So Long Australia, Hello New Zealand!

I made it into Chistchurch just fine and am staying at a very homey and comfy hostel. This place just makes you want to eat cookies and milk.

For the first time I had to check "The One Bag" and was a little worried about it. I was only allowed 1 carryon and it could only weigh 7 Kg and "The One Bag" weighed in at a wopping 17 Kg. But my day pack weighed in at 5.5 Kg. That was just books and a sweater. Anyway, I had to check the bag but it made it to NZ just fine wher I rented a car from Hertz for $728 for 14 days so for $52 NZ (about $35 US) I gets me a really nice Toyota Corrola.

I have to go now and put on my shoes (you can't wear shoes inside in this hostel) and I'm going to go have dinner at a place called Dux de Lux in the City Center. Should be interesting.

Brisbane stuff & Heading for New Zealand

Writing in my journal.

Overall I like Brisbane. It's pretty laid back for a major city (the second largest in Australia) the cars wait for pedestrians, the bus drivers make change, the people are friendly and helpful, but the roads suck.

You'll be driving along looking for a street and they won't tell you until you've past it because the road signs on on the opposite side of the intersection, always. There are street signs, but as I've said before if you don't catch what street you are currently on they won't put up another sign any time soon. Plus you'll be trying to find some place and get on a one way street, so, naturally, you think the next street will be a one way going the other direction. WRONG. It will be another one way going the same way as the one you past. So frustrating. But they do have some nice architecture.

This is the Queensland House of Finance. City hall is also located in this cool building.

This city also has some interesting art work. Like on the transit Center:

There are also some cool parks and gardens free and open to the public. Like the Roma Street Parklands. I went with my friends Tomi from Japan and Doris of Germany (she stayed up until 3 AM watching the German soccer team play in the World Cup. The nut.)

Tomi and Doris (Doris had never seen a snap dragon flower before).

I don't know what kind of a plant this is, but I found it strange (something else strange about Australia) is that even in winter there are flowering plants. Crazy.

I bought my plane ticket to New Zealand today. It wasn't cheap but this is the real big tourist time there (from what I've been told) school is now out and the skiing is supposed to be world class. Even though I have no equipment or really warm clothes, I'm heading for those slopes! Hopefully this trip won't dig too deep into my money for Japan.

When I was first deciding about where to go on this trip there were only 2 countries that I really wanted visit ; Australia and Japan. Why? I don't know, they've just always had some kind of an appeal to me. So even if I have to cut back on my time in Thailand in order to stay in Japan longer is fine with me. But what is really cool about going to New Zealand is how often do you hear anyone from The States say they went snow skiing in New Zealand? Huh, huh? Be jealous my skiing friends, be very jealous. Dale? Biekers? Candace? I'm talking to you!

Sold the Bike, and Other Stories
~plus bigger pictures!!~

From the top of Mt. Tamborine

Yep, I sold the bike. I got a whopping $2800 for it, plus Mark, the owner of Leading Edge Motorcycles , who was very nice, also bought my use equipment for another $100. I'm fine with the deal, but fell like I just sold my best travel buddy. Today I'm actually a little depressed about it, but that has happened with every bike I've had to let go. *heavy sigh* I want to say that the folks at Leading Edge were fantastic and accommodated me very well. First I needed to have cash so Mark took me to the bank to cash a check made out to Cash so that there wouldn't be any issues and then took me to the train station to catch the next one back to the city (the shop was way the hell up North).

About a week ago I went the Natural Bridge State Park. (The State Parks in Australia are just fantastic and every one that I have been to was free). I was making my way from Byron Bay and decided to stop here and go for a nice walk. It took only about 1 hour to walk the whole circuit. It was a really nice and sunny day, but it had rained that morning so the little river was flowing pretty well. The park is located in a rain forest, so that in itself was cool.

Under the Natural Bridge.

Also at this park was a great example of a Strangler Fig.

But, I'm still in Brisbane and I found out that I am staying very close to the Castlemaine Brewery and decided right then to book into the brewery tour! It cost $16 but you got a punch card for 4 beers at the end of the tour! Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside the brewery so I got pictures at the Ale House.

This is Christa from Toronto. Two yummy things in one photo (the Canadians are all over Australia) and she is drinking the XXXX (Fourex) Bitter. I really like this beer. It has a great malty smell and I'm not sure why they call it bitter, because it's not really that bitter to me. I found it smooth and very quafable and it goes well with Oysters.

I also tried the Stout, which tasted like they left the lid off the keg. It tasted flat, not that it wasn't bubbly, just very flat flavors; some anise, a little coffee, but bleh.

This is the XXX (Triplex) 125 Anniversary Ale only sold at the Ale House at the brewery. This was a great beer. Nice amber color, a nice creamy head, and it had nice malt and caramel overtones. I would buy a lot of this stuff. A lot. I'm still in Brisbane so I think I'll go and have one right now. Later.

Nice Scenery, Great Rides, Can't Upload Pics

Last time I posted I was in Murwillumbah and it was a very okay place. But I've left there and I've been toBeaudesert (Boe-desert) and the locals asked me "How did you end up in Beaudesert?" Well that's because it's on the way to Ipswich (Ips-witch), of couse and I had just been to Mt. Tamborine. Damn I wish I could post a picture or two of that lookout. Wow. Plus the ride up and down that mountain was pretty incredible. 12% to 15%!! downgrades and many signs warning trucks and buses to use lowest gear and slow vehicles ahead. Plus it was really twisty, heh heh heh.

Beaudesert is in the middle of nowhere and when I told them that I was on my way to Ipswich they would ask, "Why are you going there? There's nothing there." As if there was something, anything, in Beaudesert besides hot days, considering it's winter in Australia, of about 80 but chilly nights, the low was around 40... brrr. I hate missing out on summer at home.

From Beaudesert I skipped Ipswich, because there is nothing there *snicker*, and made my way to Cabulture (Kah-bull'-chur) via Brisbane (Briz-bin) and spent the night at the Cabulture Motel. Which reminds me of another difference between our two countries.

In Australia a Hotel is almost always the center of what's happening in a small town. It has food, rooms, and a bar or pub. The rooms are also really cheap but there is usually only a bed, and a chair, and maybe a sink and can be rather dive-ish. Whereas Motels are nice and have lots of amenities; dishes, microwave, tea, coffee, fridge, cable or sat. TV, and all the ones I've stayed in have been family owned and provide a very reasonably priced breakfast delivered to your room at your chosen time. I think that hotels and motels are different in America in that motels can be rather dive-ish and hotels are nicer (for the most part).

At my stay in Cabulture I met another biker, Dave Bassett who said when I got to Toowoomba (two-woom'-buh) that I could stay with him. He not only offered once, but a few times. So I made my way to Toowoombah via the Glass House Mountains and stayed with him. He owns his own business, and he is his sole employee, sanding houses prior to painting. He has an interesting lifestyle but we got along really well and he even wants to buy my motorcycle but he has no money. Speaking of my motorcycle...

I'm now in Brisbane trying to sell that sucker and the best offer so far is $2,500 and I bought it for $7,000. (Did I ever mention that someone back into and knocked over the motorcycle and broke the mirror casing? I didn't think so.) Anyway, that bums me out. But I know that I can still sell it back to the guys in Sydney (Sid-knee) for $3,500 but it's not in the same condition that I bought it (with the broken mirror thingy), so I'm a little down about what to do and the money being offered. Fuck... I mean, ohm... ohm... ohm... it will all work out in the end... ohm...

Thom's year without a summer continues.

I'm In Murwillumbah

Just to let you know where I've been the last couple of days. Stayed at the Imperial Hotel on Main Street. $25 for a room with shared toilets and showers. By shared I mean they all the facilities have their own stall and changing area, but multiple people can use the room at a time. The bed was comfy and meals in the bistro are around $10 so I stayed 2 nights. But now I'm headed north up to Brisbane, but probably won't make it for a day or two.

Been Doin' Stuff
Aaah Nimbin...

I called my Mom (Hi Mom!) and she said right away that she was getting a little worried because I hadn't contacted anyone in a while, and I see that my last post was on June 4th. Wow. Time flies when you have a hard time remembering what day it is. HA HA! That is what I truly loved about the Nimbin Rox hostel. I went there and felt at peace and relaxed. For 3 weeks I just did my own thing and gawked at the wonderful scenery. *sigh* If/when I ever come back to Australia, I will visit Nimbin once again. I loved it there even thoug the town was kinda freaky with freaky people. But I liked it anyway.

Suffice it to say that I have moved on from Nimbin and back to traveling.

Australia's furthest Eastern Point.

So I went to Australia's furthest Eastern point at Byron Bay and went on a wonderful state park walk up to the lighthouse that you can barely see from the top of Mt. Warning. It was a wonderful day full of nature and you could even see some whales breaching the water way out there in the ocean. All you could see was the spout of water as they caught a breath and then went back under, then you'd wait, and wait, and then, what seemed like miles from the first spout, there would be another. Pretty cool.

The lighthouse.

One of the many beaches at Byron Bay.

I also went to Bangalow for the North Coast Jazz Fest. They have got some great Jazz artists down here. Like George Washingmachine who is a great Jazz Violin player and pretty funny too. Mr. Percival who uses his own just his voice to create music, songs, rhythms and record them into a digital sound recorder, combines them and then plays them when he needs to during a song or it is the song. He created a whole choir with just his own voice. Fun!

George Washingmachine and group.

The little town of Bangalow reminded me of Ellensburg. I think because of the main street and the size of the town (I found out it has about 10,000 and Ellensburg has about 13, 000) and how both towns put on a Jazz Fest. So I contacted a couple of the organizers and thought it would be cool if we could have some sort of a cultural exchange of Jazz. Maybe send Northwest Jazz artists downunda and their artist to the U.S. Or at least some kind of exchange of information, or maybe sister Jazz towns, whatever, but at least exchange ideas and information I think would be very cool. I told my buddy Dale (Hi Dale! Hi Steph!) who is on the Jazz In The Valley board and he likes the idea.

Lin

During my travels I meet some really cool and interesting people. This is my friend Lin she is from Germany. She is 20 years old and is in Australia for a year to learn English. When I met her and we were trying to have a conversation she would only catch a little bit of what I was saying and would smile, like she is here, and then say "Sorry?" because she didn't understand what I had said. She was/is working at the Nimbin Rox Hostel to pay for her lodging. She likes to stay in the Teepee (which is damn cold by the way). I told her that I have a niece (Bailey) who wants to do some travel and I asked her if she wouldn't mind helping her out with any information or answer some questions for Bailey. She said she wouldn't and that everyone should travel outside their home country. So Bailey, send me an e-mail thomkokenge@gmail.com and I'll give you Lin's address.

I love the names of some of these places. So odd yet so endearing.

Greetings From the Top Of Mt. Warning Nat'l Park!

It took two and a half hours to get to the top of this mountain but you were rewarded with the highest Easterly point in Australia. I was told that many people come up to the top of this mountain and spend the night in order to watch the sun rise. This picture was taken facing West (me facing East). Just beyond my left shoulder you can see Byron Bay, which is the furthest Eastern point of Australia.

This is a crappy picture, but I want you to see the climb near the top. It's about 300 feet almost straight up. All there is to help you is that chain. No warning signs or steps, just start climbing. Not being a climber myself, I found this difficult but it didn't stop me. I hiked for 2 freaking hours to get here I wasn't about to turn around now!

Your reward. Facing West.Facing East.

I was completely warn out after this day. It took me four and a half hours up and back. But a wonderful park indeed. Oh, did I mention that it was free? Did I also mention that the only toilets are at the bottom? A great day out.

BTW I'm still in Nimbin and the Nimbin Rox YHA. I plan to be here until about June 10th (Friday). I love it here. It's so peaceful and quite. I'm also teaching myself Yoga and Tia Chi'. Both are helping me a great deal with my back and are great exercise.

Thanks for reading.