First and foremost, I went on a 3 day cruise in Whitsundays. Kinda, a party boat, but it was cheapest. They took us around the island complex. Most of the time we were just lounging on the boat, but every now and again they'd stop so we could go ashore or snorkel or dive or just swim around the boat. The vis was about 6 meters so the diving and snorkeling wasn't that good. I did do one dive cause there was a giant fish that was super friendly. Also, I saw an eel that the DM missed. All in all though, I think the diving from these cruises is a bit sketch. I'm not sure that our DM was actually a DM, one guy turned my tank off before I got in, my depth gauge was broken (not that you could dive further than 10 meters anyway), and they seemed to give very little instruction to the newbies. At night, most people played drinking games, which I've never been too much a fan of. I'm not sure why, just never been too thrilled to play them. My guess is that it's because I like to get to know people or bullshit with friends, like the ability to not have to pay attention as my attention span shrinks due to alcohol, and not keen on having to be on the spot for my turn. So, I played a couple rounds the first night cause a group I was hanging out with joined in with the boat, but bored quickly, and avoided the games the rest of the time. This did allow me to have some interesting conversations with some Ozzies about OZ and the US.
Being on the boat and not caring to participate in the binge drinking, I did watch the social dynamics play out. I have noticed an increase in my interest in social dynamics since traveling. I even found myself reading a book called "The Game" (see below for a review). The jist is that it is a story and a how to about being a pick up artist. Not that I have any interest in being one, just that I find what he has to say on social interaction and theories on the dynamics fascinating. In any case, I find that I hardly have the patience to talk to these girls here; I purposely use girls. I just can't be bothered. It's nice to think that I met the simplest/easiest to get along with and understand woman ever. I still constantly think of her and am super pumped that I'll be seeing her in about a month.
Every now and then I get that little voice that says I'm going to screw it up with her. Even though we aren't technically together, there is still a connection between us, which means that there is something that I can fuck up. I'd like have her with me; wish it were as easy as telling her to just quit and get out here. I think we'd vagabond well together. Some may have noticed on her FB that I sent her tulips (her favorite flower) for the anniversary of our first date.
Anywho, bringing it back to what I've been doing, after I got back to shore I made a b-line for Magnetic Island based on some advice I received. To get there, you need to take a ferry from Townsville (I love the names of things here. Other good ones are Murdering Point and Deadmans Creek, both of which I avoided). Townsville looks like a really interesting city and I wish I had the time to stay a couple days to see it, but I got to Townsville pretty late and need to catch the ferry, which after some toil, I eventually figured out (sorta - they use return ticket to mean round trip. The hostel was supposed to pay for your return ticket, which I took for the ticket back from the island, so I bought a one way ticket. When I got to the ferry to go back to the mainland, the ferry people filled me in on my mistake. They tried the hostel, who seemed to have lost all record of me staying there until they were called about 3 times. Finally, the ferry just charged it to the hostel without asking permission. All this made me miss my original ferry). Magnetic Island was a really nice place to just chill out. There isn't much in the way of nightlife or entertainment, which was good. What they do have is empty beaches, hiking, history, and animals. I got to see koalas and rock wallabies in the wild. I also went snorkeling, although the vis is shit. Note on the visibility: I think it is supposed to be better here but a hurricane tore up a bunch of the reef and then after that floods threw a bunch of silt and whatnot into the water and there hasn't been ample time to clear up. It's funny diving and snorkeling here. In the places where it is warm enough to skin dive, there are stingers, and you have to wear these thin stinger suits (ultra thin wetsuits), which is super annoying. You can't even swim without the suits. And no, I am not dumb enough to snorkel alone, esp. in unfamiliar places. I met some nice girls who thought I was going to rape and kill them when I showed them a shortcut back to the hostel that went through a thick forested area. Just kidding, I'm sure they only 20% thought that. So, I stayed a couple days on the island.
One thing that annoys me is how inflexible people are, at home and here. They must follow an authorities guide. What I mean by this is that there is a common pamphlet (and probably the Lying Planet) that says you should snorkel Florence Bay. However, every single person I talked to that snorkeled it said that it sucked. A few recommended another bay, which also happened to be less of a walk! I mentioned it to these girls and told them where I got the info and got the standard, we'll act like we are taking it into consideration, but who the fuck do you think you are? I got that a lot when I started telling people about Paleo and crossfit. I also get it for other things as well. Look, I know you didn't come to the island with your heart set on snorkeling that specific bay and since that isn't the case, being flexible allows you the opportunity for those amazing moments that travelers shit their pants for. If I was in there shoes and someone told me that, I'd be like, "why the hell not?". There are obviously many reasons that it annoys me, but what I think is the case is that it is one of the big flashing red lights that says, "you and these people will not relate".
After leaving Maggie Island, I realized that I wanted to drive around a bit more, so I extended my campervan rental. This allowed me time to go North of Cairns to Cape Tribulation - "where the rainforest meets the reef". On the way up I stopped to see Port Douglas. Unless you are into expensive tourist towns, you can skip Port Douglas. I did some lax-sneak camping in town that night and bailed early for Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation is definitely worth the trip. There are plenty of walking and hiking opportunities through the rainforest and plenty of great beaches to chill out on. Plus, if you have 4-wheel with a snorkel (for forging rivers) there are many free places to stay in the heart of the jungle within the comfort of car camping. I opted for a hostel and to stay only one night. I took the opportunity to do as much jungle walks as possible and was rewarded with seeing a monitor and a python. There are also many interesting similarities and contrasts between this rainforest and the Amazon. They both host many similar plants and animals, which was nice because it reminded me of my time in the Amazon. However, while many things look and feel the same, the differences are massive. For example, this jungle is set on steep territory; some of the hills are around 800 meters tall and then fall into the ocean. This also means that it is very rocky, which was a major contrast. And it means that there is a mixing of ocean type forest with the jungle. The animals were a bit more "friendly", as in they didn't care about you and didn't hide. While I didn't see one, they have cassowaries, which look like kinda like dinosaurs. They don't have any real predators like jaguars though. All in all, the OZ jungle is the easy version; it's the Disneyland of rainforests compared to the Amazon. If you are old or scared of the real thing, this would be a good alternative for you.
As I was coming back down to Cairns, I guy told me that one of the better tours he did was a sunset tour at the Undara lava tubes. Having ample time before I needed to return the campervan, I said, "why the hell not?" I stayed on the beach that night in the camper and made west for the NP the next day. It's over 4 hours away from Cairns, but the drive is well worth it. It goes through small out of the way towns and savannah land (which is supposedly in between forest and outback). When I got there the sunset tour was sold out, but they had other tours I could do. I paid $47 and quite frankly I'm not it was worth that much. You do get to see a couple lava tubes and swim in one, but it really wasn't that spectacular. Oh, and legally you can't visit the tubes without a guide. What was spectacular was the surrounding savannah land. That is the kinda place that I could live on a few hundred acres for the rest of my life (assuming I could still go skiing). I have pictures up on FB, but they don't do it justice. I really don't know how to describe how peaceful and beautiful it is out in that general area, so I won't try.
After spending the night at a rest stop where the road trains (semis with three trailers) thought it clever to honk in the middle of the night when they saw that I was sleeping there, I headed back for Cairns. I decided to take my time and visit a few walking parks. The first was at the place I slept; it was a "dry rainforest". This and the second park were not spectacular, but the last was really cool. It was a lake surrounded by OZ rainforest. Besides seeing some really cool plants and natural vine art, I saw a black tree snake, a bunch of rainforest rodents, and the OZ version of a hedgehog, called an echidna. You can see the video of it on FB, but a little explanation here will help. I must have some sort of connection with animals. I say this because I keep getting "lucky". I've never considered myself lucky when it came to things where you can win something or lucky in investing, but I'm beginning to understand that soy muy suerte when it comes to animals. An old OZ couple (70s) came up as the echidna was wondering off and they told me that I was very lucky. They said that it is very rare to see one. This was the second time the man had ever seen one. And not only that, the thing sought me out on a elevated walkway. If you watch the video, you'll see that I scare it because I had to move away from it. It was pretty incredible.
And now I'm in Cairns. I thought I'd dive, but because of a sinus infection I can't. Not that the vis really makes is worth the money. It doesn't kinda seem like a waste to be on the great barrier reef and not do more than one dive, but that's the way it goes. I can't remember ever having a sinus infection before. At first I thought it was decompression sickness from the dive in Whitsundays, but then I thought, why would my left molars feel like they were going to explode along with the spot right above my eye. It was the middle of the night and I had to take some pain killers to sleep. I scoped the interwebs for it the next day and figured out it was a sinus infection. I didn't want to pay for a Dr. visit and wanted to see if I could quell it by myself, so I picked up some over the counter shit to help, which it slowly has. As of one week later, I no longer need to take aspirin, although, submerging even a meter makes it feel as if someone hit me in between the eyes with a baseball bat. I have to say, not a big fan of sinus infections.
Other than all that, I am finding myself very intrigued in learning more about that universal energy I spoke of and how to control my interactions with it. Since leaving the Amazon, I haven't really been able to feel its presence anymore. I imagine that it is similar to acclimating to it. How you start becoming unaware of the commercials on tv, etc. I know it's still there because there is evidence of its influence. Maybe, it may also become second nature, as in throwing a baseball. At first it's weird and tough, but after a while you don't have to think about it, you just do it. I'm not saying I can conscientiously interact or anything, just that maybe being who I am and my frame, I am just naturally flowing with it the way I would hope to if I could interact with it. I've began looking into it on the intertubes and at book stores to get a better handle on what the hell I'm talking about. At first glance, it seems very similar to Chi. That being said, if anyone has any book recommendations on the subject or any blogs or people to look into please leave them as a comment on this post.
So that's the scoop on what I've been up to and what I've been interested in. Tomorrow, I fly to Darwin for a couple days before moving on to Vietnam. Below are a couple book reviews. I'll be in touch. Later.
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
. As I mentioned, the jist of this book is Neil Strauss (the author), who by his own account is an average looking guy who was not very good with woman, gets involved in an underground society of pickup artists (PUAs). Most of the book is the story of how he gets involved, the people he meets, how he progresses as a PUA, funny and sad things that happen during this time, and of course how things turn out. The story itself is a simple and entertaining read, but throw in some social dynamics (a phrase I am stealing from one of the PUAs in the book) and it really became fascinating. For those of you who are men, who may not be a natural and are frustrated about your success with meeting woman, this book is definitely worth the read. However, take what the author is saying seriously about losing yourself in the game. One interesting thing that he points out is that many of these PUAs are using "sarging" (their term for picking up woman) as a way to fill a hole in themselves, which of course it can't do. Generally speaking, those men out there who are with truly amazing woman had long ago removed healed the void in themselves. In other words, the best way to be able to attract the type of woman that is good for you and adds a positive element to your life is to fix yourself first and the latter as well as other good things will naturally follow. For those of you that are naturals,that have removed any holes or voids in themselves, or even are with the woman of their dreams will also like this book. It has a lot of underlying theories on how people (not just men and woman) interact in social settings or alone. He provides references to look into if you are more interested, which I plan on doing.Lastly, if you are a woman, this would be a good read for you. Get over yourselves on the whole, men are manipulating me into having sex with them thing. If you read it with even the hint of an open mind, you'll see a few things. A. that most of what they do is to manipulating you (some of the guys in the book are manipulating once they are dating you, but that shouldn't be anything new since a lot of non-PUAs are the same way) they have learned to manipulate group dynamics and social situations so that it gives the situation and you a chance to get out of your own way. You are ultimately the one who chooses whether or not to sleep with someone. 2. the author is not advocating this lifestyle. If you really listen to him, he is equating it to addictions like drugs. It's a way of escaping themselves for a short period of time. Finally, you can use much of the information too since many of the theories and practices work on men too. Or, at a minimum, understand when someone is manipulating social dynamics to their advantage, how they are doing it, and, if you don't like what their ultimate goal is, counteract it.
Obviously, I wanted to make it clear that I didn't get this book to learn how to pick up women. Not saying that I am good at it and couldn't learn something from that aspect of the book, but I'm not interested in going about having unfulfilling one-night stands. In fact, an interesting thing occurred as I was being sarged by the book. As I was considering buying the book, I happened to glance at the title of a book across the way. It was titled Take Ivy.
My "second" review is of the entire Stieg Larsson trilogy. This includes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
. The unfortunate thing with suspense novels is that I can't really talk much about it cause there's a chance I'll give away twists. The general idea is that there are two main characters - Michael Blomkvist (an investigative reporter) and Lisbeth Salander (an ass kicking, take no prisoners, heroine). The first one starts off a bit slow and many people have had trouble getting to the crest where it starts getting hard to put down (about 250 pages in). I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed these books and would recommend them for those who like crime and/or suspense novels. Also to those who like the star to be a woman. If you got the time, are in between serious things and need a change of pace, and don't mind some grafic violence, these are perfect for you. I really can't say too much more because it will give it away.Hope this was enlightening. Planned future posts - I have a building a foundation of health one, shoe theory that will include a video plea for sanity on shoes, a video plea for sanity on backpacks, and something existential in the works.
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