I believe I left yall in Bundaberg with my last blog entry. I had a great time there with the Rum Distillery and the beautiful views and great company but, since then I have been a busy bee! After Bundy we left for Hervey Bay “The Gateway to Frazer Island” as the locals call it. We decided to take a semi expensive day tour out to Frazer Island. It was pretty neat to see the largest sand island in the world and we got a 4 wheel drive tour of the island along with a lot of great photo opportunities. We saw a wild dingo and had a great tour guide.
I have been super lucky to see some amazing islands here in Australia. But, that being said, I did think the tour could have been priced less. It was good and I enjoyed myself I just didn't really feel it was worth the price they were charging. But what can ya do? It is better than sitting at home doing nothing. I am just living life and loving it. I count my blessings every day and I know I am super lucky to see stuff most people never get to see their whole lives.
After Frazer Island Ben and I left with Heiner (the guy who was our ride share up to Airlie Beach) and we started the drive to Airlie Beach. I say “we” but really it was Ben and Heiner as I don't know how to drive a manual camper van haha. So I was lucky to be able to sleep and relax while they did all the hard work :) We did play a fun game on the way from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach though. Basically one of us thought of something, anything, and the others had to guess what it was through a series of questions but the person who originally thought of the item could only answer your questions with “yes” or “no”. It kept us entertained and awake for a while anyway.
Once we made it to Airlie Beach I quickly realised this was going to be an amazing place and I would love it. We slept in the camper van instead of paying for a hostel. Two of us in the back in the bed and one of us in the front seat. Not great but we made it work true backpacker style haha. It helps to save money wherever you can! After touring around the next day we actually managed to pick up some (tax free) straight cash work building up a stage for a festival that was here in Airlie Beach while we were here. If I was to move anywhere in Australia it would definitely be Airlie Beach or Brissy. Both are amazing places!
We were offered the job and told that we would have maybe 4 hours of work. We figured how hard could it be? So we said yes. What actually ended up happening is we worked 13 hours straight with a half hour lunch break and a half hour dinner break. Then we got up at 6am the next day and worked some more. But I am not complaining at all because we did work really hard but we had a great crew of guys to work with and an awesome boss. (Much better than my boss at my previous job haha) It also made me feel really good to look at that stage and know that I helped build it. I am not the most mechanically minded person in the world as those of you who know me personally know but I have some experience from my previous job back in the states and I managed to do good here and not break anything or kill anyone haha. So it was nice to earn some extra cash and stay busy.
We did spend one night at a camper van park and that was an interesting experience for me. We were eating dinner and Ben, Heiner and I ended up meeting about 4 other people so we were all talking and having a good time just enjoying ourselves. Then this guy stumbles up and he was clearly drunk and quite possibly mentally ill. I still have no idea what country he was from. But, he asked me where I was from and I told him Texas. He just couldn't believe it! Now to be fair, I don't have a strong Texas accent. I have no idea why I didn't get one, I just didn't. But this really made him mad! I was in the middle of telling a story and he interrupted me and said “Your not from Texas, your a damn yankee” which was amusing to me so I laughed because I am about as far from a Yankee as you can get.
Then he started to push me. Now as those of you who know me, know that I am a lover not a fighter. Sure I will defend myself if I have too, I am not gonna get pushed around but I generally don't fight. So I quickly realised my options. I had over 6 friends around me who would help me out for sure and this guy was drunk and/or mentally ill so I could escalate the situation and cause a huge fight and really beat the crap out of this guy or I could just ignore him. So I chose to ignore him. Once he realised he was getting no reaction out of me he stumbled away and that was that. Strange but really I was in no serious danger. When you are traveling you just run into strange people sometimes. Such is life though, all part of the experience and just another story for my memoirs haha.
As our time was winding down in Airle Beach we decided to book a 3 day 2 night tour to an island in the Whit Sundays (an island chain about 45 minutes from Airlie Beach). So we went an booked a tour to Long Island. I had a great time except for a few things. I have a lot to tell you about that so I am actually going to make a separate blog entry for that trip. If you want to read it, it will be coming up shortly. As we speak Ben and I have left Heiner and we are on a bus to Townsville so more to come later....
P.S. I have lots of pictures coming on my facebook profile soon so take a look soon.
Take care,Tyler
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