party."- Jimmy Buffet

Oy,
How you all doin... all 4 of you woot woot.  K well anywho today I got to explore the other half of the city and this was more of the high rise/ nicer (not china townie) side of the city.  How I can explain it is a much much smaller San Fran and way way more mellow.  I have still been gettting up early cause I am still kind of on home time I wake up around 5AM but the coolest part about that is the sun is starting rise and its getting light so by 5:30 its like 7 or 8 at home.  I have discovered in all of the 2 mornings I have been here 10AM is about the time people get out and about.  Its kind of funny cause it seems like at 10AM on the dot the streets go from nearly empty to all of a sudden full of people.  I observed this as I was drinking a Starbucks coffee, ya Starbucks is here also, BUT they don't have the Eggnog Latte.  The devastation I had when I saw the one drink I look forward to from Starbucks is non-existent in this country, showed the fat bitch side of me.  Peter you should do a section on specialty holiday drinks, it could make for a very fine piece.  So after my rough morning of no Eggnog Latte I headed off to the Kangaroo Point Cliffs to get in some climbage.  The cliffs we awesome, the rock was really good and the amount of traverse lines you could come up with were so much fun.  It is all top roping or lead climbing at this spot so I did some traverses no more than 10-15 ft off the ground.  I'm gonna try and do the blog decently often and hopefully ifI get a camera be able to put up some pictures... yes I don't have a camera if anyone would like to donate one or knows of someone willing to donate one I would love to have so I could share this awesome place with you.
Hasta luego... "The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude." - Bob Bitchin

New Country

So here I am day one in beautiful downtown Brisbane.  It is a lot like downtown LA with how the streets and shops are set up.  So far the people are nice and it is a lovely town.  It is definitely something new.  I am staying in the Bunk Hostel and it is great.  The place has a personality of its own.  They always have music playing in the lobby and its a lot of acoustic guitar based music so it seems like stuff for travel.  I will be here for 2 nights then will meet up with my contact Danny aka Poofda (how awesome of a nickname is that) and go north about 30 mins and stay with him and his family for a little while and get my feet on the ground to see where I want to go from there.  I am going to try and stay more south right now (unless an opportunity presents itself of course) because of the summer months coming and the extreme heat and humidity.  I will write again soon if any of you have questions please comment and ask.  I am writing this blog to keep a kind of journal for myself and my mother said she would like to read one.  Well there is a climbing gym a short walk away that is calling my name so until next time... "Live for today because it is a gift, thats why we call it the present"