From Brisbane, I fell in with a Canadian couple who were traveling on a leisurely road trip from Brisbane to Sydney via the Gold Coast.
Meet Jesse (28) & Kristina (20)!
They were traveling in this ancient camper van, at least 20 years old. It used to be rented out by Wicked (one of the many camper van rental companies), but was then sold to a series of travelers before passing into our hands.
Continue reading Travelogue: Gold Coast – Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Nimbim, and Port Stevens
On the way down the Gold Coast, I tried out travel camping almost every night – since the campervan was only large enough for two (my new Canadian friends), I slept outside in a tent. It was pretty comfortable though, since it was fall in Australia. And in the week and a half that we traveled together, I had a lot of variance in my camping.
Exhibit A: camping right along the coast, going to sleep while listening to the waves. I think the best part isn’t even falling asleep to the waves, but waking up to both the sound of the waves, and the warmth of the sun shining down on my tent.
Exhibit B: camping right along the side of the main highway, after finding that every campground in the area had closed at 5pm. Seriously, every campsite closed at 5pm – even if they had space, they wouldn’t allow you to check in. Take my money, damn it!
Exhibit C: tent + wind + dubiously placed pegs. My travel companions and I all laughed our asses off, but the boy scout in me was so ashamed.
It’s really cool, how you can have fascinating chance encounters by being friendly and keeping an eye out.
Somewhere along the beaches of the Gold Coast, while hiking along the beaches, I came across a bunch of guys from Sydney, playing a game a beach cricket, and decided to join in. Never having watched or played cricket before, I found it a really fun and fascinating game. At its core, you have a batsman defending a post (a small tube stuck in the sand), and a pitcher throwing a ball at the batsman / post. If the pitcher hits the post, the batsman is out. Otherwise, the batsman gets to keep swinging at the ball until he connects – at which point he has to run to the pitcher and back to the post before somebody either catches the ball, or picks up the ball and pegs the post.
This being the beach, of course the dominant strategy is to hit the ball into the ocean. I’ve no doubt the game is more complicated than I’ve described, but I had fun! And I managed to score quite a few points too!