thehostelwitness

Cape Tribulation, Australia

Some pics from the weekend trip up to Cape Trib, where the rainforest meets the beach. 

Cape Tribulation photoset

Australian creatures

A collection of my Australian animal pictures. Go wombats!

Animal photoset

Cairns Botanical Gardens

Just in a photo uploading mood! Photos from the Cairns Botanical Gardens in Cairns, Australia.

Cairns photoset

Kepler Track

"Finished!"

The Kepler Track was one of the harder hikes I've done in my life and certainly the longest solo. The first day is all uphill, about 5 hours worth of uphill, which gets you to just under 1000 meters. The second day takes you up to 1500 meters (roughly 5,000 feet) for a total elevation gain of just over 1000 meters. Its a healthy hike. Add to that the fact that it was all along ridge line on the second day, with 120kph winds blowing over the top and you have a recipe for disaster. There were quite a few times where upon stepping down, the wind would actually blow my foot off trail. I felt like a kite at times.

Still, the rewards were worth it and no injuries sustained besides the odd blister. Heavy rains visited throughout the nights, but cleared up by the mornings, enabling me to enjoy the blue skies and visiting clouds. At the end, it was all I could do not to jump for joy - actually, it was physically impossible to jump at the end of the hike. I'm beat up. I figure I've backpacked over 70 miles in the last 10 days. I have a few days off back in Queenstown, then will finish off NZ with the 3 day Raiku Track down in the Stewart Islands.

Kepler Track Photos

Steele Creek/Caples Track

Photos from the Caples Track and Steele Creek leg of the hike.

Milford Sound

We took a day off in the middle of the track to go kayaking out on Milford Sound - perfect day to be out on the water.

Milford Sound Pics

The Routeburn Track

Starting to get some pics up - more to come soon!

Routeburn Track pics

Queenstown

This place is a traveler's paradise. A sleepy looking town nestled around a small harbor, anchored in by all sides by peaks that run for thousands of meters skyward, Queenstown boasts a population of about 7,000 residents and at any given time, about 14,000 travelers! Its a year round resort boasting backpackers and old, blue haired women. Its great and I can't believe that it took me so long to get here.

After arriving, I had a bit of a rest ahead of me. Jayson and Jessica weren't due in for a couple of days, so I busied myself with a bit of shopping and hiking in the surrounding hills. Queenstown Hill, which overlooks the city, isn't much of a climb on paper and I thought a bit of a warm up was necessary just to see how much pain I would be in for the following week. It took me three hours and a few rests, but the climb ended up being Mt. Si-like, with Mt. Si views. No belief in switchbacks here, no sir. Its just straight. up. hill. The summit was a rewarding experience however, as to one side the lake rolled into infinity (being about 60 miles in length) and on the airport side planes flew below me as they prepared for landing. And then to the east of Queenstown, just mountain after mountain in the distance - this is what I came here for and this is where I would be spending all of the following week. I couldn't help myself, yes, I did start humming the Lord of the Rings theme.

And in a coincidence of coincidences, you would think that a small town in New Zealand would be the last place you would run into someone you knew in New York, but sure enough I was just walking out of a store when in front of me stepped my friend Don. I became friends with Don through Jenn Tesch (who coincidently, will be in NZ in a couple of weeks). He had left NY a last summer to go on a 90 day cycling trip to the west coast, which then turned into a NZ/Australia trip. I didn't even know he was in my hemisphere until a couple of weeks ago and now here he was, standing right in front of me. We laughed. Don had heard I was in NZ and just said, "Man, I KNEW I would run into you."

So with his friend Jonathan, my plans for a nice restful few days went up in smoke. Many late nights and many tired mornings, but when you run into someone you know randomly on the other side of the world, appropriate celebrations are in order.

Jayson and Jessica arrived on Sunday and I'll tell you, not much in life runs higher than seeing the faces of two of your best friends after a bit away. I think it took approximately 2 steps before things were completely normal, with me getting ripped a new one for holding a nice starbucks cup in hand. We had a great little barbecue on the waters edge and have been getting ready for the trip tomorrow.

They brought with them my ATM card and backpack (thanks mom!), so we're all set on that end. Tomorrow we take a shuttle to the start of the Routeburn (pronounced Root-burn), then will spend the next 7 days hiking, with the first two days being fairly leisurely, with only 4-5 miles to put down. The second day takes us up a side trail through what's called "The valley of ferns". The third day consists of a brutal 14 mile stretch down to Howden Hut. Day four gives us a "day off" in the form of a kayaking trip through Milford sound. This will end the Routeburn portion of the hike. Day 5 is a tough scramble up to the Upper Caples Hut and the Caples Track. From here, on day 6 we cut down through Steel Creek, a sparsely trekked trail running down into a valley to the Steele Creek Bivvy. And day 7 gives us a 10 mile hike on the Greenstone Track where we meet up with a 4x4 and then a water taxi back to Queensland. Not sure what to expect other than great views, rain, tired legs, and a lot of sand flies - this is the only place I've been where the rangers are recommending nothing less than 100% DEET.

Between Jayson and I, I anticipate about 1,000,000 photos will be taken.

Melbourne International Airport

Thanks to the no ATM card thing, I recieved no less than 3 offers from friends and family willing to wire me money! Thanks! In hindsight (and to avoid giving my mother a heart attack), I should have pointed out that I had my credit card still. So no small purchases like ice cream cones, but thankfully food and shelter were readily available.

My flight to NZ leaves at a bright and chipper 6am, past-Jacob being the optimistic sort of fellow. So instead of paying for another night in the hostel for what would amount to only a few hours worth of sleep, I'm holding down the fort and spending my last day in Australia at the airport. Wi-Fi, beer, and TVs abound, so one can say that I'm in my element.

After the casino incident, I pretty much have kept a low profile in Melbourne, restricting my outings to lunches and for some reason, a weird mission to find a handheld Texas Hold'Em poker game. I don't know why - just sometime three days ago, the overwhelming need to find a cheap handheld game of poker strutted into my brain and sat on its lap, unmovable, like a third-shift Vegas stripper. So I spent two days hunting for a cheap game.

From snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef to hunting for a $20 game. Surely, it is time to move on to other pastures. Australia has been wonderful - definately surpassed what expectations I had landed with and given "next time", I hope to make it to the center of the continent, camp in the outback, and make it out to Perth. Really, I wish more of my friends could visit here, if only to share in the experience. Maybe the next time one of you decides to take a vacation, you'll consider Australia. Its a little out of the way, but a trip down the coast will stay in your heart forever. As it is now, I will head into New Zealand and if all goes well, stay there for the next couple of months. The goal of the NZ trip is to get as much hiking in as humanly possible, so unless they have wifi out on the Routeburn track, postings will be sparse, but hopefully not lack for content when they do come.

Goodbye, Australia!

Crown Casino, Melbourne

Probably 90% of my friends reading this would probably have groaned upon seeing the word "casino". To be fair, my track record isn't the best when it comes to casinos...a little won vs. quite a bit lost. Catch me outside of one and you would never guess it - I don't make bets (even for a buck), I don't spend my spare time hunting down the local casinos, and I like to watch my money grow safe and sound in the bank account, like a chia pet.

Put me in a Vegas casino though and all bets are off. Bad Jacob makes his appearance. The sound of clay chips being stacked together amidst a birdsong of coins and slot machines ranks as one of the sweetest sounds in the world, universe possibly. Hemmingway, Tolstoy, Capa, Aristotle, Kenny Rogers - all gamblers. The illustrious company I keep.

However, this trip would be different. I wasn't here to gamble. There's only one place to catch the Superbowl in Melbourne on a Monday morning and that would be in a casino. Granted, I had no idea that this particular casino was one of the largest in the southern hemisphere. I would also learn that gambling revenues account for a quarter percent of the state of Victoria's income - and this was the only casino in the state! A huge blue dragon with giant paper lamps greeted me upon entering and I couldn't help but let out a laugh - at the size, the noise, the sheer cheesiness of a giant blue dragon. Oh no, I thought. This is just like Vegas.

The superbowl brought out the most Americans I had met all month in from the city. It really did feel like watching the game from home, with die hard fans yelling and thrilling at one of the most exciting conclusions in recent superbowl history. I loved it. Afterwords, I took a quick look around the casino. It couldn't hurt, could it? Those blackjack tables look a little forlorn...maybe if I just spend the money in my wallet ($60, American) and call that even, I'd be OK. Seeing how this was my budget for a day, I had no problem with that. Besides, changing this money anywhere else would cost me an arm and a leg, but casinos change foreign currency without any surcharge (so when traveling, change money in casinos). Already the rationalization began - "yeah, I would save money by hanging out in a casino!"

Strangely, $60 lasts just as long as $600 and I happily spend my day watching my stack shrink and grow, until inevitably of course, it was all gone. Ah well. I headed back to the hostel for the night and stopped by the ATM for my weekly allowance. Whistling, an eyebrow raised when I saw that my card had been..denied? Wha? Trying again, same result. A message blinks up at me from the machine: "CARD EXPIRED." I check the card. Sure enough, "Expiration date: 02/08".

A rotten, moldy smell confirms I just shit myself. An expired card happens only, oh maybe every 3-4 years. The thought that it would happen to me when I was almost as far away as possible from my bank never even occurred to me. Well, my replacement card was probably sitting at my parents house. They can send it to me express or better yet give it to Jayson and Jessica who will be up in NZ in a bit...which means I'll have to deal for a week or so.

It wouldn't be really an issue if I had any cash at all. Even $60.

And I'm an idiot.