With a final sprint into the never so excited to be seen town of Tully, Aaron rocked on for a dramatic first place, landing 2,183 kilometers! Eric followed in soon after, still smelling of booze from the previous night's field trip. THE RIDE has finally come to an end and was celebrated in good fashion, like it was 1999. We got into town and booked the last 3 beds at a banana pickers backpackers place. Talk about weird. Crazy canadian dude accused Aaron of smuggling bed bugs, we're putting money on him being looped on crack. Aaron told him paranoia is worse than bed bugs.
After we were cleared by management, we commenced our post race party. We scoured a massive meal and met up with a dutch and aussie couple, whom we saw in three different towns in as many days.
The next day was our great river rafting trip. But first we had to meet the soon to be powerhouse of Team Carnage, Sir David Flavin. Flav silenced the crowds and brushed away the competition as he entered as he stepped off his mini bus to face the raging Tully. Team Carnage enjoyed a picture perfect day and hit the biggest rapids. On the bus to the Tully, Aaron gave the call for all those wanting to "Go big or go home" and we summoned the only other two people that wanted to go big.
Raging down the river we had mastered our power strokes, convinced our guide we were up for the biggest rapids, and we only lost one team member. Aaron came up with the brilliant idea of seeing how long him and Eric could stay in the raft without ever holding on, even thru the class 5 rapids. It wasn't long before we lost a man. See the picture to figure out which man went down.
We had a killer day out on the river, jumping off cliffs, swimming down class 3 rapids, and having water wars with 4 awesome chicks in an enemy raft. Flav nearly died 17 times as he faced imminent doom. He stood strong in the face of danger, stared at death straight in the eyes and said, "Is that all you got! I'm going big!" Chad caught him crying in the corner 4 minutes later.
We had a few drinks at the Tully cafe before heading back to Cairns for Chad's last night and Flav's inaugural night. This was bound for greatness.
We made till dawn as Aaron and Eric wondered why Chad was going for a bike ride. Little did they know it was after 4am and Chad wasn't going for a late night ride, he had to leave for the airport. We quickly grabbed a few items we wanted to dump off, of course it was only a day later we realised we could have used most of the things we dropped off.
The next day was nearly a trip to Fitzroy Island but 2 hrs of sleep on our first day off in 50 days was not exciting. Instead we chilled Lagoon side with the lovely ladies from the enemy raft we met the day before, enjoyed a twilight fire show, and danced our faces off again at the bars.
We then managed the ferry to Fitzroy Island and rocked the kasbah on kayaks all day. We would eventually circumnavigate the island, stopping half way for some wicked snorkeling and hiking. We ate lunch in a boulder cave after seeing the most beautiful stingray Eric, Aaron, or Flav had ever seen. We also found Nemo.
We hiked to the summit of the mini island but did so via cliffside vines and canopied trees. Climbing up a 30ft vine, Aaron and Eric crept thru the tree tops to find Flav charging the backside boulder cliffs. We were running around the boulder island like a bunch of kids off Ritalin. On our descent, Aaron stumbled across a crevasse that split down the 30ft face we climbed up. It was only wide enough for us to slide thru sideways, Flav's nipples are still sore. but that could be because he keeps rubbing them when Aaron's looking. Not sure.
We made it back to the kayaks and Flav took over steering for the boat. Neither one of us could figure out why in the world we couldn't steer to save our lives. Flav was hitting the darn pedals but the friggin thing kept turning on us! After about 15 minutes of snakey curves, we were told our rudder was up. We felt like proper Japanese tourists at that point.
We are now getting ready for an AWESOME 5 day trip to the largest sand island in the world for some 4x4 offroading, shipwreck exploring, freshwater lakes, and late night campfires on FRASER Island! We are well excited. Of course this means we have to box up our bikes, which takes about 14 hours. Not cool.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Biking has re-commenced!
We left Airlie Beach heading north towards Cairns. The towns were fairly spaced out which made logistics a bit tricky with food and water. The sun was blaring and humidity was high. We tried to refuel in Ayer but with the Easter Holiday, everything was closed except for Subway which ended up being our lunch, dinner, and morning snack the next day! The area north of Ayer was beautiful but so desolate, even finding a remote turnoff to camp in was difficult.
Finally, we found our oasis - a partially dried up creek bed with sand bars. We were a bit worried about the crocodiles but after seeing the dozens of bird-eating spiders in the bush along the side of the road, we decided to chance it in the open, sandy creek bed. The moon was full and the bugs and birds were out. Despite being somewhat close to the highway, the animal noises were still louder than the occasional traffic. Fortunately, Aaron had his screen tent, Eric had his 4-season tent, and unfortunately, all Chad had was Aaron Rinn's fleece bag-liner hand me down. Which, oddly enough, is still in great shape and can keep you quite warm if you're camping at 12,000 feet in the Sierra's - however, when it is 80 degrees at night with 100% humidity, it can be quite uncomfortable to say the least. You may be thinking to yourself that he could have simply slept on top of it, but you must remember the size and number of the mossies (mosquitoes) out here which could have carried him away in the night!
The next day we packed up the bikes and headed to Home Hill. We stopped at the only open business, which was of course a pub, and ordered up some lunch. We talked to a local who had been drinking at the pub since 1942 (and most likely drunk since then). We asked him if there were crocs in this neck of the woods and he said "oh yeah, Mate, You better just stay 50meters from the creeks, just the other week a guy got dragged out of his tent by 4 meter croc - he didn't live to tell about it!" To which we replied, "right, we'll stay away from those creeks!". We were then off to Green Acres Resort (ha!), which sounded quite refreshing. We had been riding for several hours with no sign of it when we finally came across a lone gas station to ask for directions to Green Acres. The friendly lady behind the counter said, "Well, you found it alright, this is it!". Needless to say Aaron's motto is to keep your expectations low and you just might be pleasantly surprised. Even Aaron wasn't impressed with Green Acres! It was getting late and we wanted to get a bit more mileage under our belt. They pointed us towards a town called Giru up the road a bit. We found the turnoff just at sunset and the bugs and frogs were out in full force. It was so bad we had to put our sunglasses on just to ride through them all. They were crawling around in our helmets with Aaron's hair providing the least amount of protection! We were running into so many bugs, it actually sounded like it was raining! There were dozens of frogs on the road as well, especially under the occasional street light. We found accommodations above the town pub and were able to take much needed showers!
Townsville was the next spot on our trek which is located on the beach. They have areas of the ocean partitioned off by giant screen nets to keep out jelly fish, saltwater snakes, and host of other animals that are not very human-friendly. It was very odd to see a beautiful beach and ocean but you could not go swimming in it. This has had an adverse effect on Eric's swimming training to say the least.
So the biking has been going well. Chad's ultra-light packing has kept him breaking wind (meaning drafting, not something else :-) and leading the pack. We're averaging about 30 km/hr and doing about 80-120km per day. Two days ago Aaron and Eric broke the 2,000km mark! Aaron's legs still show no sign of getting any bigger. Eric on the other hand, looks like he should be trying out for one of the rugby teams out here. Today is our final biking day and we're off to the Tully for river rafting tomorrow. Aaron needs a prescription for Prozac for the onset of his upcoming depression because The Ride is coming to an end. Eric, however, has stepped up his drinking game to an all-time high, but unfortunately it has been at the cost of his Ironman training. Stay tuned to http://www.ironmanoz.com/ to see how he actually does (Stu, Chad's coming to your house to watch the festivities!)
P.S. The Whitsunday Sailing blog is updated more as well...
Finally, we found our oasis - a partially dried up creek bed with sand bars. We were a bit worried about the crocodiles but after seeing the dozens of bird-eating spiders in the bush along the side of the road, we decided to chance it in the open, sandy creek bed. The moon was full and the bugs and birds were out. Despite being somewhat close to the highway, the animal noises were still louder than the occasional traffic. Fortunately, Aaron had his screen tent, Eric had his 4-season tent, and unfortunately, all Chad had was Aaron Rinn's fleece bag-liner hand me down. Which, oddly enough, is still in great shape and can keep you quite warm if you're camping at 12,000 feet in the Sierra's - however, when it is 80 degrees at night with 100% humidity, it can be quite uncomfortable to say the least. You may be thinking to yourself that he could have simply slept on top of it, but you must remember the size and number of the mossies (mosquitoes) out here which could have carried him away in the night!
The next day we packed up the bikes and headed to Home Hill. We stopped at the only open business, which was of course a pub, and ordered up some lunch. We talked to a local who had been drinking at the pub since 1942 (and most likely drunk since then). We asked him if there were crocs in this neck of the woods and he said "oh yeah, Mate, You better just stay 50meters from the creeks, just the other week a guy got dragged out of his tent by 4 meter croc - he didn't live to tell about it!" To which we replied, "right, we'll stay away from those creeks!". We were then off to Green Acres Resort (ha!), which sounded quite refreshing. We had been riding for several hours with no sign of it when we finally came across a lone gas station to ask for directions to Green Acres. The friendly lady behind the counter said, "Well, you found it alright, this is it!". Needless to say Aaron's motto is to keep your expectations low and you just might be pleasantly surprised. Even Aaron wasn't impressed with Green Acres! It was getting late and we wanted to get a bit more mileage under our belt. They pointed us towards a town called Giru up the road a bit. We found the turnoff just at sunset and the bugs and frogs were out in full force. It was so bad we had to put our sunglasses on just to ride through them all. They were crawling around in our helmets with Aaron's hair providing the least amount of protection! We were running into so many bugs, it actually sounded like it was raining! There were dozens of frogs on the road as well, especially under the occasional street light. We found accommodations above the town pub and were able to take much needed showers!
Townsville was the next spot on our trek which is located on the beach. They have areas of the ocean partitioned off by giant screen nets to keep out jelly fish, saltwater snakes, and host of other animals that are not very human-friendly. It was very odd to see a beautiful beach and ocean but you could not go swimming in it. This has had an adverse effect on Eric's swimming training to say the least.
So the biking has been going well. Chad's ultra-light packing has kept him breaking wind (meaning drafting, not something else :-) and leading the pack. We're averaging about 30 km/hr and doing about 80-120km per day. Two days ago Aaron and Eric broke the 2,000km mark! Aaron's legs still show no sign of getting any bigger. Eric on the other hand, looks like he should be trying out for one of the rugby teams out here. Today is our final biking day and we're off to the Tully for river rafting tomorrow. Aaron needs a prescription for Prozac for the onset of his upcoming depression because The Ride is coming to an end. Eric, however, has stepped up his drinking game to an all-time high, but unfortunately it has been at the cost of his Ironman training. Stay tuned to http://www.ironmanoz.com/ to see how he actually does (Stu, Chad's coming to your house to watch the festivities!)
P.S. The Whitsunday Sailing blog is updated more as well...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Sailing The Whitsundays
After a 4 hour wait at Brisbane Airport, Eric and Aaron joined forces with the one and only, Chad 'Deez nuts' Zdenek, looking fit as ever. Must have been from all the training he did that one day.
We were really excited to meet up with Chad, spice things up a bit, and see what kind of sailing genes we had in us. We made it to Magnums Backpackers in Airlie Beach for some pre-sailing preparation and partying. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on groceries but we figured the likelihood of being marooned was pretty good. So more food was better than less since collectively we had about 4 minutes of sailing experience.
We occasionally had to deal with some wicked wind, high seas, and a bit of confusion about sailing techniques. But thanks to Bryan and his guidance thru the adventurous seas, rather than sailing the safer routes, we found ourselves enjoying beautiful bays and lagoons completely to ourselves. On a few occasions we were the only boat heading into the treacherous weather in order to seek salvation on abandoned islands. The pay off was grand to say the least. We did manage to maneuver around the weather really well. On two occasions we were seemingly the only boat enjoying the rays of Australia's golden sun.
We started our tour with a 2 hour boating lesson from Ian The Great and for some unknown reason, after the lessons, which, to varrying degrees, we did not fully understand, he couldn't get away from us fast enough. Aaron sent him off in the dingy and he ran off, as if he knew the weather was about to turn and he didn't want to get caught in it. So, just like that, the three stouges had the vessel to themselves, for better or for worse.
We headed up to the northern islands of Hayman, Landford, One foot island, and eventually anchored on the north side of Hook Island. Having first landed on Landford island, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few great Corona pics. Soon after that decided the circumnavigating of the island was in good order. The south side of the island was completely covered in coral remains. A beach in the making, the calm waters of the Pacific were slowly breaking down this oceanside cemetary. We eventually hit a cliffside rock section of the island, one that either required a massive hike up the hill, or a more exciting leap into the ocean. Needless to say we opted for the leap. Chad managed to snap the great pic that's on the site, then he had to toss the camera Aaron's way before he made his jump. Just before completing the island circuit, we realised the tide was coming in and the dingy wasn't anchored. Enter in beachside rock running.
That night we made it to Butterfly Bay and looked forward to a morning of Scuba diving and snorkling. After a dual certification process from Chad & Eric's Diving Extravaganza, Aaron was fully prepared for his not so very certified dive. You could see the fear in his eyes as he put the regulator in his mouth for the first time in his life, about 30 seconds before he'd be 15 metres below the surface. sweet.
Chad and Eric took a dive later that day and enjoyed the use of a leaky valve, a dead air gauge, and fins that didn't fit. Eric was the lucky winner with the dead air pressure reader and about 15 minutes into the dive, at about 8 metres of depth, Eric ran completely ran out of air. With about 8 ft of visibility, he could only just see the fins of his soon to be life support. Having taken his last (half) breadth of air, he grabbed Chad's octupus and began to breath normally again. To all the PADI certified divers, we made a safe ascent to the surface. To everyone else, we continued to dive for another 25 minutes.
We hit some fierce weather heading south to Hook Island Resort to pick up Devon. We managed to submarine the boat on several occasions, which of course brought us immediately to the front of the boat to fully experience it. We didn't see many other boats on the water that day...
Aaron was happy to find out the front port hatch was leaking water and completely soaked his luxury suite. That's alright, Chad and Eric blamed it on his overly aggressive steering of the vessel in the first place...
We made it to Hook Island Resort about 4 hours late, but Devon did have two other people to spend the day with on the island, that and a stalkish lizard that wouldn't leave her alone. That night we enjoyed another fine meal, a few drinks, and some late night swimming.
The next day we were heading to one of the highlights of the entire Whitsundays, Whithaven Beach. En route, we managed to come across 3 dolphins, a good 5 or 6 sea turtles, a half dozen 4 ft sting rays, thousands of blue soldier crabs, and a flock of Great White sharks. (The sharks weren't confirmed, but Aaron's pretty sure he saw them.) We hiked up the jungle trail to an epic lookout and enjoyed a clearing of the sky and the a completely desolate beach, at least that's what we thought. We went down to the beach to soak up the views from the ground level and stumbled across literally thouasands of these bizarre "blue soldier crabs". They burroughed in the sand when you approached them and then you'd be forced to walk over just herds of these little guys. very weird feeling. As we were wondering the beach the tide came racing in and totally changed the entire look of the beach.
The next day we really wanted to get to border island but the route that we would have had to take was "not advisable" because of 2-4 metre swells. But with all the experience we had sailing we figured we'd give it a go. We made it to Border Island and successfully got the dingy stranded on a super low tide. We were stranded but hardly bothered. We came prepared with a cooler of drinks, food, and of course, the ghetto blaster. We were good for hours.
That night we grubbed another delicious meal, and happily kept the boat another day. Miraculously, we were able to return the boat without running it aground. We're still trying to figure out how we managed it...
Now we're back on our bikes and have our 6 day stint up the coast to Cairns. Oh man, how quickly we lose our fitness!
We were really excited to meet up with Chad, spice things up a bit, and see what kind of sailing genes we had in us. We made it to Magnums Backpackers in Airlie Beach for some pre-sailing preparation and partying. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on groceries but we figured the likelihood of being marooned was pretty good. So more food was better than less since collectively we had about 4 minutes of sailing experience.
We occasionally had to deal with some wicked wind, high seas, and a bit of confusion about sailing techniques. But thanks to Bryan and his guidance thru the adventurous seas, rather than sailing the safer routes, we found ourselves enjoying beautiful bays and lagoons completely to ourselves. On a few occasions we were the only boat heading into the treacherous weather in order to seek salvation on abandoned islands. The pay off was grand to say the least. We did manage to maneuver around the weather really well. On two occasions we were seemingly the only boat enjoying the rays of Australia's golden sun.
We started our tour with a 2 hour boating lesson from Ian The Great and for some unknown reason, after the lessons, which, to varrying degrees, we did not fully understand, he couldn't get away from us fast enough. Aaron sent him off in the dingy and he ran off, as if he knew the weather was about to turn and he didn't want to get caught in it. So, just like that, the three stouges had the vessel to themselves, for better or for worse.
We headed up to the northern islands of Hayman, Landford, One foot island, and eventually anchored on the north side of Hook Island. Having first landed on Landford island, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few great Corona pics. Soon after that decided the circumnavigating of the island was in good order. The south side of the island was completely covered in coral remains. A beach in the making, the calm waters of the Pacific were slowly breaking down this oceanside cemetary. We eventually hit a cliffside rock section of the island, one that either required a massive hike up the hill, or a more exciting leap into the ocean. Needless to say we opted for the leap. Chad managed to snap the great pic that's on the site, then he had to toss the camera Aaron's way before he made his jump. Just before completing the island circuit, we realised the tide was coming in and the dingy wasn't anchored. Enter in beachside rock running.
That night we made it to Butterfly Bay and looked forward to a morning of Scuba diving and snorkling. After a dual certification process from Chad & Eric's Diving Extravaganza, Aaron was fully prepared for his not so very certified dive. You could see the fear in his eyes as he put the regulator in his mouth for the first time in his life, about 30 seconds before he'd be 15 metres below the surface. sweet.
Chad and Eric took a dive later that day and enjoyed the use of a leaky valve, a dead air gauge, and fins that didn't fit. Eric was the lucky winner with the dead air pressure reader and about 15 minutes into the dive, at about 8 metres of depth, Eric ran completely ran out of air. With about 8 ft of visibility, he could only just see the fins of his soon to be life support. Having taken his last (half) breadth of air, he grabbed Chad's octupus and began to breath normally again. To all the PADI certified divers, we made a safe ascent to the surface. To everyone else, we continued to dive for another 25 minutes.
We hit some fierce weather heading south to Hook Island Resort to pick up Devon. We managed to submarine the boat on several occasions, which of course brought us immediately to the front of the boat to fully experience it. We didn't see many other boats on the water that day...
Aaron was happy to find out the front port hatch was leaking water and completely soaked his luxury suite. That's alright, Chad and Eric blamed it on his overly aggressive steering of the vessel in the first place...
We made it to Hook Island Resort about 4 hours late, but Devon did have two other people to spend the day with on the island, that and a stalkish lizard that wouldn't leave her alone. That night we enjoyed another fine meal, a few drinks, and some late night swimming.
The next day we were heading to one of the highlights of the entire Whitsundays, Whithaven Beach. En route, we managed to come across 3 dolphins, a good 5 or 6 sea turtles, a half dozen 4 ft sting rays, thousands of blue soldier crabs, and a flock of Great White sharks. (The sharks weren't confirmed, but Aaron's pretty sure he saw them.) We hiked up the jungle trail to an epic lookout and enjoyed a clearing of the sky and the a completely desolate beach, at least that's what we thought. We went down to the beach to soak up the views from the ground level and stumbled across literally thouasands of these bizarre "blue soldier crabs". They burroughed in the sand when you approached them and then you'd be forced to walk over just herds of these little guys. very weird feeling. As we were wondering the beach the tide came racing in and totally changed the entire look of the beach.
The next day we really wanted to get to border island but the route that we would have had to take was "not advisable" because of 2-4 metre swells. But with all the experience we had sailing we figured we'd give it a go. We made it to Border Island and successfully got the dingy stranded on a super low tide. We were stranded but hardly bothered. We came prepared with a cooler of drinks, food, and of course, the ghetto blaster. We were good for hours.
That night we grubbed another delicious meal, and happily kept the boat another day. Miraculously, we were able to return the boat without running it aground. We're still trying to figure out how we managed it...
Now we're back on our bikes and have our 6 day stint up the coast to Cairns. Oh man, how quickly we lose our fitness!
Brisbane Baby!
By the 11th of March, we had to catch our train into Brisbane in order to meet Chad at the airport. We thought we'd head out for a quiet dinner, a Guinness or two, and turn in early. Just when we thought the wild times would subside, we received a call from the party master. We were joined at the bar with two great girls, Callie and Rebbecca for what would turn out to be a not so quiet night. For Eric the party call came in the form of 27 gorgeous Guinness and an off-white, slightly torn tutu. For Aaron, it was all about a really hot, yet slightly disturbing white-man version of Tina Turner, complete with an overly tight purple boobalicious top, an '80s-licious gold wig, and some Armani shades. Needless to say we were in for a wild night (and ready for the competition). Oh ya, the wardrobe change was met with an equally laughable change in drinking patterns. An innocent mistake at the bar left Eric and Aaron with a pitcher of beer, each. Not willing to let beer get warm, we gave the cups a miss and drank straight from the pitcher. After a bit of that, we felt compelled to enter the "I'm a man but I like to dress as hot '80s women" dance competition. *see photo* :)
Eric took the stage by storm, after having dropped his drawers and sporting only the ass-torn tutu, he nearly broke the cross bars he decided he needed to dance on. The final tally was taken by crowd applause, and the poor guy next to him couldn't hang with Eric's pouring of his pitcher of beer into his mouth and down his tutu from two feet above his head.
Thanks for the fun and the motivation we needed to enter the competition Callie and Rebbecca! I don't know when the last time was that we laughed that hard. Our stomachs are still sore.
The next morning we raced to the airport and had to quickly pack up our bikes for Airlie Beach.
Eric took the stage by storm, after having dropped his drawers and sporting only the ass-torn tutu, he nearly broke the cross bars he decided he needed to dance on. The final tally was taken by crowd applause, and the poor guy next to him couldn't hang with Eric's pouring of his pitcher of beer into his mouth and down his tutu from two feet above his head.
Thanks for the fun and the motivation we needed to enter the competition Callie and Rebbecca! I don't know when the last time was that we laughed that hard. Our stomachs are still sore.
The next morning we raced to the airport and had to quickly pack up our bikes for Airlie Beach.
En Route To Byron Bay
Aaron Liked Byron Bay.
Eric Liked Byron Bay too.
After a huge road ride from Evans Head at our fastest maintained speed yet, we cruised into the laid back town of Byron Bay for some well deserved fun in the sun. We were lucky to have arrived early enough to get a room and quickly headed out for the afternoon run to explore the town. We found out the town was worth a visit for several days. We enjoyed a night of live music at the beachside bar and got into our groove.
The next morning Aaron had the strength to wake up for a sunrise on Australia's eastern most point. We went for another run to the lighthouse and down the entire beach. good times. That afternoon we hung beachside and soaked up some gorgeous rays. It wasn't long before Eric realised the opportunity that lied before him, so he made the move, bought a bag of ice, a litre of cola, and good ol' Cap't. Oh man, good times for sure.
That night we had a SWEET prime rib dinner at a cool restaurant just across our live music joint. We topped off the night with a fire show, beachside of course. Unfortunately Eric managed to top the Maui burn back in August with a 3-4 second burn circling his stomach. Not so good times. But, as our friends from the movie Point Break infamously said, "Pain is temporary, Glory lasts forever, and Chicks dig scars."
The next morning we had to hit the road early for another huge ride to catch Chad in time in Brisbane. Fortunately we had an extra day pop in our schedule somewhere so we were able to chill beachside once again at Surfer's Paradise. It was a sweet beach spot but the town itself was a little too Vegas like, only a bit cheesier. Not to mention the contrast between Surfer's and Byron Bay. But we had our fun cruising the town, regrouping a bit, and going for another long beach run.
All in all, we loved the atmosphere of Byron Bay and definitely appreciated the opportunity to relax a bit.
Eric Liked Byron Bay too.
After a huge road ride from Evans Head at our fastest maintained speed yet, we cruised into the laid back town of Byron Bay for some well deserved fun in the sun. We were lucky to have arrived early enough to get a room and quickly headed out for the afternoon run to explore the town. We found out the town was worth a visit for several days. We enjoyed a night of live music at the beachside bar and got into our groove.
The next morning Aaron had the strength to wake up for a sunrise on Australia's eastern most point. We went for another run to the lighthouse and down the entire beach. good times. That afternoon we hung beachside and soaked up some gorgeous rays. It wasn't long before Eric realised the opportunity that lied before him, so he made the move, bought a bag of ice, a litre of cola, and good ol' Cap't. Oh man, good times for sure.
That night we had a SWEET prime rib dinner at a cool restaurant just across our live music joint. We topped off the night with a fire show, beachside of course. Unfortunately Eric managed to top the Maui burn back in August with a 3-4 second burn circling his stomach. Not so good times. But, as our friends from the movie Point Break infamously said, "Pain is temporary, Glory lasts forever, and Chicks dig scars."
The next morning we had to hit the road early for another huge ride to catch Chad in time in Brisbane. Fortunately we had an extra day pop in our schedule somewhere so we were able to chill beachside once again at Surfer's Paradise. It was a sweet beach spot but the town itself was a little too Vegas like, only a bit cheesier. Not to mention the contrast between Surfer's and Byron Bay. But we had our fun cruising the town, regrouping a bit, and going for another long beach run.
All in all, we loved the atmosphere of Byron Bay and definitely appreciated the opportunity to relax a bit.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Australia's East Coast - Finally!
To say that Kosciusko is easy to hike is an understatement. You'd think that after 2 weeks of 8+ hour days of training, we'd run up the thing in about 2 hours. For the record, our planned run turned into a stroll that most grandparents could manage and we wore enough clothing for temperatures 20 degrees warmer. To say that the hike up Kosciusko was miserable is well beyond an understatement.
The food poisoning we last told you about, you know, the one that sent Aaron to the not so lovely lieu every 30 minutes, well, it wasn't food poisoning. And it didn't stop at Aaron. Half way up the hill Eric's stomach began feeling a bit like Spielberg made D-day look in Saving Private Ryan. Aaron had to make a few emergency stops and Eric just hoped he could manage to avoid the same fate. Aaron pressed ahead like the soldier he is but Eric felt like he had the energy of a lion after he's shagged for 22 straight hours.
To add glamor to the wonderful time we were clearly having, the weather was creeping in to say hi, since it had been nearly 24 hours since it last screwed us over, it was due for another summer snow shower. This is where our super thick, down lined and fur infused wind breakers and running shorts came in handy. oh, and the refreshingly breathable running shirts we opted for. Hmmm, good call.
To say the least, once making it to the top, we grabbed the slightly pathetic picture you'll see, tried our best to enjoy the beautiful view from on top of the world's highest peak ever in Australia. On our descent, the clouds dropped the temperature to just above freezing, with about a 100 yards of visibility. Our stomachs were about as averse to running as Hillary is to privatized healthcare. But, we literally couldn't take the cold the weather had brought in, the cold wind, rain, and eventually snow. After 6 hours of hiking our "3 hour hike" we made it to the heating room of our hostel and fell asleep for an hour trying to raise our body temps. Turns out Aaron's food poisoning didn't miraculously jump to Eric, we had both contracted Giardia. Suck.
At this point, neither one of us could eat. We barely made it up to our rooms only to crash for the night, minus a half-hearted attempt at eating some chips and a sandwich.
The next morning we faced the daunting task of continuing the bike ride we thought was such a good idea only a few weeks earlier. Again, neither had an appetite, and we were a bit less than confident in our ability to control our bowel movements. Then we met Vince.
Vince the Man was heading thru the town of Cooma, our overly ambitious next planned stop. Then we found out he was going thru our 3rd day's stop, Canberra. Then we found out he was going thru Canberra on to Sydney. We both looked at each other and thought, this is too good to be true, then Aaron said, "Eric, we better get more toilet paper." Vince and Bruce loaded all of gear into his monster 4wd Kia, unbeknownst to his mom, the owner of the car. Seven hours and 4 near misses later, Vince was a great car buddy, making the 6 day ride on our bikes really enjoyable. He's a stud earning his PhD and was doing field work on the mountain from the cold part of hell.
Arriving in Sydney, his mother had started a BBQ for all of us and we all enjoyed a truly unforgettable meal. Too bad we were still suffering a bit from our flirtation with Giardia, though Aaron was taking the lead on the effects. We wound up canceling our hotel reservations and stayed with Vince at his father's place in Croydon, a town Aaron became particularly fond of. Just around the corner was a bike shop that we in dire need of, given that Eric's bike had 2 broken pedals, a broken rear spoke, and a precariously loose cassette.
We headed into the city to find out that night was Mardi Gras, Sydney's 300k person gay parade. Aaron claims to have pictures of a man trying to groap and steal Eric, these allegations are erroneous! Erroneous on both counts! Any pictures to the contrary are probably fabricated. We met up with our Fiji to Sydney airplane buddies, Devon and Kristin for some afternoon drinks and parade watching.
The next day was our day trip to the Blue Mountains and the old mining town of Katoomba. If you ever go to Sydney, visit Katoomba, hike around the Blue Mountains, and go to the Common Grounds Cafe for lunch. What a great spot! Great food, awesome environment, and chicks with unibrows.
Having spent the last three weeks in colder than expected weather, we were thirsty for some sun! We now chill in the beautiful little town of Coff's Harbor, a few hundred k (kilometres) north of Sydney. Using the train to leap frog north, we arrived in the city at 1am, and for a city that just about shuts at 5 pm, this was no good. We were lucky enough to have the front door to the YHA hostel propped open slightly, which was more than enough of a welcome for these two nearly homeless guys. We crashed on their lounge couches. Despite having not slept in about 23 days, and getting to bed around 2am, we were up and out of there before they were the wiser.
We spent the day off the bike, and instead enjoyed a run, swim, and workout day. Awesome! We ran for a few hours all along the coast here and loved the views and trails. Oooh, we saw a bearded dragon lizard just hanging out. Eric was able to get a solid swim in around the pier while Aaron made good use of the surgical tubing for a beachside workout.
We will be getting to bed early tonight as we're planning on hammering out two big days on the bike to get up to the debaucherous town of Byron Bay.
But really, we're just jazzed that we're finally on the coast with warmer weather.
The food poisoning we last told you about, you know, the one that sent Aaron to the not so lovely lieu every 30 minutes, well, it wasn't food poisoning. And it didn't stop at Aaron. Half way up the hill Eric's stomach began feeling a bit like Spielberg made D-day look in Saving Private Ryan. Aaron had to make a few emergency stops and Eric just hoped he could manage to avoid the same fate. Aaron pressed ahead like the soldier he is but Eric felt like he had the energy of a lion after he's shagged for 22 straight hours.
To add glamor to the wonderful time we were clearly having, the weather was creeping in to say hi, since it had been nearly 24 hours since it last screwed us over, it was due for another summer snow shower. This is where our super thick, down lined and fur infused wind breakers and running shorts came in handy. oh, and the refreshingly breathable running shirts we opted for. Hmmm, good call.
To say the least, once making it to the top, we grabbed the slightly pathetic picture you'll see, tried our best to enjoy the beautiful view from on top of the world's highest peak ever in Australia. On our descent, the clouds dropped the temperature to just above freezing, with about a 100 yards of visibility. Our stomachs were about as averse to running as Hillary is to privatized healthcare. But, we literally couldn't take the cold the weather had brought in, the cold wind, rain, and eventually snow. After 6 hours of hiking our "3 hour hike" we made it to the heating room of our hostel and fell asleep for an hour trying to raise our body temps. Turns out Aaron's food poisoning didn't miraculously jump to Eric, we had both contracted Giardia. Suck.
At this point, neither one of us could eat. We barely made it up to our rooms only to crash for the night, minus a half-hearted attempt at eating some chips and a sandwich.
The next morning we faced the daunting task of continuing the bike ride we thought was such a good idea only a few weeks earlier. Again, neither had an appetite, and we were a bit less than confident in our ability to control our bowel movements. Then we met Vince.
Vince the Man was heading thru the town of Cooma, our overly ambitious next planned stop. Then we found out he was going thru our 3rd day's stop, Canberra. Then we found out he was going thru Canberra on to Sydney. We both looked at each other and thought, this is too good to be true, then Aaron said, "Eric, we better get more toilet paper." Vince and Bruce loaded all of gear into his monster 4wd Kia, unbeknownst to his mom, the owner of the car. Seven hours and 4 near misses later, Vince was a great car buddy, making the 6 day ride on our bikes really enjoyable. He's a stud earning his PhD and was doing field work on the mountain from the cold part of hell.
Arriving in Sydney, his mother had started a BBQ for all of us and we all enjoyed a truly unforgettable meal. Too bad we were still suffering a bit from our flirtation with Giardia, though Aaron was taking the lead on the effects. We wound up canceling our hotel reservations and stayed with Vince at his father's place in Croydon, a town Aaron became particularly fond of. Just around the corner was a bike shop that we in dire need of, given that Eric's bike had 2 broken pedals, a broken rear spoke, and a precariously loose cassette.
We headed into the city to find out that night was Mardi Gras, Sydney's 300k person gay parade. Aaron claims to have pictures of a man trying to groap and steal Eric, these allegations are erroneous! Erroneous on both counts! Any pictures to the contrary are probably fabricated. We met up with our Fiji to Sydney airplane buddies, Devon and Kristin for some afternoon drinks and parade watching.
The next day was our day trip to the Blue Mountains and the old mining town of Katoomba. If you ever go to Sydney, visit Katoomba, hike around the Blue Mountains, and go to the Common Grounds Cafe for lunch. What a great spot! Great food, awesome environment, and chicks with unibrows.
Having spent the last three weeks in colder than expected weather, we were thirsty for some sun! We now chill in the beautiful little town of Coff's Harbor, a few hundred k (kilometres) north of Sydney. Using the train to leap frog north, we arrived in the city at 1am, and for a city that just about shuts at 5 pm, this was no good. We were lucky enough to have the front door to the YHA hostel propped open slightly, which was more than enough of a welcome for these two nearly homeless guys. We crashed on their lounge couches. Despite having not slept in about 23 days, and getting to bed around 2am, we were up and out of there before they were the wiser.
We spent the day off the bike, and instead enjoyed a run, swim, and workout day. Awesome! We ran for a few hours all along the coast here and loved the views and trails. Oooh, we saw a bearded dragon lizard just hanging out. Eric was able to get a solid swim in around the pier while Aaron made good use of the surgical tubing for a beachside workout.
We will be getting to bed early tonight as we're planning on hammering out two big days on the bike to get up to the debaucherous town of Byron Bay.
But really, we're just jazzed that we're finally on the coast with warmer weather.
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