Australia… Finally!

This has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. There has never been a country higher on my “need to visit” list than this one.

Well people… We are here!!!

What I equate as Canada’s “bad-ass little brother” and only little brother because of the size difference, Australia is home to 25 million people, 86,000 different species of insects and over 7400 types of vertebrate animals including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Truly a country and continent of life.

This is where I will lose my “driving on the other side” virginity. Apprehensive at the thought of piloting a motor vehicle that sports a steering wheel on the right and is forced to maneuver on the left-hand side of the road disturbs me quite frankly. I have driven for 30 years, not doing just that… Not intentionally anyways.

It is 38C today and humidity is 90%. This makes breathing unfit for humans and A/C a necessity, that’s for sure. We will be staying with an old rodeo buddy of mine Creighton Lund for the duration of our Oz adventure. He has opened his digs up as a “home base” of sorts that will allow us to zip in and out while doing day trips and seeing as much of the area as we can.

Setting foot in the Pacific Ocean off the Gold Coast of Australia felt like a victory in life for me. A different type of sand, sun and water all in one. What a great blessing for all of us this is. After a brief, one-night stay in Gold Coast we head north west to Maleny.

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The drive was absolutely the windiest road I have ever had the pleasure of driving. It was an experience, that’s for sure. The scenery was unbelievable, or so Patty told me. Had I taken my eyes off the road, we were sure to die.

Arriving at Casa del Lund was amazing! Such a beautiful property and we had the luxury of making it our own for the next few weeks. Right off the bat, I wished to go for a peek in the back forty. Sheridan (Creighton’s daughter) took me for a quick walk. I had plans for this property. I will fast forward to what I know NOW. There is no way in hell I would ever go “galivanting” around an Australian acreage. You couldn’t tempt me with any sort of money or gift. Forget it. The End.

Tecwyn lamb is a Welsh chap that has called Adelaide, Australia his home town for ages. Through Creighton, we were lucky enough to meet such a class act of an individual. This cat makes his own spirits, throws a mean dart, golfs like Rory and cooks like Emeril. The world is a better place for having this fella aboard and he is OURS for the duration of our stay.

Good food, good whisky and great conversation is the way the next few days went. Christmas was a great success, boxing day was an incredible party with more great friends and now family met. Jodie, Justine, Jimmy, Keiran, Belinda, Paula, Gary and others really made us feel like we belonged.

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The Australian friendship is a bond that will last forever.

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Christmas and New Year’s was especially great for the kids beings that we saw both before any of our friends back home. Santa came first and so did 2019! It’s the way that I always hope to spend Christmas. With friends and “family”.

New Year’s eve here in Oz and what better way than to spend it at one of Australia’s most famous attractions, the Australia Zoo and home to the late Steve Irwin better known as the Crocodile Hunter. The Irwin family still owns and runs the zoo located in Beerwah, Queensland.

This zoo boasts 1000 different animals and around 700,000 annual visitors.
Right off the bat, this was proving to be a day to remember. Hands on snake petting and live eagles greeted us immediately. Research had shown us that the crocodile show was something to look forward too but the whole experience leading up to it was amazing. The Zoo was set up so well for the animals and visitors alike. Viewing was perfect while the animals all had plenty of room to roam.

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New Year’s Day was an amazing day in the pool… There may have been some beer, some sun and some sleep. One thing is for sure. There wasn’t enough sunscreen. Check out THE LONGER VERSION for more info on that event.

Between our arrival and our departure from the Maleny area, Patty has found her “happy place” again. Never was she more content at home but in the basement, painting and whistling as she created her amazing works of art. We wont leave this place with just empty beer cans… Check these out! No she didn’t bring her own tools either. The lady is an artist and artists adapt…

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Brisbane is an incredible city. Super hip, artsy and full of pubs. This place is a definite check mark on the revisit list. Our visit started with the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art. It’s amazing to see the different styles of art beings in a country across the globe. Full of interactive things for the kids and breathtaking galleries for us, this was a great FREE way to spend most of the day. Together with one of the tallest Ferris Wheels in the southern hemisphere and the coolest water taxi on the planet, “Brizzy” was a place that we will be sure to return.

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Speaking of friendships…

18 Years have passed since a fella named Jared Roberts form Melbourne, Australia came to Canada and graced my presence. This bloke was the epitome of hard work, an outstanding golfer and an overall top shelf individual. I was truly blessed to know him, work with him and become friends with him but equally as lucky to eventually meet up again with him, here on our trip. Upon word that we would be in the Brisbane area, he immediately booked a flight to the Gold Coast to spend the night and the next day with myself and my family.

We had never been nor even thought of attending a cricket match. While driving passed the Gold Coast Merticon Arena, we noticed a banner that read Sydney vs Melbourne Jan 05. Well tomorrow was January 05. Time was tight but the price was right… (that was a killer rhyme). Tickets bought and the day burnt quickly, cricket awaits!

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Having an Aussie bloke there to teach you what the game is all about helped immensely. I will not lie. It wasn’t the most exciting game ever but being able to experience a cricket match in the land of cricket was worth it hands down… Find out how we got parking in THE LONGER VERSION.

That same night we ended our visit with Jared.
The next day started our visit with…
The Great Barrier Reef!

Arriving at one of the natural wonders of the world is both exciting and surreal. As I’ve stated many times during our journey, being able to see these wonders of manmade and natural creation in person is most special indeed. To date, this day will go down as one of the most memorable of our trip and we haven’t even hit the reef yet!

Weather was calling for “rough seas” on our catamaran tour to the Great Barrier Reef today. When you are a dry-land Canadian boy, rough seas can only be imagined as a less than ideal day on Slave Lake.

Well, let me tell you…

This was by far the most intense ride I have ever taken. I have driven in a NASCAR, went skydiving and rode a motorcycle rollercoaster in the very front and so on…

This “controlled environment” of the huge catamaran tour ship that was taking us on a 2 hour ride across the Pacific to remote Lady Musgrave Island made me feel as helpless as I have ever felt in my life.
THE LONGER VERSION lets you in on the details… Worth the read!

I realized that I am not good at 2 things today. Underwater photography and snorkelling. Half the ocean ended up in my mouth and most of the pictures I took with the GoPro were less than ideal. We had a great time at the incredible place nonetheless. The reef holds many mysteries unseen yet there was no lack of exciting things to look at with every blink of the eye.

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I strike up conversation with anyone. As we sit there snickering at all the first-time snorkelers from the top deck, inside secretly knowing that those people were us just a few short moments ago, we notice a fella kind of “directing traffic” if you will right next to us. We end up chatting for a few minutes about travel and where he comes from, our trip so far and our future plans. I bring up the whole rough sea situation and the size of the waves. I ask him if he has been in rougher seas and his answer was a most definitely. He explains that perhaps it is a good idea to ride outside, at the front of the ship directly in front of HIM.

In front of you? Where are you sitting?

At the helm he replies…
Leave it to us to make friends with the captain. Well, we took his advice and it was a CRAZY ride for the next 2.5 hours. The swells were the same size as the trip there yet I was front and centre in this shitstorm. We all were. The kids even fell asleep… Outside!
Thanks Captain Brett!

Kingscliff, Australia is our next and final destination before jetting to our 6th country in under 2 months. This is where I have an appointment to get my 4th and 5th tattoos. Absolute Tattoo is a very reputable establishment and they have put up with me cancelling because of plans and changing my appointment because of flight time mistakes. Arriving precisely on time to get started takes me on the long journey of the 6 hour sit. I was in the tattoo chair until 11:30pm and we started at 5:30. Art takes time. A rainbow serpent to represent Australia tells an aboriginal story of how the world was created and the meaning of life. I also have Rady paint a triskelion of Odin’s horns on my right shoulder to represent my Norway visit in 2017.

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Exhausted and hungry, I return to the hotel and fall asleep only to awaken to what resembles a murder scene on my sheets. The color mixed with Vaseline and residual blood from both tattoos have painted itself on the clean white linens of our bed. Uncool… Quickly realizing that it washes our easily allows me to relax and get on with my morning. Giant Causeways and Cook Island make the list of “to dos” today. Incredible to say the least, the causeways here are hundreds of towering hexagonal columns of slowly cooled lava. I have never seen anything like this before. Amazing. Together with the waves crashing and the sun shining down made for a surreal moment of calm and also of sadness. This was to be our last full day in Australia.

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Or maybe not…

As we hand in the keys to our rental car and get ready for our 2:30 flight to our next country, Patty pipes up… Ummmmm Geoff, our flight is in an hour.

Hahahaha…

No, serious!

Travel has its ups and downs. Even the most seasoned traveler is bound to miss a flight. Neither of us held any ill will towards each other although it made for a very stressful time on the family, unsure of the future when the future was sure only moments ago. Lesson – the future is never sure.

We missed our flight.

Asking for another day in Australia comes with consequences. $1600 worth of them when traveling with a discount airline. Rebooked with Virgin Australia, we head out to explore our surroundings one more time, for one more day…

Tomorrow we fly outta here. For sure. At 11am. For sure. I checked again. Yeah, its 11am. For sure.