Hey,
I'm writing this from Byron Bay, which is a little surfer town. The break is an easy beach break, but is a bit unpredictable. As in, you'll see a swell coming and begin paddling in and all of a sudden it's dead. Or, from no swell will come a break right on top of you. Still, it's good to get on a board again.
What have I done thus far? Well, as I mentioned last, I needed to get a Vietnam visa and I was also concerned about the campervan. Campervan, taken care of. Turned out exactly how it should have, but I did have to walk into the depot to get my way. The visa ended up being the most expensive visa yet. To get the visa I had to rent a car, drive to Canberra (6 hours round trip), apply, then return to Canberra two days later. All-in-all it probably cost me $300 and a lot of hours of driving in the wrong direction. After getting my visa, I started driving to Byron Bay because it was recommended to me as a cool chill little town. Mmm, don't know.
To get there from Canberra is about 12 hours, which meant breaking up the trip into a couple days. The first night I had to sleep on the side of the road in a national park outside Sydney. The second day was incredible. I started driving early in the morning, and realized as I drove that I wouldn't make it to Byron that night. So, I decided to see if there was some cool things to see. First cool thing was I saw my first living wild kangaroo or wallaby. I tried to get a photo, but they bounced off and were too far away to show up on my camera. Later in the day, I was hoping to see a koala, but I wasn't seeing any. I remembered that they have zoos or the like where you can interact with them. I just happen as I was thinking about it, to see a sign for one such place. I stopped in at the exact time that they were starting a show. They have really weak immune systems, so they don't let you hold them or touch their heads. So you just pet their ass. Then, they have wallabies that you can mingle with and pet if they like you. Then, they have dingos too. Dingos just look like medium sized dogs. I guess I expected something more like a short haired wolf, but no. They look more like Leila, my brothers dog. I had a great time at that zoo. I might stop at the crocodile hunter zoo as well since it's on the way to Cairns.
After that, I drove up to Byron. I've been just chilling out really. Working on my tan a bit. Not wearing sunscreen of course (GASP!), just allowing my body's natural sunscreen to do it's job. The thing is though this surfer town is just a party tour. It's more low key than say Surfer's Paradise, but all anyone does is surf, drink, sleep, repeat. They fall into a trap I've seen before, and then they get stuck here thinking it's a paradise. It's not for me; it's a false paradise. They'll wake up one day and go, "shit, what have I done with myself the last 3 months"?
I did go out pretty hard a couple nights ago, which sparked something in me. I realized that, one, I've moved on from that being fun, and two, the hangover is not worth it. In other words, I don't really want to binge drink anymore. Maybe on very special occasions. It's not that the headache or stomach ache all day are the issue. Yes, they suck. What I've found is that, for whatever reason it may be, I get a chemical imbalance in my brain and get into a funk or small depression that day. Even, if the pain of the hangover is tolerable, I just feel depressed for most of the day and I can't snap out of it. It definitely ruins the day. I don't want to think back and remember that I was depressed during this trip. It's been too amazing to let drinking in excess ruin it. It will be harder making friends though since most of the travelers here view their time in OZ as party time. Oh well, so be it, I'll just sleep in my van if need be.
There are some funny news stories going on here. 1, is the cigarette packing proposal. Basically, they are going to force all the boxes to be a dull green with no distinction. The cigarette companies are pissed because it means losing brand recognition. What bothers me is that there is no evidence or logic that this will have any impact on lowering the amount of people who smoke. The only thing experts say is, "well, the tobacco companies don't like it so that means that it will work". Dumb. It will probably result in more young people picking it up because authority is making such a stink out of it. Forbidden fruit and all. The other thing that is odd to me is why the government cares. It isn't their job to make sure people make good life choices. They have some arbitrary goal to reduce smokers to 10% of the population. Why 10%? Why not 0%? I mean, it's weird to pick a number like that and say, "alright, you 2 million people can choose to be unhealthy, but we don't want the other 18 million to be". If you don't want people smoking, make it illegal, but better yet, butt the fuck out.
The other is hilarious to me. It revolves around a woman cadet having sex with a male cadet, who broadcast their session via Skype to his buddies. The controversy is all over the top stories here. This woman is being played out in the media and government as a victim and are trying to find some way to prosecute this guy. There aren't any laws against it, so they are trying to get him for breach of information rights over the web or some other crazy thing. HOWEVER... I think she is not a victim. Here's why: Instead of following any protocol, she went directly to the media with this. It was also a big deal, and the defense minister got all up in arms, that she had a disciplinary hearing (unrelated to this matter), to which she plead guilty, the day after she went to the media. The minister, whom I believe played right into her little game, is asking that they either revoke the disciplinary actions or weaken them. What she plead guilty to was essentially partying when she wasn't supposed to. Sounds like she is a bit loose to me. I won't go as far to say that it's her fault this guy did this, but if she can't smell an asshole when she meets one, maybe this is a good lesson for her. I will go as far to say that there is more to this story than the media and minister are focusing on. It doesn't pass the bullshit smell test to me. My guess, she purposely chose this dickhead, or planned this whole thing out to get out of the trouble she got herself in to begin with. I do find it hard to repress a chuckle when I think about the whole thing.
On another note, all those backwards, incomprehensible things about NZ are fixed here. It just seems like everything is better. The campervan, which is a left handed manual, is faster and gets better mileage. The people are way friendlier, helpful, and don't appear to be as... slow... The internet is better and there are occasionally free spots. The music is better and the radio stations last more than a few miles out of town - in fact, they have a station here called Triple J, which plays indie music and the DJs pretty much do whatever they want. I don't think they have commercials and I can get the station anywhere. Camping isn't illegal everywhere, in fact it's encouraged that you "stop, revive, and survive". Um, I can't think of the other "reversals" so I'm going to get a move on it.
Talk at ya later peeps,
D
P.S. Further proof on the world wide flip-flop pandemic-
All fucked (look at the heels)
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