BRISBANE TRIP
OMFG!! yeah boi its finally being written up haha. Having allready sampled OZ ion da form of Sydney i was looking forward to lots of kiting and to be honest major uncertainty due to the rumoured deadlies that live in Queensland waters.
Well right from the start i knew that this was gonna be an interesting trip and right from the start i sorta knew that maybe it wasn't gonna be what i thought. We flew into Brisbane at about 6am Brissy time. The weather was shocking... lots of wind, rain rain rain but it was a muggy 25 degrees.. remember this is at 6am so ominous signs of the rumoured Queensland heat and humidty. Sydney got hotter, Auckland got more humid... but Brisbane combined the two into one sweaty package which whilst there made shorts, jandals and singlets the daytime attire... go for a walk and you were bathed in sweat from head to toe... and I LOVED it :P.
But that first day didn't stop raining and that rain was deadly... i had flown right inot a disaster zone... flooding which by the end of the day would claim 21 lives and destroy huge parts of the CBD. Thunder and lightning the whole day but where i was i had no idea as to what hell was unleashed on other less fortunate parts of the city. We were lucky, just having to contend with mud in our front lawn. Yes that fact that i was at a house was the first ominous sign that this was gonna be different to what i expected. Instead of travelling from gold coast to 1770 in a van and kiting everyday i was flatting with Luke and 4 other ppl. The plan was origionally to do the big roadtrip but cos of the weather and Luke's job it wasn't to be... but the holiday end up being just as good... and i got to sample other things that Queensland had to offer and even got to hang with Jaxx... who was in Goldie for a holiday.
I still kited heaps... and got to kite some very nice spots.... Queensland really has a charm to it... a charm that i immediately liked from day one. I got used to the heat right from the word go and sometimes even began to feel cold.. especially on our trip to Noose and Cotton Tree. But on the whole it was hot... 30 degrees, 70-80% humidity and sunny... Queensland sun... vit D paradise. OZ sun is excellent... Sydney, Brisbane both had that sunshine which would shine down unobstructed by clouds. Brisbane would get very stormy on occasions in the arvo as summer is their wet season.. it rains here in the summer more than auckland does... but this rain is often in the form of thunderstorms and then its sunny again. The thunderstorms were awesome... like a light show.
The summer was somewhat ruined by the SE winds... its normally gets more day like the day i had when i went to OZ zoo... 33 degrees, stilfling humidity, searing sun and then buildups and torrential rain and electricial storms... all whilst i was feeding the lizards at the outdoor cafeteria at Steve Irwins old stoimping ground. Gotta admit to getting quite emotional on several occasions.... both with the flooding and also with Davids healkth issues back in Auckland which would be one of the 3 occasions where i was thinking of cutting my trip short. And of course the third occasion was seeing Terri, Bindi and Wez doin da croc show minus Steve Irwin. I'm a huge fan of Steve. Despite the SE winds "ruining" the classic seabreese conditions it was still very warm and very good kiting.... those SE winds still kicked ass haha... Cotton Tree dealt out the best winds i've ever experienced in a kite session and its allways warm... that water is warm... no wetsuit needed even if the night got a little cool when we were camping there.
We did other things too other than kitiing... me and Luke went to a cablepark betwen Brissy and Goldie... first time i iever went on one and yes i'm gutted that NZ doesn't have them... bless Dave Kay for putting one up at Ruakaka... id do need to try it out hehe. I also had several drives of Luke's kitewagon... an oldskool Ford Falcon.... "we not in NZ now dodo". I loved driving Lukes car even if i was often a bit bemused being woken up at 6am on occasions... "Mark your driving"... "oh ok" i sed in a voice still half asleep. We headed to da goldie and we went to wet n wild and stayed at Luke's mum's place. Wet n wild was PACKED haha but those rides were awesome... haha i'll be goin back!
Beer was the main beverage in Queensland... actually it was beer and Mothers.... we BOTH consumed a fair amount of both. I don't normally drink alcohol... let alone beer but on a hot Brisbane day a cold beer will allways go down well... there ya go i sed it! haha. Luke loved his beer and i got to drive the Falcon as a result :P
Luke's flatmates were really cool.... Dan was into his hip hop and his Muscle cars... got some footage of him starting one of his machines up at 3am... haha i was worried that it was gonna blow up... but i have it on camera. Michael had this wicked RC car which we got heaps of footage of, Amber was into her skating and got into kiting as well. Later on Wendy would appear on the scene (i was meant to have been kicked out at this stage but Luke let me share his room which saved me heaps of money in accomodation). I got on well with Wendy and hung out with her lots... she reminds me of my female friends here in NZ.
As mentioned before i had on 3 occasions considered cutting my trip short. Firstly was word that my friend David was sick in hospital the combination of that plus the disaster that was unfolding in Brisbane was taking its toll on me emotionally. I even unwittingly missed out on Ambers 21st which i was gutted about... but she forgave me :). Secondly was word that i could have to move out due to Wendy moving in... if i wasn't able to find accom or rent a car than i had no option but to go home... but Luke let me sleep in his room for the remainder of my stay which was awesome. Haha initially i think Luke too was keen on moving out... and we both went to the local watering hole (the "spew view") and we bought $20 worth of beer... Luke drunk most but i had my fair share and we were both tipsy on the walk home and on da train... also had a feed too. I did stuff on this trip which i had never done before and this was one of the reasons why it was so good.
But the Queensland weather is not to be messed with. Its tropicial arsenal of heat, humidity, sun, torrential rain, major lightning storms is crazy enuf.... but a huge cyclone was bearing down on Queensland on the very day i was due to leave... initially it looked like it was gonna hit Brisbane but fortunately for us Brisbane isn't quite far enuf north. North Queenslanders however were not so lucky and they got smashed by one of the biggest storms ever in cyclone Yasi. In the end all that Brisbane got was tropicial air that was even hotter and humider than what we experienced for the first 2 weeks... not that i was complaining... i was LOVING it... often you had to out clothes on to protect yourself from mozzies at night and shoes on to protect your feet during the day from da hot concrete.... well i normally wore jandals... love that sensation of you feet losing grip all da time cos they get so sweaty haha. Then once you arrive back for your walk (heaps of great walking tracks... just watch those golden orb spiders) you just walk striat into da cold shower hehe. i used to go for walks and even runs so i would get hot as and then have an excuse for a cold shower.
oh and yes i DID end up lasting the 3 and a half weeks....
i will probably edit this sometime cos i'm sure i've left something important out
Well right from the start i knew that this was gonna be an interesting trip and right from the start i sorta knew that maybe it wasn't gonna be what i thought. We flew into Brisbane at about 6am Brissy time. The weather was shocking... lots of wind, rain rain rain but it was a muggy 25 degrees.. remember this is at 6am so ominous signs of the rumoured Queensland heat and humidty. Sydney got hotter, Auckland got more humid... but Brisbane combined the two into one sweaty package which whilst there made shorts, jandals and singlets the daytime attire... go for a walk and you were bathed in sweat from head to toe... and I LOVED it :P.
But that first day didn't stop raining and that rain was deadly... i had flown right inot a disaster zone... flooding which by the end of the day would claim 21 lives and destroy huge parts of the CBD. Thunder and lightning the whole day but where i was i had no idea as to what hell was unleashed on other less fortunate parts of the city. We were lucky, just having to contend with mud in our front lawn. Yes that fact that i was at a house was the first ominous sign that this was gonna be different to what i expected. Instead of travelling from gold coast to 1770 in a van and kiting everyday i was flatting with Luke and 4 other ppl. The plan was origionally to do the big roadtrip but cos of the weather and Luke's job it wasn't to be... but the holiday end up being just as good... and i got to sample other things that Queensland had to offer and even got to hang with Jaxx... who was in Goldie for a holiday.
I still kited heaps... and got to kite some very nice spots.... Queensland really has a charm to it... a charm that i immediately liked from day one. I got used to the heat right from the word go and sometimes even began to feel cold.. especially on our trip to Noose and Cotton Tree. But on the whole it was hot... 30 degrees, 70-80% humidity and sunny... Queensland sun... vit D paradise. OZ sun is excellent... Sydney, Brisbane both had that sunshine which would shine down unobstructed by clouds. Brisbane would get very stormy on occasions in the arvo as summer is their wet season.. it rains here in the summer more than auckland does... but this rain is often in the form of thunderstorms and then its sunny again. The thunderstorms were awesome... like a light show.
The summer was somewhat ruined by the SE winds... its normally gets more day like the day i had when i went to OZ zoo... 33 degrees, stilfling humidity, searing sun and then buildups and torrential rain and electricial storms... all whilst i was feeding the lizards at the outdoor cafeteria at Steve Irwins old stoimping ground. Gotta admit to getting quite emotional on several occasions.... both with the flooding and also with Davids healkth issues back in Auckland which would be one of the 3 occasions where i was thinking of cutting my trip short. And of course the third occasion was seeing Terri, Bindi and Wez doin da croc show minus Steve Irwin. I'm a huge fan of Steve. Despite the SE winds "ruining" the classic seabreese conditions it was still very warm and very good kiting.... those SE winds still kicked ass haha... Cotton Tree dealt out the best winds i've ever experienced in a kite session and its allways warm... that water is warm... no wetsuit needed even if the night got a little cool when we were camping there.
We did other things too other than kitiing... me and Luke went to a cablepark betwen Brissy and Goldie... first time i iever went on one and yes i'm gutted that NZ doesn't have them... bless Dave Kay for putting one up at Ruakaka... id do need to try it out hehe. I also had several drives of Luke's kitewagon... an oldskool Ford Falcon.... "we not in NZ now dodo". I loved driving Lukes car even if i was often a bit bemused being woken up at 6am on occasions... "Mark your driving"... "oh ok" i sed in a voice still half asleep. We headed to da goldie and we went to wet n wild and stayed at Luke's mum's place. Wet n wild was PACKED haha but those rides were awesome... haha i'll be goin back!
Beer was the main beverage in Queensland... actually it was beer and Mothers.... we BOTH consumed a fair amount of both. I don't normally drink alcohol... let alone beer but on a hot Brisbane day a cold beer will allways go down well... there ya go i sed it! haha. Luke loved his beer and i got to drive the Falcon as a result :P
Luke's flatmates were really cool.... Dan was into his hip hop and his Muscle cars... got some footage of him starting one of his machines up at 3am... haha i was worried that it was gonna blow up... but i have it on camera. Michael had this wicked RC car which we got heaps of footage of, Amber was into her skating and got into kiting as well. Later on Wendy would appear on the scene (i was meant to have been kicked out at this stage but Luke let me share his room which saved me heaps of money in accomodation). I got on well with Wendy and hung out with her lots... she reminds me of my female friends here in NZ.
As mentioned before i had on 3 occasions considered cutting my trip short. Firstly was word that my friend David was sick in hospital the combination of that plus the disaster that was unfolding in Brisbane was taking its toll on me emotionally. I even unwittingly missed out on Ambers 21st which i was gutted about... but she forgave me :). Secondly was word that i could have to move out due to Wendy moving in... if i wasn't able to find accom or rent a car than i had no option but to go home... but Luke let me sleep in his room for the remainder of my stay which was awesome. Haha initially i think Luke too was keen on moving out... and we both went to the local watering hole (the "spew view") and we bought $20 worth of beer... Luke drunk most but i had my fair share and we were both tipsy on the walk home and on da train... also had a feed too. I did stuff on this trip which i had never done before and this was one of the reasons why it was so good.
But the Queensland weather is not to be messed with. Its tropicial arsenal of heat, humidity, sun, torrential rain, major lightning storms is crazy enuf.... but a huge cyclone was bearing down on Queensland on the very day i was due to leave... initially it looked like it was gonna hit Brisbane but fortunately for us Brisbane isn't quite far enuf north. North Queenslanders however were not so lucky and they got smashed by one of the biggest storms ever in cyclone Yasi. In the end all that Brisbane got was tropicial air that was even hotter and humider than what we experienced for the first 2 weeks... not that i was complaining... i was LOVING it... often you had to out clothes on to protect yourself from mozzies at night and shoes on to protect your feet during the day from da hot concrete.... well i normally wore jandals... love that sensation of you feet losing grip all da time cos they get so sweaty haha. Then once you arrive back for your walk (heaps of great walking tracks... just watch those golden orb spiders) you just walk striat into da cold shower hehe. i used to go for walks and even runs so i would get hot as and then have an excuse for a cold shower.
oh and yes i DID end up lasting the 3 and a half weeks....
i will probably edit this sometime cos i'm sure i've left something important out
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