The Life Changing Month

After searching Burleigh Heads for jobs and finding no such luck, Jo, Ian and I decided to make money the traditional backpacker way, farm work. So on our way out, I ditched my extra bag and have now been traveling like a backpacker. And you know what.. I’ve found it’s much more exciting 🙂 Every day has been a new adventure and every day I meet more and more amazing people.

We were so fortunate and found jobs within 3 days of searching.. We had been driving from farm to farm and happened to stop at WinPac. We found out three people had just left and that day they had three people coming to take their place, but instead they gave the positions to us. At WinPac we are a part of the planting team. The planting team is comprised of 12 people, 9 people sit on the back of the tractor and place seedlings into holes which plants them into the ground and three people follow behind patching in ones that were missed (It’s pretty luxurious as far as farm work goes). 

Luck has been on our side throughout this experience.. We have been living in a caravan park for about a month now, where we live with backpackers from all over the world. And I can honestly say I’ve never met so many beautiful people. For probably the first 2 weeks Jo, Ian and I were all crammed into a tiny two person tent, but we upgraded to “the village”. We now live in a tarp fortress made of 6 tents with three Scottish guys, and a French guy (who sad for us, but happy for him, just left for Bali).

Although this experience has been wonderful, it definitely hasn’t been easy. We’ve been sharing tents, sleeping on mats about the width of a quarter, no tv, no computers, and wake up at 530 am in the freezing cold for work.. But I really do believe this has been one of the best experiences of my life.. I have never in my life been surrounded by more amazing people. Living with us are people from France, Italy, England, Scotland, Chile and Argentina. Many of which play the guitar beautifully, so lucky for us we always have live music 🙂 Meeting all of these backpackers has been so inspiring, from hearing their stories to learning of their plans. Even reverting back to basic living, a challenge at first, has been great. You learn to appreciate things you took for granted before and find more fulfilling ways to spend your time.

I wish I could give more of an update, but I don’t have internet here for very long.. I will also take some pictures and videos in the next few days! Plans from here on out: Jo and I are leaving the end of next week for Sydney, then Melbourne, then Cairns! Tickets are bought and we’re very excited! 

We planted them all!

Driving to work!

That long weekend lifestyle

First, let’s start with a much over-due update. I (Ashley) am living in an apartment in Burleigh Heads right across from the beach and am working a few days a week at Hot Stuff Surfboards, Burleigh’s original surf shop. My 12 year old- Blue Crush obsessed- dreams have come true! Sam’s adventures have taken her and Ian and Jo to a farm that, in all honesty, I know next to nothing about, but from here on out we will be posting on our own. Look for our signatures at the bottom of each entry to know who’s writing!

This past week one of my best friends that I met studying abroad, Haley, flew completely across the world to come visit for 8 days. She came up with the idea and booked the entire trip within 48 hrs… not that I should be surprised, her and I adventured to Japan this last fall together on a whim also. We spent the first half of her visit in Burleigh Heads and Byron Bay, then flew down to Sydney for a long weekend. Highlights of the week were meeting West, (a Californian entrepreneur with enough travel horror stories to make you want to hire your own personal Liam Neeson), attempting to surf at The Pass in Byron Bay, a beautiful lighthouse sunset, getting to hold a koala and hop next to kangaroos, a spectacular walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee, descending the Giant’s Staircase at the Blue Mountains, riding the ferry out to Manly with huge bags of candy, a stroll through the Royal Gardens, and doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb during the Vivid Festival of lights on our last night!

All in all, Sydney is without a doubt my favorite “big city” I have ever been to, but then again that probably is biased by my obsession with boats. I could sit outside at the Opera House Bar drinking Pimms and watching the swirl of sails across the water every. single. day.

Currumbin Wildlife Park, family photo!

Lizard whispererers

A 2 year old photo bombed my selfie with a kangaroo!

Chillin’

Just hoppin around

Attempting to surf The Pass in Byron

Get it, girl

Haley and Wes loungin in Byron

Byron Lighthouse

Lights and boats, it doesn’t get any better!

Playin with the Vivid light displays

Opera House During Vivid

And again….

We climbed to the top of that^^^

Iconic Sydney

Street art at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Just one of the AMAZING views on the walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee

Haley’s still got that good gymnast form

Another view on our way to Coogee

And another…

And another…

The most legit infinity pool I’ve ever seen

Creepin’

Checking out the Three Sisters at the Blue Mtns.

The best part of the Blue Mountains

Heights are fun

Adventuring

The Giant’s Stairway was easier to slide down than walk

Um yeah, I guess it was a little steep

Stunning

Haley peeking over the edge

I like places that make me feel small

Opera House from the ferry

Opera House bar loungin’

Opera House bar for Pimms and sunshine

So many seagulls

The Royal Gardens, Sydney

Pre-bridge climb!

Darling Harbor water show

Our day trip out to Manly was made by the boy I am about to introduce you to. His name is Taj Ralph and in the most basic of comparisons he is the Justin Bieber of Australia. But so much better. We heard his voice long before we saw this 13 year old surfer/skater boy posted up at the center of the pavilion and surrounded by nearly a hundred people. After listening to his entire set of a mix of both covers and originals, I got the chance to speak with him and his dad for a few minutes. Here’s the scoop:

Taj started playing guitar when he was 8 at his house in the Northern Beaches. His first time busking was- ironically- right down the street outside of the ice cream shop that Haley and I had just purchased ice cream at. He recently released his first album (he sold out of every single one he had with him at $10 a piece- I’m listening to it right now), and writes all of his own songs. My favorite? “Don’t Go” which is about his best mate moving away. When I asked him where his inspiration comes from he replied, “I don’t know, it just comes!” To be young and bold. Which is another thing- not only can the kid sing and play guitar like a pro- he performed like one as well, making small talk with his audience as he tuned his guitar mid-set. I could really go on and on, but I’ll let this video of one of his originals that I snagged do the talking:

If you want to hear more of his music you can find him on Facebook, Instagram, on his website and on iTunes!

Cheers, Ash

Into the land of the Fae

We reference music a lot in this blog, but we are almost equally as influenced by some of the books we have been reading on this journey. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is a book we would highly suggest, and in it there is a land where nature reigns supreme called the Fae. Our adventures in Burleigh Heads and in the nearby hinterland remind us of this magical land and we hope that these pictures will share some of that beauty with you.

Just to catch you up, the two of us (as well as Ian and Jo) have moved into an apartment in Burleigh Heads that is quite literally 30 seconds from the ocean. Our days have taken a shift towards the earlier side of things as we have begun to align our schedules with that of the sun: up at 6am and setting at 5:15pm. There is something very natural feeling about revolving your schedule around nature rather than a clock. Burleigh has somehow managed to resist the tackiness of the rest of the Gold Coast and hold onto this blend of city and nature, and that is exactly why we love this place!

Let there be light! 6am sunrise walks

Sunrise at Burleigh Beach

Above view of Queen’s Falls

Being Dora the Explorer

Just one of the many outlooks

Beautiful!

Jo strikin a pose

Rooooad Trip

Gopros are awesome

The land of the Fae

Hiking adventures

Burleigh main beach

Just being tourists

So hott right now

Crochet tree!

Queen’s Falls

I can’t even tell you how many pictures we have like this

Surfer’s Paradise in the background

Here is a quick video of one of the natural waterfalls we stumbled across:

Celebrating Blues Fest’s Coming of Quarter Age

During our first few days arriving here in Australia we caught wind of a music festival that takes place over Easter Weekend every year in Byron Bay. We got our hands on the line up and discovered that two of our favorite musicians of all time, Matt Corby (as seen in our first ever blog post) and Jack Johnson were schedule to play back to back on Friday of the five day festival. We also soon discovered that this year was the 25th Anniversary of Blues Fest- the event was, quite literally, coming of Quarter Age. With that, our tickets were purchased.

Typical of our travels so far, we had no concrete plans for the weekend aside from renting a car out of Burleigh Heads. We soon discovered that this was the worst possible weekend and location in all of Australia to have no plan, and quite literally had NO WHERE to stay or even park our car to sleep in for the night— police dub the weekend “Double Demerits” and charge double for any illegal camping or driving tickets. Lucky for us, Ian met an incredible family at the festival that hosted us along with several other festival goers for the weekend in tents in their back yard… To say we got lucky is an understatement!

As for the festival its self, the entire event was even better than we had imagined. Seven stages, hundreds of vendors, and thousands of music-loving Aussies and travelers alike. We spent the day eating great food, dancing between tents, making new friends, and of course, listening to live music. Some notable performances from early in the day were The Beards (from our last blog post), Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and India Arie to name a few. Several hours prior to Matt Corby we began to make our way through the crowd of the main tent in order to get as close to the stage as humanly possibly. Three acts and four straight hours of standing later we found ourselves in the second row, awestruck by his angelic performance. To say the guy can sing only scratches the surface. He was immediately followed by an incredible two hour set by Jack Johnson that ended with a tear-inducing encore tribute to his wife of 20 years. The song Angels- written by Jack one Christmas when he forgot to get her a present- has taken a whole new meaning for the two of us. Music is, without a doubt, our religion.

The one and only Matt Corby

Gary Clark Jr.

Matt Corby … Amazing Performance

2nd Row!!!

The tres amigos

Music = LOVE

YES IT IS – india arie

In the main tent, Mojo

Love and music— all you need!

Better Together

The best day

Gary Clark Jr.

Cruisin’ through the festival

Fueled by slurpies

JACK JOHNSON!! Yes, we were this close.

The most easterly point of Aus! Dolphins down below!

Hiking to the Byron Bay Lighthouse

Byron Lighthouse

Rather than posting music videos, we thought we would give you a taste of our two favorite performers from Blues Fest… we took these videos stage-side and hope they give you a bit of the magic we got from being there!

The Little Hot Tamale That Could

You know your life has taken an interesting turn when the sight of a beach shower has you yelling in excitement. Three days after leaving Justin’s health retreat get away we were those people. Our last day in Peregian was perfect: surfing in the morning, BBQ in the afternoon, bonfire on the beach in the evening, and a swim under the almost full moon at midnight. The next day we headed south to meet a friend from home, Ian, and spend a few days in Burleigh before heading to Blues Fest for the weekend (this life-altering event requires an entire post of its own- stay tuned). A blood moon eclipse was without a doubt the highlight of this pit stop… especially since we saw it while night swimming in the ocean.

The three of us rented a car we dubbed the “Little Hot Tamale” and worked extensively on our abs as we laughed our heads off every time one of us flipped on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal— driving on the left side of the road takes more brain power than you would think! Just add it to the list of things opposite in Australia. Our first stop was a little hippie, weed loving, town called Nimbin. Pretty sure even the dogs here were stoned and the cookies the little old ladies sold on the sidewalk were definitely not the same as our grandma’s. Next came Minyon Falls, a beautiful waterfall in the hills just inland of Byron. It should be noted that this whole trip took place over Easter weekend, which just so happened to overlap with Australian school holidays as well. This made our lack of planning a larger problem than anticipated, and made our homeless predicament very real… hence our new appreciation for beach showers.

The most essential part of every BBQ- the chip train!

A few of Justin’s surf boards

Sunset hiking in Peregian

Peregian sunsets

Sam adventuring at Minyon falls

Such a lively addition- Ian and his imaginary football.

Minyon Falls

At the edge!

Pictures of people taking pictures… pre blood moon

Just a typical sign in Nimbin

MInyon Falls

Driving on the left side

The hot tamale its self

Here is a little preview of some of the Aussie talent we saw at Blues Fest… sorry to both of our beardless dads… we don’t actually believe this (but it’s entertaining, right??)

Swimming Outside the Flags

Life guarding is no joke here in Australia. They bring out all the stops; jet skis, trucks, boats, helicopters… and most importantly, the flags. These are no ordinary flags. If you find yourself on one of Australia’s never ending Eastern beaches, you will notice that ALL swimmers are confined to the 200 meters between these said flags. For example, when we were leaving the Surf Club (a place we frequent for their nachos and wifi), we were confused by the huge pack of people swimming strangely close together… until we realized they were between the flags. Now, swimming between these flags doesn’t create some magic line in the ocean that separates you from the many dangerous creatures that lurk in these waters, but according to the crowd we are “safe” there.

Needless to say, the majority of our time in the ocean thus far has been spent outside these flags. This is also a principal we have applied to the rest of our lives, and helps to explain why we have quit our jobs at Berardo’s after just one week. We decided instead to buy tickets to Blues Fest, a music festival we have been lusting after for months, and figure the rest out later. In the mean time, we have been thoroughly enjoying our time back at Peregian Beach and are finally taking some time to relax, rejuvenate, and soak up some Aussie sun.

Repping our Conscious Ink temporary tattoos down under

Morning runs slash sightseeing adventures

The path from Justin’s to the beach

Mat McHugh, the lead singer from The Beautiful Girls, performed down in Coolum this past weekend and sounded just as good- if not better- live. Enjoy!

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself

It isn’t often that you encounter people like Justin in the world. Upon making the decision to move back to Noosa Heads, we tried our hand at couch surfing a second time and found ourselves in the living room of Justin’s home, the sound of the ocean as our initial welcome. That sound was soon mixed with eight other voices reigning from Germany, the UK, France, and New Zealand… all under one roof and fed nightly by our raw food, vegan host.

To everyone’s surprise, we found ourselves employed as waitresses at Berardo’s Bistro on the Beach, an up-scale beachfront restaurant in Noosa, after just one day of job hunting. Neither of us ever even toyed with the idea of waitressing back home, but strangely in a place with accents we can’t understand and different words for the most common of items, we felt more than qualified. That may just be one of our favorite things about traveling: how the restrictions you put on yourself at home fade with each passing mile. The job isn’t something we see ourselves doing forever, and we still get confused when people ask us for serviettes (napkins), but it’s a new experience with an ocean front view.

The view from work, pre-wedding set up

New friends!

New boyfriend!

Lauri (France) and Justin

Jo (UK) and us at sunset

Noosa Heads National Park hike

Ledge creepin

Sunsets looking back at Noosa

Surf access

Hastings Street in downtown

After we discovered Alexandria Beach is a nudist beach frequented by pretty much only old men

Sand Bubble crabs on Alexandria Beach… during low tide they make the coolest patterns!

Beach=happy place

So many cars lining up to pick us up…

Our walk down the never ending beach back to Justin’s house

No koala sightings yet 😦

We found these guys on a poster in the window next to the grocery store. Lesson? Slow down, open your ears, find cool music.

“You two don’t look like backpackers…”

Travelers. Backpackers. Vagabonds. Adventurers. We have run into them all over the last three weeks… but true to our nature we don’t really fit into standard classifications. With intentions of settling down and starting an actual life here in Australia, we couldn’t help but laugh when an older Aussie couple we had dinner with told us we looked more like Hilton girls than backpackers- even though we had all of our luggage with us at the time.

Over the past several days we took a 17 hour bus ride from hell (NEVER use Premier Motor Coach), got bed bugs from a hostel (DON’T stay at Nomad’s hostels), were the only people ever to go to Airlie Beach and not actually experience the Whitsunday Islands (we’ll be back), paid $170 in overweight baggage fees on a Virgin Australia flight back to Brisbane (READ the fine print when you purchase cheap airfare), experienced our first night of couch surfing, and finally saw our first kangaroo. Granted, we could make a pretty good argument that the 24 hours we spent in Airlie were worth it all— it was absolutely stunning.

We snuck into the sailing club to make this selfie happen

Casual daytime strolls on the beach

GoPro timer fail #298364985

Typical

The Port of Airlie

Airlie Beach

Taking in the sunset at Shute Harbor

Necessary release after our overweight baggage incident

We love how this video encompasses all that is Queensland, and that it tells us to “Follow, follow the sun/the direction of the birds/direction of love”… because at the end of the day, that is exactly what we are doing.

The Road to Noosa

After spending a week apartment hunting on the Gold Coast, actually finding an apartment, and coming within 24 hours of putting down a deposit, we made the completely natural 20-something decision to pack up our bags and road trip north… with a German traveler we found online who had two open seats in her camper-van. We spent two nights camping at Coochan Creek with her and an eclectic crew of backpackers and Aussie adventurists, but our desire for a proper shower overrode our lust for a coastal road trip and we knew it was time to move on.

Hopping on a bus we found our way to Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast and fell head-over-heels in love. The vibe we get here is Europe meets Southern California, with all the positives of both and hardly any negatives. Our evening went something like this: beach, wine, Tim-Tams (the best cookie ever made), wine, live music, beach… you get the idea. We would stay, but we already bought our bus tickets up to Airlie Beach, so we are marking Noosa as a to-be-continued…

The journey begins

Our ride… and bed

Note the GIANT goanna lizard in the tree right by our campsight

Camping buddy

Our German friend Monique

Aussie love

Camping crew: Matius, Monique, and Chris

Kangaroo hunt footie

Simba camera techniques

Matius and Monique

Kookaburra stole our bait while we were fishing!

Camping sunset walks/kangaroo hunts

We aren’t in Oregon anymore…

Sunset in Noosa

A sneak peek of Noosa Heads

Our Friday night in Noosa took us to Cafe Le Monde, an open-air cafe, restaurant, and bar a block off the beach. These guys, Band of Frequencies, were playing there and we found the lyrics of this song to be freakishly relevant to our current travels. Have a listen:

Snapper Rocks

Somehow we managed to perfectly time our arrival on the Gold Coast with the kick off of the 2014 ASP World Tour. To top it off, we are staying just up the coast from the Quicksilver and Roxy Pro Surf competitions. Coincidence? Yes, actually. Fate? We like to think so. That being said, after two day trips down to Coolangatta to watch Round 2 of the women and Round 3 of the men’s competitions, neither of us managed to have blueberry waffles bought for us by a pro surfer (for those of you who don’t have a clue what we are talking about, please go ask a girl between the ages of 16 and 25 about the surf movie “classic” Blue Crush). We did, however, have an amazing time both days watching the best surfers in the world tear it up at Snapper Rocks. The atmosphere was electric, the sun shining, and the people watching PRIME.

MAKE IT GOLDEN 2014

Little Aussie groms

Spectatin’

Sam’s rainbow at Rainbow Beach

Loving life

GoPro fun

Dane Reynolds

Cooling off in the warm-up area

Media

Finally some good surf!

View from the beach

Surfside autographs

Capturing the beauty

Nat Young after his round 3 heat win!

We also had a chance this past week to see these guys, Caravana Sun, perform at an outdoor Friday night festival in Miami. In following with our attempts to discover great Australian music and share it with the rest of the world, here’s the song they closed the night with and one of our personal favorites: