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Hervey Bay # 1 - 3
Continue reading ‘And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?’
I have a ticket to see Sigur Ros in Sydney in 5 weeks.
So if you’ll excuse me, now I have to go and do a little happy dance in the corner.
I’m so bored. I know, I know your heart is breaking for me. I’ve spent the past two days pretty much doing nothing. It was nice for the first day and okay for the second but I’m very glad to be moving on today. The beach isn’t even that nice! I’ve mainly spent it reading. Yesterday I read three books. All pretty small, 200-260 pages but all of ‘em from start to finish. One was a Robert Crais Indigo Slam which I had read before but didn’t realise for a while and then two old Robert Parker’s Ceremony and Valediction. All were entertaining crime novels which is very much the right reading at the moment. The exchange shop has the latest Harlen Coben in oversize which I think I’m gonna grab for these in a short time.
There are three things to do in Airlie Bay. First is to go to/form the Whitsundays. Second is to sit on the beach all day and third is to sit in a backpacker bar all night. There ain’t nothing else. So last night I ended up heading back to my cabin pretty early on just not being in the mood for any of that and found that the English girl, Val, was in pretty much the same situation. So we spent a while chatting away and bitching about the children running around and all of a sudden it’s just going 1am and the rest of the room is having a party outside. It was a very good evening just swapping travel stories and hints and tips and all that sorta stuff.
At 5.30 this evening I start a 12 hour bus journey down to Hervey Bay. I’m kinda looking forward to it. I’ve, subject to the hostel confirming with me this morning, one night there and then 3 nights with a group doing a self explore/camping on Fraser Island. This should be good, I’ve heard from a number of people around here who have just done that and raved constantly about it. Then I’m going to head down to Noosa and around there for one more diving trip (HMAS Brisbane) and a little bit more city life I hope!
The first email in my inbox this morning is from a friend to ask if I’m “experimenting with anything”…. nice huh?!
10.05 Airlie Beach, Australia Wednesday 25th June.
Monday morning and I’m sat by the lagoon ar Airlie Beach. The sun is shining but there is a slight chill in the wind. Last night was actually cold. When I got out of the net cafe it was really really cold. I had a pizza and a drink in the hostel bar and then went to to bed. I’m in an 8 room dorm which has only got 6 of us in it. It’s not so bad I guess. It’s clean and quietish but cold! You just get a sheet and I ended up in my sleeping sack with a sheet over me and then my beach towel. Not so good. If it keeps getting that much colder as I get down the coast I shall have to think about picking up a sleeping bag.
Anyways back to Maggie Island. On Saturday I had lunch with Wendy and her fella and that was good. We caught up on some old days and on how people are doing these days. It was good. A nice enough lunch in a pub in Horseshoe Bay. I didn’t really do much for the rest of the day except read. I started into that Alastair Reynolds and I would have finished it in one sitting but the others in the room went to bed. It was excellent. It was a little lighter than most of this stuff but at the same time still pretty packed with grand ideas. I’d not have had a chance of finishing Revelation Space in a single reading or anything else but this one just flowed. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did take the chance of it being Saturday night to have the room to myself and so I watched Sexy Beast which was excellent. Not as enjoyable as the first time around but that’s only because the impact of Ben Kingsley is lessened a bit.
So then yesterday I got up and packed my bags and had some breakfast where I did finish the book. Then it was off to the ferry and over into Townsville for my bus onwards. I arrived with some time to spare and decided that 11.30 on a Sunday morning was absolutely the right time to try a pint of the local stout which Trev had raved about in email just a few days beforehand. It was good stuff! Just the one as I wasn’t jumping onto a long bus trip with any more than one pint down. Onto the bus just after 13.00 and into Airlie Beach just before 18.00. Good stuff. Some comedy on the way with one fella ignoring the warning that there was no time to get off the bus at this stop and ending up being left behind. Somehow he managed to get the local police to drive him to the next stop a few miles down the road with sirens blaring and lights flashing and he made it back onto the bus!
So anyway a net cafe last night where I managed to do some updating and grabbed a load of feeds so I have some reading to catchup on today. Speaking, again, of reading I’m now about halfway through Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and it’s excellent. I must have been thinking of something else when I thought I had started it before and given up or just not been in the right mood at all. It’s very easy reading and highly enjoyable. I’m planning on spending most of today finishing it off.
I don’t know what I’m doing here to be honest. I need to plan my route out a little better…I have no idea where I’m going next. If I just stop off at all the nice beaches along the way where the general stop-offs are, I’m going to be very bored. So I’m going to sit down today and plan things out a little more. I should do things like that more often…
The main attraction here is that Airlie Beach is the “gateway to the Whitsundays”. I suppose I should go sailing around the islands but there are two things stopping me, both of equal importance. Firstly I’m starting to get worried about money and second I’ve had enough of fucking boats for a while now. So some down time which to be honest I think there will be a lot of for the next few weeks. I’m giving some thought to rushing down the coast a bit and getting to a city but then the question is what do I do then? I’ve got some job literature so I should work through that.
Also Sigur Ros are playing here in August and there are still tickets available. I should look into this more but that means I have to spend at least 6 more weeks here and that could be more money than I have to spend. Right, back to the book.
Alright forward to a few hours later and I have finished the book and very much enjoyed it. I spent most of the day lazing around reading. I cannot figure out why I was so worked up about it in the first place. I did buy some books today (oops) but between ‘em they take up less space than that one and I’ll finish and cash one back in tomorrow.
I’m just back in the hostel. I’ve come from the net cafe where I posted everything from Maggie. I’m not entirely sure that was a good idea and to be honest I’m not entirely sure why I did it. I’ll take some comfort in the fact that no-one is going to read it all and who knows, by the time I post this I may edit them down. I am pleased to report that I did tackle that issue mentioned way back in one of them Maggie entries and it appears to be all okay. I’m somewhat confused by it but it’s not an issue which is the important thing.
Now to sleep.
22.51 Airlie Beach, Australia. Monday June 23rd.
Where The Hell Is Matt 2008 Damn that man is awesome.
And that’s Maggie Island done. I did a lot of thinking and writing as you may be able to tell. Just over 9200 words which is of no interest but there ya go. Side note- Firefox 3 is very very pretty under OS X
Now have a few photos.
22.12 Airlie Beach, Australia Monday June 23rd
Maggie Island post #6
Continue reading ‘It felt like flooooating’
Maggie Island post #5 (also rambling and not really anything to do with Maggie Island).
Continue reading ‘I said “fuck dancing all night”’
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